Simone Clarke
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Simone Clarke (born 1970 in Leeds, Yorkshire) is an English ballerina, performing as a principal dancer with the English National Ballet (ENO).
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[edit] Career
Clarke trained at the Royal Ballet School (1981-1988) and then joined the Birmingham Royal Ballet where she was promoted to the first soloist in 1995. In 1998 she joined the English National Ballet. During the company's tour of China in 2000 she performed the role of Odette/Odile in Swan Lake as a guest dancer, and became senior soloist in that year. In 2003 she advanced to principal dancer. She has performed as Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, and as Cinderella and as Aurora in Sleeping Beauty. She is the partner of fellow ENO dancer Yat-Sen Chang with whom she has a four-year-old daughter, Olivia.
[edit] Controversy
In an undercover investigation, The Guardian newspaper reported on 21 December 2006 that Simone Clarke was a member of the far-right British National Party. [1] Clarke, in response to the British media's coverage of this, defended her personal political affiliation, stating that "the BNP is the only party to take a stand against immigration".[2] She has since faced calls to be sacked from the English National Ballet by the campaign group Unite Against Fascism.[2] The Guardian later reported that Clarke said she had received "nearly 300 emails supporting me" since her membership became public.[3]
On 30 December 2006, Clarke gave her first major interview with the Mail on Sunday.[4]
On 12 January 2007, around 40 people staged a protest outside the London Coliseum theatre, where Clarke was to perform that night playing the lead in the romantic classic "Giselle" in her first performance since the Guardian's reporting on her BNP membership.[5] A counter-protest group was led by Richard Barnbrook, the BNP local councillor for the London constituency of Barking.
[edit] References
- ^ Inside the secret and sinister world of the BNP. The Guardian.
- ^ a b Storm grows over 'BNP ballerina'. BBC News.
- ^ BNP ballerina defies rising clamour to sack her. The Guardian.
- ^ The BNP Ballerina. Mail on Sunday.
- ^ 'BNP ballerina' returns to stage. BBC News.
