Andrew McNicol is a freelance British choreographer and Artistic Associate at English National Ballet School. He has been noted as “a name to watch” and “talented beyond his years.” (BBC News)
Born in Hull, his choreographic work began whilst studying at The Royal Ballet School, where he won the Kenneth MacMillan Choreographic Competition. He later completed his formal training at Central School of Ballet, receiving a Masters of the Arts through their Professional Choreographic Programme.
Andrew has choreographed internationally including for the Joffrey Ballet (Chicago) twice for Royal Ballet (London), Royal Ballet of Flanders (Belgium), Northern Ballet (UK) BalletX (Philadelphia), twice for New York Choreographic Institute (New York) Tulsa Ballet (Oklahoma) London 2012 Olympics, New English Ballet Theatre (UK), The Royal Ballet Upper School, English National Ballet School, DanceEast, Dancelines (Royal Opera House Initiative) The National Youth Ballet, Ballet Central, Images Dance Company and Juice Opera among others.
In 2014, he was a nominee for the prestigious Rolex Mentor and Protégé Award and shortlisted for the 2015 New Adventures Choreographic Award.
In 2015, Andrew became the first invited choreographer to work with Northern Ballet on their inaugural choreographic project alongside choreographers from The Royal Ballet and Scottish Ballet. Other projects in 2015 include choreographing Asyla for The New York Choreographic Institute, (with dancers of New York City Ballet) and returning there in 2017 to create Turangalîla. That same year he was invited to return to The Royal Ballet Flanders at the invitation of Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui.
Hearts Furies, a new trio for The Royal Ballet, premiered in Autumn 2017 for a gala celebrating Hull’s year as City of Culture. He was invited back to create a new work for The Royal Ballet's Annette Page Tribute which premiered at The Linbury Theatre, ROH to critical acclaim.
In 2018, Andrew was the recipient of Ballet X's choreographic fellowship and created Requiem for the Philadelphia based company and hailed “moving and sensitive” Mainline Times. He also premiered Sea Interludes a new work for The Royal Ballet School on the ROH main stage.
Commissions in 2019 included Yonder Blue, for Chicago's Joffrey Ballet “gives a sense of awesome wonderment” Chicago Tribune “A rare gem of a ballet that transcends the here and now” Lynn Shapiro. In the same year he also created for Mirrors for London's Images of Ballet and Spendour for English National Ballet School.
During the pandemic of 2020, Andrew choreographed a virtual graduation creation Gradus, via zoom, across 6 different time zones. He also created Of Space & Time for over 50 students of English National Ballet School, that premiered at the Roundhouse London, and was filmed in collaboration with the BalletBoyz. Of Space & Time has be viewed by more than 100,000 people online.
In 2021, new works have included virtual and stage productions for Tulsa Ballet as well as new creations for the Royal Ballet School, English National Ballet School and four world premieres for the McNicol Ballet Collective. Andrew was selected as a finalist in the Young Ballet Choreographer Competition in Biarritz, France, (jointly produced by Malandain Ballet Biarritz, Toulouse Ballet and Bordeaux National Opera Ballet) which will now take place in 2022.
Andrew is a versatile choreographer, alongside creating narrative and abstract modern ballets for the stage he has also created award winning dance works for film and site-specific projects, most notably for The London Olympics 2012.
In November 2021 Andrew launched the McNicol Ballet Collective to critical acclaim “this company is wide awake and ready to go” The Collective is working with international dancers to develop new collaborative work for the stage and screen alongside quality outreach and education work. It’s debut production Awakenings included four world premiers and received multiple **** reviews.
2022 includes new creations for Tulsa Ballet, English National Ballet School, Young Ballet Choreographer Competition in Biarritz, as well as the McNicol Ballet Collective.