Experience Don Quixote with the Birmingham Royal Ballet
The UK’s leading touring ballet company, the Birmingham Royal Ballet will be bringing the heat of sultry Spain to their home venue, the Birmingham Hippodrome, this month with the incomparable Carlos Acosta’s stunning production of “Don Quixote.”
Featuring some of the best ballet dancers in the world, the ballet will be performed at the city centre venue from February 12 to 21, before embarking on a short tour of the UK between now and April.
I had the absolute pleasure of speaking to a member of the corps de ballet, Hannah Martin, about the ballet and her experiences of working with this world renowned company. She has a charming, delightful disposition; the type of lady you would love as a best friend, but underneath, there is a sense of determination, drive and ambition as well as an extreme hard work ethic, all of which are of course essential for dancers at this level.
Hannah’s journey to the world of professional dance was an unusual one.
“I started baby ballet classes when I was really young, encouraged by my mum who was also a dancer. She wanted to give me the best start in life, which I so appreciate,” said Hannah.
She continued, “I continued at the RAD when I was eight and it was hard work which I enjoy, so I felt it was something I could apply myself to. Then at the age of 11, I became heavily involved in rhythmic gymnastics which then took me on a whole different path. I competed for Great Britain, when to the Commonwealth Games at the age of 15 and I was officially the youngest member of Team England. It was an incredible experience.”
“I went to the World Championships and became English Champion as a senior in 2018, before suddenly deciding to concentrate on my ballet career,” Hannah told me.
A lot of hard work followed and it was a very brave decision to make at this point in her career, but as Hannah pointed out “you have to have some level of crazy to be a dancer! I mean we dance on our toes all day” she laughed!
Hannah also competed on the hit BBC TV Show The Greatest Dancer and made it all the way through to the semi finals, which was another incredible experience. This lead to an audition to join the world famous Elmhurst Ballet School, which she naturally grabbed with both hands.
The hard work paid off as Hannah obtained an apprenticeship with the Birmingham Royal Ballet and has not looked back since.