ROYAL BALLET DANCER TAKES ON BRAND-NEW ROLE.

Deborah Bull, a principal of The Royal Ballet for nine years, will take on a newly created and prestigious role in January. Tony Hall, executive director of the Royal Opera House, has appointed her artistic director of the House's two smaller theatres, the Linbury Studio Theatre and the Clore Studio Upstairs. Working in collaboration with the ROH companies and staff, she will be responsible for developing and implementing artistic programs for the two venues, be they dance, opera, or music. The new job led to her decision to retire as principal of The Royal Ballet, but she's not saying she'll hang up her dancing shoes altogether. "It will depend on what I'm invited to do," she told Dance Magazine. "I very much enjoyed working at the Rome Opera House on Le Sacre du printemps earlier in the year." She also performed in June at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., with The Royal Ballet and then Random Dance Company.

Bull, 38, has been called the ballerina with brains. She has proved an exceptional dancer during her twenty years with The Royal Ballet, fluid and exacting in the classics, and sharp and vigorous in contemporary work. Within the company she seemed always in the shadow of the country's darling, Darcey Bussell, missing the public spotlight she so richly deserved. (She has described herself as Salieri to Bussell's Mozart.) However, she soon found her own unique niche off-stage--that of a public spokesperson for the arts.

And she has found lots of opportunities to appear in that capacity. Bull has debated at the Oxford Union, was appointed to the Arts Council of England, presents dance programs on television, is a loquacious radio broadcaster, writes a monthly column for a leading national newspaper, and has published two books (one a revealing personal diary of life on the road when the Opera House was closed for refurbishment, the other a diet, nutrition, and exercise plan). And in 1999 she was made a Commander of the Empire, an honor bestowed by Queen Elizabeth II.

For the past three years, Bull has also been involved with the ROH's Artists' Development Initiative, a melting pot of experimentation and invention for artists within and without the House, which has brought new audiences into the ROH. That work led her right to her new position.

"My first job is to define an artistic policy for the spaces, based on potential for the resident companies at the Royal Opera House and for the wider arts community," Bull said. As part of the Artists' Development Initiative, she has worked hard at bringing diverse groups to the ROH and is likely to build on that in her new position. Her background as a performer who knows firsthand all the nitty-gritty details of the House's inner workings, and her obvious leadership and business skills should serve her, and the ROH, well.