Interview with Sarah Lamb

Having just completed a run of sublime performances at the Royal Ballet & Opera House as Juliet in Kenneth Macmillan’s Romeo & Juliet, and ahead of her debut appearance at Hatch House 25-27 July, 2025, we were delighted to interview Principal dancer of the Royal Ballet, Sarah Lamb.

Sarah is an internationally acclaimed Principal Dancer with the Royal Ballet. She joined the company in 2004 as a first soloist and was promoted to principal after eighteen months.

Photo credit - Andrei Uspenski

Sarah’s roots lead back to Massachusetts. She was born in Boston and trained with Madame Tatiana Nicolaevna Legat at the Boston Ballet School. In 1998 she was named a Presidential Scholar in the Arts and awarded a gold medal by President Clinton and performed Sleeping Beauty Act III at the Kennedy Center in 1998. Her many awards include three silver medals at the Third Japan International Ballet Competition in Nagoya (1999), the USA International Ballet Competition (2002). She was awarded the highest medal at the New York International Ballet Competition (2000).

Lamb’s repertory with the Company includes all the leading roles in the classical, dramatic and contemporary repertories as well as the masterpieces of Sir Frederick Ashton and Sir Kenneth McMillan. She created the title role in Wayne McGregor’s Raven Girl and roles in his ballets Carbon Life, Live Fire Exercise, Limen, Chroma, Tetractys, Woolf Works, Multiverse, Yugen and The Dante Project. She also has created roles for the Company in Christopher Wheeldon’s The Winter’s Tale and Electric Counterpoint, Ratmansky’s 24 Preludes, David Dawson’s The Human Seasons and Twyla Tharp’s Illustrated ‘Farewell’.

Sarah has performed at the World Ballet Festival in Tokyo in 2015, 2018 and 2024 and is known by audiences across the globe. In 2023 Sarah received the Positano award for Best Female Dancer.

We cannot wait to watch Sarah grace the Hatch House stage on 25, 26 & 27 July 2025.

Photo credit - Andrei Uspenski

What you are currently rehearsing or performing?

I just finished Romeo and Juliet and am preparing for some performances in Mexico in a couple of weeks. I'm really looking forward to performing in Mexico again; it has been several years since I was there.

What motivated you to join the Covent Garden Dance Company to perform at Hatch House this July?

William Bracewell invited me, and I will always jump at an opportunity to dance with William! We performed for the first time together last summer at the World Ballet Festival, and we had a wonderful partnership, I'm looking forward to dancing together again this summer.

What will you be performing?

William and I are performing Ashton's Cinderella pas de deux, which we performed last summer in Tokyo, and an excerpt from Marius Petipa’s Shades Pas de Deux, from La Bayadère, which is a ballet William hasn't previously performed. 

Photo credit - Andrei Uspenski

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

It's always interesting to perform somewhere new, we are always in London so there are many parts of the UK that I have never seen! 

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

Prokofiev's music for the Cinderella pas de deux in Act 2 is sublime and I hope the audience feels the same as I do when I perform. It is glorious. The pas de deux from La Bayadère is one of longing. Nikiya is a vision to Solor, and he is reunited with her in this otherworldly realm. She needs to exude these qualities of intangible beauty.

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

I don't know the final cast list but it will be exciting to see some familiar faces or meet new artists!

Photo credit - Andrei Uspenski

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

I think rehearsals are a wonderful way to introduce new audiences. I think rehearsals can be more interesting to watch than performances! Young dancers especially feel closer to the work and the art, and it is so unique to be able to do what you love - for a young dancer to realise his/her dream is edifying. 

What is your favourite role to dance?

That's not a fair question there are too many!

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

I love to read, and I take time every day to read the New Yorker Magazine. 

I used to love drawing, and I still do from time to time though I am not good at finding time for it.

I still don't have a driver's license which is rather remarkable as I lived in America until I was in my early 20s! 

Photo credit - Andrei Uspenski.