David Bintley (1956–). British dancer, choreographer and director

David Bintley was born in Huddersfield in 1956. Fascinated by ballet and its dramatic power from the age of 12, he studied with local teachers before going to The Royal Ballet Upper School. While there he won a choreographic competition, which was judged by Kenneth MacMillan, as a result of which he was offered a contract with Sadler’s Wells (now Birmingham) Royal Ballet (SWRB) in 1976. Bintley was praised for his performances in such roles as Petrushka, Dr Coppélius (which he performed at his graduation performance in 1976), the Red King in Checkmate, Alain and Widow Simone in La Fille mal gardée and a Stepsister in Cinderella. His first major choreographic work, The Outsider, was performed by SWRB in 1978.

From 1986 until 1993 Bintley was resident choreographer for The Royal Ballet at Covent Garden, where an early success was ‘Still Life’ at the Penguin Café in 1988. This was followed by Hobson’s Choice for SWRB in 1989. In 1995 he was appointed artistic director of Birmingham Royal Ballet. He held this position until his retirement in 2019, by which time he had created ten full-length and 12 one-act ballets for them. From 2010 to 2014 he was also artistic director of the National Ballet of Japan.

During his choreographic career Bintley worked with a number of companies as well as BRB. He was particularly noted for his full-length ballets, such as Edward II, Arthur, Cyrano, Beauty and the Beast and The Tempest. He was appointed CBE in 2001 and was knighted for services to dance in 2020.