Birmingham Royal Ballet

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Birmingham Royal Ballet
General Information
Name Birmingham Royal Ballet
Previous names
  • Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet
  • Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet
  • Royal Ballet Touring Group
Year founded 1946 (1946)
Founders Dame Ninette de Valois
Founding artistic director John Field
Director Laureate Sir Peter Wright
Principal venue Birmingham Hippodrome
Hurst Street
Birmingham
England, B5 4TB
 UK
Website brb.org.uk
Senior Staff
Chief Executive Christopher Barron
Director David Bintley, CBE
Assistant director Marion Tait
Company Manager Paul Grist
Ballet Staff Michael O'Hare, Dominic Antonucci, Wolfgang Stollwitzer
Other
Sister Company The Royal Ballet
Orchestra Royal Ballet Sinfonia
Official School Elmhurst School for Dance
Formation
  • Principal Guest Artist
  • Principal
  • First Soloist
  • Soloist
  • First Artist
  • Artist

Birmingham Royal Ballet (BRB) is one of the three major ballet companies of the United Kingdom, alongside The Royal Ballet and the English National Ballet.[1]

Founded in 1947 as the Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet, the company was established under the direction of John Field, and was formed to continue ballet performances at Sadler's Wells Theatre, after its predecessor (today's Royal Ballet) moved to become the resident ballet company at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London. The company was later granted a Royal Charter, becoming the Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet and following relocation to Birmingham in 1990, the name was changed to Birmingham Royal Ballet, with the company becoming the resident ballet company at the Birmingham Hippodrome theatre.

It is now independent of the Royal Ballet in London, although it retains strong links with the company and the Royal Ballet School. As a resident company, Birmingham Royal Ballet has extensive custom-built facilities, including a suite of dance studios, the Jerwood Centre for the Prevention and Treatment of Dance Injuries and a studio theatre known as the Patrick Centre. In 2002, the need for Birmingham Royal Ballet to have its own school led to a new association with Elmhurst School for Dance, which is now its official ballet school.

History

In 1926, the Irish-born dancer Ninette de Valois founded the Academy of Choreographic Art, a dance school for girls. Her intention was to form a repertory ballet company and school, leading her to collaborate with the English theatrical producer and theatre owner Lilian Baylis. Baylis owned the Old Vic and Sadler's Wells theatres and in 1925 she engaged de Valois to stage dance performances at both venues.

Sadler's Wells reopened in 1931 and the Vic-Wells Ballet and Vic-Wells Ballet School were established in premises at the theatre. These would become the predecessors of today's Royal Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet and Royal Ballet School.

In 1939, the company lost its link with the Old Vic theatre and, in 1940, Sadler's Wells theatre was bombed during World War II. These events forced the company to begin touring the country, becoming known as the Sadler's Wells Ballet. The company did return to Sadler's Wells theatre, where it stayed until 1946, when the company was invited to become the resident ballet company of the newly re-opened Royal Opera House in Covent Garden. The company relocated to the opera house the same year in 1946, with their first production at the venue being Ninette de Valois' staging of The Sleeping Beauty.

Birmingham Royal Ballet performing E=MC2 in Tokyo in 2011
Following the relocation of the company the school was relocated to its own premises in 1947 and a sister company was established to continue performances at Sadler's Wells, called Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet. This sister company would become the predecessor of today's Birmingham Royal Ballet. The first Artistic Director of the Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet was John Field, who was later made co-director of the Royal Ballet and also worked as artistic director of La Scala Theatre Ballet and English National Ballet.

In 1955, Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet temporarily lost its link with Sadler's Wells theatre and relocated to the Royal Opera House as a touring unit of the main company.

In 1956, a Royal Charter was granted for both companies and the school and they were subsequently renamed the Royal Ballet, Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet and the Royal Ballet School.

The Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet returned to Sadler's Wells theatre in 1970, whilst continuing to tour the country. The first indication that the company would leave London came in 1987, when the company was invited to become the resident ballet company at the Birmingham Hippodrome theatre. Consequently, the company relocated to Birmingham in 1990, being given its current name Birmingham Royal Ballet.

Sir Peter Wright remained as the company's Artistic Director and held the post until his retirement in 1995, when the current Artistic Director, David Bintley was appointed. In 1997, Birmingham Royal Ballet was made independent of the Royal Ballet and ceased to be managed by the Royal Opera House.

As an independent ballet company, Birmingham Royal Ballet no longer has official links with the Royal Ballet or Royal Ballet School. To further establish its reputation as a separate entity, in 2002, it began a new relationship with the Elmhurst School for Dance, which is now its official associate school. Elmhurst is the oldest established vocational dance school in the United Kingdom, and was previously based in Camberley, Surrey. It relocated to premises in Edgbaston, Birmingham in 2004, becoming known as Elmhurst School for Dance, in association with Birmingham Royal Ballet.

Works performed

Dancers

Principals

Name Nationality Training Joined BRB Promoted to
Principal		 Information
Jamie Bond  United Kingdom Royal Ballet School 2003 2009 The Royal Ballet, 2002–2003
Eurovision Young Dancers – Finalist (Great Britain), 2001
Young British Dancer of the Year – Winner, 2000
Joseph Caley  United Kingdom Royal Ballet School 2005 2011
Chi Cao  China Beijing Dance Academy
Royal Ballet School		 1995 2002 Varna International Ballet Competition — Gold Medal, 1998
Momoko Hirata  Japan Reiko Yamamoto Ballet School
Royal Ballet School		 2003 2013
Iain Mackay  United Kingdom Royal Ballet School 1999 2003 Promoted to Soloist — Birmingham Royal Ballet, 2001
César Morales  Chile Municipal Theatre of Santiago
Houston Ballet Academy 		2008 N/A Principal Guest Artist – Vienna State Opera Ballet, 2006
English National Ballet, 2004–2006
Altazor Prize  — Winner, 2002 & 2003
New York International Ballet Competition — Gold Medal, 2003
Prague International Ballet Competitions — Gold Medal, 2002
Ballet de Santiago, years unknown
Natasha Oughtred  United Kingdom Vanessa Hooper & Niall McMahon
Royal Ballet School		 2007 2009 Promoted to First Soloist — Birmingham Royal Ballet, 2008
Promoted to Soloist – The Royal Ballet, 2004
The Royal Ballet, 2000–2007
Genee International Ballet Competition – Gold Medal, 2000
Jenna Roberts  Australia Marie Walton-Mahon Dance Academy
Royal Ballet School		 2003 2012
Nao Sakuma  Japan Michiko Komori Ballet School
Royal Ballet School		 1995 2002 National Dance Awards – Nominee, 2001
Jackson Ballet Competition — Special Jury Prize, 1998
Tyrone Singleton  United Kingdom Royal Ballet School 2003 2013
Elisha Willis  Australia Australian Ballet School 2003 2004 Promoted to Soloist – Australian Ballet, 2001
Australian Ballet, 1991999-2003

First Soloists

  • Tzu-Chao Chou
  • Mathias Dingman
  • Laetitia Lo Sardo
  • Angela Paul
  • Jonathan Payn

Soloists

  • James Barton
  • Arancha Baselga
  • Jonathan Caguioa
  • Samara Downs
  • Céline Gittens
  • Maureya Lebowitz
  • Rory Mackay
  • Steven Monteith
  • Laura Purkiss
  • Tom Rogers

First Artists

  • Yasuo Atsuji
  • William Bracewell
  • Feargus Campbell
  • Laura-Jane Gibson
  • Kit Holder
  • Yvette Knight
  • Delia Matthews
  • Valentin Olovyannikov
  • Callie Roberts
  • Oliver Till
  • Yijing Zhang

Artists

  • Ana Albutashvili
  • Ruth Brill
  • Laura Day
  • Karla Doorbar
  • Reina Fuchigami
  • Miles Gilliver
  • Jade Heusen
  • Brandon Lawrence
  • Max Maslen
  • Miki Mizutani
  • Lachlan Monaghan
  • Anna Monleon
  • Nikita Ruhl
  • Mariko Sasaki

  • Luke Schaufuss
  • Yaoqian Shang
  • Alys Shee
  • Nathanael Skelton
  • Emily Smith
  • Benjamin Soerel
  • Lewis Turner

See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Roy, Sanjoy (2009-04-0). "Step-by-step guide to dance: Birmingham Royal Ballet". The Guardian (Guardian News and Media). Retrieved 30 October 2011. "See also: The Royal Ballet, English National Ballet – the other two of the big three UK ballet companies." 

External links

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