Here & Now: McNicol Ballet Collective celebrates its first 5 years
The McNicol Ballet Collective will tour Here & Now, a new mixed bill featuring extracts from its range of repertoire alongside a brand-new work at Hull City Hall on 29 March, the Royal Academy of Music on 5 April and Northern Ballet’s Audrey & Stanley Burton Theatre on 12 April.
Artistic Director and choreographer Andrew McNicol said,
Our new programme Here & Now is a wonderful opportunity for us to mark the collective’s fifth anniversary with audiences in my hometown of Hull, London and Leeds. At this challenging time for independent companies, I’m looking forward to celebrating the joy of dance, music and live performance and thanking those who have been part of our journey from the beginning.
The programme features highlights from the company’s dance works including Of Silence, Moonbend and Bates Beats. Alongside these favourites will be a world premiere choreographed by McNicol, with a new score featuring live music from Jeremy Birchall, costumes by Louise Flanagan, and lighting by Yaron Abulafia.
Ahead of the performances, McNicol Ballet Collective will offer a chance to explore the creative process of preparing a new ballet with an exclusive insight event at the Royal Academy of Dance on 26 March, featuring a working rehearsal followed by Q&A with Andrew McNicol and composer Jeremy Birchall.
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.
