Interview with Xander Parish OBE

Named by Variety Magazine as one of their “10 Brits to Watch 2025,” we were delighted to catch up with Covent Garden Dance Company favourite, Xander Parish, to discover more about his recent acting debut and who he will be partnering at Ballet Under The Stars, 2025.

Biography:
Xander was born in East Yorkshire, England, and began dancing in Hull at the age of 8. He graduated from the Royal Ballet School in 2005 and joined The Royal Ballet in Covent Garden. In 2010, Xander made history as the first British dancer to join The Mariinsky Ballet in St. Petersburg, Russia, and was promoted to Principal dancer in July 2017 after the opening night of Swan Lake during the Mariinsky Ballet’s London season at Covent Garden.

His awards include the Positano Premia La Danza Léonide Massine Emerging Dancer on the International Scene Award, Best Young Male Dancer at the 1st Taglioni European Ballet Awards, and Outstanding Male Performance (Classical) for Apollo at the UK Critics’ Circle National Dance Awards. In 2017, the University of Hull awarded Xander an Honorary Doctorate, and in 2019, he was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours list for services to dance and UK-Russia Cultural Relations. In 2025, he was knighted by the Royal Order of Francis I of the Two Sicilies for achievements in the arts.

Photo credit: Carla Rhea

Xander has been a guest artist with companies including the Kremlin Ballet, Stanislavsky Ballet, English National Ballet, Opera National Bucharest, and American Ballet Theatre. In 2021, he launched the ballet training platform balletclass.com. From 2022 until 2024, he performed with the Norwegian National Ballet as a Principal Dancer. In November 2023, the company invited him to create and stage his own version of Raymonda Act III, titled “Raymonda Suite,” for 26 dancers.

In September 2022, Xander became Artistic Director of Reunited in Dance and has staged performances in prestigious venues internationally, beginning with the Segerstrom Centre for the Arts in Orange County, Festival Napa Valley, and most recently Teatro della Pergola in Florence as part of the New Generation Festival.

What you are currently working on aside from preparing for Ballet Under The Stars?

Back in September 2024, I made my acting debut in a new play called "The Gates of Kyiv" based on the life of the Soviet pianist Maria Yudina. It was my first time speaking on stage acting opposite Stockard Channing and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. This play had its try out period at the Theatre Royal Windsor and now the producers want to transfer the production to the West End. I'm currently waiting for the dates to be fixed, but I hope that this will be one of my next projects.

Can you please tell me how long you have been working with the Covent Garden Dance Company?

That's a great question! I've had the pleasure of knowing Matt for quite a long time now and he's become not just someone I love working with but a great friend too. I think I worked with Covent Garden Dance Company for the first time in early 2018 when Matt put on a fabulous show in Dubai.

What is special about the Covent Garden Dance Company - what makes you return for more?!

Well that's easy - Matt! He's not just a great person to work with but always gives the artists a good time. Also, he doesn't just create a good show, he brings together a really nice group of people so it's always fun to be involved in his productions. 

Photo credit: Andrej Uspenski

What are you looking forward to most about performing at Hatch House again?

Dancing in the British countryside is something absolutely unique and special - even when it's occasionally wet it has a charm so irresistible that one can only want to return for more, and that goes for the audience as well as the performers! I'm certainly looking forward to returning again. 

Xander & Katya dancing George Balanchine’s Diamonds at Hatch House, 2024

What will you be performing and with whom?

This year, I'm bringing a new ballerina to Hatch House - Joy Womack. Joy and I have been friends for many years having met in Russia. Joy has quite an extraordinary story of her own as the first American ballerina to graduate from Moscow's Bolshoi Ballet Academy and join the Bolshoi Theatre. The expat community in Russia was extremely small during the time I was working in St Petersburg's Mariinsky Theatre so naturally Joy and I became friends. She's a ballerina of great tenacity and I've been delighted to include her in the performances which I have curated and staged for Reunited in Dance around the world.

I'm very happy that, thanks to Matt, I now have the opportunity to introduce Joy to Hatch House and vice versa! We will be performing two beautiful classic pieces - an extract from Fokine’s “Firebird” and the Rose Adage from act 1 of "The Sleeping Beauty" (helped out by a few other cavaliers from amongst the cast!)

When you’re dancing these works how does it make you feel, what do you hope the audience feels?

I believe that ballet is an extension of the music and it's the music that creates the feelings and atmosphere that the dancing thrives within. It was George Balanchine who said, "See the music, hear the dance", and how right he was. I love ballet because I get the opportunity to perform within these amazing pieces of music. I feel it and I hope the audience does too.

Photo credit:Natasha Razina

You will be performing alongside some wonderful artists from all around the world this year, who are you most looking forward to dancing alongside?

There will be a fair few of my former colleagues from The Royal Ballet performing so I shall look forward to catching up with them.

Many children will be coming to watch the rehearsal on the 24th July - how important are these opportunities for future generations of dancers?

Some of those children could be the part of the next generation of professional dancers so it is extremely important that they have the opportunity to watch and discover this extraordinary art form at a young age. Even for those who will not go on to be professionals, it will shape their development as they grow and learn so I believe it is very important.

Can you tell us three things people don’t know about you?

I have a great love of photography and I especially love using 35mm film. I actually had an exhibition in St Petersburg of backstage photos that I took at the Mariinsky Theatre which was great fun to organise!

I run a website called balletclass.com where I invite my colleagues from around the ballet world to teach their own ballet and training classes. I set it up during the pandemic as I wanted to gain some skills in entrepreneurship and learn how business works. It's been a side project ever since, from which I've learned many useful lessons.

I have a dog, a white multipoo called Winston. He may be little in size, but he has a big personality and has the big name to match!