Born in London in 1972, David Dawson began his dance training at the age of nine at the Rona Hart School of Dance and then he attended the Arts Educational School and the Royal Ballet School. Graduated in 1991 after winning the Prix de Lausanne, he joined Birmingham Royal Ballet then English National Ballet in 1994, and in 1995 he became a member of Het Nationale Ballet, where he made his first ballet, Born Slippy, in 1997. Immediately following in 1998 he was commissioned to create a pas de deux, Scenes from an Interview, for American Ballet Theater's Susan Jaffe and Parrish Maynard. In 1999 Dawson received the first of many commissions from Wayne Eagling for Het Nationale Ballet, Psychic Whack. In 2000 he created A Million Kisses to my Skin to Piano Concerto No.1 by J.S.Bach, which was performed on tour to the USA by Het Nationale Ballet and which has entered the repertoire of Finnish National Ballet, West Australian Ballet and Royal New Zealand Ballet. In 2000 Dawson was invited by William Forsythe to become a principal dancer with Ballett Frankfurt, where he danced for two more years before deciding to devote his time to creating his own new works. During his dance career he danced in many classical productions as well as exploring the neo-classical and modern repertoire. Dawson created The Grey Area in 2002, for which he was awarded the Benois de la Danse Prize in 2003. This choreography has been performed in Moscow, London, Boston, Brussels, Houston, Stockholm and Tokyo. Dance Europe Magazine’s Critics Choice listed this piece as "best new dance production of the 2002/2003 season". In 2004 he created two new works for Het Nationale Ballet, 00:00, which was nominated for The Golden Swan award for best production of the season 2003-2004, and as best new ballet by Dance Europe Magazine ; and Morning Ground, which has been performed in Brussels, Stockholm and the USA. In 2005 he was invited by the direction of the Maryinsky Ballet - Kirov to create a new work, Reverence, that opened the Fifth International Ballet Festival in St-Petersburg, becoming the first British choreographer to create a work for this legendary company. Another piece of David Dawson, Third String Quartet, has also been performed at the Bolshoi Theater by the Kirov Ballet. In 2005, Dawson was named "house choreographer" for Het Nationale Ballet. Future new creations in 2006 include Het Nationale Ballet, Les Ballets de Monte Carlo, Dresden Ballet and Royal Ballet of Flanders.