ABOUT

Désirée Ballantyne-Grove is a maker, mover, and educator exploring the intersections of performance, research, and embodied storytelling.Trained at the Royal Ballet School and English National Ballet School, she joined English National Ballet in 1999, where she became a Soloist acclaimed for roles such as the Lilac Fairy (The Sleeping Beauty), Myrtha (Giselle), and Clara (The Nutcracker). She has performed across the world’s major stages, collaborating with visionary choreographers including Akram Khan, Russell Maliphant, Christopher Hampson, Jeroen Verbruggen, David Dawson, and Bridget Breiner.

Beyond classical repertoire, Désirée has forged a distinctive cross-disciplinary path. She originated the role of Clara in Alexandra Dariescu’s multimedia production The Nutcracker & I, performed with Michael Clark Company, and choreographed the dance film Architectural Transformations at the Bauhaus, Dessau. Her work extends into film (The Little Stranger, White Oak, Olga), theatre (Royal Academy of Arts, Byron is Dead), and music-driven collaborations including the Arts Council-awarded Variations on Cello Suite No. 2 by J.S. Bach.

Now an educator at English National Ballet School, Désirée’s practice is grounded in student-centred learning and research-led exploration. She designs frameworks that merge technique, imagination, and inquiry, guiding the next generation of artists to be not only performers but also thinkers and makers. Her current work explores how ballet can evolve beyond tradition — weaving movement, narrative, and innovation into new spaces for performance and learning.