Press Release: Northern Ballet returns home from Gatsby glory in China

[Jan McNulty]

 

 

 

Northern Ballet returns home from Gatsby glory in China

 

Northern Ballet has returned home to Leeds following a sell-out international tour to China that saw them perform to over 10,000 people. The Company performed its blockbuster production, The Great Gatsby, to packed houses at Shanghai Grand Theatre and Beijing’s National Centre for the Performing Arts between 30 January and 5 February 2016. 

 

This latest tour by the Company follows an earlier successful visit to China with A Midsummer Night’s Dream in January2014. At that time, Northern Ballet was the first British cultural organisation to tour to China following the signing of a new cultural agreement between the UK and China. This year, the Company sought to further strengthen bonds between the two countries and continue to build its profile with audiences in the Far East. This is the first time that Northern Ballet’s smash hit production of The Great Gatsby, which premièred in 2013, has been performed outside of the UK.

 

Northern Ballet Chief Executive, Mark Skipper DL, said: ‘I am delighted that Northern Ballet was invited to return to perform in China just two years from our last visit. This is the first time that our production of The Great Gatsby has been performed internationally and the whole company has been thrilled by the positive reaction we have received from audiences there.

 

Northern Ballet continues to be a passionate cultural ambassador for Leeds, Yorkshire and the UK so we are delighted to be able to take opportunities to reach audiences further a field with our work and showcase what the UK has to offer.’

 

Leeds City Council Leader, Cllr Judith Blake, said: ‘It is fantastic that Northern Ballet have once again been flying the flag so successfully for Leeds and showcasing their incredible talents to the world.

 

As one of the city’s cultural standard bearers, they are superb representatives for how passionately Leeds embraces the arts and how rich and varied our cultural offering is. I’d like to personally congratulate everyone involved in the tour and thank them for their continued support in further raising the city’s international profile.’

 

Northern Ballet commences its UK tour with Swan Lake opening at Leeds Grand Theatre on 3 March 2016. For more information on upcoming productions and tour dates, please visit northernballet.com/whatson.

 

-ENDS-

 

Notes to Editors

For more details of Northern Ballet's tour, on sale dates and booking information, please visit northernballet.com/whatson.

 

Nominated for Outstanding Company at the 2015 National Dance Awards and voted Best Company at the 2014 TaglioniEuropean Ballet Awards, Northern Ballet is one of the UK’s five large ballet companies. Based in Leeds it performs throughout the UK as well as overseas. Northern Ballet’s productions mix classical dance and theatre, embracing popular culture and taking inspiration from literature, opera, or giving a unique interpretation of popular classical ballets.

 

Northern Ballet is the busiest touring ballet company in the UK and is typically on the road for around 32 weeks of the year. The Company of 46 dancers tours a combination of full-length new work and established repertoire to cities throughout the UK. Northern Ballet also tours widely with its ballets for children, the first three of which were adapted for TV by CBeebies, and also performs a mixed programme showcasing the versatility of its dancers.

 

Visit northernballet.com for more information on the Company and tour.