Nicola Tranah trained at The Royal Ballet School and for three weeks at the Paris Opera School. She joined Dutch National Ballet in 1982 before joining The Royal Ballet in 1984 where she remained for 19 years until 2003.
Promoted to First Soloist in 1991, her repertoire included a wide range of principal roles. She create roles in Macmillan’s Winter Dreams and Prince of the Pagodas, Bintley’s Prometheus, Penguin Café, and Planets, and has worked closely with acclaimed choreographers Ashton, Tetley, Robbins, Forsythe and van Manen.
After leaving The Royal Ballet she toured to Japan with Sylvie Guillem. She subsequently danced the role of the Queen in Mathew Bourne’s Swan Lake, the principal dancer in Nixon in China with English National Opera and in 2007 she danced in Darcey Bussell’s Farewell Gala. She has also guested twice with K Ballet in Japan.
Nicola attained her RAD PDTC in 2005 and taught ballet at the Millenium Performing Arts College from 2005-9, when she joined the ballet staff at The Royal Ballet School where she taught till 2025. She is now a freelance teacher.
