Zenaida Yanowsky to guest with Northern Ballet

Posted on February 15, 2018

Zenaida Yanowsky, former principal of The Royal Ballet, will dance with Northern Ballet in March, appearing in the company’s tribute to choreographer Kenneth MacMillan.

Zenaida Yanowsky

Yanowsky will dance in Las Hermanas at Leeds Grand Theatre on the evenings of March 16 and 17. Inspired by Federico García Lorca’s play The House of Bernarda Alba, it is the story of five sisters living under the oppressive rule of their mother, exploring the effects of repression and jealousy. The ballet is part of a triple bill with MacMillan’s Concerto and Gloria, which was acclaimed at its premiere in Bradford last year: “Northern Ballet was taking on ballets by MacMillan for the first time, and they did a tremendous job,” Jonathan Gray wrote for Dancing Times. The company went on to dance Gloria at the Royal Opera House’s international celebration of MacMillan, to glowing reviews.

David Nixon, artistic director of Northern Ballet, said: “I am really delighted that Zenaida Yanowsky will be joining Northern Ballet to perform with us as guest artist for the first time. We were honoured to be asked to participate in the national celebration of Sir Kenneth MacMillan last year and this collaboration between the Royal Opera House and Northern Ballet has been instrumental in bringing this wonderful dancer to perform with us in Leeds. It is an incredible and rare treat for our home audiences in Leeds to see this programme of work by Sir Kenneth MacMillan, and now that Zenaida will be joining us, this will be even more of a special event.”

The triple bill is at Leeds Grand Theatre from March 16 to 17.

Pictured, top: Minju Kang in Las Hermanas. Photograph: Lauren Godfrey

Zoe Anderson

Zoë was born in Edinburgh, and saw her first dance performances at the Festival there. She is the dance critic of The Independent, and has also written for The Independent on Sunday, The Scotsman and Dancing Times. In 2002, she received her doctorate from the University of York for a thesis on “Nationhood and epic romance: Ariosto, Sidney, Spenser”. She is the author of The Royal Ballet: 75 Years and The Ballet Lover’s Companion.