Dancers

Ballet Master and Assistant to the Artistic Director

 

Born in the U.K., Bruce Sansom received his dance training at The Royal Ballet School, before joining The Royal Ballet in 1982 and rising through the ranks to become a principal dancer five years later. He performed all the major leads in the repertory including roles created on him by Richard Alston, David Bintley, Siobhan Davies, Sir Kenneth MacMillan, Ashley Page, and Christopher Wheeldon. Sansom guested with a number of companies including the Australian Ballet, Hamburg Ballet, and Scottish Ballet, in addition to the year he spent performing as a principal dancer with San Francisco Ballet for the 1992 Repertory Season. In 2000, he concluded his dancing career and spent two years in America; the first undertaking an extensive artistic director apprenticeship at San Francisco Ballet, the second earning the equivalent of an MA in arts management at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C, through what is officially known as the Arts Management Program. In 2002, he fulfilled a one-year contract as head of development for Rambert Dance Company. During summer 2004 in England, he created, directed, and presented An Evening of British Ballet: a program of works by seven British choreographers performed by five couples from The Royal Ballet. In addition to guest-teaching assignments, Sansom has worked as an independent arts producer, made regular contributions to Dance Now magazine, and served as a trustee of the Royal Academy of Dance and The Cecchetti Society Trust. In 2006, he was named the director of London's Central School of Ballet, where he served for three and a half years prior to returning to SF Ballet as Ballet Master and Assistant to the Artistic Director in July 2009.