Royal Ballet Principal dancer Laura Morera will retire at the end of the season after a career spanning more than 27 years. Her final performance at the Royal Opera House will be on 17 June in Kenneth MacMillan’s Anastasia Act III, and she will perform on the company’s tour to Japan in Frederick Ashton’s A Month in the Country ending at the Tokyo Bunka Kaikan on Sunday 25 June and the City Cultural and Convention Centre in Himeji on Saturday 8 July.
Morera will return to stage and coach repertory for the company, including overseeing the ballets of Kenneth MacMillan for the MacMillan Estate.
Morera was born in Madrid and joined The Royal Ballet School aged 11. She joined The Royal Ballet in 1995, becoming Principal dancer in 2007, for which she performed numerous roles in ballets including 19th-century classics and works by Frederick Ashton, George Balanchine, Kim Brandstrup, Mikhail Fokine, William Forsythe, Kenneth MacMillan, Cathy Marston, Wayne McGregor, Ashley Page, Jerome Robbins, Liam Scarlett, Twyla Tharp, Will Tuckett and Christopher Wheeldon.
Director of The Royal Ballet, Kevin O’Hare, commented, "Laura has enjoyed a remarkable career with The Royal Ballet for almost three decades and it is hard to think of any part of our repertory that she hasn’t enriched. Her fantastic facility across different styles has made her a wonderful fit for both classical and modern repertory, and the vivid theatrical qualities that infuse her every performance have been an inspiration for choreographers.
"Beyond her final performances at the end of the season, I am thrilled that Laura will return to the company across the coaching and staging of various productions, bringing her artistry to the next generation of performers. Having valued working with Laura in this capacity, I know this augurs well for the future of The Royal Ballet."