Royal Ballet Promotions, Leavers, Joiners 2017/2018

[Nina G. 1,629]

1 hour ago, aileen said:

Is this the first year that the RB has not taken any students from the RBS straight into the company? Is this the shape of things to come ie that promising dancers will join the Aud Jebsen programme before being taken into the company?

 

I think so, looking at the Promotions 2014-2015 and 2015-2016.

 

No student/graduate from the Royal Ballet School was given a contract to join the Company this Season.

 

Six dancers do join as "Aud Jebsen" dancers giving them a year of experience to work alongside the corps de ballet. Some may be lucky to be offered a contract by the of Season but this is not guaranteed. 

Edited July 9, 2017 by Nina G.
spelling

[AlisonS35 19]

What brilliant news on promotions!

[jmhopton 1,711]

 

http://www.roh.org.uk/news/yasmine-nagdhi-promoted-to-principal-dancer

 

Fabulous news; virtually everyone's wish list in one (apart from promotion for James Hay) Congratulations to Yasmine, the Royal's newest principal dancer; really well deserved; couldn't happen to a nicer person or better dancer.

 

Marcellino and Matthew too; hopefully their next step on the way to principal.

 

Re previous discussion on the role of principal character artist apparently it does exist as several have been promoted to it including Bennett Gartside, Thomas Whitehead, Christina Arestis and Kirsten McNally.

 

Matthew Golding is leaving the Company so leavers are mentioned as well.

 

Many congratulations to all these and everyone promoted. it's been such a wonderful year for the company it is a pity everyone can't be promoted; they all deserve it!

 

[Rachelm 158]

Excellent result regarding promotions! Congratulations to all.

[Springbourne3 296]

10 hours ago, capybara said:

 

Unfortunately, it appears not.

 

OVER THE MOON FOR ALL THE PROMOTEES. CONGRATULATIONS! 

 

Strange that there is no mention of him (de Primo) as leaving as previous Prix dancers usually get a mention if they are given a contract or if they move on to other companies etc.

[Wulff 350]

Very glad to see that Ben Ella has made it to soloist. He was in the same year in the RBS as Vadim and showed great promise 

as a student, but his subsequent career has been held back by a series of injuries, so it's great to see that he has at last won through.

[Melody 1,555]

Lovely to see this list. I remember seeing Yasmine Naghdi dancing in the Shakespeare Live programme with Matthew Ball, and she looked every inch the principal dancer already.

[JohnS 2,392]

Delighted to see all the promotions - congratulations to all and so well deserved.  Wonderful to see how Kevin O'Hare and all at the Royal Ballet nurture and reward such talent.

 

I would just hope that the new Principal Character Artists will continue to have opportunities to delight audiences in a range of roles - for example I'd love to think that we'll see Benn dance Leontes and I still dream that he may reprise Rudolph having missed his earlier performances.

[kameliendame 43]

Very pleased with this season's promotions!! Just like everyone else im thrilled to see Naghdi in the highest rank, she doesnt deserve anything less. Also very very happy with Sambé as First Soloist. First noticed him about four years ago, and I remember being aboslutey shocked he was still in the corps de ballet, as I thought hed be soloist at least by the look of his dancing! ive been following his career ever since and this promotion to First Soloist is a huge achievement and well deserved! 

 

It seems like its over and out for Choe, then. Considering her age I dont think a promotion will be given to her anymore. A pity for us Choe fans, but at least she is properly cast in leading roles! 

 

Quick question: does anyone happen to know what happened to Rupert Pennefather? He left a few seasons ago and I havent heared anything from him since. Is he officially retired? 

[Fonty 3,592]

Good to see that the wish list for many has been fulfilled!

 

All richly deserved

.

[Ian Macmillan 4,177]

I can't say about other papers, but Yasmine's promotion got a fair splash in today's Times, here.

 

 

 

[loveclassics 739]

Yes, and the Evening Standard has a paragraph about her too - mainly that's she the first English principal for a while.

 

Linda

[penelopesimpson 3,370]

1 hour ago, loveclassics said:

Yes, and the Evening Standard has a paragraph about her too - mainly that's she the first English principal for a while.

 

Linda

Would that be since Francesca Hayward?

[capybara 9,825]

8 hours ago, loveclassics said:

Yes, and the Evening Standard has a paragraph about her too - mainly that's she the first English principal for a while.

 

Linda

 

6 hours ago, penelopesimpson said:

Would that be since Francesca Hayward?

 

I think that they are speaking of Yasmine having been born in the UK.

[Nina G. 1,629]

27 minutes ago, capybara said:

I think that they are speaking of Yasmine having been born in the UK.  

 

The Evening Standard article: "Yasmine is the first Principal dancer from London in more than 25 years" and the article in The Times: " She is the first Londoner to become a Principal dancer at the Royal Ballet since Darcey Bussell in 1989"

[Fonty 3,592]

Am I missing something here?  Is there something special about her being a Londoner?

 

As far as I am concerned, it is far more interesting that we now have two new female principals who have come right the way through the RB school from White Lodge, to join the two existing ones.  

[penelopesimpson 3,370]

53 minutes ago, Fonty said:

Am I missing something here?  Is there something special about her being a Londoner?

 

As far as I am concerned, it is far more interesting that we now have two new female principals who have come right the way through the RB school from White Lodge, to join the two existing ones.  

Hear, hear.  Is Francesca not British, then?

[bridiem 6,270]

1 hour ago, Fonty said:

Am I missing something here?  Is there something special about her being a Londoner?

 

As far as I am concerned, it is far more interesting that we now have two new female principals who have come right the way through the RB school from White Lodge, to join the two existing ones.  

 

I think the point is that this is the London Evening Standard reporting, so they're going to take a London angle.

[alison 11,013]

I too was wondering what I might be missing.  After all, it's not as if we celebrated Lauren Cuthbertson's being the first Devon-born principal since ... Jonathan Cope? ... or Ed Watson being the first Bromley-born one since, I'd guess, Antoinette Sibley (or Lesley Collier if you stretch a point slightly) - not in the national press, anyway.

 

I also wonder why on earth The Times found it at all necessary to post a picture of her with her boyfriend at all, let alone the one they posted - which looked as though it had been taken from her Facebook account or similar: surely they could have found another professional one somewhere - it's not as if she doesn't have enough of a portfolio already.

[Beryl H 1,249]

1 hour ago, penelopesimpson said:

Hear, hear.  Is Francesca not British, then?

She certainly is, she was brought up in Worthing which is as traditionally British as it's possible to be

 

[Pas de Quatre 2,798]

I think it is just that the Evening Standard is a London newspaper, so they are highlighting the success of a Londoner.  Presumably there is still a newspaper in Hull, so no doubt it will have lots of articles about Xander Parish.

[capybara 9,825]

I would like to think that we can now 'relax' about the newspaper coverage and simply rejoice in, and enjoy, the news of Yasmine's promotion 

 

[Colman 1,034]

4 minutes ago, capybara said:

I would like to think that we can now 'relax' about the newspaper coverage and simply rejoice in, and enjoy, the news of Yasmine's promotion 

 

 

I'm sorry, you must be new to the Internet. 

[alison 11,013]

21 minutes ago, Pas de Quatre said:

I think it is just that the Evening Standard is a London newspaper, so they are highlighting the success of a Londoner. 

 

I was referring to The Times' coverage, though.  I hadn't expected it to be that parochial

[bridiem 6,270]

15 minutes ago, alison said:

 

I was referring to The Times' coverage, though.  I hadn't expected it to be that parochial

 

Well I suppose London being the capital city does have a certain national significance too... Though I suspect if she'd come from somewhere else that might also have been used as the angle. They just choose a peg to hang the story on and Londoner is as good as any.

[penelopesimpson 3,370]

2 hours ago, bridiem said:

 

Well I suppose London being the capital city does have a certain national significance too... Though I suspect if she'd come from somewhere else that might also have been used as the angle. They just choose a peg to hang the story on and Londoner is as good as any.

Obviously Worthing doesn't do it for them!

[Nina G. 1,629]

7 hours ago, Fonty said:

Am I missing something here?  Is there something special about her being a Londoner?

 

As far as I am concerned, it is far more interesting that we now have two new female principals who have come right the way through the RB school from White Lodge, to join the two existing ones.  

 

Fonty, I agree with you but I can't imagine Evening Standard readers getting excited about a headline reading: " Former Junior Associate and ex-White Lodger has been promoted to Principal at The Royal Ballet"              WE know it is a big achievement for a White Lodger to become a Principal but the ES readers' attention will be grabbed far more easily by "First Londoner in over 25 years to become a Principal at The Royal Ballet"  

Edited July 11, 2017 by Nina G.
spelling

[RobR 311]

1 hour ago, penelopesimpson said:

Obviously Worthing doesn't do it for them!

 

I'm confident that the Worthing Herald will run a feature as and when the next Worthing dancer is made an RB principal ?

[Tony Newcombe 1,363]

Of course, there was another wonderful ballerina from Worthing who should have reached Principal status. Belinda Hatley

[Fiona 39]

For those of you who saw and enjoyed the lovely Nutcracker programme on TV at Christmas about Francesca Hayward's Sugar Plum Fairy debut, Nadia Mullova-Barley who was chosen as a final year student from the RBS Upper School to perform as a Snowflake, Angel, etc. and was featured in the programme, is joining the RB with the Aud Jebsen group.  I am so happy for her!

Edited July 15, 2017 by Fiona
wrong spelling of Jebsen!