High Points to bring world class dance to Belfast International Ballet Festival.

High Points Youth Ballet, a leading Northern Ireland Youth Ballet Company based in Newtownabbey and Belfast City Centre will this year host Belfast International Ballet Festival across 6 days in the city.

The festival which celebrates local and international dance, will bring masterclasses alongside performances, and welcome guest teachers and dancers from across the world to teach at the Crescent Arts and High Point studios, and perform in the MAC in Belfast.  Supported by Belfast City Council, over 100 dancers comprising 60 young students, 30 adult students, and 15 professionals will come together during the week to celebrate Northern Ireland’s diverse and rich Ballet community, share artistic talent, unleash creativity and embrace collaboration under one roof.

The ballet school which formed in 2011 under the leadership of Rana O’Brien, and its international team of Artistic Director Jacob Allison, Anna Carapellotti, and Argyro Tsampazi who are spearheading the festival, will bring together leading dancers from home and across the world. This will include the ‘Mecca of Ballet’ and principal guest Yuri Tcvetkov, Master Teacher, ballet artist and educator who is an esteemed graduate of Vaganova Academy in St. Petersburg. Alongside Yuri, Belfast native Oona Doherty who was most recently the Guest Artistic Director for the 2023/24 cohort of National Youth Dance Company in the UK and the 2024CHANEL Next Prize winner will join the festival as will Sara-Maria Barton, Artistic Director and international medallist who has had contracts with all major British ballet companies including The Royal Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet, English National Ballet, and Scottish Ballet.  Joining the Master Class Teachers will be 6 Performers, Anna Katherine McCoy and Luc Burns from Belfast, Leigh Alderson from Portadown, Elizaveta Gogidze from Ukraine and Rachel Neale from Newtownards. All teachers will work with the children daily on their dance technique and create performances together for three shows to be presented in the MAC on 9 and 10 August 2024.

During the festival Anna Carapellotti a teacher with High Points Youth Ballet will undertake an open class demonstration for Dance for people with Parkinson’s. Anna obtained a PhD from Queen’s University Belfast in 2022 studying the impact of dance for people living with Parkinson’s and Multiple Sclerosis.

Alongside a talk will be held focusing on ’Youth Dance Matters’ and the value and future of Youth Dance Companies. Based on research by Professor Aoife McGrath from Queen’s University Belfast, and hosted by Dr Argyro Tsampazi, the talk will feature academics and industry professionals including and a group of artistic directors of Youth Companies based across Ireland and Scotland. Youth Dance Matters mixes social science research methods with dance practice-as-research methods.  It brings a team of dance and social science researchers, youth dancers, aged 12-17, and their facilitators from across Ireland together to explore a number of research themes and work in a range of styles including ballet, contemporary and street dance. In addition, adult ballet classes will be undertaken delivered by Yuri Tcverkov and Sara Maria Barton.

Commenting on the upcoming Belfast International Ballet Festival next month, High Points Youth Ballet CEO, Rana O’Brien said; “This a wonderful celebration event looking at dance artists and educators from across the world and locally in Northern Ireland. We are delighted to have so many amazing dancers join together and are excited to see the brilliant synergies and pieces they will create. The festival will bring young dancers from age 10 upwards to participate in master classes held in High Points studios in Belfast and the Crescent Arts Centre studios, before moving to the MAC Theatre to rehearse and perform three shows during Friday 9 August and Saturday 10 August. The shows will provide all our dancers an opportunity to display their amazing dance skills and share with families and friends the wonderful talent and learnings from participating in the master classes and the festival.

To deliver such excellence requires support and investment, and we are incredibly grateful to Belfast City Council for their ongoing support through the cultural grants scheme.” Rana concluded.

Belfast Lord Mayor, Councillor Micky Murray said: “I’m delighted that this year’s Belfast International Ballet Festival will be hosted by High Points Youth Ballet – an organisation that works hard to inspire, educate, and enrich lives through dance and develop local talent.

“This is a significant year for Belfast as we celebrate our creativity and culture through our vibrant Belfast 2024 programme – a welcome chance to inspire and nurture our next generation of creative talent, as well as showcasing this generation’s creatives to a global audience.”

The week-long festival will culminate in three shows on Friday 9 August (evening performance) and Saturday 10 August (afternoon matinee and evening performance and events during the day).  For tickets, visit belfastballetfestival.com/.