Birmingham Royal Ballet’s 2019/20 season marks an exciting period of transformation. For the first time in the company’s history, the season has been created in partnership with leaders from across the world of dance, including Ballet Black and Birmingham Royal Ballet’s newly appointed Director Carlos Acosta CBE, who bring fresh perspectives to the programme, and herald a new era and a bright future ahead.

The first full-length production in the 2019/20 season is David Bintley and Galina Samsova’s exquisite production of Giselle (25th September–2nd November), swiftly followed by the welcome return of Sir Peter Wright’s stunning Swan Lake (29th January–4th April). The end of the season marks a new beginning, as new Director Carlos Acosta is welcomed by Birmingham Royal Ballet’s inaugural performances of his ravishing comedy Don Quixote (19th-27th June), which receives its first UK performances outside London. Carlos will also curate an energising and celebratory festival at Birmingham Hippodrome and Sadler’s Wells, London in June 2020.

The 2019/20 season features two world premieres in the Ballet Now talent development programme. The first, by Queensland Ballet’s Jack Lister, appears alongside Cathy Marston’s critically-acclaimed The Suit (performed by Ballet Black) and Twyla Tharp’s sizzling tribute to ‘Old Blue Eyes’, Nine Sinatra Songs. This exciting mixed programme is performed in Birmingham and London (19th September-30th October).

The 2019/20 season marks the transition between David Bintley’s Directorship and Carlos Acosta’s first season, which will be in 2020/21, and creates opportunities for the Company to experiment with new partnerships to grow and inspire audiences, as well as presenting some of its best loved classics including works by Director Laureate Sir Peter Wright.

Jack Lister said: “I’m really looking forward to working with BRB’s incredibly talented dancers and alongside such highly respected choreographers. To be given this platform for my first international commission and to collaborate with such a truly gifted creative team is a dream come true.”

Artistic Director & Founder of Ballet Black Cassa Pancho MBE added: “I’m thrilled that Ballet Black will be joining Birmingham Royal Ballet for their mixed programme in autumn 2019. It’s a wonderful opportunity to collaborate with one of the most established British ballet companies, and for our own brilliant dancers to work alongside the world-class talent at BRB.”

A cast of approximately seventy selected students from each of the three areas will be given the opportunity to train, rehearse and perform in a full-length ballet alongside Birmingham Royal Ballet dancers. Open to ballet students aged 9+, the Swan Lake Dreams project gives insight into the Company workings whilst aiming to develop talent and raise aspirations for dancers of all ages. Auditions will take place between July and October 2019 with intensive and weekly rehearsals from July through to the performances in 2020.

The Company will partner with the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, whose orchestra will accompany the Swan Lake Dreams Birmingham performance, conducted by Birmingham Royal Ballet’s principal conductor Paul Murphy.

Julian Lloyd Webber, Principal of Royal Birmingham Conservatoire said: “I am delighted that the Conservatoire will partner with Birmingham Royal Ballet on their ground-breaking project Swan Lake Dreams. This is yet another example of the Conservatoire’s commitment to creating unique opportunities for our students to collaborate with world-class partners around the region and beyond.”

Dance Track, Birmingham Royal Ballet’s talent identification and training programme, is now in its 22nd year, working with fifty primary schools across Birmingham. Each year the Dance Track team engages with in excess of 2,500 children age five and six.

The programme offers free weekly classes and uniforms plus opportunities to see Birmingham Royal Ballet in rehearsal and performance. Eighty children showing particular aptitude and enjoyment in their dance classes are invited back for a further year of training, where they are prepared for auditions at Elmhurst Ballet School and The Royal Ballet School associate schemes.