Bruce Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 17 July 2014 English National Ballet Announces Promotions and New Joiners Tamara Rojo, Artistic Director of English National Ballet, has announced promotions within the Company as well as details of new joiners: Yonah Acosta has been promoted to Principal. Shiori Kase, who last month won the gold medal at the USA International Ballet Competition, has been promoted to First Soloist. Yonah and Shiori will debut the lead roles in Coppélia at the London Coliseum 23-27 July. Junor Souza (winner of Emerging Dancer 2014) has also been promoted to First Soloist. Ksenia Ovsyanick has been promoted to Soloist and Alison McWhinney (winner of Emerging Dancer 2014) and Ken Saruhashi have been promoted to First Artist. Alejandro Virelles, currently a Soloist at Boston Ballet, joins the Company as Principal. Joining as Artists are Precious Adams, who won the Apprenticeship and Contemporary Dance Prize, Prix de Lausanne 2014, Yoko Callegari, of Boston Ballet, Adriana Lizardi, from Ballet National de l’Opera de Bordeaux, Sarah Kundi, formerly with Ballet Black who joined after appearing as an extra in Romeo & Juliet in-the-round, and Isabella Brouwers and Jin Hao Zhang who join from English National Ballet School (ENBS). Jenna Lee left the Company after the Madrid tour to found JLee Productions and Nancy Osbaldeston after Romeo & Juliet in-the-round to join Royal Ballet Flanders. Daria Klimentová retired after 18 years with the Company. Promotions effective from 1 September 2014. Ends 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zxDaveM Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 whoo-hoo! Especially for Ksenia and Alison, 2 of my faves. And lovely to see Sarah Kundi joiniung the company. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 Thanks Bruce, you beat me to it! Congratulations to the promotees. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 whoo-hoo! Especially for Ksenia and Alison, 2 of my faves. And lovely to see Sarah Kundi joiniung the company. I agree with Dave that it is lovely to see Sarah Kundi joining the company and I know Terpsichore will be thrilled to bits too! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackdove Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 Thrilled to bits for Kesenia and Shiori but of course congragulations to all who received promotions.Very much looking forward to seeing Precious Adams dance with the company. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aileen Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 Congratulations to everyone. At long last Ksenia has got a decent promotion; I was worried that she might only be promoted to junior soloist. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sonik1965 Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 so looking forward to seeing Precious Adams & all the best to all Promotions and New Joiners 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 Congratulations to all the promotees. I had been hoping to see another name being associated with the company, but perhaps not ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Macmillan Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 Having just 'liked' Dave Morgan's post re Sarah Kundi, it now strikes me that it's probably worth adding that her joining ENB represents a result for Cassa Pancho's Ballet Black and that company's stated aim of getting more Black and Asian dancers into mainstream ballet until, one day, it should not have to exist at all. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 Having just 'liked' Dave Morgan's post re Sarah Kundi, it now strikes me that it's probably worth adding that her joining ENB represents a result for Cassa Pancho's Ballet Black and that company's stated aim of getting more Black and Asian dancers into mainstream ballet until, one day, it should not have to exist at all. Not forgetting that Sarah Kundi started her career at Northern Ballet and is still missed by her fans there. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 And Precious Adams, of course Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irmgard Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 Since this press release was issued, three more dancers are leaving the company: Araminta Wraith goes to Scottish Ballet, Chantel Roulston will be teaching Pilates full-time and Stephen Wilson has trained as a massage therapist and will appear as an actor in ENO's "Xerxes" in September. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aileen Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 (edited) Well, good luck to all of them. We were discussing on another thread how long dancers danced with a company before changing profession. I don't know how old Stephen Wilson is but he has been with ENB for 7 years and was at Australian Ballet before that, and Chantel Roulston has been dancing professionally for at least 14 years. There do seem to have been a lot of departures at ENB since Tamara took over. Edited July 28, 2014 by aileen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 Often when there is a change of AD there are more changes of dancers and ballet staff than usual. Even when David Bintley took over BRB (having already been associated with the company as a dancer and choreographer, there was quite a high turnover at first IIRC, and the same with David Nixon at NB. A new AD is going to come in with his/her own ideas and perhaps the Board has asked for a detailed plan before the individual takes over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aileen Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 Yes, that's right, Janet. Plus, in my experience (not dance,) there is often a bit of a cluster effect ie when one person leaves a place of work it gets the ball rolling as it were and other people follow. Personally, I feel that when you have been working since you were 18 or 19 in a field which has dominated your life since childhood it's reasonable to consider a change of career in your late twenties or early thirties. People who go down the academic route and go to university often don't really start their careers until their mid or late twenties nowadays. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capybara Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 (edited) Since this press release was issued, three more dancers are leaving the company: Araminta Wraith goes to Scottish Ballet, Chantel Roulston will be teaching Pilates full-time and Stephen Wilson has trained as a massage therapist and will appear as an actor in ENO's "Xerxes" in September. And Marize Fumero, who has been with the Company for two years, is returning to Cuba (but not, apparently, to BNdeC). Quite a few other ENB dancers have also left during the last season. Good luck to all of those who are seeking pastures new. It must take quite a bit of guts to venture into a working world so different from that of dance. Edited July 28, 2014 by capybara Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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