Train passengers will have glimpse into English National Ballet rehearsals in new 'translucent' home

'Open about the process': English National Ballet dancers in their new home
Ian Gavan
Robert Dex @RobDexES12 September 2019

Commuters in train carriages will be able to watch some of the world’s best dancers perform when the English National Ballet opens its new home.

Passengers at Canning Town station will have a clear view of rehearsals in ENB’s multi-million-pound “translucent” building, which has gone up as part of the City Island development.

The 93,000 sq ft building has seven full-size studios, a treatment pool for injured dancers and viewing galleries for the public, who are free to walk in and watch rehearsals.

Artistic Director Tamara Rojo said the building was an expression of ENB’s mission to share dance “with the widest possible audience”.

She said: “It is a translucent building, we designed it like that, we designed it so people from the Underground station can see into the studios.

“At night when it is dark you can still see through the walls so the whole point is to share this with as many people as possible, to be open about the process of creativity, about the rehearsal process, all the things people are less familiar with.” She said she wanted people from the surrounding area to “see every aspect of what a life would be in the arts”, adding: “Not just being a dancer, which is an elite group of people in terms of physical ability, but there are many other ways you can be involved and creative so from opening our costume department to apprenticeships to maybe learning what it is to be a stage hand, a stage manager or lighting designer.”

The building, which replaces the ENB’s old home in Kensington, also has a wardrobe department four times the size of the previous one and a production studio that will be hired out to other performers.

It is part of a wider move east by some leading artistic institutions, including the London Film School which is also moving to the island and the planned East Bank development in Stratford which will include a new V&A museum.

Mayor Sadiq Khan gave £1 million of public money to the ENB building, which he will officially open tonight. He said it was “the latest step towards creating a global cultural powerhouse in East London”.

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