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Birmingham Royal Ballet

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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.

Birmingham Royal Ballet
General information
NameBirmingham Royal Ballet
Previous names
  • Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet
  • Royal Ballet Touring Group
  • Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet
Year founded1946 (1946)
FounderDame Ninette de Valois
Founding artistic directorJohn Field
Director LaureateSir Peter Wright
Principal venueBirmingham Hippodrome
Hurst Street, Birmingham
England, B5 4TB
Websitebrb.org.uk
Senior staff
Chief ExecutiveCaroline Miller
DirectorCarlos Acosta[1]
Assistant DirectorDominic Antonucci
Company managerTristan Rusdale
Ballet StaffMarion Tait, Patricia Tierney, Laëtitia Lo Sardo
Other
Sister companyThe Royal Ballet
OrchestraRoyal Ballet Sinfonia
Official schoolThe Royal Ballet School
Formation
  • Principal Guest Artist
  • Principal
  • Principal Character Artist
  • First Soloist
  • Soloist
  • First Artist
  • Artist
  • Apprentice
  • BRB2

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

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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

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The company

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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

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Source [4]

Principals

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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
Tyrone Singleton   United Kingdom Tring Park School for the Performing Arts
Royal Ballet School 		2003 2013

Principal Character Artists

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  • Rory Mackay (Assistant Répétiteur)
  • Jonathan Payn (Assistant Répétiteur)

First Soloists

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  • Kit Holder (BRB2 Artistic Coordinator)
  • Yvette Knight
  • Yu Kurihara
  • Beatrice Parma

Soloists

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  • Yasiel Hodelín Bello
  • Karla Doorbar
  • Riku Ito

First Artists

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  • Gabriel Anderson
  • Rosanna Ely
  • Haoliang Feng
  • Reina Fuchigami
  • Sofía Liñares
  • Gus Payne
  • Rachele Pizillo
  • Daria Stanciulescu
  • Lucy Waine

Artists

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  • Louis Andreasen
  • Enrique Bejarano Vidal
  • Olivia Chang Clarke
  • Ryan Felix
  • Callum Findlay-White
  • Tori Forsyth-Hecken
  • August Generalli
  • Miles Gilliver
  • Tessa Hogge
  • Isabella Howard
  • Regan Hutsell
  • Ava May Llewellyn
  • Hannah Martin
  • Eric Pinto Cata
  • Matilde Rodrigues
  • Javier Rojas
  • Hamish Scott
  • Eilis Small
  • Yuki Sugiura
  • Lynsey Sutherland
  • Amelia Thompson
  • Shuailun Wu

Apprentices

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  • Sofie Walters

BRB2

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  • Ariana Allen
  • Jack Easton
  • Alisa Garkavenko
  • Thomas Hazelby
  • Frieda Kaden
  • Mailène Katoch
  • Oscar Kempsey-Fagg
  • Mason King
  • Alexandra Manuel
  • Alfie Shacklock

See also

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Footnotes

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  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.
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