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

ENGLISH NATIONAL BALLET TO PERFORM AT CORONATION FESTIVAL English National Ballet will take part in three Gala performances in the grounds of Buckingham Palace as part of the Coronation Festival in July. The Company will perform Tempus  a specially commissioned piece paying tribute to Her Majesty The Queen  and the incredible era of change during [...]

The Royal Ballet | Nadia Nerina retrospective exhibition Acclaimed ballerina and pioneer of ballet on television celebrated in a retrospective exhibition: Nadia Nerina, Principal Ballet dancer with The Royal Ballet from 1947-1966 Royal Opera House, 22 March – 17 August 2013 Generously supported by the Philip Loubser Foundation  Nadia Nerina was a pioneer in the world [...]

The Royal Ballet | Tony Hall appointed Director-General of the BBC Following today’s announcement by the BBC Trust regarding the appointment of Tony Hall as the next Director-General of the BBC, Simon Robey, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Royal Opera House, has made the following statement: “I was not surprised when the BBC turned to Tony [...]

BBC Children in Need 2012 BBC Children in Need returns later this month – and there will be dancing ! Sir Terry Wogan will be joined by Fearne Cotton, Tess Daly plus Nick Grimshaw to host a bigger than ever, spectacular night of musical entertainment, sketches, special features, glitz, glamour and guest appearances. Around twenty [...]

Darcey Bussell & Strictly Come Dancing Here’s a couple of newly released photographs, from the making of the Strictly Come Dancing trailer.  

Strictly Come Dancing | The Judges Ladies, Gentlemen and Children : there’s a new girl on the block this year and it’s ex-Royal Ballet Principal Darcey Bussell who joins the judging panel on Strictly Come Dancing. Bussell has appeared as a guest judge before, but this is her first time in at the start ! [...]

London 2012 Festival presents ambitious and ground-breaking new commissions in the run up to the Paralympic Games Hans Peter Kuhn, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Samuel Beckett, Claire Cunningham, Craig Coulthard, Robert Wilson, Jenny Eclair, Sinéad O’Donnell, Oliver Knussen, Camille O’Sullivan, Annie Mac, Grandmaster Flash, Idris Elba, Atom Egoyan, Sue Austin, Gavin Bryars and Ariane Mnouchkine are among the artists and performers featured in the tenth [...]

New work by disabled and deaf artists presented alongside the London 2012 Paralympic Games   Last year Ballet News broke new ground : Ballet News presents a British Sign Language Interpretation for the first time I’d like to introduce you to Kelly Johnson, a Junior Trainee Sign Language Interpreter.  Kelly has, for the first time, interpreted [...]

London 2012 Festival presents Olympic inspired programme for the London 2012 Olympic Games   Antony Hegarty, Meera Syal, Laurence Clark, Thomas Heatherwick, Olafur Eliasson, Richard Long, Susan Philipsz, Laurie Anderson, Mark Rees, Una Stubbs, Michael Ball, Gillian Keith, Sir James Galway, Rankin, Martin Parr, Yoko Ono, Mary McCartney, Tania Bruguera, Mike Pearson, and The Wooster Group are among [...]

Baaba Maal, Gilberto Gil, Ms Dynamite, Alfred Hitchcock, Jane & Louise Wilson, Matthew Williamson, Paul Smith, Kate Prince, Pina Bausch, Douglas Gordon, Wendy Ramshaw, Mira Calix, Sarnath Bennerjee, Richard Wilson, and John Gerrard, among the stars of London 2012 Festival’s third week London 2012 Festival 4 July 2012 – An extraordinary week of events taking [...]

Ballet Business | the business of fundraising “It’s my dream. There’s nothing else I want to do.”  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard that. Dreams are vital and if you’ve got to the stage where you need to be thinking about fundraising – well done! The transition of dream to reality begins [...]

Cupcakes & Conversation with Angela Malan, Senior Principal dancer, Ballet Mistress and Coach, South African Ballet Theatre  What motivates you at 8am on a Monday morning ? I am motivated by the constant, yet unobtainable strive for perfection! Why ballet ? Ballet is the only thing that feeds all I need: my soul, my body, [...]

Northern Ballet in Arts Troubleshooter documentary Last week I reported that Northern Ballet were to feature in a BBC documentary called Arts Troubleshooter, to be broadcast this weekend. What’s in store ? The programme follows Michael Lynch, former Chief Executive of the Southbank Centre in London & the Opera House in Sydney, Australia, as he works [...]

Ballet Business | You are what you eat, especially as ballet dancers One issue remains in the headlines after the news was announced that Royal Ballet Principal Tamara Rojo had been appointed Artistic Director at English National Ballet (April 13th 2012) from September this year : eating disorders (ED) in ballet.  A subject rarely discussed openly, [...]

Ballet Business | How to work with the media In an earlier feature, How to get into ballet, I outlined the early stages of a ballet career and some of the pitfalls you might need to watch out for & be prepared for. As part & parcel of your professional ballet career, in a visual art form, photographs of you could (and hopefully, will) end up in the [...]

Olivier Awards 2012 with MasterCard celebrates links between New York and London ·       Olivier Awards Ceremony held at the Royal Opera House for the first time in its entirety on Sunday 15 April 2012 hosted by  West End stars Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton, with extensive coverage on BBC tv, radio and online ·       Stars [...]

Ballet & ice-dancing at Somerset House | Skate at Somerset House presented by Tiffany & Co. Is this London’s most glamourous ice-rink ? For scale and surprise, it’s hard to beat. Between 22 November 2011 – 22 January 2012 the Somerset ice rink is open to the public.  You can Book online now or call 0844 [...]

Arts Council England and the BBC take a leap into digital space Arts Council England and the BBC have today (Monday 14 November) announced a partnership to create The Space – an experimental digital arts media service and commissioning programme that could help to transform the way people connect with, and experience, arts and culture. [...]

Strictly Come Dancing | Broadway Week Anita Dobson and Robin Windsor Photograph : BBC Pictures For the first ever Broadway week on Strictly, the show opens with a group black and gold number including all of the celebrities. Tess Daly promises plenty of razzle and dazzle.  Let’s see! It’s curtain up! I bet Nancy wishes [...]

Ballet News | Strictly Come Dancing 2011 – the Celebrities Ahead of tomorrow nights first live show, here are the latest images of the celebrities taking part this year. All photographs © BBC Pictures