Birmingham Royal Ballet (BRB) is one of the five major ballet companies of the United Kingdom, alongside

The Royal Ballet The Royal Ballet is a British internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London, England. The largest of the five major ballet companies in Great Britain, the Royal Ballet was founded ...

, the English National Ballet, Northern Ballet and Scottish Ballet. Founded as the Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet, the company was established in 1946 as a sister company to the earlier Sadler's Wells company, which moved to the

Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is a theatre in Covent Garden, central London. The building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. The ROH is the main home of The Royal Opera, The Royal Ballet, and the Orch ...

that same year, subsequently becoming known as

. The new company was formed under the direction of John Field and remained at Sadler's Wells for many years, becoming known as the Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet in 1977. It also toured the UK and abroad, before relocating to

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

in 1990, where it uses the Birmingham Hippodrome stage when performing in the city. 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 1997, the Birmingham Royal Ballet became independent of The Royal Ballet in London.

History

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 Old or OLD may refer to: Places *Old, Baranya, Hungary *Old, Northamptonshire, England *Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD) *OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, Mai ...

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 The Royal Ballet School is a British school of classical ballet training founded in 1926 by the Anglo-Irish ballerina and choreographer Ninette de Valois. The school's aim is to train and educate outstanding classical ballet dancers, especially ...

''. 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 Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist sit ...

. 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''. Following the relocation of the company, the school was relocated to its own premises in 1947, and a sister company was established to continue performances at Sadler's Wells, called ''Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet''. This sister company would become the predecessor of today's Birmingham Royal Ballet. The first Artistic Director of the Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet was John Field, who was later made co-director of the Royal Ballet and also worked as artistic director of La Scala Theatre Ballet and English National Ballet. In 1955, ''Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet'' temporarily lost its link with Sadler's Wells theatre and relocated to the Royal Opera House as a touring unit of the main company. In 1956, a royal charter was granted for both companies and the school, and they were subsequently renamed the ''Royal Ballet'', ''Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet'' and the ''Royal Ballet School''. The ''Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet'' returned to Sadler's Wells theatre in 1970, whilst continuing to tour the country. The first indication that the company would leave London came in 1987, when the company was invited to become the resident ballet company at the Birmingham Hippodrome theatre. Consequently, the company relocated to

in 1990, being given its current name ''Birmingham Royal Ballet''. Sir Peter Wright was the company's Artistic Director from 1977 until his retirement in 1995, when David Bintley was appointed Artistic Director. In 1997, Birmingham Royal Ballet was made independent of the Royal Ballet and ceased to be managed by the Royal Opera House. In January 2019 it was announced that acclaimed Cuban dancer Carlos Acosta would succeed Bintley as artistic director in January 2020.

Works performed

The company

The Birmingham Royal Ballet employs 61 dancers and a complete list as of 2024 is shown below. The company also has an Executive, Artistic and Music staff, including the following: * Director – Carlos Acosta, a former dancer with

and Director of both Birmingham Royal Ballet and Acosta Danza * Music Director – Paul Murphy * CEO – Caroline Millar

Dancers

Source

Principals

Principal Character Artists

*Rory Mackay (Assistant Répétiteur) *Jonathan Payn (Assistant Répétiteur) *Yvette Knight

First Soloists

*Riku Ito *Yu Kurihara

Soloists

*Yasiel Hodelín Bello *Karla Doorbar *Reina Fuchigami *Enrique Bejarano Vidal *Sofia Liñares

First Artists

*Gabriel Anderson *Rosanna Ely *Haoliang Feng *Gus Payne *Rachele Pizillo *Eilis Small *Daria Stanciulescu *Lucy Waine

Artists

*Louis Andreasen *Olivia Chang Clarke *Jack Easton *Ryan Felix *Callum Findlay-White *Tori Forsyth-Hecken *August Generalli *Miles Gilliver *Tessa Hogge *Isabella Howard *Regan Hutsell *Frieda Kaden *Maïlène Katoch *Oscar Kempsey-Fagg *Mason King *Ava May Llewellyn *Hannah Martin *Eric Pinto Cata *Matilde Rodrigues *Javier Rojas *Hamish Scott *Yuki Sugiura *Lynsey Sutherland *Amelia Thompson *Shuailun Wu

BRB2

*Ariana Allen *Charlotte Cohen *Noah Cosgriff *Alisa Garkavenko *Thomas Hazelby *Ellyne Knol *Ixan Llorca Ferrer *Alexandra Manuel *Andrea Riolo *Sophie Walters

Apprentices

*Marlo Kempsey-Fagg

Footnotes

External links

* {{authority control The Royal Ballet Schools of the performing arts in the United Kingdom Ballet schools in the United Kingdom Culture in Birmingham, West Midlands National Dance Award winners 1947 establishments in England Performing groups established in 1946