Meet our Choreographers

Julia Adam

Canadian born Julia Adam received her early training in her hometown of Ottawa, Ontario, and at age thirteen began studies at the National Ballet School in Toronto, graduating in 1983.

She spent the next five years honing her skills at the National Ballet of Canada. In 1988 Julia joined San Francisco Ballet, where she finished the remainder of her dancing career, gaining prestige as a principal dancer known for her lyricism, musicality and broad theatrical range. Julia performed a wide range of roles in Artistic Director Helgi Tomasson’s diverse repertory for the Company. She retired from dancing in Spring 2002.

After retiring, Julia was able to devote more time to her love and talent for choreography. She created her first ballet, The Medium is the Message, in 1993 for San Francisco Ballet’s Choreographic Workshop, drawing much attention for her uncanny wit and unique sense of movement. For the 1994 workshop, she created Once is Enough to the music of Bobby McFerrin and Yo-Yo Ma, which was subsequently performed at the 1995 opening of the new Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco.

In 1996 Marin Ballet commissioned Julia to create Where’s George?, and in 1997, she returned to create Butterfly’s Day Out. The Bay Area Dance Series “Summerfest Program” commissioned Adam to create Thirteen Lullabies, which premiered at San Francisco’s Cowell Theater in June of 1996. Thirteen Lullabies received Dance Bay Area’s Isadora Duncan Award for Choreography in 1997.

Julia created Innocence and Experience in 1997 and Allegoria in 1999 for Columbus, Ohio’s Ballet Met. 1998 saw a proliferation: Seven Ages in 3/4 for Robert Moses’ Kin; Chameleon for the Alberta Ballet; and Newton: Three Laws of Motionfor the Lawrence Pech Dance Company. Pech brought her back in November 2000 to create The Shroud, which Dance Magazine hailed as “fascinating.” In December 2000 Julia traveled to New York City to create Won for ABT II, and returned in 2001 for the New York premiere of The Shroud.

Julia collaborated with composer Matthew Pierce to create Night for San Francisco Ballet’s 2000 “Discovery Program.” Night premiered to such popular and critical acclaim that the company toured the ballet to the Paris Opera’s Palais Garnier in France, The Royal Opera House in London’s Covent Garden, and City Center in New York. She has since worked with Matthew to make Crossing for The Joffrey Ballet of Chicago in Fall 2001, and Reverence for the Cincinnati Ballet in Fall 2002. The success of Night prompted the subsequent commissions by San Francisco Ballet of Angelo in Spring 2002, and Imaginal Disc, another collaboration with Pierce, in 2003. In 2008 Julia created “a rose by any other name” for San Francisco Ballet’s New Works Festival, in celebration of  their 75th anniversary. In December of 2009 Julia’s created her first full-length ballet, The Nutcracker for Marin Ballet.

Julia has created over 60 works for numerous companies including San Francisco Ballet, Houston Ballet, Oregon Ballet Theater, Atlanta Ballet, Nashville Ballet and The Joffrey Ballet. Julia has created and staged 10 works on Ballet Memphis and was their Artistic Associate from 2010 to 2013. Julia continues to choreograph around the country and win critical acclaim for her work.

Liam Scarlett

Born in Ipswich, Liam Scarlett trained at the Linda Shipton School of Dancing and then The Royal Ballet School before graduating to The Royal Ballet in 2005.  He was promoted to First Artist in 2008, as a dancer his repertory included Alain (La Fille mal Gardée), Magdaveya (La Bayadère), Neapolitan pas de deux (Swan Lake), Golden Hours (Elite Syncopations), Gloria (Pas de Quatre), Chroma, Dancing Master (Cinderella), Beggar Chief (Manon) among others and worked with choreographers such as Wheeldon, Bintley and McGregor.

In 2012 he retired from dancing and was appointed Artist in Residence with The Royal Ballet. 

Whilst with the Royal Ballet he created Few Things Are (2005), Vayamos al Diablo and Despite (2006), for ROH2's In Good Company and for The Royal Ballet's New Works in the Linbury he created Of Mozart (2008), and Consolations and Liebestraum (2009) both of which were nominated for a Critics Circle Dance Award for best new Classical Choreography.  He returned to the Royal Ballet School in 2009 to create Danse Bohemienne and Toccata for the graduate students again for The Royal Opera House.  In 2019 he created Cunning Little Vixen for both Lower and Upper School students to be performed alongside the Royal Ballet at the Royal Opera House.

In 2009 he participated in the New York Choreographic Institutes Fall Program creating Gargoyles with members of New York City Ballet.  He has also participated in ROH2's Dancelines for three years led by Kim Brandstrup.  He was a member of the Jury for the 1st Beijing International Ballet and Choreography Competition in 2011.

His first commission for the main stage with The Royal Ballet, Asphodel Meadows (2010), was nominated for a South Bank Show Award, an Olivier Award, and won the Critics Circle Dance Award for best Classical Choreography.  He followed this with Sweet Violets (2012) a psychological dance drama based on the painter Walter Sickert and the notorious Jack the Ripper cases and went on to create his first full length work Hansel and Gretel (2013) in the Linbury Studio Theatre.  He worked closely with designer John Bausor who created a dark and unique twist to the old children’s tale.

He also was part of the creative team involved in The Royal Ballet and The National Gallery's Titian:Metamorphosis 2012, where he choreographed Diana and Actaeon (2012) working with Turner Prize Winner Chris Ofili.

In America he created and designed Viscera (2012) for Miami City Ballet, which entered The Royal Ballet repertoire later in 2012.  He also created and designed Euphotic (2013) for Miami City Ballet, his first scenic and costume design.

He created Gala works for The Royal ballet including Jubilee Pas de Deux (2012) for Her Majesty The Queen as part of the Extraordinary World Gala and a Grand Defile with members of The Royal Opera and The Royal Ballet for the International Olympic Committee set to Beethoven.  He also created Summertime (2015) in the Life Reimagined Gala

In 2013 he created Serpent for BalletBoyz:TheTalent, his first commission for a contemporary company followed by Promenade Sentimentale (2013) to music by Debussy for K Ballet.

In 2013, Liam created The Firebird for the Norwegian National Ballet, followed closely by Vespertine, his second commission, to which he also designed the costumes.

2014 brought a busy year of new commissions.  Linking up with John Bausor again, Liam created No Man’s Land for the English National Ballet, in memory of the centenary of the First World War receiving a nomination for this at the Critics Circle Dance Award 2015. Hummingbird - San Francisco Ballet.  Acheron - New York City Ballet.  With a Chance of Rain - American Ballet Theatre, and lastly Age of Anxiety for the Royal Ballet based on Leonard Bernstein's Symphony no. 2, inspired by W. H. Auden's epic poem.

In 2015, the Norwegian National Ballet commissioned him once again, this time for a three act Carmen with designs by John Bausor and music arranged by Martin Yates.  Followed closely by a new Co-Production of  A Midsummer Night's Dream for the Royal New Zealand Ballet and Queensland Ballet to great critical acclaim.

2016 brought another new commission for the San Francisco Ballet with Fearful Symmetries, a new position of Artistic Associate with the Queensland Ballet and lastly Frankenstein, his first main stage full length for The Royal Ballet, co-produced with the San Francisco Ballet.

2018 was the year Liam created the closing ceremony for the Commonwealth Games in conjunction with Queensland Ballet, The Queen of Spades, his first full length work for the Royal Danish Ballet and lastly a new Swan Lake production for the Royal Ballet.  For this, Liam worked with his original main stage designer John Macfarlene and to critical acclaim.

In 2019, Liam Scarlett created the full-length ballet Dangerous Liaisons, based on the novel by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, for Queensland Ballet, alongside Catch, his first commission for Atlanta Ballet. He later returned to San Francisco Ballet to create Die Toteninsel.

Liam Scarlett’s choreography fuses classical ballet vocabulary with a distinctly contemporary sensibility. Renowned for his musicality, theatrical detail, and emotionally driven storytelling, Liam emerged as one of the defining choreographic voices of his generation, continually pushing the boundaries of classical and contemporary form. His works, performed by leading companies worldwide, are distinguished by rich partnering, expansive movement, and refined musical coherence. Through an ability to draw profound emotional depth from his artistic collaborators, Scarlett created works of striking humanity that continue to shape and influence the contemporary ballet canon.