Dame Monica Mason is a distinguished figure in the world of ballet, having served as Director of The Royal Ballet from 2002 to 2012. Trained at The Royal Ballet School, she joined the Company at the age of 16 as its youngest member, going on to enjoy an acclaimed performing career before taking on a series of influential leadership roles.
Monica became a Principal in 1968 and performed an extensive repertoire of classical and dramatic roles. In 1962, she was selected by choreographer Kenneth MacMillan to create the demanding role of the Chosen Maiden in The Rite of Spring. She went on to originate several other major roles in his works, including Lescaut’s Mistress in Manon, Calliope Rag in Elite Syncopations, Summer in The Four Seasons and the Midwife in Rituals.
Monica’s leadership career at The Royal Ballet saw her appointed Répétiteur to Kenneth MacMillan in 1980, Principal Répétiteur in 1984 and Assistant Director in 1991, before becoming Director in December 2002. In 2006, she and Christopher Newton revived the Company’s iconic 1946 production of The Sleeping Beauty to mark its 75th anniversary.
In recognition of her services to dance, Monica was appointed an OBE in 2002 and made a Dame Commander in 2008. She became Chairman of The Royal Ballet Benevolent Fund in 2014 and was appointed Patron of Encore Dance at Tring School for the Performing Arts and Vice-President of the Royal Academy of Dance in 2019.