Harrison James

Principal Dancer

Harrison James View Gallery

Quick Facts

Born: Paraparaumu, New Zealand
Trained: San Francisco Ballet School’s Trainee Program in California and the New Zealand School of Dance
Joined: 2013
Principal Dancer Since: 2016

Harrison James is sponsored through Dancers First by Lucy White. 

 

Five Things to Know

  1. 1Harrison has a great passion for plants. As an amateur potted plant lover, he has an impressive indoor jungle and considers himself a ‘plant daddy’.
     
  2. 2Other than the stage, Harrison’s favourite place is anywhere in the water. He is completely passionate about swimming and is a veritable water baby.
     
  3. 3Harrison considers himself an introvert. One of his favourite things is to spend time alone and enjoy his own company. He is also incredibly neat and tidy and believes everything has its own place. 
     
  4. 4Harrison’s repertoire includes Eurydice in Orpheus Alive, Leontes and Polixenes in The Winter’s Tale, Prince Florimund in The Sleeping Beauty, Romeo in Romeo and Juliet, Peter/The Nutcracker in The Nutcracker and Albrecht in Giselle.  
  5.  
  6. 5
  7. In 2019, Harrison won the Rolex Dancers First Award for his performances as Alexei Vronsky in Anna Karenina, the title role in Apollo and Oberon in The Dream, one of his favourite ballets.

 

Favourite Ballets

  1. 1The Dream
     
  2. 2The Sleeping Beauty
     
  3. 3Jewels
     
  4. 4The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude
     
  5. 5Angels’ Atlas

 

 

Videos

 

Reviews

La Sylphide
“James gave his character a faintly aristocratic aura… [his] virtuoso solos [were] executed with attentive consideration for the very particular buoyancy of Bournonville style”
– Toronto Star

The Sleeping Beauty
“Harrison James was my kind of Prince Florimund: strong, elegant, introspective, then alternately a little arrogant and sweet… There’s emotional sensitivity in his work and then personality, too… steps seem like an effortless extension of his volition and he takes over the whole stage.”
– The Globe and Mail

Chaconne
“Harrison James, the most dependable and assured of partners, tackled the devilishly fleet-footed solo work assigned to him with typical elegance.” 
– Toronto Star