We use cookies to help us make our website better. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies. To find out more see our cookie information page.
Latest Blogs
Waddling Back to Leeds
Hello everybody, I'm back in Leeds after a very busy couple of weeks. I've been all over the North of England visiting schools, dance academies and theatres. I've never had so many snuggles! Last week I was in Middlesbrough and Newcastle where I met over 400 children who all learnt steps from the ballet Ugly Duckling and danced them very well. On my way there I flew past the Angel of the North which was covered in the snow which made it look like a real angel. I'm giving my wings a little rest...
Hawksworth Wood Primary, The Performance
After five weeks our project at Hawksworth Wood Primary School has finished for another year. They've been keeping us updated about what they've been up to and this final week they had their final performance... As part of our 5 week dance project with the great Northern Ballet, we were asked to write a blog for their website covering the week’s event. Here is our week 5 blog. We were so eager to start, that we had got changed and we were warming up even before our instructor and director...
The Great Gatsby Sets
 with Gatsby car_400.thumbnail.jpg "The Great Gatsby - Jonny Thumb")
Since early November, Northern Ballet’s technical team has been hard at work building the sets for the World Première of The Great Gatsby. Designed by Jerôme Kaplan, who also designed David Nixon’s Ondine and A Sleeping Beauty Tale, the stunning sets will play a crucial part in recreating New York’s glamorous 1920s. We joined carpenter Jonny Mills at the Company’s technical base in Bramley, Leeds to get a glimpse of how the sets are coming along. ‘The sets for The Great Gatsby are much...
From the West to the East
Hello everybody! I have been continuing my travels over the last week to tell children across the North of England all about Ugly Duckling and to get them all dancing and having fun. I went to Berwick-upon-Tweed and on the way there I saw five rainbows which were very beautiful. Last week I met over 200 children which is more than I can count on my little webbed feet and they all took part in ballet workshops with Leanne. On Tuesday I had to waddle through the snow to get to Spittal First...
Hawksworth Primary School, week three
The snow had gone as we prepared for the third week of our dance project based around the Earth, Sun and Moon. With only two sessions left before our big celebration open day, we had to be eager to refine and practice our routines before our parents would get to see the show. We warmed up as normal, stretching and preparing our bodies to spin, turn, stretch, leap and move. With David playing the 'harp' on the piano (he played the strings inside the piano!) we were instantly found ourselves...
Stanley is back!
Hello everybody, long time no see! I’ve been having a good rest over Christmas and the New Year, keeping warm and dry and trying not to slip about too much on all the ice we've had. But now it’s time to fluff up my feathers, ready for a very busy spring. Northern Ballet are taking their wonderful production Ugly Duckling out on tour to theatres in the North of England, so I’ll be travelling far and wide to meet lots of children and tell them all about the show. The children that I meet...
Toby's on the cover
Look who's on the cover of February's Dancing Times? Our very own premier dancer Tobias Batley looking sharp as Gatsby from our new ballet The Great Gatsby. Inside there's a feature about the Northern Ballet Academy and an interview with Nancy Osbaldeston, a former Associate student with our Academy and now a dancer with English National Ballet. On a more sombre note there is an obituary of composer Richard Rodney Bennett, whose music we are using for The Great Gatsby. We're all over it! If you...
Hawksworth Primary School
Northern Ballet are currently delivering a project at Hawksworth Wood Primary in Leeds, who we have enjoyed working with many times over the years. Here's what some of the pupils have been saying about the project. Week 2 As most schools were closed due to the snow, we the children of Hawksworth Wood attended school as we prepared for the second week of our dance project with the brilliant Northern Ballet – led by the awesome Sophie Alder. We were so eager to start, that we had got changed and...
Leeds book fair winner announced
On the 2nd December I spent a lovely day at Leeds Book Fair in Horsforth letting people know about our new production for 2013, The Great Gatsby. While there we had a raffle to win two tickets to see our production of The Great Gatsby, based on the classic novel by F Scott Fitzgerald, and I'm pleased to announce that the winner is (drum roll please) Emma Kitwood. Congratulations Emma, and a massive thank you to all at Leeds Book Fair.
START 2012 is nearly at an end
We've had another wonderful START project this term where we have worked with seventeen schools from all over West Yorkshire. The students all participated in two dance workshops and have been to the Alhambra Theatre in Bradford to watch Northern Ballet’s Beauty & the Beast. As a final treat, all students involved in the project will be attending a special performance of The Nutcracker next Thursday at Leeds Grand Theatre. The first workshops were based on Beauty & the Beast where they...
