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

Birmingham Royal Ballet @ Birmingham Hippodrome Birmingham Royal Ballet is delighted to return to the Birmingham Hippodrome stage from 26 September – 6 October.  The Company will perform the autumn season in its home city with two programmes, a mixed bill Opposites Attract and Sir Peter Wright’s timeless Swan Lake.   Opposites Attract    26 – [...]

Darcey Bussell : A Life in Pictures Darcey Bussell needs no introduction.  Known throughout the ballet world and far beyond its structured borders, Bussell defines what it is to combine very rare talent with exxceptionally good manners : in other words, a prima ballerina and a really lovely lady to boot. Putting together this photographic memoir, partly so [...]

Teaching ballet in Burma Ex- Birmingham Royal Ballet dancer Robert Gravenor recently spent a couple of months travelling independently in Burma. The photographs you see here were taken while Gravenor taught ballet to the local children at Phaung Daw Oo School in Mandalay (central Burma). Gravenor says, “this school is run from foreign charity funds and has over [...]

Cupcakes & Conversation with Clare Morehen, Principal, Queensland Ballet What motivates you at 8am on a Monday Morning? Routine. I am a routine driven person, which kicks in the second my alarm goes off at 7am on Monday morning. The thought of coffee initially gets my dazed body out of bed. Then it’s off to [...]

Ballet News Reviews | The Royal Ballet School Annual Performance The Royal Ballet School Royal Opera House, Covent Garden Sunday, July 15th 2012 I want to start right off by saying that this years performance was the strongest I’ve ever seen from The Royal Ballet School students – right across the board from Lower to Upper [...]

The Royal Ballet School Graduate Contracts 2012 The Royal Ballet Mayara Magri Tierney Heap Donald Thom   Birmingham Royal Ballet Laura Day Reina Fuchigami Lachlan Monaghan   English National Ballet Teo Dubreuil   Northern Ballet Mariana Rodrigues Sean Bates Isaac Lee-Baker   Vienna State Opera Ballet Nina Tonoli Tristan Ridel   Berlin Ballet 2 Jordan [...]

BIRMINGHAM ROYAL BALLET ANNOUNCEMENTS JULY 2012 At the end of the 2011/2012 Season, Birmingham Royal Ballet is able to announce the following:   Jenna Roberts is promoted from First Soloist to Principal Angela Paul is promoted from Soloist to First Soloist Laetitia Lo Sardo is promoted from Soloist to First Soloist Tzu-Chao Chou is promoted [...]

Birmingham Royal Ballet celebrates funding announcement and further develops its relationship with one of the UK’s most philanthropic families   In a speech in London on Wednesday 20th June, Jeremy Hunt, Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport and Arts Council England (ACE) announced the successful recipients of its Catalyst Endowment Match Funding [...]

BIRMINGHAM ROYAL BALLET’S 2012 INTERNATIONAL TOUR to GRANADA Two performances only at the 61st INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF MUSIC AND DANCE Peter Wright’s COPPÉLIA and a triple bill including Director David Bintley’s TAKE FIVE   Birmingham Royal Ballet will close its 2011/12 season with two spectacular outdoor performances at the Teatro del Generalife in Granada next [...]

BIRMINGHAM ROYAL BALLET PRINCIPAL DANCER CHOREOGRAPHS ROUTINE FOR FIVE TIMES BRITISH CHAMPION GYMNAST AHEAD OF LONDON 2012 OLYMPIC GAMES One of Birmingham Royal Ballet’s Principal dancers, Matthew Lawrence, is currently just as busy in a gymnastics hall as he is on the stage as he works on his latest exciting creation – a routine for [...]

BIRMINGHAM ROYAL BALLET’S 2012 SUMMER SEASON at BIRMINGHAM HIPPODROME   David Bintley’s production of Far From the Madding Crowd A mixed bill Summer Celebration   Venue and booking information: Birmingham Hippodrome: Tickets: 0844 338 5000   Birmingham Royal Ballet is delighted to return to the Birmingham Hippodrome stage from 20 – 30 June.  The Company [...]

The Autumn 2012 Season at Sadlers Wells Thin pickings at Sadlers Wells if it’s classical ballet you’re looking for – this Autumn season sees just two ballet companies visiting the theatre. In September, San Francisco Ballet present three mixed bills : Symphonic Dances by Edwaard Liang, Divertimento No 15 by George Balanchine and Christopher Wheeldon’s [...]

ENGLISH NATIONAL BALLET SCHOOL ANNOUCES THE APPOINTMENT OF SAMIRA SAIDI AS DIRECTOR OF DANCE English National Ballet School is delighted to announce that it has appointed Samira Saidi as its new Director of Dance. Samira will be joining the school in August, following an illustrious career including twenty years dancing with Birmingham Royal Ballet and [...]

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, [...]

BIRMINGHAM ROYAL BALLET’S MID-SCALE TOUR 2012   COMPANY AND ROYAL BALLET SINFONIA SPLIT IN HALF TO PERFORM IN MID-SCALE VENUES ACROSS THE UK   Birmingham Royal Ballet continues with its policy of presenting its diverse repertory to the widest possible audience into 2012.  From May 8 – 16, the Company will once again split into [...]

Ballet News Reviews | Birmingham Royal Ballet’s Coppélia Coppélia Birmingham Royal Ballet London Coliseum Thursday, 15th March 2012 This was a night when yet again, the men of Birmingham Royal Ballet showed just how awesome they are.  This time, eight of them in perfect synchronicity, taking off, spinning and landing together, each time.  And I have [...]

Ballet News Reviews | Birmingham Royal Ballet Spring Passions Spring Passions – Daphnis and Chloë/The Two Pigeons Birmingham Royal Ballet London Coliseum Tuesday, 13th March 2012 For every saucepan, there’s a lid. But how they became separated and what happens along the way, well, that’s a whole ballet.  So it is with The Two Pigeons. [...]

THE WASHINGTON BALLET AND TWB AND TWSB DANCERS WIN NUMEROUS AWARDS AT NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL DANCE COMPETITIONS AURORA DICKIE AND JUNXIONG ZHAO WIN MEDALS AT THE BIANNUAL Cape Town International Ballet Competition (CTIBC) Alvin Tovstogray wins gold at tanzolymp 2012 The Washington School of Ballet (Twsb) Wins Outstanding School award While Twsb dancers win numerous [...]

London 2012 opportunity for Birmingham dancers with a learning disability People with a learning disability in Birmingham have been given the opportunity to take part in a dance project inspired by the London 2012 Games, which will be screened throughout the UK by the BBC. We Dance is a grassroots dance scheme that will see [...]

BIRMINGHAM ROYAL BALLET ANNOUNCES 2012 – 2013 BIRMINGHAM HIPPODROME SEASON   UK PREMIERE OF DAVID BINTLEY’S ALADDIN SEASON CELEBRATES THE BRITISH BALLET TRADITION OF STORYTELLING FOUR 6.30pm FRIDAY PERFORMANCES TO APPEAL TO FAMILY AUDIENCE   Book on-line at the Birmingham Hippodrome website Call Ticket Sales: 0844 338 5000 (Public booking dates – on-line, by telephone [...]