Teesside-born Richard Ramsay talks about the big screen Royal Ballet debut in Middlesbrough

IN the Royal Opera House it will cost you anything up to £379.60 to watch Stockton-born and Middlesbrough-raised Richard Ramsay dance with the Royal Ballet in a production of Ondine on Wednesday. Newcastle’s Tyneside Cinema has a top price of around £20 for the same live performance… while in Centre Square, Middlesbrough, you can view the entire three-hour show on a big screen for free.

Ramsay, 29, reveals it is only the second time in his 11 years with the world’s best-known ballet company that he’s been seen in the region “and it’s my Middlesbrough debut if it counts as one”.

“The Royal Ballet isn’t normally allowed to tour provisionally because the Arts Council says we’ll be in danger of taking audiences away from other ballet companies, but in 1998 (his first year) the opera house had to close and we toured to three theatres, which included Darlington Civic, with a piece called Dance Bites,” he says of his only other appearance back in the North-East.

Ramsay, as a first artist in the corps de ballet, will dance three roles in Frederick Ashton’s work which is celebrating its 50th anniversary. “I’m a wood sprite, a sailor and a Mediterranean diver, which is basically me in a clown costume,” he says of the ballet which stars Miyako Yoshida as the water sprite who falls in love with a mortal, creating tragic consequences.

“I think the big screen is a good thing because it provides snippets of what we do and what’s available without putting pressure on people to buy a ticket and watch. It’s also being shown in cinemas but I presume that doesn’t include Middlesbrough because that rather defeats the object,” he jokes.

“There has been one showing in the North-East before, in Newcastle, and I think it’s a great idea. People can turn up for a look.

If they like it they stay, if they don’t they can wander off,” Ramsay says. He’s hoping that his grandparents, Dennis and Majorie Rainbow of Linthorpe will fall in the first category with the Teesside audience experiencing the full Covent Garden production plus footage about the Royal Ballet shown in the interval.

The dancer lived in the Middlesbrough area until he was ten before his father relocated with ICI to Chester.

Given that he’s one of the region’s Billy Elliots, there’s a touch of irony that he’s now married to fellow dancer Bethany Elliott. “Even though my first year was in Billingham, I’m not sure about being a Billy Elliot. I suppose I’ve grown up in an area that’s not renowned for its ballet dancers.

People around you don’t see it as sensible career choice, but my whole family has been behind me, from sister to grandparents. They were all involved in Middlesbrough Operatic Society so there’s a bit of family history there. I’m quite laidback really so being teased has never really bothered me,” he says, even though he did end up as the only boy in the dance class on many occasions.

His first dance teacher was Middlesbrough’s Margaret Lawrence and he recalls performing in shows at Great Ayton. The performer confesses he was lucky enough to have teachers who pushed him in the right direction.

“I got to the point where I thought ‘I can do this’, but it was still quite a shock when I got the job,” he says.

“Margaret always said ‘on his good days he can do it, on his bad days he’s useless’,” Ramsay jokes.

He is 30 in September and admits that he’ll have to start thinking about a change in his career.

“It’s coming to the crux for me before my body really does collapse on me and 35 is usually deemed to be the rough retirement age for most dancers. I do enjoy teaching, both class and repertoire. I think that’s probably where I’ll make my move.”