Amy Hollingsworth was born in Australia. She trained at the Australian Ballet School where she was awarded the Marilyn Rowe Maver Scholarship. After graduating she joined the Royal New Zealand Ballet in 1994. In 1995 she was promoted to soloist and in 1996 to principal. In 1997 Amy joined Peter Schaufuss Ballet as a principal dancer and performed as a guest artist with MBT Dansteater. In April 2000 she joined Rambert Dance Company. In January 2005 Amy won the Critic’s Circle Dance Award for Most Outstanding Female Artist for her work with Rambert Dance Company. Amy left Rambert in April 2006 to be a founding member of Bonachela Dance Company. The company’s first show toured internationally to critical acclaim. Amy has since been appointed Assistant Artistic Director as well as continuing in her role as a dancer. The company’s second show is now currently touring Europe, UK and South America. During her career she has danced many leading roles including Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, Firebird in The Firebird, Scheherezade in 1001 Nights, Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty, Clara in The Nutcracker, Titania in Midsummer Night’s Dream, Ophelia in Hamlet, Swanhilda in Coppelia, Lise in La Fille mal gardee and the Pas de Deux in Balanchine’s Agon. She has worked with many choreographers including Christopher Bruce, Michael Clark, Javier de Frutos, Wayne MacGregor, Kryztof Pastor, Douglas Wright, Matz Ek, Jiri Kylian and Rafael Bonachela.
Amy has also performed in many galas worldwide as an invited guest artist, most notably at the 2005 International Gala at the Staatsballett in Munich. She performed the critically acclaimed solo Irony of Fate at the Whitechapel Gallery’s televised Art Plus event. Amy has also choreographed several pieces for Rambert’s Workshop seasons, Singh Language and Suspect. She was assistant choreographer and rehearsal director for Kylie Minogue on her worldwide Kylie Fever tour and also for Kylie’s ‘Love at First Sight’ and Primal Scream’s ‘Miss Lucifer’ music videos. Amy worked as Choreographic Director for the Siemens/Xelibri mobile phone launch where she directed and assisted four choreographers and ran the company of 30 dancers. She stage-managed the show whose performers included Christina Aguilera, Dame Shirley Bassey and Ms.Dynamite.
In 2004, Amy was seen as ‘Queen of the Fairies’ in the Oscar nominated film Finding Neverland (starring Johnny Depp, Kate Winslet and Dustin Hoffman). She also produced and starred in a dance film The Muse choreographed by Rafael Bonachela. During 2004/2005 Amy choreographed for the Russian pop star Alsou, who supported Westlife on their UK tour. Amy also starred in a Discovery Channel documentary filmed in Italy, as the Lady of Sassi de Matera. In 2007 Amy choreographed many performances for Russian pop star Dima Bilan, the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest winner. In July 2006 Amy joined the Michael Clark Company as a guest artist for Mmm…, Michael Clark’s production of Rite of Spring. Amy danced the role of the Chosen Maiden. This toured across the UK and Europe during 2007 and in New York in 2008. Also during 2007 Amy was part of a groundbreaking project with Hofesh Shechter. The piece, In Your Rooms, was performed in three of London’s major theatres, the Robin Howard Dance Theatre, Queen Elizabeth Hall and Sadler’s Wells. She also performed Shechter’s piece Cult in Barcelona while on tour with the company.
In July 2007 Amy was invited to dance in a gala celebrating the re-opening of the Royal Festival Hall on London’s South Bank. The piece was specially commissioned by the Ballet Boyz to be choreographed by Rafael Bonachela for Amy and Oxana Panchenko. Amy also appeared with the Ballet Boyz as a guest artist on their 2007 UK tour. In June 2008 Amy returned to Royal New Zealand Ballet as a guest principal artist. She performed Juliet in Christopher Hampson’s production of Romeo and Juliet to critical acclaim.
