Interview: BalletBoyz directors Michael Nunn and Billy Trevitt at Nottingham Playhouse

First of all, BalletBoyz is a dance company, but how would you define it? 

Michael: We package great art in an accessible way. So, everyone can enjoy it.

And your new show, Still Pointless, is coming to Nottingham in June. What's different about this production?

Billy: Well, the new thing is the world premiere of a commission that we've sought from one of our dancers, so a brand new work. And everything else in the show is the very best of what we've achieved in the last 25 years.

A Hollywood A-lister recently implied ballet and opera were struggling to stay alive. Would you agree with that?

Billy: I think it's always been a challenge to get work out there. You may be aware that on television, if you were ever to see dance, it would be on Boxing Day or Christmas Eve. That's the one dance slot on television, which didn't used to be the case. So, it's in that sense, it's harder to get things seen. Also, the touring circuit is much more challenging, but it doesn't make any difference to the art that's produced. We're still making brilliant work with some of the best choreographers around and have a show coming to your theatre with some of the best dancers working in the country.

Michael: I think dance and opera is always going to be pretty niche. That's alright. It's not football. It's fine. Some people like it. Some people don't.

Billy: It’s the people who have yet to discover it that we are interested in.

Michael: They're the ones we're after. Yeah, come in, check it out. Then if you don't like it, that's fair enough.

How did you two come to found BalletBoyz 25 years ago?

Michael: Well, we met initially when we were at the Royal Ballet School when we were 16 years old, and then we worked in the Royal Ballet for a dozen years, and then we decided to move on and create something where we had more control of our own destiny, to create work, to make new pieces of art. And that was really the beginning of our 25-year journey. We're still here somehow.

Is there a particular standout achievement from the last 25 years that you'd like to share?

Michael: Yeah, there is actually. We were talking about this only yesterday. Our first-ever show, when we launched the company, and we didn't have much cash or connections or anything like that, and we called the show Pointless because there were no point shoes, a sort of play on words. And the PR companies hated it because there wasn't a pretty ballerina on the poster, but we got the show on, and it was successful. And it's like our little mark in the sand. We wanted to start big. So, we went into the Roundhouse and built our own stage, and painted our own posters, and built our own bars, toilets, everything. And I think that was an achievement. We could have started small and maybe fizzled out, but we wanted to make a stand. I think that was one of our greatest achievements.

Billy: And our new show is a homage to that. 25 years later, the show is Still Pointless. That's always been for us, a signifier of real achievement, that we managed to get that show together and following on from that, that we're still here, managing a 25th anniversary celebration.

Did you ever think that you'd be here 25 years later?

Michael: Absolutely not.

Billy: We didn't think we'd be here 25 minutes later, the money ran out so quickly.

Michael: Yeah, we spent all our money. Basically, we were broke. We couldn't pay ourselves for next four months after that show, but it was fine.

How have your roles within BalletBoyz changed over the years?

Billy: The most significant change is that we stepped back off the stage probably fifteen years ago. Yeah, we obviously had lots of experience and pedigree, having been dancers with the Royal Ballet Company and that was what we relied on for the first part of the 25 years. But we realized that youth and exuberance was more compelling for an audience, and we gracefully stepped back from the limelight and replaced ourselves with younger, fitter, better looking dancers.
  
So, what do your roles look like today? 

Michael: About producing and directing, really. We make a lot of films as well with the company. We're trying to get dance on the screen, on the cinema screens, on the TV screens, still trying to push it out there, make people aware that it's for everybody, and it's not the elitist art form that everyone likes to think it is.

Billy: We're exploring as many different ways as we can for people to stumble upon our work and find that they like it better than Timothée Chalamet does.

Michael: There's definitely something in between Swan Lake and Strictly Come Dancing. I think that's the gap that we fill.

What advice would you give young dancers hoping to build a career in dance?

Michael: Yeah, just to look as wide as possible. I think for today's dancers, it's not enough to focus on one skillset. If you're a ballet dancer, you need to perform various other skills, because that's the demands of the industry now. And, if you're a freelance dancer, a contemporary dancer, you're going from job to job. You need a good skillset. One day, you might be making a pop video. Next week, you might be working for us. Get a varied education, not just think at six-years-old you're going to be a ballet dancer, because that's highly unlikely. 

Billy: Strive for versatility and see as much as you can, to give yourself as many options to make yourself more employable.

What do you look for when auditioning new talent for BalletBoyz?

Billy: Well, everything we've just listed. Versatility, creativity, the knowledge and experience of how to work with one another, how to offer a choreographer ideas and inspiration, because being a choreographer is often a lonely position. Everyone in the room is waiting for the choreographer to come up with something. If you can offer suggestions and not be upset if they don't get used, but keep offering, those dancers are really, really useful.

Michael: And we're looking for difference as well. We don't want ten people who look identical and offer the same skills.

Billy: And charisma. Please have charisma.

Michael: Yeah, make me want to look at you.

Do you have a life outside of ballet? 

Michael: I paint. Everything. Portraits, still life, landscapes.

Billy: I have a bicycle. I just bought a kayak, probably for the Thames.

Where will BalletBoyz in the next 25 years?

Michael: Well, we’ll probably be dead.

Billy: We’re hoping our work will be on stages and screens, particularly screens. That's where we're concentrating a lot of our effort. A new concept where you go and see contemporary dance at the cinema. There's lots of people making really exciting films using dance as the language, and they typically end up on your phone or laptop. We would like people to have the opportunity to sit together with friends and watch them in a cinema with great picture, and great sound. We want to promote that in a new concept called Moving Pictures. So, look out in your local cinema for that coming soon.

Still Pointless: BalletBoyz at 25 performs at Nottingham Playhouse on Tuesday June 2 2026.