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Manchester has a recorded
history dating back nearly 2000 years, when
a Roman Fort was established in the area
now known as Castlefield. The cathedral
church dates from the 15th century and by
the 18th century the city had become the
centre of the conurbation which gave birth
to the Industrial Revolution. That produced
major developments in artistic and scientific
fields, as well as many of the most advanced
politico-sociological activists of the 19th
and early 20th centuries, leading also to
major improvements in public health and
education and advancing the cause of democratic
representation, particularly for women.
This dynamism in so many diverse fields
led perhaps to the well-known aphorism ‘What
Manchester does today the world does tomorrow’.
Manchester’s expanding
status on the world stage is driven by both
it’s multi-ethnic community and by
the many thousands of students from around
the world amongst the 50,000 + who attend
the four local universities and other colleges
and training centres for careers in business,
science and the arts, which, like NBS, are
based in and around the city. Manchester
is student friendly and accommodating.
A wealth of cultural and
entertainment opportunities is on offer
in the city, catering to every taste in
music from jazz and folk’, to the
Hallé Orchestra and the BBC Philharmonic,
which both present programmes at the 2400
seat Bridgewater Concert Hall. National
and international Opera and Ballet companies
regularly visit the Opera House, the Palace
theatre and the Lowry Centre, which also
stage major musical theatre productions.
Northern Ballet School’s own Manchester
City Ballet and Jazzgalore dance companies
stage regular productions in their ‘in-house’
430 seat Dancehouse public theatre, which
also hosts touring shows. The city has a
wide range of sporting facilities, both
for spectators and participants, including
a major new swimming complex a few minutes
walk from NBS and available for use by students
for entertainment, exercise and therapy.
NBS students also have access to excellent
nearby gym and fitness facilities and the
city is a centre for medical research and
specialist treatment, with several city
centre hospitals.
There are excellent shopping
facilities, both in the city centre and
throughout the conurbation and the historic
tourist cities of Chester and York are also
within day-trip range. Within equally easy
reach are no less than four of Britain’s
National Parks - the Lake District, the
Yorkshire Dales, the Peak District and Snowdonia,
in North Wales.
A city renowned for it’s
friendliness, Manchester has evolved into
both a sophisticated regional capital and
a perfect base for the student living away
from home, catering as it does for every
need, from moderately priced living accommodation
to all-night grocery stores, from a storehouse
of intellectual and artistic knowledge and
expertise to ‘eateries’ of every
conceivable variety, in short, a truly cosmopolitan
and exciting home for such a centre of theatre
dance excellence as Northern Ballet School!
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