Jamie Carter is the Artistic Director of Images Ballet Company, the performing company for students on the Ballet pathway at London Studio Centre. Jamie trained at LSC and has a deep understanding of the ethos and objectives as a conservatoire.
After working with Scottish Ballet and Israel Ballet, Jamie joined Sarasota Ballet in 2007. His repertoire included principal roles in ballets by Sir Frederick Ashton, George Balanchine, Kenneth MacMillan, Paul Taylor, and Martha Graham. Alongside his performing career, Jamie became a member of the Sarasota Ballet School Faculty upon joining the company, working closely with the graduate year students, as well as the Studio Company and Trainee programme.
Jamie Carter
Jamie began to choreograph in 2010 and created over 10 ballets for Sarasota Ballet. From 2010 to 2012, he served as assistant to the director of Images Ballet Company, re-staging one of his ballets, Between Longing and Yearning, for their 2012 tour. Since retiring from the stage in 2019, he has taught extensively internationally and throughout the UK and has held teaching positions at various high-profile performing arts institutions. Committed to developing his practice, Jamie is currently studying the MA Dance Education at LSC.
Jamie started his role as Artistic Director of Images Ballet Company at the beginning of the 2024/25 academic year, devising their successful 2025 tour Energy in Motion, for which he choreographed a one-act suite set to highlights of Glazunov’s Raymonda.
To find out a bit more about Jamie – his background, his experience as a performer and the philosophies behind his teaching – we asked him a few questions to really dig into the man behind the tutus.
What was a formative moment growing up that made you want to perform?
When I was six, I was cast in The Water Babies with English Youth Ballet after my first ever audition. The production was a triple bill: The Water Babies, Theseus and the Minotaur, and Doll’s House Fantasia.
I still remember standing backstage at Sadler’s Wells, behind the grand drape, listening to the orchestra warm up. The noise was total chaos at first, with all the instruments playing fragments of the music, until one by one they began tuning to the musical note ‘A’. It was the most magical sound I’d ever heard. That was the moment I thought ‘I want to be part of this.’
A few years later, I was in London Children’s Ballet with Harold King (who’d founded London City Ballet). There was a scene where I offered a beggar girl a gold coin. I wasn’t given any steps, so I made up a little chassé sequence to fill the gap. Harold stopped the rehearsal, cigarette in hand (he wasn’t meant to smoke in the studio but did anyway, constantly setting off the fire alarm), and said “Who told you to do that chassé-chassé step?”
“No one,” I said. “I just thought it went with the music…”
He took a long drag and said “It’s very nice… but don’t do it.” Then, seeing I looked crushed, he added quietly with a wry smile, “You’ll make a good choreographer one day.”
What were some highlights of your career before you started teaching?
Being coached by Suzanne Farrell in Diamonds from Balanchine’s Jewels is up there. Suzanne Farrell was a principal dancer with New York City Ballet and George Balanchine’s muse, inspiring many of his most celebrated works. Her artistry and musicality helped redefine the role of the modern ballerina, and preserves his legacy through her later teaching and stagings. I’d read her book years before, where she mentioned holding a golf ball in class to shape her hands beautifully. I used to do the same as a challenge to myself. When she came to teach class, she walked past my barre spot and asked, “Why are you holding a golf ball?”
“To make sure my hands make a beautiful shape,” I said. She smiled and replied, “Everyone thought I was joking when I told that story. I’m glad someone’s still doing it forty years later.”
Jamie performs in Jerome Robbin’s ‘Fancy Free’ for Sarasota Ballet, Sarasota Opera House
Then there was Sir Anthony Dowell coaching The Dream. Sir Anthony was one of The Royal Ballet’s greatest principals and later its Artistic Director, renowned for his elegance and dramatic sensitivity. I was dancing Lysander, the slightly confused lover who gets bewitched into falling for the wrong girl. In one scene, Helena throws herself at him and he’s meant to push her away. Sir Anthony thought it needed more attack, so he suggested we change the grip and spacing. It still wasn’t working, so he said, “I’ll show you.” I became Helena, leapt toward him, and he nearly threw me across the studio! He was in his late seventies and still unbelievably strong.
Performing at New York City Center was surreal dancing where Balanchine’s ballets were born. And later, performing at Jacob’s Pillow felt equally special. I’d learned about Ted Shawn founding it in the 1930s, and standing on that stage felt like joining a lineage of artists from all over the world.
Honestly, I think every theatre whether a grand opera house or a small studio stage has its own kind of sacred energy. You share that space with every dancer who’s ever been there before.
How have your career experiences influenced your teaching?
I was lucky to dance a huge range of ballets and to learn multiple parts from corps to principal. It taught me that everyone on stage matters equally. That’s something I remind my students all the time.
At Sarasota Ballet a lot of what we danced were heavyweight ballets, the kind that only most of the big companies perform. We used to borrow sets and costumes from The Royal Ballet all the time, and it was always a thrill checking the labels in our costumes to see if we recognised any famous names sewn inside.
Promotional photo of Jamie in ‘Jewels (Emeralds)’ by George Balanchine for Sarasota Ballet
Some of those works were really old, like Fokine’s Petrushka. It was eye-opening to perform something like that, where the dancing feels almost secondary to the characterisation. The steps themselves weren’t especially difficult, but they demanded so much thought, musicality, and commitment to bring to life. It made me realise how that kind of approach – really embodying the drama and texture of a ballet – can completely expand our reach as performers. I remind my students all the time that ballet isn’t just about steps. Sure, high extensions and endless turns are impressive, but unless you know why you’re doing them, what you’re saying through them, it’s just movement without meaning.
I worked incredibly hard as a dancer, sometimes to the point of being too hard on myself if I struggled with a step or a difficulty piece of choreography. So now I remind my students, “You are enough.” If you’ve managed to get out of bed, pull on tights and a leotard, and show up to class – that’s already a win. Many people never make it that far. Celebrate the small victories; they build the big ones.
What do you aim to bring to Images Ballet Company as Artistic Director?
A sense of artistry that balances tradition and innovation; dancers who understand where ballet comes from, but also where it can go. I try to create a space where they feel both challenged and supported, so they can take ownership of their dancing, not just execute steps.
Can you give a hint as to what is in store from the Images Ballet Company 2026 tour?
Something old, something new, something red, white, and blue…
Do you have a proudest LSC moment you can share?
Opening night of last year’s Images Ballet Company tour. The dancers were so confident, so assured. Of course, every show on the tour was special in its own way, but that first performance – watching how far they’d come since September – was genuinely moving. It was a moment where you think, no matter what anyone says, this is proof of their hard work, discipline, and teamwork.
Promotional photo for the 2025 Images Ballet Company tour. Dancers: James Bamford and Larissa Bolog
I was also really proud of the second-year Ballet pathway students in the piece we worked on together for Dance Overture 2025. They rose beautifully to the challenge of Les Sylphides and fully committed to capturing that Romantic-era style, which is much harder than it looks.
For any prospective applicant interested in Ballet, how would you advise them to prepare for Higher Education?
Come in with an open mind. Take advantage of the range of option classes – even those outside your comfort zone. Every dance style has something to teach you, and they all feed your artistic voice.
Remember the course is called ‘Professional Dance Performance‘. Everything we do is ultimately about what happens on stage. Even the smallest technical detail is a pathway to expression.
How is London Studio Centre different from anywhere else you have trained or worked?
I feel that LSC is different from anywhere as it offers the students many possibilities.
Here, you can explore four different specialisms under one roof and discover the kind of artist you want to become. The touring companies make the experience truly unique. You gain real-world, hands-on knowledge that most students don’t get until much later in their careers.
Jamie at London Studio Centre, leading a rehearsal for the 2025 Images Ballet Company tour
When I was in Images, I didn’t just learn about technique and artistry. I learned how to take care of myself physically and mentally, how to be part of a team, and how many talented people it takes to bring a production to life. It gave me a perspective on the bigger picture – the world behind the curtain.
The 2026 Images Ballet Company tour is already on sale at the Key Theatre, Peterborough. Keep an eye on our Events page to find out when other venues go on sale.