Jan McNulty Posted June 20, 2017 Share Posted June 20, 2017 Northern Ballet announces promotions and joiners for 2017/18 season Northern Ballet will welcome nine new dancers for the 2017/18 season and has also announced promotions for existing members of the Company. Ailen Ramos Betancourt who performed with Northern Ballet as a Guest Artist for its tour of Casanova in early 2017, joins the Company as a Soloist. Joining the corps de ballet are: Eneko Amorós Zaragoza (Estonian National Ballet); Thomas Holdsworth (English National Ballet School); Ommaira Kanga Perez (Escuela de Ballet Carmina Ocaña y Pablo Savoye); Heather Lehan (Canada’s National Ballet School); and former Academy of Northern Ballet Centre for Advanced Training student Andrew Tomlinson joins from the National Ballet of Canada. Archie James and Carlotta Pini join as Apprentices from the Academy of Northern Ballet’s Professional Graduate Programme, and Mathilde Lambert (Dutch National Ballet Academy) also joins as an Apprentice. In addition, a number of Northern Ballet’s existing company dancers have been promoted: Victoria Sibson to First Soloist; Mlindi Kulashe, Ayami Miyata, Kevin Poeung and Abigail Prudames to Soloists; Sean Bates, Matthew Koon and Matthew Topliss to Junior Soloists; and Sarah Chun, Riku Ito and Jonathan Hanks are promoted to Coryphée. This year the Company will also be saying goodbye to six of its dancers: Lucia Solari and Jeremy Curnier are leaving to join Ballett Kiel in Germany; whilst Naomi Bottomer, Isabelle Clough, Jenny Hackwell and Luke Francis are also moving on to new things. Finally, Senior Artist and former Premier Dancer Hironao Takahashi bows out after a dancing career spanning over 20 years at Northern Ballet. Hironao will now focus full-time on his positions in the Company as Assistant Rehearsal Director and Assistant Artistic Director of Short Ballets for Small People. Northern Ballet’s new season will commence with The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas at the West Yorkshire Playhouse from 5 – 9 September 2017 before the world première of David Nixon OBE’s The Little Mermaid and performances of work by master choreographer Kenneth MacMillan, in Bradford and the Royal Opera House in London. -ENDS- Notes to Editors Northern Ballet – Company List 2017/18 Premier Dancers Pippa Moore Javier Torres Leading Soloists Hannah Bateman Dreda Blow Antoinette Brooks-Daw Giuliano Contadini Ashley Dixon First Soloist Victoria Sibson Soloists Rachael Gillespie Mlindi Kulashe Ayami Miyata Joseph Taylor Kevin Poeung Abigail Prudames Ailen Ramos Betancourt Junior Soloists Sean Bates Nicola Gervasi Matthew Koon Matthew Topliss Coryphée Sarah Chun Jonathan Hanks Riku Ito Dancers Miki Akuta Eneko Amorós Zaragoza Abigail Cockrell Kiara Flavin Thomas Holdsworth Ommaira Kanga Perez Minju Kang Natalia Kerner Dominique Larose Heather Lehan Harriet Marden Gavin McCaig Jesse Milligan Liam Morris Dale Rhodes Mariana Rodrigues Teresa Saavedra Bordes Andrew Tomlinson Lorenzo Trossello Filippo Di Vilio Alexander Yap Apprentices Darragh Hourrides Archie James Mathilde Lambert Carlotta Pini Northern Ballet Artistic Director – David Nixon OBE Northern Ballet is one of the UK’s leading ballet companies and the widest touring ballet company in the UK. Bold and innovative in its approach, Northern Ballet is prolific at creating new full-length work with a unique blend of strong classical technique and world-class storytelling. Northern Ballet’s repertoire embraces popular culture and takes inspiration from literature, legend, opera and the classics, pushing the boundaries of what stories can be told through dance. A champion for the cultural exports of the North, Leeds-based Northern Ballet is dedicated to bringing world-class story ballets to as many people and places as possible, under the leadership of Artistic Director David Nixon OBE. Northern Ballet’s Company of 45 dancers performs a combination of its full-length ballets and specially created ballets for children at almost 50 venues annually. Northern Ballet have been nominated in the Dance category at this year’s South Bank Sky Arts Awards for Jane Eyre. The Company were the winners of this category in 2016 for their ground-breaking adaptation of George Orwell’s 1984. For more details of Northern Ballet's tour, on sale dates and booking information, please visit northernballet.com/whatson 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted June 20, 2017 Share Posted June 20, 2017 So, Takahashi finally retires. It seems as though he's been with the company almost forever Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted June 20, 2017 Author Share Posted June 20, 2017 I think the last time he performed a dancing role was as Edgar in Wuthering Heights at WYP last September. He has looked as good as ever in class! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted June 20, 2017 Author Share Posted June 20, 2017 I didn't want to start a new thread but Northern Ballet have put out a short Thankyou to our audience film for Spring 2017: 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted August 3, 2017 Author Share Posted August 3, 2017 Head shot photoshoot for the new dancers: 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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