Calvin Richardson

Australian dancer Calvin Richardson is a Principal of The Royal Ballet. He trained at The Royal Ballet Upper School, joined the Company in 2014, was promoted to First Artist in 2017, Soloist in 2018, First Soloist in 2021 and Principal in 2024. 

Richardson grew up in Traralgon and started dancing aged five. With an initial interest in tap and musical theatre, he turned to ballet aged 14 when he began to study at The Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School. After becoming a finalist of the 2012 Prix de Lausanne he was awarded a full scholarship to study at The Royal Ballet Upper School. 

His roles since joining the Company include Oberon, Polixenes (The Winter's Tale), Des Grieux, Espada (Don Quixote), Prince (The Nutcracker), Step-Sister (Cinderella), Bluebird (The Sleeping Beauty), Romeo (Romeo and Juliet), Benno (Swan Lake), Albert de Belleroche (Strapless), the Mad Hatter, Gardener (Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland), Peter (Judas Tree), pas de six (Giselle), ‘Emeralds' (Jewels), The Instrument (The Cellist), Evans (Woolf Works). He has also performed roles in The Human Seasons, Chroma, Symphonic Dances, Asphodel Meadows, Concerto and The Statement. He has created roles in Crystal Pite’s Flight Pattern and Lig, t of Passage, Wayne McGregor’s Untitled, 2023, Multiverse, Obsidian Tear, Yugen and The Dante Project, Joseph Toonga's See Us!!, Hofesh Shechter’s Untouchable and Kyle Abraham's The Weathering. 

Richardson also has a strong interest in choreography. In his graduate year at The Royal Ballet School, he was asked to create his own rendition of the famous solo piece, The Dying Swan. It went on to be performed in the school’s annual graduate performance on the Royal Opera House Main Stage and has been performed on tour with the Company at the Lincoln Centre, New York, for the Deloitte Ignite 14 in the Paul Hamlyn Hall and in various gala performances around the world. His later work includes Good People in the Erik Bruhn Prize in 2016, Intractable in the International Ballet Gala, Melbourne, various works in The Royal Ballet’s creative season, Draft Works, and a short piece created for Principal dancer, Lauren Cuthbertson.