Belfast International Ballet Festival
An account of the first ballet festival in the city of Belfast
Ballet is one of the world’s most popular art forms and there are plenty of global hotspots where people can gather to enjoy regular ballet performances. But what about the places where ballet is known and loved, but has very limited resources? One such place is my native country of Ireland, but on the 9th and 10th August 2024, a very special event was held in Belfast - the inaugural Belfast International Ballet Festival, which was supported by the Belfast City Council. This festival was organised and arranged by some dear friends of mine and it brought together many participants. I, myself, was a participant, which was a real honour, and I helped to make a new connection that enabled two more dearest friends to participate and make their début performances in Northern Ireland.
In this essay, I am going to write about this very important event, starting by giving an insight into the ballet community in Ireland and then going into detail about what took place at the festival.
Ballet in Ireland
The ballet community in Ireland is very small, in fact, it’s practically a bubble, but there were multiple attempts to establish a solid Irish ballet community throughout the course of the 20th century. In 1927, Dame Ninette de Valois, founder of the Royal Ballet and a native of County Wicklow, established the Abbey Theatre School of Ballet in Dublin at the suggestion of the Irish poet and co-founder of the Abbey Theatre, W.B. Yeats. The school closed in 1933. After several attempts to start a national company, in 1973, Irish ballerina Joan Denise Moriarty, a student of Dame Marie Rambert, founded the Irish National Ballet, but in 1989, due to a series of funding cuts, the company closed.
Ireland has more ballet schools than ballet companies, with there only being two professional ballet companies - Ballet Ireland, founded in 1998, and Cork City Ballet, founded in 1992 by Moriarty’s student Alan Foley. These are small companies with a limited number of dancers and their seasons are short in length, but they regularly tour Ireland and perform at the Gaiety Theatre in Dublin, the Wexford Opera House in Wexford and the Cork Opera House. Irish ballet fans are also exposed to their favourite art form through school performances, youth companies and touring companies and artists from abroad. For example, the Grand Opera House in Belfast, the city’s most prestigious stage, has acted as a touring venue for various national and international companies for many years, some of whom are regular guests, most notably Birmingham Royal Ballet, Northern Ballet and Scottish Ballet.
And there is also the Irish National Youth Ballet, a youth ballet company based in Dublin, which was founded in the 1990s and received support from de Valois. Several Irish ballet dancers who trained at Irish schools have gone onto achieve successful careers abroad: the most famous is Melissa Hamilton, born in Belfast and raised in Dromore, County Down, who is a First Soloist with the Royal Ballet. It is the aim of its members for the Irish ballet community to grow and this year, a new step was taken in that direction by four members of the Belfast ballet community when they arranged and held the Belfast International Ballet Festival.
The Team behind Belfast International Ballet Festival
This was Belfast’s first ballet festival and it was held at The MAC Theatre, a cultural hub and artistic venue that opened in 2012 and is located in the city’s famous Cathedral Quarter. The organisers behind this event were ballet teachers and educators Rana O’Brien, Jacob Allison and Dr Anna Carapellotti of High Points Youth Ballet CIC, Northern Ireland’s youth ballet company and pre-professional training programme, and Dr Argyro Tsampazi.
High Points Youth Ballet was founded in 2011 by Rana O’Brien. Rana is a Turkish-Irish ballet teacher, dance critic, researcher and former ballerina. She trained at the Yildiz Alpar Emiroglu in Istanbul and became a member of the Istanbul State Opera and Ballet Company. After relocating to Northern Ireland in 1997, she established her ballet school Rana’s School of Ballet and in 2011, she founded the High Points Youth Ballet with funding from UnLtd, The Foundation for Social Entrepreneurs.
The primary purpose of establishing High Points Youth Ballet was to provide supplementary training for exceptionally talented and committed students in Northern Ireland. From 2011 to 2017, HPYB organised monthly masterclasses for students who were scoring high points in their ballet examinations. These masterclasses were taught by esteemed teachers such as Kenny Burke of the Scottish Conservatoire and Julianne Rice-Oxley of the English Youth Ballet.
In 2018, the High Points Youth Ballet team expanded when husband-and-wife team Jacob Allison and Dr Anna Carapellotti arrived in Northern Ireland from the United States. Jake was born in Muscatine, Iowa and trained at the School of First State Ballet Theatre in Wilmington, Delaware under Pasha Kambalov, a graduate of the Vaganova Academy, Kristina Kambalov, and Lev Assouliak, former Director of the Perm State Choreographic College. After graduating, he joined the First State Ballet Theatre company. Anna trained at the Atlanta Ballet Centre for Dance Education and at summer intensives at numerous schools including American Ballet Theatre and Boston Ballet. At age 14, she joined the Pittsburgh Youth Ballet Company and School directed by Jean Gedeon in Pennsylvania. In 2005, she joined Richmond Ballet and in 2008, she joined the First State Ballet Theatre. As well as dancing and teaching, Anna has also studied the impact of dance on health for people living with Parkinson’s and Multiple Sclerosis as a Thouron and Fulbright Scholar, publishing her research findings in international journals and earning a PhD from Queen’s University Belfast in 2022.
The couple relocated to Belfast in 2017 and led the creation of HPYB’s pre-professional training programme in collaboration with Rana in 2018. Jake is the Artistic Director of High Points Youth Ballet, and Anna is one of its repétitéurs and ballet teachers. Together, they have trained students from all over Northern Ireland and they have staged for their students various pieces from the classical repertoire, including Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, excerpts from The Sleeping Beauty and Don Quixote, the Grand Pas Classique from Paquita, and the second act of Giselle. Many of their students have gone onto train in full-time programmes and summer intensives at some of Europe’s top vocational schools, including the Royal Ballet School, the John Cranko Schule and others.
Dr Argyro Tsampazi is a Greek dance artist, choreographer and scholar based in Belfast. In her native Greece, she was a member of the Macedonian Ballet Company and Dancetheatre Parousies. She later established her own dance company and school, Chorochoros (DanceSpace) with which she toured Greece and abroad. Alongside her dance and choreographic career, Argyro is an educator and worked as Ballet Lecturer in the Dance Department at the University of Ulster from 2016-2018. She has choreographed several contemporary pieces for HPYB, including a piece called Initiation, which was listed in the Top 12 in the Youth American Grand Prix in Paris in 2023. The students were invited to perform the piece at the YAGP in New York in early 2024. As of September 2024, Argyro is now a researcher and lecturer of Dance Theatre at Queen’s University Belfast.
This team of four came together to give the city of Belfast, their students, the Irish ballet community and local balletomanes a new festival that they aspire to be an annual event that can bring more ballet artists from across Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and abroad to Belfast and to increase Belfast’s role in the art form. The aim is for the festival to contribute to the future of Belfast’s cultural vitality, which envisions a professional ballet company and vocational school in Northern Ireland.
The Participants
The festival more than succeeded in bringing together students, professional dancers, teachers and educators to celebrate our beloved art form of ballet. Seventy students, seven guest professional dancers and several teachers and guest choreographers participated in the festival, all coming from different parts of the world - Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, Scotland, Greece, Ukraine and the United States.
The students were those of High Points Youth Ballet and of S-MB Company, a Scottish youth ballet company founded in 1995 and led by its Artistic Director Sara-Maria Barton, a former ballerina with the Royal Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet, English National Ballet and Scottish Ballet. Three guest students also participated - Giorgos Zafeiris from the School of Dance “Aristea Litou” in the city of Ioannina, Greece, who is now training at the Vienna State Opera Ballet Academy, and former HPYB students, Lauren McConnell, who is now training at Northern Ballet School, and Amy Crawford, who is now training at the Central School of Ballet in London.
The guest professional dancers were:
Anna McCoy - Anna was born in Belfast and trained with local teacher, Fiona Campbell before joining the Irish National Youth Ballet under the directorship of Katherine Lewis until she was 16. She then trained at the Central School of Ballet and has danced in the corps de ballet of the English National Ballet as well as in various dance and television projects. She has now joined the Semperoper Ballett in Dresden, Germany as a member of the corps de ballet.
Luc Burns - Luc was born in Belfast and trained at Rana’s School of Ballet. In 2018, he was accepted into the three-year Professional Dancers Diploma course at Kings International Ballet Academy. He graduated in 2021 and has worked with various companies in Germany and the US. Since December 2022, he has been a member of the Varna State Opera in Bulgaria. In June 2024, he guest-appeared with HPYB in their end-of-the-year performance of the second act of Giselle, in which he danced Albrecht. His repertoire includes roles in Cinderella, Swan Lake, Romeo and Juliet, The Nutcracker, The Sleeping Beauty and Catarina, ou La Fille du bandit.
Rachel Neale - Rachel was born in Newtownabbey and was the first cohort of HPYB’s pre-professional programme. She has performed principal roles in the company’s productions of The Nutcracker, The Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake. She trained at the Central School of Ballet and since graduating, she has been a member of the international touring company of The Phantom of the Opera, touring in Saudi Arabia, Dubai and Bulgaria, and is currently embarking on the next leg of the European tour.
Ruaidhrí Maguire - Ruaidhrí is an Irish dancer and choreographer. He trained at the Central School of Ballet and is a member of Ballet Ireland. Prior to Ballet Ireland, he danced with the Baltic Opera Ballet in Gdansk, Poland, Ballet Victoria in British Columbia, Canada and Milwaukee Ballet II in the US. His repertoire includes leading roles in Giselle, The Nutcracker, Cinderella and Don Quixote. Ruaidhrí is also the founder and artistic director of Six Dance Collective, a project that aims to further develop ballet as an adventurous artform across Ireland through collaboration and creating opportunities for the next generation of dancers. He produced a new two-act ballet White Doves, which premièred at The MAC in August 2023.
Stephen Everson - Stephen was born in Toledo, Ohio and trained at Ballet 5:8 School of the Arts and later at Project Ballet. In 2018, he joined Ballet 5:8’s professional company as a trainee, touring across the United States. Since 2021, he has been a member of the First State Ballet Theatre in Wilmington, Delaware. His repertoire includes roles in Coppélia, Giselle, Swan Lake, Don Quixote, The Sleeping Beauty, Dracula, Raymonda and La Bayadere.
Elizaveta Gogidze - Elizaveta was born in Kyiv, Ukraine and trained at the Kyiv State Ballet School, from which she graduated in 2009. She joined the National Opera of Ukraine in 2010 and became a First Soloist. In 2022, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, she became principal ballerina with the United Ukrainian Ballet in The Netherlands and is now a member of its successor company the Ukrainian International Ballet. Her repertoire includes soloist and principal roles in Giselle, Paquita, The Snow Queen, La Bayadere, Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, The Sleeping Beauty, Le Corsaire, Cinderella, Don Quixote, La Sylphide and The Forest Song.
Oleksii Kniazkov - Oleksii was born in Kramatorsk in the Donetsk Oblast in Ukraine and trained at the Choreographic School of Vadim Pisarev at the Donetsk State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre. He then trained at the Kharkiv State Academy of Culture, Contemporary Choreography Department and joined the Kharkiv National Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre in 2013, where he became a principal dancer. In 2022, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, he became principal dancer with the United Ukrainian Ballet in The Netherlands and is now a member of its successor company the Ukrainian International Ballet. His repertoire includes principal roles in Giselle, Swan Lake, Coppélia, Le Corsaire, La Bayadere, The Sleeping Beauty, Don Quixote, The Nutcracker, Paquita, Cinderella, Scheherazade, Spartacus and Romeo and Juliet.
Another organisation to participate in the festival was Second Chance Ballet, a project that was founded in 1965 by Ruth Adams, an Irish ballerina from Dublin who trained in Belfast with Maxine Graham and became a member of the Royal Academy of Dance. She founded Second Chance Ballet as a programme to enable adult ballet dancers of all ages, genders and ranges of ability to dance, giving any ballet lover of any age the opportunity to do something they love. The organisation is now under the directorship of Chee Shong Soon, a student of Ruth Adams, who succeeded her as Artistic Director in 2010 after her retirement.
Other participants were London-born multi-award winning choreographer Oona Doherty, a graduate of The London School of Contemporary Dance, University of Ulster and LABAN London; Sara-Maria Barton, Artistic Director of S-MB Company; ballet master Yuri Tcvetkov, a graduate of the Vaganova Academy and teacher at various professional academies in Greece; guest lecturer Professor Aoife McGrath of Queens University Belfast and finally, myself, Amy Growcott.
The Festival
The Festival was made up of a mixed programme of masterclasses, an academic lecture, a workshop and three performances, two evening and one matinee. It began with a summer intensive at HPYB studios for students aged 10-18 that ran from the 22nd July to 3rd August. The main events occurred from the 5th to 10th August, beginning with a series of masterclasses for young dancers and adults from the 5th to 7th August. The dress rehearsals took place on the 8th August and the performances, lecture and workshop were held on the 9th and 10th August at The MAC.
Youth Dance Matters and Dance for Parkinson’s - 10th August 2024
The lecture and workshop occurred on the 10th August. The lecture, entitled Youth Dance Matters, included a presentation of a research project by Professor Aoife McGrath (who, due to illness, joined via Zoom) and a curated discussion on the value and future of youth dance companies moderated by Dr Argyro Tsampazi. Other participants were Sara-Maria Barton, Lindsay Ash-Brown of the Irish National Youth Ballet and Jake Allison. This was followed by the workshop Dance for Parkinson’s, led by Dr Anna Carapellotti. It featured a ballet-inspired dance class for people living with Parkinson’s Disease and a presentation on dance and health research.
Swan Lake Suite - 10th August 2024
A matinee performance was held on the Saturday afternoon - Swan Lake Suite, a small collection of dances from Swan Lake, performed by members of Second Chance Ballet, students of S-MB Company, one student from HPYB and three of the professional dancers. This was also the event in which I took part.
It began with a lecture of the history of Swan Lake presented by myself, in which I spoke of how Swan Lake was created and how the ballet has changed since after Petipa’s death. Afterwards, it was time for some dancing and the opening numbers were excerpts from the Act 1 Pas de trois, beginning with the entrée performed by three dancers from Second Chance Ballet. This was followed by the second female variation, performed by S-MB student Zara Turpie, and the male variation, performed by Luc Burns. Next came two numbers from Act 1, scene 2 performed by the students from S-MB Company. The first was the Dance of the Big Swans performed by Holly Brown and Olivia Turpie, and the Coda, performed by the ensemble of students.
Then came selections from Act 2, starting with the Czardas (Hungarian Dance) and Spanish Dance, performed by dancers from Second Chance Ballet and for the finale, the audience was treated to the Swan Lake Pas de deux. Here, the pas was performed by four dancers - the entrée and adage were performed by Rachel Neale and Stephen Everson, HPYB student Amelia Larmour performed the Yuri Grigorovich variation for Odile and the coda was performed by Rachel, Stephen, Amelia and Luc, with Stephen performing Prince Siegfried’s opening solo. Amelia performing the 32 fouéttes, Luc performing the grand pirouettes a la seconde, and Rachel and Stephen performing the closing section with all four dancers coming together, each pair performing a different closing pose.
Rising Stars Gala - 9th/10th August 2024
The highlight of the festival was, of course, the Rising Stars Gala, held on the 9th and 10th August. The gala was staged in three parts, though the first and second parts were altered on each night, namely the second part.
Both performances opened with a Grand Defile, choreographed by Anna and Jake to the finale of Les Sylphides, which was performed by the students and one professional dancer. The first part was a mixture of different dance works by different choreographers. On the first performance on the 9th, the bill of the first part was a piece by Ruaidhrí Maguire called After/Before, performed by Ruaidhrí and Anna McCoy; a classical/contemporary piece choreographed by Argyro Tsampazi for the students of HPYB called Sheep; the Dance of the Big Swans and the Coda from Act 1, scene 2 of Swan Lake, performed by the students of S-MB Company; the éntree and adage from the Swan Lake Pas de deux, performed by Rachel Neale and Stephen Everson, and a contemporary piece by choreographer Oona Doherty called Navy Blue, performed by the senior students of HPYB and guest student Giorgos Zafeiris. Navy Blue is choreographed to the first movement of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 and débuted at Sadler’s Wells Theatre in London in 2022.
The second part of the first performance was a suite of different variations performed by seven students, one guest student and two professional dancers. The student performances were:
The second female variation from the Pas de trois from Act 1 of Swan Lake performed by Zara Turpie (S-MB)
A solo entitled Moving Through Contest performed by Holly Brown (S-MB)
Variation from the La Fille mal gardée Pas de deux performed by Jessica Birnie (HPYB)
Variation from the Diana and Actaeon Pas de deux performed by Kristina Murphy (HPYB)
A solo entitled Ashes to Ashes performed by Olivia Turpie (S-MB)
Variation from The Talisman Pas de deux performed by Madison Crawford (HPYB)
Waltz variation of Swanhilda from Act 1 of Coppélia performed by Amelia Larmour (HPYB).
Guest student Lauren McConnell performed a solo called Rain, staged by herself after the original choreography by Martyn Garside. Finally, Luc Burns performed the male variation from the Swan Lake Pas de trois and Anna McCoy performed one of the variations from the Paquita Grand Pas Classique.
On the second performance on the 10th August, the first part was almost the same, but with two differences. The Swan Lake Pas de deux was not performed and instead of Sheep, Argyro’s piece Initiation was performed. The second part was the second act of Giselle, performed by the senior students of HPYB and one professional. In the leading roles were Georgia Crawford as Giselle, Luc Burns as Albrecht, Amelia Larmour as Myrtha, Liam Nugent as Hilarion, Aoife Finnieston as Moyna and Madison Crawford as Zulma.
The third part of the gala on both nights was a Don Quixote Suite that was performed by the HPYB students and several of the professionals. It began with an introduction of acting, followed by the Seguidilla, performed by students Sarina Bennett, Caitlin Gray, Lauren Hanna, Ella Thompson, Oscar Hunter and Liam Nugent, guest student Giorgos Zafeiris and Stephen Everson. Next came the dance of Mercedes, performed by Rachel Neale, and the Variation of Basilio with friends performed by Giorgos, Zara Crawford and Kristina Murphy. Afterwards came the Marche performed by the senior HPYB students as bridesmaids, followed by the Dance of the Amours, performed by Aoife Finnieston as Amour and eight junior students as her little amours. The bridesmaids returned for the entrée lead-in to the Grand Pas de deux performed by Oleksii Kniazkov and Elizaveta Gogidze. This staging included the entrée, adage, four variations and the coda, which brought the show to a close, followed by the curtain call.
Review
The organisers of the Belfast International Ballet Festival put in a lot of effort and hard work to present an event that celebrates ballet and highlights Belfast’s potential as a ballet hotspot, and they succeeded.
The students of High Points Youth Ballet prove that Northern Ireland is a place where ballet talent can grow and flourish. They have as much potential as those in the other corners of the United Kingdom and the festival gave them the chance to share their talents with local audiences and artists from overseas. They are committed students who have been trained well by their teachers and they gave more than promising performances, particularly the senior students. Not only do they bring skill in their technique, but also in their acting: they did not forget when they needed to be playing characters and telling stories. Those especially worth mentioning include Amelia Larmour, Madison Crawford and Georgia Crawford. Each took on several roles in the festival, including variations and roles as the bridesmaids in the Don Quixote Suite, which they each danced with good-level technique, but their highlight was their performances in the second act of Giselle.
Amelia gave a commanding stage presence as Myrtha, capturing the Queen of the Wilis’ merciless nature and presenting a good jump, a vital requirement for the role, and Madison did well to capture the ghostly elegance of the obedient second-rank wili Zulma. Georgia presented a very touching performance as the tragic Giselle, proving to be a good actress, especially when she begs for Albrecht to be spared and when she bids her final farewell to him. The role of Giselle is a challenge as it requires the ballerina to present an airy, spirit-like presence, but Georgia did well to accomplish this task and making the role her own. These three students are among the top produced by the teachers of HPYB since its founding and there are high hopes for their futures. Amelia and Madison are still training at HPYB; Madison will be training in the Royal Ballet School’s summer insensitive next year for the second year in a row, and Georgia is now training at the Conservatório Internacional de Ballet e Dança Annarella in Portugal.
The dancers of Second Chance Ballet are of different ages and skill levels and the choreography was, in many respects, simplified, but they all gave performances that were worthy of the applause they received. What mattered was that here were people who love ballet doing something they love and proving the point of Second Chance Ballet’s mission. Anyone can dance and it doesn’t matter if you’re a professional or not: the world of dance can make room for anyone.
The festival was made all the more special and successful thanks to the participation of the professional dancers, making this a perfect opportunity to promote professional dancers from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, and to strengthen Northern Ireland’s overseas connections and firmly place it on the map as a ballet hotspot by engaging international dancers.
Anna McCoy proved herself to be more than a promising dancer with stellar performances, first, in the piece After/Before choreographed by Ruaidhrí Maguire, which she danced beautifully and sent the piece’s sorrowful message to all those watching. Ruaidhrí also proved his abilities as a dancer and choreographer; his performance of his own piece was delivered with excellence, showcasing his own technical qualities and his individuality as an artist and storyteller, and his partnering of Anna was superb. After/Before is a beautiful piece that delivers the message of love, loss, sorrow and grief. Anna later returned to give a performance of one of the variations from the Paquita Grand Pas Classique, which she performed technically well with energy and fire.
Rachel Neale showcased technically accomplished dancing and acting skills. In her two performances of the Swan Lake Pas de deux, she presented Odile in all her wickedness, which she added to with elegant swan arms and nice lines. In the Don Quixote Suite, she appeared as a sassy Mercedes, bringing some fiery flare to the stage as she danced in between the cups (instead of knives), successfully avoiding knocking any over.
Stephen Everson is also a fine dancer and actor, appearing in the Grand defile, as Prince Siegfried and as the love interest of Mercedes. He and Rachel were well-matched as partners. In the Swan Lake Pas de deux, Stephen partnered Rachel strongly and the pair had good chemistry as they told the narrative of Odile deceiving the helpless Prince Siegfried. In the Don Quixote Suite, their chemistry came to light again as Mercedes flirted with the young man and showed her annoyance when she caught him flirting with two other girls.
Luc Burns is a beautiful dancer with accomplished technique, buoyant jumps, strong pirouettes and clean footwork. His Swan Lake variation was a joy to watch, but his highlight was his performance as Albrecht. He performed the role with technical brilliance and strong acting, making us feel the pain and remorse of the sorrowing Duke. He also partnered Georgia well, especially in the challenging pas de deux.
But the performance that really brought the house down was that of Oleksii Kniazkov and Elizaveta Gogidze in the Don Quixote Pas de deux. The pair have performed in many different corners of the world and this was their début in Belfast, which was a success in its own right. They both danced with strong technique and a grand partnership that shone through in the éntree and adage. Oleksii was especially dynamic in his jumps, bringing explosive energy to his variation as he soared across the stage, and his tall, muscular build makes him the perfect partner for the big one-armed overhead lifts in the entrée, which he performed with such ease. Elizaveta performed her variation with clear footwork, musicality and beautiful lines, and in the coda, she could’ve set the stage on fire with her fouetté sequence, which she performed at a wonderful speed and finished in a perfect fifth position en pointe. A performance of such fieriness, it’s not surprising that on both nights, they got the biggest cheers and rounds of applause.
Epilogue
To summarise, the Belfast International Ballet Festival was a real success for several reasons - it was Belfast’s first ballet festival; the hard work and effort of those who put it together paid off; it showcased the talents of members of the Irish ballet community and it brought in international artists to perform with local talent. The festival proves vital to the future of ballet in Northern Ireland because it proves this is a part of the world where ballet can further grow and it also contributes to the cultural side of the city of Belfast. The performing arts has always thrived in Belfast and by introducing this new event, the city’s place as a cultural hub is expanding nationally and internationally. I share the aim of Rana, Jake, Anna and Argyo for this festival to become an annual event and increase Belfast and Northern Ireland’s role in ballet.
On a personal level, this whole experience is something that I am incredibly proud of. I’m so proud that such an event was able to be arranged and take place in my native country and I’m more than honoured to have been a part of it. I have given lectures to the students of HPYB in the past and they’ve always been such a great group to teach, so it was wonderful to be invited to give another history lecture as part of the festival. But for me, the icing on the cake was that I was able to help arrange for Oleksii and Liza to be a part of the festival. Since meeting them two years, I have seen them perform on several occasions but to have them come to my home country and perform in front of my home audience is one of the best things that has ever happened. I’m really proud of them for their stellar performances and even more so that I could introduce them to those from my local ballet circle.
I hope that this opportunity will attract more people, especially young people and children from across Northern Ireland to the art form, and that the aim for a vocational school and company can be achieved. I have watched the students of HPYB perform in several of their school performances and they always prove their talents, but this occasion was different because the scale was bigger, but it was another successful performance for them and the festival brought so much happiness to all those who were part of it and all those in the audience.
The Belfast International Ballet Festival was a bright jewel in the crown of Belfast’s cultural events and is one that deserves much recognition. May we all soon see the second festival and may more from the ballet communities of Ireland and overseas - dancers, choreographers, critics, writers, historians, photographers, etc - be brought to Belfast to be part of and experience another magical event.
