Northern Ballet School

Huge congratulations to 2024 Classical Focus graduate, Eleanor Copping who will be performing at the end of this month in Marianela - Timeless at the Royal Opera House. Another fabulous achievement, it is so wonderful to see your dreams become reality.

Wishing 2026 Classical Focus graduate Eve Davies all the best as she prepares for her forthcoming trip to Vancouver. Eve was awarded a scholarship to attend the full 3 week summer intensive at Arts Umbrella where she will be mentored by dancers from Netherlands Dance Theatre, Livona Ellis from Crystal Pites company, Kidd Pivot, Jill Johnson former principal of the Forsythe company. She will learn and perform repertoire of Jiri Kylian, Crystal Pite, Sharon Eyal, Hofesh Shechter.
We are extremely proud of your achievement and the fabulous opportunities which it will bring.

Huge Congratulations to 2026 Classical Focus graduate, Rachel Thomas who will be joining Ballet Douro 2 in September and performing with them in Portugal and across Europe during the 26/27 season. We are extremely proud of you Rachel and wish you the most amazing time.

Some wonderful pictures taken of our fabulous Classical Focus students in performance during our end of year show ‘Trailblazers’.

# liveperformance

Following a variety of Industry Workshops and performance opportunities throughout the year, as well as Agent Panel Days in both Manchester and London, many of our 2026 Graduates have successfully secured Agent Representation. Huge congratulations to you all - we can’t wait to see what you do next. Also, a big shout out to our Creative Futures Team - Laura Keeling and Adam McCoy for working tirelessly to arrange all our industry facing events, as well as supporting and mentoring our graduates as they enter professional life.

representation

Earlier this term our wonderful Year 3 Jazz Focus students were invited to appear in the MM Jazz Showcase - For the Love of Jazz, presenting selected material from the NBS Spring Show - TRIBE.

MM Jazz Company, founded by NBS alumni Martina and Melissa Gumbs, provides post graduate training and open classes with a variety of established faculty, as well as visiting professionals and guest teachers, across Manchester and the North West. We are hugely grateful to Martina and Melissa for providing yet another fantastic opportunity for our graduates-in-waiting to perform in front of an invited audience of Agents and Industry Contacts, alongside peers, graduates, and established working professionals. Swipe for a glimpse at rehearsals.

Our amazing Year 3 Jazz Focus students took time out of their busy schedule of Summer Show rehearsals to participate in their final Industry workshop of the year.

We were pleased to welcome Natalie Weetman from Haven Holidays, who delivered a presentation, as well as a Q&A alongside NBS graduates Emily Biel and Lucy Cheetham, giving real insight into life as a Production Dancer at a UK resort. This was followed by a choreography workshop led by the inspirational Graeme Pickering. Yet other fantastic opportunity for our graduates to make industry connections, provided by our Creative Futures Team.

Some recent photos of the Classical Focus students taken during their enrichment workshops with the fabulous Miss Christina Gibbs & Mr Ryan Upton.
Miss Gibbs taught repertoire, introduced the ladies to the 4Pointe training system created by Lynne Charles, along with taking the Y3 students for Audition Technique. Mr Upton spent several days choreographing and rehearsing a piece for our upcoming show 'Trailblazers'. ��A huge thanks for such an inspirational and enjoyable few days!