Dance student Ruby is ready for a multi venue tour
Ruby Sweetland-Main of Widdington, Saffron Walden, on the Ballet Central tour, Act 1 of the ballet Le Corsaire - Credit: ASH Photography
A final year dance student from Widdington is performing with Ballet Central on a five week, 11 venue tour across England this summer which includes Cambridge and Chelmsford among its stops.
Ruby Sweetland-Main and fellow students will perform a mix of dance pieces to showcase their technique and skills as they embark on their professional careers.
Ruby, 18, attended Saffron Walden County High School and trained at the Georgina Pay School of Dance.
Ruby Sweetland-Main of Widdington, Saffron Walden, in a dynamic pose. - Credit: ASH Photography
She is now completing a BA (Hons) Professional Dance & Performance degree at Central School of Ballet in London. Ballet Central is their touring company. Ballet Central’s dancers also help with technical aspects including lighting, sound, staging and wardrobe.
The cohort of 38 dancers in this year’s Ballet Central company will be split into two casts allowing Artistic Director Christopher Marney to alternate performances by venue as the tour progresses. This will protect the dancers alongside regular Covid testing and rehearsing in bubbles.
Ruby said: “I am really looking forward to being back on stage and gaining professional experience from touring.
"Highland Fling by Matthew Bourne is my favourite piece of repertoire we will be performing, as the detailed story provides us with the opportunity to act alongside the technical skills of dance.”
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The show will open with Act 1 from Le Corsaire, a classical ballet with romance and pirates and a pas de deux set against a backdrop of the high seas.
A new piece by MA Choreography student Charlotte Edmonds is being created to a commissioned score by Ballet Central resident composer Philip Feeney for the tour.
The performance will conclude with Act 2 of Matthew Bourne’s Highland Fling, a gothic fable of winged fairies, romanticism and kilts.
The tour starts on June 17 and runs until July 21.
It's at Chelmsford Civic Theatre on June 24. Tickets from https://www.chelmsford.gov.uk/theatres/whats-on/dance/ballet-central. A £1.50 booking fee is applicable per transaction, except for cash and debit card payments made in person and by telephone.
The performance at the ADC Theatre in Cambridge is on July 16. Tickets from https://www.adctheatre.com/whats-on/dance/ballet-central/ Box Office 01223 300085.
