Meet Federico Bonelli the new artistic director of Leeds-based Northern Ballet.

Bringing together the works of three exciting emerging choreographers – Mthuthuzeli November, Stina Quagebeur and Dickson Mbi – with each work exploring aspects of the human condition in a powerful and innovative way, Made in Leeds: Three Short Ballets was an extremely impressive production with which to kick off his tenure.

Bonelli is the first to admit that following in the footsteps of David Nixon, who led the company for more than 20 years, is going to keep him on his toes, but he is looking forward to continuing to enhance the company’s regional, national and international reputation.

“I have got big shoes to fill but it is an amazing opportunity and I am working really hard to do a good job for myself and for the company,” he says. “Under David’s directorship, Northern Ballet has rightly been renowned for its bold approach to narrative ballet, and it is an honour to build on that legacy. Narrative storytelling is such a big part of the company’s identity so I want to continue to do that but also to expand on it by putting centre stage a diversity of perspectives in the stories that we tell.”

Born in Genoa in Italy, Bonelli grew up in Casale Monferrato and trained locally and then at the Turin Dance Academy. As a young dancer, he worked with various European companies including Zurich Ballet and the Dutch National Ballet and prior to taking up his role at Northern Ballet he was Principal Dancer at the Royal Ballet where he had been a member of the company since 2003. He says that when the job at Northern Ballet came up “it was an obvious choice to make and I decided to go for it.”

He adds: “There are lots of different ballet companies but Northern Ballet is the best for narrative storytelling and that’s something I feel very passionate about, so it was a no-brainer, really. And working with this exceptionally talented group of artists and creatives was a big attraction.”

Having moved up to Leeds in July with his wife the dancer Hikaru Kobayashi and their seven-year-old daughter after nearly 20 years in London, Bonelli says that he is looking forward to finding out more about the city and surrounding area.

“There is an incredible amount of culture in Leeds and there is beautiful countryside nearby too, so when I have a bit more time, I will definitely be exploring all that.” In the meantime, he has been focussing on getting to know the company better and forming his vision for its future. At the same time as retaining all the classic stories and favourite productions that Northern Ballet audiences have come to love, he is keen to widen the repertoire. One of the ways in which this can be achieved is by bringing in, encouraging and nurturing new voices and contributors. “A company like Northern Ballet works very well with choreographers at different stages of their development,” he says.

“For the main stage productions, we work with established choreographers and this season we are doing a choreography development lab which is very much for dancers at the beginning of their choreography career. I want to give chances to people at different stages of their career – it is all about having a variety of opportunities for people to develop their craft.”

Bonelli says that we will see some of the fruits of this in new works that will appear in the 2023/24 season.

“I want to mix some of those new departures with the cornerstones of the repertoire. There was a story behind each of the three ballets in Made in Leeds, just in a shorter format and more abstract. The imagination of the spectator is given more freedom in that case – I often say that watching ballet can be like reading a book.”

He also wants to reach out to new audiences and make ballet accessible to as many people as possible. “I really believe in ballet’s ability to take those stories of love, hate, despair and tell them in a powerful way. I want to bring that to people who don’t necessarily know us. Northern Ballet isn’t just about what we do on stage, it is also about the outreach programme.” That means going into schools and community venues and performing in other non-traditional theatre spaces.

Bonelli oversaw a pop-up event at Leeds Market a few of months ago.

“I don’t think there had been any ballet there before,” he says. “Many of the people who saw that were probably seeing Northern Ballet for the first time. At all steps of our journey, it is about inclusivity and sometimes we need to go out there and look for people. We are part of this city and we are very much rooted in Leeds, Yorkshire and the North. We create really high standard productions and we also go to our local schools and markets.”

Their education programme is an important part of their work – delivering workshops for children in local schools as well as to teachers, helping them to use dance as a creative educational tool, and inclusive dance classes for wheelchair users and adults with learning disabilities.

The Academy trains homegrown young talent in the North of England and the open classes offer dance to all ages from children and teenagers to the over 55s. “All of these things are an integral part of what we do and we always remember that,” says Bonelli.

“It is in our mission statement to ‘break down the barriers to world-class ballet’ and we take that very seriously.”

Bonelli’s own journey into ballet came about he says “by chance.” At the age of five, he went along to an open class at his local ballet school. “After the class the teacher said ‘I will see you next week.’ Then it was a journey of discovery – I had no idea what ballet was but I could run and jump and move and dance. It was only later that I realised that we could tell stories through dance. Then came the rigour of learning the technique and I enjoyed that too. I think I was lucky with my teachers at the beginning – I was very active as a child and they allowed me to be creative and free. Ballet is quite rigorous and it needs to be that intersection between being rigour and freedom. As a spectator I like it when you feel that the dancer is free on stage.”

The next production Bonelli is overseeing is festive favourite The Nutcracker which opens next week. “It is a lovely family ballet and really a part of Christmas,” he says.

“If I have a message for people, it is this – I would really like audiences to continue coming to see the ballets they know and love but to also come and try some of the other things we do.”

Northern Ballet’s production of The Nutcracker is at Leeds Grand Theatre, December 20-January 7. Details and tickets northernballet.co.uk