“Britain’s biggest touring ballet company” Birmingham Royal Ballet is to have a residency to celebrate the reopening of one of the exhibition spaces at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery.
The Museum and Art Gallery closed for maintenance work in March 2020. It is being reopened in phases and Waterhall is the next to reopen.
BRB will fill Waterhall with dancers, musicians and the company’s behind-the-scenes teams for a week from Wednesday 26 June until Tuesday 2 July. The residency will offer an insight into the life of an internationally renowned ballet company and includes a programme of free activities and paid-for performances.
Freefall, BRB’s company for dancers with learning disabilities, will hold workshops for community groups and there will be a backstage careers day for young people interested in finding out about jobs in the performing arts.
An exhibition will showcase costumes from BRB’s repertoire including Sir David Bintley’s Cinderella and Frederick Ashton’s La Fille mal gardée. Visitors will be able to find out more about BRB including the creation of its 2023 work Black Sabbath—The Ballet.
BRB’s chief executive Caroline Miller OBE said, “we’re thrilled to be partnering with Birmingham Museum’s Trust and celebrating the reopening of this globally important museum and art gallery. Together, both our organisations want to shout to the world that Birmingham is a thriving cultural city.
“Our goal is to bring joy to audiences this summer with free and affordable entertainment as well as enabling audiences to see what our international ballet dancers, fantastic orchestra players, production and community teams do behind the scenes in our wonderful home city.”
The full programme for the company’s Waterhall residency is available at the Birmingham Royal Ballet web site.