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Remi Wörtmeyer 20 JUNE 2022

Following a 12-year career with Dutch National Ballet, Remi Wörtmeyer with bid farewell during the company's 60th Anniversary Gala performance on 30 June.

Josef Varga 18 JUNE 2022

After dancing with Dutch National Ballet for 15 years, Josef Varga will give his final performance with the company at th 60th Anniversary Gala on 30 June.

Aurélie Dupont 16 JUNE 2022

Aurelie Dupont has announced that she is standing down from her post as Director of Dance @balletoperadeparis in order to devote herself to personal projects. She will leave on 31 July 2022

Christopher Wheeldon 12 JUNE 2022
Christopher Wheeldon has won a Tony Award for his choreography for the musical MJ.

Teatro alla Scala Ballet School 11 JUNE 2022

On Saturday, 25 students of the Ballet School of the Teatro alla Scala directed by Frédéric Olivieri (14 boys and 11 girls) completed their studies, obtaining the coveted diploma: Emma Broglia, Denisa Bzhetaj, Alice Demichelis, Giulia Fanti, Anna Letizia Joly, Luna Jusic, Asia Matteazzi, Virginia Meneguzzo, Matilde Pupita, Siria Vincenzi, Anna Zingoni, Giacomo Ammazzini,  Mirko Andreutti, Gabriel Salvatore Bua, Paolo Calò, Gianmanuel D'Elia, Mario Elefante, Giorgio Guerrieri, Lorenzo Lelli, Federico Matteini, Luca Novello, Luigi Peragine, Lorenzo Poggianti, Vincenzo Romano, Andrea Tozza.

The Dutch master taking a bow after the opening night of the Hans Van Manen Festival at the Dutch National Ballet. The Festival, which runs at the National Opera & Ballet in Amsterdam until 29 June, celebrates the choreographer's 90th birthday and features four different programmes of his ballets. operaballet.nl

Helsinki International Ballet Competition 6 JUNE 2022

The winners have been announced as follows: Jane Erkko Grand Prix € 20 000 - Yuka Masumoto, Japan; Doris Laine Prize € 12 000 - Giulio Diligente, Italy; Female Seniors: 1st Prize € 10 000 (not awarded); 2nd Prize € 7 000 -Hui-Wen Peng, Taiwan' 3rd Prize € 5 000 - Viola Länsivuori, Finland; Male Seniors: 1st Prize € 10 000 - Keita Fujishima, Japan; 2nd Prize € 7 000 - Luciano Ghidoli, Italy; 3rd Prize € 5 000 - Joshua Kiesel, USA; Female Juniors: 1st Prize € 5 000 - Maya Schonbrun, USA; 2nd Prize € 3 500 - Matoi Kawamoto, Japan; 3rd Prize € 2 000 - Alexis Workowski, USA; Male Juniors: 1st Prize € 5 000 - Clark Eselgroth, USA; 2nd Prize € 3 500 - Alexei Orohovsky, USA; 3rd Prize € 2 000 - Vasco Yu Belo Prazeres Pereira, Portugal; Choreography Award € 5 000 (not awarded); Attitydi Award € 1 000 -Pinja Rissanen, Finland; Encouragement Award from the Jury € 1 000 - Alexei Orohovsky, USA; Special partnership prize: Pas de Deux € 5 000 - Yuka Masumoto, Japan, & Clark Eselgroth, USA.

Stéphane Bullion 3 JUNE 2022

Stéphane Bullion will give his farewell performance tomorrow, on 4 June, in Mats Ek's Another Place. The pas de deux was created on him and Aurélie Dupont in 2019.

Queen's Birthday Honours 2 JUNE 2022

In the Queen's Birthday Honours, former Northern Ballet artistic direcctor David Nixon has been honoured with a CBE; Rosemary Lee, choreographer, and Robert Noble, Managing Director, New Adventures are awarded the OBE; while the MBE goes to: veteran dancer Michael Coleman, who still appears with ENB in character roles; Jasmin Vardimon, choreographer; Jeanefer Jean-Charles, choreographer; Etta Murfitt, New Adventures; Sanjeevini Dutta, Director Kadam Dance; Zoe Gold-ing, AD ZoieLogic Dance Theatre and Chithra Ramakrishnan, South Indian classical vocalist and dancer. 

Xander Parish and Laura Fernandez 31 MAY 2022

Xander Parish and Laura Fernandez, who recently left the Mariinsky Ballet and the Stanislavsky Ballet respectively, will be performing Romeo and Juliet with the State Ballet of Georgia on 12 June. The performance with be conducted by Gavriel Heine.

English National Ballet 31 MAY 2022
Promotions, Joining & Leaving

PROMOTIONS Daniel McCormick has been promoted to First Soloist; Precious Adams, Julia Conway, Fernando Carratalá Coloma and Erik Woolhouse have been promoted to Soloist; Emily Suzuki and Francesca Velicu have been promoted to Junior Soloist; Matthew Astley, Rebecca Blenkinsop, Ivana Bueno, Noam Durand, Miguel Angel Maidana, Rentaro Nakaaki, Victor Prigent, Angela Wood and Rhys Antoni Yeomans have been promoted to First Artist; Eireen Evrard has been promoted to 8th Year Artist; Eric Snyder has been promoted to 5th Year Artist. 

JOINING Haruhi Otani joined as Soloist mid-Season; Lorenzo Trossello joins as Junior Soloist from Northern Ballet; Thiago Pereira joins as Artist of the Company, alongside Paige Bestington, Hamish Longley, Jose Menchon, Archie Sullivan, Daisy Wales, Oscar Ward and Lulu Welford, who join having danced with English National Ballet during the 2021/2022 Season.; Anu Sistonen joined English National Ballet’s Artistic Team as Ballet Mistress mid-Season. 

LEAVING As previously announced, Lead Principals Joseph Caley, Jeffrey Cirio and Isaac Hernández leave English National Ballet at the end of the 2021/2022 Season. Caley will join The Australian Ballet; Hernández leaves to join San Francisco Ballet and Cirio is returning to Boston Ballet. Junior Soloist, Anjuli Hudson, retired from the stage mid-season having danced with English National Ballet for nearly 15 years; ENB Artist Pedro Lapetra retires at the end of the 2021/22 season, having danced with English National Ballet for 19 years.

Royal Ballet Promotions 22 MAY 2022

Reece Clarke and William Bracewell have been promoted to principal dancers with The Royal Ballet. 

Ioannis Mandafounis 21 JUNE 2022

Ioannis Mandafounis has been appointed Artistic Director of the Dresden Frankfurt Dance Company. He will take up the position for the 2023/24 season, initially for 5 years. The management of the company will thus continue as a dual leadership, consisting of Ioannis Mandafounis as Artistic Director and Annika Glose as Commercial Director. 

JUNE
Birthdays & Anniversaries

1st Paco Peña

2nd Carlos Acosta
Michael Clark
Joel Carreño

3rd Patricia Ruanne
Martha Clarke
Josephine Baker (1906  - 1975)

4th Dawid Trzensimiech
Rei Yamaguchi

5th Johan Kobborg
Riku Ito

6th Igor Kolb
Dame Ninette de Valois (1898 - 2001)

8th Mathilde Froustey

10th Michael Coleman
Benjamin Millepied
Svetlana Zakharova

11th Lauren Cuthbertson

11th Dame Beryl Grey

13th Frederic Franklin (1914 – 2013)

14th António Casalinho

16th Niklas Ek

17th Igor Stravinsky (1882 - 1971)

18th Leonid Lavrovsky (1905 – 1967)

19th Toni Lander (1931 – 1985)

20th Choreographed by Bronislava Nijinska, Le train bleu was premiered by Diaghilev's Ballets Russs at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées on this day in 1924

21st Enrico Cecchetti (1850 – 1928)

23rd Yosvani Ramos
Daria Klimentová
Bob Fosse (1927 – 1987)
Fanny Essler (1810 – 1884)

25th Le Jeune Homme et la mort choreographed by Roland Petit and premiered this day in 1946

26th Farukh Ruzimatov
Lucinda Childs

28th Giselle premiered at the Paris Operain 1842 with Carlotta Grisi in the title role on her birthday

28th Carlotta Grisi (1919 – 1899)

29th Will Kemp
Leslie Browne

30th Medhi Walerski
Flemming Flindt (1936 – 2009)