Summer Show 2025: Voices & Virtues

 Announcing Voices & Virtues: Elmhurst Summer Show 2025

We are thrilled to share details for our summer run of shows under the umbrella title, Voices & Virtues. Our summer performances are the highlight of the school calendar and a showcase of the extraordinary dedication and passion Elmhurst students apply to their training throughout the year.  

For six performances between 4th and 10th July 2025 in our studio theatre, the performances of Voices & Virtues are split into Lower School & Elmhurst Young Dancers, Upper School, and Whole School shows. These are the students’ final performances before moving upwards in the school or, for the graduate year Elmhurst Ballet Company, into professional dance employment. The shows allow audiences of family, friends, supporters, and ballet enthusiasts the opportunity to see the rising ballet stars of the future.  

Since 2004, Elmhurst Ballet School has been situated in Edgbaston, Birmingham. HRH The Queen is Patron of the school, Sir Wayne McGregor CBE is the school's President, and Carlos Acosta CBE is Vice President. We celebrated our centenary in 2023.  

Artistic Director Robert Parker has chosen a bold selection of works to showcase the technical prowess and artistry of our students, ranging in age from 11 to 19. This season celebrates the breadth of the art form –celebrating the duality of dynamic, fresh ideas alongside deeply respected traditions. 

In a range of choreography and styles of dance, Voices & Virtues has allowed each year group of students to work with both Elmhurst tutors and external artists. The privilege of working with external artists means that the students have all experienced the creative process first hand. Ballet, Contemporary, Commercial, and Jazz will all be on display during Voices & Virtues, highlighting the versatility of Elmhurst students.  

The Virtues  programme will highlight the rigour, beauty and technical prowess of classical dance traditions, respecting the school’s strong values and high aspirations. Continuing Elmhurst Ballet School’s legacy of classical ballet excellence, the programme features excerpts fromarguably the greatest ballet of all time, Sir Peter Wright and Galina Samsova’s exquisite Swan Lake, performed by Year 13 students.  

The Voices  programme will platform the influences and visions of the next generation of dance creatives, listening closely to the input of Elmhurst students as they collaborate with pioneering choreographers. Eyes will be on contemporary dance with the Year 13 students who have worked with Cuban choreographer Miguel Altunaga on a new piece titled Ek.sta.sis. Altunaga makes a welcome return to Elmhurst after the success of last year’s performance of City of a Thousand Trades in the summer shows. 

Elmhurst Ballet Company will showcase their ability to balance artistic expression and technique with Birmingham Royal Ballet Principal Dancer Lachlan Monaghan’s Unfading, set to Chopin’s Ballade No. 3. This original work for Elmhurst Ballet Company has been poignantly dedicated to Ana Wheeler, a much-missed pianist at Elmhurst Ballet School. Unfading is connected to the origins of Anait (Ana) and encompasses the meanings of resilience and strength. 

New creations for Years 7 and 8 students crafted by school alumnus Rosie Price titled Youthful Enthusiasm and Knowledgeable Optimism will premiere on stage in our studio theatre, and another former Elmhurst student and current dancer of Birmingham Royal Ballet, Olivia Chang-Clarke, has worked with the Year 9 students on a classical piece - The Chase. Whilst a student at Elmhurst, Olivia won the David Bintley Choreographic Award every year from 2016 to 2021, as well as the Margot Fonteyn Choreographic Award in 2021.  

For the very first time, Commercial dance is featured in Elmhurst Ballet School’s summer shows. Choreographer Rachel Hunt, whose commercial work is bringing a fresh, modern edge to the students’ training, has worked with year 8 students on a piece called Welcome to Hollywood! And contemporary piece, A Line That We Crossed makes a return to the stage after delighting audiences in Birmingham and London earlier this year in Elmhurst Ballet Company’s shows. A Line That We Crossed is performed by Elmhurst Ballet Company and is choreographed by graduate year students Tom Wood and Spike Frobisher.  

Elmhurst continues to invite guest artists into the school to enhance the student experience. During Voices & Virtues, Year 11 students perform a new contemporary piece Jinwoo, created by former Rambert Dance Company dancer and current Associate Choreographer for Ballet Black, Jacob Wye. Elmhurst Artistic team members including Mary Walsh, Cris Penfold, Sonia Fajardo, Gloria Grigolato, Lee Robinson, Indra Reinhold, and Hannah Rudd have also created a range of dance pieces for Voices & Virtues.  

Before the curtains close on Elmhurst Ballet School’s 2025 season, the Whole School performances will culminate in the joyous Grand Défilé,  bringing all 190 students at the school together on stage.