Northern Ballet Review of the year 2012/13
We are Northern Ballet We are a powerhouse for inventive dance and one of the UK’s favourite dance companies. We are the only professional ballet company in the North of England. We create more new full-length work and tour more widely than any other UK-based company. We bring inspiring, inventive and moving performances to audiences who might otherwise not have access to world-class dance. Company history
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Our people
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Martha Leebolt in rehearsal. Photo Justin Slee
Our 2012/13 highlights
In the past year we: Created a new full-length ballet More >
Created a new children’s ballet and a partnership with CBeebies More >
Celebrated the London Olympics More >
Completed two national tours in 28 venues around the UK More >
Collaborated with visual artist Linder Sterling and The Hepworth Wakefield More > Hosted over 60 performances in our own Stanley & Audrey Burton Theatre More >
Front cover: Tobias Batley as Jay Gatsby with Martha Leebolt as Daisy in David Nixon’s The Great Gatsby. Photo Jason Tozer
This page, main image: Sebastian Loe, Hannah Bateman and Benjamin Mitchell in rehearsal. Photo Justin Slee
Above (from top): Photos by Bill Cooper, Justin Slee, Jason Tozer, onEdition, Chris Nash
A new ballet: The Great Gatsby Nominated for Best Classical Choreography – 2014 National Dance Awards Nominated for Achievement in Dance – UK Theatre Awards
In March 2013 we opened The Great Gatsby – a new full-length ballet created by Artistic Director, David Nixon OBE. Based on the classic American novel by F Scott Fitzgerald, it brought the decadence and exuberance of the roaring twenties to the stage.
Tobias Batley as Jay Gatsby and Martha Leebolt as Daisy Buchanan in The Great Gatsby. Photo Bill Cooper
‘A feast for the eyes with a musical score to match’ Good Housekeeping
‘Nixon’s choreography really flies.’ The Guardian Read more reviews >
Stars turn out en masse for The Great Gatsby Première Following a hugely successful debut at Leeds Grand Theatre, a starstudded London première of The Great Gatsby took place at Sadler’s Wells Theatre later in the year.
‘It’s amazing. The costumes scream decadence and elegance and really aid the story. I was really swept away.’ David Gyasi ‘It’s beautifully staged and choreographed. It brings the essence of those years and Fitzgerald to life. It’s beautiful.’ Sir Ben Kingsley
The Great Gatsby photo gallery
Photos Bill Cooper
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L to R: Sir Ben Kingsley, Eddie Redmayne, Craig Revel Horwood with Darcey Bussell and Gok Wan with Northern Ballet dancers Javier Torres and Dreda Blow. Photos Piers Allardyce
Not such an Ugly Duckling We created Ugly Duckling, our first short ballet for small people and toured this to venues throughout the North and further afield.
The BBC created a television adaptation of Ugly Duckling for broadcast on CBeebies at Easter. The programme went on to win a Children’s BAFTA. Read more >
Benjamin Mitchell, Ayana Kanda, Teresa Saavedra Bordes and Isabella Gasparini. Photo Martin Bell
Local investment helps Duckling take off An initial £20,000 investment from Leeds City Council allowed us to create Ugly Duckling to reach children and their families who were not engaged with theatre or ballet. For the affordable price of just £4 for children and £5 for adults, more than 2,500 people came to watch Ugly Duckling, many of whom had never been to see a dance performance before. Encouraged by this positive response, we were able to secure additional funding of £390,000 from Arts Council England. This allowed us to tour Ugly Duckling and create two more ballets for small children to reach audiences in venues throughout the north of England where cultural engagement was low.
To date, more than 25,000 people have seen Ugly Duckling at their local theatre with an additional audience of 460,000 people who have watched it on CBeebies. Following on from this success, a second children’s ballet, Three Little Pigs, has since premièred in Leeds and will be followed in 2015 by a third new production for children.
The BBC, inspired by our project, commissioned a television adaptation of Ugly Duckling for CBeebies which has since been awarded a Children’s BAFTA.
Ugly Duckling photo gallery
Photos Martin Bell
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Read more about Ugly Duckling
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Visit the CBeebies page
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Giuliano Contadini and Isabella Gasparini. Photo Martin Bell
The Ultimate Form Collaborating with artist Linder Sterling, Northern Ballet’s Premier Dancer and award-winning choreographer Kenneth Tindall presented The Ultimate Form at the Musée d’Art Moderne in Paris on 31 January 2013.
Photo onEdition
The new piece debuted in the UK at The Hepworth Wakefield in May as part of a Linder Sterling exhibition and was subsequently performed at John Lewis’ flagship store on Oxford Street in London in celebration of the 50th anniversary of Barbara Hepworth’s winged figure. The Ultimate Form is due to be performed at Tate St Ives in February 2014.
Above and left: Victoria Sibson, Nicola Gervasi, Joseph Taylor, Kevin Poeung, Hannah Bateman and Jessica Morgan.
Northern Ballet dancers Hannah Bateman, Jessica Morgan and Victoria Sibson in The Ultimate Form by Kenneth Tindall. Photo Darren Goldsmith
Northern Ballet on tour In 2012/13 we gave 200 performances during 26 weeks of national touring, performing to more than 128,000 people. Our tour took us from Edinburgh, all the way to Canterbury, with many stops in between.
We also visited a total of 11 venues in Yorkshire bringing five full-length works and the delights of our first children’s ballet, Ugly Duckling, to audiences in our home county.
We have partnerships with theatres nationwide.
Stirling Edinburgh Berwick-upon-Tweed
Find out more about our UK tour 2014
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Hexham
Newcastle Durham
Photo Bill Cooper
Middlesborough Whitby
Barrow-in-Furness Harrogate
Lancaster Blackpool
Hull Goole Barnsley Doncaster Sheffield Leeds
Bradford
Huddersfield Manchester Liverpool
Nottingham Leicester
Find out more about our China tour 2014
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Bridlington
Norwich
Milton Keynes Aylsebury
Photo Merlin Hendy Cardiff
Bath
London Woking
Southampton
Canterbury
ondine ‘Based on this performance alone Northern Ballet stands alongside the Olympians in this year of British Pride.’ Sunday Express ‘Northern Ballet launched their autumn season boldly and successfully.’ The Daily Telegraph ‘...choreography, visuals and music combine to memorable effect.’ The Sunday Times
Javier Torres as Brand, Dreda Blow as Beatrice and Hannah Bateman as Ondine in Ondine. Photo Martin Bell
Ondine photo gallery
Photos Martin Bell
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Watch Dreda Blow rehearse Beatrice >
m h t y h r t o g i ‘One of the most enjoyable, pure dance events yet seen by this reviewer’ The Stage ‘A joyous explosion of song and dance’ Yorkshire Post ‘Northern Ballet is everything that is professional and perfection’ The Yorkshire Times
i got rhythm photo gallery
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Photos Emma Kauldhar
Javier Torres and Keiko Amemori. Photo Emma Kauldhar
y l f r e t t u b e madam ‘It was hypnotic and spine-tingling. And it was over too soon.’ Yorkshire Evening Post ‘Thanks in part to Northern Ballet, no wonder we are the dance envy of Europe, if not the Western world.’ Sunday Express ‘Timeless beauty...’ Manchester Evening News
Michela Paolacci in Madame Butterfly. Photo Merlin Hendy
Madame Butterfly photo gallery
Photos Merlin Hendy
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Our festive family ballets
t s a e b e h t & beauty
‘A triumphant success’ The Telegraph ‘Audiences can expect a night of breath-taking dances and beautiful, haute-couture inspired costumes – accompanied by the finest of scores.’ Exposed Magazine
Martha Leebolt as Beauty and Kenneth Tindall as the Prince in Beauty & the Beast. Photo Bill Cooper
Beauty & the Beast photo gallery Photos Bill Cooper
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Our festive family ballets
r e k c a r c t u the n ‘It’s been done before but rarely so delightful.’ Manchester Evening News ‘Nixon has conjured the perfect Christmas treat.’ Sunday Express
The Nutcracker photo gallery
Photos Bill Cooper
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Ayana Kanda as Clara with Northern Ballet dancers in The Nutcracker. Photo Bill Cooper
Join in
Northern Ballet’s Academy and Learning departments offer a wide range of programmes which provide opportunities for children, young people and adults with and without disabilities, to engage with high quality arts activities. We have delivered 2,393 sessions to 54,456 participants – a growth of 36.5% from the previous year. A consistent broad range of programmes enables us to deliver quality learning experiences, engaging new audiences and developing our regular attendees and participants. Our programmes include access dance classes and pre-vocational professional training, specialised disability work, family fun days and work in schools, colleges and community settings.
Major projects for the Learning department during 2012/13 included: Ugly Duckling audience development programme and engagement work across the northern region and the midlands in partnership with 16 venues. Find out more > START project working with 593 pupils from schools in Leeds and Bradford with limited access to the arts. Find out more > Dance programmes designed for children, young people, and adults with additional needs; Ability for learning disabled adults, In Motion for physically disabled young people and audio descriptions for the blind and visually impaired. Find out more > Working with children’s centres across Leeds to provide high quality movement sessions for under threes and their families. Find out more >
Photos Gavin Joynt
The Academy of Northern Ballet
Over 400 young people attended classes with The Academy of Northern Ballet in 2012/13 and our Professional Division graduates achieved a 100% success rate progressing onto further training at major vocational schools including: • • • • •
Royal Ballet English National Ballet Elmhurst Central School of Ballet Rambert
Academy students benefit from mentoring by Company dancers who assist with their training by giving advice and support.
Charlotte Tonkinson. Photo Brian Slater
The Academy also provides high quality dance training for children, young people and adults, including; Ballet, Ballet Fusion, Zumba, Pilates and a ballet class specifically for the Over 55s.
View the Academy prospectus
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Academy photo gallery
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Photos Martin Bell and Justin Slee
Celebrating the Olympics
OverWorlds and UnderWorlds In anticipation of the 2012 Olympic Games, Northern Ballet dancers participated in OverWorlds & UnderWorlds; part of the Leeds Canvas London 2012 Cultural Olympiad project involving more than 300 artists and performers. The project took place from 18 – 20 May with dancers performing an atmospheric piece, choreographed by Northern Ballet’s Ballet Master, Daniel de Andrade, in the Dark Arches of Leeds, aimed at altering peoples’ view of the city and giving a memorable experience.
Discover OverWorlds & UnderWorlds
Photo OverWorlds and UnderWorlds
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Georgina May. Photo OverWorlds and UnderWorlds
Sponsor a Dancer
Sponsor a Dancer was created to ensure that we can retain our full Company of dancers and continue to create and perform the innovative productions that our audiences love.
Since its first year Sponsor a Dancer has received over ÂŁ500,000 in donations and we are extremely grateful to everyone who has participated so far. The campaign goes on to ensure the future of our dancers and to nurture young talent so we continue to seek support through a wide range of initiatives. Tobias Batley, Mark Skipper and Martha Leebolt from Northern Ballet with Barbara Harvey from Sponsor a Dancer supporters, Accenture. Photo Matthew Dickens
Photos Simon Lawson
Sponsor a Dancer benefits Sponsoring a dancer from as little as £30 helps to safeguard the future of Northern Ballet. Sponsors receive a pack including: • A signed picture from the dancer of your choice • A letter from your dancer • An invitation to a sponsors’ event where you can meet our dancers
Sponsor a Dancer
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Stanley & Audrey Burton Theatre The Stanley & Audrey Burton Theatre seats up to 230 people and is located right in the heart of Leeds’ cultural quarter. This unique environment offers audiences the opportunity to see performances by Northern Ballet and Phoenix Dance Theatre in a more intimate setting, and also offers a year-round programme of dance, theatre, music and family-friendly performances from up-and-coming and established artists.
Shobana Jeyasingh Classic Cut. Photo Chris Nash
In 2012/13 more than 10,000 people attended performances at the Stanley & Audrey Burton Theatre by companies such as Ballet Black, Shobana Jeyasingh and National Dance Company Wales.
National Dance Company Wales. Photo National Dance Company Wales
Find out what’s on at theatreleeds.com
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Ballet Black’s War Letters. Photo Bill Cooper
Our Home
Northern Ballet offers exceptional facilities and flexible options for conferences, meetings, formal dinners, cocktail parties and performances with everything you need available on site. We can even offer team building activities and fun energiser sessions to ensure you have a memorable and productive day. Northern Ballet has welcomed clients from the BBC, Yorkshire Water, CBBC, ASDA and many others over the last year.
Learn more about venue hire
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Financial summary
Download the 2012/13 Financial Statement
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Key facts • Revenue generated from touring: £1.97m • Donations received through fundraising: £637,000 • External funding received: £3.37m • Cost of artistic product and touring: £5.6m
Photo Lisa Stonehouse
A look ahead...
Victoria Sibson as Myrtle in The Great Gatsby. Photo Bill Cooper
The hard work never stops at Northern Ballet. Here’s a glimpse of what’s coming up in 2014... • 8 productions: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Cinderella, Cleopatra, Dracula, Mixed Programme, Peter Pan, The Great Gatsby and Three Little Pigs. • We’re celebrating our latest awards and accolades: Achievement in Marketing at the 2013 UK Theatre Awards, 2013 White Rose Tourism Award for Arts and Culture. • A tour of a new Cinderella by David Nixon with a new score by Philip Feeney. • An international tour to China with A Midsummer Night’s Dream. • A new piece by Kenneth Tindall. • Tours to two new venues; The Linbury Theatre, London and The Mayflower, Southampton.
Find out more about Northern Ballet at northernballet.com Northern Ballet Quarry Hill Leeds LS2 7PA Telephone 0113 220 8000 Email info@northernballet.com Northern Ballet Theatre Limited trading as Northern Ballet. Registered charity no. 259140. Company registration no. 947096.
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Interactive annual review designed by Andrassy Media
Photo Justin Slee