Melissa Hamilton

Melissa Hamilton (born 2 August 1989) is a Northern Irish ballet dancer and a First Soloist with the

Hamilton was born in Belfast and spent most of her childhood in Dromore, County Down. Her father is a builder and her mother is a pre-school teacher. Her sister is an architect and her brother is a primary school teacher.^[2] She started dancing at age four. She attended Dromore Primary School and Banbridge Academy, and left the latter after she finished her GCSEs.^[3] Until that point, the only training Hamilton had are once-a-week classes. At age 16, she was awarded a scholarship and entered Elmhurst Ballet School in Birmingham, where she trained for two years. During her first year, she was told she would not be able to catch up. However, in her second year, she was taught by Masha Mukhamedov (wife of Irek Mukhamedov), who believed she could have a career in dance. When Mukhamedovs moved to Athens, Hamilton followed them to train privately with Masha for 10 months.^[4][5]

Career

In 2007, at age 18, she competed at the

Hamilton has also performed internationally, including Roberto Bolle's Italy tour and Mikhailovsky Ballet’s 85th anniversary in St Petersburg, partnering Bolle.^[4]

Writing of Hamilton's performance as Juliet in Kenneth MacMillan's Romeo and Juliet, The Observer's critic Luke Jennings wrote, "What really marks Hamilton out is the articulacy of her line. Here, she is all singing, expansive curves […] And if her acting can seem understated, it's never less than natural. In Act 3, she signals her unravelling with an immense weariness, and its final moments with a slow, sad unfurling of her arms."^[8]

Selected repertoire

Hamilton's repertoire with The Royal Ballet and Semperoper Ballett includes:^[1]

Personal life

Hamilton is married to Michael Christou, a property developer, interior designer and cofounder of a property development company called 1.61 London.^[3]

Awards and other achievements

• Outstanding Female Performance (Classical) at the 2009 Critics’ Circle National Dance Awards, 2011
• Gold medal in the Eighth International Seoul Ballet Competition, 2011
• Allianz Arts and Cultural Brand Ambassador for Northern Ireland, 2013

References