DÉSIRÉE BALLANTYNE

ABOUT
Born in Toronto, Canada Désirée trained at the Royal Ballet School and English National Ballet School.
She joined English National Ballet in 1999 and was promoted to Soloist in 2007. Désirée danced in all their major classical repertoire including, Lilac Fairy in the Sleeping Beauty, Myrtha in Giselle and Clara in The Nutcracker. At ENB she worked with choreographer's including Christopher Hampson, Itzik Gallili, Akram Khan, Russell Maliphant and David Dawson.
In 2016 Désirée joined the Michael Clark Company for the creation of To a simple, rock 'n' roll ... song, and went on to tour internationally as the Principal ballerina with Raymond Gubbay, Strauss Gala Tour. Désirée created the original role
Clara in the groundbreaking multimedia The Nutcracker & I,
by Alexandra Dariescu, touring internationally throughout the 2018 -19 season.
She has also appeared in the feature films The Little Stranger, White Oak and Olga currently in production.
She choreographed and starred in the dance film Architectural Transformations at the Bauhaus in Dessau.
She has also devised movement and performed in live theatre events Byron is Dead - John Murray event, Degas- Royal Academy of Art, working with poet Pelé Cox.
In 2019 she co-produced and starred in the UK Arts Council awarded Variations on Cello Suite No. 2 by J.S Bach.
In the 2019-20 season Désirée joined the Badisches Staatsballet Karlsruhe as a Soloist.