Leigh Alderson

Leigh Alderson (born 1986) is a male ballet dancer, model and actor from Portadown, Northern Ireland.

Leigh Alderson
Born (1986-12-05) 5 December 1986
OriginNorthern Ireland
GenresFilm, ballet, theatre, performer
Years active1998 – present
Websiteleighalderson.weebly.com

Alderson trained at The Royal Ballet School performing in Rudi van Dantzig's Four Last Songs in Toronto and Stuttgart before graduating in 2006. He joined Scottish Ballet dancing works by Ashley Page, Forsythe and Trisha Brown and Pastor and works by Richard Wherlock with New English Contemporary Ballet, later joining Atlantic Ballet Theatre of Canada and guesting with Cork City Ballet. With Les Grands Ballets Canadiens he performed in works by Stijn Celis, Stephan Thoss, The Snake in Didy Veldman's Petit Prince, Jiří Kylián's [Kaguyahime] and The Prince in Mats Ek's Sleeping Beauty.

Film and TV work has included the Canadian horror film Undress Me (2017), StreetDance 3D (2010), Angel (2009), the BBC documentary series Lost to Dance (1998) and God Given Gift (2005/07).

Awards include Royal Ballet School Achievement Award (2005 & 2006) Lynne Seymour Award for Most Expressive Dancer (2004), The NJL Choreographic Development Award (2005) and The Ulster Tatler Arts Personality of the Year Award (2009 & 2010).

Documentaries, film and TV

The BBC produced three documentary films about him. Lost To Dance was broadcast in October 1998, A God Given Gift in September 2005 and the third, also called A God Given Gift, in December 2007.[1] All were directed and produced by the documentary film maker Claire DeLargy. The 2007 biography of Frederic Franklin notes Franklin's involvement with Alderson and his involvement in Alderson's 2005 and 2007 BBC documentaries.[2]

Alderson began filming the independent film Angel in June 2009, co-starring the ballet dancer Kyle Davey. The film uses the score of the Scottish singer, Jerry Burns and is directed by David Council. The film had its premiere screening in The Market Place Theatre at The Stars of the Arts Gala 2010 on 19 June. An official trailer was released in July for a limited time to mark its impending release onto iTunes worldwide. It was subsequently shown at the Festival International du Court Métrage in Clermont-Ferrand and at the 10th Annual Two Short Nights Film Festival.

In July 2009, it was announced that Alderson would be attached as a featured dancer in Vertigo Films' StreetDance 3D that commenced shooting in mid-August 2009 to be released in May 2010. The film subsequently became #1 at the UK box office.

Alderson was a featured artist on BBC's arts and culture series Art Space, in the sixth and final episode of series one which was televised on Wednesday 2 June 2010 on BBC1.

Flight of Freedom

Flight of Freedom was the product of a collaborative photo-shoot between Alderson and Karin Pritzel, an award-winning photographer from Dublin. The photo first came to media attention in New York when the fashion designer Malan Breton chose it to be his official muse for his 2010 spring collection. Shortly afterit became an award-winning photograph. It was then commissioned as a large scale art piece which was auctioned at The NCAD gallery in Dublin, which was organised by Fairley Pilaro in aid Of Operation Smile, a charity that raises money for children to have cleft palate operations in poor and underdeveloped countries. The picture was again auctioned for the Stars of the Arts Gala in aid of the Haiti Appeal.[3] In 2011, it was selected to be included in a book combining art and famous inspiring quotes. The book, Quoted Moments, was launched in July 2011 in association with the Irish Cancer Society.

Books and published material

In 2007, Leslie Norton published a biography of Frederic Franklin which documented Franklin's involvement with Alderson and his 2005 and 2007 BBC documentaries.[2]

In 2009, while still a dancer with New English Contemporary Ballet, Alderson appeared in Jim Rowbothams' photography book Strictly Ballet. In 2010, the French author Sébastien Simoni dedicated his horror novel, Labyrinthik to Alderson.

Awards and recognition
Year Award Category Result
2004 The Lynne Seymour Award Most Expressive Dancer Won
2005 The NJL Sponsored Choreographic Development Award Choreographic Development Won
2005 The Royal Ballet School Achievement Award N/A Won
2006 The Royal Ballet School Achievement Award N/A Won
2009 Ulster Tatler – People of the Year Awards 2009 Arts Personality of the Year 2009 Nominated
2010 Ulster Tatler – People of the Year Awards 2010 Arts Personality of the Year 2010 Nominated

TV, film and documentary
Year Title Production Style Role
1998 Lost To Dance BBC Documentary film Featured artist
2005 A God Given Gift BBC Documentary film Featured artist
2007 A God Given Gift 2 BBC Documentary film Featured artist
2009 Angel Concept&Graph Films Independent short film Lead performer
2010 StreetDance 3D Vertigo Films Feature film Featured dancer
2010 Art Space BBC Television programme Featured star profile
2011 Atlantic Ballet Theatre of Canada Presents Ghosts of Violence Valkaline Productions Independent ballet film Male lead/ HE
2017 Undress Me Independent short Eric (lead)
2018 Monachopsis Summerhouse Films Feature film Unicorn (supporting)
2018 Grass Is Always Greener Independent short Harry Whitman (lead)
2018 Untitled future project Karin Pritzel Productions Short art film Lead performer

Ballet companies
Ballet company Years active Country Role
The Royal Ballet 2005–2006 London Cover, extra, dancer
Scottish Ballet 2006–2008 Scotland Corps de ballet
Cork City Ballet 2008–present Ireland Guest artist
New English Contemporary Ballet 2009 England Soloist dancer
Atlantic Ballet Theatre of Canada 2010–2013 Canada Soloist dancer
Les Grands Ballets Canadiens 2013–2017 Canada Demi-soloist
Ballet Ireland 2017–2018 Ireland Ballet dancer
New Adventures 2018–2019 London Performer

Music
Title Release Date EP/Single Format
Boy 25 June 2013 Album iTunes/Amazon/Sony Music LTD
I Felt Space Or So I Thought 18 August 2011 Single iTunes Worldwide (digital)/ Physical CD

References
  1. "BBC – TV – On Now". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 23 April 2016.
  2. L. Norton & F. Franklin, (2007), Frederic Franklin: A Biography of a Ballet Star, McFarland, pp 208–210 ISBN 978-0-7864-3051-2
  3. Stars Of The Arts Gala, Leigh Alderson official website Archived 14 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine
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