Royal Ballet Soloist David Yudes to Depart The Royal Ballet

After 10 years with The Royal Ballet, Spanish dancer David Yudes has decided to leave the Company at the end of the 2023/24 Season in June. Yudes took a sabbatical in September 2023 and moved back to Spain to direct his mother's dance school, Escola de Dansa Marisa Yudes in Barcelona, and he has now decided to move back full time. 

Yudes started dancing aged four at his mother's dance centre and went on to the Académie Princesse Grace in Monaco. He joined The Royal Ballet as a Prix de Lausanne apprentice in the 2014/15 Season and entered the Company as an Artist in 2015. He was promoted to First Artist in 2017 and Soloist in 2019.

Kevin O'Hare, Director of The Royal Ballet, said:

‘David has had a wonderful career here as a Soloist with The Royal Ballet. He made his mark in so many key roles in the Company repertoire as well as being an integral part of the new work created during his time here. We will miss him, as I know audiences will too, and we wish him well for this next stage in his career.'

Yudes performed many role with the Company including Bluebird (The Sleeping Beauty), Jester (Cinderella), Benno (Swan Lake), Mercutio (Romeo and Juliet), Alain (La Fille mal gardée), Puck (The Dream), Gypsy Boy (The Two Pigeons), Blue Boy (Les Patineurs),  pas de six (Giselle), Beggar Chief (Manon), Hans-Peter/The Nutcracker (The Nutcracker), Bratfisch (Mayerling), Kolia (A Month in the Country) and in Carbon Life. He has created roles in Hofesh Shechter's Untouchable, Wayne McGregor's Woolf Works and The Dante Project and Christopher Wheeldon's Like Water for Chocolate.