Birmingham Royal Ballet

UK ballet company

Birmingham Royal Ballet

General information
Name| Birmingham Royal Ballet
Previous names|

* Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet
* Royal Ballet Touring Group
* Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet

Year founded| 1946 (1946)
Founder| Dame Ninette de Valois
Founding artistic director| John Field
Director Laureate| Sir Peter Wright
Principal venue| Birmingham Hippodrome
Hurst Street, Birmingham
England, B5 4TB
Website| brb.org.uk
Senior staff
Chief Executive| Caroline Miller
Director| Carlos Acosta[1]
Assistant Director| Dominic Antonucci
Company manager| Tristan Rusdale
Ballet Staff| Marion Tait, Patricia Tierney, Laëtitia Lo Sardo
Artistic staff
Music Director| Paul Murphy
Other
Sister company| The Royal Ballet
Orchestra| Royal Ballet Sinfonia
Official school| The Royal Ballet School
Formation|

* Principal Guest Artist
* Principal
* Principal Character Artist
* First Soloist
* Soloist
* First Artist
* Artist
* BRB2
* Apprentice

Birmingham Royal Ballet (BRB) is one of the five major ballet companies of the United Kingdom, alongside The Royal Ballet, the English National Ballet, Northern Ballet and Scottish Ballet. Founded as the Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet, the company was established in 1946 as a sister company to the earlier Sadler's Wells company, which moved to the Royal Opera House that same year, subsequently becoming known as The Royal Ballet.

The new company was formed under the direction of John Field and remained at Sadler's Wells for many years, becoming known as the Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet in 1977. It also toured the UK and abroad, before relocating to Birmingham in 1990, where it uses the Birmingham Hippodrome stage when performing in the city. Birmingham Royal Ballet has extensive custom-built facilities, including a suite of dance studios, the Jerwood Centre for the Prevention and Treatment of Dance Injuries and a studio theatre known as the Patrick Centre. In 1997, the Birmingham Royal Ballet became independent of The Royal Ballet in London.

## History

[edit]

In 1926, the Irish-born dancer Ninette de Valois founded the Academy of Choreographic Art, a dance school for girls. Her intention was to form a repertory ballet company and school, leading her to collaborate with the English theatrical producer and theatre owner Lilian Baylis. Baylis owned the Old Vic and Sadler's Wells theatres, and in 1925, she engaged de Valois to stage dance performances at both venues.

Sadler's Wells reopened in 1931, and the Vic-Wells Ballet and Vic-Wells Ballet School were established in premises at the theatre. These would become the predecessors of today's Royal Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet and Royal Ballet School.

In 1939, the company lost its link with the Old Vic theatre, and in 1940, Sadler's Wells theatre was bombed during World War II. These events forced the company to begin touring the country, becoming known as the Sadler's Wells Ballet. The company did return to Sadler's Wells theatre, where it stayed until 1946, when the company was invited to become the resident ballet company of the newly re-opened Royal Opera House in Covent Garden. The company relocated to the opera house the same year in 1946, with their first production at the venue being Ninette de Valois' staging of The Sleeping Beauty.

Birmingham Royal Ballet performing E=MC2 in Tokyo in 2011

Following the relocation of the company, the school was relocated to its own premises in 1947, and a sister company was established to continue performances at Sadler's Wells, called Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet. This sister company would become the predecessor of today's Birmingham Royal Ballet. The first Artistic Director of the Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet was John Field, who was later made co-director of the Royal Ballet and also worked as artistic director of La Scala Theatre Ballet and English National Ballet.

In 1955, Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet temporarily lost its link with Sadler's Wells theatre and relocated to the Royal Opera House as a touring unit of the main company.

In 1956, a royal charter was granted for both companies and the school, and they were subsequently renamed the Royal Ballet, Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet and the Royal Ballet School.

The Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet returned to Sadler's Wells theatre in 1970, whilst continuing to tour the country. The first indication that the company would leave London came in 1987, when the company was invited to become the resident ballet company at the Birmingham Hippodrome theatre. Consequently, the company relocated to Birmingham in 1990, being given its current name Birmingham Royal Ballet.

Sir Peter Wright was the company's Artistic Director from 1977 until his retirement in 1995, when David Bintley was appointed Artistic Director. In 1997, Birmingham Royal Ballet was made independent of the Royal Ballet and ceased to be managed by the Royal Opera House. In January 2019 it was announced that acclaimed Cuban dancer Carlos Acosta would succeed Bintley as artistic director in January 2020.[1]

## Works performed

[edit]

Table of works performed by Birmingham Royal Ballet

Title  | Running Time (mins)  | Choreographer  | Composer
Agon | 28  | George Balanchine | Igor Stravinsky
All for a Kiss  | 5  | Aonghus Hoole  | Igor Stravinsky
Apollo | 30  | George Balanchine | Igor Stravinsky
Arthur pt I  | 60,45  | David Bintley | John McCabe
Arthur pt II  | 58,65  | David Bintley | John McCabe
Avec Moi Ce Soir  |  | Glyn Scott  | Igor Stravinsky
Le Baiser de la fée | 45  | Michael Corder | Igor Stravinsky
Beauty and the Beast  | 50,50  | David Bintley | Glenn Buhr
Black Sabbath - The Ballet  | 30, 30, 30  | Pontus Lidberg, Raúl Reinoso & Cassi Abranches  | Black Sabbath, Christopher Austin, Marko Nyberg & Sun Keting
Bright Young Things  | 30  | Oliver Hindle  | George Gershwin
Brouillards | 37  | John Cranko | Claude Debussy
Card Game  | 24  | John Cranko | Igor Stravinsky
Carmina Burana | 67  | David Bintley | Carl Orff
Carnival of the Animals | 25  | David Justin, Toby Norman-Wright, Jonathan Payn, Nicole Tongue  | Camille Saint-Saëns
Checkmate | 46  | Ninette de Valois | Arthur Bliss
Choros  | 30  | David Bintley | Aubrey Meyer
Concert Fantasy | 30  | David Bintley | Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Concerto  | 24  | Kenneth MacMillan | Dmitri Shostakovich
Concerto Barocco  | 20  | George Balanchine | Johann Sebastian Bach
Coppélia | 35,28,38  | Peter Wright after Marius Petipa & Enrico Cecchetti | Léo Delibes
Cyrano  | 53,33,41  | David Bintley | Carl Davis
The Dance House  | 26  | David Bintley | Dmitri Shostakovich
Danses Concertantes  |  | Kit Holder, Glyn Scott, Aonghus Hoole, Kosuke Yamamoto  | Igor Stravinsky
Dante Sonata | 17  | Frederick Ashton | Franz Liszt arr Constant Lambert
Daphnis et Chloé | 55  | Frederick Ashton | Maurice Ravel
The Dream | 54  | Frederick Ashton | Felix Mendelssohn
Dumbarton Oaks | 15  | Michael Kopinski  | Igor Stravinsky
Duo Concertant  | 17  | George Balanchine | Igor Stravinsky
Ebony Concerto |  | Samara Downs  | Igor Stravinsky
Edward II  | 60,55  | David Bintley | John McCabe
Elite Syncopations | 38  | Kenneth MacMillan | Scott Joplin et al.
The End of Winter  |  | Kosuke Yamamoto  | Igor Stravinsky
Enigma Variations | 34  | Frederick Ashton | Edward Elgar
Façade | 20  | Frederick Ashton | William Walton
Fancy Free  | 31  | Jerome Robbins | Leonard Bernstein
Far from the Madding Crowd | 50,40,40  | David Bintley | Paul Reade
La Fille Mal Gardée | 28,34,38  | Frederick Ashton | Ferdinand Hérold
The Firebird | 47  | Mikhail Fokine | Igor Stravinsky
Five Brahms Waltzes in the Manner of Isadora Duncan  | 8  | Frederick Ashton | Johannes Brahms
Five Tangos  | 27  | Hans van Manen | Ástor Piazzolla
Four Seasons | 45  | Oliver Hindle, Shimon Kalichman, Mikaela Polley, Samira Saidi, Asier Uriagereka, Richard Whistler, Yuri Zhukov  | Antonio Vivaldi
The Four Seasons | 46  | Oliver Hindle  | Antonio Vivaldi
The Four Temperaments  | 32  | George Balanchine | Paul Hindemith
Giselle | 55,46  | Marius Petipa after Jean Coralli & Jules Perrot | Adolphe Adam
Grosse Fuge | 27  | Hans van Manen | Ludwig van Beethoven
Hobson's Choice | 34,28,42  | David Bintley | Paul Reade
In the Upper Room  | 40  | Twyla Tharp | Philip Glass
Into the Ferment  | 25  | Jonathan Payn  | James MacMillan
Krishna  | 35  | Nahid Siddiqui | Hariprasad Chaurasia
The Lady and the Fool | 48  | John Cranko | Giuseppe Verdi arr Charles Mackerras
Much A-Dance About Nothing  |  | Jenny Murphy  | Igor Stravinsky
Nine Sinatra Songs | 33  | Twyla Tharp |
The Nutcracker | 50,50  | Peter Wright, Lev Ivanov, Vincent Redmon  | Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
The Nutcracker Sweeties  | 35  | David Bintley | Duke Ellington & Billy Strayhorn (after Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky)
Orpheus  | 30  | George Balanchine | Igor Stravinsky
The Orpheus Suite  | 45  | David Bintley | Colin Towns
Paquita | 28  | Marius Petipa | Ludwig Minkus
Les Petits Riens  | 25  | David Bintley | Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Petrushka | 38  | Michel Fokine | Igor Stravinsky
Pictures at an Exhibition | 35  | Shimon Kalichman, Toby Norman-Wright, Annette Pain, Jonathan Payn, Mikaela Polley, Samira Saidi, Nicole Tongue, Richard Whistler, Asier Uriagereka, Yuri Zhukov  | Modest Mussorgsky arr Maurice Ravel
Pineapple Poll | 41  | John Cranko | Arthur Sullivan arr Charles Mackerras
The Planets | 53  | Rosie Kay, David Bintley, Samara Downs, Lei Zhao, Michael Kopinski, Kit Holder, Jenny Murphy  | Gustav Holst
Powder  | 33  | Stanton Welch  | Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Prodigal Son  | 36  | George Balanchine | Sergey Prokofiev
The Prospect Before Us  | 38  | Ninette de Valois | William Boyce arr Constant Lambert
The Protecting Veil  | 43  | David Bintley | John Tavener
Pulcinella | 40  | Kim Brandstrup  | Igor Stravinsky
Raymonda Act III | 34  | Rudolf Nureyev | Alexander Glazunov
The Rite of Spring | 35  | Millicent Hodson after Vaslav Nijinsky | Igor Stravinsky
Romeo and Juliet | 60,34,40  | Kenneth MacMillan | Sergey Prokofiev
Sanctum  | 26  | Lila York | Maurice Ravel & Christopher Rouse
Scènes de Ballet  | 22  | Frederick Ashton | Igor Stravinsky
The Seasons  | 32  | David Bintley | Giuseppe Verdi
Serenade  | 34  | George Balanchine | Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
The Shakespeare Suite  | 38  | David Bintley | Duke Ellington & Billy Strayhorn
Slaughter on Tenth Avenue  | 25  | George Balanchine | Richard Rodgers
The Sleeping Beauty | 34,30,32,39  | Marius Petipa, Peter Wright | Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Small Worlds  |  | Kit Holder  | Igor Stravinsky
Solitaire  | 27  | Kenneth MacMillan | Malcolm Arnold
Song of the Earth | 63  | Kenneth MacMillan | Gustav Mahler
The Sons of Horus  | 30  | David Bintley | Peter McGowan
'Still Life' at the Penguin Cafe | 42  | David Bintley | Simon Jeffes
Stravinsky Violin Concerto  | 20  | George Balanchine | Igor Stravinsky
Swan Lake | 32,32,44,20  | Marius Petipa, Lev Ivanov & Peter Wright | Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Symphonic Variations  | 21  | Frederick Ashton | César Franck
Symphony in Three Movements  | 24  | George Balanchine | Igor Stravinsky
Take Five | 25  | David Bintley | The Dave Brubeck Quartet transcribed by Colin Towns
Tombeaux  | 25  | David Bintley | William Walton
Tweedledum and Tweedledee  | 5  | Frederick Ashton | Percy Grainger
The Two Pigeons | 27,33  | Frederick Ashton | André Messager
Unravelled  |  | Nathanael Skelton  | Igor Stravinsky
Voice of Spring  | 4  | Frederick Ashton | Johann Strauss II
The Walk to the Paradise Garden  | 9  | Frederick Ashton | Frederick Delius
Western Symphony | 30  | George Balanchine | trad American melodies arr by Hershy Kay

## The company

[edit]

The Birmingham Royal Ballet employs 61 dancers and a complete list as of 2024 is shown below.

The company also has an Executive, Artistic and Music staff, including the following:

* Director – Carlos Acosta, a former dancer with The Royal Ballet and Director of both Birmingham Royal Ballet and Acosta Danza [2]
* Music Director – Paul Murphy [3]
* CEO – Caroline Millar

## Dancers

[edit]

Source [4]

### Principals

[edit]

Name  | Nationality  | Training  | Joined BRB  | Promoted to
Principal

|
|
|
|

Tzu-Chao Chou  |  Taiwan | Australian Ballet School | 2011  | 2017
Mathias Dingman  |  United Kingdom | Kirov Academy of Ballet | 2006  | 2015
Samara Downs |  United Kingdom | Royal Ballet School | 2003  | 2016
Céline Gittens |  Canada | Goh Ballet Academy | 2006  | 2016
Momoko Hirata |  Japan | Reiko Yamamoto Ballet School
Royal Ballet School | 2003  | 2013
Max Maslen  |  United Kingdom | Central School of Ballet | 2012  | 2023
Miki Mitzutani  |  Japan | English National Ballet School | 2012  | 2022
Lachlan Monaghan  |  Australia | Royal Ballet School | 2012  | 2023
Yaoqian Shang  |  China | Royal Ballet School | 2013  | 2022
Beatrice Parma  |  Italy | La Scala Theatre Ballet School
English National Ballet School | 2015  | 2024

### Principal Character Artists

[edit]

* Rory Mackay (Assistant Répétiteur)
* Jonathan Payn (Assistant Répétiteur)
* Yvette Knight

### First Soloists

[edit]

* Riku Ito
* Yu Kurihara

### Soloists

[edit]

* Yasiel Hodelín Bello
* Karla Doorbar
* Reina Fuchigami
* Enrique Bejarano Vidal
* Sofia Liñares

### First Artists

[edit]

* Gabriel Anderson
* Rosanna Ely
* Haoliang Feng
* Gus Payne
* Rachele Pizillo
* Eilis Small
* Daria Stanciulescu
* Lucy Waine

### Artists

[edit]

* Louis Andreasen
* Olivia Chang Clarke
* Jack Easton
* Ryan Felix
* Callum Findlay-White
* Tori Forsyth-Hecken
* August Generalli
* Miles Gilliver
* Tessa Hogge
* Isabella Howard
* Regan Hutsell
* Frieda Kaden
* Maïlène Katoch
* Oscar Kempsey-Fagg
* Mason King
* Ava May Llewellyn
* Hannah Martin
* Eric Pinto Cata
* Matilde Rodrigues
* Javier Rojas
* Hamish Scott
* Yuki Sugiura
* Lynsey Sutherland
* Amelia Thompson
* Shuailun Wu

### BRB2

[edit]

* Ariana Allen
* Charlotte Cohen
* Noah Cosgriff
* Alisa Garkavenko
* Thomas Hazelby
* Ellyne Knol
* Ixan Llorca Ferrer
* Alexandra Manuel
* Andrea Riolo
* Sophie Walters

### Apprentices

[edit]

* Marlo Kempsey-Fagg

## See also

[edit]

* The Royal Ballet, sister company of the Birmingham Royal Ballet
* Royal Ballet School, official ballet school of the company
* English National Ballet
* Elmhurst Ballet School

## Footnotes

[edit]

1. ^ a b Brown, Mark (15 January 2019). "Carlos Acosta to be Birmingham Royal Ballet director". The Guardian. Retrieved 31 January 2019.
2. ^ "Acosta Danza Homepage". Acosta Danza. Retrieved 9 July 2023.
3. ^ "Paul Murphy announced as new Music Director". Birmingham Royal Ballet. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
4. ^ "Dancers and Ballet Staff". Birmingham Royal Ballet. Retrieved 12 March 2024.

## External links

[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Birmingham Royal Ballet.

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