Obituary: Romayne Grigorova - The Royal Opera dancer, Ballet Mistress

I have just learned about the passing of Romayne Grigorova on The Royal Ballet and Opera's website.

The news release dated 15th July 2025 said:

"The Royal Ballet and The Royal Opera are deeply saddened to hear of the death of Romayne Grigorova on 11 July 2025 at the age of 98."

Romayne was the history of The Royal Ballet and Opera. She was a dancer of the Covent Garden Opera Company’s Opera Ballet, which reopened in 1946 following the World War II and later became part of The Royal Opera. She also choreographed for many opera productions 1970s onwards and she was Ballet Mistress.

Please allow me to mention some personal experience Romayne. She was my ballet teacher.

I started taking her class, I believe, in 2008 or 2009 after I moved to London from Tokyo on a corporate assignment. Back then I was working as a full-time journalist. I gave up on pursuing ballet career long before but I had picked up ballet after graduating from university.

I was- am- a petite statue and looked much younger than my actual age. Romayne called me after the class and said, “You have a lot of potential. But you aren’t trained well and I don’t think it’s your fault. Come to my class every week. I will correct you.”

This made me cry. If I had met Romayne when I was fourteen, my life would have been completely different. My childhood teacher body shamed me, calling me “a filth” in front of everyone. She also said, “I won’t teach you because you can’t do it anyway.”

I had not seen Romayne since the onset of the covid pandemic. But she has a special place in my heart forever. She always called me "a little one."

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Update on 24th July 2025 to add details.