Star defections damage Royal Ballet

SINGLE-HANDEDLY HE is wreaking huge damage on the Royal Ballet, which nurtured him and made him a star. And from next year he will lead a company of Royal Ballet defectors in London in competition with Britain's most famous dance troupe.

Tetsuya Kumakawa, glamorous, flashy, virtuoso dancer, has the Royal Ballet wondering which high-profile star will next resign after luring five of its leading male dancers.

Kumakawa himself left the Royal Ballet a few weeks ago. Now, insiders say, he has its brightest young female stars in his sights - wooing them with promises of piles of money to join his new company, backed by Japanese businessmen.

It also emerged yesterday that his company plans to dance in London in direct competition with the Royal Ballet. A Royal Opera House source said: "It will be disastrous to have this new, starry company dancing in London. The Royal Ballet will lose some of its leading women to them because there will be a shortage of leading men in the Royal Ballet for them to dance with."

The impresario Raymond Gubbay said: "Any promoter would be interested in mounting performances of the Kumakawa company now that it has this calibre of people ... This does appear to have been appallingly badly handled by the Royal Ballet." The Royal Ballet's director, Sir Anthony Dowell, put out a terse statement deploring the attitude of his defecting dancers. The five handed in their notice a few hours after Michael Kaiser, the new Royal Opera House executive director, gave his first press conference, saying the Royal Opera House produced some of the best ballet in the world. The dancers pushed a piece of paper announcing their decision into the hands of Sir Anthony just before going on stage on a visit to Belfast.

The five are Stuart Cassidy, Garry Avis, Matthew Dibble, Michael Nunn and William Trevitt. Insiders say the acclaimed young star Sarah Wildor has also been approached by Kumakawa, as has fellow dancer Belinda Hatley. The biggest female stars, Darcey Bussell, Sylvie Guillem and Viviana Durante, have not yet been asked to join.

Kumakawa, who came from Japan when he was 15,intrigued fans with his extracurricular image as well as his dancing. He had a long relationship with his much-admired Royal Ballet co-star Durante and drove a redFerrari with the numberplate U CUTY.

The defections and potential defections coincide with low morale at the Royal Ballet, despite excellent performances recently at the new Sadler's Wells theatre. Its dancers have been in dispute with the Royal Opera House over new contracts, which they have reluctantly signed. And the company's programme is being cut back.