Promotions at the Royal Ballet
Stacey MacNaught |
The Royal Ballet recently announced it had made four of its dancers principals in the latest round of promotions for the company. Alexander Campbell, Francesca Hayward, Ryoichi Hirano and Akane Takada have all been promoted, as well as seeing other dancers climb the ranks and some new joiners too.
Alexander Campbell joined the company as a Soloist in 2011 from Birmingham Royal Ballet, having trained at the Royal Ballet School. Young Francesca Hayward joined the company in 2011 from the Royal Ballet School, and Ryoichi Hirano joined the Company in 2002. Akane Takada first danced with the company on a Prix de Lausanne scholarship in 2008, and joined permanently the following season.
Other promotions within the company saw Claire Calvert, Yasmine Naghdi and Beatriz Stix-Brunell promoted to First Soloist. Matthew Ball and Mayara Magri have been promoted to Soloist and Tierney Heap, who was promoted to First Artist mid-season, has now been promoted to Soloist. Reece Clarke, David Donnelly, Benjamin Ella, Isabella Gasparini, Anna Rose O’Sullivan and Demelza Parish were promoted to First Artist.
Joining the Company at the start of the next season will be Joseph Sissens from the Royal Ballet School. The 2015/16 Aud Jebsen Young Dancers – Lukas Bjørneboe Brændsrød, Harry Churches, Leo Dixon, Isabel Lubach and Julia Roscoe – will join the company on permanent contracts as Artists, all of whom trained at the Royal Ballet School. Vincenzo Di Primo will join the company as the Prix de Lausanne dancer for the 2016/17 season.
With many new names and faces, the company continues to evolve, welcoming seven dancers to the company for the 2016/17 Aud Jebsen Young Dancers Programme. The programme provides a year-long contract to dancers who recently graduated, in order to work and perform alongside the corps de ballet of the Royal Ballet, and receive mentoring and coaching.