Birmingham Royal Ballet News 2018
Promotions
- Yasuo Atsuji is promoted from First Soloist to Principal
- Yvette Knight, Brandon Lawrence, Maureya Lebowitz, Miki Mizutani and Yaoqian Shang are promoted from Soloist to First Soloist
- Karla Doorbar, Max Maslen and Lachlan Monaghan are promoted from First Artist to Soloist
- Aitor Galende, Beatrice Parma, Brooke Ray, Edivaldo Souza da Silva and Daria Stanciulescu are promoted from Artist to First Artist
Joiners
- August Generalli, from Boston Ballet II
- Alexander Yap, from Northern Ballet
- Louis Andreasen, graduate of English National Ballet School
- Callum Findlay-White, Tori Forsyth-Hecken, Isabella Howard, Yu Kurihara, Lennartas artists
- Steegen and Yuki Sugiura, graduates of the Royal Ballet School as artists
- Eilish Small, graduate of the Australian Ballet School joined earlier in 2018 as Apprentice:
- Joseph Taylor, graduate of Elmhurst Ballet School (recipient of the BRB and Elmhurst Ballet School Award for Excellence)
Leavers
- Eight dancers, including Principals Nao Sakuma, Chi Cao and Jenna Roberts, took their final curtain calls at the end of the season.
- After joining the Company together in 1995, Nao Sakuma and Chi Cao have led Birmingham Royal Ballet in the classical repertoire for 23 years
- Jenna Roberts joined BRB in 2003 and became a Principal in 2012
- After a 19-year career with BRB, Principal Iain Mackay retired in early 2018, giving his final performance in a Spartacus pas de deux created by David Bintley and Christopher Wheeldon’s After the Rain pas de deux – both danced with Jenna Roberts
- Soloist Feargus Campbell leaves after 13 years to start a Graduate Diploma in Law at the University of Law in Birmingham
- Artist Anna Monleon leaves the Company after six years and is moving back to Spain
- Artist Brogan McKelvey leaves to pursue choreographic and production opportunities
- Claudia Nicholson and Jade Wallace leave after a year-long apprenticeship
- Artist Elisabetta Formento left earlier this year to join Dutch National Ballet