Birmingham Royal Ballet Research Articles

Performance History Revealed: The Performance Databases of Rambert and the Royal Ballet

Dance archives were instrumental in the development of the first performance databases produced in the UK. This article examines the conceptual frameworks and practical components of the performance databases created by two of them: the Rambert Archive and Royal Opera House Collections, which holds the archives of the Royal Ballet and Birmingham Royal Ballet (up to 1997). It outlines their work-based data models (contrasting these with event-based data models), the contents and cataloguing rules of their ‘work’ and ‘performance’ records, and their online presentation of the data.

Flat Out! Dancing the city at a time of austerity

This paper reflects on and challenges existing paradigms around movement and mobilisation in and with the city. This focus is provoked by a community arts project called ‘Flat Out’, in which the researcher collaborated with the Drum Intercultural Arts Centre and Birmingham Royal Ballet, on a dance project with members of the community in the Lozells and Newtown areas of the city. The paper pushes for more deeply embodied and more highly politicised versions of place ballet and urban vortex, introducing a concept of choreography that comes from dance practice, and working through decolonial and postcolonial theories. A brief auto-ethnography of the author’s Birmingham childhood illustrates that movement repertoires are diverse, historically and spatially conditioned, and, in the case of Birmingham, located within an ongoing ‘decolonial churn’.

Brazil-United Kingdom Dance Medicine and Science Network as a Place for Poetic Preparation Research

This article presents the Brazil-United Kingdom (BR-UK) Dance Medicine and Science (DMS) Network as a potent place for poetic-creative research. Through the BR-UK DMS Network, institutions such as the University of Wolverhampton, a leader in the DMS field, the National Institute of Dance Medicine and Science, formed by this University and Birmingham Royal Ballet, One Dance UK, Trinity Laban and University of Birmingham, started, in 2016, a broad dialogue with the Brazilian State Universities of Goiás and Campinas, Federal Universities of Goiás, São Paulo and Rio Grande do Sul, Federal Institutes of Goiás and Brasília and Salgado de Oliveira University, as well as with other stakeholders from the private sector and individuals, in order to create an international cooperation. The main objective is to develop research and collaborative services during a 15-year period, establishing transdisciplinary ways for the advancement of the partnership between Dance, Science and Health.

Grace under pressure: passing dance through time

A sweeping examination of the ways in which dance has changed in the last 20 years, this book contains penetrating interviews with 18 teachers, coaches, ballet masters and company directors - former dancers all - who now bear the responsibility for the performances we see. Trained in England, France, Denmark, Russia and America, they lend their talents to companies and schools around the world. Having left the stage behind, they devote themselves to the future, passing their vast experience, their impeccable standards, and the repertory they cherish, to young artists everywhere. Among those interviewed are Kathryn Wade (English National Ballet School), Anne Marie Vessel (Royal Danish Ballet), David Bintley (Birmingham Royal Ballet), Irina Kolpakova (Kirov Ballet), Helgi Tomass on (San Francisco Ballet), Mark Morris (Mark Morris Dance Group), and Violette Verdy (New York City Ballet and Paris Opera Ballet). Supplier's Name: Vine House Distribution Ltd

Reflections on a Degree Initiative: The UK's Birmingham Royal Ballet dancers enter the University of Birmingham

This paper provides an opportunity to share experiences and perceptions of the first 5 years of a degree programme for professional dancers. A partnership developed in the mid-1990s between the UK's Birmingham Royal Ballet and the University of Birmingham, Westhill (now School of Education), to provide a part-time, post-experience, flexible study programme for full-time Company dancers. This is the first 'company customised' higher education programme to dovetail studies around rehearsal, performance and touring schedules. Methodology is based on a narrative by the author, informed by ongoing internal and external evaluations, in-depth interviews with dancers and Company managers, documentation and secondary sources. Outcomes indicate that the programme has made a positive difference to the Company, to the dancers and to the wider education and dance/arts world.

Position-matching in the upper limb: professional ballet dancers perform with outstanding accuracy.

To investigate the accuracy in position-matching in the upper limb in two groups of subjects who were physically fit and movement aware. A mixed-group design was used. Objective measurement of the accuracy in position-matching at the shoulder and elbow in both dominant and nondominant arms consisted of photographic record of the position-matching test, with goniometric measurement. Physiotherapy department at the Birmingham Royal Ballet and School of Health Science, University of Birmingham. Two subject groups: physiotherapy students (n = 10), professional ballet dancers (n = 10). A mixed design analysis of variance found significant differences between the accuracy in position-matching at both the shoulder and elbow joints in the two groups (p < 0.05), with the ballet dancers having greater accuracy then the physiotherapy students. A significant difference in the joint positions tested were demonstrated (p < 0.05) with the positions of abduction at the shoulder and extension of the elbow showing greatest accuracy in matching. There was no significant difference found between the dominant and nondominant upper limb in position-matching. Professional ballet dancers demonstrated greater accuracy in position-matching the upper limb, implying that mass and continuing practice can improve a motor sensory skill.

The Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet: Now the Birmingham Royal Ballet, by Sarah C. Woodcock. London: Sinclair-Stevenson, 1991. 338 pp., photographs. $39.95.

This is a history of the Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet, which was started by Ninette de Valois in 1946 as a training ground for young dancers and innovative choreographers.