Press Release: Premieres for The Chelmsford Ballet Company at the Brentwood Centre

[Jan McNulty]

Premieres for The Chelmsford Ballet Company at the Brentwood Centre

 

The Chelmsford Ballet Company, calling the city its home for almost seventy years, will be performing as guests of the Hutton and Shenfield Choral Society on 19 December at the Brentwood Centre. The company will be performing excerpts from its highly anticipated production, The Sleeping Beauty, which will run at the Civic Theatre, Chelmsford in March 2016.

 

In the perfect prelude to the Christmas season, the company’s dancers will perform at the Brentwood Centre as part of a special evening of family-filled festivities, with performances including that of the Lilac Fairy and the premiere of a pas de deux. With this firm family favourite, the Sleeping Beauty excerpts will delight, interspersed with carols and music from the Aurelian Symphony Orchestra.

 

To book tickets visit https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/huttonshenfieldchoralsociety

 

 

The company’s production of The Sleeping Beauty will run from 16–19 March 2016 at the Civic Theatre in Chelmsford, Essex. Tickets are now on sale, for which contact the box office on 01245 606505 or visit http://www.chelmsford.gov.uk/sleeping-beauty

 

The amateur company prides itself on its professional standards, and requires dancers to audition before joining. Dancers are then eligible to audition for the annual production, which is the pride of the company, its committee and the residents of Chelmsford.

 

http://www.thechelmsfordballetcompany.co.uk/

 

 

--Ends--

 

 

About The Chelmsford Ballet Company

 

In 1947, Joan Weston created the Broomfield YMCA Ballet Company in order to give the more senior students at her existing dance school the opportunity to learn and perform to the public. It was after their 1949 performance of ‘Coppélia’ at the Shire Hall that the then Mayor of Chelmsford suggested the name ‘The Chelmsford Ballet Company’, and with a small committee the Company was born.

 

Since 1949, the Ballet Company has staged a full-scale production every year. Initially a part of the Arts Festival, and then the Cathedral Fringe Festival, they occur today as an annual event in their own right. Today the Company is led by Artistic Director Annette Potter, who is a former dancing member. Annette danced many leading roles with the company before moving on to teaching and choreography.

 

The Ballet Company is a way for skilled dancers from across the area to perform together and to showcase their considerable talents to appreciative and receptive audiences. Theatre-goers are constantly ‘thrilled’ with the productions, which always maintain the high standards set by Joan Weston. It has become a well-loved cornerstone of Chelmsford’s cultural calendar.

 

The Chelmsford Ballet Company is “an amateur Company which sets professional standards for all its work, involving professionals in its productions, courses and other teaching and workshop opportunities”. The standards are such that both junior (aged 10 and Standard/Grade 2 or above) and senior (over 14) dancers must audition to become members and again each year to perform in any production. These high standards are maintained through the monthly Company classes, where the dancers are able to meet and take a class with experienced and distinguished teachers.

 

In the 1960's a Scholarship Fund was created to help young dancers moving to professional training.

 

[Jan McNulty]

Professional dancer Andrei Iliescu joins The Chelmsford Ballet Company’s Sleeping Beauty

 

The Chelmsford Ballet Company’s upcoming production of The Sleeping Beauty at the Civic Theatre, Chelmsford, will see professional dancer Andrei Iliescu join the much-loved company as Prince Florimund.

 

Iliescu was born in Romania, where he began dancing at the National College of Arts. He competed in the prestigious Prix de Lausanne competition in Switzerland and was consequently awarded a full scholarship to attend Central School of Ballet in London. During his training Iliescu worked with renowned choreographers such as Christopher Marney of Sir Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures, Sharon Watson of Phoenix Dance Theatre and Christopher Hampson of Scottish Ballet; Chelmsford audiences will have seen Iliescu perform in Ballet Central’s 2015 graduation tour.

 

Adding further grandeur and talent to the company, Iliescu recently made his West End debut in celebrated choreographer Marney’s critically acclaimed production of McQueen The Play. Marney is one of the company’s patrons, alongside The Marchioness of Londonderry (Doreen Wells of the Royal Ballet). 

 

As a fantastic introduction to ballet, the Company’s 2016 production of The Sleeping Beauty in particular is ideal for those new to the art form, however familiar with the classic fairytale The Sleeping Beauty. This production will delight audiences of all ages, with familiar music framing the family favourite. The programme runs from 16–19 March at the Civic Theatre in Chelmsford. For tickets contact the box office on 01245 606505 or visit www.chelmsford.gov.uk/sleeping-beauty

 

www.thechelmsfordballetcompany.co.uk

 

 

--Ends—

 

About The Chelmsford Ballet Company

 

In 1947, Joan Weston created the Broomfield YMCA Ballet Company in order to give the more senior students at her existing dance school the opportunity to learn and perform to the public. It was after their 1949 performance of ‘Coppélia’ at the Shire Hall that the then Mayor of Chelmsford suggested the name ‘The Chelmsford Ballet Company’, and with a small committee the Company was born.

 

Since 1949, the Ballet Company has staged a full-scale production every year. Initially a part of the 

Arts Festival, and then the Cathedral Fringe Festival, they occur today as an annual event in their own right. Today the Company is led by Artistic Director Annette Potter, who is a former dancing member. Annette danced many leading roles with the company before moving on to teaching and choreography. 

 

The Ballet Company is a way for skilled dancers from across the area to perform together and to showcase their considerable talents to appreciative and receptive audiences. Theatre-goers are constantly ‘thrilled’ with the productions, which always maintain the high standards set by Joan Weston. It has become a well-loved cornerstone of Chelmsford’s cultural calendar.

 

The Chelmsford Ballet Company is “an amateur Company which sets professional standards for all its work, involving professionals in its productions, courses and other teaching and workshop opportunities”. The standards are such that both junior (aged 10 and Standard/Grade 2 or above) and senior (over 14) dancers must audition to become members and again each year to perform in any production. These high standards are maintained through the monthly Company classes, where the dancers are able to meet and take a class with experienced and distinguished teachers. In the 1960's a Scholarship Fund was created to help young dancers moving to professional training.