Press Release: Northern Ballet announces promotions and joiners for 2022/23 season

[Jan McNulty]

5 July 2022 For immediate release       Northern Ballet announces promotions and joiners for 2022/23 season

Northern Ballet will welcome six new dancers for their 2022/23 season, the first with Federico Bonelli as Artistic Director.   Amber Lewis and Jackson Dwyer join from Hong Kong Ballet as Leading Soloist and First Soloist respectively.   Stefano Varalta (European School of Ballet), Kaho Matsumoto (English National Ballet School) and Jun Ishii (Staatsballett Berlin) join as dancers in the 1st year Corps, along with Amy Turner-Daly who joins until January 2023.   Northern Ballet’s Artistic Director, Federico Bonelli, said:   “We’re delighted to welcome our new starters to Northern Ballet. This is a group of highly skilled dancers, with Amber and Jackson being more experienced performers, while Stefano, Kaho and Jun show the talent and promise of youth. We’re looking forward to working with them all in the coming season.”   Earlier in 2022, the Company promoted Kevin Poeung to Leading Soloist; Heather Lehan to Junior Soloist; Helen Bogatch and Harriet Marden to Coryphée.     This season, Northern Ballet will say goodbye to Leading Soloist Riku Ito who is leaving to join Birmingham Royal Ballet, along with First Soloist Lorenzo Trosselo and Principal Soloist Minju Kangwho both leave to join English National Ballet. Minju Kang will depart at the end of September 2022, after Three Short Ballets.     Northern Ballet’s new season will commence in September with Three Short Ballets in Leeds and London followed by national tours of The Little Mermaid and The Nutcracker. For more information visit northernballet.com/whats-on

Northern Ballet    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 impressive 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 ballet to as many people and places as possible. Northern Ballet’s Company of dancers performs a combination of its full-length ballets and specially created ballets for children at more than 40 venues annually.   Launched in 2019, Northern Ballet’s digital dance platform ensures more people can access their work, from full-length films of popular ballets through to exciting short dance films by up-and-coming choreographers and filmmakers. Visit digitaldance.org to discover more.   For more details of Northern Ballet's tour, on sale dates and booking information, please visit northernballet.com/whatson

[Emeralds]

Congratulations to all the dancers who have been promoted and a warm welcome to those joining! I see some familiar names will be joining ENB and BRB, which will be good fun (and hopefully won’t confuse me too much when I see them in their new companies!) Looking forward to their Three Short Ballets triple bill at the Linbury in November.