Birmingham Ballet Announces 09-10 season

Christopher Barron, Chief Executive, remarked today 'In the 20 years since it arrived in Birmingham, the Company has gone from strength to strength and is now rightly recognised as a major international force in the world of classical dance.

The Company will open its season with Quantum Leaps, three contrasting ballets offering a lively evening of entertainment. Stanton Welch's Powder, danced to Mozart's clarinet concerto celebrates beauty, nostalgia and joy. David Bintley's new ballet E=mc? is set to music by Australian composer Matthew Hindson and The Centre and It's Opposite is a new work by contemporary choreographer Garry Stewart, Artistic Director of Australian Dance Theatre. Set to a rhythmically powerful electronic soundscape, the work presents the audience with an intense explosion of rapid-fire classical ballet fused with hard-edged contemporary dance.

David Bintley's production of Cyrano also returns during the autumn. The hilarious and heartbreaking story of one man's truly self-sacrificing devotion delighted audiences around the country when first performed in 2007. Later in 2009, the firm family favourite, The Nutcracker returns to delight audiences during November and December. Peter Wright's magical production is guaranteed to cast a festive spell over all that see it.

Considered by many to be one of the greatest ballets from Imperial Russia, The Sleeping Beauty, will be performed during March. Birmingham Royal Ballet's production by Peter Wright brings the story to life with lavish sets, over 150 beautiful hand-sewn costumes and a cast of over 80.

During 2010, Birmingham Royal Ballet celebrates its 20th year in the city of Birmingham and will stage some of the Company's most memorable ballets to commemorate its achievements. The three performances of the 20 Years Celebration will mark the start of the anniversary celebrations of the Company's arrival in the city of Birmingham. The performances will include excerpts from the varied repertory that has been enjoyed by many over the last two decades.

In June, On Their Toes!, a mixed programme featuring Slaughter on Tenth Avenue, Grosse Fuge and Theme and Variations will entertain audiences with differing ballet styles. Slaughter on Tenth Avenue is a crazy tale of a high-kicking stripper and a happy-go-lucky hero who literally has to dance for his life. Grosse Fuge is a dramatic and sensual ballet by Hans van Manen, former Artistic Director of Nederlands Dans Theater. Theme and Variations is a joyous ballet with its thrilling Tchaikovsky music, glittering silver and blue tutus and sumptuous decor, it has delighted audiences all over the world.

Probably the most famous and popular ballet in the world, Swan Lake also returns in June. The ballet is a classic tale of evil magicians, handsome princes, beautiful maidens and a doomed fairy-tale love affair.

Sir Peter Wright and Galina Samsova's majestic production of Swan Lake tells the story of the young Prince Siegfried and his doomed love for the enchanted swan princess, Odette.

Accompanied by one of the loveliest Tchaikovsky scores, the ballet has the power to transport one through an enchanted landscape, across dark fields and forbidding forests to a moonlit lake where, every night, a magical transformation takes place. This production of the much-loved classic, with sumptuous designs by Philip Prowse, was first performed by the Company in 1981 and has since successfully toured extensively throughout the UK and overseas.

Diary of performances for the 2009-10 Birmingham season

Quantum Leaps
Powder / E=mc? / The Centre and its Opposite
23 – 26 September

Cyrano
30 September – 3 October

The Nutcracker
27 November – 13 December

The Sleeping Beauty
3 – 13 March

20 Years Celebration
9 & 10 March

Stepping out…
Slaughter on Tenth Avenue / Grosse Fuge / Theme and Variations
16 – 19 June

Swan Lake
24 – 26 June -- www.brb.org.uk