Press Release: A Night at the Museum with Birmingham Royal Ballet

[Jan McNulty]

PRESS RELEASE 20 June 2024   A NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM WITH  BIRMINGHAM ROYAL BALLET Birmingham Royal Ballet (BRB) presents A Night at the Museum – ballet, art, live classical music and socialising - at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery on Thursday 27 June, 6.30pm – 9pm. Join BRB in Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery’s Waterhall where audiences will see the company’s professional dancers and their intricate costumes. Watch them up-close as they perform highlights from some of the most famous classical ballets - Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker*.   The evening will include the world premiere of a new ballet choreographed by BRB dancer and choreographer, Olivia Chang Clarke. The new work will be accompanied by live music played by a quartet of young musicians from Birmingham Conservatoire and violinist Joana Valentinaviciute, the Co-Leader of the Royal Ballet Sinfonia BRB’s professional orchestra. This new ballet, titled Melody in Three, has been specially commissioned for the event by the London Ballet Circle.   Audiences can enjoy a glass of wine and take a stroll around the Victorian Radicalsexhibition in the Gas Hall where you can see some of the world’s most famous Pre-Raphaelite paintings, exquisite drawings, jewellery, glass, textiles and metalwork.   In the exhibition rooms there will be a performance installation demonstrating the latest in digital creativity. This is part of BRB’s Virtual Stage project, and showcases the motion capture work Birmingham Royal Ballet has been doing with experts in the field, Holosphere, whose interactive motion tracking system captures human movement and transforms it into real-time digital art. The evening will also feature 223 pointes a stunning new sculpture by Birmingham based artist Clare Elisabeth. The sculpture, a collaboration with BRB, was sewn entirely by hand over several months from over 200 satin pointe shoes previously used in performances by dancers from BRB. Swan Lake's Odette emerges majestically from a tower of pointe shoes, a phoenix rising from the ashes of discarded footwear. Through this artwork, the artist pays homage to the dedication, artistry and journey shared by shoemakers, dancers and sculptors. From every stitch and step of their creation, through performance and reinvention. Schedule for 6.30pm tickets:   6.30pm - tour the Victorian Radicals exhibition in the Gas Hall and see BRB’s motion capture installation in action with a performance by two of Birmingham Royal Ballet’s dancers.   7.45pm – Move over to the Waterhall for the main BRB performance and introduction to Birmingham Royal Ballet.   9pm – Event ends Tickets (£30) include a glass of wine or non-alcoholic alternative. Pre-booking essential. www.brb.org.uk/bmag Cast*: Swan Lake Act II pas de deux - Alexandra Manuel/ Mason King The Nutcracker Act II pas de deux - Lucy Waine/ Haoliang Feng The Sleeping Beauty fairy solos: Song - Olivia Chang Clarke; Beauty - tba ; Joy - Lucy Waine  Melody in Three (world premiere), choreographed by Olivia Chang Clarke. Dancers: Alfie Shacklock, Oscar Kempsey-Fagg, Gus Payne, Ryan Felix, Shuailun Wu, Tessa Hogge, Rosanna Ely, Alexandra Manuel, Ava-May Llewellyn, Reina Fuchigami *BRB reserves the right to change the programme and casting as necessary This event is part of BRB’s first residency at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery’s Waterhall from 26 June – 2 July. For full programme and how to book go to www.brb.org.uk/bmag   BRB return to perform at Birmingham Hippodrome later this year with La Fille mal gardée (25-26 September) and the world premiere of Luna (3-5 October) Carlos Acosta’s final part of his Birmingham Trilogy.   Notes to Editors Birmingham Royal Ballet Based at Birmingham Hippodrome, Birmingham Royal Ballet is the United Kingdom’s leading touring ballet company performing a range of traditional, classical and heritage ballets as well as ground-breaking new works with the aim of encouraging choreographers of the future. The Company’s Director since January 2020 is the internationally renowned Carlos Acosta. Under Carlos’ leadership BRB has commissioned a trilogy of ballets inspired by the stories of Birmingham including City of a Thousand Trades, a collaboration with The Birmingham Rep including the voices of immigrants who have built their lives in Birmingham, Black Sabbath – The Ballet, and Luna, which is an abstract ballet inspired by pioneering women of Birmingham that will have its world premiere in autumn 2024 and will include a children’s choir of 30 local children performing alongside BRB’s dancers, orchestra and professional opera singers.   Birmingham Royal Ballet performs in Birmingham between eight and ten weeks each year and the remainder of the year tours throughout the United Kingdom and overseas from Southampton to Sunderland, Canterbury to Salford, as well as performing regularly in London at Sadler’s Wells and the Royal Albert Hall. By the end of 2023/2024 BRB will have performed in New York, Orlando, Rotterdam, Luxembourg, Iceland, Hamburg and Glastonbury, championing the name of the City of Birmingham around the world. On average, the Company performs around 100 shows a year nationally and internationally.   Royal Ballet Sinfonia The Royal Ballet Sinfonia is Birmingham Royal Ballet’s permanent orchestra; it is also Britain's busiest ballet orchestra. The Sinfonia also plays frequently for The Royal Ballet and other leading ballet companies, including performances with Paris Opéra Ballet, New York City Ballet, Australian Ballet, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, the Kirov, Norwegian Ballet, Atlanta Ballet, San Francisco Ballet and La Scala Ballet.   Artist Clare Elisabeth Using antique, vintage and historic textiles and tools, Clare Elisabeth meticulously shapes and stitches her work by hand. These forgotten, abandoned fabrics, once opulent and luxurious have been long discarded and left to deteriorate. Rich in stories and silent secrets, she transmutes them into new and unexpected forms which challenge the boundaries of traditional hand sewn textile work. She plays with the concept of trompe l'oeil while celebrating the beauty found in flaws and decay, refining sustainability beyond its practical purpose. With a childhood in rural Wales, Clare Elisabeth has been immersed in and developed a passion for art, fabric and the natural world from an early age. While qualified and proficient in many mediums, she primarily focuses on textiles in her present artistic practice.