At the Royal Ballet, Durante danced all the main roles in ballets by Sir Kenneth MacMillan (Manon, Romeo and Juliet, Mayerling, Different Drummer, My Brother, My Sisters, Requiem, Elite Syncopations, Gloria, The Prince of the Pagodas and Anastasia, for which she was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award),[5] Sir Frederick Ashton (Cinderella, La fille mal gardée, Rhapsody, Ondine, A Month in the Country, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Symphonic Variations, Les Patineurs, Birthday Offering, Scènes de ballet, Thaïs pas de deux) and from the classical repertory (Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, Giselle, The Sleeping Beauty, La Bayadere, Don Quixote, Les Biches, Raymonda, Diana and Actaeon, Sylvia pas de deux).

She created roles in many new works including MacMillan's The Judas Tree and Winter Dreams (based on Anton Chekhov's Three Sisters); Wayne McGregor's Fleur de Peux; Ashley Page's Pursuit, Piano, Bloodlines, ...now languorous, now wild... and Cheating, Lying, Stealing; Will Tuckett's Present Histories; David Bintley's Tombeaux; and Amedeo Amodio's Cabiria.

In 1995, she appeared in the title role of a ninety-minute version of Tchaikovsky's The Sleeping Beauty, which was telecast on Great Performances by PBS during the Christmas season.

In 1999, a disagreement between Durante and The Royal Ballet, reportedly following her request for a cast change after she was dropped by a partner, blew up into a national media storm.

and Symphony in C; Rudolf Nureyev's Laurentia; Tetley's La Ronde; Uwe Scholz's The Red and the Black; Roland Petit's Coppelia, Carmen and Duke Ellington Ballet; and André Prokovsky's Anna Karenina.

[18] Critics noted Durante's combination of immaculate technique and acting ability, often describing her as a blend of Latin passion and British coolness.

[19] Her Anastasia was widely appreciated, her Manon (with Russian dancer Irek Mukhamedov as Des Grieux, in particular) has been called the definitive interpretation, and the recording of her performance in The Sleeping Beauty has been perhaps most influential.