28 June 2023

For immediate release

Northern Ballet announces promotions, leavers and joiners for 2023/234 season

Northern Ballet have announced six promotions within their Company of dancers as well as four new additions for their 2023/24 season.

Joseph Taylor will be promoted to Premier Dancer, Jonathan Hanks, Saeka Shirai and Dominique Larose to Leading Soloist and Alessandra Bramante and Harris Beattie to Coryphée.

Aaron Kok will join the Company as a Dancer, Mayuko Iwanaga and Yu Wakizuka as Apprentices and Itsuki Amemiya also as an Apprentice until December 2023.

This season the Company will say fond farewell to Mackenzie Jacob who joins Scottish Ballet, Katharine Lee who joins San Francisco Ballet, Sean Bates who joins Zurich Ballet and Wesley Branch. Gavin McCaig has retired from performing and joins the Young Dancers Academy in London as Director of Business Operations.

Northern Ballet’s autumn season will commence in September with Generations: Three Short Ballets in Leeds and London followed by a national tour of Beauty & the Beast and The Nutcracker in Leeds. For more information visit northernballet.com/whats-on

-ENDS-

For further press information contact:

Jessica Forrest, Communications Manager

jessica.forrest@northernballet.com

Download high res images

Notes to Editors

Northern Ballet  

Northern Ballet is one of the UK’s leading and widest touring ballet companies. Bold and innovative in its approach, Northern Ballet is prolific at creating new full-length work with a unique blend of strong classical technique and impressive storytelling. Northern Ballet’s repertoire embraces popular culture and takes inspiration from literature, legend, opera and the classics, pushing the boundaries of what stories can be told through dance.      

A champion for the cultural exports of the North, Leeds-based Northern Ballet is dedicated to bringing ballet to as many people and places as possible, under the leadership of Artistic Director Federico Bonelli. Northern Ballet’s Company of dancers performs a combination of its full-length ballets and specially created ballets for children at more than 30 venues annually.    

Audiences can also enjoy Northern Ballet’s work on screen through their digital dance platform. Visit digitaldance.org to discover more. 

Alessandra Bramante in rehearsals for Sketches. Photo Emily Nuttall.