Deborah Bull

I spent 20 years as a dancer with The Royal Ballet, becoming Principal Dancer in 1992. Since 2002 I have been Creative Director of ROH2.

ROH2 aims to increase the range and diversity of art, artists and audiences engaging with the Royal Opera House, and to provide a laboratory for the art forms of the ROH, encouraging creativity, collaboration and innovation. ROH2 offers a wide ranging menu of performance and events in the alternative spaces of the ROH, as well as live Big Screen relays of The Royal Opera and The Royal Ballet and a programme of activity around the country 'On the Road'.

I have always been involved in a range of activities in addition to my work on the stage. I taught nutrition at the Royal Ballet School, and established the Royal Opera House Artists' Development Initiative in the Clore Studio Upstairs; I've written three books: The Vitality Plan, Dancing Away and The Faber Guide to Ballet; I've written and presented several programmes and series for the BBC; I was a member of Arts Council England, and served on the board of the South Bank Centre for six years. I'm passionate about the potential of the arts to change lives, and am a patron of both the Foundation for Community Dance as well as Escape Artists, an organisation which uses the arts to build a bridge from the social margins to the cultural mainstream.