Jan McNulty Posted July 10, 2012 Share Posted July 10, 2012 MEDIA RELEASE: Tuesday 10 July 2012 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 from Soloist to First Soloist Mathias Dingman is promoted from Soloist to First Soloist Arancha Baselga is promoted from First Artist to Soloist Laura Purkiss is promoted from First Artist to Soloist James Barton is promoted from First Artist to Soloist Jonathan Caguioa is promoted from First Artist to Soloist Tom Rogers is promoted from First Artist to Soloist Laura-Jane Gibson is promoted from Artist to First Artist Yvette Knight is promoted from Artist to First Artist Delia Mathews is promoted from Artist to First Artist Callie Roberts is promoted from Artist to First Artist William Bracewell is promoted from Artist to First Artist Oliver Till is promoted from Artist to First Artist The following dancers will join the company: Momoko Hirata will return to Birmingham Royal Ballet and resume her First Soloist contract following 18 months dancing with Angel Corella’s company in Spain Miki Mizutani from Japan, graduate of English National Ballet School, will join as an Artist Alys Shee from Canada, graduate of the Academy of Ballet and Jazz School for the Canadian Ballet Theatre, (taught by Evelyn Hart) a former dancer with ABT II will join as an Artist Lachlan Monaghan from Australia, graduate of The Royal Ballet School, will join as an Artist Ana Albutashvili, soloist from the State Ballet of Georgia will join as an Artist The following dancers leave the company: Robert Parker leaves Birmingham Royal Ballet after eighteen years with the Company, thirteen of those as a Principal. Robert will take up the role of Artistic Director of Elmhurst School for Dance in September Gaylene Cummerfield - Following a fifteen year career with Australian Ballet and Birmingham Royal Ballet, Gaylene leaves the company to become a full-time mother Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted July 10, 2012 Author Share Posted July 10, 2012 Huge cogratulations to all the promotees. Very best wishes to Robert for his new job and Gaylene on becoming a full-time Mum Looking forward to seeing the joiners. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted July 10, 2012 Share Posted July 10, 2012 What a lot of promotions! Best news for me is the return of Momoko Hirata. Also particularly pleased to see William Bracewell moving up a step already: I don't think I've really seen him since he joined BRB, but he certainly impressed me in the RBS performance I saw. Congratulations/best wishes as applicable to everyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mumofballetmaddaughter Posted July 10, 2012 Share Posted July 10, 2012 Lovely to read about all of the promotions and well done to them all. I remember watching Angela Paul at a RAD workshop my daughter attended approx 13 years ago, taking instruction from a former Russian ballerina as part of a demonstration. Angela was fairly new, I think, to the BRB at that time so it's great that she's made such good progress within the Company. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KathyG Posted July 10, 2012 Share Posted July 10, 2012 Congratulations to all. My DS was very pleased about the Roberts sisters getting promotion. Well done Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SheilaC Posted July 11, 2012 Share Posted July 11, 2012 The promotions are very well deserved, with many of the dancers having recently being given more significant roles and performing them well. In particular, as he has matured, James Barton has become a demi-caractere dancer that any company would be proud of and Will Bracewell's first performance as Oberon was very promising. Wonderful news about Momoko returning, such a lovely dancer with a pure technique. But why has she not been given a higher status? I have regularly read about her in European ballet magazines and she has had major roles, both in the company and in galas and always had very positive reviews. Finally, a mystery. According to the RBS Linbury performance programme, two graduates not listed in the press release, will also be joining: Laura Day and Reina Fuchigami. Perhaps the company has already announced that they are joining but it is odd their names aren't included. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluebird Posted July 11, 2012 Share Posted July 11, 2012 (edited) Finally, a mystery. According to the RBS Linbury performance programme, two graduates not listed in the press release, will also be joining: Laura Day and Reina Fuchigami. Perhaps the company has already announced that they are joining but it is odd their names aren't included. Laura and Reina both joined some time ago. I believe there was an announcement at the time. Edited to add that, although I seem to remember an announcement, I can't find it on the BRB website. However the following announcement did appear on the RBS website on January 25 of this year. I've highlighted the relevant section: Royal Ballet School students to join The Royal Ballet Following a visit to the School by Monica Mason and Kevin O’Hare on Friday 20 January, two Graduate students have been offered contracts with The Royal Ballet. Manchester-born Tierney Heap and Brazilian Mayara Magri will join the Company from the beginning of the 2012 - 2013 season. Fellow-Graduates Laura Day and Reina Fuchigami have already joined the School’s other sister company, Birmingham Royal Ballet, and Teo Dubreuil has accepted a contract with English National Ballet. The Royal Ballet School prides itself on having one of the highest graduate employment rates in the world. Edited July 11, 2012 by Bluebird Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted July 11, 2012 Author Share Posted July 11, 2012 Just to confirm that Laura and Reina have been with the company since at least January along with Anna Monleon, who joined at the same time. They joined before we were set up to receive press releases on this forum so that is why it may have been missed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryAmos Posted July 13, 2012 Share Posted July 13, 2012 16 promotions is quite a shock - it must be a record. I am pleased that the ones I most wanted to be promoted and who most deserved it have been promoted. Given the large number, I don't think there is much to quarrel with. However, I hope there is money left for next year since I can easily envisage that a number of dancers who were not promoted this year will have very strong cases for promotion next year. Also, I hope there will be some room to employ some of the students graduating next year. Both the Royal Ballet School and Elmhurst have dancers in this year's 6.2 (next year's graduating year) that I would like to see join BRB. I am surprised that Sheila Cross thinks that Momoko should come back to BRB as Principal. Is it not the usual policy that a dancer who leaves a company and then returns in a very short time should return with the same rank he or she held before leaving? Anything else risks displacing a dancer who has stayed with the company and that would be most unfair. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Q Fan Posted July 13, 2012 Share Posted July 13, 2012 I am really pleased to see Tzu-Chao Chou getting a promotion I really like him! Also William Bracewell although I thought he was already higher up the ranks! Great to see Momoko returning too. congrats to all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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