Birmingham Royal Ballet (BRB) has announced the all-new programme Carlos Acosta’s Ballet Celebration: Diaghilev and the birth of Modern Ballet for BRB2’s third UK tour in 2025. Described as ‘pinsharp and personality laden,’ BRB2 brings together some of the world’s very best young dancers, the international stars of the future, to share their incredible talent.
Carlos Acosta has created a brand-new gala production for this year, featuring highlights from the repertory of Serge Diaghilev’s troupe of rebel dancers, musicians and designers who fled Russia to set a new standard in creativity that inspires and resonates across the world of dance to this day.
The repertoire of this next generation of ballet includes The Firebird, Spectre de la Rose, Les Sylphides and Scheherazade.
The work will pay tribute to Mikhail Fokine and the seminal works he created at the beginning of the last century. The choreography, sets and costumes will remain faithful to Fokine’s original vision but will be adapted to fit smaller stages. As with last season’s ‘Classical Selection,’ the repertoire will showcase and develop emerging talent and present important repertoire in venues around the UK that don’t always have access to classical ballet. The music will be a recording made by the Royal Ballet Sinfonia exclusively for this tour, presented in theatre with live piano.
The company will make its Birmingham Hippodrome debut before travelling to Sadler’s Wells East, where it will be the first ballet company to perform in its inaugural season. The tour then moves on to Poole Lighthouse before culminating with a return to the Royal and Derngate in Northampton.
BRB2 puts the spotlight on some of the best ballet dancers from across the globe aged 18-22. The original cohort of BRB2 dancers, Maïlène Katoch, Jack Easton Frieda Kaden, Oscar Kempsey-Fagg and Mason King, all completed the two-year programme in BRB’s junior company last season and have now joined the main company as Artists.
The new BRB2 cohort: Charlotte Cohen (Royal Ballet School), Andrea Riolo (Royal Ballet School), Noah Cosgriff (Australian Academy of Classical Ballet), Ellyne Knol (Royal Conservatoire in The Hague) and Ixan Llorca Ferrer (Escuela Nacional de Ballet Fernando Alonso) have all joined BRB2 this season. Sophie Walters, who trained at Elmhurst Ballet School, completed her apprenticeship and will also join BRB2. They will join the second cohort of Ariana Allen (UK / Royal Ballet School), Alisa Garkavenko (Ukraine / Princess Grace Academy), Thomas Hazelby (UK / Royal Ballet School), Alexandra Manuel (USA / Royal Ballet School) and Alfie Shacklock (UK/Australia / Royal Ballet School).
Also dancing with BRB2 is Marlo Kempsey-Fagg (brother of BRB Artist Oscar), who joins the company as Apprentice Dancer from Elmhurst Ballet School. Marlo started dancing at the age of six, when his talent was identified in a local Birmingham Primary School, and he joined BRB’s Dance Track programme.
BRB2 will tour Carlos Acosta’s Ballet Celebration: Diaghilev and the birth of the Modern Ballet from 6 – 17 May. For tickets and more information, visit www.brb.org.uk/shows/brb2-carlos-acostas-ballet-celebration.
