At the first of our October 2020 Zoom meeting, we were delighted to welcome former Birmingham Royal Ballet Director Sir David Bintley as our guest. David gave us a very entertaining evening looking back on some of the highlights of his career from his time at school, as a dancer and choreographer at SWRB and the Royal, as a freelance choreographer and then 24 years as Director of Birmingham Royal Ballet, as well as directing the National Ballet of Japan.

Whilst David gave us many amusing stories from the earlier stages of his career, we had to rush through his time at BRB, so hopefully he will return another year to talk about his many creations for the Company. On a more sombre note, David related some of the financial challenges that affected BRB in recent years. It was a fascinating evening. An account of the meeting is already on our website.

  

 

 

At our second October 2020 meeting, it was a pleasure to welcome First Soloist Itziar Mendizabal. Itziar had last spoken to the Association fairly soon after she joined the Royal Ballet, so, although she spoke about her training and time with Victor Ullate Ballet and in Zurich and Leipzig, we concentrated mostly on her career with the Royal.

Itziar gave a very entertaining account of the many different roles that she has danced, which includes an array of dramatic and humorous roles in ballets by MacMillan, Cranko, Ashton and Wheeldon as well as very technical roles in the classics and in Balanchine and McGregor. She also highlighted how grateful she was to experience the incredible teaching of our President Dame Monica Mason. Itziar also spoke about the Teacher’s course that she graduated from at the Royal Ballet School and the University degree that she has just started in Spain.