Birmingham Royal Ballet announces live performances with two world premieres

Birmingham Royal Ballet and Birmingham Repertory Theatre have announced a triple bill and performances of an adapted production of David Bintley's Cinderella for audiences this June.

Last October the partnership was launched in a brief window where audiences were able to enjoy live performances in the theatre with a triple bill featuring the world premiere of Will Tuckett's Lazuli Sky. This was followed by an adapted version of The Nutcracker which more than 10,000 people bought tickets to watch online via both a live-streamed show and view-on-demand.

Now come two world premiere Ballet Now commissions, a UK premiere and the staging of another Birmingham Royal Ballet classic.

Curated by Carlos Triple Bill

City of a Thousand Trades

2020 marked the 30th anniversary of Birmingham Royal Ballet's move to the City in 1990. City of a Thousand Trades is a new one-act abstract ballet inspired by the richly diverse cultural and industrial heritage of Birmingham in a love letter to the city.

The new work will be created by Havana-born choreographer Miguel Altunaga and co-directed by The REP Associate Director, Madeleine Kludje who is also reponsable for the dramaturgy. The music is composed by Mathias Coppens, inspired by the city's soundscape, including its legacy as the birthplace of Heavy Metal, and will be performed live by the Royal Ballet Sinfonia.

Imminent

Brazilian/British choreographer Daniela Cardim's Imminent has music by Paul English. The new abstract work is inspired by the feeling that something significant is looming and that change is imminent. “As rainforests burn and consumption rises, as populism surges and democracy is tested in previously unimaginable ways, and as the health and harmony we allowed ourselves to believe in is being exposed as fragile and unsustainable, the balance we thought we could maintain is precarious to say the least” – a tipping-point is approaching.

Chacona

The UK premiere of Spanish choreographer (and resident at Acosta Danza) Goyo Montero's Chacona, completes the triple bill. It is set to music by J.S. Bach that will be performed live on stage by violin, guitar and piano, together with 16 dancers.

Cinderella

David Bintley's Cinderella, with designs by John Macfarlane, has the Royal Ballet Sinfonia playing Prokofiev's music live, though with a reduced score and there are also staging adaptations to allow for social distancing and performer ‘bubbles'.

Director of Birmingham Royal Ballet Carlos Acosta said:

To be able to present work to audiences again this June will be a huge relief, we are already rehearsing and it is incredibly motivating and inspiring for the Company to have this to look forward to and work hard towards in collaboration with Sean Foley and The REP team. It is over a year since the theatres closed and a year later than planned that these two new works, which I am very excited about, will finally make their premieres.

The programme illustrates what I want this Company to be and highlights our commitment to diverse talent.

Tickets for Curated by Carlos (10-12 June) and Sir David Bintley's Cinderella (18-26 June) at Birmingham Repertory Theatre go on priority sale to Birmingham Royal Ballet Friends and REP Members from 10am on Tuesday 13 April and to the public from midday on Friday 16 April.

Visit birmingham-rep.co.uk for more information and to book tickets.

City of a Thousand Trades
Mathias Coppens – Composer
Miguel Altunaga – Choreographer and Co-Director
Madeleine Kludje – Dramaturg and Co-Director
Giulia Scrimieri – Designs
Michael Lee-Woolley – Lighting Design

Imminent
Paul Englishby – Composer
Daniela Cardim – Choreographer
April Dalton – Designs
Peter Teigen – Lighting
Lou Cope – Dramaturg
Peter Leung – Assistant Choreographer

Chacona
Johann Sebastian Bach – Composer
Goyo Montero – Choreographer
Verena Hemmerlein, Goyo Montero – Costumes
Nicolás Fischtel, Goyo Montero – Lighting
Carlos Lázaro Aquillué – Répétiteur
Ivan Gil-Ortega – Assistant to the Choreographer

Cinderella
Sergei Prokofiev – Composer
David Bintley – Choreographer
John Macfarlane – Designs

Gramilano( Editor )

Graham Spicer is a writer, director and photographer in Milan, blogging (under the name ‘Gramilano') about dance, opera, music and photography for people “who are a bit like me and like some of the things I like”. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy.

His scribblings have appeared in various publications from Woman's Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the ‘Danza in Italia' column for Dancing Times magazine.