David Wall, the youngest ever principal at the Royal Ballet, has died of cancer at the age of 67.
Wall became principal dancer at the Royal Ballet in 1966 at the age of 21, becoming the youngest male principal in the Ballet's history. He danced regularly with Dame Margot Fonteyn throughout his career.
Wall joined the Royal Ballet School at the age of 10 before spending seven years at the Royal Ballet Touring Company, as principal from the age of 19. He then joined the main company at Covent Garden.
After retiring in 1984, Wall became associate director of the Royal Academy and in 1995, he became ballet master at the English National Ballet.
There is a statue of Wall on London’s South Bank.
On Twitter, English National Ballet Director and dancer Tamara Rojo wrote ‘yesterday we dedicated our performance of Swan Lake to the memory of David Wall, great artist, maestro and friend’.
Emily Clark