Romanian dancer Alina Cojocaru is a former Principal of The Royal Ballet. She joined The Royal Ballet School for six months in 1997 on a Lausanne scholarship and on graduation joined the Kiev Ballet as a principal. After one season with Kiev she entered the corps of The Royal Ballet in 1999, promoted to Soloist at the end of her first Season and in April 2001 promoted to Principal at the age of 19. With Royal Ballet Principal Johan Kobborg she forged an iconic dance partnership, celebrated in their performances with the Company and as guest artists around the world. Cojocaru left The Royal Ballet at the end of the 2012/13 Season to dance with English National Ballet, where she was Lead Principal until 2020.

Cojocaru was born in Bucharest and joined the Bucharest Ballet School aged nine. She entered the Romanian State Ballet School and participated in a student exchange programme with the Kiev Ballet School, where she trained until her Prix de Lausanne scholarship took her to The Royal Ballet School in 1997. Among her numerous other awards are Best Female Dancer at the 2002 Critics’ Circle Awards, Outstanding Female Performance (Classical) at the 2017 Critics' Circle Awards and the 2004 and 2012 Benois de la Danse awards. She was awarded an OBE in 2023 for her services to dance.

Cojocaru’s charity work includes hosting two gala performances in 2008 and 2013 at Sadler’s Wells Theatre in support of the charity Hospices of Hope, a palliative care charity dedicated to improving the life of the terminally ill in Romania and surrounding countries.