Northern Ballet's blog

Everyone here at Northern Ballet would like to wish Prince William and Catherine Middleton a wonderful wedding and a long and happy life together.

Your special day has lifted the hearts of this nation, may you share a lifetime of happiness together.

Much love

Hannah Bateman

May the two of you spend a happy life together. Enjoy your day as the world enjoys it with you.

Best wishes

Northern Ballet will be closed each of the Bank Holidays over the Easter period.

• Friday 29 April - Closed
• Monday 2 May - Closed

We are open other times as normal.

Contact us

Some of the 470 young people who are involved in the START project have given us feedback on our Days of Dance which took place at Northern Ballet at the end of March. The START project, supported by the Prince’s Foundation for Children and the Arts, enables young people who wouldn’t normally have the opportunity to access the arts, to take part in dance activities and to visit local theatres.

The KC Stadium in Hull is set to become Yorkshire's biggest dance floor on Good Friday as 250 young dancers between the ages of 8 and 20 take to the pitch for the Hull Super League derby half-time show.

Looking for Lowry is a new documentary by film maker Margy Kinmouth about the works of the Salford artist famous for his Matchstick Men and inspiration for Northern Ballet's A Simple Man.

The film features Sir Ian McKellen, Noel Gallagher and a host friends and admirers of Lowry's work as they discover more about his life, his upbringing and living under the thumb of a mother who didn't like him to paint.

The sun’s been shining (sadly not quite so much today), a hint of summer is in the air and festival season is round the corner.  But one festival is already in full swing and here at Northern Ballet we’re all so excited that our wonderful new building is one of the lucky festival venues. Spring fest!

Arts Council England have issued the following statement in response to our press release (read our statement about the cuts)

Northern Ballet’s new National Portfolio funding equates to a 6.5% cut in cash terms and 14.9% in real terms from what they received in regular funding in 2010/11 and its National Portfolio funding level for 2014/15.

As financial cuts to arts organisations across the country are announced, Leeds-based Northern Ballet has been told it will receive around 25% less (£800k)* in 2012/13 from Arts Council England (ACE) than it took to successfully run the Company in 2010/11. 

This is a significant reduction of income and disappointing news for the Company, which recently took up residence in a new, purpose-built home on Quarry Hill, Leeds, in what is now described as the city's cultural hub.