Céline Gittens

Born: Trinidad and grew up in Vancouver, Canada

Trained: With her mother Janet Gittens and at Vancouver’s Goh Ballet Academy

Joined: 2006; Principal, 2016

Awards: Royal Academy of Dance Solo Seal, 2004; Gold Medal and Audience Choice Awards, Genée International Ballet Competition, 2005; Prix de Lausanne finalist, 2006; MPhil from the University of Birmingham, 2012.

Choreography: I started choreographing solos for myself at the age of 15 for local competitions in Vancouver. Most recently I choreographed a pas de deux for Dance Mash, a multi-disciplinary choreographic workshop based at Birmingham Royal Ballet. Choreography is definitely an interest of mine that I would like to pursue.

Guest performances: I performed The Sleeping Beauty Grandpas de deux and the Romeo and Juliet balcony pas de deux at the International Festival of Miami (2018). It was a wonderful to connect with dancers from around the world. In 2019 I had an unforgettable experience working with The Australian Ballet where I performed the Queen of Hearts in Christopher Wheeldon's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and also the Sugar Plum Fairy in Sir Peter Wright’s The Nutcracker.

Proudest off-stage moment: In 2011, I was invited to Buckingham Palace to celebrate young performers in the arts. The event was a dream come true and I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to meet her Majesty the Queen. Equally, it was an honour to be invited to Buckingham Palace in 2016 to perform Swanilda (Coppélia) in the presence of HRH Prince Charles.

REPERTORY INCLUDES

Carlos Acosta: Don Quixote (Kitri)
Frederick Ashton: La Fille mal gardée (Lise), Daphnis and Chloë (Nymph, Pirate, Shepherdess), Dante Sonata (Lead Child of Light) and The Two Pigeons (Gypsy Girl)
George Balanchine: Apollo (Terpsichore),(Symphony in Three Movements, Serenade (Dark Angel), Slaughter on Tenth Avenue (Striptease Girl).
David Bintley: The Prince of the Pagodas (Empress Épine), Beauty and the Beast (Vanité), The Shakespeare Suite, Carmina burana (Fortuna), Sylvia (Diana), The Dance House, 'Still Life' at the Penguin Café ('Now Nothing'), E=mc² ('Mass', 'Energy'), Faster, Take Five ('Two Step'), Aladdin ('Diamond'), Cinderella ('Summer') and David Bintley and Galina Samsova's production of Giselle (Title role)
Michael Corder: Le Baiser de la fée (The Fairy)
John Cranko: Card Game (Ace of Spades)
Mikhail Fokine: The Firebird (Princess) and Petrushka (Nursemaids)
Kit Holder: Small Worlds,Quatrain and The Breath We Took
Joe Layton: The Grand Tour (Theda Bara)
Pontus Lidberg, Raúl Reinoso, Cassi Abranches: Black Sabbath – The Ballet
Kenneth MacMillan: Elite Syncopations ('Alaskan Rag', 'Bethena Concert Waltz'), Concerto (Second movement) and Romeo and Juliet (Juliet)
Juliano Nunes: Interlinked
Rudolph Nureyev: Raymonda Act III (First Variation)
Marius Petipa: Giselle (title role), Paquita
Twyla Tharp: Nine Sinatra Songs ('One For My Baby', ''Somethin' Stupid'), In the Upper Room (Crossover Girl).
Ninette de Valois: Checkmate (Black Queen)
Christopher Wheeldon:Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Queen of Hearts) with Australian Ballet
Peter Wright:The Nutcracker (Sugar Plum Fairy, Rose Fairy, Snow Fairy, Arabian Dance), Coppélia (Swanilda), The Sleeping Beauty (Princess Aurora)
Peter Wright and Galina Samsova:Swan Lake (Odette/Odile)