We are very proud to look back at a very successful year for New English Ballet Theatre. In 2024, NEBT produced a double season, with a Spring/Summer season and an Autumn/Winter season, hiring our dancers throughout the year.
In our Spring Season we went to the Royal Opera House, gaining 4 star reviews for our Next Generation Festival performance at the Linbury Theatre, premiering Matthew Ball’s new work, Acts of Exaltation, alongside Daniela Cardim’s Baroque Encounters.
Created for 7 dancers and set to music by Claudio Monteverdi, Acts of Exaltation is a joyous exploration of communities coming together to worship, to tell stories and to believe.
In August, our Founder and Artistic Director, Karen Pilkington-Miksa was awarded an MBE for her services to dance.
“As Chairman of New English Ballet Theatre, I am absolutely thrilled that NEBT’s founder, Director, and indeed its inspiration has been awarded an honorary MBE by HM the King. There can be no one more deserving of this recognition than Karen. Bravo!”
Luke Rittner KBE, Chair of Trustees
In the second half of the year we held our debut performance at the Alban Arena, St Albans, as well as a Gala at the Royal Academy of Dance. Both programmes included a retrospective of Kristen McNally’s witty social satires Mad Women and Lonesome Gun. Mad Women takes on women’s fate in the 50’s and Lonesome Gun looks into the sisterhood of the Wild West.
NEBT Associate Choreographer and Royal Ballet First Soloist, Valentino Zucchetti, created a trio for his Royal Ballet colleague, Principal Dancer Melissa Hamilton and NEBT dancers José Alves and Jerome Barnes, set to two of Richard Strauss’ expressive and poignant ‘Four Last Songs’.
Into the Light successfully premiered at Melissa Hamilton’s ballet gala at the Grand Opera House Belfast on 26th & 27th October.
In November, NEBT broke onto the international stage, performing in Senlis at the Mène La Danse festival, and in Roissy at the invitation of the 1st Deputy Mayor for Culture Affairs and Communication.
Did You Steal My Hat? was a newly created, 23-minute NEBT commission choreographed by French choreographer Constant Vigier.
NEBT looks forward to further international tours in our future seasons.
NEBT dancers in rehearsals for Did You Steal My Hat? Photos by Poetry Film Productions.
We bring 2024 to a close already looking forward to our Spring Season 2025, which includes a double bill at the London Handel Festival with a new commission by Valentino Zucchetti, and a Baroque-themed mixed bill touring programme.