The Royal Ballet’s Melissa Hamilton and husband launch Hamilton Christou Productions
The Royal Ballet‘s Melissa Hamilton and the businessman and property developer Michael Christou, have announced the launch of Hamilton Christou Productions.
The husband-and-wife duo aim to bring ballet and business worlds together to present and produce “outstanding live performances on some of the world’s preeminent stages”.
They also wish to nurture future talent by offering mentoring opportunities and offer masterclasses. A free member subscription service will be launched to “demystify the world of ballet”, giving an insight into what it’s like to be a professional dancer.
For its inaugural performances, the Company presents Melissa Hamilton’s International Ballet Stars Gala at the Esplanade Theatre, Singapore on the 23 and 24 March 2024, with Hamilton and stars of The Royal Ballet, Hamburg Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet and Singapore Ballet.
The Company’s first UK performances will take place on the 26 and 27 October at the Grand Opera House in Belfast, Hamilton’s hometown, with Melissa Hamilton’s Grand Ballet Gala. For these performances she will be joined by fellow Royal Ballet dancers and international guests.
Melissa Hamilton has been a dancer with The Royal Ballet for 17 years, is a guest Principal with Semperoper Ballett, Dresden, and has appeared as a guest artist with La Scala Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet, New National Theatre Tokyo and Polish National Ballet.
Hamilton said,
I am truly passionate about presenting the very best ballet has to offer to audiences around the world while also giving a platform to showcase the stars of tomorrow. I am very excited to embark on this new venture with Michael, and to enliven the ballet world with fresh ideas and come together to share the joy of dance and creativity.
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 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.
They’re gonna burn through a lotta cash, before finally folding. Happens all the time. Ballet isn’t a money-maker.