YP Comment: Turning pointe

In truth the heating didn’t work, the windows rattled and tucked away on the outskirts of Leeds, the company was often out of sight and out of mind.

It was artistic director David Nixon who drove Northern Ballet’s move from its old base to the centre of the city and into the largest purpose-built dance studios and theatre outside London.

Once there, the company continued to produce work much as it had always had, but fast forward six years and the impact is clear.

Northern Ballet’s local, national and international profile has never been greater and it will, to prove the point, stage three world premieres this year.

It’s an achievement which not even the big London dance companies can rival and further reason why the North deserves a fairer deal when it comes to arts funding.