Deborah Bull, Baroness Bull

Last updated

The Right Honourable
The Baroness Bull
CBE
Official portrait of Baroness Bull crop 2.jpg
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
Assumed office
11 July 2018 [1]
Life Peerage
Personal details
Born (1963-03-22) 22 March 1963 (age 58)
Derby, England
NationalityBritish
Political party Crossbench
Education Royal Ballet School
Occupation
  • Ballet dancer
  • writer
  • broadcaster
  • creative director

Deborah Bull, Baroness Bull, CBE (born 22 March 1963) is an English dancer, writer, and broadcaster and former creative director of the Royal Opera House. Deborah joined King's College London as Director, Cultural Partnerships in 2012. In 2015 she was appointed as the university's Assistant Principal (London), in 2018 was named Vice President & Vice-Principal (London) and in 2021 named Vice Principal (Communities & National Engagement).

Contents

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.

Ballet career

She was invited to join The Royal Ballet in 1981, having toured with the company as a student during the summer. The teachers that Bull identified as the "resident teachers" were Brian Shaw, Alexander Agadzhanov, Betty Anderton and the Norwegian Gerd Larsen. Bull particularly admired Larsen's ability to introduce mime. [2] Bull 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.

Artists' Development Initiative

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.

ROH2

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 managed ROH Collections, the Royal Opera House's extensive archives, and was focused on the organisation's Olympic planning and audience engagement strategies. In 2008, she was made Creative Director of the Royal Opera House, a post she held until 2012.

Publishing

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 Daily 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 to 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 Pocket Guide to Ballet, jointly with Luke Jennings, was published in 2004, describing important historical and repertoire ballets with a 'View from the Wings' by Bull of her personal thoughts on dancing in a piece. A second book for Faber , The Everyday Dancer, appeared in 2011.

Broadcasting career

Television

Her first programme for television, Dance Ballerina, Dance, was screened at Christmas 1998 as part of BBC 2's Dance Night, an evening devoted entirely to dance which she co-presented along with the comedian Alexei Sayle. [3] Travels with My Tutu, written and presented by Bull, was screened over Christmas 2000. [4] This four part BBC2 series explored breakdance, jive, belly dance and tango and attracted record audiences.

She has presented live on BBC Two from the Royal Opera House ( Coppélia [5] and The Nutcracker, [6] both in 2000) and from Sadler's Wells (Rambert Dance Company), as well as a live Proms performance on BBC One in 2004. In June 2001, she presented the Eurovision Young Dancers 2001 competition from the Linbury Studio Theatre, broadcast to 18 European nations as well as BBC2 and BBC Knowledge. [7] She was also the UK's commentator for the contest in 1999, 2003 and 2005. Her three part, award-winning series for BBC2, The Dancer's Body , was screened in September and October 2002.

In March 2017, Bull was one of the judges who decided which of the finalists in the ballet category of the BBC Young Dancer 2017 competition would make it through to the overall final. [8]

Radio

She has made programmes for, and contributes regularly to, BBC Radio 4 including Dancing Away (1998), Leaving Barons Court (1999), Breaking the Law (2001) and Law in Order (2002), A Dance Through Time (2004), Happy Feet (2008) and Hothouse Kids (2009). She presented Sounds of Dance, a four-part series for BBC Radio 3 from December 2003 to January 2004.

In 2012, Bull presented the five-part BBC Radio 4 series, Dance Nation, on English dance. [9] She was the castaway on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs in May the following year. [10]

Public service

She was a member of the Arts Council England from 1998 to 2005 and a Governor of the BBC from 2003 to 2006. Additionally, she is a patron of the National Osteoporosis Society, Foundation for Community Dance and Escape Artists (a theatre company of paroled and ex-prisoners), sits on the Board 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 University of Derby (1998), Sheffield Hallam University (2001), Kent University (2010) and the Open University (2005) and was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the Queen's 1999 Birthday Honours. [11]

In December 2011, it was announced that Bull had been appointed the first Executive Director of King's College London's King's Cultural Institute, and would be taking up the role in March 2012. [12]

Bull was nominated for a life peerage by the House of Lords Appointments Commission in June 2018. [13] She was created Baroness Bull, of Aldwych in the City of Westminster, on 11 July. [1]

Related Research Articles

Ninette de Valois Irish-born British dancer

Dame Ninette de Valois was an Irish-born British dancer, teacher, choreographer, and director of classical ballet. Most notably, she danced professionally with Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, later establishing the Royal Ballet, one of the foremost ballet companies of the 20th century and one of the leading ballet companies in the world. She also established the Royal Ballet School and the touring company which became the Birmingham Royal Ballet. She is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of ballet and as the "godmother" of English and Irish ballet.

Royal Opera House opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London

The Royal Opera House (ROH) 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. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The Royal Ballet, and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House. The first theatre on the site, the Theatre Royal (1732), served primarily as a playhouse for the first hundred years of its history. In 1734, the first ballet was presented. A year later, the first season of operas, by George Frideric Handel, began. Many of his operas and oratorios were specifically written for Covent Garden and had their premieres there.

Margot Fonteyn English ballerina (1919–1991)

Dame Margaret Evelyn de Arias DBE, known by the stage name Margot Fonteyn, was an English ballerina. She spent her entire career as a dancer with the Royal Ballet, eventually being appointed prima ballerina assoluta of the company by Queen Elizabeth II. Beginning ballet lessons at the age of four, she studied in England and China, where her father was transferred for his work. Her training in Shanghai was with George Goncharov, contributing to her continuing interest in Russian ballet. Returning to London at the age of 14, she was invited to join the Vic-Wells Ballet School by Ninette de Valois. She succeeded Alicia Markova as prima ballerina of the company in 1935. The Vic-Wells choreographer, Sir Frederick Ashton, wrote numerous parts for Fonteyn and her partner, Robert Helpmann, with whom she danced from the 1930s to the 1940s.

Darcey Bussell British ballerina

Dame Darcey Andrea Bussell, is an English retired ballerina and a former judge on the BBC television dance contest Strictly Come Dancing.

The Royal Ballet Ballet company in the United Kingdom

The Royal Ballet is an internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London, England. The largest of the five major ballet companies in Great Britain, the Royal Ballet was founded in 1931 by Dame Ninette de Valois, it became the resident ballet company of the Royal Opera House in 1946 and was granted a royal charter in 1956, becoming recognised as Britain's flagship ballet company.

Tring Park School for the Performing Arts is an independent co-educational school offering specialist courses in Dance, Commercial Music, Musical Theatre and Acting for 8-19 year olds. Originally known as the Arts Educational School, Tring Park, it was founded as the sister school of the Arts Educational School, London. In 2009 it became independent of the London school and was renamed Tring Park School for the Performing Arts.

Tamara Rojo Spanish ballet dancer

Tamara Rojo CBE is a Spanish ballet dancer. She is the English National Ballet's artistic director (2012–2022) and a lead principal dancer with the company. She was previously a principal dancer with The Royal Ballet. She will become the artistic director of San Francisco Ballet in late 2022.

Mary Allen is a British writer, broadcaster, arts administrator and management consultant best known for her controversial and turbulent period as Chief Executive of the Royal Opera House.

Mara Galeazzi is an Italian ballet dancer. She was a Principal Dancer of The Royal Ballet.

Viviana Durante

Viviana Durante is an Italian ballet dancer, considered one of the great dramatic ballerinas of recent times. She was a principal dancer of The Royal Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Teatro alla Scala and K-Ballet. She is the artistic director of English National Ballet School and of the Viviana Durante Company, with which she occasionally performs.

Irek Dzhavdotovich Mukhamedov OBE, is a Soviet-born British ballet dancer of Tatar origin who has danced with the Bolshoi Ballet and the Royal Ballet. Born in Kazan, he trained at the Moscow Choreographic Institute under the guidance of Alexander Prokofiev between 1970 and 1978. Upon graduation, he joined the Classical Ballet Company, where he spent three years touring around the world. It was with this company that he first danced Romeo, a role that was to become one of his most acclaimed. In 1981 he won the Grand Prix and gold medal at the International Ballet Competition in Moscow and was immediately invited to join the Bolshoi Ballet as a principal dancer, where he not only became Grigorovich's favourite danseur but went to become the youngest man ever to dance the leading role in Spartacus.

ROH2 was the contemporary arm of the Royal Opera House until 2012, 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. ROH2 also provided additional artistic resource to partners and associate artists in order to help the organisation realise its strategic aims. ROH2 focused on developing the art forms, creating opportunities for emerging artists and attracting new and diverse audiences to the Royal Opera House. From the start of the 2012/13 season the work of ROH2 has been undertaken by the 'studio programmes' of the Royal Opera and the Royal Ballet.

Vadim Muntagirov

Vadim Muntagirov is a Russian ballet dancer. He is currently a principal dancer at The Royal Ballet in London and previously a lead principal dancer at the English National Ballet.

Richard Winsor is a British actor and dancer. He is best known for his role as Caleb Knight in the long-running BBC television medical drama series's Casualty from January 2014 until April 2017, when his character was killed off after being stabbed by a patient's relative. He reprised the role in August 2021 but as a hallucination of Cal experienced by Cal's bereaved brother Ethan.

Melissa Hamilton Northern Irish ballet dancer

Melissa Hamilton is a Northern Irish ballet dancer and a First Soloist with the Royal Ballet, London.

Winter Dreams is a one-act ballet choreographed by Kenneth MacMillan to piano pieces by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky selected and arranged by Philip Gammon and traditional Russian music selected and arranged for guitar and mandolin ensemble by Thomas Hartman. With scenery and costumes designed by Peer Farmer and lighting designed by Clive Thomas, it was first presented by The Royal Ballet at the Royal Opera House, London, on 7 February 1991.

The Judas Tree is a one-act ballet created by Kenneth MacMillan in 1992 for the Royal Ballet. The music is by Brian Elias.

Alexander Campbell is an Australian ballet dancer who is currently principal dancer in the Royal Ballet at Covent Garden, London.

Samantha Raine

Samantha Raine is a dance teacher and an English retired ballerina. She is the ballet mistress of the Royal Ballet, at the Royal Opera House, in London's Covent Garden, having previously been a soloist with the Company.

Broken Wings is a one-act ballet about Mexican painter Frida Kahlo, choreographed by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, dramaturged by Nancy Meckler and designed by Dieuweke van Reij. The music was composed by Peter Salem, and featured Mexican folk song "La Llorona" sung by Chavela Vargas. The ballet premiered on 13 April 2016 at the Sadler's Wells Theatre, danced by the English National Ballet, with Tamara Rojo as Kahlo and Irek Mukhamedov as Kahlo's husband, Diego Rivera. Lopez Ochoa then created a three-act version titled Frida for the Dutch National Ballet, premiered in 2020.

References

  1. 1 2 "No. 62352". The London Gazette . 16 July 2018. p. 12576.
  2. ↑ Bull, Deborah (2011). Everyday dancer. pp. 19–20. ISBN   0571260942.
  3. ↑ "Dance; Event of the week - Dance Night, Monday BBC2". The Independent. 26 December 1998. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
  4. ↑ "Travels with My Tutu - BBC Two England - 15 December 2000 - BBC Genome". BBC Genome Project . Retrieved 29 August 2017.
  5. ↑ "Coppélia - BBC Two England - 19 February 2000 - BBC Genome". BBC Genome Project . Retrieved 29 August 2017.
  6. ↑ "The Royal Ballet in The Nutcracker - BBC Two England - 30 December 2000 - BBC Genome". BBC Genome Project . Retrieved 29 August 2017.
  7. ↑ "Eurovision Young Dancers competition: and the vote from Norway is..." The Independent. 21 June 2001. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
  8. ↑ "Ballet Final: BBC Young Dancer 2017". BBC Online . BBC. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
  9. ↑ Presenter: Deborah Bull; Producer: Hannah Rosenfelder (September 2012). "Deborah Bull's Dance Nation". Deborah Bull's Dance Nation. BBC. BBC Radio 4 . Retrieved 31 March 2017.
  10. ↑ Presenter: Kirsty Young; Producer: Cathy Drysdale (31 May 2013). "Deborah Bull". Desert Island Discs . BBC. BBC Radio 4 . Retrieved 1 April 2017.
  11. ↑ "No. 55513". The London Gazette (Supplement). 12 June 1999. p. 8.
  12. ↑ "Deborah Bull joins King's College London". www.kcl.ac.uk. King's College London. 5 December 2011. Retrieved 1 April 2017.
  13. ↑ "Three new non-party-political peers".
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.