Elodie Catherall and Evie Fielding land Swan Lake roles in Urmston
Urmston comes with a payoff for two Oldham-trained dancers: Elodie Catherall, nine, and Evie Fielding, 11, secured places in English Youth Ballet’s Swan Lake after competitive auditions in March 2026. They will take part in the production at Palace Theatre Manchester on Friday 5 and Saturday 6 June 2026, joining a cast built from 97 young dancers selected from more than 230 hopefuls.
Oldham pair in Manchester cast
Urmston matters here because the local route is unusually direct. Catherall and Fielding both train at Kirsten's Dance Academy in Oldham, and the production puts them on stage alongside eight international principal artists. For young dancers, that is not a school show or a studio performance; it is a place in a full-scale ballet production at a major theatre.
60 hours of rehearsals across 10 days will shape that transition. The schedule includes daily company warm up classes and full cast performances, giving the selected children the kind of pace and repetition that professional companies use to keep a production moving. Janet Lewis OBE, the company’s director, said English Youth Ballet’s aim is to provide performance experience to aspiring young dancers in beautiful venues close to where they live.
Janet Lewis on training
Janet Lewis OBE said, “The young dancers get to experience what life is like in a professional ballet company.” She also said, “They learn about developing their artistic and performance skills as well as improving their technique.” That is the real appeal of this cast list: the selection is not just about appearing in Swan Lake, but about working inside a production model that asks children to operate at a higher standard than a local recital.
Catherall put that excitement plainly: “I started dancing when I was one and a half years old. Since I was little, I’ve always loved to sing and dance. I just love to dance and perform it makes me feel so happy.” Fielding described a similar path, saying, “I started dancing when my mum took me to baby ballet when I was 2 years old. Since then, I have been dancing day in and day out.”
Palace Theatre Manchester dates
The performance window is set for Friday 5 June 2026 and Saturday 6 June 2026 at Palace Theatre Manchester. Set in 1895 Imperial Russia, Swan Lake follows Odette, a dancer with the Mariinsky Ballet, and Prince Sergei, son of the Tsar, with the drama centered on love, rivalry and ambition.
For local families, the practical significance is simple: the selected dancers now move from audition room to rehearsals, then to a two-night run in Manchester. Catherall said, “I am so excited for this experience and I can’t wait to perform in Swan Lake with the English Youth Ballet on the gigantic stage at the Palace Theatre.” Fielding added, “It will be amazing to experience dancing in a professional production and learning from the principal dancers. To be able to dance at the Palace Theatre, a place where I have watched many famous shows, will be a dream come true.”
