Birmingham Royal Ballet

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	David Bintley (retired 2019) Carlos Acosta (in 2020)[1]
Assistant Director	Marion Tait (Acting Director until 2020)[2]
Company manager	Will Mauchline
Ballet Masters	Michael O'Hare, Dominic Antonucci, Wolfgang Stollwitzer
Other
Sister company	The Royal Ballet
Orchestra	Royal Ballet Sinfonia
Official school	The Royal Ballet School
Formation	Principal Guest Artist Principal First Soloist Soloist First Artist Artist

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[]

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[]

Dancers[]

Principals[]

Name	Nationality	Training	Joined BRB	Promoted to Principal	Information
Yasuo Atsuji [3]	Japan	Chiyo Ishihara Ballet School Royal Ballet School	2006	2018
Tzu-Chao Chou [4]	Taiwan	Australian Ballet School	2011	2017
Mathias Dingman [5]	United Kingdom	Kirov Academy of Ballet	2006	2015	Guest Artist - English National Ballet, 2014 Varna International Ballet Competition - Gold Medal, 2006 Youth America Grand Prix - Gold Medal, 2006 Korea International Ballet Competition - Gold Medal, 2005 Vienna International Ballet Competition - Gold Medal and Vaslav Nijinsky Prize, 2004
Samara Downs[6]	United Kingdom	Royal Ballet School	2003	2015	Paul Clarke Award Margot Fonteyn Scholarship Award Anthony Dowell Award Kerrison Cook Award
Céline Gittens	Canada	Goh Ballet Academy	2006	2016
Momoko Hirata[7]	Japan	Reiko Yamamoto Ballet School Royal Ballet School	2003	2013	2001 Prix de Lausanne – won
Brandon Lawrence [8]	United Kingdom	Nydza School of Dance Royal Ballet School	2011	2019
César Morales[9]	Chile	Municipal Theatre of Santiago Houston Ballet Academy	2008	N/A	Principal Guest Artist – Vienna State Opera Ballet, 2006 English National Ballet, 2004–2006 Altazor Prize  – Winner, 2002 & 2003 New York International Ballet Competition – Gold Medal, 2003 Prague International Ballet Competitions – Gold Medal, 2002 Ballet de Santiago, years unknown
Tyrone Singleton [10]	United Kingdom	Royal Ballet School	2003	2013

First Soloists[]

Soloists[]

First Artists[]

Artists[]

Apprentices[]

See also[]

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

Footnotes[]

External links[]

• Official website
• Birmingham Royal Ballet tour blog