Iain Webb
 Iain was born in Yorkshire England and started ballet at the age of 14. A year and a half later, at the age of 16, he moved to London to attend The Rambert School of Ballet and after two years there was offered a place at The Royal Ballet School. While he was at the School, he worked as a student extra with the Sadlers Wells Royal Ballet and was subsequently offered a full time position with the company. His principal repertoire included Sir Frederick Ashton's Oberon in The Dream, the Young Man in The Two Pigeons, Colas & Alain in La Fille mal Gardee, Franz in Sir Peter Wright's production of Coppélia, The Prince and Benno in Swan Lake, The Bluebird & Pas de Quatre in Sleeping Beauty, and Kay in David Bintley's The Snow Queen. Other Leading roles include Michel Fokine's Les Sylphides & Petrushka, George Balanchine's The Prodigal Son, Hans van Manen's Five Tangos and Rudolf Nureyev's Pas de Quatre in Raymonda Act III.
In 1989 he transferred to The Royal Ballet Covent Garden to perform character roles which included the role of Bottom in Sir Frederick Ashton's The Dream, The Small Sister, Dancing Master & Napoleon in Cinderella, and Mrs Tiggy-Winkle and Pigling Bland in The Tales of Beatrix Potter. He danced many of Sir Kenneth MacMillan's ballets including The Doctor in Different Drummer and a Client in Manon and also performed the role of Sancho Panza in Michel Baryshnikov's production of Don Quixote. In 1996 Iain retired from the Royal Ballet, but was invited back as a guest artist to give three farewell performances as the Small Sister in Ashton's Cinderella. After retiring as a dancer, Iain was invited by Matthew Bourne to be Rehearsal Director for The West End, L.A. and Broadway seasons of his innovative production of Swan Lake and he continued to work with Matthew on his production of Cinderella.
In 1999, Iain was asked by Tetsuya Kumakawa to join his newly formed K-Ballet Company in Japan as his Ballet Master and two years later he became the Assistant Director. During this time he also worked with many international stars including Adam Cooper, with whom he co directed The Adam Cooper Company and organized their tour to The Kennedy Center in Washington DC. Likewise he co-produced with Johan Kobborg the London performances of Out of Denmark and staged Roland Petit's Carmen Pas de Deux for Alessandra Ferri & Julio Bocca for American Ballet Theatre's 65th Anniversary Gala. Throughout Iain's career he has produced and directed many International performances which included presenting dancers from The Royal Danish Ballet, The Paris Opera Ballet, New York City Ballet and Stuttgart Ballet to name a few, He has been guest teacher for White Oak Project, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Rambert Dance Company, as well as master classes and workshops for The Royal Ballet School, Rambert School, London Studio Centre, Central School of Ballet and English National Ballet.
In January 2007, Iain was invited to be the Director of the Sarasota Ballet and for the next few months, while still in Japan, planned the 2007 – 2008 season programming. Iain arrived in Sarasota in July 2007 and during this first season Iain introduced eleven new ballets to the repertoire, most of which have rarely been seen in America and never in Florida. The Season opened in November with performances of George Balanchine’s Allegro Brillante and Sir Frederick Ashton’s The Two Pigeons. This programme immediately raised the company’s profile nationally and internationally. The season also included Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s Las Hermanas and Elite Syncopations, Hans van Manen’s Grosse Fuge, Andre Prokovsky’s Vespri, David Bintley’s Scottish Dances and Dominic Walsh’s Wolfgang for Webb. A special highlight was Matthew Bourne’s, The Infernal Galop, which gave the Sarasota Ballet the distinction of being the first company in the world to include a Bourne ballet in its repertoire.
Iain’s second season was again one of many firsts, with twelve ballets added to the repertoire, including two world premieres. Other ballets were Renato Paroni’s Rococco Variations, Antony Tudor’s Lilac Garden, Robert North’s Troy Game, Dame Ninette de Valois’ Checkmate, Dame Alicia Markova’s production of Les Sylphides, John Cranko’s Pineapple Poll, Sir Frederick Ashton’s Les Patineurs, George Balanchine’s Divertimento No. 15, Andre Prokovsky’s Anna Karenina and Dominic Walsh’s The Trilogy: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. One of many significant performances of the Season was in January 2009 when the Company performed Dame Ninette de Valois’ The Rake’s Progress and became the only American company to ever perform this ballet. The last time The Rake’s Progress was seen in America was when The Royal Ballet performed it while on tour in New York in 1946.
Under Iain’s direction the company has received critical acclaim in The New York Times, Sarasota Herald Tribune, The Observer, Orlando Sentinel, Dancing Times (London), St. Petersburg Times and The Bradenton Herald. The 2009 – 2010 Season will include Sir Peter Wright's production of Giselle staged by Margaret Barbieri and The Royal Ballet Principal dancers, Alina Cojocaru and Johan Kobborg, as guest artists.
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