FOR ballet fans there is a spectacular new season in prospect from Northern Ballet.
The Leeds-based company has a national reputation and looks set to cement that still further this autumn.
It will tour 10 venues around the UK with its Olivier-nominated production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream which opens at the West Yorkshire Playhouse on September 6.
But the highlight of the season for many will be the world premiere of a new production of Cinderella.
This new ballet by the company’s artistic director David Nixon will open at the city’s Grand Theatre on December 17, just in time for Christmas, and run right through until January 4.
Before that though, the company will also tour one of its best-loved productions, A Christmas Carol.
Originally choreographed by Massimo Moricone and directed by the late Christopher Gable, A Christmas Carol is a blend of theatre, musical and ballet which has been delighting audiences for years.
Lez Brotherston’s colourful sets and costumes conjure up a traditional Victorian Christmas and are perfectly complemented by Carl Davis’ festive score, which blends classical music, played live by Northern Ballet Sinfonia.
You can see this show at Sheffield’s Lyceum Theatre (November 5 – 9 ), at Bradford’s Alhambra Theatre (November 13-16) and Manchester’s Palace Theatre (November 19 – 23).
The company is also staging a second production in its Short Ballets for Small People series.
Its first, a retelling of the fairytale classic, the Ugly Duckling, delighted children when it played Huddersfield’s Lawrence Batley Theatre in March.
The idea was to give young children their first taste of ballet at an affordable price.
Now the dancers have turned their attentions to the story of Three Little Pigs and so far three Leeds dates have been announced.
