PRESS RELEASE: BIRMINGHAM ROYAL BALLET ANNOUNCES 2024 - 25 SEASON (2025)

In 2020 she was recognized for her achievements with the National Prize for Dance in Spain.

Wubkje Kuindersma

Wubkje Kuindersma is a freelance choreographer from The Netherlands and is Young Creative Associate with Dutch National Ballet since 2021. Human connection and gender equality are important themes in her work. The leading American publication Dance Magazine included Kuindersma in its ‘Top 25 to watch for 2019’, an annual list of dancers, choreographers and companies the magazine deems representative of the future of dance. In 2019, Kuindersma was nominated for the Prize of the Dutch Dance Days Maastricht, an award for young, promising talent. In 2016 she received the BNG Award for Excellent Talent in choreography.

Her acclaimed duet “Two and Only” for Dutch National Ballet delivered Marijn Rademaker a nomination for the Prix Benois de la Danse 2018. Her choreography “Architecture of Hope” for West Australian Ballet won the West Australian Performing Arts Award for Best New Work in 2020. Music plays a vital role in Wubkje’s creations and she loves to get creative with other art forms. She often designs her own costumes and stage design for her creations.

Critic's Choice Dance Europe mentioned Kuindersma's "Anatomy of Light" as one of best premieres in 2022, alongside works of Beaujean, Van Schaijk, Goecke and Clug.

She currently creates her first full length story ballet “Echoes of Van Gogh” at West Australian Ballet, with premiere september 8th 2023 in Perth. Kuindersma has created new works for Dutch National Ballet and its Junior Company, Korzo&Ndt, Ballett Dortmund, das Hessisches Staatsballett, Noverre Society of Stuttgart Ballet, BalletX, West Australian Ballet, Dansk Danseteater, Ballett Landestheater Coburg, Beijing Dance Academy, the Dutch National Ballet Academy, Bundesjugendballet of John Neumeier, Codarts, Dantzaz, Philharmonie Luxembourg, Skanes Dansteater, Ballet Kiel.

For more info, please visit wubkje.com

Seeta Patel

The award-winning choreographer and dancer Seeta Patel was born in London and began her training under the guidance of Kiran Ratna in 1990. She has since worked with a range of Bharatanatyam and contemporary dance professionals including Mavin Khoo, Padma Shri Adyar K Lakshman, Pushkala Gopal and Darshan Singh Bhuller. She has also performed and toured with a number of companies such as DV8 Physical Theatre, Shobana Jeyasingh Dance Company, David Hughes Dance Company and Mavin Khoo Dance.

Seeta has presented solo and ensemble works at the Southbank Centre Purcell Room, Royal Opera House, ROH2 and Sadler’s Wells such as: Cycle of Change (2005), She Was Still (2005-6), Alter Ego (2007), Shringara (2009), Last One Standing (2010) and First Light (2014). Her solo classical London debut, Shringara: Journey of Desire, was performed to a capacity audience at The Clore Upstairs, Royal Opera House (June 2009), and then toured around the UK in 2010/11. She subsequently presented solo classical works Dancing My Siva and Something Then, Something Now to sold out audiences at Sadler’s Wells and the Purcell Room (Darbar Festival).

Over the past 12 years, Patel has received numerous awards and bursaries for her creative and professional development. She was awarded the Lisa Ullmann Travel Scholarship to study in India (2005) and at the New York Film Academy (2013). In 2017, she received the Washington S&R Award for her work championing Bharatanatyam in the diaspora.

Seeta worked as a choreographic collaborator with the world renowned contemporary circus company, Gandini Juggling, for their production Sigma which premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2017 before touring in 2020 and subsequently won the Archangel Award, Total Theatre Award, and Asian Arts Award.