Kenneth Tindall

The latest newsletter for the Friends of Northern Ballet contained glorious news of the Sapphire Gala of the 14 March in which Sarah Lamb of the Royal Ballet and Xander Parish of the Mariinsky Ballet and many of the world's greatest stars will perform. But it also contained a headline that made me root for a tissue - just for a second - before I also raised a smile. The headline was "Kenneth Tindall is retiring" and that was the bit that made me sad for he is one of my favourite dancers but my sadness was tempered with the words "award-winning Kenneth is moving on to a career as a Freelance Choreographer after gaining recognition for his work with Northern Ballet and other artists."

I have written a lot about Tindall in this blog.  Watching The Architect last year was one of My Personal Ballet Highlights of 2014 28 Dec 2014. Mel Wong and I reviewed that work in Kenneth Tindall - The Architect of Ballet 21 June 2014 and A Wonderful Evening - Northern Ballet's Mixed Bill 21 June 2014 23 June 2014 and we both supported Stephen Lally's film of the work (see They Made It 20 June 2014),  Wong also wrote an interesting feature on Tindall entitled Kenneth Tindall’s Brave New World 3 Sept 2014 in her own publication. There will be another chance to see The Architect as part of the Mixed Programme at The Stanley and Audrey Burton Theatre in Leeds between 6 to 9 May 2015 and The Linbury Studio Theatre in London between 12 and 14 May 2015.

The Architect is the third of Tindall's ballets that I have enjoyed.  I mentioned his Bitter Earth briefly in my post on the Yorkshire Ballet Summer School gala at Sadler's Wells (see More Things I do for my Art - Autumn Gala of Dance and Song 30 Sept 2013) and I reviewed Luminous Jun-cture in Angelic - Northern Ballet's Mixed Bill 9 June 2013.

According to the Friends' newsletter Tindall's last appearance with Northern Ballet will be as Heathcliffe in Wuthering Heights at Milton Keynes  on 2 May 2015. No doubt the M1 will no doubt have to carry particularly heavy traffic from the North that day.

That will not be the last time that Tindall will be mentioned in this blog. He has an international following which was brought home to me when I visited Amsterdam earlier this month (see The Dutch National Ballet Junior Company's best Performance yet 8 Feb 2015). His name came up whenever I mentioned Northern Ballet or Leeds at the party after the show.  Perhaps not so surprising for a choreographer who has already won a fistful of awards and nominations. He is still a young man and his career - though meteoric - has only just begun. I look forward to great things.

Further Reading
Paul Szabo   INTERVIEW: Kenneth Tindall - Designing The Architect 12 June 2014 The Gay UK