Christopher Moore

Founder and Artistic Director 

 

Christopher Moore founded the Ballet Theatre UK Company in 2008 and has since created twelve full-length ballets for the Company including critically acclaimed productions of The Snow Queen, Romeo & Juliet, The Little Mermaid and Aladdin, among others. The upcoming seasons also sees the addition of two further original productions to the Ballet Theatre UK repertoire, A Midsummer Night's Dream and Beauty and the Beast.

 

Christopher trained at Tring Park School of Performing Arts and The Royal Ballet School and has toured the world with many companies and choreographers. He took early retirement from the stage to focus on his choreographic development and the formation of the Ballet Theatre UK Company.

 

The success of the Company has subsequently lead to the development of The School of Ballet Theatre UK, a training institute that holds the standards and ethos of the company as primary tools for training elite dance students. The School was founded in 2014 and has fast become of the leading classical training institutions in the country. The School offers students the opportunity to study towards a BA (Hons) in Ballet Performance, certified by the University of West London. 
 

Christopher has been awarded a Licentiate of the Cecchetti Ballet Method by the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dance and has been an invited lecturer and judge at many international dance competitions around the world and at teacher conventions for ISTD, IDS and IDTA.

 

In 2018 Christopher will visit Japan as guest judge of the International MIE Ballet Competition.

 

In his dual role as Artistic Director of the Ballet Theatre UK Company and Principal of The School of Ballet Theatre UK, Christopher is proud to lead the organisation forward with a passion for excellence at all levels and a clear focus on the education and development of our upcoming generation of dancers to achieve their full potential and a long and successful career.

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Andrea Battaggia

Rehearsal Director

 

Andrea was born in Ravenna, Italy. He started his ballet training at the academy of dance ‘Teatro Alla Scala’ of Milan at the age of eleven. During his first few years of professional training, he received multiple awards, scholarships and offers to join prestigious European dance schools. At the age of seventeen, he was invited under full scholarship to complete his training at the ‘JKO’ at the American Ballet Theatre in New York where he graduated in 2010.

He worked with Alberta Ballet in Canada and performed many different roles with the company in ballets such as Serenade, The Four Temperaments, Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty and many more.

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At the same time, he also guested for other companies, performing some of the well-known male classical roles such as ‘Basilio’ in Don Quixote, ‘Ali’ in Le Corsaire, ‘Albrecht’ in Giselle, and ‘The Cavalier’ in Nutcracker. Following his time in Canada, he started dancing for Ballet Cymru, performing a variety of new roles including ‘Romeo’ in Romeo and Juliet, ‘Oberon’ in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and ‘The Prince’ in The Light Princess.

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Throughout his time, he gained experience and training to deliver dance in a wide range of settings. He led dance workshops in primary schools, community sites, colleges and SEN centres, working inclusively with children, youth, adults, and at all levels of ballet training, including professional level.

Since retiring from professional dancing, Andrea is currently developing his knowledge of Universal Design of Instruction (UDI) within his teaching so that he can continue to develop his work in accessibility and inclusion. It is Andrea’s personal goal to keep improving his professional coaching, to make it accessible to anyone and everyone.

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Gwénaëlle Poline Santos

Ballet Mistress 

 

Gwénaëlle Poline Santos is a French national who was born in Vienna, Austria. Dancing from a young age Gwénaëlle completed her formal classical training at the prestigious Marseille National Ballet School, France. Following her training Gwénaëlle has worked across the globe in some of the world’s leading ballet companies including Ballet Carmen Roche (Madrid, Spain), Tulsa Ballet (Oklahoma, USA), Corella Ballet (Barcelona, Spain), Ballet du Capitole (Toulouse, France) and Northern Ballet (Leeds, UK) as well as being invited to guest at several festivals including Incolballet (Cali, Columbia).
 

Throughout her dancing career, Gwénaëlle has many fond memories and favourite roles however she most enjoyed her time dancing with Angel Corella, former principal of American Ballet Theatre, in ‘Who Cares?’ created by George Balanchine. However, Gwénaëlle’s fondest memory in her career was when she danced with Ballet du Capitole as the Company was based in the theatre where her late father sang in the choir of the Théâtre of Capitole.
 

Gwénaëlle joined Ballet Theatre UK in the Spring of 2016 to assist the Company to create a classical gala for the prestigious Gleneagles Hotel, Scotland. She worked with the Company’s principal dancers on many iconic classical pas de duex’s including The Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake. Following this short engagement, Gwénaëlle was asked to stay with the Company for the reaming part of the season as a Ballet Mistress. Later in the Autumn of 2016, Gwénaëlle was officially named Rehearsal Director of Ballet Theatre UK and worked alongside the Artistic Director to create Romeo and Juliet. Following on from this production Gwénaëlle has restaged Giselle, Alice in Wonderland and The Nutcracker all to critical acclaim. In addition to her work with the Company Gwénaëlle has also shared her expertise and knowledge with the students of The School of Ballet Theatre UK as a guest teacher and has restaged Léo Staats’ Soir de Féte for the School’s annual showcase.

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Ryan Phillips

Technical Manager & Lighting Designer 

Ryan has always been passionate about theatre and began working backstage from an early age. Whilst still at school he began to learn his craft by assisting with many dance and drama productions within local theatres.

When he finished school Ryan gained more experience and eventually became a freelance theatre technician. It was at this stage that he was able to build upon his knowledge of technical theatre by working within many different theatres on a variety of productions throughout the UK.

 

Ryan joined Ballet Theatre UK in 2018 as ‘Technical Manager and Lighting Designer’ after working at a leading musical theatre school. With over 20 year's experience in the theatre and entertainment industry, both nationally and internationally, Ryan has brought a new and innovative approach to the company's technical staging and lighting design. His work for the company includes Beauty and the Beast, Swan Lake, The Wizard of Oz, The Sleeping Beauty and Giselle. 

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​Wardrobe Department 

Hayley Turner and Val Plant
 

​Photography 

DancePro Photography, Mikah Smillie, Chaz Barnes and Daniel Hope 

 

Make-Up Design

Sian Revill and Deberah Bennett