Jan McNulty

That's fantastic news for your older DD Regattah, congratulations to her! I do hope your younger DD is continuing in her recovery. Please, if you don't mind, keep us informed how she is getting on.

Macmillan Romeo and Cranko Shrew (which they had in the rep before I was a ballet watcher!) - the photograph in the subscription brochure is from Stuttgart Ballet.

That is brilliant select*from. Thankyou!

From my point of view this is a great season! I can't wait to see what BRB make of Shrew and there are some Ashton favourites making my mouth water already! The subscription brochure will be out for the general public soon. Friends have had theirs. Just a word of warning, the structure of the subscriptions has changed for the coming year. I think I aged 20 years in a couple of hours trying to fill mine in yesterday!

Birmingham season announced Birmingham Royal Ballet is pleased to announce its 2015-16 Birmingham Hippodrome season. During the 2015-16 season Birmingham Royal Ballet will continue to focus on presenting quality productions at affordable prices. From September 2015, a revised pricing structure enables us to offer unforgettable entertainment to all from as little as £10. Tickets for all performances go on sale to the public on 1 June, with discounted subscription packages covering multiple shows becoming available on 14 May. Details of subscription packages will appear here on the site next month. To receive an email notification on the day that this information is published, click here and leave us your details. 2015-16 Shows: Swan Lake 28 September – 6 October 2015 Variations triple bill: Theme and Variations / Kin. / Enigma Variations 8 – 10 October 2015 The Nutcracker 27 November – 13 December 2015 Ashton double bill: The Dream / A Month in the Country 17 – 20 February 2016 Romeo and Juliet 24 – 27 February 2016 The Taming of the Shrew 16 – 18 June 2016 Shakespeare triple bill: The Sonnets / The Moor’s Pavane / The Shakespeare Suite 22 – 25 June 2016 Throughout the year, Birmingham Royal Ballet’s 60 full-time dancers from across the world will be accompanied by Britain’s busiest ballet orchestra, the Royal Ballet Sinfonia, under the musical directorship of Koen Kessels. We will also be joined by members of the Colin Towns' Mask Orchestra, for Duke Ellington's Shakespeare Suite. http://brb.org.uk/2015-16-birmingham.html

Dance continues to shine in Leeds A year ago six dance organisations came together to highlight the strength of dance in Leeds, its contribution to the local economy and its reach and influence on a national and international level. Now the original partners: Balbir Singh Dance Company, Northern Ballet, Northern School of Contemporary Dance, Phoenix Dance Theatre, RJC Dance and Yorkshire Dance, have been joined by Dance Action Zone Leeds (DAZL) and Leeds Beckett University in an updated map which shows the work and reach of these groups in the year 2013/14: www.cityofdance.co.uk. The map, launched in March 2014 with an event at Leeds’ Civic Hall, aims to show the reach, engagement and economic and social impact of dance in Leeds. The updated version of the map shows that in 2013/14 almost 300,000 people watched a live dance performance by the partners involved in the dance map; almost 75,000 people took part in a dance workshop or project; almost 600 people were employed on a full-time, part-time or freelance basis and income and investment generated by these eight companies exceeded £11.9 million. These statistics are only one part of a much larger picture of people taking part in dance throughout the city. David Nixon OBE, Artistic Director of Northern Ballet says, “Once again Leeds has demonstrated that, outside of London, it is the UK’s City of Dance. We are working together to build a Dance Hub for the North with Leeds at its core. Both Arts Council England and Leeds City Council have underlined their commitment to dance by continuing to support the dance organisations in the city and, as work takes place behind the scenes to develop plans to cement Leeds’ position as the dance hub for the North, we look forward to playing a major part in Leeds City Council’s bid for Capital of Culture 2023.” Ian Rodley, Director of DAZL says, “Young people and health are at the heart of what we do here at DAZL and the importance dance plays in the health of Leeds cannot be underestimated. We wanted to be a part of the City of Dance Map to highlight our work bridging the gap between professional companies and the cities most deprived communities, and the contribution it makes to a wider dance community in Leeds which is influencing dance on a national and international level.” In February, Dance UK, the national voice for dance, launched the 2015 Dance Manifesto. With the title Dance: A Great British Success Story, it celebrates and highlights the extraordinary contribution dance has made to the UK over the past few years showcasing dance as a UK success story: https://www.danceuk.org/campaigning/dance-manifesto-2015/ This weekend the BBC held a Dancing Beebies event at Leeds Trinity shopping centre where Northern Ballet, DAZL, Northern School of Contemporary Dance, SAA-UK, Academy of Northern Ballet, Phoenix Youth Academy and Yorkshire Dance came together to perform to thousands of people who attended a day of dance workshops and performances, once again showcasing Leeds as a dancing city.

Thanks Yaffa! I've just managed to book one for when I am seeing NB at the Linbury!!!

Tour dates Website Home Page

Good luck that your dd has a positive outcome. The facilities at Quarry Hill look fabulous!

As there are a lot of dog and cat lovers on the forum I thought I would share the vacancy page (on Facebook) for the Dogs Trust. I think it's an excellent idea and may well volunteer (although what Chunkydog would think is another matter!): https://www.facebook.com/DogsTrust?fref=nf

Thanks for giving us the details of your summer school intensive. It is always useful for our members to know what is out there.

Hello Hans11 and welcome to the Forum. I can't answer your question but to make it easier for others to help are you asking about Northern Ballet School in Manchester or Northern Ballet Academy in Leeds?

Jonathan Ollivier is an alumnus (is that right) who danced with classical companies (many memorable performances with NB!) and is now a STAR with Matthew Bourne.

Hello Balletnz and welcome to the Forum. I can't answer your question except to say that Rambert is a highly respected school. There is an earlier thread that, while it is about a male student, covers Rambert School: http://www.balletcoforum.com/index.php?/topic/8607-rambert-school-auditionshould-i-or-shouldnt-i/?hl=rambert It is well worth searching the Doing Dance Forum to find more opinions too.

And BRB fans thank their lucky stars that those dancers chose to come to BRB!

Rather than start a new topic I thought I would mention here that there is a wonderful exhibition of "behind the scenes" photographs of Northern Ballet at the Cafe 164 Gallery in Leeds. The photographer is the very talented Justin Slee. There is a website that shows most of the photographs: http://avantprints.co.uk/# It really is worth visiting if you are in Leeds over the next couple of weeks,

Hope all goes well with the exploratory today(!) Regattah. Thinking of you all. Jxx

Good point Aileen! Does anyone know? When Mark Baldwin was an associate choreographer with Scottish Ballet many years ago he created works in the ballet idiom with the ladies on point. I remember Aye Fond Kiss with particular fondness.

Cindy Sughrue stands down as Chief Executive of Scottish Ballet The Board of Scottish Ballet announces today, Monday 30 March 2015, that, for personal reasons, Cindy Sughrue, is stepping down from her role as Chief Executive / Executive Producer with immediate effect. The Board would like to acknowledge the considerable contribution Cindy has made to Scottish Ballet and wishes her success in the future. The process to recruit her successor will begin immediately. In the interim, Scottish Ballet's Artistic Director, Christopher Hampson, will assume the role of Acting Chief Executive.

Hello Balletmom007 and welcome to the Forum. Congratulations on your dd's success. I do hope you will continue to join in.

I've just come across this gem via twitter: "Back in 1915, a notice appeared in the programs handed out at New York Philharmonic concerts, signed ``Felix F. Leifels, Manager.'' It read: ``The Philharmonic Society fully appreciates the spirit that prompts charitable assistance in the great world's calamity caused by the European war, but many complaints have ben received from patrons of the concerts who are annoyed by knitting during performances, and the Directors respectfully request that this practice, which interferes with the artistic enjoyment of the music, be omitted.'' Let this serve as a reminder to those attending the Auditorium concert, both to the ladies and the gentlemen. Don't bring your knitting needles." http://ww.heraldtimesonline.com//stories/1990/11/18/archive.19901118.b7e852b.sto?code=db988ed8-d63a-11e4-b6c4-b757e3a1d9f8 (Scroll down to the bottom 2 paragraphs)

There is a Just Giving page for the Ann Maguire Foundation: https://www.justgiving.com/ann-maguire

Glad you enjoyed your visit to the Empire Tulip. It is a barn of a theatre, holding over 2300 on 2 levels, but I always enjoy my visits there.

I saw three performances at Sadler's Wells last week - Wednesday evening, Thursday afternoon and Thursday evening. The two evening performances were led by Dreda Blow / Javier Torres and Martha Leebolt / Toby Batley. Both performances, to my eyes, were absolutely magnificent. On Thursday afternoon I finally managed to catch Antoinette Brooks Daw ahd Giuliano Contadini as Daisy and Gatsby. Antoinette proved to be a bubbly, dizzy Daisy - she was absolutely gorgeous! Giuliano inhabited the role of Gatsby. Their duets had a real edge - especially the tango duet, which had me forgetting to breathe! Jeremy Curnier gave a beautifully nuanced performance as Nick - he was every inch the gooseberry when Gatsby and Daisy met at his cottage. Ashley Dixon, cast against type, was a brutal Tom. Hannah Bateman absolutely sizzled as Myrtle both with Joseph Taylor as George and Tom. The sublime Rachael Gillespie was young Daisy to Kevin Poeung's strongly danced young Gatsby. Pippa Moore was terrific as Jordan too. I think this production is very cleverly put together, staying faithful to the essence of Fitzgerald's novel. Gatsby did not appear at his own parties but how do you portray that in a ballet - Gatsby seems almost other-worldly in the Charleston scene - not seen by the party goers. The use of Gatsby and Daisy's younger selves is a clever device to explain the back stories and for Gatsby to explain things to Nick. The Northern Ballet dancers look as though they are having an absolute ball in the Charleston party and it is a party I want to be at!

And some of the waiters in each performance include Young Gatsby (lots of quick changes there!), Myrtle's party guests and so on! You will probably find that the dancers at NB have far less opportunity to be "spear carriers" in this company than in larger companies. The waiters are there to indicate the wealth of Gatsby and are integral to the production. They may not, as waiters, be dancing but they are nevertheless integral to the production and need to perform those roles with a commitment equal to that of any of the major roles. As it happens I went to the dinner after NB's recent gala and the many waiters marched around in similar fashion delivering the food to the tables, pouring wine etc. It just reminded me of this production. Aileen is right that some of the senior dancers perform some of the cameos. Kenny Tindall was a Gatsby minder, Myrtle party guest and policeman in Wednesday evening's performance and Toby Batley was the most nerdy of Myrtle party guests on Thursday afternoon. It's one of the joys of watching Northern Ballet!