Cynthia Harvey

Cynthia Harvey (born May 17, 1957) is an American former ballet dancer, ballet mistress and educator. She joined the American Ballet Theatre (ABT) in 1974 and was promoted to principal dancer in 1982. In 1986, she joined The Royal Ballet, becoming the company's first American principal dancer. She returned to ABT two years later, and retired in 1996. She then started teaching and staging ballets across the world. Between 2016 and 2022, she was the artistic director of the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School, the affiliated school of ABT.

Early life and training Harvey was born on May 17, 1957, in San Rafael, California, and raised in Novato. When she was ten, she attended a summer ballet class at a local YMCA. Recognising her talents, the teacher suggested Harvey's mother to have her train for ballet seriously. Harvey then trained with a local teacher, while spending summers at the San Francisco Ballet School and School of American Ballet on scholarship, and performed with both local and visiting ballet companies. In 1980, when Natalia Makarova staged her version of La Bayadère, Harvey was chosen to dance the role of Gamzatti at the premiere.

Harvey was named principal dancer in 1982. the title role in Giselle, Nikiya in La Bayadère, Juliet in MacMillan's Romeo and Juliet, the title role in Baryshnikov's Cinderella, as well as in Paquita and Les Sylphides.

In 1986, Harvey left the American Ballet Theatre to join The Royal Ballet in London, and became the company's first American principal dancer. At the Royal Ballet, she performed various classical ballets, works choreographed by Frederick Ashton, and originated a role in Bintley's Still Life at the Penguin Café. She was a head of the jury at the Prix de Lausanne ballet competition in 2015.

She co-wrote the book Physics of Dance & the Pas de Deux. She stepped down from the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School in May 2022. She continues to teach, coach and stage ballets, and became a consultant for To the Pointe, a British arts management company.

Personal life Harvey has a child. She moved to England after she retired from performing. Prior to her joining the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School, she was based in Norwich.