At our meeting on 20^th November  we welcomed two of the Royal Ballet’s established male soloists as our guests, Benjamin Ella  and Tomas Mock.

Tom was born in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. He is currently studying for an MSc in Statistics at the London School of Economics having completed a BSc in Mathematics and Statistics at the Open University over the last five years. In pursue of this new career path, Tom has recently retired fromdancing.His repertory with the Company includes Tybalt, Gypsy Girl’s Lover in The Two Pigeons,Hilarion, Demtrius in The Dream,Prince Gremin in Onegin.His last performance was as Virgil in the latest run of The Dante Project. He was much loved by his colleagues and will be missed. 

Born in Melbourne, Australia, Ben initially trained as a tennis player and at age 11 joined his parents’ ballet school, the Australian Conservatoire of Ballet in Richmond. Aged 15 he won the Alicia Markova Bursary to train at the Royal Ballet School. His repertory with the Company has included Hans-Peter/Nutcracker, Benvolio, Bluebird, Florestan, the Prince and Benno in Swan Lake, Juan Alexander in Like Water for Chocolate and he has created roles in many new works. His choreography has been seen in Draft Worksand his new work Joie de Vivrefor Northern Ballet was performed in the Linbury Theatre recently to piano and violin solos by Jean Sibelius.

At our meeting on 5^thDecember,  we welcomed Royal Ballet Principal Matthew Ball  as our guest. Born in Liverpool, Matt joined the Royal Ballet School aged 11. As well as dancing most of the principal roles in the Company’s repertory, Matt created Dr John Brown in Like Water for Chocolate,Albert de Belleroche in Strapless,The Conductor in The Cellistwhich he recently performed in the latest double bill of The Cellist / Anemoi . 

We are delighted that First Soloist Isabella Gasparini  has volunteered to help our Website Administrator Mark Clarke  in posting content on our website. Her first blog can be found here. 

Members will be delighted to hear that Alessandra Ferri  is to be the next Director of the Vienna Staatsballet.

Our President Carlos Acosta  will appear at the Buxton Festival 2024 on 20^th and 21^st July in On Beforea programme that pays homage to his late mother. He will perform as a soloist and alongside Laura Rodriguez,  a founding member of Acosta Danza.

The Royal Ballet School has welcomed four new teachers to its artistic staff: Larissa Bamber, James Butcher, Stuart Cassidyand Sarah Kundi.