Visit to Northern Ballet Rehearsal in Leeds

Photo: Top L-R Heather, Gemma, Nida & Luke

Northern Ballet Open Day

May 6

Gentleman Jack opened to great acclaim in Leeds on March 7 and LBC was invited to a ‘refresher’ rehearsal before it began its UK tour. This is the first major work to be commissioned by the Artistic Director, Federico Bonelli, who was, sadly for us, on tour with the Children’s Ballet and unable to be with us on the day. However, Charlotte Walker, Events & Partnership Manager, kindly welcomed us to the studio - what a treat we had in store.

Gentleman Jack traces the true story of Yorkshire woman Anne Lister (1791-1840) industrialist, landowner and diarist often described as the first modern lesbian who was striving to make her way in a man’s world. Choreography by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa depicts Anne Lister in flat ballet pumps with bold, confident, masculine strides tapping her cane to convey her self-assurance and determination to command the space around her. She only moves en pointe towards the end of the ballet, softened by her love for Ann Walker whom she ‘marries’.

Our morning began with assistant repetiteur, Luke Ahmet, rehearsing three of the tallest dancers, selected by Annabelle, to share the leading role: Gemma Coutts (who starred in the opening night), Nida Aydinoḡlu and Heather Lehan. Rehearsed individually, we were able to see the difference in interpretations between the dancers although they all conveyed the same air of authority and control.

After a short break Luke was joined by the Artistic Director, Daniel de Andrade and the Rehearsal Director, Christelle Horna, to rehearse the remainder of the whole company. The dancers impressed us all with their ability to switch roles between the three casts in various scenes from the entire ballet. Northern Ballet has a reputation for wonderful story-telling and even without a full run through we were able to follow the narrative through the very expressive dancing and choreography.

Gentleman Jack will be showing at Sadler’s Wells from May 19-23 and LBC has been invited to watch a technical rehearsal there on May 19. We are delighted that Annabelle Lopez Ochoa has agreed to be our In Conversation guest with Deborah Weiss on June 8 via Zoom. Details of these, and all our events, can be found on our website.

Those Members who had travelled up from London were very pleased to meet fellow ballet lovers who live more locally to Leeds. We are extremely grateful to Northern Ballet for giving us the opportunity to share in some of the behind-the-scenes work that goes into a new production and we hope to come back again soon.

Report by Krissie Poyser © London Ballet Circle

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29 May 2026 update: Adding the following report by Keith White from a LBC visit to the Northern Ballet technical rehearsal of Gentleman Jack on 19 May at Sadler's Wells:

LBC members were invited to attend the afternoon working stage rehearsal at Sadler's Wells.

Interestingly Northern Ballet decided to keep a live orchestra for the tour of this new production, although much reduced in scale. In general they have a live/recorded hybrid model with recorded music away from their home in Leeds.

The rehearsal was also notable for two things:

• They rehearsed the attendance in the evening of their Patron, Edward, Duke of Edinburgh with the playing of the National Anthem.

• Choreographer, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, continued her in person supervision even though the premiere had been in March. The movable on stage props, such as bookcases which double as video projections illustrating the scene settings, can be tricky and dancers have to do much more than just dance!

Annabelle Lopez Ochoa will be LBC’s In Conversation guest on Zoom on June 8 at 7pm.