Our News

Associates classes this week

Please note that due to weather damage to Studio 2, Mid and Senior Associates classes on Saturday 7th January have been cancelled.

Junior Associates classes will resume on Sunday 8th January.

Casting for The Sleeping Beauty

Casting for The Sleeping Beauty at Theatre Royal is now online here.

Scottish Ballet wins Arts and Business Award

On 27 October, Scottish Ballet received the Arts and Business Award for New or Returning Sponsor for its work with Brooks Brothers.  

For the past year, American clothing company Brooks Brothers has sponsored dancers Owen Thorne and, through support by the New Arts Sponsorship Grants supported by the Scottish Government in conjunction with Arts & Business Scotland, Quenby Hersh.

Scottish Ballet also received a commendation for the Cultural Branding Award in recognition of Reid sponsoring the 2010/11 production of Cinderella.

For a full list of the winners, click here.

Christopher Hampson appointed new Artistic Director of Scottish Ballet

Zoe van Zwanenberg, Chair of the Board of Directors of Scottish Ballet, announced the appointment of Christopher Hampson as Artistic Director designate.

Ms van Zwanenberg said: “I’m delighted that Christopher will be joining us. He has demonstrated enormous energy and vision, as well as a clear understanding about what it means to lead a national company. He has extensive knowledge of ballet repertoire and has wide-ranging contacts within the UK and internationally.”

Christopher Hampson is a ballet director and choreographer, and a former professional ballet dancer. A graduate of the Royal Ballet School, Christopher danced professionally with English National Ballet before retiring to pursue a career as a choreographer and director. He has worked with many companies all over the world and his impressive career to date has seen him win accolades including the Barclays Theatre Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance and his choreographic work has also been nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award.

Christopher Hampson said: “It is an honour to accept the position of Artistic Director at Scottish Ballet. This is a company that has garnered much critical acclaim for its award-winning repertoire, and I am looking forward to working with the excellent team at Scottish Ballet to realise an even wider commissioning vision and breadth of distinctive programming. At its outstanding headquarters at the Tramway international arts centre in Glasgow, Scottish Ballet lives and breathes the air of a fascinating creative environment. I will be seeking to engage even further with local and international artists to develop new partnerships and approaches so that Scottish Ballet continues to enrich, enthuse and inspire audiences throughout Scotland and sustain a dynamic presence on the international stage. I look forward to delivering my aims and ambitions in more detail after I take up the position in August 2012.”

Cindy Sughrue, Chief Executive of Scottish Ballet added, “We are thrilled to welcome Christopher to the Company.

“Christopher’s commitment to the artform echoes the Company's focus on excellence and diversity, and we are very excited to be working with him to continue to develop Scottish Ballet’s unique breadth of repertoire and programmes, seeking new audiences and continuing to enthrall our fantastic and loyal fans.

“When Scottish Ballet’s founding director Peter Darrell established the Company in Scotland in 1969, it was to be a Company with an exciting vision of strong classical technique with a contemporary attitude. With Ashley Page’s tenure, this vision has become enriched and he will leave an incredible legacy on which we will continue to build. We thank Ashley for his work over the past 9 years and look forward to continuing to present his choreography as part of our rich and varied repertoire.”

Critic's Circle National Dance Awards

Principal dancer Sophie Martin has been nominated for a prestigious Critic's Circle National Dance Award. She is nominated in the category of Outstanding Female Performance (Classical). The full list of nominees can be found here, and the winners will be announced at a ceremony in January 2012.

Sophie joined Scottish Ballet in 2003 and was promoted to Principal in 2008. In the past year, she has danced many roles including the leads in Cinderella, Alice and Kenneth MacMillan's Song of the Earth.

Rosalind Nashashibi film on Scottish Ballet

Scottish Ballet is delighted to announce the commission of a new film by artist Rosalind Nashashibi in conjunction with the Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art.

The film will feature footage of Scottish Ballet’s dancers which would normally remain unseen, forming an intimate portrait of the relationships, preparations and minutiae of movements backstage at the ballet.

The work will be presented in the GI Festival Hub space, a temporary venue created specifically for the duration of the Festival.

Nashashibi is well-known for her works using 16mm film, which she regularly deploys in a very direct, documentary manner, with recent works showing an increasing interest in performance and ritual. An artist very much associated with Glasgow, where she gained her MFA and began her career, this new work will be her first exhibition in Scotland since her 2004 show at CCA. She was the 2003 winner of the Beck’s Futures Prize.

Listings:

(Title tbc) Scottish Ballet / Rosalind Nashashibi
Friday 20 April – Monday 7 May 2012
Location: GI Festival Hub
Admission: Free

Click here for further information.

Martin Boyce wins Turner Prize

Scottish Ballet is delighted to send a big congratulations to Glasgow-born artist Martin Boyce on his Turner Prize success.

The company first worked with Boyce in a session of choreographic workshops exploring the relationship between dance and visual art last year and it was at this time he began to consider the creation of his canopy of fractured light that would go on to feature in his award winning piece Beyond the Repetition of High Windows, Intersecting Flight Paths and Opinions (A Silent Storm is Painted on Air).

Scottish Ballet will be collaborating with Boyce once again next spring when a specially commissioned set piece will be designed to accompany the company’s work as part of Dance GB, a unique creative collaboration between the three national dance companies of the UK – Scottish Ballet, English National Ballet and National Dance Company Wales - as part of the Cultural Olympiad. This will be the first time Boyce has created work especially for a theatrical environment. 

Click here for more information on Dance GB.