Denilson Almeida

Brazilian dancer Denilson Almeida joined The Royal Ballet’s Aud Jebsen Young Dancers Programme from the start of the 2020/21 Season and entered the Company as an Artist in the 2022/23 Season. 

Almeida began his training at the Petite Danse School of Dance in Rio de Janeiro from the age of ten. In 2016 he was a finalist at the Youth America Grand Prix (YAGP) in New York, and in 2017 he competed at the Prix de Lausanne where he won the Rudolf Nureyev Artistic Prize and a scholarship to The Royal Ballet School. While at The Royal Ballet School, Almeida was awarded The Ballet Association Prize and his choreography for the Ursula Morton Emerging Choreographer programme was chosen to be further developed for the end of year performance in 2019. In his graduate year, he was awarded The Worshipful Company Of Gold and Silver Wyre Award for the male graduate who made the most progress in classical ballet training during their time at school. 

With The Royal Ballet School, he performed roles in Sylvia, Napoli Variation, Paquita pas de trois, The Two Pigeons, Ashton’s La Valse, and Goyo Montero’s Pulse. In 2020 he performed an excerpt from Ashton’s Rhapsody at the Ballet School Stars Gala in Rome and at the Prix de Lausanne, representing The Royal Ballet School. While a student he danced with The Royal Ballet on stage in MacMillan’s Manon, Kranko’s Onegin, The Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake. He also featured in the 2021 Meet the Young Dancers Insight streamed online. 

With the Company, he has performed in Kyle Abraham's The Weathering, alongside other numerous corps roles. He created a role in Untitled, 2023.