BETHANY KINGSLEY-GARNER
Scottish Ballet
I : F O U N D A T I O N
Looking back, what was your journey into dance? What path did you take to get to your first lesson? Was there a person or event that made a key contribution to your decision to begin your dance training?
I didn’t choose dance, dance chose me. I really feel it was there before I was even born. I could feel it in my veins waiting to develop. I just had to move and dance. Walking turned into dance. Music inspired me and carried me along. I have an older sister who was already enrolled in ballet lessons at our local school. As a younger child I would always be there peeking in, admiring it. The teacher once asked me to join in, and so I did. I then took regular lessons alongside studying the Cecchetti Method of classical ballet in my hometown of Devon. At the age of eleven I auditioned for the Royal Ballet School in London and was accepted. They take on average just 24 dancers at the final audition selections from the whole world so it felt like a tremendous achievement. I was so excited to go to a vocational ballet school and dance every day.
What from your childhood or adolescent home-life, family, or culture still impacts who you are as an artist today?
Definitely that my parents believed in me. They saw me develop and really believed ballet was something I can and should do. It felt natural. My parents enabling support and dedication was vital. To illustrate, while boarding at RBS, my mum would drive me home over 100 miles every weekend throughout my time there. She knew how much I wanted the training, life, and career as a ballet dancer, but that I also missed my family and wanted to be home with them when possible. The support in achieving both was invaluable. I was brought up with classical music playing in the home and my older sister playing the piano so the family home was a perfect environment for a budding ballerina.
When you were young, were there other things you wanted to do or be when you grew up?
I thought about being a vicar, even up until I was about the age of sixteen or seventeen. I enjoyed religious studies and attended church regularly as a child. I enjoyed being part of something bigger than myself. When asked about what I would miss most about retirement, It was that same feeling of being part of something bigger than myself. Dance can be compared to that, like being part of a huge family. Something much bigger than yourself, or even the immediate group around you. It encompasses the whole art form, and the energy it possesses—the power it has to transport and transcend the audience, and In a way, I still became a vicar, someone who delivers, but all through my heart.
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II : P R I N C I P A L
Once you began your formal dance training, what was your path to Principal Dancer? At what point did you decide to pursue it professionally and did you ever want to give up? If so, what kept you going?
I never once thought about giving up—never—even when times were tough and I got badly injured while I was in upper school at The Royal Ballet. The drive and passion I felt was far too strong. I had self belief, then, that energy what I had in me, I wanted to give that out. My time in the upper school is the point it got serious. Five years into my total training, it felt like the point of no return. The dancer finally starts to become the artist, and then the artist starts to become the creator around 10 years later.
I was in upper school for three years, graduating in 2007 with honours, which was a huge surprise as you don’t know your final exam results until graduation day. That honours grade kind of went over my head a bit at the time, but now, I look back and realise the true level of attainment and think, “wow . . . I really did give that everything”. No wonder my mum and dad have that certificate framed on the wall.
After my graduation performance I was offered a contract to join The Scottish Ballet Company by the previous director who was there watching. Becoming a dancer in a professional company straight from training is a step into the unknown. As a student in training you are often given some experience performing with the Royal Ballet Company, and for me, I performed in Swan Lake and The Nutcracker with very experienced well known dancers, and this experience prepared me in many ways. Joining a professional company as a graduate teenager you’re starting at the bottom of a very, very big mountain—you’re behind dancers who have been there for years: all ambitious and hungry for promotion. They might not all be technically as strong but they just have IT. And it's a whole learning process . . . learning that it's not just about what you produce, but about the quality you produce and the story you tell. I wanted the challenge so pushed myself and took everything on board that I could: I went to the rehearsals I wasn’t called to, sat in the wings and watched the principals, trained in the gym early mornings so my stamina was ready for when I needed it. I loved the feeling of what it was like to be under pressure, and that drove me. Then first came some little solo roles, and finally the chance at a principal role.
I think that’s the part really of no return, when you get to do your first principal role. Mine was Sugar Plum Fairy around 2014, still as an artist. And that changed everything. I was promoted to soloist after that season, and then two years later to principal. I got cast as Sugar Plum Fairy out of sheer hard work. There are of course many sacrifices that come with the journey, but they were sacrifices I was happy to make; it has to become your life. Sometimes you have to say no to things (socializing, etc.) but we have to be selfish in that way. You have to put that price on yourself because your body is your tool.
Hindsight is 20/20—What advice or words of wisdom would you have givenl to your beginning-career self?
Be patient, it’s worth it.
Stuff happens—Any stage mishaps or hazards you’ve had to deal with while performing live?
During The Crucible in 2014, I tore my ACL in my knee on stage. I couldn’t walk on it but I kept going, acting and marking through it almost, limping forward on a chicken leg at curtain call.
Hdo you keep yourself physically well and ready for the demands of class, rehearsals, performances?
Keep your head strong. Keep your mind strong. Your mind will go before your body—remind yourself of that. When you're tired, and you’re really nervous and you're feeling negative, put everything in its right place.
What are some of the best ways you recharge or recuperate?
Doing puzzles at home.
Any personal rituals around your classes, rehearsals, or performances?
I would sew my pointe shoes in every show. Half-hour call, I was there sewing shoes. I also like to listen to my favourite piece of classical music before a performance. Jupiter from Holst’s planet suite was the first piece of music to inspire me and still does to this day! It was even played at my wedding.
A career in dance is both a sprint and a marathon, all at the same time—what would you eliminate from the grind / daily process if you could wave a magic wand?
Rehearsal periods could be shorter, so you could get to your end destination sooner.
Any personal aims or goals for challenging yourself physically and/or artistically right now?
Physically, I always need quite high goals—running, anything with a big adrenaline rush—so even outside of ballet I still need something to help me reach a high physical threshold. Artistically, I love the personal challenge each night of a performance to see how far I can go in my mind, with my emotion in the role. Where is it going to take me? Is there something new to discover?
Is there a role or piece that has been special to you, if so, why?
I would say Cinders. I performed it in 2016 as a soloist—it was created on me—and again in 2024 as a principal. It was my final piece before retirement. I wanted to bow out in this special ballet. Having someone create the choreography and movement on you that knows you as an artist is an incredible experience.
Is there a role or work you felt like you didn’t get to explore, or wish existed but doesn’t yet?
No. I’ve done all the roles and things I’ve felt I was meant to do, but I feel there is still something there to give to the art form. And I know I’ll find it.
What still inspires you about dance today?
How it moves people emotionally and physically. And that it really can bring a sense of freedom. You can easily drift into another magical world when you watch or perform dance
“The dancer finally starts to become the artist, and then the artist starts to become the creator ”
III : B E Y O N D
Beyond your professional commitments, what else occupies your time and life?
Being a mother. It’s the best feeling ever and I feel blessed to have a beautiful daughter. My nurturing and mentoring the next generation of dancers.
What are some of your recommended top things to do for someone visiting Scotland, or Glasgow?
Absolutely the lochs—Scottish freshwater is incomparable—the clarity there and the calmness..
Where are you happiest outside of the world of dance?
Home.
If you had not pursued a career in dance, where do you think you would be today?
Either running a church, or running a marathon.
Where do you see the future of dance headed?
It is always going to be pushed—the classics, the dancers, the storytelling, how we tell stories, how we perform . . . but the one thing that will always remain is that the audiences will still get to be transported somewhere else, if even just for a moment. That’s what dancers do, they give. They give an experience, in a gift. So for me that will be the most important thing that will still remain.
What would someone be surprised to learn about you?
I love world (all-you-can-eat) buffets! Just the fact that you can mix an indian curry with a slice of pizza. What’s not to love?!
Is there something you wish more people would talk about in the world of dance?
That you can be a mother and a dancer! And it can be the norm.
What do you hope audiences will get from your dancing? What type of artist do you want to be remembered as?
Expressive, and joyful!
And I would love for audiences to receive that feeling as well, through the journey they get to experience as audience members.
Above all, I want to feel connected, via that unique, tangible alchemy that happens with the audience that can only happen during a live performance.
✦
GREENROOM
Hometown
Devon, England
Previously
Royal Ballet School
Notable
Dancer’s Critics Award London
for Outstanding Female Performance
Promoted to principal
2016
Height
5’ 4” (163cm)
Shoe/Maker
Freed (Club, Peter Moore)
Recommends
“The Golden Bird” by Brothers Grimm (Book)
any Agatha Christie murder mystery book
Instagram
@bethanykingsleygarner
X/Twitter
@bethanykgarner
TPD x BKG
G L A S G O W , S C O T L A N D , U K
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