Elmhurst Ballet Company, Legacy, Lilian Baylis Studio
Pre-graduation students from the prestigious Elmhurst Ballet School mark their school's centenary with Legacy, a mixed programme showing in the Lilian Baylis Studio
Sophie Walters & Ben Spiteri in The End Is Where We Start. Photo: Magda Hoffman
Birmingham-based Elmhurst Ballet School, one of the premier dance institutions in the UK, celebrates its centenary this year; and its own Elmhurst Ballet Company is marking the occasion with a mixed bill appropriately entitled Legacy, which the company brings to Sadler's Wells's smaller stage, the Lilian Baylis studio, in May.
Elmhurst Ballet Company is made up of 14 graduate-year students, and its key aim is to prepare them for life as professional dancers. For Legacy, the company has collaborated with a number of eminent individuals and organisations, to assemble a varied programme of short new works and extracts from repertoire works.
Jordan James Bridge, a member of Company Wayne McGregor, collaborated with the young dancers in The End Is Where We Begin, a piece that nods towards the threshold at which they find themselves, with the fast-approaching end of their student years leading to a brand-new life.
Also new is Bronislava, by the Birmingham-based choreographer Avatara Ayuso. The work honours the Russian dance-maker Bronislava Nijinska, a talented woman who for so long remained in the shadow of her dancer brother, Vaslav Nijinsky, and in particular her emblematic 1923 work Les Noces.
From the repertoire Elmhurst Ballet Company will perform an extract from Frederick Ashton's Birthday Offering, created on the year when what is now The Royal Ballet received its Royal Charter.
David Bintley, former long-standing director of Birmingham Royal Ballet (to which the school is affiliated) created the jazz-inspired ballet, The Orpheus Suite, to music by Colin Towns. Legacy will include an extract from that work under the title Argonauts. The jazz theme continues with a new jazz dance, Doin' That Doo-Wah Thing! choreographed by Chris Penfold.
Finally, Elmhurst teacher Sonia Fajardo contributes the Argentinian-inspired Malambo; and Jack Farren, Elmhurst Ballet Company artist, lends his name to Resonate.
Legacy in the Lilian Baylis studio offers ballet lovers a precious opportunity to enjoy and assess budding talent, before the students go on to join professional companies in the UK and abroad.
Note: Elmhurst Ballet Company performs Legacy at the Elmhurst Studio Theatre in Birmingham on Friday 19 and Saturday 20 May at 7pm.
Elmhurst Ballet Company is made up of 14 graduate-year students, and its key aim is to prepare them for life as professional dancers. For Legacy, the company has collaborated with a number of eminent individuals and organisations, to assemble a varied programme of short new works and extracts from repertoire works.
Jordan James Bridge, a member of Company Wayne McGregor, collaborated with the young dancers in The End Is Where We Begin, a piece that nods towards the threshold at which they find themselves, with the fast-approaching end of their student years leading to a brand-new life.
Also new is Bronislava, by the Birmingham-based choreographer Avatara Ayuso. The work honours the Russian dance-maker Bronislava Nijinska, a talented woman who for so long remained in the shadow of her dancer brother, Vaslav Nijinsky, and in particular her emblematic 1923 work Les Noces.
From the repertoire Elmhurst Ballet Company will perform an extract from Frederick Ashton's Birthday Offering, created on the year when what is now The Royal Ballet received its Royal Charter.
David Bintley, former long-standing director of Birmingham Royal Ballet (to which the school is affiliated) created the jazz-inspired ballet, The Orpheus Suite, to music by Colin Towns. Legacy will include an extract from that work under the title Argonauts. The jazz theme continues with a new jazz dance, Doin' That Doo-Wah Thing! choreographed by Chris Penfold.
Finally, Elmhurst teacher Sonia Fajardo contributes the Argentinian-inspired Malambo; and Jack Farren, Elmhurst Ballet Company artist, lends his name to Resonate.
Legacy in the Lilian Baylis studio offers ballet lovers a precious opportunity to enjoy and assess budding talent, before the students go on to join professional companies in the UK and abroad.
Note: Elmhurst Ballet Company performs Legacy at the Elmhurst Studio Theatre in Birmingham on Friday 19 and Saturday 20 May at 7pm.
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| What | Elmhurst Ballet Company, Legacy, Lilian Baylis Studio |
| Where | Sadler's Wells, Rosebery Avenue, London, EC1R 4TN | MAP |
| Nearest tube | Angel (underground) |
| When |
On 13 May 23, 19:45. Mat 14:30 Dur.: 1 hour 40 mins inc one interval |
| Price | £20 |
| Website | Click here to book |