Ballet News | Straight from the stage – bringing you ballet insights

Ballet Backstage | Northern Ballet’s launch of The Great Gatsby part 2 Last night I published part one of the London launch of Northern Ballet’s preview of The Great Gatsby, coming your way in March. Today I want to highlight the dancer/actors of the company and these photographs showcase the drama, seduction and danger of the [...]

Northern Ballet launches The Great Gatsby with London preview There were diamonds on the tables, feathers in the air and a buzz in the crowd for the London launch of Northern Ballet’s new work, The Great Gatsby, which premieres in Leeds on Saturday 2nd March 2013. We were treated to three scenes from the ballet, [...]

Backstage at the Olympics Closing Ceremony & rehearsals with the ballet dancers So, what does it feel like to dance in front of an audience of 26 million people ? Last year one of the Olympics casting directors asked me to help them find hundreds of ballet dancers who could dance very strongly en pointe, and in October [...]

Carlos Acosta gives a masterclass | behind the scenes reportage In May this year Carlos Acosta recorded a masterclass with legendary broadcaster Michael Parkinson, for Sky Arts. Ballet News was invited to watch the recording and I’m taking you with me ! The premise of the interview series is that Parkinson talks to a select [...]

Behind the scenes at the Summer Party photo shoot @ Kensington Palace What does it take to get ten swans ready to dip and dazzle in London ? A very early start, full hair and make-up, a Swan tutu, Swarovski necklaces, a walk in the park and everything crossed for dry weather – the sun would be [...]

Ballet News photography competition winner announced I ran a competition to find a new and original photograph that had never been published before. There were lots of entries and it’s been pretty tough choosing the winner. I am very pleased to announce that Andrea Paolini Merlo, with her beautfiul Swan Lake photograph below, has won the [...]

Backstage on Swan Lake This exclusive gallery of backstage photographs has been created to compliment my YOU magazine feature on English National Ballet’s Swan Lake in-the-round, published in August last year. All of the images were captured backstage at the Royal Albert Hall on the last night – June 19th 2010. All of the photographs [...]

Backstage Reporter – Chelsy Meiss goes backstage in rehearsals for Christopher Wheeldon’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland for Ballet News Following the phenomenal success of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by The National Ballet of Canada, and our fabulous backstage reporter Chelsy Meiss’ promotion to soloist, I am really pleased and a little sad to bring you the final [...]

Backstage Reporter – Chelsy Meiss goes backstage in rehearsals for Christopher Wheeldon’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland for Ballet News Christopher Wheeldon has been in rehearsals with us since Wednesday. These rehearsals have been very detailed and extensive. This is important because the ballet has many small details that need to be communicated to the audience [...]

Backstage Reporter – Chelsy Meiss goes backstage in rehearsals for Christopher Wheeldon’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland for Ballet News Time is racing by, and The National Ballet of Canada premiere Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland next week!  Here, Corps de ballet dancer Chelsy Meiss continues her reports on living Alice, with her fourth diary entry. Last Friday, [...]

Backstage Reporter – Chelsy Meiss goes backstage in rehearsals for Christopher Wheeldon’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland for Ballet News Corps de ballet dancer Chelsy Meiss continues her backstage diary The sets, props and costumes from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland are so intricate and elaborate it is somewhat mindboggling. Other than The Nutcracker, this is the [...]

Backstage Reporter – Chelsy Meiss goes backstage in rehearsals for Christopher Wheeldon’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland for Ballet News National Ballet of Canada Corps de ballet dancer Chelsy Meiss sends her second behind-the-scenes report on rehearsals for Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Everyone knows that behind any great ballet is a great score. The music is [...]

Sugar Plum moments with Northern Ballet Principal, Martha Leebolt I’m comparing toes with Cleopatra, a.k.a. Martha Leebolt, and it’s caught me slightly by surprise. How many prima ballerinas do you know who would, unprompted, whip off their shoes and show you their feet ? Leebolt’s are strong & tiny, with no discernable marks from a [...]

Yesterday in central London a lunch was held in honour of English National Ballet’s Senior Principal dancer Daria Klimentová, who was presented with the Critic’s Circle Patron Award 2010 by Dame Beryl Grey. The Patron’s Award is given to an individual or organization that has significantly furthered the cause of dance in the UK. The [...]

The Royal Ballet’s newest dancer is 17 year old Patricia Zhou, an inspiring late starter who joins the company on an apprenticeship, and I recently caught up with her as part of the Ballet News ‘From Student to Star’ series, to see how she won her coveted contract and what she’s looking forward to. What was the [...]

Backstage Reporter – Chelsy Meiss goes backstage in rehearsals for Christopher Wheeldon’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland for Ballet News When I interviewed corps de ballet dancer Chelsy Meiss about her career with The National Ballet of Canada, one of the up-coming events that she was very much looking forward to was the new production of Christopher Wheeldon’s Alice’s [...]

Last night Her Majesty The Queen and Prince Phillip hosted a reception at Buckingham Palace in celebration of young people in the performing arts. The Queen holds receptions throughout the year and the guests are drawn from all walks of life.  Celebrity guests including Jools Holland, Duffy, Dame Helen Mirren, Ellie Goulding, Sheila Hancock, Kevin [...]

Spanish photographer Saskia Font hails from an artistic family; her father is a painter, her mother is a ceramist and her grandparents were dancers. Since she was very small, Saskia enjoyed ballet and she has conceived Bailarina y Urbe to highlight the contrast between the purity and elegance of dance against the rough urban environment. [...]

Just a little reminder, should you need it – Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland will be broadcast on BBC Two this Easter Saturday at 2.30pm.  The ballet is preceeded by Being Alice – Adventures in Wonderland, which covers the making of the production by The Royal Ballet. Being Alice – Adventures in Wonderland begins at 2pm [...]

        Free Open House The National Ballet of Canada’s Grand Opening of The Gretchen Ross Production Centre Sneak Preview of Sets from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland April 19, 2011… The National Ballet of Canada today announced the grand opening of The Gretchen Ross Production Centre. The public is invited to a free [...]