William Bracewell

Welsh dancer William Bracewell is a Principal of The Royal Ballet. He joined The Royal Ballet as a Soloist in 2017 and was promoted to First Soloist in 2018, Principal, 2022.

Bracewell was born in Swansea. He trained at the Pamela Miller Ballet School and, from the age of 11, at The Royal Ballet School. Awards while a student include the 2007 Young British Dancer of the Year Award and the grand prix at the 2010 Youth America Grand Prix. He joined Birmingham Royal Ballet in 2010, promoted to first artist in 2012 and to soloist in 2014.

His repertory with The Royal Ballet and BRB includes Romeo, Prince Siegfried (Swan Lake), Polixenes (The Winter's Tale), Prince (The Nutcracker), Franz (Coppélia), Oberon (The Dream), Prince (Cinderella), Ferdinand (The Tempest), Salamander Prince (David Bintley’s The Prince of the Pagodas), First Seminarian (Carmina Burana), Prince Florimund (The Sleeping Beauty) pas de six (Giselle), Rajah/Caterpillar (Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland), Ted Feltham (The Unknown Soldier), Kulygin (Winter Dreams), Beliaev (A Month in the Country), Dr John Brown (Like Water for Chocolate) and roles in Dances at a Gathering, Symphonic Variations, Tombeaux, Obsidian Tear, Les Rendezvous, Elite Syncopations, ‘Still Life’ at the Penguin Café, Theme and Variations, Untouchable, Sylvia, Asphodel Meadows, Corybantic Games, Woolf Works and DGV: Danse à grande vitesse.

His role creations for BRB included Le roi soleil (Bintley’s The King Dances), Alexander Whitley’s Kin and Jessica Lang’s Lyric Pieces. He has created roles for The Royal Ballet in Yugen, Corybantic Games, Dispatch Duet, The Weathering and Untitled, 2023.

Bracewell's other awards include Outstanding Male Performance (Classical) at the 2015 Critics Circle National Dance Awards.