Judges

Agnes Oaks

Senior Principal Dancer, English National Ballet

Agnes Oaks was born in Estonia. She studied at the Estonian State Ballet School and the Bolshoi Ballet School. Agnes has won many competitions and has created a world renowned partnership with her partner Thomas Edur. In 1990 she joined English National Ballet as principal, dancing all the company's leading roles. She joined Birmingham Royal Ballet in 1996. Since 1997, Agnes has been constantly in demand as a Principal Guest Artist around the world. Her favourite roles are Juliet in Romeo and Juliet and the title roles in Giselle and Sphinx. Agnes’ career highlights include creating the title role in Deane’s Giselle, Aurora in Hynd’s The Sleeping Beauty, McGregor’s 2 Human, winning the Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance 2004, performing in Swan Lake in the Concert for Diana in 2007, and participating in The Royal Variety Performance 2007.

Christopher Hampson

Choreographer

Christopher Hampson was born in Manchester, and trained at the Royal Ballet School. After graduating in 1992 he joined English National Ballet and by 1996 was a Soloist. Christopher’s choreographic work started at the Royal Ballet School and continued at English National Ballet where he created a number of ballets before leaving in 1999 to concentrate full time on choreography. Christmas 2000 saw the premiere of his first full-length work, A Christmas Carol, at London’s Royal Festival Hall, followed by Saltarello, for the Royal New Zealand Ballet. Double Concerto, for English National Ballet, had its premiere at the Opera House, Manchester, in November 2001 and won the Barclays Theatre Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance and the Critics’ Circle National Dance Award for Best Classical Choreography. 2002 saw the premiere of his new production of The Nutcracker, designed by political cartoonist Gerald Scarfe for the ENB. In 2003 Christopher created Trapèze for English National Ballet and Romeo and Juliet for Royal New Zealand Ballet, which was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award (Best New Production 2005). In 2004 he created a new production of Giselle for the National Ballet in Prague. He created a new work, Sinfonietta Giocosa, for the Atlanta Ballet in the U.S.A. which toured to New York in 2005. Sinfonietta Giocosa has just been restaged for English National Ballet's London season at Sadlers' Wells. His latest full-length ballet, Cinderella, created for the Royal New Zealand Ballet has just completed a tour of New Zealand and China.

Pippa Moore

Leading Soloist, Northern Ballet Theatre

Pippa was born in Liverpool. Ambitious from a very young age, she was determined to become a dancer and trained at the Hammond School, Chester and The Royal Ballet School. She has danced with Scottish Ballet, Wiener Ballet Theatre and The Royal Ballet. Pippa joined Northern Ballet Theatre in 1996, attracted by the company’s innovative dance-theatre style and the opportunity to explore her individuality and her own creativity. In her time there, Pippa has danced many solo and leading roles. In 2005 she was promoted to Leading Soloist and has continued to dance the role of Wendy in Peter Pan. Pippa was nominated for Outstanding Female Artist at the National Dance Awards 2004 for her performance of Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

David Nixon

Artistic Director, Northern Ballet Theatre

David started dance lessons in his hometown of Chatham, Ontario, before being accepted to the National Ballet School of Canada. David’s career began at the National Ballet of Canada where he progressed to Principal dancer. In 1985 he joined the Deutsche Oper Ballet in Berlin as Principal dancer before leaving in 1990 for a series of Principal guest artist positions with National Ballet of Canada, Bayerisches Staatsballett, Munich and Royal Winnipeg Ballet. He returned to Deutsche Oper Ballet in 1994 as first Ballet Master. In 1994 BalletMet in Columbus, Ohio USA, offered David his first role as Artistic Director. During his six-year tenure he added sixteen world and fifteen company premières to the repertoire. David Nixon joined Northern Ballet Theatre in August 2001 where his productions have included: Madame Butterfly, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Dangerous Liaisons and Peter Pan. David’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream was nominated in the Best New Dance Production category in the Laurence Olivier Awards 2004. His fresh and original take on Sleeping Beauty, A Sleeping Beauty Tale brought a new audience to the Northern Ballet Theatre when it premièred in Leeds in January. The Nutcracker had its world première in Manchester in October. David’s World Première of Hamlet in Leeds will take place in February 2008.

Marion Tait

Ballet Mistress – Birmingham Royal Ballet

Born in London, Marion Tait, joined the Royal Ballet School at the age of 15, graduating to The Royal Ballet's touring company (now Birmingham Royal Ballet) two years later. In 1974, she was promoted to Principal and made her debuts in the lead roles in MacMillan's The Invitation, Ashton's The Dream, Giselle and Coppélia, as well as creating her first contemporary role in Christopher Bruce's Unfamiliar Playground. Marion has danced all the major classical roles in the repertoire.

In 1995 Marion became Birmingham Royal Ballet's Ballet Mistress and now teaches the Company as well as the Royal Ballet School Senior Associates in Birmingham. She continues to perform character roles such as Carabosse in The Sleeping Beauty and Lady Capulet in Romeo and Juliet. She was made an OBE in 1992 and a CBE in the 2003 Queen's Birthday Honours list. Marion has twice been nominated for Olivier Awards, was named Dancer of the Year 1994 and also received the Evening Standard Ballet Award for Outstanding Performance. Marion is a trustee of the Dance Teacher's Benevolent Fund and Patron of The Edge arts centre in Solihull. Marion assisted Desmond Kelly in directing BRB’s artistic team for Ballet Changed my Life – Ballet Hoo!, the education project documented on Channel 4 during September and October 2006.

Desmond Kelly

Assistant Director – Birmingham Royal Ballet

Born and trained in Zimbabwe, he began his professional career with London Festival Ballet, becoming principal dancer, before working with many international companies. He regularly partnered Margot Fonteyn with National Ballet of Washington DC and on several extensive tours of the USA and Canada. Since joining the Royal Ballet Companies in 1970, Desmond has danced all the major classical roles and is particularly noted for his interpretation of the Balanchine repertory. He has created many roles for the Company and continues to perform character roles. He was appointed Assistant Director of Birmingham Royal Ballet in 1990.

Desmond has taught classical ballet to many international companies since 1985, becoming instrumental in the development of numerous dancers. Desmond was awarded an OBE in the 2005 New Year’s Honours list. He directed BRB’s artistic team for Ballet Changed my Life – Ballet Hoo!, the education project document on Channel 4 during September and October 2006. During 2007, he was awarded honorary doctorates from the Universities of Birmingham and Leicester in recognition of his involvement in the Ballet Hoo! project.

Sarah McIlroy

Principal Dancer, English National Ballet

Sarah McIlroy was born in Hertfordshire. She trained at Harlow Ballet School in Essex and at The Royal Ballet School Upper School. On graduating in 1992 she joined English National Ballet. Here she rose through the ranks of the company to Senior Soloist in 1999 and Principal in 2002.

Sarah created roles in Symphonic Dances (Bignozetti 1995), Facing Viv (Cathy Marston 2002), The Winter Fairy in Michael Corder's Cinderella (1996) and 'Elizabethan Serenade' in his Melody on the Move (2003), and a number of roles in ballets by Christopher Hampson, including Country Garden (1998) and the lead in Trapeze (2003). Sarah has danced in a number of ballets by Kenneth MacMillan including the Chosen One in Kenneth MacMillan's The Rite of Spring (one of her favourite parts), the third sister in My Brother, My Sisters and in Sea of Troubles and Sideshow. For Michael Corder she has danced both the Tall stepsister and the title role in Cinderella and the Title role and Gipsy Girl in his Snow Queen. Other roles include the ballerina role in George Balanchine's Square Dance, Calliope in Apollo and the second solo in Who Cares? as well as Swanilda, the Sugar Plum Fairy, and Odette/Odile. She also created roles in the Mixtures programme for Westminster Abbey in 2003 and has a nine-year-old son, Jacob.

Christopher Hampson

Choreographer

(For biography please see London Middlesex & South East England Heat)

Dame Antoinette Sibley trained at the Arts Educational and Royal Ballet Schools, dancing Swanhilda in Coppélia at the first ever Royal Ballet School’s Performance. Upon graduating from the School in 1956 she joined The Royal Ballet and was promoted to Soloist in 1959, and Principal in 1960.

Dame Antoinette became one of the leading ballerinas of her generation and danced throughout the world, working with many of the great choreographers of the time- Jerome Robbins, Dame Ninette de Valois, Sir Robert Helpmann, Andrée Howard, Léonide Massine, Antony Tudor, John Cranko, and especially Sir Frederick Ashton and Sir Kenneth MacMillan and danced many times with Rudolf Nureyev including creating Friday’s Child in Ashton’s Jazz Calender and dancing in Robbin’s London version of Dances at a Gathering. Her famous partnership with Anthony Dowell, which began with Ashton’s The Dream in 1964, became one of the greatest partnerships of the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s.

In 1976, she made her film debut in Herbert Ross’ The Turning Point dancing with Baryshnikov. The same year, Collins published ‘Sibley and Dowell’. This was followed in 1981 by Dance Books Ltd’s Antoinette Sibley and in 1987 by a biography, Antoinette Sibley - Reflections of a Ballerina, by Barbara Newman, published by Hutchinsons.

In 1988, she appeared for the last time in a full-length ballet in the role of Manon, partnered by Anthony Dowell. She now frequently coaches the principal dancers of The Royal Ballet in many roles, which she either created or for which she was most noted.

On Dame Margot Fonteyn’s death in 1991 Dame Antoinette was elected President of the Royal Academy of Dancing, as it was then known, and has since been actively involved in the creation of the new Graded Syllabus 7 and 8, in promoting the Academy internationally and in the RAD’s annual conferences. She was awarded a CBE in 1973 and a DBE in the 1996 New Years Honours List.