< PreviousCINDERELLA It had been 5 years since the magical Cinderella last took to the stage and in 2019 this family favourite was given new sets and costumes for added sparkle. Set in a Russian-inspired winter wonderland, our dancers also added circus skills to their list of talents to bring this well- loved story to life with a Northern Ballet twist. A BALLET BY DAVID NIXON OBE HHHH ‘…THIS BALLET IS ENTERTAINING AND CLEVER, AND LOOKS SPECTACULAR.’ DANCING TIMES HHHH ‘A WONDERFUL EVENING CHOCK FULL OF BRILLIANT DANCING, SPRINKLED WITH NOVELTY AND MAGIC’ BRITISH THEATRE GUIDE 57 Performances 7 Venues 46.7K Live audience 10DRACULA This ballet with dramatic bite returned to the stage in Leeds and Canterbury. Dracula then made its triumphant big-screen debut with a Halloween livestream to over 300 cinemas (see pages 16–17). A first for the Company, the cinema livestream was hugely popular and in 2020 was followed by a broadcast on BBC4 and iPlayer. A BALLET BY DAVID NIXON OBE HHHH ‘THE PERFECT CHOICE TO BE REVIVED FOR THIS 50 TH ANNIVERSARY YEAR.’ YORKSHIRE POST HHHH ‘AN ENJOYABLE WATCH... SOME CHARACTERS YOU CAN REALLY GET YOUR TEETH INTO’ DANCE EUROPE Left page: Mlindi Kulashe in Cinderella. This page: Javier Torres and Antoinette Brooks-Daw in Dracula. Photos Emma Kauldhar. 13 Performances 2 Venues 9.2K Live audience 300 Cinemas 10.5K Live cinema audience 11GEISHA Geisha opened at Leeds Grand Theatre to critical acclaim, but sadly was only to have one performance before the UK- wide COVID-19 lockdown was put in place. But for that one night this stunning ballet shone as our dancers brought to life the heartbreaking story of Okichi. Until Geisha returns you can enjoy an exclusive excerpt released as part of our Pay As You Feel Digital Season. A BALLET BY KENNETH TINDALL Music by Alexandra Harwood HHHH ‘SUPERNATURALLY CHARGED AND UNEXPECTEDLY TOUCHING’ THE TIMES HHHH ‘POTENT FUSION OF ROMANTIC DANCE AND JAPANESE HORROR’ THE GUARDIAN WORLD PREMIÈRE 1250 TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION GALA In November 2019 we hit a huge milestone – 50 years of Northern Ballet. 2020 should have been filled with celebratory events throughout the year. Our plans may be on hold due to COVID-19, but the year started with a bang with our sold-out Celebration Gala at Leeds Grand Theatre. Hosted by David Nixon OBE, for one night only we were joined by dancers from Joffrey Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet, English National Ballet, Phoenix Dance Theatre, The Royal Ballet and Scottish Ballet performing excerpts from our repertoire and works connected to our history. Watch Gala highlights northernballet.com/gala To honour our anniversary year we are also building up a visual archive where you can enjoy stories from our history. artsandculture.google.com/partner/northern-ballet Left page: Minju Kang and Riku Ito in Geisha. Photo Emma Kauldhar. This page: Marianna Rodrigues. Photo Guy Farrow. 13October 2019 saw another smash hit added to our repertoire of children’s ballets with Little Red Riding Hood. Choreographed by Company dancer Mariana Rodrigues with an all-female creative team this short and sweet ballet enjoyed sell-out performances in Leeds and London. A BALLET BY MARIANA RODRIGUES WORLD PREMIÈRE Our collaboration with CBeebies continued as Little Red Riding Hood was filmed in February 2020 for broadcast over Easter. It can currently be viewed on iPlayer. ON SCREEN FOR THE KIDS 14From April – June 2019 Puss in Boots undertook its epic tour across England for no less than 75 performances. From Berwick to Cambridge, 27 theatres enjoyed this purr-fect ballet! A BALLET BY JENNA LEE Left page: Julie Nunès in Little Red Riding Hood. This page: Harris Beattie and Ayça Anil in Puss in Boots. Photos Brian Slater. 15Digital Success VICTORIA Captured at Sadler’s Wells in partnership with The Space, Cathy Marston’s Victoria became our first ever full-length ballet to be shown in cinemas in June, selling more than 7,000 tickets at over 300 venues. The film was watched by another 41,000 viewers on BBC Four and iPlayer over Christmas, before a DVD release in March 2020. DRACULA On Halloween at Leeds Playhouse we made Company history with our first ever cinema livestream. David Nixon OBE’s Dracula was a seductive success, selling more than 10,000 tickets in cinemas across the UK, Ireland, Germany and Norway. ‘BRAM STOKER’S CLASSIC HORROR STORY HAS BEEN ADAPTED MANY TIMES, BUT NEVER WITH THIS MUCH ATHLETICISM AND SENSUALITY… EAT YOUR HEART OUT, CLAES BANG’ RADIO TIMES In 2019/20 we were given the inaugural UK Theatre Award for Digital Innovation — recognition of our achievements at the forefront of the industry and adding fuel to the fire of our digital ambitions. 16DIGITALDANCE.ORG Our digital dance platform continued to grow in 2019/20 with the addition of EGO and Northern Ballet X V&A – a collaborative film with the world’s leading museum of art and design. Silenced and Spree were both selected in international film festivals this year, with Silenced collecting the Best Dance Short award at the New Renaissance Film Festival in London. EGO In March we released EGO — an original dance film by Artistic Director of Digital Kenneth Tindall, with filmmaker Dan Lowenstein. Captured over four days on location in Leeds, Lytham St Annes and London, EGO was our most ambitious short film project to date and was watched online more than 75,000 times in its first month. BITESIZED BALLETS Our children’s ballet cinema series continued with further UK screenings of Tortoise & the Hare, Elves & the Shoemaker and Three Little Pigs, plus a debut season in Australia. We also created three more films — Ugly Duckling, Puss in Boots and Goldilocks & the Three Bears — ready for release next year. Photos Zoe Martin, Emma Kauldhar, Brian Slater and Emily Nuttall. HHHH ‘BOLD, PASSIONATE AND ULTIMATELY REWARDING’ SUNDAY EXPRESS 17In other news #DancePassion On Friday 5 April the BBC hosted #DancePassion — a day of livestreaming featuring 11 hours of performance, rehearsals and behind-the-scenes insights from across the UK. Leeds was the only livestream hub in the North of England and Kenneth Tindall (Artistic Director of Digital and Choreographer in Residence) created a new work to Ella Eyre’s version of We Don’t Have to Take Our Clothes Off. World Ballet Day We took part in the global celebration once again as 107,000 viewers tuned into a livestreamed rehearsal of Cinderella with dancers Abigail Prudames and Joseph Taylor, lead by Artistic Director David Nixon OBE. Pippa Moore joins Artistic Staff In spring 2019, Pippa Moore retired from the stage after 26 years as a professional ballet dancer and 23 of those as one of Northern Ballet’s most beloved performers. A Premier Dancer when she retired, Pippa was Northern Ballet’s longest serving female artist. Pippa has now taken on the role of Artistic and Learning Assistant which sees her working across the organisation teaching for the Academy, coaching Company dancers and working with the Learning department on touch tours and audio description. ‘Over such a long career I became emotionally invested in the Company’s vision. It was evident that there were many areas within the organisation, beyond the stage, that I found incredibly inspiring and could feed my creative soul long after I’d hung up my pointe shoes.’ Pippa Moore Hear more from Pippa 18Greatest Dancer On Saturday 22 February Northern Ballet appeared on BBC show The Greatest Dancer. Six dancers performed original choreography by David Nixon OBE alongside Ronan Keating and Emeli Sandé to their new single One of a Kind. The BBC report that the series is currently rating at an average of 5.4 million viewers in consolidated numbers, putting Northern Ballet right at the heart of prime-time TV. Watch now 50 th Anniversary Launch On 5 June 2019, we held a launch event to announce our 50 th Anniversary Celebrations at the Stanley & Audrey Burton Theatre, which we also livestreamed. The event was hosted by TV star and Northern Ballet Board Member Anita Rani and included live performances from our dancers and insights from choreographers Kenneth Tindall and Drew McOnie. Although our anniversary plans have been put on hold (see pages 32-33) it was a fantastic night with almost 200 live guests and 8,000 online viewers. Left page: Pippa Moore behind-the-scenes in Victoria photoshoot. This page: Anita Rani at 50 th Anniversary launch. Photos Justin Slee. 19Next >