In 2014, Northern Ballet will tour the UK with Cleopatra, Dracula, Peter Pan, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Great Gatsby and David Nixon’s new Cinderella, as well as two new Mixed Programmes and its latest new ballet for children, Three Little Pigs.
Based in Leeds, Northern Ballet is one of the UK’s five large ballet companies, performing throughout the UK as well as overseas.
Mixing classical dance and theatre, Northern Ballet’s productions embrace popular culture and take inspiration from literature, opera, and classical ballets.
The Company of 40 dancers tours a combination of new works and established repertoire to cities throughout the UK and is the only large-scale ballet company to do so.
Following a tour in China planned for January 2014 of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which will later travel to Edinburgh, Norwich, Milton Keynes, and Southampton's Mayflower Theatre for the first time, Northern Ballet will open its UK season at Leeds Grand Theatre from 6-15 March and the The Lyceum, Sheffield from 25-29 March with a revival of Cleopatra, choreographed by its Artistic Director, David Nixon to an original score by Claude-Michel Schönberg (Les Misérables, Miss Saigon).
Premièring in Leeds in December 2013, Northern Ballet’s new production of Cinderella will tour to Hull New Theatre and Cardiff New Theatre in April before an October to November autumn tour to Norwich, Newcastle, Belfast, Manchester and Sheffield. Northern Ballet is collaborating with Sheffield-based Greentop Circus on this production.
In May, Northern Ballet will travel to London to perform a Mixed Programme at the Royal Opera House’s Linbury Studio Theatre from 8-10 May. This will be the first time the Company has presented a mixed bill in London since 2009.
The Mixed Programme will feature a piece by Lar Lubovitch, Hans van Manen’s Concertante, and Luminous Junc·ture, choreographed by Northern Ballet Premier Dancer Kenneth Tindall. Northern Ballet will also present a Mixed Programme at its own Stanley and Audrey Burton Theatre in Leeds from 18-21 June which will include a new piece by Kenneth Tindall.
Dracula, last performed by Northern Ballet in 2009, will open at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in September.
Northern Ballet's 2013 box office hit The Great Gatsby, which has been nominated in the Achievement in Dance category at the UK Theatre Awards and David Nixon OBE, its choreographer, nominated for Best Classical Choreography at the 2014 National Dance Awards, will tour to Woking, Nottingham, Canterbury and Bradford September to November.
The Company will also tour nationwide from March to May with Three Little Pigs, a production made specifically for children. With a running time of 35 minutes and priced at just £5 for adults and £4 for children, Three Little Pigs is designed to introduce young children to the magic of live ballet, music and theatre.
Northern Ballet’s final production of the year will see Peter Pan return to the Leeds Grand Theatre stage in December. Following a short break, Northern Ballet will be back in the studio in late December in preparation for the coming 2015 season.
For more information on the Company and tour visit www.northernballet.com.