Yasmine Naghdi is a ballet dancer with The Royal Ballet and winner of the 2009 Young British Dancer of the Year.

Born in London, she started training at the Royal Ballet School

Royal Ballet School

The Royal Ballet School is one of the most famous classical ballet schools in the world and is the associate school of the Royal Ballet, a leading international ballet company based at the Royal Opera House in London...

 as a Junior Associate in 2002 and joined The Royal Ballet School, White Lodge, in 2004, aged 12. She was selected by the Director Gailene Stock to represent The Royal Ballet School in an exchange programme with the Vaganova Ballet Academy in St Petersburg and was awarded the "Progress and Endeavour Prize for Classical Ballet" in 2007. She features in the BBC documentary "The Magic of Swan Lake" in collaboration with Darcey Bussell

Darcey Bussell

Darcey Andrea Bussell CBE is a retired English ballerina. Trained at the Arts Educational School and the Royal Ballet School, she was later employed by the Royal Ballet, where she was promoted to the rank of Principal Dancer and would become recognised as one of the greatest English ballerinas of...

. As a student, she worked with The Royal Ballet dancing in Cinderella

Cinderella (Prokofiev)

Cinderella is a ballet, Op. 87, composed by Sergei Prokofiev to a scenario by Nikolai Volkov. It is one of his most popular and melodious compositions, and has inspired a great many choreographers since its inception. The piece was composed between 1940 and 1944. Part way through writing it he...

, Swan Lake

Swan Lake

Swan Lake ballet, op. 20, by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, composed 1875–1876. The scenario, initially in four acts, was fashioned from Russian folk tales and tells the story of Odette, a princess turned into a swan by an evil sorcerer's curse. The choreographer of the original production was Julius Reisinger...

, The Nutcracker

The Nutcracker

The Nutcracker is a two-act ballet, originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov with a score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The libretto is adapted from E.T.A. Hoffmann's story "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King". It was given its première at the Mariinsky Theatre in St...

, Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet (Prokofiev)

Romeo and Juliet is a ballet by Sergei Prokofiev based on William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet. It is one of the most enduringly popular ballets...

, Sleeping Beauty and La Fille mal gardee

La Fille Mal Gardée

La Fille mal gardée is a comic ballet presented in two acts, inspired by Pierre-Antoine Baudouin's 1789 painting, La réprimande/Une jeune fille querellée par sa mère...

.

She progressed to the Upper School in September 2008 and was awarded the 1st Prize in the "Young British Dancer of the Year" competition in March 2009. She progressed from 1st Year straight into 3rd Year, the Graduate Year. A few months later she was offered a contract with The Royal Ballet, aged 17, and joined the Company in April 2010. During her brief time in the Graduate Year, she danced Kenneth MacMillan

Kenneth MacMillan

Sir Kenneth MacMillan was a British ballet dancer and choreographer. He was artistic director of the Royal Ballet in London between 1970 and 1977.-Early years:...

's Concerto, 2nd Movement, at the John Neumeier

John Neumeier

John Neumeier is a well-known American ballet dancer, choreographer, and director. He has been the director and chief choreographer of the Hamburg Ballet since 1973. 5 years later he founded the Hamburg Ballet School, which also includes a boarding school...

 Gala in Hamburg, in Toronto and Tokyo. She was invited to dance at the Birmingham Royal Ballet

Birmingham Royal Ballet

Birmingham Royal Ballet is one of the three major ballet companies of the United Kingdom, alongside the Royal Ballet and the English National Ballet....

 20th Anniversary Gala, March 2010, in the presence of HRH Prince Charles.

Soon after joining The Royal Ballet, she danced in the World Premiere of Liam Scarlett's Asphodel Meadows, Symphony in C

Symphony in C (ballet)

Symphony in C, originally titled Le Palais de Cristal, is a ballet made by New York City Ballet co-founder and balletmaster George Balanchine to Bizet's Symphony in C , which he wrote at the age of 17 while studying with Charles Gounod at the Paris Conservatory...

, One Shade The More choreographed by Vanessa Fenton and for the Charity Ashanti Development danced the Pas de Deux Dream Study – Tenderness, created by Erico Montes.

Repertoire 2010–2011 Season

Onegin;
La Valse: "Waltzers";
Theme and Variations;
Sylvia: "Attendants";
Cinderella: "Stars";
Giselle: "Wilis";
Les Patineurs: "Pas des Patineurs";
Swan Lake: "Polonaise" "Swans" "Czardas";
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland: "Flower Waltz", "Card Dance";
Trio Sonata: Pas de Deux with Sergei Polunin (choreography by Valentino Zucchetti),
Create by Kristin McNally, Apple Store;
Manon: "Harlots";
Ballo della Regina;
DGV;
Voluntaries;
Rite of Spring;