National Youth Ballet 30th anniversary season

Published: 6 July 2017
Reporter: Vera Liber

National Youth Ballet 2017 Time in Motion Credit: Tim Cross

For its 30th anniversary season, NYB will present Time in Motion, a mixed programme of ballets performed by a company of 105 young dancers aged 8 to 18 from across the country.

Performances will be at the Crescent Theatre, Birmingham on Friday 25 and Saturday 26 August, with a gala performance at Sadler’s Wells on Sunday 3 September 2017.

Time in Motion features seven short ballets including Scottish Ballet Artistic Director Christopher Hampson’s Carnival set to Saint-Saëns’s score, BRB soloist Jonathan Payn’s classical IKEN inspired by the Suffolk landscape, a new narrative work by New Adventures Associate Director Etta Murfitt inspired by the Dream Ballet from Oklahoma and Aspirations by English National Ballet School’s Director of Dance Samira Saidi.

The Beyond Ballet platform will also return, offering emerging choreographers the opportunity to showcase new works. This year, BRB First Artist and choreographer Ruth Brill will present a new work with music by Raymond Fol, Rambert graduate Arielle Smith will present new contemporary piece T-Symmetry and Louise Bennet will create a new work for the Junior Company set to the Coppelia score by Delibes.

Patron David Bintley CBE will be the guest judge for the in-house choreographic competition at summer school, the winner of which will be showcased in the Time in Motion season.

This year, NYB held auditions in Leeds, Birmingham and Manchester as well as London alongside masterclasses taught by some of NYB’s professional ambassadors and alumni including Jonathan Payn, Erina Takashashi, James Street and Carrie Johnson.

Notable NYB alumni include Drew McOnie (choreographer), Sir Gregory Dean (Principal at Royal Danish Ballet), Jessica Brown Findlay (Actress, Downton Abbey) and Tyrone Singleton (Principal at Birmingham Royal Ballet) and many more work for leading companies including Royal Ballet, English National Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet and Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures.

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