Brandon Lawrence


Bradon Lawrence is a ballet dancer currently First Soloist with Ballet Zürich. Lawrence was previously Principal with the Birmingham Royal Ballet.

Early years

Lawrence trained locally with Penny Murray and Andie Nydza. Nydza encouranged Lawrence to get involved at the Yorkshire Ballet Seminars, where he caught the attention of Marguerite Porter MBE. Porter arranged an audition for him at the Royal Ballet School's White Lodge where he was accepted at the age of 14. He later went on to study at the Royal Ballet Upper School under the direction of Gailene Stock CBE AM.

Career

On graduating, Lawrence joined Birmingham Royal Ballet in 2011. He was promoted to First Artist, 2014; Soloist, 2016; first Soloist, 2018; and Principal, 2019. Lawrence joined Ballett Zürich for the 2023/24 season as 1.Solist:in under the direction of Cathy Marston.
In June 2020, Lawrence launched an online choreography challenge alongside bbodance "to stimulate students' creativity and support their psychological wellbeing during lockdown." In 2021, he graduated from bbodance's Dance Teaching Qualifications program with distinctions and joined the board at Elmhurst Ballet School. Lawrence is a Patron of Voices of British Ballet, New English Ballet Theatre, bbodance and has his own line of dancewear in collaboration with Dansez.
Lawrence co-created GradPro along with Julie Bowers in 2022 as a platform for young graduates to be seen by companies and directors and to provide mentoring and coaching.
Lawrence co-hosts Open Barre Podcast alongside Julia Dixon.

Repertoire

Carlos Acosta: Don Quixote

Frederick Ashton: The Dream, Les Rendezvous, La Fille mal gardée

George Balanchine: Apollo, Serenade, Slaughter on tenth avenue

David Bintley: Cinderella, The Prince of the Pagodas, Beauty and the Beast, Far from the Madding Crowd, Carmina Burana, The King Dances, Faster, Aladdin, 'Still Life' at the Penguin Café, Flowers of the Forest, E=mc², Tombeaux, The Shakespeare Suite and David Bintley and Galina Samsova's production of Giselle, Hobsons Choice, The Tempest

Edward Clug: Radio and Juliet

Michael Corder: Le Baiser de la fee

John Cranko: Pineapple Poll and Card Game, The Taming of the Shrew

Jiri Kylian: Forgotten Land

Jessica Lang: Lyric Pieces, Wink

José Limón:The Moor's Pavane

Kenneth MacMillan: Pavane, La Fin du jour and Elite Syncopations,

Romeo and Juliet, Concerto

Cathy Marston: Atonement, the Cellist

Vincente Nebrada: Our Waltzes

Juliano Nunes: Interlinked

Valery Panov: Liebestod

Uwe Scholz: The Seventh Symphony

Twyla Tharp: In the Upper Room

Will Tuckett: Lazuli Sky

Ninette de Valois: Checkmate

Didy Veldman: Sense of Time

Alexander Whitley: Kin.

Sir Peter Wright's production of The Nutcracker Coppélia and The Sleeping Beauty, and Peter Wright and Galina Samsova's production of Swan Lake.

Created roles

Lawrence created Robbie in Cathy Marston's Atonement, the principal role in George Williamson's Embrace, Pan in Ruth Brill's Arcadia, La Grâce in David Bintley's The King Dances, Alexander Whitley's Kin, Red Couple in Juanjo Arqués's Ignite, and roles in Didy Veldman's Sense of Time, Jessica Lang's Lyric Pieces and Wink, Jack Lister's A Brief Nostalgia, Miguel Altunaga's City of a Thousand Trades and Juliano Nunes's Interlinked.

Guest performances

International Ballet Festival of Miami, 2018; Move It 2018/19 ; Guest artist with Cape Town City Ballet ; Frederick Ashton's Les Patineur and Veronica Paeper's Romeo and Juliet. Has appeared on the BBC in The King Who Invented Ballet: Louis XIV and the Noble Art of Dance, the CBeebies 'What's in your bag' BBC, Channel 4's Sunday Brunch and Classic FM.

Awards