Backstage

Northern Ballet Theatre is the UK busiest touring dance company and to maintain the highest possible standard of performance at each venue, the company has a team of highly skilled, lighting, sound, stage management and wardrobe technicians who travel to each theatre to put the production together.

A team of around 20 staff under the direction of Tim Anger, Head of Technical Services, unload, rebuild, re-light and sound-check the show each time they arrive at a new theatre, normally on a Monday – known as the ‘get-in’. Through the following day they check through all equipment and do hundreds of tests on stage. At each venue all costumes are unloaded, washed and re-pressed as required and then placed in the dancers’ dressing rooms. Kim Brassley, Head of Wardrobe, manages the wardrobe department and is responsible for commissioning costume makers and organising all the costume requirements for each production. She usually works from the company headquarters in Leeds and directs the Touring Wardrobe Manager, who runs the wardrobe department on tour at each venue.