The former opera dancer became a much-loved ballet mistress and dance teacher. 

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.

Grigorova began her career as a dancer with the Covent Garden Opera Company’s Opera Ballet (later part of The Royal Opera), appearing in several productions. She also performed the acting roles of Stella in The Tales of Hoffmann (1964, 1965 and 1966) and the Countess of Aremberg in Don Carlo (1977, 1979, 1985 and 1989). From the 1970s she began to work as an opera choreographer, and choreographed I Lombardi alla prima crociata (1976), Manon Lescaut and Boris Godunov (1983), Jenůfa (1986) and Rigoletto (1988) for The Royal Opera. In the 1970s, 80s and 90s she was also revival choreographer for several productions, including Lucia di Lammermoor, Les Troyens, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Salome, Un ballo in maschera and Don Giovanni. Grigorova made her Royal Ballet debut in 1961 in Ondine and continued to dance for the Company until 2011, regularly appearing as the Housekeeper in The Nutcracker and as Lady Montague in Romeo and Juliet, and also appearing in Les Noces. 

Alongside her dance career, Romayne Grigorova was a much-loved teacher of dance. She gave regular Saturday dance classes for children appearing with The Royal Opera, preparing them for productions including Otello, Samson et Dalila, The Bartered Bride and The Cunning Little Vixen, and was Ballet Mistress for The Royal Opera. In her seventies, she ran a popular dance class for enthusiastic amateurs (including many women in their fifties and sixties) at the Royal Opera House. She also ran a popular class on movement and body conditioning at the Pineapple Dance Studios for more than thirty years. She was awarded an MBE in the 2017 Queen’s Birthday Honours List for her services to dance. 

Grigorova's niece said, 'Romayne passed away at her care home surrounded by family, graceful to the end she was moving her arms in ballet positions.' Our thoughts are with Romayne's family and friends.