Born in London, Dawson began dancing at seven and received his early training at the Rona Hart School of Dance and the
Arts Educational School. He went on to train at the
Royal Ballet School, in dance and choreography. In 1991 he received the
Alicia Markova Award, won the
Prix de Lausanne, and was offered a contract by the
Birmingham Royal Ballet. Under the direction of
Sir Peter Wright, he performed leading roles in classical repertoire as well as in ballets by
Sir Kenneth MacMillan,
Sir Frederick Ashton, Sir Peter Wright, and
David Bintley. He was nominated as Best Newcomer of the Season by 'Dance & Dancers' magazine in 1992. In 1994, he joined the
English National Ballet under the direction of
Derek Deane as a soloist. A year later, he moved to Amsterdam to perform with
Wayne Eagling's
Dutch National Ballet. Here Dawson was able to continue dancing in classical productions as well as explore more neo-classical and modern repertoire in the works of
George Balanchine,
Rudi van Dantzig, and
Hans van Manen. Dawson worked with choreographers, and created roles, in new ballets by Sir Kenneth MacMillan,
Glen Tetley,
Twyla Tharp,
Christopher Bruce, Wayne Eagling, Ted Brandsen,
Mauro Bigonzetti, Itzik Gallili, Redha, and Christopher D'Amboise. He eventually joined
Ballet Frankfurt where he worked with
William Forsythe, and performed for two more years before deciding to devote his time to creating new works. Dawson ended his dance career in 2002. ==Choreographic career==