Northern Ballet has announced that its much-anticipated enchanting new ballet for children, Elves & the Shoemaker, will première in Leeds this October, revealed on the evening of the television broadcast of its production Three Little Pigs. The company is extremely excited to launch this brand new production.
Elves & the Shoemaker is the latest in Northern Ballet’s award-winning series of Short Ballets for Small People which already includes the hugely popular Ugly Duckling and Three Little Pigs. The ballet has been created to introduce families and young children to live dance, music and theatre and encourage this participation. It will be performed in venues across Leeds before touring widely across north England and joining theatres on Northern Ballet’s national tour across the UK. It will then tour throughout the UK in spring 2015.
The production will retell the Brothers Grimm story about a shoemaker who receives some much-needed help from two elves: this colourful and heart-warming production is choreographed by Northern Ballet’s Ballet Master Daniel de Andrade. It will be set to an original score by composer Philip Feeney with set designs by Ali Allen. The production will give more young children and families the opportunity to visit the theatre and see ballet for the first time, igniting their interest in the art form with the hope of continuing this throughout the rest of their lives.
The company’s production of Ugly Duckling was a sell-out success on tour and became a BAFTA award-winning TV adaptation for CBeebies. The production of Three Little Pigs continues to delight audiences and critics on tour throughout the UK and a CBeebies television adaptation was screened on Easter Monday this year. Since its inception, Northern Ballet’s ballets for children have been seen live by more than 53,000 people and have been seen on TV by hundreds of thousands of people.