Jan McNulty Posted July 5, 2016 Share Posted July 5, 2016 Northern Ballet announces promotions and joiners for 2016/17 season Northern Ballet will welcome ten new dancers for the 2016/17 season and has also announced promotions for existing members of the Company. Joining the corps de ballet are: Naomi Bottomer (English National Ballet); Sarah Chun (Kansas City Ballet); Abigail Cockrell (Romanian National Opera); Jonathan Hanks (Estonian National Ballet); Minju Kang (Bundesjugendballett); Jesse Milligan (Cape Town City Ballet); Liam Morris (Romanian National Opera); former Academy of Northern Ballet Centre for Advanced Training student Dale Rhodes (Hamburg Ballet); and Lorenzo Trossello (The Royal Ballet School). Darragh Hourrides joins as an Apprentice from the Academy of Northern Ballet’s Professional Graduate Programme. In addition, a number of Northern Ballet’s existing company dancers have been promoted: Antoinette Brooks-Daw and Giuliano Contadini to Leading Soloists; Jeremy Curnier, Rachael Gillespie and Joseph Taylor to Soloists; Ayami Miyata, Kevin Poeung and Abigail Prudames to Junior Soloists; Sean Bates, Mlindi Kulashe and Matthew Toplissto Coryphée; and former Apprentice Harriet Marden is promoted to the corps. After saying goodbye to Isaac Lee-Baker and Sebastian Loe earlier in the year, the following dancers are also moving on: Jessica Morgan, Alice Bayston, Kaylee Marko, Archie Sullivan, Diogo Barbosa, Paris Fitzpatrick, Genevieve Heron and Grace Robinson. Northern Ballet has also recently announced that Premier Dancers Martha Leebolt and Tobias Batley will take a leave of absence from the Company though will return as Resident Guest Artists for the autumn season to perform with Northern Ballet in Wuthering Heights and Romeo and Juliet. Northern Ballet’s autumn season will commence with Wuthering Heights at the West Yorkshire Playhouse from 6 – 10 September 2016 before national tours of Romeo and Juliet and Beauty & the Beast. -ENDS- Notes to Editors For more details of Northern Ballet's tour, on sale dates and booking information, please visit northernballet.com/whatson. Voted Best Company at the Taglioni European Ballet Awards, winners of the 2016 South Bank Sky Arts Award for dance, and nominated for Outstanding Company at the 2015 National Dance Awards, Northern Ballet is one of the UK’s five large ballet companies. Based in Leeds it performs throughout the UK as well as overseas. Northern Ballet’s productions mix classical dance and theatre, embracing popular culture and taking inspiration from literature, opera, or giving a unique interpretation of popular classical ballets. Northern Ballet is the busiest touring ballet company in the UK and is typically on the road for around 32 weeks of the year. The Company of 45 dancers tours a combination of full-length new work and established repertoire to cities throughout the UK. Northern Ballet also tours widely with its specially created ballets for children, all of which have beenadapted for TV by CBeebies, and also performs mixed programmes showcasing the versatility of its dancers. Northern Ballet – Company List 2016/17 Resident Guest Artists Tobias Batley Martha Leebolt Premier Dancers Pippa Moore Javier Torres Senior Artist Hironao Takahashi Leading Soloists Hannah Bateman Dreda Blow Antoinette Brooks-Daw Giuliano Contadini Ashley Dixon First Soloist Lucia Solari Soloists Jeremy Curnier Rachael Gillespie Victoria Sibson Joseph Taylor Junior Soloists Nicola Gervasi Ayami Miyata Kevin Poeung Abigail Prudames Coryphée Sean Bates Matthew Koon Mlindi Kulashe Matthew Topliss Dancers Miki Akuta Naomi Bottomer Sarah Chun Isabelle Clough Abigail Cockrell Kiara Flavin Luke Francis Jenny Hackwell Jonathan Hanks Riku Ito Minju Kang Natalia Kerner Dominique Larose Harriet Marden Gavin McCaig Jesse Milligan Liam Morris Dale Rhodes Mariana Rodrigues Teresa Saavedra Bordes Lorenzo Trossello Filippo Di Vilio Alexander Yap Apprentice Darragh Hourrides 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted July 5, 2016 Author Share Posted July 5, 2016 Congratulations to all the promotees; very best wishes to the leavers and looking forward to seeing the newcomers. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MayKwok Posted July 5, 2016 Share Posted July 5, 2016 Was Archie Sullivan the finalist from BBC Young Dancer? Anyone know where he's moving to? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted July 5, 2016 Author Share Posted July 5, 2016 Yes and no. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trog Posted July 5, 2016 Share Posted July 5, 2016 Jonathan Hanks (Estonian National Ballet); I'm sure he filled in as a teacher at the DanceXchange here in Birmingham a few weeks ago. http://www.opera.ee/en/estoonlane/jonathan-hanks/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tabitha Posted July 5, 2016 Share Posted July 5, 2016 Always such a high turnover of dancers at this company; an average of 10 leavers / joiners every year seems very high for a company of this size, with many of the leavers having only been there for one year. And only 2 out of 10 joiners are from training, the others are coming from other ballet companies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted July 5, 2016 Author Share Posted July 5, 2016 I think that is a bit of a sweeping statement Tabitha. Northern Ballet had been increasing in size for the last couple of years so more dancers had been taken on than left. This is the first time in the last couple of years that there has been the same number leaving as joining. If you look at the roster from coryphee above all the dancers have completed a minimum of 3 seasons so far and some many more. I suppose it is the lot of apprentices that they may or may not get taken on at the end of their year and only one out of five apprentices was retained this year. In other years most of the apprentices have been kept on. Could you provide the annual statistics to prove that there is a turn over of around 10 dancers every year please? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JANICEP Posted July 5, 2016 Share Posted July 5, 2016 Does anybody know where Issac Lee Baker has gone? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tabitha Posted July 5, 2016 Share Posted July 5, 2016 (edited) Yes it was a generalisation based on my impressions / recollections - I wasn't aware that all posts had to be 100% accurate and backed up by empirical evidence. I have had a quick look at the last 3 years and for comparison looked at Royal Ballet as well and proportionally the turnover is much higher: Northern Ballet (around 40 dancers) 2016/17 10 joiners & 9 leavers 2015/16 10 joiners & 9 leavers 2014/15 12 joiners & 6 leavers Royal Ballet (around 100 dancers) 2016/17 11 joiners & leavers tbc 2015/16 7 joiners & 7 leavers + 2 sabbaticals 2014/15 12 joiners & 6 leavers (joiners include new apprentices taken on in year but do not include them again in the subsequent year if they are taken into the company as this would double count them) Edited July 5, 2016 by tabitha 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted July 5, 2016 Author Share Posted July 5, 2016 Does anybody know where Issac Lee Baker has gone? No. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted July 5, 2016 Author Share Posted July 5, 2016 Yes it was a generalisation based on my impressions / recollections - I wasn't aware that all posts had to be 100% accurate and backed up by empirical evidence. I have had a quick look at the last 3 years and for comparison looked at Royal Ballet as well and proportionally the turnover is much higher: Northern Ballet (around 40 dancers) 2016/17 10 joiners & 9 leavers 2015/16 10 joiners & 9 leavers 2014/15 12 joiners & 6 leavers Royal Ballet (around 100 dancers) 2016/17 11 joiners & leavers tbc 2015/16 7 joiners & 7 leavers + 2 sabbaticals 2014/15 12 joiners & 6 leavers (joiners include new apprentices taken on in year but do not include them again in the subsequent year if they are taken into the company as this would double count them) So that is 2 years where 9 people have left. I can't remember exactly who left last year but this year it was mostly the apprentices. As the Company has expanded by quite a few dancers I expect it is taking them a while to settle on dancers who fit the company style. From my recollection last year and indeed this it is mostly dancers who have been with the Company no longer than a year or two. And don't forget that we have had a couple of notable retirements with Kenneth Tindall and Darren Goldsmith going last year and Seb Loe this year. I believe the previous year (2014/15) there were several long standing members of the Company who left but I distinctly remember one of them telling me that when you get to a certain age/maturity you have to decide if you want to carry on where you are, expand your experience or retire. I think NB offers yearly contracts and dancers are certainly assessed every year. Unless things have changed, I do not believe that is the case with the Royal Ballet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tabitha Posted July 8, 2016 Share Posted July 8, 2016 It is actually 10 leavers for this year (I missed one) and if you include Martha & Tobias, that makes 12. It's not so much the actual number but it is a high proportion of the company - 25% turnover for the last couple of years, whatever the reason, is high by anyone's measure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted July 8, 2016 Author Share Posted July 8, 2016 There was a big turnover in dancers a couple of years after David Nixon joined the Company and so many of the more established members joined in 2003 and 2004. Perhaps they are coming towards what they see as the end of their performing careers and want to retire (e.g. Kenneth Tindall, Sebastian Loe, Darren Goldsmith) or move on to try something different (e.g. Michele Paolacci, Lori Gilchrist, John Hull). I cannot comment on why people have only done one or 2 years with the company. In recent years we saw a large number of dancers leaving BRB at the same time, but again they were dancers who perhaps were looking for a different direction at that point in their career after quite a few years with one company or were retiring. When David Nixon joined the Company in 2001 it had around 30 dancers. It now has 45, a 50% increase - a high proportion by anyone's measure. As we are having a similar discussion on the thread in Doing Dance, could I ask if you have a particular issue with Northern Ballet? It is well known that I am a huge fan not only of this company but of BRB and I declare that as my interest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tabitha Posted July 8, 2016 Share Posted July 8, 2016 No particular issue with Northern. Two threads with related topics started around the same time so have commented on both. The company has a high turnover rate compared to other UK companies that publish information and a lot of recently taken on dancers have left. It's an unusual situation which has been remarked upon. It is also related to the other thread in that there have been a low number of graduates taken on, again an unusual situation and sad for graduates trying to get their first position. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted July 8, 2016 Author Share Posted July 8, 2016 Would you have a quarter of your company as graduates? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tabitha Posted July 8, 2016 Share Posted July 8, 2016 I was referring to graduates in the general sense, not just the 12 graduates on the Northern Ballet graduate scheme. However, I assume you think that I am saying that all 12 Northern graduates should have been taken on, which is not what I am saying at all. What I am saying is that it is disappointing that out of 10 joiners, only 2 are graduates (in the broadest sense). Whilst I understand that some experienced dancers may be needed, I think 2 is disappointingly low. It is also disappointing that out of 10 taken on last year, 6 have left after a year. I also think that all companies have a duty to support graduates coming out of training by taking some of them into their companies and 'growing your own' rather than just taking formed dancers from another company which has done the hard work but that may be a topic for a different thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted September 15, 2016 Author Share Posted September 15, 2016 According to the company's official twitter account, Isaac Lee-Baker has joined Les Ballets de Monte Carlo. Best wishes Isaac! https://twitter.com/BalletsMonteCar/status/775320950166388736 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aileen Posted September 15, 2016 Share Posted September 15, 2016 Ooh, I wondered what had happened to Isaac L-B. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Wall Posted September 15, 2016 Share Posted September 15, 2016 According to the company's official twitter account, Isaac Lee-Baker has joined Les Ballets de Monte Carlo. Best wishes Isaac! https://twitter.com/BalletsMonteCar/status/775320950166388736 A fine company for a truly excellent dancer. So glad to hear of this. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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