Triumphs and Tragedies

Peter Wright made his debut as a dancer with Ballets Jooss during World War II. He created his first ballet, A Blue Rose, for Sadler’s Wells Theatre Ballet in 1957. Wright’s productions of the classics now feature in the repertories of companies around the world. In 1969 he joined The Royal Ballet as Associate to the Directors, later Associate Director. In 1990 Wright was presented with the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Award by the Royal Academy of Dance. In 1991 he was made a Fellow of the Birmingham Conservatoire of Music and received an Honorary Doctorate from London University. He was awarded a Knighthood (1993), an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from the University of Birmingham (1994), the De Valois Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance (2004) and the Centenary Award for Dance (2013). He is President of the Benesh Institute, a Vice-President of the Royal Academy of Dance and Patron of the London Ballet Circle.