the companies & schools
companies & schools news archive
Useful Links
The Royal Opera House (the main ROH website)
Royal Ballet company members
RB what's on currently
RB schedules: 2010/11, 2011/12
Royal Opera House Collections (ROH archive and performance database)
ROH on Facebook, Twitter, the ROH blog, videos and ROH on YouTube
ROH Student Standby tickets on Facebook
The Royal Ballet School, RBS News, Facebook
Birmingham Royal Ballet
BRB company members
BRB what's on
BRB News, on Facebook, Twitter, videos, and On Tour blog
BRB At Home website - news from the B5 HQ
Rob Lindsay (BRB New Media Officer) on Twitter
Elmhurst School for Dance, Elmhurst News, Elmhurst on Twitter
Many video clips of Royal Ballet dancers from both companies can be found by searching on YouTube
Company changes for the 2011/2012 season
The Royal Ballet
Promotions:
to Soloist - Emma MaGuire, Akane Takada
to First Artist - Sabina Westcombe, James Hay, Dawid Trzensimeich, Valentino Zucchetti
Jonathan Howells is made Assistant Ballet Master
Joiners:
Alexander Campbell as Soloist (from BRB)
Claudia Dean, Francesca Hayward, Meagan Grace Hinkis (from ABT), Fumi Kaneko,
Tomas Mock as Artists
Sung-Woo Han and Patricia Zhou as Prix de Lausanne dancers
Leavers:
James Butcher, Vanessa Fenton, Victoria Hewitt, Bethany Keating
Birmingham Royal Ballet
Marion Tait appointed Assistant Director of BRB
Promotions:
Joseph Caley from First Soloist to Principal
Tyrone Singleton from Soloist to First Soloist
Mathias Dingman, Samara Downs, Céline Gittens, Rory Mackay from First Artist to Soloist
James Barton, Feargus Campbell from Artist to First Artist
Joiners:
Tzu-Chao Chou as Soloist from Australian Ballet
Max Westwell as Soloist from English National Ballet
Maureya Lebowitz as Soloist from Winnipeg Ballet (started in May)
Lewis Turner, Elmhurst graduate continues as Artist after his Prix de Lausanne Laureate year
Karla Doorbar, Brandon Lawrence, Emily Smith as Artists from the Royal Ballet School
Leavers:
Video Archivist, former dancer and Principal Character Artist David Morse after 50 years
with the Royal Ballet Companies
First Soloist Andrea Tredinnick retires from dance after 24 years with the Company
First Soloist Alexander Campbell leaves to start as Soloist with The Royal Ballet
Artist Christopher Rodgers-Wilson has left to dance with Australian Ballet
Artists Sonia Aguilar, Dusty Button, Machi Moritaka, Anniek Soobroy have also left
Royal Ballet School graduate contracts 2011
American Ballet Theatre Jamie Kopit
Ballet de l'Opéra National de Bordeaux Austin Lui
Ballet Theatre UK Aimee-Louise Cordeaux
Bavarian State Ballet Jacopo Bellussi
Bavarian State Ballet 2 Antonia McAuley
Birmingham Royal Ballet Karla Doorbar, Emily Smith, Brandon Lawrence
Boston Ballet 2 Ileana Riveron
Dresden Ballet Gina Scott
Dutch National Ballet Hannah Grennell
Estonian National Ballet Bruno Micchiardi
Finnish National Ballet Millis Faust
Joffrey Ballet Fabio Lo Guidice
National Ballet of Portugal Dominic Whitbrook
National Ballet of Uruguay Ciro Tamayo
Northern Ballet Sean Bates, Teresa Saavedrea Bordes
Norwegian Ballet Grete Borud Nybakken, Douwe Dekkers
Paris Opéra Ballet Chase O'Connell
Polish National Ballet Roseanna Leney
The Royal Ballet Claudia Dean, Francesca Hayward, Tomas Mock
Royal Ballet of Flanders Michael Snoey Kiewit
Royal Swedish Ballet Calum Lowden
Scottish Ballet Sophie Allnatt
Singapore Dance Theatre Robin Kent
Slovak National Theatre Ballet Samuel Price
Slovenian National Theatre Ballet Kenta Yamamoto
Tulsa Ballet Stefano Maggiolo
Vienna State Opera Ballet Greig Matthew
Zurich Ballet Zoe Roberts, Michael Burton, Thomas Kendall
Ballet Association Awards 2011
Royal Ballet School At this year’s Royal Ballet School graduation ceremony David Bain presented the Annual Ballet Association Awards to 1st Year Upper School students Marcelino Sambé from Portugal, Yaoqian Shang from China and 2nd Year Upper School student Nina Tonoli from Belgium.
Marcelino’s successes include junior division gold medals at the USA International Ballet Competition 2010 and at Youth America Grand Prix 2009. His entry for the Ursula Moreton Choreographic Award received 2nd prize and was performed during the Linbury season, at which he also performed the pas de deux from Le Corsaire. Yaoqian also danced the Corsaire pas de deux on the opening and closing nights. She previously studied at the Beijing Dance Academy and was offered a place at The Royal Ballet School after being seen by the Director at the Youth America Grand Prix 2010. Nina performed in a number of ballets both in the Linbury Season and on the Main Stage. She enjoys choreographing and was featured in a short documentary for Belgian television alongside Sander Blommaert. This can be seen on YouTube.
Nina Tonoli and Marcelino Sambé with David Bain. Photo ©Brian Slater
Yaoquin Shang. Photo ©Brian Slater
Elmhurst School for Dance During the course of our annual visit to Birmingham Royal Ballet and Elmhurst School for Dance, David Bain presented the Ballet Association’s Annual Award to Nastazia Phillipou. From Cyprus, Nastazia is a first year sixth Elmhurst student. Our award will help towards the cost of her taking part in the Genée competition later this year in South Africa. Nastazia enchanted members, talking informally with them during lunch, after which we watched her in class taught by ex-BRB dancer James Grundy. We will watch Nastazia’s progress with great interest.
Nastazia Phillipou with (L to R) Ballet Teacher Gloria Grigolato, David Bain,
Assistant to
the Artistic Director Denise Whiteman
Flower Throws
Flower throws are an expression of affectionate honour for Principal Dancers on their retirement or sometimes their return from long recuperation from injury. With the permission of House management (and due warning to long-suffering stage management), money collected informally from ballet-goers, together with a donation from the Ballet Association, is used to buy flowers in bulk.
At the final curtain calls, flowers shower the dancer from the boxes adjacent to the stage, thrown by members of the Ballet Association, the House staff or other volunteers. As the cascade of flowers rains down, the audience applauds and often stands in ovation, creating a wonderful atmosphere and a touching and memorable scene.
Miyako Yoshida on a flower-strewn stage at the final curtain call of her last appearance at the
Royal Opera House in April 2010 after dancing Cinderella in Sir Frederick Ashton's ballet.
Photo ©Bill Cooper 2010
Memorial to the founders of the Royal Ballet in Westminster Abbey
On November 17, 2009 a service was held in Westminster Abbey to dedicate a memorial stone in Poets' Corner marking the contributions made by Dame Ninette de Valois, Founder Director, Sir Frederick Ashton, Founder Choreographer, Constant Lambert, Founder Music Director and Prima Ballerina Assoluta Dame Margot Fonteyn in establishing Britain's flagship national ballet company, along with its sister company Birmingham Royal Ballet and the Royal Ballet School.
The memorial stone designed by Stephen Raw (more details and photos here) was unveiled by The Lady Sarah Chatto, Vice President of The Royal Ballet. The service was conducted by The Very Reverend Dr John Hall, Dean of Westminster who gave the address and there were readings by Sir John Tooley, David Bintley and Dame Monica Mason.
Photo by Andrew Dunsmore ©The Dean & Chapter of Westminster
The service included solos from works by Dame Ninette de Valois and Sir Frederick Ashton: Satan’s Solo from de Valois’s Job danced by Steven McRae and simultaneously on a second stage by Robert Parker, followed by Natasha Oughtred and Romany Pajdak in the solo from Ashton’s The Wise Virgins. White Lodge pupils Charlotte Edmonds, Thomas Bedford, Magdalena Chan and Ashley Hardwick, performed a new piece choreographed by Liam Scarlett to Constant Lambert’s ‘Rondino’ from his Romeo and Juliet Tableau no. 1. The Choir of White Lodge performed two pieces and before and after the service the Royal Ballet Sinfonia conducted by Barry Wordsworth performed excerpts from works in the Royal Ballet's heritage repertory.
Natasha Oughtred and Romany Padjak
(in background) in the solo from The Wise Virgins.
Photo by Andrew Dunsmore ©The Dean & Chapter of Westminster
Personal Memories of the Royal Ballet
To celebrate the 75th anniversary in 2006 of the founding of what was to become the Royal Ballet, Ballet Association members contributed to a collection of memoirs and photographs.
Click for the text only version of the memoirs.
Click for the illustrated and fully formatted version (1.2Mb, requires Adobe Reader).
The photograph shows Dame Ninette de Valois with past and present members of the Company in 1996 at the celebration
of the 50th anniversary of the first
performance of The Sleeping Beauty. Photo by Peter Howard.
