Francesca Hayward, Principal dancer of The Royal Ballet, has joined the cast of the film adaptation of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Cats, which will be directed by Academy Award winner Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech, Les Misérables, The Danish Girl). The film has an exceptionally starry cast with Judi Dench as Old Deuteronomy (played by a […]
Billy Elliot
James Hobley, Britain’s Got Talent’s autistic dancer, now 19 leaves ENB’s school to join Scottish Ballet
James Hobley, first known to the general public as a Britain’s Got Talent finalist in 2011, has graduated from English National Ballet School and has a contract to start his professional career with Scottish Ballet. I wrote about his story three years ago, because it is extraordinary and reads like a fable. Here is the […]
Cesar Corrales will join The Royal Ballet as a First Soloist at the start of the 2018/19 Season
Kevin O’Hare, Director of The Royal Ballet said, Cesar approached me in October, having resigned from English National Ballet, about joining The Royal Ballet. I was happy to be in a position to be able to offer him a contract as a First Soloist from the beginning of the 2018/19 Season and I look forward […]
Autistic ballet dancer James Hobley wins place at English National Ballet School
James Hobley, a fifteen year-old from Redcar, has been offered a place at the English National Ballet School. Congratulations, another Billy Elliott makes his way to London! Yes, but James’s story is quite special and while any young dancer managing to surpass the ENB School auditions is outstanding, young James’s achievement is exceptional. James is […]
Introducing… Brandon Lawrence, Birmingham Royal Ballet
Q&A When did you start dancing? I started dancing at 8 years old and then I joined the Royal Ballet School full time at 14 Why did you start dancing? I’m not sure why… I was probably influenced through films and TV. Which dancer inspired you most as a child? As a child Carlos Acosta […]
Dancers from the Royal Ballet and ENB reopen the glorious Teatro Colón in Bogotá
Teatro Colón in Bogotá reopens tomorrow night after a six-year restoration. Ten dancers from the Royal Ballet and the English National Ballet will help to get the celebrations off to a good start. Among them is the ‘Colombian Billy Elliot’, Fernando Montaño, a Soloist with the Royal Ballet and the first Colombian to dance with the company. […]
Sir Thomas Allen receives the Queen’s Medal for Music
Sir Thomas Allen has been awarded this year’s Queen’s Medal for Music for the major influence he has had on the musical life of the nation. The Queen presented him with his medal at Buckingham Palace. Thomas Allen – whose Gramilano Questionnaire you can read here – said, I was surprised and thrilled to hear […]
Broadway’s Billy Elliot to close
The Broadway musical “Billy Elliot”, winner of 10 Tony Awards in 2009 and a hot ticket for much of its run, will close on January 8, 2012, after 3 years and 3 months of performances. The decision to close came after a somewhat precipitous decline in ticket sales that accelerated through the late spring and […]
Opera North’s Beached goes on: “The good news is that it happened at all”
The Lee Hall/Opera North community opera has finally had its showing. The Guardian, commented on the viral storm that surrounded it: Though there are traces of Britten in the score, it’s not the dark, sexualised world of Peter Grimes or Death in Venice, but the innocuous holiday atmosphere of Albert Herring. So we can relax […]
A fresh wind from the north: Lee Hall and Opera North’s Bridlington community opera will go ahead as planned
Opera North today announces that the community opera, Beached, by Harvey Brough to a text by Lee Hall, is continuing as planned. Here is the statement from their blog: We have been at pains to work closely with the writers at all times, and have supported their rights of artistic expression throughout. We have […]
