Cinderella Dreams, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Birmingham Hippodrome - review

The 66 students, including Soraya Miller, of Codsall, Staffordshire, and Lia Paskin, from Willenhall, who

successfully auditioned for roles in the project that was set up to give young people from local dance schools a rare chance to perform on the Birmingham Hippodrome stage alongside seasoned dancers.

The all age production was fabulous to watch and was scheduled in the middle of the ballet company's main run of Sergei Prokofiev's Cinderella which opened last week at the theatre.

Using the same music Cinderella Dreams was beautifully thought through and is very much a simplified and stripped down version of the lavish main production, with shorter scenes and a few changes to the sets and props. There also no live orchestra, however, nothing was lost in the presentation. It was a joy to see all the dancers work the routines to the music so well. My young companions, both dancers themselves, were very impressed and commented that watching made them want to get up and dance too!

To make the story match the more difficult duets for the ball scene and the reunion with the Prince there were two dancers playing the lead role of Cinders, which worked very well with clever swaps in the middle of the acts.

Young Cinderella, Pamela Hawkins, danced beautifully and will be a face to watch for in the future. The parts of adult Cinderella, Karla Doorbar, and the Prince, Lachlan Monaghan, the company, involved amazing lifts and were great, but for me the stars of the show were the children, they gave it their all.

There were also lots of parents and grandparents beaming with pride in the audience. Job well done Birmingham Royal Ballet

By Deborah Hardiman