Birmingham Royal Ballet (
BRB) is a British
ballet company and one of the three leading
classical ballet companies in the United Kingdom. It was originally formed as the sister company of today's
Royal Ballet when it moved to become the resident ballet company at the
Royal Opera House in
Covent Garden, London. The
Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet was established to continue performances at Sadler's Wells theatre, later becoming
Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet and then
Birmingham Royal Ballet. The company relocated to Birmingham in 1990, becoming the resident ballet company at the
Birmingham Hippodrome theatre. It is now independent of the Royal Ballet in London, although it retains strong links with the company and the
Royal Ballet School. As a resident company, Birmingham Royal Ballet has extensive custom-built facilities, including a suite of dance studios, the
Jerwood Centre for the Prevention and Treatment of Dance Injuries and a studio theatre known as the
Patrick Centre. In 2002, the need for Birmingham Royal Ballet to have its own school led to a new association with
Elmhurst School for Dance, which is now its official ballet school.
In 1926, the Irish-born dancer Ninette de Valois founded the Academy of Choreographic Art, a dance school for girls. Her intention was to form a repertory ballet company and school, leading her to collaborate with the English theatrical producer and theatre owner Lilian Baylis. Baylis owned the Old Vic and Sadler's Wells theatres and in 1925 she engaged de Valois to stage dance performances at both venues.
Sadler's Wells reopened in 1931 and the Vic-Wells Ballet and Vic-Wells Ballet School were established in premises at the theatre. These would become the predecessors of today's Royal Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet and Royal Ballet School.
In in 1939, the company lost its link with the Old Vic theatre and, in 1940, Sadler's Wells theatre was bombed during World War II. These events forced the company to begin touring the country, becoming known as the Sadler's Wells Ballet. The company did return to Sadler's Wells theatre, where it stayed until 1946, when the company was invited to become the resident ballet company of the newly re-opened Royal Opera House in Covent Garden. The company relocated to the opera house the same year in 1946, with their first production at the venue being Ninette de Valois' staging of The Sleeping Beauty.
