Stuart Griffiths, Chief Executive at Birmingham Hippodrome, has blogged revealing what we can expect from their new season of dance.
As the climax of Birmingham Royal Ballet‘s 20th Anniversary celebrations, David Bintley’s brand new production of the classic fairytale, Cinderella, has been presented as a gift to the city. You can catch it from 24 Nov – 12 Dec (and follow the Creating Cinderella blog in the meantime), but before then there’s plenty to keep you entertained. A few of the highlights include:
Matthew Bourne will be bringing his latest production north of London for the first time, plus the Welsh National Opera are offering a selection of new operas and revivals.
On the musical front, several favorites will be back by popular demand, with new productions of including Hairspray and Chess. Bringing 2010 to a close, Joan Collins tops the bill at this years pantomime, along with Julian Clary, Nigel Havers, Keith Harris and Orville, and Jeffrey Holland in a spectacular production of Dick Whittington.
The eagle-eyed shoppers among you may have noticed ballet shoes and tutus, like the one pictured above found in the Created in Birmingham shop, popping up all over Bullring recently.
Add this to questions like “What is Urban Ballet?” on the shopping centre’s Life Feels Better twitter stream, and this Urban Ballet website, and it looks like there will be a surprise in store for Bullring visitors tomorrow. Perhaps a little something like this:
If you want to find out what Urban Ballet is, it looks like it will be kicking off between 11am and 2pm, so get practising those pirouettes and get down to Bullring.
It’s on Thursday 11 February at 7.30pm at Elmhurst School for Dance. Tickets are limited to two per person and seats will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. If you act fast you can get your tickets here.
The River project is a collaborative animated film based on a bespoke piece of contemporary dance, which has been created to represent and reflect the wider and diverse communities in Birmingham. The participants will consist of five groups of around forty people from different ages ranging from 8-78 years old all working collaboratively with lead-artist and director Babis Alexiadis to create the film.
Here’s a bit more blurb:
The project aims to engage with people from diverse communities in Birmingham; each community represents a river of creative energy; each river embraces its own shape, characteristics, colour and surroundings. As nature commands, the small rivers stream into a bigger river; this culturally and characteristically integrated river is Birmingham.
The project’s completed its first stage of research and development and presented the pilot at the West Midlands Cultural Olympiad launch on 24th July 2009.
Whatsonstage Midlands "the first site purely dedicated to performance in the Midlands, providing a platform for all the talent and flair that takes place here"
Anne Bennett and Annie Murray at Castle Bromwich Library On Thursday 15 May at 10.30am you can listen to two well known local authors Anne Bennett and Annie Murray talking about their different lives and personal experiences of Birmingham.
Sunday Flea at the Custard Factory It's back on Sunday 18 May from 11am to 4pm. The Birmingham Opera Company are having an open day down there with activities too.
Dave Holland Jazz Ensemble Awards Garry Corbett (aka bluejazzbuddha)'s photos from the final of the Dave Holland Jazz Ensemble Award evening, held on 27 April at the Birmingham Conservatoire.
Robot Vs Dinosaur Back at Island Bar on Friday 16 May with Datassette and Lone complementing the DJs. Dress like a robot or dinosaur for reduced entry.
International Dance Festival Birmingham – events for w/c 12 May A selection of events and workshops including a performance by the National Ballet of China and the opportunity for a peek at Ikon Eastside where 'Glass Fragments of Time' is on. There's film action with 'Planet B-Boy' on Saturday.
Birmingham Words handover
The National Academy of Writing/BCU are taking over Birmingham Words from 12 May. Good luck to all involved and I’m looking forward to seeing what the “new and exciting directions” involve.
Supercool mention Winnie O’Brien
I like the look of Winnie O’Brien’s work but can’t find any information on her (yet). Props to Supercool for posting this.
New Ikon Eastside Space
27 May sees Ikon’s itinerant Eastside programme re-open in a new location on Fazeley Street, Digbeth. It opens with Soi Project, an artists’ collective from Thailand and Japan.
Woom Gallery in the Jewellery Quarter
Some interesting things happening here “the common thread being; the venue’s charm, underground edge and our input into aesthetics.. leaving the audience with the feeling of being part of something a bit special”.
