Cathy Marston Choreographer

Biography

After studying at Cambridge, Cathy Marston spent two years at the Royal Ballet School before embarking on a career spanning more than twenty-five years. She has been Artistic Director of Zurich Ballet since 2023. An Associate Artist at the Royal Opera House (2002–2007) and later Director of Bern Ballett in Switzerland (2007–2013), she developed her narrative approach in works such as Juliet and Romeo, Ein Winternachtstraum, Mrs Robinson (her adaptation of Charles Webb’s The Graduate), Snowblind (inspired by Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome), Jane Eyre (after Charlotte Brontë), Lady Chatterley’s Lover (after D.H. Lawrence), and Of Mice and Men (after John Steinbeck). She brings unusual perspectives to her biography-inspired works, including The Cellist, Victoria, and Witch-hunt.

She has won the South Bank Sky Arts Award for Best Dance Production for Victoria (Northern Ballet), the UK National Dance Award for The Cellist (The Royal Ballet) and The Suit (Ballet Black). In 2020, she received the Excellence Award from the International Dance and Theatre Institute. Cathy Marston has also embraced the digital stage: The Cellist, Victoria, and other short works have been broadcast live in cinemas and on television, and are available on DVD and digital platforms. Her film works include Bertha (Joffrey Ballet), Switchback (Ballet Unleashed), and Drift, in which she performs herself. Edward Kemp has played a key role in many of her works, co-writing scenarios with her for over twenty years.

Composers such as Thomas Newman, Philip Feeney, Terry Davies, Michael Daugherty, Matthew Hindson, and Gabriel Prokofiev have created scores for her works. She collaborates with designers including Michael Levine, Patrick Kinmonth, Hildegard Bechtler, Lorenzo Savoini, and Bregje van Balen. Her ballets have been performed by companies such as The Royal Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Joffrey Ballet, Houston Ballet, Northern Ballet, English National Ballet, Queensland Ballet, National Ballet of Cuba, Royal Danish Ballet, Ballet Black, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, and many more.

She has also founded two project-based companies: The Cathy Marston Project (UK) and Compagnie La Ronde (Switzerland), which toured Switzerland with a production titled 8, created in collaboration with four choreographers and commissioned by the Steps Dance Festival in 2022.

Currently in

Immerse in the Paris Opera universe

Corporate Partnerships