Joseph Caley

Caley was born in Hull.[1] He started dancing when his mother sent him to the same dance school his sister went, and had two afternoon sessions per week.[2] He was then sent to audition for the Royal Ballet Lower School and was accepted. He later progressed to the Upper School.[2]

In his second year at the Royal Ballet Upper School, Caley was invited by Birmingham Royal Ballet's then-artistic director David Bintley to join the company, but the school's director at the time Gailene Stock convinced him to have one more year of training,[2] before he joined the company in 2005, and became a principal dancer in 2011.[1] Among the ballets he danced lead roles in are Giselle, Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker and Cinderella.[1]

In July 2017, Caley announced that he would joined the London-based English National Ballet as a principal for "diversity of repertoire."[2] In the first few months in the company, the roles he danced included Romeo in Nureyev's Romeo and Juliet, James in La Sylphide, The Man in Song of the Earth.[3] In December that year, his promotion to lead principal was announced at backstage, following a performance of The Nutcracker, in which he danced The Nephew. The promotion was effective the following month.[3] One of the lead roles he had danced since was Des Grieux in Manon.[4]

He made an appearance with the Birmingham Royal Ballet in June 2018.[5] Other guest appearances he made includes Miyako Yoshida's Stars Dancer Ballet in Japan, The Australian Ballet, and at the opening of Hull UK City of Culture 2017.[3]