55 Years of Dance, Drama, and Dazzling Storytelling!
Happy birthday to us! As we celebrate our 55th anniversary, let’s take a quick stroll through our history. From a small theatre in Manchester to becoming one of the world’s most celebrated ballet companies, it’s been a journey full of passion, creativity, and determination.
Our humble beginnings
The start of Northern Dance Theatre was nothing short of an adventure. Laverne Meyer got an offer: if he could pull together a company, create a full programme of ballets, raise the funds, arrange costumes, and get everything ready in just over two months, he could use the University Theatre in Manchester for three nights, with musicians from the Royal Manchester College of Music.
Oh, and the ballets had to match the musicians' chosen music. It sounded crazy—but Meyer accepted. Miraculously, the show went on, impressing the right people, and later that year, Meyer was leading one of Britain’s first regional ballet companies.
Growing pains and global fame
In 1976 we rebranded as Northern Ballet Theatre. Under the leadership of Robert de Warren, we grew in size and reputation, performing across the globe in places like Italy, Hong Kong, and more. We grew to 28 dancers and started focusing on full-length classical ballets—setting the stage for even greater things to come.
The storytelling revolution
The late 80s were here and while we had the disco music on full blast, Christopher Gable CBE took the reins and brought his own unique blend of dance and drama to the Company. We weren’t just about beautiful moves—we were about captivating storytelling. Our productions took on emotional, dramatic turns, bringing new stories to ballet including A Simple Man and A Christmas Carol and attracting interest from TV.
Stories you wouldn’t expect
The millennium came and with that came fresh, dramatic works like Cleopatra, The Great Gatsby, and even a reimagined The Little Mermaid with Artistic Director David Nixon CBE, as well as a move from West Park to our current purpose-built city centre building in Leeds. To keep things simple we changed our name to Northern Ballet and for 21 years our repertoire grew uniquely with stories that you wouldn’t expect (a 1984 ballet anyone?!), including a brand-new genre of ballet for children with famous fairytales such as Three Little Pigs, Little Red Riding Hood and Tortoise & the Hare.
We also had our own digital revolution and exploded onto the digital scene with long and short dance works created specially for online viewing.
Into the unknown
In 2021 David Nixon CBE retired from Northern Ballet and handed the mantle over to former Royal Ballet star Federico Bonelli. In just two years, he’s been both pushing boundaries with new commissions and honouring our history with landmark revivals of Romeo & Juliet and A Christmas Carol.
With 55 years of unforgettable performances under our belt, we’re still breaking new ground—take a look at Federico’s first full-length ballet commission Gentleman Jack. Whether you’ve been a fan from the start or are just discovering us, buckle up for more thrilling stories, world-class performances, and plenty of awe-inspiring moments to come!
Of course, we couldn’t do it without the incredible support of our long-standing Patrons and Benefactors who have been with us along the way.
Here’s to the next 55 years of making dance unforgettable!
Northern Ballet dancers past and present.
Photos Tristram Kenton, Emily Nuttall, Colleen Mair, Emma Kauldhar,
Johan Persson, Sophie Beth Jones and Bill Cooper.