London Dance Award Nomination Gary Avis: 'Then he is amongst them, a larger than life figure, shaking magic dust from his hat, performing magic tricks—making marionettes dance, a boy fly and time stand still. Gary Avis, splendid character actor/dancer towering over them all, is made for the role. Sweeping cloak, grand gestures, but reassuringly warm.'

British Theatre Guide:“Then he is amongst them, a larger than life figure, shaking magic dust from his hat, performing magic tricks—making marionettes dance, a boy fly and time stand still. Gary Avis, splendid character actor/dancer towering over them all, is made for the role. Sweeping cloak, grand gestures, but reassuringly warm.”

Mark Ronan Review:“The rest of the cast was superb, with Gary Avis a restrained Tybalt, so provoked by the Montagues that he finally loses it. This is surely the right way to play Tybalt”

Gary Avis has had a resplendent year, no wonder the Critic’s National Dance Award chose him as their 2011 winner. From King in Sleeping Beauty, to narrator Drosselmeyer in the Nutcracker to his most recent role as Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet, Avis has received no end of praise from the National Press. In 1989, the Ipswich-born dancer’s ambition to become a musical theatre star was waylaid by the overwhelming offer of a place with the Royal Ballet. Having danced in over 2,000 performances for the company, and having been described as one of their greatest dancers, one imagines he has never looked back although the sentiment clearly remains, “Ballet may be high art but it HAS to be theatre too” – (http://www.garyavis.com/about/)

Gary has danced two seasons with the English National Ballet, co-founded K-Ballet in Japan and appeared in Channel 4’s Ballet Boyz and the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing.