He said: “Sir Peter had been very instrumental in building the core audience. He was very experienced. His great gift was in terms of the classics.
“My mission was to start being creative using very safe footing that Peter had given us. To persuade the audience that just because it’s new, it’s not entertaining. That’s very much the ethos of the company a mixture of old and new, forward looking and our heritage.”
As well as being BRB’s artistic director, Mr Bintley is also the co-artistic director of the New National Theatre Tokyo ballet company and spends three months a year in Japan.
BRB tours around the world extensively and has been credited with a great ambassador for Birmingham, aiding cultural and business links for the city around the world.
Co-productions between Birmingham and Tokyo has also saved BRB costs.
The company is currently looking to co-produce their Aladdin show with Houston ballet in Texas.
Mr Bintley said: “In Japan the name of BRB is extremely well known now. We do a lot of repertory sharing. This is good for BRB. Japan hire things from us. It puts it on the map.
“People come over here on business exchanges and vice versa we will start that happening now with Houston when Aladdin goes on next spring.”
Since moving to Birmingham from London, BRB has also done a lot of work in the community, educating people about dance and inspiring them to become creative.
This included a collaboration with local councils and TV to produce the Ballet Hoo! programme to help youngsters from all different backgrounds to train to become ballet dancers.
Mr Bintley said: “The company is not just here to put on shows. We are also here to help in the community, with education in mainstream schools and special needs schools.
“We’ve also done work with young offenders.
“The Ballet Hoo! series was a massive, possibly the biggest education project in dance in this country. We’ve also link up with schools in Chicago. it’s all very much from Birmingham going outwards.”
Originally from Huddersfield, Mr Bintley moved to London to become a dancer and trained at the Royal Ballet School in Covent Garden.
He saw the dancing of Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev, Antoinette Sibley and Anthony Dowell. Even more importantly, he saw Frederick Ashton and Kenneth MacMillan making some of their masterworks for a superb company, fine-tuned to perform their creations. But since moving to Birmingham 17 years ago, aged 37, he has taken the city to his heart.
He lives in Edgbaston with his wife Jenny, a former dancer, and the youngest of their two sons. His elder son works in a university.
An avid Aston Villa fan, he recently welcomed former Villa star Dion Dublin, who is in turn is a ballet fan, to the BRB board of directors.
* Birmingham Royal Ballet - Summer Celebration, is at Birmingham Hippodrome from June 27-30. For tickets, call the Box Office on 0844 338 5000.
