Former Royal Ballet principal dancer Errol Pickford has died aged 51.
Born in Perth, Australia in 1966 he originally trained as a gymnast before moving to the UK and practicing ballet at the Hammond School and The Royal Ballet School.
He joined The Royal Ballet in 1984 and quickly excelled, becoming a soloist in 1986, first soloist in 1989 and principle in 1991.
He had a version of Romeo and Juliet created especially for him by celebrated dancer and choreographer Kenneth MacMillan, and made history by becoming the first ever Western dancer to partner Bolshoi ballerina Nina Ananiahvii at the Armenia Gala in London's Covent Garden. The performance was even broadcast on TV.
In 1997 he returned to Australia and became principle dancer for the Western Australia Ballet, before retiring and training as a teacher at the Royal Academy of Dance.
And he proved to be as influential a teacher as he was a dancer, working as Ballet Master and School Director for K Ballet in Japan for four years before becoming a guest teacher with the Birmingham Royal Ballet, The Australian Ballet, Rambert, Adventures in Motion Pictures and the English National Ballet.
Paying tribute to the Kevin O'Hare, Director of The Royal Ballet, paid this tribute: "Errol and I graduated from The Royal Ballet School in the same year and performed in the School performance of The Sleeping Beauty together where he was a fantastic Bluebird.
"He had a great career with The Royal Ballet, excelling in numerous roles. He was also the most lovely man and will be very much missed. Our thoughts and condolences are with his wife Olivia and daughter Polly and his family and friends at this very sad time."