The Northern Ballet in Leeds makes redundancies, considers using recorded music and will 'reassess touring' due to cuts to its funding

The Leeds-based dance company said in a statement on Friday: “Northern Ballet has had to make the difficult decision to enter into negotiations to reassess the amount of live music that accompanies its touring productions from April 2024. The entire arts industry has been heavily impacted by rising costs across the board, with inflation, the cost of living crisis and the war in Ukraine causing drastic uplifts in the cost of everything from energy bills to set materials to the transportation costs associated with taking a production around the UK.

"Due to these mitigating factors we have had to take certain steps - there have been redundancies within the company, and a reduction in touring over the past year - however, it has become clear that we can no longer continue with our traditional touring model and we will need to explore different options if we are to continue to bring world-class narrative ballets to audiences throughout the country.

" We fully believe in the power and importance of live music and where we can, it will remain an integral part of our productions, but with deep regret we cannot maintain it at every venue. We are currently in discussion with the musicians, the Musicians' Union and Arts Council England to explore what a new touring model could look like for Northern Ballet. It remains our mission to create world-class new ballets, develop the next generation of talented new voices and share the joy of dance with audiences around the UK and we remain grateful to Arts Council England, Leeds City Council and our supporters for the funding and support that we receive.”

The Northern Ballet was founded in 1969 and has been based at a facility in the Quarry Hill area of Leeds since 2010. Its musicians are part of an orchestra called the Northern Ballet Sinfonia. It has 27 members who travel with the company’s dancers.

The company had to use its own financial reserves after its Arts Council England funding was frozen and then reduced, and touring productions were running at a loss.

The Musicians’ Union added: “Northern Ballet has acted to make as many savings as possible to minimise the loss. This has included redundancies in the Company and a substantially reduced headcount.

"Crucially, the Company has been driven to schedule notably less touring work, which has had a direct impact on MU members’ income - who are only paid for the work that they undertake - unlike the rest of the Company who are salaried. The result of the loss of work for MU members has been devastating, with some not only having to diversify their work to survive but even calling on the support of food banks.

"This position means the Company is being forced to consider the use of recorded music instead of the live orchestra for some of their touring work. It is proposed that doing so would allow the Company to remain sustainable.

“It is unthinkable that Northern Ballet should be in a position to even consider using recorded music in place of a live orchestra during live performances. Whilst we appreciate that doing so is a last resort, our members are the product and an integral part of any ballet. They deliver world class music and dance in partnership with the performers on the stage. It would be no different to replacing the dancers with a video screen."

The announcement comes on a bleak day for culture in the city, as the charity Project Space Leeds confirmed that its lease on the former Tetley’s Brewery was ending in December as part of the Aire Park development scheme. The organisation had run the building as art gallery, cultural space and restaurant The Tetley since 2013.