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Plans for £12m Leeds dance centre wins backing
PLANS for a £12m dance centre at Quarry Hill in Leeds have won the backing of councillors and impressions of the new headquarters have been unveiled.
The six-storey building, to feature dance studios, a performance area, changing rooms, meeting rooms, stores and offices, will be the headquarters of the Northern Ballet Theatre and Phoenix Dance Theatre.
The council's city centre planning panel approved the scheme in principle and agreed that officers could grant formal consent once a number of conditions have been finalised.
It will be built on a site currently used as a council car park in St Cecilia Street close to Quarry House and Leeds College of Music.
Progress is now being made towards the creation of the purpose-built home for NBT on Quarry Hill in Leeds. The new building has been designed by DLA Architects.
Fundraising is progressing to create an international centre for dance excellence in Yorkshire and to house Northern Ballet Theatre and Phoenix Dance plus associated training establishment.
Partners involved are Arts Council of England, Leeds City Council, Rushbond PLC and Yorkshire Forward.
Northern Dance Theatre, the name by which the company was originally known, was founded in 1969 by Canadian-born Laverne Meyer, a dramatic dancer whose formative years were spent with Bristol-based Western Theatre Ballet.
Following a feasibility study, funded by the Arts Council and carried out by Laverne Meyer in 1968, Meyer, backed by the Arts Council, North West Arts and other supporters, put together a new company of dancers and on the November 28, 1969, Northern Dance Theatre gave its first performance at the University Theatre, Manchester, accompanied by musicians of the Royal Northern College of Music.
There were 11 dancers in this first company and the emphasis was on small-scale classical and modern works, suiting both the size of the company and the venues. Northern Dance Theatre survived these early years through determination.
Coun Graham Latty (Con, Guiseley and Rawdon) said: "This is a smashing building and it will be an asset to Leeds."
Coun James Monaghan (Lib Dem, Headingley) said the building would be seen by thousands of train passenger using one of the main rail lines into Leeds and would be a fine advertisement for the arts in the city.
Coun Martin Hamilton, panel chairman, said the headquarters would be a welcome addition to the cluster of arts and media buildings already developed on Quarry Hill.
Leeds City Council, the Arts Council and Yorkshire Forward are providing 10.5m towards the project.
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Friday 25 May 2012
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