Joiners, leavers, retirement, dancers exchange
English National Ballet's First Artist Isabelle Brouwers will retire from the stage after 11 years with the company. Her final performances will be the roles of Myrtha and Bathilde in Akram Khan's Giselle at Sadler's Wells in London in January 2026, the company said in its Facebook post on 19th December 2025.
Northern Ballet's Principal Joseph Taylor will leave the company after 13 years to pursue new performing opportunities, the Leeds-, the UK, based company announced earlier in December. Taylor is also a dancer with the London City Ballet.
The Royal New Zealand Ballet (RNZB) announced dancers exchanges with The Australian Ballet on 2nd December.Belle Urwin, Coryphée with The Australian Ballet, will be joining the RNZB for their Auckland performances of The Nutcracker. In exchange, Catarina Estévez Collins will dance with The Australian Ballet in their Sydney season of The Sleeping Beauty.
RNZB also announced the roster for the 2026 season, including retirements, joiners, leavers and promotions. Click here for details.
The Finnish National Ballet's Second Soloist Sofia Gustafsson retired following her performance in The Nutcracker on 22nd December, the company said in its Instagram post ahead of the show on the same day.
Semperoper Ballett Dresden said on 15th December that Japanese dancer Sarika Emi joined the company as a part of the Scholarship Programme of the Semperoper Foundation – Förderstiftung.