Deborah Bull
Encyclopedia
Deborah Bull CBE
(born 22 March 1963) is an English dancer, writer, and broadcaster and Creative Director of the Royal Opera House
.
Born in Derby
, and brought up in Kent
and Lincolnshire
, she studied dance from the age of seven, first locally, and then, on the recommendation of her teacher, at the Royal Ballet School
. Whilst at the school she won the 1980 Prix de Lausanne
, the prestigious international ballet competition.
She was invited to join the Royal Ballet in 1981, having toured with the company as a student during the summer. She was promoted through the ranks and gained principal status in 1992, immediately following the company's opening performance in Japan, at which she danced the role of Gamzatti in La Bayadere.
During her twenty years in The Royal Ballet, she danced a wide range of work throughout the repertoire. Her leading roles in the classics included Odette/Odile in Swan Lake, Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty and Kitri in Don Quixote, and she created roles for Ashley Page, David Bintley, Michael Corder, Emma Diamond, Wayne McGregor, Glen Tetley and Twyla Tharp. She received particular praise for her performances in the works of George Balanchine and William Forsythe. In 1995 Forsythe staged for her the first performance in this country of his ballet Steptext, and she was subsequently nominated for a 1996 Olivier Award in the 'Outstanding Achievement In Dance' Category for her interpretation. She was named as 1996 Dancer of the Year by both The Sunday Express and The Independent on Sunday, who praised her work both on and off the stage, saying 'here is a dancer whose intelligence and courage - for once - don't reside entirely in the tips of her toes'.
Away from The Royal Ballet, she toured Italy, North America and Canada with Wayne Eagling's group, 'Stars of the Royal Ballet', and was invited to join Irek Mukhamedov for the debut performances of his company 'Irek Mukhamedov and Friends' in 1992. She danced at the 1993 and 1995 Harrogate International Festival, and in April 1996 was invited to perform in the first 'Diamonds of World Ballet' Gala at the Kremlin Palace, Moscow. She has toured Japan with Tetsuya Kumakawa and in the summers of 1994 and 1995 she organised, staged and starred in An Evening of British Ballet at the Sintra Festival in Portugal. In March 2001, she was invited to star in the triple bill Nijinsky Ritrovato at the Rome Opera House, dancing the Chosen Maiden in Rite of Spring and alongside Carla Fracci in Jeux.
In addition to her work with The Royal Ballet, she founded in 1998 the Artists’ Development Initiative at the Royal Opera House, a programme designed to open up the resources and expertise within the theatre to small scale companies and independent artists. Over its first two years, ADI worked with over 250 artists from outside the Royal Opera House and facilitated collaborations across art forms and between independent choreographers and classical dancers. ADI shared the 2001 Time Out Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance with Wayne McGregor for Symbiont(s), premiered in the Clore Studio Upstairs in June 2000.
She retired from The Royal Ballet in August 2001 to take up a new position at the Royal Opera House in January 2002, as Creative Director, ROH2
, developing a range of small scale and experimental artistic initiatives and overseeing the programme in the theatre’s alternative performance spaces. In 2004, her remit expanded to include the delivery of a strategy for the ROH's work away from the main stage, including an alternative performance programme, opera and dance development initiatives, Big Screen live relays from the main stage, an ‘On the Road’ programme and daytime activities in the building. In addition, she manages ROH Collections, the Royal Opera House's extensive archives, and is focused on the organisation’s Olympic planning and audience engagement strategies. In 2008, she was made Creative Director of the Royal Opera House.
In addition to her work as a dancer, she has regularly written and lectured on the arts. In January 1996 she debated at the Oxford Union, opposing the motion 'This House Believes the National Lottery Gives Too Much Money to the Elitist Arts'. Her address was described by Lord Gowrie, her debating partner, as 'the best speech I have heard on the Arts in 30 years'. The motion was heavily defeated, a triumph which the Evening Standard attributed largely to 'the eloquence of a ballerina, unaccustomed to public speaking', describing her speech as 'cogently argued and delivered with generosity of spirit'.
In October 1996 she was invited by Lord Gowrie to deliver the Arts Council Annual Lecture at the Royal Society for the Arts, 'From Private Patronage to Public Purse'.
She has written articles for The Times
, The Telegraph
, The Sunday Times
, The Sunday Telegraph, Classic FM Magazine
, New Statesman
and The Spectator
, and reviewed for The Telegraph, The Literary Review
and several dance magazines. From 1999-2001 she wrote a regular column, Private View, for The Telegraph.
Aside from the Arts, she has a passionate interest in health and fitness, and has taught nutrition to the students of the Royal Ballet School as well as chairing the Prix de Lausanne
’s annual seminars on dance related health matters.
She has published three books. The Vitality Plan, (Dorling Kindersley
, January 1998) was published simultaneously in the United States as Totally Fit, and has since been translated into seven different languages. Dancing Away (Methuen, October 1998) is a diary of The Royal Ballet's first year ‘on the road’, as the Royal Opera House underwent its extensive and controversial redevelopment. To mark publication, Deborah was commissioned to read five extracts from the book on BBC Radio 4
. Dancing Away was described by The Spectator
as ‘arguably the most amusing and fascinating dance book ever published’. The Faber Guide to Classical Ballets, jointly with Luke Jennings, was published in 2005. She is currently writing a second book for Faber
, The Everyday Dancer, due for publication in Autumn 2011.
Her first programme for television, Dance Ballerina, Dance, was screened at Christmas 1999 as part of BBC 2's Dance Night, an evening devoted entirely to dance which she co-presented along with the comedian Alexei Sayle. Travels With My Tutu, written and presented by Deborah Bull, was screened over Christmas 2000. This four part BBC2 series explored breakdance, jive, belly dance and tango and attracted record audiences. She has presented live on BBC2 from the Royal Opera House (Coppelia and The Nutcracker) and from Sadler's Wells (Rambert Dance Company) as well as a live Proms performance on BBC1. In June 2001, she presented the Eurovision Young Dancer competition, broadcast live to 18 European nations as well as BBC2. Her three part, award winning series for BBC2 – The Dancer's Body – was screened in September and October 2002. She has made programmes for, and contributes regularly to, BBC Radio 4 including Breaking the Law and Law in Order, A Dance Through Time and Hothouse Kids (2009).
She was a member of the Arts Council of England from 1998–2005 and a Governor of the BBC from 2003-2006. Additionally, she is a patron of the National Osteoporosis Society
, National Youth Ballet, Foundation for Community Dance and Escape Artists (a theatre company of paroled and ex-prisoners), sits on the artistic committee of the Prix de Lausanne
and is an Honorary Vice President of Voices of British Ballet. She was a judge for the 2010 Man Booker Prize
. She has been awarded Honorary Doctorates by Derby University (1998), Sheffield Hallam University
(2001), Kent University
(2010) and the Open University
(2005) and was named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire
in the 1999 Queen’s Birthday Honours.
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(born 22 March 1963) is an English dancer, writer, and broadcaster and Creative Director of the Royal Opera House
Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...
.
Born in Derby
Derby
Derby , is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands region of England. It lies upon the banks of the River Derwent and is located in the south of the ceremonial county of Derbyshire. In the 2001 census, the population of the city was 233,700, whilst that of the Derby Urban Area was 229,407...
, and brought up in Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
and Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...
, she studied dance from the age of seven, first locally, and then, on the recommendation of her teacher, at the Royal Ballet School
Royal Ballet School
The Royal Ballet School is one of the most famous classical ballet schools in the world and is the associate school of the Royal Ballet, a leading international ballet company based at the Royal Opera House in London...
. Whilst at the school she won the 1980 Prix de Lausanne
Prix de Lausanne
The Prix de Lausanne is an International dance competition held annually in Lausanne, Switzerland. The competition is for young dancers seeking to pursue a professional career in classical ballet, and many former prize winners of the competition are now leading stars with major ballet companies...
, the prestigious international ballet competition.
She was invited to join the Royal Ballet in 1981, having toured with the company as a student during the summer. She was promoted through the ranks and gained principal status in 1992, immediately following the company's opening performance in Japan, at which she danced the role of Gamzatti in La Bayadere.
During her twenty years in The Royal Ballet, she danced a wide range of work throughout the repertoire. Her leading roles in the classics included Odette/Odile in Swan Lake, Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty and Kitri in Don Quixote, and she created roles for Ashley Page, David Bintley, Michael Corder, Emma Diamond, Wayne McGregor, Glen Tetley and Twyla Tharp. She received particular praise for her performances in the works of George Balanchine and William Forsythe. In 1995 Forsythe staged for her the first performance in this country of his ballet Steptext, and she was subsequently nominated for a 1996 Olivier Award in the 'Outstanding Achievement In Dance' Category for her interpretation. She was named as 1996 Dancer of the Year by both The Sunday Express and The Independent on Sunday, who praised her work both on and off the stage, saying 'here is a dancer whose intelligence and courage - for once - don't reside entirely in the tips of her toes'.
Away from The Royal Ballet, she toured Italy, North America and Canada with Wayne Eagling's group, 'Stars of the Royal Ballet', and was invited to join Irek Mukhamedov for the debut performances of his company 'Irek Mukhamedov and Friends' in 1992. She danced at the 1993 and 1995 Harrogate International Festival, and in April 1996 was invited to perform in the first 'Diamonds of World Ballet' Gala at the Kremlin Palace, Moscow. She has toured Japan with Tetsuya Kumakawa and in the summers of 1994 and 1995 she organised, staged and starred in An Evening of British Ballet at the Sintra Festival in Portugal. In March 2001, she was invited to star in the triple bill Nijinsky Ritrovato at the Rome Opera House, dancing the Chosen Maiden in Rite of Spring and alongside Carla Fracci in Jeux.
In addition to her work with The Royal Ballet, she founded in 1998 the Artists’ Development Initiative at the Royal Opera House, a programme designed to open up the resources and expertise within the theatre to small scale companies and independent artists. Over its first two years, ADI worked with over 250 artists from outside the Royal Opera House and facilitated collaborations across art forms and between independent choreographers and classical dancers. ADI shared the 2001 Time Out Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance with Wayne McGregor for Symbiont(s), premiered in the Clore Studio Upstairs in June 2000.
She retired from The Royal Ballet in August 2001 to take up a new position at the Royal Opera House in January 2002, as Creative Director, ROH2
ROH2
ROH2 is the contemporary arm of the Royal Opera House, commissioning and producing dance and contemporary opera works in the Linbury Studio Theatre, Clore Studio Upstairs, Paul Hamlyn Hall and various other locations situated both within the Royal Opera House and outside...
, developing a range of small scale and experimental artistic initiatives and overseeing the programme in the theatre’s alternative performance spaces. In 2004, her remit expanded to include the delivery of a strategy for the ROH's work away from the main stage, including an alternative performance programme, opera and dance development initiatives, Big Screen live relays from the main stage, an ‘On the Road’ programme and daytime activities in the building. In addition, she manages ROH Collections, the Royal Opera House's extensive archives, and is focused on the organisation’s Olympic planning and audience engagement strategies. In 2008, she was made Creative Director of the Royal Opera House.
In addition to her work as a dancer, she has regularly written and lectured on the arts. In January 1996 she debated at the Oxford Union, opposing the motion 'This House Believes the National Lottery Gives Too Much Money to the Elitist Arts'. Her address was described by Lord Gowrie, her debating partner, as 'the best speech I have heard on the Arts in 30 years'. The motion was heavily defeated, a triumph which the Evening Standard attributed largely to 'the eloquence of a ballerina, unaccustomed to public speaking', describing her speech as 'cogently argued and delivered with generosity of spirit'.
In October 1996 she was invited by Lord Gowrie to deliver the Arts Council Annual Lecture at the Royal Society for the Arts, 'From Private Patronage to Public Purse'.
She has written articles for The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, The Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
, The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times is a British Sunday newspaper.The Sunday Times may also refer to:*The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times...
, The Sunday Telegraph, Classic FM Magazine
Classic FM Magazine
The Classic FM Magazine is a magazine published in the United Kingdom each month. It is the printed organ of Classic FM, a British classical commercial radio station. The magazine reviews classical recordings and live performances and often includes tracks from recent releases on its cover disk....
, New Statesman
New Statesman
New Statesman is a British centre-left political and cultural magazine published weekly in London. Founded in 1913, and connected with leading members of the Fabian Society, the magazine reached a circulation peak in the late 1960s....
and The Spectator
The Spectator
The Spectator is a weekly British magazine first published on 6 July 1828. It is currently owned by David and Frederick Barclay, who also owns The Daily Telegraph. Its principal subject areas are politics and culture...
, and reviewed for The Telegraph, The Literary Review
The Literary Review
The Literary Review is an American literary magazine founded in 1957. The quarterly magazine is published internationally by Fairleigh Dickinson University in Madison, New Jersey...
and several dance magazines. From 1999-2001 she wrote a regular column, Private View, for The Telegraph.
Aside from the Arts, she has a passionate interest in health and fitness, and has taught nutrition to the students of the Royal Ballet School as well as chairing the Prix de Lausanne
Prix de Lausanne
The Prix de Lausanne is an International dance competition held annually in Lausanne, Switzerland. The competition is for young dancers seeking to pursue a professional career in classical ballet, and many former prize winners of the competition are now leading stars with major ballet companies...
’s annual seminars on dance related health matters.
She has published three books. The Vitality Plan, (Dorling Kindersley
Dorling Kindersley
Dorling Kindersley is an international publishing company specializing in illustrated reference books for adults and children in 51 languages. It is currently part of the Penguin Group....
, January 1998) was published simultaneously in the United States as Totally Fit, and has since been translated into seven different languages. Dancing Away (Methuen, October 1998) is a diary of The Royal Ballet's first year ‘on the road’, as the Royal Opera House underwent its extensive and controversial redevelopment. To mark publication, Deborah was commissioned to read five extracts from the book on BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
. Dancing Away was described by The Spectator
The Spectator
The Spectator is a weekly British magazine first published on 6 July 1828. It is currently owned by David and Frederick Barclay, who also owns The Daily Telegraph. Its principal subject areas are politics and culture...
as ‘arguably the most amusing and fascinating dance book ever published’. The Faber Guide to Classical Ballets, jointly with Luke Jennings, was published in 2005. She is currently writing a second book for Faber
Faber and Faber
Faber and Faber Limited, often abbreviated to Faber, is an independent publishing house in the UK, notable in particular for publishing a great deal of poetry and for its former editor T. S. Eliot. Faber has a rich tradition of publishing a wide range of fiction, non fiction, drama, film and music...
, The Everyday Dancer, due for publication in Autumn 2011.
Her first programme for television, Dance Ballerina, Dance, was screened at Christmas 1999 as part of BBC 2's Dance Night, an evening devoted entirely to dance which she co-presented along with the comedian Alexei Sayle. Travels With My Tutu, written and presented by Deborah Bull, was screened over Christmas 2000. This four part BBC2 series explored breakdance, jive, belly dance and tango and attracted record audiences. She has presented live on BBC2 from the Royal Opera House (Coppelia and The Nutcracker) and from Sadler's Wells (Rambert Dance Company) as well as a live Proms performance on BBC1. In June 2001, she presented the Eurovision Young Dancer competition, broadcast live to 18 European nations as well as BBC2. Her three part, award winning series for BBC2 – The Dancer's Body – was screened in September and October 2002. She has made programmes for, and contributes regularly to, BBC Radio 4 including Breaking the Law and Law in Order, A Dance Through Time and Hothouse Kids (2009).
She was a member of the Arts Council of England from 1998–2005 and a Governor of the BBC from 2003-2006. Additionally, she is a patron of the National Osteoporosis Society
National Osteoporosis Society
The National Osteoporosis Society, established in 1986, is the only UK-wide charity dedicated to improving the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of osteoporosis. It is based in Camerton, Somerset, England. The income of the charity was about £3.5 million in 2010...
, National Youth Ballet, Foundation for Community Dance and Escape Artists (a theatre company of paroled and ex-prisoners), sits on the artistic committee of the Prix de Lausanne
Prix de Lausanne
The Prix de Lausanne is an International dance competition held annually in Lausanne, Switzerland. The competition is for young dancers seeking to pursue a professional career in classical ballet, and many former prize winners of the competition are now leading stars with major ballet companies...
and is an Honorary Vice President of Voices of British Ballet. She was a judge for the 2010 Man Booker Prize
Man Booker Prize
The Man Booker Prize for Fiction is a literary prize awarded each year for the best original full-length novel, written in the English language, by a citizen of the Commonwealth of Nations, Ireland, or Zimbabwe. The winner of the Man Booker Prize is generally assured of international renown and...
. She has been awarded Honorary Doctorates by Derby University (1998), Sheffield Hallam University
Sheffield Hallam University
Sheffield Hallam University is a higher education institution in South Yorkshire, England, based on two sites in Sheffield. City Campus is located in the city centre, close to Sheffield railway station, and Collegiate Crescent Campus is about two miles away, adjacent to Ecclesall Road in...
(2001), Kent University
University of Kent
The University of Kent, previously the University of Kent at Canterbury, is a public research university based in Kent, United Kingdom...
(2010) and the Open University
Open University
The Open University is a distance learning and research university founded by Royal Charter in the United Kingdom...
(2005) and was named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
in the 1999 Queen’s Birthday Honours.