Derek Deane (1953-). British dancer, choreographer and director
Derek Deane came from Cornwall and was trained at The Royal Ballet School. He joined The Royal Ballet in 1972, becoming a soloist in 1977 and principal in 1980. He danced many of the leading male roles and worked choreographers that included Frederick Ashton, George Balanchine, Kenneth MacMillan, Glen Tetley and Hans van Manen. He created roles in MacMillan’s Mayerling, Isadora and Valley of Shadows. Deane also began choreographing on the company during the 1980s, including Fleeting Figures in 1984.
After his retirement from The Royal Ballet in 1989, Deane worked for the Rome Opera Ballet as resident choreographer and assistant to the director between 1990 and 1992, building on his previous choreographic output during his dancing career. In 1993 he became artistic director of English National Ballet (ENB), a post he held until 2001, though Deane continued to work for the company from time to time after that. For ENB he created versions of the classics including Giselle and The Nutcracker, as well as works of his own such as Strictly Gershwin. For ENB he also mounted in-the-round productions at the Royal Albert Hall, starting with Swan Lake in 1997.
On leaving ENB, Deane continued to work as a choreographer for companies around the world, in Europe, Japan, China and the United States of America. He has also acted on stage and for television. Derek Deane was appointed OBE for services to dance in 2000.