City of a Thousand Trades

City of a Thousand Trades is a moving love letter to Birmingham, choreographed by Miguel Altunga for the Birmingham Royal Ballet.

This inspiring dedication to the UK’s industrial West Midlands city was commissioned by Birmingham Royal Ballet’s director Carlos Acosta to celebrate the city’s diverse cultural and industrial heritage. Co-directed by Birmingham Repertory Theatre’s Madeleine Kludje, this dance piece is set to an original score by Mathias Coppen that features a live band playing on a platform on stage. The score weaves classical music with the explosive percussion of Heavy Metal riffs, paying homage to Birmingham’s legacy as the birthplace of heavy metal.

In City of a Thousand Trades, 12 dancers create moody vignettes of the city’s history overlayed with the words of Birmingham’s poet laureate Casey Bailey. Dancers carry large metal poles, move masses of concrete, tell stories of the city’s residents, and bring to life both the triumphs and tribulations of their beloved city.