Review of the year2009/10

a powerhouse forinventive dance

We are renowned for creating inventivenarrative ballets and for touring thesethroughout the UK and overseas reachingaudiences who might otherwise not haveaccess to world class dance.

Our ground-breaking Learning programmegives access for all people to engage in thehighest quality dance activities and ourgrowing Academy provides opportunity andinspiration, as well as unrivalled classicaldance training, to the dancers of the future.

Founded in Manchester in 1969 and based in Leeds since 1996, NorthernBallet has grown to become one of the UK's best loved companies and animportant international cultural ambassador.

Renowned

Cover image: Georgina May as Cathy inWuthering Heights. Photo Merlin Hendy

Page 2-3: (From L-R) Giuliano Contadini, Josh Barwick, Hironao Takahashi, Ashley Dixon,Ben Mitchell and Tobias Batley in PowerhouseRhumba. Photo Merlin Hendy

Opposite: Darren Goldsmith as Lowry in A Simple Man. Photo Bill Cooper

‘The best dance actors in theworld.’ Dance Europe

In 2009-10 we gave• 168 performances • over 26 weeks • to more than 120,000 people • in 15 UK towns and citiesOur tour included all the capital cities of the UK: London,Belfast, Edinburgh and Cardiff.

We also performed in Barcelona as part of Leeds inBarcelona, a week-long event produced by MarketingLeeds. We performed in a programme with Opera Northand Phoenix Dance Theatre.

On the road

‘...the Company's able dancers and tidyorchestra are a respected part of the dancescene.’ Evening Standard

Venue Cymru Llandudno

Festival Theatre Edinburgh

Alhambra Theatre BradfordWest Yorkshire Playhouse Opera House Manchester

Lyceum Theatre Sheffield

Sadler’s Wells London

Milton Keynes Theatre

New Theatre Cardiff

Venue Cymru Llandudno

New Victoria Theatre Woking

Theatre Royal Nottingham

Grand Opera House Belfast

New Theatre Hull

Theatre Royal Bath

Theatre Royal Norwich

Leeds Grand Theatre

Life begins at 40

‘By their fruits shall ye know them.Northern Ballet has laboured long and, under David Nixon,established a continuing identityand garnered affection andsupport.’ Financial Times

In 2009 Northern Ballet celebrated40 years of dance making andperformance.

Artistic Director David Nixon was awardedan OBE for services to dance in the NewYear Honours list announced on 31December 2009.

The honour recognised David’s significantartistic contribution to narrative dance in the UK.

David’s creative output is prolific; in the pastnine years he has choreographed nine newfull-length ballets for Northern Ballet. He iscommitted to taking the highest qualitydance to audiences throughout the country,bringing together world-class collaboratorsto create new ballets with exceptionalproduction values. He has also placed greatimportance in providing opportunities foryoung people throughout the North ofEngland to access high quality classicaldance training without having to leavehome, through the expansion of theNorthern Ballet Academy.

“David Nixon has made the mosttremendous contribution to NorthernBallet and to classical dance in the UK.His energy and his capabilities areastonishing and he is held in the highestregard within the profession.”Dame Monica Mason, DBE, Director of The Royal Ballet

40th Anniversary GalaIn December we were joined by some of the world’s leading dancers at our 40thAnniversary Gala.

Artists from the Royal Ballet, EnglishNational Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet,Rambert Dance Company, Phoenix DanceTheatre, Ballet du Rhin, Les Ballets deMonte Carlo and Zurich Ballet travelled toLeeds for one unique performance inhonour of our anniversary.

Northern Ballet performed a new short pieceby Gillian Lynne, On Such a Night, WayneMcGregor’s Ossein, David Nixon’sPowerhouse Rhumba and a show-stoppingfinalé also choreographed by David Nixon.

“…I challenge you to find me a Companythat produces performers better thanthis.” Yorkshire Evening Post

A new ChairOur long-standing Chair Bernard Athastepped down to be replaced by leadingcorporate financier David Forbes.

Birthday partiesWe held birthday parties in a number of ourtouring venues to celebrate our long-standingrelationships with them. Guests at NottinghamTheatre Royal, Milton Keynes Theatre, SheffieldLyceum Theatre, and Norwich Theatre Royal,enjoyed champagne and cake as well as aperformance by the Company.

Alumni A Christmas CarolWe welcomed back dancers from the pastfor a special alumni performance of AChristmas Carol at Leeds Grand Theatre.Past dancers, many dancing their originalroles, joined the current company in aspectacular and emotional performanceleaving not a dry eye in the house.

Ballet on Briggate We partied with the public when we held acelebration on the main shopping street ofLeeds one Saturday in August.

Our dancers performed excerpts of Draculaand A Christmas Carol, and were joined byyoung dancers from our Academy, oureducation programmes and also theprofessionals from Phoenix Dance Theatre.

A large birthday cake, a rendition of HappyBirthday, along with competitions and spotprizes gave shoppers more than theybargained for. We wanted to remind themthat they have a major international balletcompany in their city and of the number ofways they can engage with our work.

David Forbes, Pippa Moore,David Webb and Bernard Atha.Photo Brian Slater

Mark Skipper and David Nixon. Photo Lisa Stonehouse

Clockwise from top:

Hironao Takahashi and MichelaPaolacci performing at Ballet onBriggate. Photo Ryan Hopkinson

Northern Ballet dancers from pastand present in A Christmas Carol.Photo Brian Slater

Martha Leebolt and Tobias Batleyin Powerhouse Rhumba. Photo Bill Cooper

Arman Grigoryan and GalinaMihaylova from Zurich Ballet inCoppelia. Photo Bill Cooper

Wuthering Heights (David Nixon)‘the beautifully staged ending – with a lonely Heathcliffsurrounded by the memory of the lovers’ youngerselves – may well leave you reaching for the tissues’The Scotsman

Georgina May as Cathy and Tobias Batley as Heathcliffin Wuthering Heights. Photo Merlin Hendy

Dracula (David Nixon)‘Costumes and sets areexemplary. Excellent use is made ofground-hugging mist,particularly at thecemetery where Draculaand the doomed Lucyfeed on each other’sblood. This production ishandsomely staged. It has a believabledegree of tension and it drips with fear.’ The Stage

Martha Leebolt as Mina and Christopher Hinton-Lewis as Dracula. Photo Merlin Hendy

Peter Pan (David Nixon)‘Northern Ballet has a magnificent company of trainedclassical ballet dancers who bring their sublimetalents to the productions, drawing out emotion and nuances of the story to delight and enthral the audience’ Surrey Advertiser

Ashley Dixon as Peter Pan. Photo Alastair Muir

A Christmas Carol (Massimo Moricone)‘With its final carols and falling snowflakes it waswarming as mulled wine. A classic vintage, of course.’Yorkshire Post

‘...just as it should be.’ Daily Express

Darren Goldsmith as Scrooge in A Christmas Carol. Photo Bill Cooper

Romeo & Juliet(Massimo Moricone)Nominated for a 2009Manchester EveningNews Theatre award

‘…exultant lifts andcherishing moves…’Yorkshire Post

‘There isn’t a weak link’Manchester Evening News

Darren Goldsmith asTibalt and Victoria Sibsonas Lady Capulet in Romeo & Juliet. Photo Merlin Hendy

Mixed ProgrammeA Simple Man (Gillian Lynne), As Time Goes By (David Nixon), Angels in the Architecture (Mark Godden), Don Quixote pas de deux and La Bayadere, the Shades Scene (both by Yoko Ichino after Petipa), Glass Canon (Daniel de Andrade), Powerhouse Rhumba(David Nixon), Ossein (Wayne McGregor)

‘Brushes with ecstasy’ Daily Telegraph

‘…it’s a treat to see the dancers in a variety ofchoreographic styles’ The Times

Kenneth Tindall and Keiko Amemori in As TimeGoes By. Photo Merlin Hendy

Excellent progress was made onour new home on Quarry Hill in central Leeds.

Working with Marketing Leeds we created artwork for the hoardings around the buildingsite to show how this would become aworld-class centre for dance and to positionLeeds as the capital of dance in the North.

Northern Ballet’s new home on Quarry Hill,shared with Phoenix Dance Theatre, cost£12 million. Funding came from Leeds CityCouncil (£6.7 million) with a donation fromYorkshire Forward, and the National Lotterythrough Arts Council England, Yorkshire (£4 million).

Donations from trusts and foundations,corporate partners and individuals ensuredwe met our original £1.5 million target forthe momentum capital fundraisingcampaign. An additional target of £250,000was set to provide equipment for thebuilding to ensure that it was fit for a rangeof commercial uses as well as extending therange of our artistic offer.

The people of Leeds donated more than£17,000, through collections followingperformances of A Christmas Carol andPeter Pan, demonstrating excellent goodwill and support for the Company andthe new building.

Our new home

Northern Ballet building inDecember 2009. Photo Neil Jarman

Join in

The faculty is made up of teachers whohave been professional dancers themselvesand have first-hand experience ofperforming at the highest level – teacherswho understand what it takes to traindancers ready for a performance career. Ourclasses are accompanied by a team ofaccomplished musicians.

All dancers at Northern Ballet, from ouryoungest student through to ourprofessional dancers, follow the IchinoMethod designed by Associate Director,Yoko Ichino. 100% of our ProfessionalProgramme students graduated to furthertraining at top vocational schools such asBalletSchule Hamburg, Central School ofBallet, English National Ballet School, TheRoyal Ballet School, Elmhurst and the RoyalScottish Academy of Music and Drama inpartnership with Scottish Ballet.

Northern Ballet Academy, the official training school of Northern Ballet,offers expert training to those who aspire to become a professional danceror want to dance for fun, regardless of age or previous experience.

Northern Ballet Academy incorporates theProfessional, Associate and Open programmes.

The Professional programme (Centre forAdvanced Training) is run in partnershipwith the Northern School of ContemporaryDance and is supported by the Departmentfor Education’s music and dance scheme.

Northern Ballet Academy also runs classesthat are open to children and adults of allages in ballet, jazz and contemporary.

Academy students AndrewTomlinson and Jessica Clyde.Photo Martin Bell

Learn together

Northern Ballet works with education and community groups to encourageinterest and enthusiasm for dance and theatre. Our Learning team deliveredworkshops and projects in Leeds and the wider Yorkshire region, as well asan extensive programme of work at the theatres on our national tour.

Projects included a second year of the Startproject which provided children in WestYorkshire with the opportunity to experiencedance and the theatre for the first time. 494children, from 15 primary and secondaryschools, attended two Northern Balletperformances and participated in twoschool workshops. This valuable projectwas supported by The Prince’s Foundationfor Children & the Arts.

In 2009/10 we delivered: • 53 workshops as part of our

touring activities• 234 sessions at schools,

colleges and pupil referral units• 288 sessions for groups outside

formal education• 522 education and community

sessions• 37 sessions aimed at people

with a disability• 12 sessions for visually

impaired people

Photos Brian Slater

Financial summary

IncomeTouring 1,988,616Arts Council England, Yorkshire 3,005,183Leeds City Council 262,180West Yorkshire Grants 149,616Fundraising 420,776Funds raised for Capital Project 6,751,936Northern Ballet Academy 257,135Total income 12,835,442

ExpensesTouring 4,540,356New productions and Revivals 127,235Marketing 683,607Fundraising 347,846Northern Ballet Academy 227,060Capital Project 3,315Governance 35,817Total expenditure 5,965,236

Net movement in funds 6,870,206

Detailed financial information can be found at www.northernballet.com

Summary of Income and Expenditure for the year ending31 March 2010

Northern BalletQuarry HillLeedsLS2 7PA

Tel +44 (0)113 220 8000Fax +44 (0)113 220 8001Email info@northernballet.comwww.northernballet.com

Charity no 259140VAT no 146 6307 66Company registration no 947096Registered in England and WalesCompany limited by guarantee and share capitalNorthern Ballet Theatre Limited trading as Northern Ballet

Design and print: Andrassy Design 01484 434844

Image overleaf: Giuliano Contadini and Yi Song inGlass Canon. Photo Merlin Hendy

Romeo & Juliet. Photo Merlin Hendy