Birmingham Royal Ballet
| Birmingham Royal Ballet | |
|---|---|
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| General information | |
| Name | Birmingham Royal Ballet |
| Previous names |
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| Year founded | 1946 |
| Founders | Dame Ninette de Valois |
| Founding Artistic Director | John Field |
| Director Laureate | Sir Peter Wright |
| Principal venue |
Birmingham Hippodrome Hurst Street Birmingham England, B5 4TB  UK |
| Website | brb |
| Senior staff | |
| Chief Executive | Jan Teo |
| Director | David Bintley, CBE |
| Assistant Director | Marion Tait, CBE |
| Company Manager | Paul Grist |
| Ballet Staff | Michael O'Hare, Dominic Antonucci, Wolfgang Stollwitzer |
| Other | |
| Sister company | The Royal Ballet |
| Orchestra | Royal Ballet Sinfonia |
| Official school | Elmhurst School for Dance |
| Formation |
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Birmingham Royal Ballet (BRB) is one of the three major ballet companies of the United Kingdom, alongside The Royal Ballet and the English National Ballet. Founded in 1946 as the Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet, the company was established under the direction of John Field, as a sister company to the earlier Sadler's Wells company, which moved to the Royal Opera House. The new company remained at Sadler's Wells for many years, becoming known as the Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet. It also toured the UK and abroad, before relocating to Birmingham in 1990, as the resident ballet company of the Birmingham Hippodrome. In 1997, the Birmingham Royal Ballet became independent of the Royal Ballet in London. As a resident company, Birmingham Royal Ballet has extensive custom-built facilities, including a suite of dance studios, the Jerwood Centre for the Prevention and Treatment of Dance Injuries and a studio theatre known as the Patrick Centre. In 2002, the need for Birmingham Royal Ballet to have its own school led to a new association with Elmhurst School for Dance, which is now its official ballet school.
In 1926, the Irish-born dancer Ninette de Valois founded the Academy of Choreographic Art, a dance school for girls. Her intention was to form a repertory ballet company and school, leading her to collaborate with the English theatrical producer and theatre owner Lilian Baylis. Baylis owned the Old Vic and Sadler's Wells theatres and in 1925 she engaged de Valois to stage dance performances at both venues.
Sadler's Wells reopened in 1931 and the Vic-Wells Ballet and Vic-Wells Ballet School were established in premises at the theatre. These would become the predecessors of today's Royal Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet and Royal Ballet School.
In 1939, the company lost its link with the Old Vic theatre and, in 1940, Sadler's Wells theatre was bombed during World War II. These events forced the company to begin touring the country, becoming known as the Sadler's Wells Ballet. The company did return to Sadler's Wells theatre, where it stayed until 1946, when the company was invited to become the resident ballet company of the newly re-opened Royal Opera House in Covent Garden. The company relocated to the opera house the same year in 1946, with their first production at the venue being Ninette de Valois' staging of The Sleeping Beauty.
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