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The Press

"The highlight of the evening was Andrew McNicol's Grace & Gravity which suited the school’s second year students to a T. A neo-classical work for an ensemble and eight soloists set to music by J S Bach, it relied on flowing movement and clean lines, its pure visual accentuated by the dancers’ simple white costumes. All they had to do was dance, and dance they did, the ensemble relishing their well-drilled synchronicity, the soloists making the most of their chance to shine."

Teresa Guerreiro, CultureWhisper

"The other Tulsa Ballet commissioned work is Andrew

McNicol's Celestial Bodies, which was created to

commemorate the company's 65th anniversary. This is an abstract work, one of that melds classical precision with at times an otherworldly grace."

James D Watts Jr, tulsa world.com

"McNicol Ballet Collective present a program of bold and powerful contemporary dance pieces which aim to push the boundaries of Ballet in order to inspire and excite."

Christopher Holmes, The Reviews Hub, 2021

'McNicol is above all, a choreographer who draws inspiration from the music he selects. He is also skilled in building up dance phrases into passages that culminate in strong poses or striking tableaux...'

Jonathan Gray, Dancing Times, January 2022

'McNicol  not only has a talent for choreography, but an eye for really good dancers,'

Jonathan Gray, Dancing Times, January 2022

''What If? (for Tulsa Ballet) is intricately crafted and it's great to see someone working so intuitively with the music''  

Gerard Davis, Dance Europe, 2021

"McNicol’s work always pleases with its wide vocabulary of steps and use of the classical lexicon"

Amanda Jennings, DanceEurope 2021

'Yonder Blue gives a sense of awesome wonderment - a moment that is only possible to witness in this way through remarkable feats of human ingenuity...' - Lauren Warnecke, Chicago Tribute, 2019

“Crafts haunting art out of simplicity and minimalism”  “Poignant work... moving duos...(Yonder Blue)  feels very complete” 

stageandcinema.com 

“(Yonder Blue) A rare gem of a ballet that transcends the here and now” “Achingly gorgeous duet, danced with the poignance of a dramatic relationship”  

Lynn Colbert Shapiro,  seeingdancechicago.com

“moving, memorable ballet…unfolds with canny clarity and much passion” -

Deborah Weiss, Dance Europe. 

"Impressive young choreographer, musical and fully engaged"

Dance Tabs, Jann Parry

 

"Imaginative and effective approach…well crafted"

bachtrack.com

Andrew McNicol

 

Andrew's video reel is here

 

Andrew McNicol is a freelance British choreographer and Artistic Associate at English National Ballet School.  He is a name to watch and talented beyond his years. Born in Hull, his choreographic work began whilst studying at The Royal Ballet School, where he won the Kenneth MacMillan Choreographic Competition. 

 

Andrew has already choreographed in a range of contexts including for The Royal Ballet of Flanders, Northern Ballet, The London Olympics, New English Ballet Theatre, The Royal Ballet Upper School, DanceEast, The National Youth Ballet, Ballet Central, and Juice Opera Trio.

 

He has worked with Kim Brandstrup through Dancelines, a Royal Opera House choreographic initiative and Jonathan Lunn through DanceEast’s ChoreoLab Project. He also received his Master of the Arts through Ballet Central’s new Professional Choreographic Programme.

 

In 2014, he was a nominee for the prestigious Rolex Mentor and Protégé Award and in 2015 he was shortlisted for the New Adventures Choreographic Award. 

 

Andrew has collaborated with acclaimed film composer Rachael Portman, Glyndebourne’s young resident composer Luke Styles and Linbury prize winning designer Emma Bailey.

 

In 2015, he became the first invited choreographer to work with Northern Ballet on their inaugural choreographic project alongside choreographers from The Royal Ballet and Scottish Ballet.

 

Other projects in 2015 include choreographing Asyla for The New York Choreographic Institute, with dancers of New York City Ballet and returning  there in 2017 to create Turangalîla. That same year he  was invited to return to The Royal Ballet Flanders at the invitation of Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui to create a work for ChoreoLab.

Recent creations include a new trio, Hearts Furies for The Royal Ballet, at a gala celebrating Hull City of Culture in Autumn 2017. In 2018, Andrew was the recipient of Ballet X's choreographic fellowship and created Requiem for the Philadelphia based company which premiered 11 July. He also premiered a new work for The Royal Ballet Upper School in London. 

 

Commissions in 2019 included Yonder Blue, a new work for Chicago's Joffrey Ballet that premiered in April to critical acclaim. He has also created  for London's Images of Ballet and and a new duet for The Royal Ballet's Annette Page Tribute and Spendour for students of English National Ballet School.

Andrew's commissions in 2020 included a virtual graduation creation, Of Space & Time for the students of English National Ballet School.

In 2021, new works have included virtual and stage productions for Tulsa Ballet as well as new creations for the Royal Ballet School and English National Ballet School. In May 2020, Andrew was selected as a finalist in the Young Ballet Choreographer Competition in Biarritz, France which will now take place in 2022.

In November, 2021, Andrew launched his McNicol Ballet Collective at the Bloomsbury Theatre in London. The Collective is working with international dancers to develop new collaborative work including premieres of 4 new creations which were also performed in Andrew's home town of Hull.

In 2022/23, creations include Andrew's first full-length ballet, Cinderella for Tulsa Ballet as well as a new one-act ballet, Celestial Bodies, premiered in May 2022.

www.andrewmcnicol.co.uk

https://www.mcnicolballetcollective.co.uk

@mcnicolballetcollective

 

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