Conor Walmsley
At the age of twelve, Conor Walmsley acted, sang and danced the role of Billy Elliot, in a production by Northern Theatre, in Hull, England. “It was on a much smaller scale than the one in London, but it was a big thing for Northern England standards. And I come from the same region as Billy, so that made it even more fun.” At the time, Conor had only just started musical theatre classes, after taking violin lessons for a few years. “Although I had a gift for violin, in the end I wasn’t keen on the idea of practicing on your own for years and standing rather cramped in one position.” Neither was he very keen, at the start, on the ballet classes he had to take in preparation for his Billy Elliot adventure. “It seemed like a punishment. I liked musical, jazz and other flashy dance styles, and standing at a barre doing exercises felt like almost the opposite.”
‘I have to do this!’
He was bitten by the ballet bug later on, however. “I received attention from the teachers and I got used to the hyper-concentration and tunnel vision that ballet demands. I also found it fascinating to discover that one tiny correction or adjustment can make a world of difference.” His parents, who were both teachers, immediately supported him through thick and thin – unlike Billy Elliot’s father – when Conor realised he wanted to be a dancer. “Even though it was a far from obvious choice at that time in Northern England, with classmates who were mostly into rugby.”
From the age of fourteen, Conor went after school five days a week to the LWHS School of Dance in Hull, a forty-minute bus ride from his hometown of Beverley. On Saturdays, he also did a masterclass with Northern Ballet in Leeds, and one in York as well. “It was a lot, and it was tough, but at that age you don’t let it bother you. You just think: I have to do this!”
Magical
Two years later, Conor was accepted for the English National Ballet School, in London, straight after his first audition round. But after just one year there, he switched to the Dutch National Ballet Academy, prompted by one of his teachers and by a performance by Dutch National Ballet, who happened to be dancing Christopher Wheeldon’s Cinderella in London that year. “The way the dancers moved – particularly Anna Tsygankova as Cinderella – was so refined and chic. I was totally wowed!”
At the Dutch National Ballet Academy, Conor received the personal attention he had sometimes missed in London. “The ballet academies there have a very good reputation, but in my view it’s often more about prestige there than about the needs of each individual student. At the Dutch National Ballet Academy, besides the attention given to technique, there was a much greater focus on artistry, and on repertoire and partnering. And at my first end-of-year performance, I danced John Neumeier’s Yondering, which was really magical!”
Initially, he was less happy about living in Amsterdam. “In London, I had the best time ever, and at first Amsterdam felt like a village in comparison. Added to that, most of my classmates still lived at home and often in another town, so I spent a lot of time on my own. And especially as I’d had to persuade my parents to let me take this step, I sometimes thought at the beginning, ‘shit, what if I’ve made the wrong decision?’”
Grooving with Bill
When he was accepted for Dutch National Ballet’s Junior Company in 2017, however, those thoughts were long gone. “The switch to professional practice was tough, as there were lots of performances, but I had a wonderful time with the Junior Company. An important thing I learnt there was that you have to monitor yourself continually as a professional dancer. Only when you take good mental and physical care of yourself can you achieve things at any moment and persevere if necessary.”
These are insights that have served him well since he moved to Dutch National Ballet, in 2019. Particularly, he says, in a ballet like Toer van Schayk’s 7th Symphony. “I danced my first big role in that work, and it was a fantastic journey of stamina and artistry. I didn’t know you could be so ‘dead’ just halfway through a ballet, yet still push yourself even further. That discovery, experiencing that power within you, is such a cool feeling.” The same applies, he says, to the work of David Dawson. “David pushes you beyond limits in a way you’d never have believed possible. I don’t know how he does it, but through his work he transports you to a state of being that brings incredible satisfaction.”
Another of Conor’s most memorable moments is working personally with William Forsythe on his Pas/Parts 2018. “I’d already seen the ballet when I was with the Junior Company, and it’s really insane how musical, intelligent and inventive the choreography is. And then a couple of years later to be urged to let rip to Thom Willems’ music by Bill himself was just so special. All I could think was, ‘Oh my god, I’m grooving in the studio with Bill’. It doesn’t get any cooler than that!”
The purest version of yourself
As a soloist, Conor prefers to dance ballets into which he can pour his heart and soul, rather than the purely technical Petipa classics. Examples include John Neumeier’s La dame aux camélias, but also Giselle and Romeo and Juliet. “I love it when dancers really have something to say on stage. When they have a clear picture of what they want to convey and believe in it and go for it one hundred percent. It’s not about showing off your technique. It’s about revealing your soul and your own identity, or going all out for who you want to be and to portray at that moment. So before each performance, I try to ‘simplify’ myself, as it were. To leave behind all the worries of the world and my personal worries, so I can reveal the purest version of myself. And so that I can feel free and light on stage, completely devoted to my passion – in any role whatsoever.”
Text: Astrid van Leeuwen
CV
Place of Birth:
East Yorkshire (United Kingdom)
With Dutch National Ballet since:
2017
Career with Dutch National Ballet:
Soloist (2025), grand sujet (2024), coryphée (2022), Corps de Ballet (2020), Élève (2019), Junior Company (2017)
Training:
LWHS School of Dance (Hull, United Kingdom), English National Ballet School (London, United Kingdom), Dutch National Ballet Academy (Amsterdam, the Netherlands)
Last update: 13-10-2025