Biography

English dancer and teacher Samantha Raine is Senior Ballet Mistress of The Royal Ballet. She trained at The Royal Ballet School and graduated into the Company in 1997. She was appointed Ballet Mistress in 2012, promoted to Senior Ballet Mistress in 2019, and retired as a dancer later in the 2012/13 Season.
Raine was born in Yorkshire and began dancing at the age of two. She trained at her mother’s school, Kirkham Henry Performing Arts, before joining The Royal Ballet School White Lodge. While a student she was awarded the Kenneth MacMillan Choreographic Award in 1995 and the first Dame Ninette de Valois Award in 1998. After joining the Company she was promoted to First Artist in 2001 and to Soloist in 2006, during which time her repertory included roles in Mayerling, Tales of Beatrix Potter, Les Patineurs, The Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, The Nutcracker, La Sylphide, Giselle, Agon, In the middle, somewhat elevated, My Brother, My Sisters, Dances at a Gathering, Infra, Chroma, Ballo della regina, Song of the Earth and Polyphonia.
As Ballet Mistress Raine plays an important role in coaching the corps de ballet and other dancers, among other responsibilities. Her work as a choreographer includes a short ballet for White Lodge, A Little Princess for London Children’s Ballet and in The Royal Ballet’s Draft Works.
News and features
What does a ballet mistress do?
The traditional image of a ballet mistress is of a harsh disciplinarian, but the reality is somewhat different.
Watch: Behind the scenes on Giselle
Another chance to see the backstage films screened as part of our live cinema relay.
Behind the scenes: Rehearsing La Bayadère’s Kingdom of the Shades
Ballet Mistress Samantha Raine on learning one of the most enduring sequences of classical ballet.
Photos
Samantha Raine, Marianela Nuñez, Romany Pajdak and artists of The Royal Ballet in Serenade, The Royal Ballet

Philip Mosley as Widow Simone and Francesca Filpi, Samantha Raine, Vanessa Fenton and Kristen McNally as Clog dancers in La Fille Mal Gardee

Nathalie Harrison, Samantha Raine and Anna Trevien in rehearsal for The Nutcracker, The Royal Ballet

Hikaru Kobayashi and Samantha Raine as Blue Girls in Les Patineurs.

Samantha Raine in Chroma, The Royal Ballet

World Ballet Day 2019, The Sleeping Beauty rehearsal

Samantha Raine

Dawid Trzensimiech and Samantha Raine in Polyphonia

Samantha Raine and Rupert Pennefather in Chroma.
