Ruan Crighton: Essex ballet dancer feared dead in Nepal crash

A dance school director mentioned she and her colleagues were “shattered” following news their particular successful former student was on board the airplane that crashed in Nepal.

Ruan Crighton, 34, from Essex, was one of 72 people on the Yeti Airlines plane that crashed near Pokhara airport.

He had toured Europe as a professional ballet dancer having examined and worked in London, Finland and Slovak republic.

Brentwood’s Central College of Dance’s Hazel Smith said “we are devastated”.

“We have wonderful loving memories of Ruan in class, assisting and inspiring youthful pupils, performing and working backstage, ” said Ms Smith.

“Central followed Ruan’s career, which grew from strength in order to strength, and we are so totally proud and feel privileged to get known Ruan – to watch him develop into the most amazing, caring young man. ”

Ms Cruz said he attained “outstanding” ballet examination results as a child, having initially joined pertaining to gymnastics, and later graduated from the Central School of Ballet in London in 08.

“Ruan was a dynamic, energetic and engaged student, ” said Central School of Ballet executive director Mark Osterfield.

“His passion and talent were enjoyed by international dance audiences. ”

He or she worked at the Ballet of the Slovak National Theatre (SND) for your next five years, and despite informing the BBC he had been nervous about not really speaking the language , he spoke this “almost fluently” right after two years.

Kohút Kristián, head dramaturg of the SND ballet, counted Mr Ruon among his best friends plus said on behalf of even now,: “Ruan was a youngster with a big coronary heart and an incredible feeling of humour in whose laughter and optimistic energy could light up the spaces of the theatre. ”

Ruan spent a further 6 years, 2013-19, on the Finnish National Safari and Ballet.

The spokesman in Helsinki highlighted various functions he performed throughout several ballet tours, including The Nutcracker plus Moominland.

He or she enrolled at the Euro School of Physiotherapy in Amsterdam after his 30th birthday celebration – a career change – and had been completing a positioning at a spinal damage clinic in Kathmandu at the time of Sunday’s aircraft crash.

Ruan’s name and passport amount was published by the Civil Aviation Authority associated with Nepal shortly after the accident.

Authorities were not looking to find any survivors.

Rescue teams working near the wreckage at the crash site of a Yeti Airlines ATR72 aircraft in Pokhara, central Nepal, on 15 January 2023

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A UK Foreign, Earth and Development Workplace spokesman said it had been supporting the family of a British man.

In a joint statement, Ruan’s friends Danny, Mary, Goz and Jono, who he fulfilled at the Central School of Ballet, said: “He was the one who flew the furthest and highest, having the biggest ambitions from all of us.

“His death has left a pit in our friendship group that will never be filled. ”

Microsoft Smith, who stated Ruan continued to come back and perform for the school’s annual prize giving in Brentwood, added: “Thank a person Ruan for the catch-ups and laughter over tea. They will regularly be remembered”.