Pictured: (l-r) Kathryn James, MD of the NEC, Birmingham
Royal Ballet Artists Laura Davenport, Jade Heusen, Laura-Jane
Gibson and Keith Longmore, Communications Director at BRB in an
empty NEC hall
This December the NEC's hall space will be graced with ballet
dancers as the venue invites Birmingham Royal Ballet (BRB) to
utilise one of their 20 interlinking halls for rehearsals.
Following the stunning production of Peter Wright's 'The
Nutcracker', which runs at Birmingham Hippodrome from November 25
to December 11, BRB takes the ballet to London's O2 arena. In
preparation for London, and a venue the company have never
performed in before, a mock-up performance area is being created at
the NEC Birmingham. This will help BRB dancers, creative and
technical teams to familiarise themselves with the different stage
size.
This is a landmark union between BRB and the NEC, bringing
together the venue's experience, expertise and resources in order
to help the company prepare for their next run of shows.
Keith Longmore, Communications Director at BRB said:
"Historically the ballet has been performed in a theatre, appearing
at the Birmingham Hippodrome since 1990, but the move to London's
O2 marks the first arena performance outside of Birmingham.
Longmore continues: As we're unable to get into the O2 ahead of
our performances there, we had to find somewhere large enough to
allow the team to experience the difference in size and understand
the knock on effect that will have on choreography - and where
better than the NEC".
Kathryn James, Managing Director at the NEC, said: "I'm proud to
be supporting such a prestigious fellow Birmingham Brand and I'm
really looking forward to seeing NEC hall space used for something
totally different - it just demonstrates the flexibility of our
venue. Literally anything is possible!"