English National Ballet, winner of Outstanding Company at the Critics’ Circle National Dance Awards, today announces its 2015/2016 season.
In April 2016, English National Ballet presents She Said, a new triple bill dedicated to female choreography at Sadler’s Wells. The programme includes three world premières from Aszure Barton, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa and Yabin Wang.
Of She Said, Tamara Rojo, Artistic Director of English National Ballet, said: "I have wanted to present an evening dedicated to female choreographers for some time now, and I am thrilled to be working with these incredibly talented women, who are some of the most exciting creative voices working in dance today.
"I have been following Aszure, Annabelle and Yabin’s careers for a while and I am delighted that they are each going to create new work for English National Ballet."
Barton’s credits include Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and Sydney Dance Company.
Lopez Ochoa has created work for a number of companies around the world. Her version of A Streetcar Named Desire for Scottish Ballet won the South Bank Sky Arts Award for Best New Production, the Critic’s Circle National Dance Award for Best Classical Choreography, and was nominated for an Olivier Award.
Wang has created a number of works for her own company, Yabin & her Friends, as well as internationally renowned choreographers including Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, who said of Wang, “I am not only amazed by her versatility as an accomplished young dancer, choreographer and producer, but I am also impressed by her creative ideas and unrelenting pursuit of arts.”
Lest We Forget returns to London with performances at Sadler’s Wells (8 to 12 September), and tours to Milton Keynes (20 October), and Manchester (24 November).
Alongside Lest We Forget, the Company’s Autumn 2015 national tour includes Rudolf Nureyev’ Romeo & Juliet to Bristol (14 to 17 October), Milton Keynes (22 to 23 October), Southampton (28 to 31 October), and Manchester (26 to 28 November).
Of the autumn tour, Rojo said: “taking world-class ballet to audiences outside of London is something I think is truly important, and I am very proud that this season we will present both full scale ballets and new works.
"We cannot wait to take Lest We Forget, our award-winning triple bill created to commemorate the centenary of the First World War, to audiences in Milton Keynes and Manchester as well as our critically-acclaimed production Le Corsaire and Rudolf Nureyev’s beautiful Romeo & Juliet to audiences up and down the country."
Le Corsaire returns to the stage with performances in Liverpool (18 to 21 November) and at the London Coliseum (13 to 24 January 2016). The only UK Company to perform the full work, English National Ballet will release Le Corsaire on DVD with pre-orders from 11AM on Tuesday 17 March 2016, and to purchase from Monday 30 March 2015.
Nutcracker returns to the London Coliseum from 16 December 2015 to 10 January 2016, continuing the company’s tradition of presenting a Nutcracker production each year since its inception.
Raymond Gubbay and the Royal Albert Hall present Derek Deane’s Swan Lake in-the-round at the Royal Albert Hall from 1 to 12 June 2016. Set to Tchaikovsky’s classic score, played live by English National Ballet Philharmonic, this spectacular staging—the largest production of its kind in the world—features more than 120 performers including 60 swans taking to the stage.
English National Ballet is committed to making ballet accessible to everyone. In partnership with the English National Ballet School, the My First Ballet series takes a popular ballet title and reworks it for audiences as young as three years.
Next season, My First Ballet: Sleeping Beauty, choreographed by George Williamson, English National Ballet’s Associate Artist and graduate of the English National Ballet School, will première at the Peacock Theatre in London before going on a national tour.
In March 2016, Emerging Dancer returns for its seventh year. The competition remains vital to the development of English National Ballet’s younger dancers as the competing dancers perform in front of a panel of eminent judges. The winner is announced at the end of the evening together with the recipient of the People’s Choice Award, which is voted for by members of the public.
Last year, English National Ballet announced plans to increase its international touring, which continues into next season with performances in Madrid and Barcelona. Upon invitation from the Paris Opera Ballet, the Company will also take Le Corsaire to the Palais Garnier in June 2016.