Northern Ballet to Present London Premiere Of MADE IN LEEDS at the Royal Opera House

Northern Ballet will bring three exhilarating new pieces to the Linbury Theatre this year in the London premiere of Made in Leeds: Three Short Ballets. Following the world premiere in Leeds on September 10, the performance will exclusively run from 1-3 November at the Royal Opera House and will present new work from award-winning choreographers Mthuthuzeli November, Stina Quagebeur and Dickson Mbi.

Olivier award-winning Mthuthuzeli November's Wailers is a work that gives thanks to life: to its struggles, beauty and its people, and to those with us and no longer with us. It is a prayer for guidance.

Stina Quagebeur, Associate Choreographer with English National Ballet, will present Nostalgia, an exploration of the familiar state of longing, poignancy and piercing joy, as a quiet force that transforms our pain and connects us together.

Following the release of a short film of the same title, World-renowned hip hop dancer and choreographer Dickson Mbi will reimagine Ma Vie on stage, exploring Giacomo Casanova's thirst for love, his complex relationship with the church and his eventual downfall.

Northern Ballet also bring Ugly Duckling to the Linbury Theatre, with six performances over the weekend of 29-30 October. This popular show brings the fairy tale story of the Ugly Duckling to life and is suitable for all the family.

About Northern Ballet

Northern Ballet is one of the UK's leading ballet companies and the widest touring ballet company in the UK. Bold and innovative in its approach, Northern Ballet is prolific at creating new full-length work with a unique blend of strong classical technique and impressive storytelling. Northern Ballet's repertoire embraces popular culture and takes inspiration from literature, legend, opera and the classics, pushing the boundaries of what stories can be told through dance.

A champion for the cultural exports of the North, Leeds-based Northern Ballet is dedicated to bringing ballet to as many people and places as possible, under the leadership of newly appointed Artistic Director Federico Bonelli. Northern Ballet's Company of dancers performs a combination of its full-length ballets and specially created ballets for children at more than 40 venues annually.

Launched in 2019, Northern Ballet's digital dance platform ensures more people can access their work, from full-length films of popular ballets through to exciting short dance films by up-and-coming choreographers and filmmakers. Visit digitaldance.org to discover more.

About the Royal Opera House

Home to The Royal Ballet, The Royal Opera and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, the Royal Opera House brings together world-class performers and trailblazing creative teams to share unforgettable performances with audiences near and far. Our theatres are in London's Covent Garden, but our work is accessed and experienced across the UK and globally through our streams, tours, cinema programme, radio broadcasts and TV output.

Over the course of the pandemic, we curated the #OurHouseToYourHouse programme - nine live-streamed concerts and 38 productions from our archives. Content was viewed over 15 million times in 183 countries, and broadcast in partnership with the BBC, Sky Arts, Marquee TV and Netflix. During the pandemic we lost £3 in every £5 of our income and we continue to feel the financial impact as we slowly recover.

In September 2021, we returned for our first full Season since 2019, presenting a packed programme of world premieres, landmark new productions and returning favourites. Since then, we have expanded our audience through a flagship Young ROH scheme, returned to live cinema, and extended our national impact through an ambitious curriculum-linked programme for schools, specially designed to ignite creativity, broaden participation and diversify the future of opera and ballet. We are committed to reducing our impact on the environment, and aim to achieve net zero emissions by 2035.

Photo Credit: Emma Kauldhar

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