Resurrection of London City Ballet

[Emeralds]

2 hours ago, TSR101 said:

IMO It would be good it they sought to utilise the fact there are already 2 other ballet companies in London already. They could for example try and find an arrangement to perhaps use young talented dancers in these companies in productions - this would both potentially develop these young dancers due to more prominent roles/different styles which would benefit their home companies and offer talented non-permanent dancers to LCB.  

I don't think LCB will be in London most of the time as they are prioritising touring ballet to areas, audiences and communities that don't normally get any ballet at all. Although they will have a large and supportive audience (eg us for starters) in London and the Southeast who will attend their performances in London and support their work, and Sadler's Wells under the leadership of Alistair Spalding is very supportive of fledgling dance groups and companies, London is likely to be their springboard to travel out to other parts of the UK rather than a full time performing location. While all ideas are worth considering, won't your plan just end up making them full time members of LCB?

 

They will need a lot of rehearsal time at LCB and will be on the road a lot- LCB productions won't be the kind that dancers from other companies can easily jump into. The old LCB was known for being a hardworking company that travelled far and wide - and that is on the cards for this revived company as well- they weren't in London as often as RB are at ROH or ENB in London.

 

Of course, there's no reason why LCB can't engage a guest artist from the senior ranks of RB/ENB/BRB etc for certain productions where they might want an extra principal dancer for a demanding role, like they did with Tim Almaas from London Festival Ballet (now ENB) in the past.

[Don Q Fan]

Considering the current economic climate it's amazing that a new ballet company can be launched. I really hope they succeed. It will be interesting to see what rep is offer.  Hopefully we'll get some quality dance in the provinces and not have to go to London.  

[Jan McNulty]

24 minutes ago, Don Q Fan said:

Considering the current economic climate it's amazing that a new ballet company can be launched. I really hope they succeed. It will be interesting to see what rep is offer.  Hopefully we'll get some quality dance in the provinces and not have to go to London.  

 

The company is privately funded for 3 years.

[Lynette H]

I see from one of the interviews given in the links (Bachtrack) that the company is planning to operate for half the year - April to September /October. That seems to be a sensible plan,  meaning they won't be in direct competition with other companies on their summer break. If thy have programmes to offer in July and August these would be very welcome, given that these months can be quite scant in terms of ballet performances.

[Don Q Fan]

^^ and lack of the summer Russian company tours now 🥺

[Peanut68]

Lovely acknowledgement email for joining as a ‘friend’ with a newsletter to soon follow - am getting such a good feeling about this happy re-addition to the ballet world! 🥰

[Lizbie1]

On 30/10/2023 at 23:20, Jan McNulty said:

Where new work is important, an ethos of the company will be across ‘resurrection’. I am deeply drawn to reviving past works of influential choreographers which may have fallen out of the repertoire of mainstream companies and breathing life into those lost ballets.

 

Antony Tudor?

 

[Peanut68]

Tickets just gone on sale for first performances! Theater Royal, Bath 17-20th July....I've booked mine!

https://www.theatreroyal.org.uk/events/london-city-ballet/

 

[alison]

I'm hoping they'll still have a Bromley base by the time they come to tour there  

[Ondine]

Theatre Royal Bath... not a very large stage.

 

https://www.theatreroyal.org.uk/main-house-360º-virtual-tour/

[Jan McNulty]

58 minutes ago, Ondine said:

Theatre Royal Bath... not a very large stage.

 

https://www.theatreroyal.org.uk/main-house-360º-virtual-tour/

 

But Northern Ballet successfully performed there for many years including with Christopher Gable/Michael Pink's Dracula which has a good sized set.

 

I've just booked my tickets.  I love the Theatre Royal and used to go there a lot when I worked in Bath in the early noughts.

[Ondine]

6 minutes ago, Jan McNulty said:

I love the Theatre Royal

 

Oh yes it's a lovely theatre,   but not the place for large scale danceworks with a big corps.

[Jan McNulty]

37 minutes ago, Ondine said:

 

Oh yes it's a lovely theatre,   but not the place for large scale danceworks with a big corps.

 

12 dancers are hardly likely to be performing a large-scale dance work with a big corps!

 

IIRC some of the truing Russian companies have performed there in the past...

 

BRB performed there with more than 12 dancers during the inaugural midscale tour.

[Ondine]

Yeah. It's still a) a pretty small stage for ballet so yes works chosen need careful consideration and b) a delightful little theatre.

 

One of its designers was George Dance.  Lovely name. The usual fires, rebuilds, redesigns etc

 

http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/Bath.htm

 

 

(I once found myself alone in Bath Assembly Rooms and couldn't resist a few figures. I was possibly on CCTV but no-one came and said to stop, that I couldn't dance on the dance floor. Memorable.) 

 

Edited November 13, 2023 by Ondine

[Tango Dancer]

6 hours ago, Ondine said:

Ye

 

 

(I once found myself alone in Bath Assembly Rooms and couldn't resist a few figures. I was possibly on CCTV but no-one came and said to stop, that I couldn't dance on the dance floor. Memorable.) 

 

 

I think one should always dance on a dance floor if one possibly can

 

Hope they make it to the north as well.  That would be lovely. 

 

I hope they get good sales in Bath and do well. 

[Jan McNulty]

A Dance Europe film about the resurrection of LCB.

 

 

[SheilaC]

Interesting that the photos of current dancers include Joseph Taylor of Northern Ballet

[Jan McNulty]

29 minutes ago, SheilaC said:

Interesting that the photos of current dancers include Joseph Taylor of Northern Ballet

 

Joe was at the launch event and I asked him. (He was in London with NB for the mixed programme at the Linbury).  The film was created in April when he was given a short leave by Federico to participate.