David Bintley announces promotions at Birmingham Royal Ballet for the last time
Brandon Lawrence has been promoted from First Soloist to Principal at Birmingham Royal Ballet, David Bintley has announced.
The past weekend has seen enthusiastic applause for performances of one of David Bintley’s signature works, Hobson’s Choice, which closed the 2018-19 season at London’s Sadler’s Wells and marked the company’s final performances with Bintley as Director.
Before the final performance on Saturday 29 June, Birmingham Royal Ballet’s Vice-President, Lady Sarah Chatto, awarded him a special medal marking his remarkable contribution as Director of the Company for 24 years. Following the performance, Sir Peter Wright took to the stage to pay homage to Bintley’s immense contribution to British ballet. He noted that David has been faithful to the vision of the company’s founder Dame Ninette de Valois: ‘Respect the past, herald the future, but concentrate on the present.’
The company then gathered at the nearby ‘theatre’ pub, Shakespeare’s Head, which will add Bintley to its gallery of famous artists.
During this, Bintley made an announcement of the following promotions:
Brandon Lawrence from First Soloist to Principal
Kit Holder, Rory Mackay and Valentin Olovyannikov from Soloists to First Soloists
Laura Day and Beatrice Parma from First Artists to Soloists
As previously announced, First Artist, Ruth Brill, who is now much in demand as a choreographer, will leave the company. She is working on projects with London Children’s Ballet and New English Ballet Theatre, as well as acting as Interim Artistic Director/Choreographer for National Youth Ballet.
Graham Spicer, aka ‘Gramilano’, is a writer, director and photographer based in Milan. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy. His articles have appeared in various publications from Woman’s Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the Danza in Italia column for Dancing Times magazine. Graham was the historical advisor on Codice Carla, the 2023 documentary on Italian ballerina Carla Fracci.
Graham also works as a dance photographer, and his photos have appeared in many books, theatre programmes, and magazines, including Dancing Times, Dance Spirit and Ballet2000, as well as all the major Italian newspapers.
He is a member of the Dance Section of The Critics’ Circle.
