One of KNT's Best Shows Ever

Friends' Meeting House, Manchester

Photo RuthAS Licence CC BY 4.0 Source Wikimedia Commons

 

KNT Showcase of Dance Friends Meeting House, Manchester 19:30 21 May 2022

Yesterday's Showcase of Dance was KNT's first show since the pandemic and, in many ways, it was one of its best. Showtime is important to dance education because dance is part of theatre. Everything we learn in class is in preparation for performance.  It is therefore important that everyone is offered a chance to perform even though not everyone wants to accept it.

KNT is run by Karen Sant, one of the most enterprising but also one of the most pleasant young women I have ever had the good fortune to know.  Over the last 13 years, she and her teachers have offered adults and kids evening and weekend classes in ballet, contemporary, jazz and tap in central Manchester.  For most of those years, they gave those classes in the studios of Northern Ballet School on Oxford Road.  When access to the studios was prevented by the pandemic Karen transferred the classes online.  When it became possible to hold classes in the open air, Karen moved them to Castlefield.  When it became possible to teach indoors again Karen tried a number of venues including eventually the Quaker Meeting House. 

Karen's students followed her through those changes of venue. That says a lot for both Karen and her students. Students followed her because she is an excellent teacher and her classes are fun.  But dance is not easy and requires a lot of personal commitment.  Dance students are good at supporting each other and from such support, friendships form. That is particularly true of rehearsals, choreographic workshops and days of dance when we have a shared project and rely on each other for the project's success as well as our own.  I have made a lot of friends at KNT over the years.  One of the delights of the evening was seeing many of them in the show.  

Part of the reason for yesterday's success was the venue which the compère likened to a school assembly hall.  In fact, it was a place of worship which would have been used as such this morning and nearly every other Sunday. Quaker worship can take many forms which, incidentally, could include dance. While I did not detect religiosity yesterday I did see enthusiasm (derived from ἐνθουσιασμός or "inspired by God") and plenty of devotion.  But the main advantage of yesterday's venue was its intimacy.  The audience was very close to the dancers which I particularly appreciated as I would normally have been one of them.

Every class performed a short piece last night,  The teachers skilfully choreographed each piece to display their students' skills to their best advantage and I was most impressed with their capabilities. In the beginners' ballet for example one of the few men in the show supported a woman in a movement that gave the impression of a duet.  The tap class danced to music from Slumdog Millionaire.  The compere performed in that piece changing from a three-piece suit to his costume before the audience.  When he asked how he had done I found myself shouting "very well".   My friends and classmates from my pre-intermediate class filled me with pride.  However, my favourite piece of the evening was the advanced ballet class's interpretation of music that Karen has chosen for her wedding.

Yesterday coincided with Karen's birthday. At the reverence, she was presented with a cake, flowers, a massive card and presents to a more or less tuneful rendering of "Happy Birthday".  It was a wonderful evening that I would not have missed for the world.

Northern Ballet School's Showcase of Dance

Manchester City Ballet's Giselle

Photographer Caroline Holden

(c) Northern Ballet School 2011 all rights reserved

Reproduced with the kind permission of the School

Northern Ballet School, A Showcase of Dance, The Dancehouse, Manchester 8 July 2016


Northern Ballet School is a national treasure and I say that without exaggeration for many reasons. It has talented young people of many nations some of whom will make their mark on stage in ballet or musical theatre while others who will share their gift of dance as teachers. It hosts The Dancehouse Theatre, one of the institutions of Manchester, and Manchester City Ballet, the only resident classical ballet company in our metropolis. I have particular reason to be glad of the School's existence as it trained two of my favourite teachers in Leeds as well as those in Manchester. I attend class in its studios and have performed on the Dancehouse stage.

Last week the School presented its students in A Showcase of Dance at The Dancehouse,  The show was a combination of ballet and musical theatre reflecting its twin focus on classical ballet and jazz theatre. It consisted of 20 works in three acts some of which were quite lengthy. It began at 19:30 and ended just after 22:00. Each and every performance was brilliant in its own way.  As I tweeted last night, it was not just a good students' show - it was a good show by any standards.

Act I  began with a large extract of the second act of Giselle though it had been adapted by the students' choreographer, Anton Alexandrov, for his almost entirely female cast.  Myrtha, danced by Sayaka Sugimoto, and what a friend aptly called Myrtha's sidekicks, Zulm (Meagan Hoare) and Mona (Sally Hind), had at least as much to do on stage as Giselle herself (Yukiho Kasai) and a great deal more than Albrecht danced by Carlos Felipe Oliviera. That was the cast that had performed Giselle in December (see Manchester City Ballet's Giselle 12 Dec 2015) and the the same woodland backdrop was used. As before they were all good but I was particularly impessed  by Oliveira. With his shock of heair, was one of the most noticeable dancers in the show. I was also impressed by the corps who had some tricky steps including the tricky progress across the stage in arabesque.

The next two works, Beat It, by Helen Vidotti to the music of Michael Jackson and GUY by Lee Lomas to the music of Lady Gaga, were exciting and exuberant. They were followed by Cell Block Tango, a scene from Chicago where each of prisoners explained how they had landed in gaol. More great dancing from Oliviera in Anthea Garrett's Final Dance to the music of John Kander. This time Oliveria's partner was Larissa King. Dani Winters's brilliant Diamonds to DjeeeeeKK completed the first act.

More ballet in Act II with Lisa Rowlands's Juliet - A Thousand Good Nights to the music of Abel Korzeniowski. This piece had been  created to mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death. Alex Burrows who had danced the peasant pas de deux in Gisele appears to have been Romeo. I was not clear which of the girls was Juliet unless they all were which is possible as they were all good dancers. Although I enjoyed all the works in act II, two stood out for me in particular. There was the utterly charming Family Scene written and staged by Chris Helmsley where a mother (Annabelle Dawes) and father (Cameron Barclay) spoke about how they fell in love before their inquisitive children (Kezia Coulson and Emilia Miller). One of many opportunities for the students to show their ability to act with American accents which so few Brits can do well. I also loved You Gotta Get a Gimmick  by Emma Woods. The other works in act II were I've heard that Song before, Just in Time, The Secret, Sax and Gasp.

The final act opened with one of the early scenes from the musical Little Shop of Horrors which I have enjoyed ever since I first saw it at Pitlochry. Seymour was played by Joseph Foster and Audrey by Lucy Davies. Both acted, danced and sang well as did the rest of the cast. That was followed by Statera, a work created by Alexandrov to Philip Glass's music. Great dancing by the cast which included Burrows, Hird, Hoare, Kasai and Sugimoto. Nexr came Garrett's Runaround to Mopmop's music. Lonely Town, another ballet by Alexandrov to Leonard Bernstein's music mainly for the men. Darcey Ferguson danced the prostitute which was the only female role. The final piece was Times Square Ballet, a sparkling work by Lee Lomas to Bernstein. Set in Manhattan there were snatches from On the Town including New York, New York which I can never get out of my head when I visit that city. Maxwell Statham performed Gaby which was the role created by Gene Kelly, Jak Elmore Chip which was created  by Frank Sinatra and Harry Poswell as Ozzie which was created for Jules Munshin. I saw more than a little stardust in their performances.

The show ended with thunderous applause to the strains of Donna Summer as the artists took their bow. I had enjoyed last year's Showcase (see Serendipity 10 July 2015) but this was even better. The names of at least some of these performers will be up in lights in the West End.

Showcase and Move It at the Dancehouse

Standard YouTube Licence


The Dancehouse theatre at 10 Oxford Road in Manchester is the sister company of Northern Ballet School which is an international centre of excellence in training for classical ballet and musical theatre. Every December the school's performing company, Manchester City Ballet, dances a full length ballet in the theatre. I reviewed the company's performances of The Nutcracker in Alchemy on 13 Dec 2014 and Giselle last year. Every July the students from the jazz theatre focus join the ballet students in an exuberant Showcase of Dance. I reviewed last year's show in Serendipity 10 July 2016. This year it will take place between 7 and 9 July 2016.

In the evening and on Saturdays the Dancehouse's studios which are used by the Northern Ballet School during the day are opened up to the general public for classes in all kinds of dance. Today, for example, there are classes in flamenco and hula as well as intermediate ballet.  On Mondays there is tap, jazz, contemporary and belly dancing. On Saturdays there are classes in Chinese traditional, classical and folk dance.  I attend ballet classes given by each of the teachers shown in the clip above and enjoy them very much (see So Proud of Manchester - KNT Danceworks Complete Beginners Class 29 Aug 2014).

The evening and Saturday students also present a show from time to time. I was in the last one last in January (see One of my proudest moments - Dancing in Move It! 31 Jan 2016 and I reviewed the summer show in Better than Eurovision on 24 May 2015. This year's summer show takes place on 18 June 2016 and tickets can be obtained on-line from Ticketline or by phone on 0161 237 9753 or 0161 237 1413 for £5.00.

Serendipity

Horace Walpole

Artist Rosalba Carriere 

Source Wikipedia

Northern Ballet School, A Showcase of Dance, The Dancehouse, Manchester 14 July 2015, 19:30

The set text of the English language "O" level paper for the Oxford and Cambridge Board in July 1965 was on the origin of the noun serendipity. It was coined by Horace Walpole to describe the fortune of three princes of Serendip who "were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things which they were not in quest of”. The word now means "fortunate happenstance" or "pleasant surprise".

A good example of serendipity occurred yesterday evening when I attended KNT Danceworks. I noticed that The Dancehouse  was busy. I asked what was going on and leaned that Northern Ballet School was presenting A Showcase of Dance in the theatre. My class ended at 19:39 so I scurried down to the box office for a ticket.  Save for the pas de trois of Le Cotsaire I think I caught the whole show.

As the programme states, Northern Ballet School in Manchester (not to be confused with Northern Ballet which started life and was based for many years in Manchester very close to where the School is now located) is "an internationally recognized centre of excellence in the training of dancers for classical and musical theatre careers". The School has a company called Manchester City Ballet in which students gain stage experience. Every year, the company stages a full length ballet.  Last year it was The Nutcracker which I reviewed in Alchemy 13 Dec 2014 and its next production will be Giselle between the 10 and 13 Dec 2015.  A Showcase of Dance displays the whole range of the School's activities starting with tutus and pointe shoes in one of Petipa's most popular ballets and ending with the razzmatazz of a West End musical.

The progranme started with Le Corsaire and I caught the pas de deux by Luca di Martino and Sayaka Sagimoto and the pas de six. These are difficult pieces and they were both executed well, This was followed by Earth Song, a contemporary piece on environmental damage and some distressing projections of deforestation and environmental destruction on stage. There was ballet again with Last Promenade to some great cello music which I could not recognize. Everybody recognized the music to Pandora's Box which was the Dance of the Knights from Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet. I was reminded of Milena Siderova's Full Moon for Bart Engelen of the Dutch National Ballet (see The Dutch National Ballet Junior Company's best Performance yet 8 March 2015) except this was a fight between Alexander Smith and some shadowy caped and hooded figures over a sinister looking box, It was impressively staged and very dramatic. Eye of Horus was also mysterious but much softer with haunting Middle Eastern music. A pretty duet by Carlos Oliviera and Peri La Riche to The Sound of Music followed. Then there was Bolero which was my favourite with the girls in gorgeous long dresses engaging almost flirtatiously with the audience. Finally there was The Night Shift featuring Carlotta Tocci and Daniela Pinto,

The second act began with cats - or rather dancers dressed as cats - scurrying from the top of the auditorium hissing and spitting at the audience on the way to the stage. I hissed back at two of them. That was The Jellicle Ball from Cats which was a fun piece. It was followed by more dancing from the shows - Too Darn Hot and Sweet Charity - and contemporary pieces like Sanctuary and Slum.  I was particularly impressed by the all male cast of Slum for their energy, It had more roars and grunts than the centre court of Wimbledon, Although this was A Showcase of Dance we had a song from Charlotte Russell who has a lovely voice though one which could have benefited from more projection to where I was sitting which was the top of the gods. She gave way to Come on Everybody which was 1959s rock n' roll with the boys in tight jeans and the girls in long flowing skirts. Finally there was Something Better Than This by Gabriela Brough, Alarna Morgan and Daniela Pinto and finally the whole company in Brass Band and a glorious finale.

There is an abundance of talent in this School and as a Mancunienne I was very proud of the young artists I saw yesterday. Until the second largest conurbation of the UK gets a resident world class ballet company back again this School carries the torch for dance in Manchester and it deserves to be supported. The show continues at The Dancehouse tonight and tomorrow and I strongly recommend it,

A Showcase of Dance by Northern Ballet School

I have just received an email from Northern Ballet School advertising A Showcase of Dance at the Dancehouse Theatre in Manchester between the 9 and 11 July 2015.

The showcase is

"the annual event which combines completely new choreography with the best of this year's dance performances produced by Northern Ballet School's Manchester City Ballet and Jazzgalore dance companies."

It will be the last chance to see the Northern Ballet School's students before they graduate and begin their careers.

I attended School's performance of The Nutcracker in December and enjoyed it very much indeed (see Alchemy 13 Dec 2014). I have also attended KNT Danceworks' ballet and contemporary classes in the Dancehouse studios (see So Proud of Manchester - KNT Danceworks Complete Beginners Class 29 Aug 2014 and My First Contemporary Dance Class 27 Feb 2015) which is all good stuff.

Tickets cost between £8 and £15 and are available from the theatre box office and Ticketline.

Chookas to everybody in the show.