Wayne McGregor was born in Stockport in 1970. He studied dance at University College Bretton and at the José Limon School in New York. At the age of 22 he founded his own company, Wayne McGregor | Random Dance; it was invited to be the first resident company at the new Sadler’s Wells in 2001.

The company became the instrument upon which McGregor evolved the drastically fast and articulate choreographic style he had created for himself. It was during his major trilogy The Millennarium (1997), Sulphur 16 (1998) and Aeon (2000) that the company became a byword for its radical approach to new technology – incorporating animation, digital film, 3D architecture, electronic sound and virtual dancers into the live choreography. In Nemesis (2002), dancers dueled with prosthetic steel arm extensions to a soundtrack incorporating mobile phone conversations; in AtaXia (2004), McGregor’s fellowship with the Experimental Psychology department of Cambridge University fueled the choreography; in Amu (2005), live heart surgery fed into the creative process; and in Entity (2008), choreographic agents are imagined to a soundscape created by Coldplay collaborator Jon Hopkins and Joby Talbot (Chroma).

McGregor’s career has taken him beyond the conventional stage, choreographing for films such as Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, creating site-specific installations for Southbank Centre’s The Hayward, The Saatchi Gallery, the Houses of Parliament and for the Pompidou Centre in Paris. Collaborations with artists outside the dance field have included composers Sir John Tavener, Scanner, Plaid and Joby Talbot/The White Stripes, animatronics experts, Jim Henson’s Creature Workshop and neuro-scientists and heart-imaging specialists.

Wayne McGregor was appointed Resident Choreographer of The Royal Ballet in December 2006, the first in sixteen years and the only one to ever come from the world of contemporary dance. His most recent Royal Ballet work, Infra (premiered at Covent Garden on November 13th 2008), received the 2009 South Bank Show award, along with Entity – which also received the Movimentos Dance Prize 2009. In March 2009, McGregor made his debut with The Royal Opera; a Baroque double bill of Dido and Aeneas and Acis And Galatea, featuring members of both The Royal Opera and Royal Ballet companies.

McGregor’s experiments have earned him a string of nominations and awards. These include an Arts Foundation Fellowship in 1998, Time Out Awards for Outstanding Achievement in 2001 and 2003, two Lawrence Olivier Awards for 2Human, 2004 and Chroma, 2007, a South Bank Show Award for Chroma. In 2007 and 2008 he won The Critics’ Circle National Dance Award for Best Modern Choreography for Amu, 2007 and Best Classical Choreography Chroma the first choreographer ever to win in both categories.

In April 2008 Wayne McGregor was appointed the UK government’s first Youth Dance Champion.