This section is no longer in use, please click on the links below to view news and sport from:
Ballet gets Beastly this Christmas
May 9 2003
By Terry Grimley, Birmingham Post
Birmingham Royal Ballet will break with a 13-year tradition by resting its popular Christmas production, The Nutcracker, this year.
A lavish new version of Beauty and the Beast, choreographed by company director David Bintley, will take over the pre-Christmas slot at the Birmingham Hippodrome for one year while Sir Peter Wrights acclaimed production takes a rest before a promised return for Christmas 2004.
Yesterday, it was also announced that Prince Charles has agreed to become president of the company. He succeeds Princess Margaret.
David Bintley said: The Prince of Wales visited the company in April last year to open our state-of-the-art centre for the prevention and treatment of dance injuries and was an amazing inspiration to the whole company.
Other plans for the 2003-4 season, unveiled yesterday, include a new piece, Krishna, choreographed by internationally- renowned, Birmingham- based Kathak dancer Nahid Siddiqui.
It was also revealed that the company has already succeeded in halving a £1 million deficit resulting from the unexpectedly prolonged closure of the Hippodrome Theatre during its £30 million rebuilding scheme.
