Sir David Bintley trained at The Royal Ballet School and joined Sadder’s Wells Royal Ballet in 1976. In 1978, he created his first professional work for the company, The Outsider. As a dancer, his roles include Widow Simone and Alain in La Fille mal gardée, Bottom in The Dream and the title role in Petrushka, for which he was awarded the 1984 Laurence Olivier Award for Dance. Other accolades include a Manchester Evening News Award for Dance, a coveted South Bank Award and a Barclays TMA Award for the staging of a Balanchine mixed programme.