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History
1976
- 1987
In 1976 Robert de Warren was appointed
as the new Artistic Director. He was a classically trained
dancer with a wealth of experience, having previously worked
with the Royal Ballet and with the larger West German ballet
companies. To fix the new focus of the company firmly on 'ballet',
he renamed the company Northern Ballet Theatre.
There were now over twenty dancers
in the company which enabled de Warren to work on scaled down
full length classical ballets, rediscovered works and brand
new creations. It was also during his time that the company
started to build an international reputation, recruiting dancers
from China, Japan, Italy and France, and touring to Italy
and Hong Kong. The rapidly expanding repertoire of shorter
ballets, to which de Warren himself and Andre Prokovsky made
significant contributions, included work from choreographers
as distinguished as August Bournonville, Michael Fokine, Walter
Gore, John Cranko and Royston Maldoom.
In 1987, after eleven years as Artistic
Director, Robert de Warren accepted a new post at La Scala,
Milan. His contribution to the development of NBT had been
significant; under his direction the company had increased
in size to twenty-eight dancers, he had enticed Rudolf Nureyev
to become Artistic Laureate and to dance as a regular guest
artist, and had secured HRH The Princess Margaret, Countess
of Snowdon, as NBT's Royal Patron.
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