Birmingham Royal Ballet Go 'Wild' with Augmented Reality

To celebrate the return of award-winning one-act ballet 'Still Life' at the Penguin Café this September, Birmingham Royal Ballet have taken a bold step forward into the digital world with the introduction of Augmented Reality posters in and around popular wildlife sites in the West Midlands.

The ballet, which focuses on the plight of endangered animals around the world, opens at Birmingham Hippodrome on 27 September but audiences can enjoy learning more about the dancing animals involved from today by visiting both Dudley Zoo and Birmingham Wildlife Conservation Park. Made possible with the support of a digital grant from Arts Connect, young visitors will be able to spot a variety of animal posters from the ballet which, when scanned with a phone running the free to use Zappar app, will bring an animal themed dancer to life on the device. Users will also be able to educate themselves further as the augmented reality also includes links to bite size facts and information about the ballet and the efforts of the sites towards conservation as a whole.

Birmingham Royal Ballet Director David Bintley commented:

"As Penguin Café approaches its 30th anniversary next year, using augmented reality (AR) technology to talk to new audiences about conservation and ballet is very exciting for us. Using AR will help us to bring the innovation that we put onto our stages directly into the hands of our audiences to experiment and play with, whilst also allowing us and our partners to highlight the important messages around the environment that the ballet is based upon. We're committed to using new technology to further deepen our audience's experiences and thrilled to start our season doing just that!"

Zappar spokesperson Kieran Hall said of the project:

"Working alongside Birmingham Royal Ballet, we've create a series of interactive posters to capture children's imagination and attract the attention of a younger audience for 'Still Life' at the Penguin Café. Through the use of augmented reality, the posters quite literally come to life, showing the magic of the ballet before the show's even started. The posters provide information on the endangered animals that feature in the ballet as well as the ballet itself, making it fun but educational as well and bringing awareness to a very worthy cause."

Augmented Reality has seen a surge in popularity since the introduction of global sensation 'Pokémon Go!' which allowed users to engage with moving digital imagery. Birmingham Royal Ballet posters will be accessible for the next 10 days and both Dudley Zoo and Birmingham Wildlife Conservation Park are encouraging their young audiences to engage with them, whilst Birmingham Royal Ballet is encouraging audiences to engage with both sites conservation efforts in the coming months.

For further information, interview requests and images please contact:
Emma Cann, PR & Internal Communications Co-ordinator - emmacann@brb.org.uk; 0121 245 3505

Based at Birmingham Hippodrome since 1990, Birmingham Royal Ballet is the United Kingdom's leading classical ballet touring company performing a range of traditional, classical and heritage ballets as well as ground-breaking new works with the aim of encouraging choreographers of the future.

The company's Director is the award-winning David Bintley, CBE, Chief Executive is Jan Teo and Music Director is Koen Kessels. Birmingham Royal Ballet performs at Birmingham Hippodrome for approximately ten weeks of the year and the remainder of the year tours throughout the United Kingdom and overseas.

Zappar is the world leader in augmented reality ("AR") on mobile devices accessible through its free-to-download app on iOS and Android (or third-party apps with Zappar embedded within them). Zappar specializes in AR-enabled products and infotainment experiences: working closely with brands, license partners and retailers across the world to produce innovative, customizable market-leading solutions as bite-sized entertainment. Partners include Rovio, Sony Pictures, Sony Music, Warner Bros, Hasbro, PEZ, Universal Pictures, Pearson, Crocs, Morphsuits, Moonpig.com, Coca-Cola, Manchester City Football Club and Asda amongst others.

Birmingham Wildlife Conservation Park is home to a unique collection of animals from across the world, including Red Pandas, lemurs, reptiles, meerkats, otters, birds, wallabies and a large collection of monkeys. Some of the animals are endangered in the wild and the site plays an important role their species' conservation by participating in endangered species breeding programmes.

Dudley Zoological Gardens is a unique attraction...an 80-year-old zoo with more than 200 animal species, set around an 11th century castle incorporating the world's largest single collection of Modernist Tecton buildings and the country's only vintage chairlift.

Come and see for yourself or visit www.dudleyzoo.org.uk to learn how we're continuing to create a better future for wildlife through our education and conservation activities and events.

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