Blogs

In the past month Northern Ballet has generated over £500,000 of financial support from private donors, companies, trusts and foundations: an encouraging and impressive start to a campaign that sees the Company fundraising to fill a substantial gap in its government funding.

Our new Academy Pastoral Assistant, Emma Rodriguez-Saona, has her first experience of Academy end of year performances:

What a way to start my time at Northern Ballet. With the Academy’s calendar full to the brim, I was instantly immersed. 

I’ve found my first few weeks to be a hubbub of activity, hard work and enjoyment (my first challenge was learning lots of names!). Highlights that just cannot go unmentioned include the fantastic end of year Academy shows.

If you weren’t there, you should have been. The Choreographic Showcase was a mesmeric delight.  Dancers from Northern Ballet and Phoenix Dance Theatre came together to choreograph eleven pieces of brand spanking new dance. The fledgling choreographers were each given the same mission statement – simply, create a piece of dance. Dance. No sets, no costumes and precious few props. The focus was pulled firmly on movement and each piece having a discrete kinetic language of its own.

Zoobin Surty Karma Dance SAAUK is a dance troupe that educates, enriches and inspires through Indian Classical, Contemporary and Bollywood dance culture. The Company encourages others to dance by creating performance opportunities for all ages in the region.

Legends of mirth, Phil Cool and Richard Digance, are coming to the Stanley & Audrey Burton Theatre. I, like many who’ve bumbled through a university in the last ten years, first came across Digance on Countdown. I was always impressed and alarmed by his capacity to turn almost anything into a chipper limerick.

Do you want to try something different?
Do you want to be part of a wheelchair dance group?
Then come along to our workshops and give it a try!

In March and May, the Learning team held taster sessions for the Wheelchair Dance project, offering young people in Leeds who are wheelchair users, the chance to try some dance.

On 17 & 18 June The Stanley & Audrey Burton Studio Theatre at Northern Ballet will play host to a very special showcase, one where Northern Ballet and Phoenix Dance Theatre dancers have turned choreographer to create brand new and exciting work.

Fabulous Opportunity for volunteers to work on a new Festival for Leeds

Gifted & talented primary school project in partnership with Artforms, Children’s services Leeds.

16 June will see 30 talented young dancers from six primary schools across Leeds will have their first experience at dancing in one of Northern Ballet’s first-class studios when they come together for a day of dance designed to challenge and expand their dance abilities.

The clouds are gathering, the temperature’s dropping and rain is on the way – that’s right, it’s festival time! But before you pack up your tent and pull on your wellies, you should check out what’s happening right here at Northern Ballet’s new home on Quarry Hill on 2 July: for good, clean, mostly dry and not to mention FREE fun for all your family and friends, you won’t beat the Quarry Hill Festival.