Lara Turk

South African dancer Lara Turk is a First Artist of The Royal Ballet. She joined the Company as a First Artist in 2007. She has created roles with the Company in ballets including Sensorium, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Metamorphosis: Titian 2012 and Carmen. 

Turk was born in Durban and trained with Dudley Von Loggenberg and Noleen Nicol. She studied with English National Ballet School 2000–03 and graduated into Playhouse Dance Company, where her repertory included Swanilda (Coppélia). She later moved to Cape Town City Ballet, dancing roles including Veronica Paeper’s Carmen, Snow Queen (The Nutcracker) and fourth song (Four Last Songs). She was named Best Newcomer and Outstanding Female Performer by Cape Town Balletomane Society. 

Turk’s Royal Ballet repertory includes Lilac Fairy, Fairy of the Crystal Fountain and Florestan pas de trois (The Sleeping Beauty), Arabian Dance (The Nutcracker), Terpischore (Sylvia), Courtesan (Manon), white couple (Les Patineurs), Isabel Fitton (Enigma Variations), Lise’s Friend (La Fille mal gardée), Dryad (Don Quixote), D’jampée dancer (La Bayadère), Natasha (Winter Dreams), pas de action (The Prince of the Pagodas) and roles in Requiem, Song of the Earth, Scènes de ballet, Rhapsody, La Valse, The Dream, Concerto, Gloria, Mayerling, The Rite of Spring, Las hermanas, Jewels, Symphony in C, Serenade, Ballo della regina, Agon, Theme and Variations, Onegin, La Sylphide, Raymonda Act III, DGV: Danse à grande vitesse, Tryst, The Winter’s Tale and ‘Still Life’ at the Penguin Café. Turk has worked as a model in both the London and Paris fashion weeks, and is a qualified Pilates teacher.