Royal Ballet principal dancer Federico Bonelli is Northern Ballet’s new Artistic Director succeeding long serving predecessor David Nixon.
Bonelli has danced the Royal Ballet’s leading roles since joining in 2003 after training at the Turin Dance Academy and dancing with Zürich Ballet and Dutch National Ballet.
In 2019 he graduated from the Clore Leadership Programme and he is a non-executive director and member of the Board of Parents and Carers in Performing Arts.
He has curated the programme for The Royal Ballet activities in Doncaster as part of the Doncaster Creates festival, prior to its pandemic postponement and has coached Royal Ballet repertory, helping to nurture and develop the high standards of the company’s dancers.
Bonelli who take up his new role on May 1st also co-facilitates The Royal Ballet’s Inclusivity Focus Group and is a member of the external steering group of Chance to Dance, The Royal Ballet’s outreach talent development programme that aims to remove the barriers to a diverse talent pipeline into vocational training and the ballet and dance profession.
“Through its history and most recently under David Nixon’s distinguished directorship, Northern Ballet has rightly been renowned for its bold approach to narrative ballet, and it is an honour to build on this legacy,” says Federico Bonelli.
“We are at an exciting moment for the Company, which is based in Leeds and across the north, yet rooted in the whole of England and the UK. I cannot wait to leverage its wide-ranging touring to connect with wider audiences and bring outstanding ballet to as many people as possible.
“I have been very impressed by the Board and team’s vision, and I am excited to lead on how best to bring a diversity of perspectives and experiences represented in the stories we tell on stage.”’