Northern Ballet's ground-breaking new ballet Gentleman Jack
The extraordinary story of Anne Lister, 19th century Halifax landowner, renowned diarist, successful businesswoman, adventurous traveller and described by some as “the first modern lesbian”, has been told in a number of biographies, novels and a hit TV series, and has now inspired a ground-breaking full-length ballet.
Northern Ballet’s Gentleman Jack, which receives its world premiere in Leeds next weekend before touring the UK, is the company’s first large-scale commission for five years and the first under artistic director Federico Bonelli since his appointment in 2022. “I think it is the perfect story for Northern Ballet because it is rooted in Yorkshire but it will also resonate with audiences nationally and internationally,” says Bonelli. “And also, for me as artistic director – part of my artistic vision when I joined the company was to put a diversity of perspectives, stories and voices on stage.”
The company is known for its bold approach to narrative ballet and exceptional storytelling through dance. Bringing Lister’s story to life is renowned award-winning Belgian-Colombian choreographer Annabelle Lopez Ochoa. Based in Amsterdam and working internationally, she has created over 100 ballets for companies around the world and has an impressive track record of telling the life stories of strong, complicated women – subjects of her acclaimed dance productions have included Coco Chanel, Frida Kahlo, Eva Peron and Maria Callas. “I have long admired Annabelle’s work and enjoy the way she is able to tell stories with such emotional power,” says Bonelli. “She has a passion to tell these kinds of stories.”
Lopez Ochoa had not heard of Anne Lister before Bonelli approached her with the idea and she was immediately hooked. “I thought it was such a great story and I am so grateful that Federico threw it into my lap,” she says. Lister’s story was brought to wider prominence by Sally Wainwright’s acclaimed BBC series Gentleman Jack (Wainwright is a consultant on the ballet) and this is where Lopez Ochoa began her preparation for the project. “I watched the TV series and I thought of course I would love to make a ballet about Anne Lister. I did a lot of research about her diaries and then we got together with the team to discuss how we were going to make the story. With ballet we have to try to be clear and concise and not too complex, we have to distill everything, so we decided to focus in on her relationship with two particular women.”
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Those two women are Marianna Lawton and Ann Walker. Marianna is often referred to as the love of Lister’s life – their on-off relationship lasted for over 20 years – but faltered when Lawton chose convention and financial stability by marrying a man. Lister was left devastated and heart-broken but went on to form a new relationship with one of her neighbours, wealthy young heiress Ann Walker. That relationship appears to have been more transactional and convenient, as Lister was socially ambitious and was aware that pooling her money, property and assets with Walker’s would be advantageous. The two women later formalized their relationship in what is thought to be Britain’s first recorded lesbian wedding.
Working with dramaturg, writer and curator Clare Croft, author of Jill Johnston in Motion: Dance, Writing, and Lesbian Life, Lopez Ochoa and the company have sought to bring to the stage an authentic depiction of Lister, a bold, fiercely independent woman who lived life very much on her own terms. While there is much to admire about Lister, she was a complex figure and not without flaws. “She was interesting and ahead of her times, but she wasn’t ‘nice’,” says Lopez Ochoa. “She had big ideas and was ambitious, she had to use her intellect to succeed in business and climb up the social ladder, but she was a bit of a snob – she built an underground tunnel at her home Shibden Hall so that she wouldn’t have to look at her servants. Although she was openly lesbian to her family, she knew that in wider society it was frowned upon, that makes her interesting and we have been looking in the scenes at how to portray that duality.”
The style of the dance serves the story and the company have been innovative in their approach. Romantic female pas de deux are unusual in classical ballet, so the choreography is boundary-pushing with Lopez Ochoa and the three lead dancers having to find different ways in which to convey the passion and complexity of the relationships they are exploring. “I always say that I like to choreographically discover something new with each piece I make,” says Lopez Ochoa. “Here for instance we have to think about how you make a bed scene without going on to the floor and also with two women dancers everything is more fluid; we are trying to make it more equal, so there are no lifts over the head, for example.”
Telling a story through dance and movement, without words, about a woman who is known for the millions of words she wrote in her diaries is a challenge, but Lopez Ochoa has incorporated that important aspect of Anne Lister’s story through the use of a clever device. “For the corps de ballet I was inspired by her writing, which she did obsessively. So, I have a chorus dressed as words and as she starts writing, they become human.” Lopez Ochoa has found the experience of working with the company very positive and energizing. “The dancers of Northern Ballet are really good actors and they dive into the characters, the interpretation and intentions very quickly,” she says. “After working and preparing for years, to see the characters come so vividly to life is very exciting.”
The ballet is eagerly anticipated and has already won the 2025 Fedora Van Cleef and Arpels Dance Prize which recognizes productions that reimagine dance for the 21st century, rethinking how ballets are created and who they are created for. “Creating something entirely new is always exhilarating and this time we have the added excitement of creating a portrait of a real person,” says Bonelli. “We are so looking forward to sharing our interpretation of this legendary woman with audiences.”
Northern Ballet’s Gentleman Jack is at Leeds Grand Theatre, March 7-14, then touring including to Sheffield Lyceum Theatre, March 31-April 4 and Bradford Alhambra Theatre, September 3-5. Details northerballet.com