company & school old news
Company changes for the 2009/10 season
The Royal Ballet
Promotions:
to Principal Dancer – Steven McRae
to First Soloist – Helen Crawford, Hikaru Kobayashi, Sergei Polunin
to Soloist – Kristen McNally
to First Artist – Leanne Cope, Olivia Cowley, Melissa Hamilton, Nathalie Harrison
First Artist Sian Murphy is appointed Assistant Ballet Mistress
New joiners:
Ruth Bailey, Leticia Stock, Tristan Dyer, Benjamin Ella as Artists (from RBS)
Hayley Forskitt (Norwegian National Ballet) and Jacqueline Clark (Ballet Ireland) also join
as Artists
Akane Takada is appointed Artist from Prix de Lausanne Apprentice
Rina Nemoto joins as Prix de Lausanne Dancer
Leavers:
Alexandra Ansanelli, Isabel McMeekan, Vanessa Palmer, Henry St Clair
Birmingham Royal Ballet
Promotions:
to Principal Dancer – Jamie Bond, Natasha Oughtred, Gaylene Cummerfield, Carol-Anne Millar
to First Soloist – Joseph Caley, Alex Campbell
to First Artist – Céline Gittens, Tom Rogers
Principal Dancer Dominic Antonucci is appointed Ballet Master
New joiners:
Jade Heusen and Benjamin Soerel as Artists
Company promotions for the 2008/09 season
The Royal Ballet
To Principal Dancer: Lauren Cuthbertson, Rupert Pennefather
To First Soloist: Yuhui Choe, Stephen McRae
To Soloist: Helen Crawford, Laura McCulloch, Ryoichi Hirano, Paul Kay, Sergei Polunin, Eric Underwood
To First Artist: Elizabeth Harrod, Romany Pajdak, Pietro Mello-Pitman, Liam Scarlett
New joiners: James Hay, Dawid Trzensimiech as Artists; Akane Takada as Prix de Lausanne Apprentice
Birmingham Royal Ballet
To First Soloist: Jamie Bond, Natasha Oughtred, Jenna Roberts, Lei Zhao
To Soloist: Momoko Hirata
To First Artist: Aaron Robison
New joiners: César Morales as Principal Dancer; Dusty Button, Delia Matthews, Nicki Moffat,
Yijing Zhang, Laura Davenport as Artists
Royal Ballet School graduate contracts 2009
The Royal Ballet Ruth Bailey, Leticia Stock, Tristan Dyer, Benjamin Ella
Birmingham Royal Ballet Benjamin Soerel
English National Ballet Nicola Henshall, Shiori Kase, Vadim Muntagirov (First Artist)
Northern Ballet Theatre Jeremy Curnier
Dutch National Ballet Charlotte Barber-O'Donnell
Stuttgart Ballet Elisa Badenes
Munich Ballet Freya Thomas
Royal Danish Ballet Oda Groener
Royal Swedish Ballet Daniel Norgren-Jensen
Estonian Ballet Jonathan Hanks, William Moore
Norwegian National Ballet Lucas Lima
Hungarian Ballet Lili Felmery
Ballet de l'Opéra National de Bordeaux Giada Rossi, Bethany West
Corella Ballet, Spain Giacomo Vitelli, Mattia Vitelli, Sergi Terns Goma
South African Ballet Theatre Alex Arshamian
Ballet Tucson, Arizona Natalie Blosser
National Ballet of Canada Giorgio Galli
Singapore Dance Theatre Ichigo Oguro
The Australian Ballet Jessica Wood
Ballet Association Awards 2008
Presented by David Bain, the value of the awards was £500 each.
The 2008 winners were Tristan Dyer from Australia and Shiori Kase from Japan. Shiori was aged 16. She studied at the Hirose Kato Ballet Studio in Japan before joining the Royal Ballet School. Tristan is two years older. He has UK, US and Australian nationality. Before coming to the Royal Ballet School he studied at Newport Academy of Ballet (US), the National Ballet School of Canada and the Australian Ballet School.
Tristan Dyer and Shiori Kase with David Bain at the awards presentation