Artistic Director - David Nixon

Born in Chatham, Ontario, David Nixon trained as a dancer, first in his hometown and then at the National Ballet School of Canada where his training began in earnest. It was during his time there that he first became interested in choreography, helping to revive a choreographic workshop with the approval of school director Betty Oliphant. After further training in Europe he returned to Canada to train with Erik Bruhn and the great Russian teacher, Eugene Valukin.

Nixon’s career began at the National Ballet of Canada where he progressed rapidly through the ranks to become a principal dancer, dancing lead roles in the classical and contemporary repertoire. In 1985 he joined the Deutsche Oper Ballet in Berlin as principal dancer where he won the Critics Award for Best Male Performance (1987) and continued to increase his own choreographic output. This included producing and directing a successful mixed programme - David Nixon’s Liaisons - at the Hebbel Theatre, Berlin in 1990.

Nixon left Berlin for a series of principal guest artist positions with National Ballet of Canada, Bayerisches Staatsballett, Munich and Royal Winnipeg Ballet before returning to Deutsche Oper Ballet in 1994 as first ballet master. His guest artist credits also include: Birmingham Royal Ballet; Komische Oper; Deutsche Staatsoper; Hamburg Ballet and Sydney City Ballet.
In 1994 David became Artist Director of BalletMet in Columbus, Ohio USA, During his six-years with the company he added sixteen world and fifteen company premieres to the repertoire. Companies in Canada, the USA and South Africa have since staged David’s productions.

David came to NBT in 2001 and has revitalised the company, adding an impressive array of new works into the repertoire including the hugely popular Madame Butterfly, the Gershwin extravaganza, I Got Rhythm, Swan Lake, A Midsummer’s Night Dream, Peter Pan, Dracula and The Three Musketeers. His fresh and original take on Sleeping Beauty, A Sleeping Beauty Tale brought a new audience to NBT when it premièred in Leeds in January 2007. The Nutcracker had its world première in Manchester in October of the same year. David’s World Première of Hamlet was in Leeds in February 2008.