Michael Coleman (1940-). British dancer and character artist

Michael Coleman was born in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, in 1940. After working a photographer’s assistant, he trained at The Royal Ballet School. He joined The Royal Ballet Touring Company in 1959 and the main company at Covent Garden in 1961. He was made principal dancer in 1968.

Over a very long career as both a virtuoso dancer and a demi-caractère artist, Coleman has performed an immense number of roles, of all different sorts. These range from the Blue Bird in The Sleeping Beauty to Colas in La Fille mal gardée, from Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet to the Messenger of Death in Song of the Earth; and the Husband in Jerome Robbins’ The Concert, for which he was particularly esteemed by the choreographer. Coleman created a role for Kenneth MacMillan in Elite Syncopations and was outstanding as Jeremy Fisher in Frederick Ashton’s film The Tales of Beatrix Potter. From 1995 Coleman has worked with English National Ballet as a character artist. He was appointed an MBE for services to dance in 2022.