Adam Cooper (dancer)

Adam Cooper (born 22 July 1971) is an English dancer. He works as both a performer and choreographer in musical theatre, and has choreographed and/or starred in award-winning shows such as On Your Toes, Singin' in the Rain and Grand Hotel. He began his professional career as a dancer of classical ballet and contemporary ballet and is a former Principal of the Royal Ballet, a major international ballet company based in London. He became internationally recognised for creating the lead role of "Swan/Stranger" in Matthew Bourne's contemporary dance production of the ballet Swan Lake, a role that was briefly featured in the 2000 film Billy Elliot, in which Cooper played the adult version of the titular character.

Adam Cooper was born 22 July 1971 in Tooting, London to a musician father and a social worker mother. He has an older brother, Simon Cooper, who is also a dancer and they trained at the same schools. From a young age, he and his brother studied tap and ballet at the Jean Winkler School of Dance in Tooting. They also played various musical instruments and sang in a choir. At age 11, Cooper won a place at ArtsEd, a specialist performing arts school in London where he studied classical ballet, character, modern, tap, jazz and contemporary dance, as well as singing, acting and stage combat. After completing his secondary education at the school, aged 16, he was accepted into the Royal Ballet Upper School. At his graduation performance he played the lead role of Young Man in Ashton's the Two Pigeons.

Cooper married Sarah Wildor in 2000. She was a principal dancer with the Royal Ballet She has become an Olivier-nominated actress. Their first child, a daughter, was born in 2008. They also have a son.

In 1989 Cooper joined the Royal Ballet and was quickly promoted to First Artist and Soloist in 1991, First Soloist 1993 and Principal Dancer in 1994. He was recognized for his performances in the classic as well as dramatic and contemporary ballet works, and he excelled in playing cruel but sexy villains. While with the Royal Ballet he worked extensively with choreographers Kenneth MacMillan and William Tuckett partnering all the leading ballerinas of the company including Sylvie Guillem and Darcey Bussell. He also performed works choreographed by George Balanchine, Ashley Page, Fokine, Bronislava Nijinska, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Christopher Wheeldon, Matthew Hart, and William Forsythe. He left the Royal Ballet in 1997 to freelance and expand his career opportunities.

In 1995 Matthew Bourne recruited Cooper to join Adventures in Motion Pictures (since renamed New Adventures) for his radically re-interpreted production of Swan Lake. Together they created the basic Swan movement motifs and Cooper also contributed to the choreography. Cooper performed the dual "Swan/Stranger" role (the analog of the white and black swan in the classic version) all over the world and his performances won him international acclaim, multiple awards and a strong fan following. Cooper's performance was described as one of "tremendous excitement, subtlety, emotional depth and sheer sexiness". The popular press embraced him and his photo appeared in many magazines.

For his performances as the "Swan/Stranger" he received the Time Out Award in 1995, the Evening Standard Dance Award in 1997 and the 1999 Astaire Award for Best Dancer. He was also nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical at the 53rd Tony Awards in 1999. He appeared briefly at the end of the 2000 film Billy Elliot as the adult version of the title character, who is seen performing the role of the Swan. A DVD recording of the Swan Lake with Cooper and the original cast was issued in 1996 and can be seen on Youtube.com. Excerpts from Swan Lake (Bourne) appeared at the 1998 Royal Variety Performance and he repeated his "Swan/Stranger" role for the TV audience. His performance in the Billy Elliot film and in the Swan Lake (Bourne) DVD inspired Liam Mower, then playing Billy Elliot in the West End stage production, to join New Adventures in the hopes of performing The Swan role. In 2003 Cooper once again played the "Swan/Stranger" when AMP toured in Japan, and there was enormous enthusiasm for his performance and he acquired a large number of new fans.

In 1997 Cooper was invited by Bourne to take part in the initial planning of AMP's next show, Cinderella. This version of the dance took place in London during the Blitz, but used the same Prokofiev music as the classic version. Cooper helped to create and performed the role of Pilot (the Prince analog) in the initial 1997 London run, also playing the Angel (the Godmother analog), opposite his partner Sarah Wildor, playing the title role. The production was also performed in Los Angeles in 1999.

In 1998 Cooper worked with the Scottish Ballet to choreograph Just Scratching the Surface. He also performed the Hoffmann role in their production of Tales of Hoffmann. Since then he has gone on to choreograph for other ballet companies and for musical theatre.