Northern Ballet Theatre
| Northern Ballet | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Name | Northern Ballet |
| Previous names |
|
| Year founded | 1969 |
| Founders | Laverne Meyer |
| Website | northernballet.com |
| Senior staff | |
| Chief Executive | Mark Skipper DL |
| Artistic staff | |
| Artistic Director | |
| Music Director | John Pryce-Jones |
| Other | |
| Associated schools | Academy of Northern Ballet |
Northern Ballet, formerly Northern Ballet Theatre, is a dance company based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, with a strong repertoire in theatrical dance productions where the emphasis is on story telling as well as classical ballet. It tours widely across the United Kingdom.
Northern Dance Theatre, the name by which the company was originally known, was founded in 1969 by Canadian-born Laverne Meyer; a dramatic dancer whose formative years were spent with Bristol-based, Western Theatre Ballet, the first ever British dance company to be based outside London. The company's first performance was on 28 November 1969 at the University Theatre, Manchester, with the orchestra being supplied by musicians of the Royal Northern College of Music.
In the first six years, the repertory included significant revivals, Kurt Jooss's The Green Table and Andrée Howard's Death and the Maiden, alongside new works by Peter Wright, John Chesworth, Charles Czarny, and Clover Roope.
Robert de Warren was appointed Artistic Director in 1976. A classically trained dancer, he had previously worked with the Royal Ballet, as well some of the larger West German ballet companies. He renamed them Northern Ballet Theatre (NBT) and began to work on full length classical ballets, rediscovered works and brand new dance-drama creations.
During 11 years as Artistic Director he expanded the company to more than 30 dancers and staged works by such diverse choreographers as August Bournonville, Michael Fokine, Walter Gore, John Cranko and Royston Maldoom.
De Warren's creative drive brought many artistic collaborations to the company including dramatic choreographers Andre Prokovsky and Geoffrey Cauley who was given space to experiment on such on-off, site-specific, works as 'Paradise Lost' and who made what was for many years the companies signature piece, Miss Carter wore Pink; a dance-drama based on the books by Helen Bradley and featuring live narration by actress Patricia Phoenix. Among the stage designers brought in by de Warren were Clive Lavagna and Philip Prowse, then director of the highly experimental Glasgow Citizens Theatre.
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