Press Release: Principal of The Royal Ballet to guest star alongside Northern Ballet dancers in The Great Gatsby

[Jan McNulty]

View in Browser           For immediate release 13 February 2023        Principal of The Royal Ballet to guest star alongside Northern Ballet dancers in The Great Gatsby                      Ryoichi Hirano, Principal of The Royal Ballet, to guest perform in Northern Ballet’s The Great Gatsby in Leeds and London   Principal cast announced for The Great Gatsby                      Northern Ballet has announced principal casting for their upcoming revival of David Nixon CBE’s The Great Gatsby.     Joining the Company in the role of Gatsby for performances in Leeds and London is Principal of The Royal Ballet, Ryoichi Hirano. Hirano joined The Royal Ballet as a Prix de Lausanne apprentice in 2001, developing through the ranks of the company to Principal in 2016. He has also performed as Guest Principal for Norwegian National Ballet and Scottish Ballet.     Hirano will be partnered with Northern Ballet First Soloist Saeka Shirai. Hirano and Shirai will dance together in the following performances at Leeds Grand Theatre:     Thursday 9 March, 2.30pm  Saturday 11 March, 7.30pm   Friday 17 March, 7.30pm   Saturday 18 March, 7.30pm     London dates to be announced.     Also partnered as Gatsby and Daisy are Principal Soloist Joseph Taylor & First Soloist Dominique Larose, First Soloists Sean Bates & Saeka Shirai and First Soloist Jonathan Hanks & Leading Soloist Sarah Chun.     Northern Ballet’s The Great Gatsby first premiered in March 2013 to critical acclaim at Leeds Grand Theatre and this year celebrates its 10th anniversary.    Federico Bonelli, Northern Ballet’s Artistic Director said:   ‘I am thrilled to be welcoming my former colleague Ryoichi to our ranks this spring as we revive one of Northern Ballet’s most beloved productions. Jay Gatsby is a rich, challenging and complex character that finds new nuances in each dancer's interpretation, so I look forward to seeing what Ryoichi brings to the role.’      Full casting is available on northernballet.com where you can also find more information about Northern Ballet’s dancers. Casting is subject to change.   In addition to The Great Gatsby, Northern Ballet will be touring Beauty & the Beast and The Nutcracker to theatres this year, visit northernballet.com/whats-on to find out more.        -ENDS-                 Notes to Editors    Production Credits  Choreography, Direction, Scenario & Costume Design David Nixon CBE  Co-Direction & Scenario Patricia Doyle  Music Sir Richard Rodney Bennett CBE  Set Design Jérôme Kaplan  Lighting Design Tim Mitchell  Orchestrations John Longstaff & Gavin Sutherland  Music Advisor Anthony Meredith  Costume Design Assistant Julie Anderson                        Ryoichi Hirano  Japanese dancer Ryoichi Hirano is a Principal of The Royal Ballet. He joined the The Royal Ballet as a Prix de Lausanne apprentice in 2001 and became an Artist in 2002, promoted to First Artist in 2007, Soloist in 2008, First Soloist in 2012 and Principal in 2016. Guest principal of Norwegian National Ballet in 2016 and guest principal of Scottish Ballet in 2022.    His repertory with The Royal Ballet includes Albrecht (Giselle), Prince Florimund (The Sleeping Beauty), Leontes and Polixenes (The Winter’s Tale), Espada (Don Quixote), Tybalt, Paris and Romeo (Romeo and Juliet), Princeton Gremin, Onegin (Onegin), Jean de Brienne (Raymonda Act III), Crown Prince Rudolf (Mayerling), Prince (The Prince of the Pagodas, The Nutcracker), Rasputin (Anastasia), Witch (Hansel and Gretel), Robert Wood (Sweet Violets), Prince Siegfried (Swan Lake), Black Knight (Checkmate), Dr Samuel-Jean Pozzi (Strapless), Creature (Frankenstein), Solor (La Bayadère), Lt. Colonel Vershinin (Winter Dreams), Ivan Tsarevich (The Firebird) and roles in After the Rain, Woolf Works, Song of the Earth, The Two Pigeons, Gloria, Concerto, Chroma, Viscera, Emeralds and Diamonds in Jewels, Serenade, DGV: Danse à grande vitesse, Voluntaries (pas de trois), Aeternum, Within The Golden Hour, Multiverse and Medusa.    Northern Ballet  Northern Ballet is one of the UK’s leading and widest touring ballet companies. 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, under the leadership of Artistic Director Federico Bonelli. Northern Ballet’s Company of dancers performs a combination of its full-length ballets and specially created ballets for children at more than 30 venues annually.       Audiences can also enjoy Northern Ballet’s work on screen through their digital dance platform. Visit digitaldance.org to discover more.    Pictured: Ryoichi Hirano. Photo Johan Persson.

[Jan McNulty]

There's some great casts lined up for Leeds and Sheffield.  I can't wait!

[Bruce Wall]

Hope they give us the casting in advance with dates of the core Northern Ballet dancers and not just when the guest artist is involved.  I would be keen to see those.  

Edited February 13, 2023 by Bruce Wall

[AnneL]

The full casting for main roles is on the website for Sheffield and Leeds but not yet for Sadler’s Wells.

[Peanut68]

I partly like the idea of guest artists & am sure it’s good for a dancers career & cv….

But don’t like the thought that it could limit performance opportunities for employee dancers of a company….

Is it like footballers being on loan or is it about trying to lure in a new audience base of fans of guest performers? 

[Jan McNulty]

7 hours ago, Peanut68 said:

I partly like the idea of guest artists & am sure it’s good for a dancers career & cv….

But don’t like the thought that it could limit performance opportunities for employee dancers of a company….

Is it like footballers being on loan or is it about trying to lure in a new audience base of fans of guest performers? 

 

I'm a bit ambivalent about guest artists but over the last year a number of senior male artists have retired/left Northern Ballet.  If you look through the full casting a number of the dancers are doing 2 of the leading roles in different performances so I suspect that, as well as giving us the opportunity to see another dancer, it could well have been expedient to bring another dancer in for this short tour.

 

On NB's Instagram yesterday some photos were posted of Ryo already doing some rehearsals at NB.  I must say he had the biggest smile.

[art_enthusiast]

Yay! I'm so glad, he's one of my favourite RB dancers.

[Emeralds]

I guess when a company is short staffed, guest artists are good for helping share the workload until the company is able to recruit suitable full time dancers to fill the vacant positions. Nice to see that Ryoichi is guesting in other parts of the nation (having performed as a guest artist with Scottish Ballet last season also) so that audiences in other cities get to see artists from the Royal Ballet too.

 

I suppose this means he won’t be in the cast for the Royal Ballet’s Woolf Works in March, and there might be a tight turnaround for rehearsals for the London performances as he dances Sleeping Beauty with RB on 15 May and Northern Ballet perform The Great Gatsby at Sadler’s Wells on 16-20 May.  

Edited February 15, 2023 by Emeralds

[Jan McNulty]

 

[Tango Dancer]

He's got such a lovely infectious smile on that video.  Thanks for sharing.  

[nycitybird]

I always think that about him!