Set in the glamorous era of 1950s Hollywood, this lavish performance is the latest of English Youth Ballet’s full-length ballets.

As with their highly successful productions of Swan Lake and Giselle, EYB has added new music, characters and setting to allow for their cast of 100 young dancers. The principal roles of Cinderella, her Prince, The Fairy Godmother and Wicked Sisters will be performed by international, professional dancers. Cinderella in Hollywood promises to be night of Hollywood glamour for the whole family!

English Youth Ballet, now in its 21st year, provides professional performance experience for talented young dancers. It has built a national reputation for the quality of both its full length classical ballets and mixed bill programmes, winning The Stage Award – for special achievement in regional theatre. The opportunity to watch English Youth Ballet is a unique experience; sell-out audiences are treated to beautiful international principal artists sharing the stage with the top up-and-coming young talent from the Oxford area (aged eight to 18).

EYB’s large cast ensures their ballets are performed with the scale and grandeur which was originally intended. There are now ex-EYB young performers in some of the world’s best companies – including the Royal Ballet, Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures and Joffrey Ballet.

Oxford Mail:

Cinderella in Hollywood draws its inspiration from film star Grace Kelly, who met and fell in love with Prince Rainier of Monaco at a press party.

In English Youth Ballet’s production, Cinderella is a seamstress working on a film set and her wicked sisters are Hollywood starlets competing with each other for film roles.

Cinderella’s Fairy Godmother appears to her as her late mother – a former movie star of the 1930s.

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The Prince meets Cinderella at the party but, as in the original fairy-tale, at midnight she flees from the scene leaving a sparkly silver pointe shoe as the only clue to her identity.

The choreography has been created by director Janet Lewis and her team of international principal artists who coach the young dancers. The music combines Shostakovich’s Jazz & Ballet Suites with memorable melodies from Hollywood films such as Tea for Two, Chinatown and Dancing in the Dark. The stage designs for the ballet are by Sebastian Petit and the costume designs are by Keith Bish.

The cast will have rehearsed for 80 hours in preparation for the performances which features 260 costumes, 50 pairs of pointe shoes, 60 pairs of soft ballet shoes and 30 pairs of character shoes.

It promises to be spectacular.

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