BOA Student, Ellie Mae Gray, has been doing work experience in the Marketing & Communications team this week. She got the chance to see Birmingham Royal Ballet’s Cinderella and here’s what she thought to her very first ballet!

By Ellie Mae Gray

I have never seen Birmingham Royal Ballet perform before let alone Cinderella on stage, so I was so excited to be able to have the chance to watch the performance. As a Musical Theatre enthusiast, I thought ballet would be very long with little characterisation. However I was completely wrong. It was undoubtedly spectacular! As I entered the auditorium I gazed around the building to find thrilled faces of all ages which once again shocked me. Cinderella is 100% targeted at all ages.

As we found our seats, I overheard a little girl whisper to her mum how excited she was to see the show. I believe she was particularly eager to see the dancers on pointe shoes as it’s her desire to become a famous ballet dancer. I was delighted to hear the positive thoughts of the mother and daughter, and this made me overjoyed to watch the show.

To see the show itself was just incredible, but the dance routines were breathtaking! The company were in time with every little beat and the precision of their alignment and strength of their arms and legs were beyond belief. They take you on an emotional rollercoaster throughout the performance.

I would also like to praise the setting of the show as it was so realistic and made you feel as if you were part of the performance. All through the production I overheard several comments from other audience members such as: ‘it’s just amazing!’, ‘incredible’ and ‘I am speechless’. This pretty much sums up my journey at the Hippodrome.

And my absolute favourite scene of the show I hear you ask? Well, that would be when the humorous animals brought the phenomenal princess carriage to the stage, this also brought a variety of ‘oos’ and ‘awws’ to the audience.

I would summarise my whole experience as one of the best productions I have ever witnessed. I highly recommend EVERYONE who is reading this to see Birmingham Royal Ballet in the future. They are back in June with Coppélia, which promises to be another magical fairy-tale.