Press Release: McNicol Ballet Collective debuts in November!

[Jan McNulty]

Awakenings - our debut performances Bloomsbury Theatre | 13 & 14 November Hull New Theatre | 21 November We are delighted to finally present our debut performances to you this Autumn! Awakenings will feature four world premiere ballets: Firebird Reimagined, In Ecstasy, Of Silence and Bates Beats. Join us for what will be a thrilling adventure in bold new dance.  BOOK NOW Firebird Reimagined Our brand new film Firebird Reimagined premiered online last month! Created in collaboration with Poetry Film Productions and a stunning team of artists, we are so thrilled with the outcome and we hope you love it too. Watch Film Behind the Scenes We've created three behind the scenes films, looking at how we made Firebird Reimagined. Get to know our incredible collaborators, find out about the costume and design and discover an interesting plot twist when filming almost didn't happen... Watch Online Unbound Our education and engagement programme, Unbound, launches this month in Hull. We'll be presenting a curtain raiser at our performance at Hull New Theatre as well as delivering a range of exciting workshops. Read More

[Jan McNulty]

Casting has been announced:

 

McNicol Ballet Collective presents

Awakenings

Four World Premieres

13 - 21 November 2021

www.mcnicolballetcollectve.co.uk

 

McNicol Ballet Collective is proud to be providing opportunities for freelance artists who will come together for its debut performances of Awakenings at The Bloomsbury Theatre, London on 13 & 14 November and at Hull New Theatre on 21 November. 

 

Performing in this programme of bold new ballets will be Kristen McGarrity, a former dancer with Birmingham Royal Ballet and lead in Christopher Wheeldon’s An American in Paris, Winnie Dias a former dancer with Hamburg Ballet, and Marina Fraser who has performed with Joffrey Ballet, Viviana Durante Company and KVN Dance Company. 

 

Identical twins Laurie McSherry-Gray and Josh McSherry-Gray, former members of the Royal Ballet of Flanders and English National Ballet respectively, Shevelle Dynott former dancer with English National Ballet and Isaac Lee-Baker, former dancer with Northern Ballet and Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo complete this stellar cast of highly respected artists. They will be joined in the studio by Ballet Master David Peden, former dancer with the Royal Ballet. 

 

 

Awakenings will feature two new creations, Firebird Reimagined commemorating the 50^th anniversary of Stravinsky’s death and featuring newly commissioned designs by Elin Steele, and Bates Beats an energetic, exuberant work set to the music of composer Mason Bates. Alongside these new creations will be two existing works, not yet performed live due to COVID-19, Of Silence an exploration of hope, connection and belonging, and In Ecstasy set to a newly commissioned score by co-composers Nicholas Thayer and Setareh Nafisi. 

 

McNicol Ballet Collective is also delighted to be launching Unbound, a city-wide dance initiative taking place across Andrew’s hometown of Hull throughout the autumn. Unbound will see dance artist and choreographer Bim Malcomson create a new work with local dance schools in and around Hull performed as a curtain raiser for the performance at Hull New Theatre. Unbound will also include mentoring opportunities and  a series of bespoke masterclasses open to all and delivered in partnership with Hull New Theatre and Hull City Hall.

Founded by Artistic Director and choreographer Andrew McNicol, McNicol Ballet Collective unites artists from a range of disciplines to create adventurous new work for both stage and screen alongside quality outreach projects. Awakenings is the highly anticipated  debut performances from the Collective, following last years postponed shows due to Covid-19. 

 

Nightly casting will be announced closer to the performance dates. 

 

- Ends - 

 

Notes to Editors 

 

Awakenings is made possible thanks to the generous support of The Linbury Trust and Cockayne - Grants for the Arts. 

 

Unbound has received generous support from the I AM FUND and is run in partnership with Hull New Theatre and Hull Dance. 

 

McNicol Ballet Collective is also grateful to Garfield Weston Foundation for core support. 

 

[Jan McNulty]

A reminder that the inaugural performances are at the end of this week:

 

Awakenings opens this week Bloomsbury Theatre | 13 & 14 November We are beyond excited to be opening Awakenings at the Bloomsbury Theatre this week. The dancers have been working extremely hard in rehearsals to make this a spectacular and memorable event. There is still time to book your tickets. We look forward to seeing you there. BOOK NOW Take a sneak peak at rehearsals Unbound Our ballet workshops in Hull are now on sale! Join Josh, Laurie and Kristen for one of our open workshops which have been specially tailored to suit juniors (9 - 14 years) who have a little experience, improvers (11 - 16 years) who are ready to take their technique to the next level, or advanced (ages 16+) who are thinking of having a career in ballet. BOOK NOW Technical Theatre workshop Join Hull New Theatre’s Technical Manager Aidan Lesser for a workshop covering lighting, sound and scenery. Explore Hull’s most prestigious touring theatre with a backstage tour and learn hands on what it takes to put on a show. Book Now Filmmaking for Dance Dancers and movement makers with an interest in film are invited to attend this workshop led by Katie Harriman of Fly Girl Films. During the workshop, you’ll explore the role of the camera and how shots can be choreographed to flow with and enhance movement. Book Now

[FionaM]

Casey Nokomis Fereira is also part of this performance.   A week or so ago she was performing with Viviana Durante Company in their Isadora Programme in Moscow.  

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CWDQvT5oydM/?utm_medium=copy_link

 

Casey is also a regular performer in Sergei Polunin’s productions.  
 

That makes 5 members of this now 8 strong cast who are PoluninInk team members and will be appearing in R&J at the Royal Albert Hall … Casey Nokomis, Winnie Dias, Shevelle Dynott, Josh and Laurie McSherry-Gray.  

Edited November 10, 2021 by FionaE
Correction

[alison]

I meant to ask whether anyone had been to see this: I, unfortunately, was unable to.