Director of The Royal Ballet
England
Kevin O’Hare was born in Yorkshire. Having started dancing at an early age, he trained at The Royal Ballet School from the age of 11 and, through an exchange programme, The Royal Danish Ballet. On graduating he joined Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet under the direction of Peter Wright and was promoted to Principal in 1990 at the same time as the company relocated to Birmingham, becoming Birmingham Royal Ballet.
He retired from dancing in 2000 to work with the RSC, training in company management. He returned to BRB as Company Manager in 2001 and joined The Royal Ballet as Company Manager in 2004. He was appointed Administrative Director in 2009 and Director in July 2012.
He is on the board of The Royal Ballet School and Northern Ballet and is a Trustee of the Frederick Ashton Foundation and Patron of the Ballet Association and The Cecchetti Society Trust. In July 2014 he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Hull. He was appointed a CBE in 2018.