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Stanley the Duck's blog
The Northern Ballet Duckling, Stanley, has been on tour and having adventures letting people know about our new Short Ballet for Small People, Ugly Duckling.
Fri 12 April, 2013
All through spring Ugly Duckling has been touring towns and cities across the north of England...
Dancers Jodie McKnight, Hannah Carter, Guillaume Lillo, Leanne Sanders, Tamara Ledermann, William Moore and Gabrielle Fairhead.
Fri 22 February, 2013
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...
Mon 11 February, 2013
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...
Fri 8 February, 2013
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...
Fri 9 November, 2012
Quack quack! Hello there.... What an amazing few weeks it has been, with performances of Ugly Duckling in Yeadon, Hunslet, Chapeltown and at Northern Ballet, taking place to sell-out audiences.
My friend Ugly was phenomenal in her first ever ballet and all the children who saw her agreed that she danced very well indeed. In total over 4000 people watched the ballet and here...
Fri 19 October, 2012
I am going quackers with excitement! It's the premiere of Ugly Duckling tomorrow and I am looking forward to it so much I think I might pop!
The scenery and costumes are waiting to be packed into the van and taken to Yeadon Town Hall first thing tomorrow morning and the programmes are currently winging their way back from the printers so we are almost ready to go.
My friend,...
Fri 28 September, 2012
You've done it. You’ve chosen me a name and I’m delighted!
We've had hundreds of entries in the Name the Duckling competition, and Northern Ballet have whittled it down to the best few. Mark Skipper, Northern Ballet's Chief Executive, chose Stanley. The winner is Mrs Bell from East Keswick who gets a family ticket to see Ugly Duckling.
Thank you to everyone who...
Thu 20 September, 2012
Hello again, have you missed me?!
I’ve been very busy the last few weeks helping my friend Ugly practice her ballet as there was a dress rehearsal last week and she wanted to make sure she knew all the steps. Some children were invited to watch the dress rehearsal and were asked what they thought of it - apparently they all really enjoyed it and want to see it again!
Ugly...
Thu 6 September, 2012
Good morning duck fans. With all the cuddles I’ve been getting over the last few weeks at the Breeze events I’ve had the stuffing knocked out of me, quite literally, and I’ve now got a little cut on my neck!
It’s not too major so nothing to worry about but it’s just a bit of a pain in the neck as I had planned to spend the day at the duck pond practising my swimming. But instead...
Fri 31 August, 2012
Quack quack! What a wonderful few days I’ve just had at the Breeze on tour event at Kirkstall Abbey.
It was such fun and the weather was glorious! My duck friends who will be migrating here from Greenland shortly will be sorry to have missed all this sunshine. Because it was so hot I got a special treat of an ice cream, which was a lot tastier then the stale bread that I’m...
