Christopher Akrill

Christopher Akrill was born in York, and trained at The Northern Ballet School. He started his career in the UK with The Scottish Ballet 1989-90 and Northern Ballet Theatre 1990-94 and then continued to dance abroad in Malmö Ballet (Sweden) 1994-95, Hannover Ballet (Germany) 1995-97, Deutsche Oper Am Rhein (Düsseldorf, Germany) 1997-98 and Cullberg Ballet (Stockholm, Sweden) 1998-2010. During his time with Cullberg Ballet, Mr. Akrill took leave of absence from the company in 2005 and moved to London to work with choreographer Cathy Marston in her adaption of Ibsen's Ghosts at the Linbury ROH2, playing the role of Captain Alving. After this he performed the leading roll of Pinocchio in Will Tuckett's production of Pinocchio again at the Linbury ROH2. Chris was an original cast member in the Olivier-Award-winning production of the musical Cabaret at the (Lyric Theatre) on the West End, directed by Rufus Norris and choreographed by Javier De Frutos. He played the role of Victor and understudied and performed the leading role of the Emcee. Chris Akrill has danced many roles including Prince Siegfried in Mats Ek's Swan Lake, Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet, Carabos in Sleeping Beauty, Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, The Presenter in A Study Of Entertainment, directed and choreographed by Alexander Ekman with the Cullberg Ballet. He has worked with a great variety of choreographers including Mats Ek, Jiri Kylian, Ohad Naharin, Crystal Pite, Alexander Ekman, Javier De Frutos, Didi Veldman, Frantic Assembly, Hans Van Manen, Johan Inger, Rui Horta, Stijn Celis, Christopher Gable, Massimo Morricone and Yuri Vamos. Mr. Akrill recently received two awards in Sweden: the Christer Holgersons Award from the Carina Ari Memorial Foundation and the Riksteatern Award for his artistic contributions and excellence in dance. After his retirement from the Cullberg Ballet in December 2010, he moved back permanently to his home country where he continues his career as a freelance artist. He has since performed in Hans Christian Andersen's fairytale The Most Incredible Thing directed by Javier De Frutos and written by The Pet Shop Boys at Sadlers Wells Theatre. He most recently performed in the modern opera Dr Dee directed by Rufus Norris and written by Damon Albarn at the Manchester International Festival.