Choreographed and designed by Matthew Hart
UK National Tour: 3rd April to 3rd June 2012
A new ballet for children, by English National Ballet and English National Ballet School
Spring 2012 sees the unveiling of My First... a series of ballets bringing children their first taste of the magical world of ballet. This series follows the phenomenal success of the Angelina Ballerina ballets, which reached audiences of over 300,000 across the UK and the world between 2007 and 2009. ENB2 is a new touring company featuring graduating dancers of outstanding potential from English National Ballet School in performances produced by English National Ballet, continuing the initiative to bring ballet to young audiences.
The first ballet to be adapted in this way will be My First Sleeping Beauty. The show will be performed by the third year students from English National Ballet School in their first professional tour, so it will be a "first" for both audiences and performers.
My First Sleeping Beauty will give English National Ballet School students the opportunity to gain real work experience and dance principal roles, raising their profile and visibility as they prepare to enter the profession. The performances will enable a wider range of people and young children to engage with the school and ballet.
Anu Giri Director of English National Ballet School said "This is a huge opportunity for our students. You can teach them so much in the studio but when you put them in front of an audience that is when they really start their journey to becoming a performer."
Created with young attention spans in mind, My First Sleeping Beauty will be choreographed and designed by dancer and choreographer Matthew Hart. Matthew said "I am so thrilled to be choreographing this new production for English National Ballet and English National Ballet School, I want to create a really accessible way for children to enjoy this classic fairy tale, retaining the drama of the original ballet, but adding a real sense of fun and magic, giving youngsters their first taste of the world of ballet."
The dancers will wear the sumptuous Georgiadis costumes from the Company's full production of The Sleeping Beauty, with elements of the original sets also used, giving audiences the feel of a full scale classic ballet. However the story and choreography will be adapted, making it more approachable, fun and suitable for young audiences.
English National Ballet launched a worldwide competition for young artists to create the poster for My First... via creative community www.talenthouse.com, with the brief to create a piece of artwork that will appear on all the Marketing collateral, including the poster. Over 300 people from all over the world entered the competition with five artists short listed. The winner, chosen by English National Ballet, with the help of celebrated caricaturist and illustrator Gerald Scarfe, received £2,000 in prize money.
"I was impressed at the standard of the entries to the My First Sleeping Beauty poster competition", said Gerald Scarfe. "Some of the submissions showed real quality in draughtsmanship and individual style. It was a real challenge picking a favourite as I felt many of the entries had strong elements, and the judges were acutely aware that the winner would need to work as an advertising poster and appeal to children from the age of 3."
Mark Ruffle is the winner of the My First... competition; his artwork can be viewed at www.ballet.org.uk and on the tour leaflets and posters
Matthew Hart added, "We chose Mark Ruffle's design as it conveyed the sense of mischief and fun that I'm planning for the ballet. I absolutely love the colour and the humour of the design." Mark Ruffle said, "I'm absolutely delighted to be the winner of this competition. My 10-year-old daughter inspired me to enter as she is an aspiring ballerina and she will be thrilled! We can't wait to see the posters - and the show!"
Congratulations also to our three runners up, Katarina Prenda from Macedonia, Park Jiae from South Korea and Javier Joaquin from Argentina.
For booking information visit www.ballet.org.uk
Peacock Theatre, London
4 - 8 and 10 - 13 April 11am, 2pm
7 - 8 April 5pm
Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham
21 April 11am 2pm, 5pm
22 April 11am, 3pm
Grand Opera House, York
28 April 11am, 2pm, 5pm
29 April 11am, 3pm
New Wimbledon Theatre
5 May 11am, 2pm, 5pm
6 May 11am, 3pm
The Hawth, Crawley
11 May 5pm
12 May 11am, 2pm, 5pm
The Churchill, Bromley
19 May 11an, 2pm, 5pm
20 May 11am, 3pm
Wycombe Swan, High Wycombe
26 May 11an, 2pm, 5pm
27 May 11am, 2pm
Manchester Palace Theatre
2 June 11am, 2pm, 5pm
3 June 11am, 3pm
Notes to Editors
My First... background and further information
The story
In a glorious kingdom, the Queen gives birth to the beautiful Princess Aurora. Everyone in the kingdom is invited to the christening - everyone apart from the evil fairy Carabosse. Carabosse is so angry not to be invited that she places a curse on the Princess that, on her 16th birthday, she will prick her finger on a spinning wheel and die. The beautiful Lilac Fairy alters the curse so that Aurora will not die but will fall asleep for 100 years, only to be awoken by True Love's Kiss. Sure enough, on Aurora's 16th birthday, Carabosse smuggles a spinning wheel into the party and the Princess pricks her finger and falls asleep. A forest of thorns grows up around the palace.
100 years later, a handsome Prince is searching for true love and the Lilac Fairy takes him to the Princess. He fights his way through the thorns and wakes her with a kiss. The Prince and Princess celebrate their marriage with all their fairytale friends and live happily ever after.
There are films about My First Sleeping Beauty available at http://www.ballet.org.uk/details.php?id=16 and http://www.youtube.com/enballet#p/u/12/1Bg42Q7k3W0.
English National Ballet School
Founded in 1988 by English National Ballet, the School provides talented young dancers with the highest quality of training. Today the English National Ballet School exists as a separate entity to English National Ballet but maintains strong links with its parent company, sharing its commitment to quality, cultural diversity and accessibility.
The peer of the major ballet schools in France, the United States, Denmark and the UK, ENBS has trained countless dancers who are now working in major ballet companies worldwide. In 2011, 45% of the dancers at English National Ballet received their training there. For the past 10 years, the School has been officially designated 'Outstanding' by the UK Schools Inspectorate (OFSTED) and we usually achieve a 100% employment rate for our graduates.
Their three year, full time course provides a world class, comprehensive training in ballet, within a broader education which enables students to acquire personal and professional life skills.
Matthew Hart
Matthew Hart trained at the Arts Educational School and the Royal Ballet Upper School, and joined the Royal Ballet in 1991. Matthew began choreographing whilst at School aged 16, and continued in his professional career. In 1989, he created work for Dance Umbrella which was performed at Riverside Studios.
In 1991 Matthew choreographed a duet for Koen Onzia and himself entitled The Dream of the Cherry Blossom to music by the percussionist Evelyn Glennie for a gala in aid of RSPB at Covent Garden. His first professional commission Street, for The Birmingham Royal Ballet, was premiered in June 1993. This was followed by his first work for The Royal Ballet, Fanfare, which was premièred at the Royal Opera House in October 1993 and Caught Dance, premiered in Leicester on the Company's regional tour, Dance Bites, in February 1994.
For the 1995 Royal Ballet School performance he created a new version of Peter and the Wolf .
Matthew has also had a successful dancing career. He appeared in several ballets by Fredrick Ashton including Cinderella (Jester), Tales of Beatrix Potter (Squirrel Nutkin), Daphnis and Chloe (Bryaxis) and Ashton's Neapolitan Dance in Act III of Swan Lake. Mathew has also danced the role of the Solo Boy in Kenneth MacMillan's Dances Concertantes and created a role in William Forsythes Firstext.
Matthew's most recent choreographic commission was Cinderella for London City Ballet.
English National Ballet
English National Ballet is one of the world's great ballet companies, and celebrated its 60th year in 2010. The original vision - to take classical ballet of the highest quality to the widest geographical audience, at a price everyone can afford - remains the cornerstone of the Company's philosophy today. The Company of 67 dancers and full orchestra performs large scale, high quality classical ballet nationally and internationally, presenting the same scale and excellence on tour as in London.
The Company performs to an average of 200,000 people annually, and reaches hundreds of thousands more through its learning and outreach activities, broadcast, news, digital media and partnerships. Our artistic vision encompasses narrative classical works, including heritage productions; new commissions from contemporary classical choreographers; innovative learning and outreach activities; and celebrating the heritage and talent of the dancers. The Company has a strong reputation for creating new works and reinforces its accessibility by presenting these in proscenium arch theatres and, uniquely, in-the-round.
Mark Ruffle - Winner of the My First artwork competition
Mark Ruffle was born near Bristol in 1973. He graduated from the University of the West of England with a degree in Graphic Design in 1995. After leaving college Mark worked as a visualiser, then in 1997 started working for Oxford University Press as an Art Buyer.
Mark has been freelance since 2000 and has enjoyed working for a wide variety of clients including Aardman, producing illustrations for Flash. He has designed and illustrated web content for the BBC to accompany television programmes such as Hustle, Holby City and Bleak House. Mark works in Adobe Illustrator and is equally happy drawing illustrations for books, packaging, advertising or animation
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