BalletLORENT's Rumpelstiltskin

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BalletLORENT  Rumpelstiltskin 7 April 2018, 14:30 Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield

The dancers of BalletLORENT performed the Poet Laureate's adaptation of the Grimms' Rumpelstiltskin to an almost full house at Huddersfield's municipal theatre with great gusto yesterday afternoon.  The audience which consisted largely of schoolchildren and their patents seemed to like it. In so far as I have reservations they relate to the style of dance which is just not my personal preference.  The exaggerated and sometimes unpredictable jumps, turns and arm movements as well as the clambering over the sets reminded me more of troops on an assault course or even children in an adventure playground than highly trained dancers but then that may be because I see too much ballet and not enough of other styles of dance.  Having said that, it had very little in common with Wayne MacGregor;s Yugen or Sharon Watson's Wundrush which are contemporary works that I enjoyed very much indeed.

Despite its name BalletLORENT is not primarily a ballet company though one dancer did bourré on pointe briefly as she tried to distract a grief stricken king.  It is a contemporary dance company based at Dancecity in Newcastle (see Dance in Newcastle 4 Nov 2016).  It has already created two works based on the Grimms Children's and Household Tales, namely Rapunzel and Snow White which explore "how complicated and faulted individuals are relevant to the contemporary world". As the programme adds, "This is not Walt Disney." I had seen Snow White on 30 Sept 2016 and reviewed it in BalletLORENT on 3 Oct 2016.

Carol Ann Duffy's Rumpelstiltskin has parallels with Snow White in that they are both about the rejection of children by their patents.  I didn't like Grimms' tales when my mother tried to read them to me as a child because of the horrible ways that characters met their ends.   I don't think that she liked them either because we never reached Rumpelstiltskin and I looked up the story for the first time only yesterday. I was born just a few years after the second world war when passions were still running high against Germany.  I heard it said more than once that the Grimms showed a cruel streak in the German character. That, of course, was nonsense.  I am glad to say that such things are no longer said, but the stories were still chilling. With the benefit of hindsight, perhaps the most alarming aspect of the tales is the fact that not all children are loved as they should be. Alas, that is always a contemporary reality.

Yesterday's performance focused on the following main characters: the king and queen and later the queen's ghost danced by John Kendall and Virginia Scudeletti, the shepherd, Toby Fitzgibbons, his daughter Natalie Trewinnard and, of course, Rumpelstiltskin danced by Gavin Coward. There were also a  lot of children in the cast. All, professionals and kids, danced energetically and expressively and were applauded vigorously for their efforts. My favourite characters were the sheep who did not have to move with wild abandon.  They appealed to me because they behaved, well, just like sheep.  The choreographer  and maybe the dancers seem to have spent some time watching them on moors and in farmyards because their head movements  in particular were quite lifelike.

The set consisted of a palace and a hill mounted on scaffolding and there were props like straw, gold leaf and bigger and bigger spinning wheels all cleverly designed by Phil Eddolls. There was a lavish use of gold cloth by Michelle Clapton, especially in the queen's costume.  Murray Gold's music fittted the story well. I particularly liked the reel in the wedding celebrations.

The show opened at Sadler's Wells where it received good reviews from the dance critics. Huddersfield was its second stop.  It will move on to The Lowry, Hull, Oxford, Darlington and Aberdeen (see the tour dates page of the company's website).  The audience in Huddersfield seemed to like it very much so it is quite likely that you will too.  If you live anywhere near those towns then watch it - particularly if you have children to treat.

Dance in Newcastle

Dance City Performances (with subtitles) from Northern Stars on Vimeo.

I first heard of DanceCity from BalletLORENT when they visited Huddersfield on 30 Sept 2016 (see BalletLORENT 3 Oct 2016). BalletLORENT are one of several dance companies that are based at a studio and theatre complex known as "DanceCity" which is located just north of the Tyne at Temple Street in Newcastle.

DanceCity is a member of the National Dance Network to which dance agencies around the country (including our own Yorkshire Dance) are also associated. DanceCity runs classes in many styles to students of all ages and abilities. These include ballet classes for beginners and improvers aged 55 or over which seem to be very similar to the classes that I attend at Northern Ballet Academy. For those contemplating a career in dance, DanceCity's Learning Academy offers formal, professional, dance training at all levels starting from children aged 10 to postgraduate level in conjunction with Northumbria and Teeside Universities and local schools and universities. That includes a Centre for Advanced Training similar to the CATs in Leeds and the Lowry. There are opportunities for local choreographers and companies to perform their own work and even a small fund for commissioning new work from local artists.

Equally impressive is the performance programme for the theatre. In November, for instance, there will be no less than 6 shows starting with James Wilton's Leviathan this evening which is described as a "blend of athletic dance, martial arts and capoeira." The plot is intriguing:

"LEVIATHAN follows Ahab, a ship captain hell-bent on capturing the white whale: Moby Dick, a beast as vast and dangerous as the sea itself, yet serene and beautiful beyond all imagining. Ahab’s crew is drawn into the unhinged charisma of their captain, blindly following him on his perilous adventure towards almost certain destruction."

The theatre is currently offering a very generous 2 performances  for £22 promotion which seems good value for live entertainment in the centre of a major city.

Although Newcastle does not yet appear to have its own professional classical ballet company (but please do correct me if I am wrong) it is on the circuit for visiting companies. For instance, Northern Ballet will perform Beauty and the Beast next week and Scottish Ballet will dance Hansel and Gretel  in the same theatre in February.

BalletLORENT

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BalletLorent Snow White Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield 30 Sept 2016

Had it not been for a poster in a subway at Huddersfield station it is unlikely that I would have heard of BalletLORENT's performance of Snow White at the Lawrence Batley Theatre last week. That would have been unfortunate for I would have missed a very good show.

There were a number of reasons why this show was so good. The first was Grimm's story retold by our poet laureate, Carol Ann Duffy. As Liv Lorent, the company's founder and artistic director, noted in the programme:

"There is so much to love in this story - and Carol Ann Duffy has taken the retelling to a new imaginative and poignant place ...."

The story of Snow White has everything: a study of the relationship between mother and daughter that turns from love to loathing, an examination of the psychology of a woman whose vanity or maybe insecurity precipitates such turn, a critique of social inequality, namely the contrast in the living conditions between the royal family and the miners  that prompted the revolt that led to the queen's downfall, the redemption of the ugly huntsman who was rewarded with the hand of a princess and indeed so much more.

Another important ingredient of success was Lorent's simple but very effective choreography for a cast that featured trained dancers but also included children. According to the website:

"Following the success of the Rapunzel young cast programme with 6-16 year olds, Liv was interested in engaging 5-8 year olds in Snow White. At this slightly younger age, children are more uninhibited and express themselves very freely and naturally. Liv worked with a group of DanceCity’s CAT (Centre for Advanced Training) students for 1 week in July 2014 in order to gather ideas for this project, and the company also delivered 6 trial workshops to primary schools in areas of low arts engagement in Newcastle in Autumn 2014, including Westgate Hill Primary School, Hotspur Primary School and St Charles Primary School. 12 children selected from these pilot workshops were also invited to participate in a Snow White research and development week at Northern Stage in January 2015."

There were some striking scenes such as the miners at work at the beginning of the first act, Snow White's housekeeping in the second, the ghastly meal at which the queen devours what she believes to be her daughter's heart, the queen's couru en pointe after she falls through the mirror and her fandango as her shoes turned to hot metal.

The title role in this production was danced by Natalie Trewinnard who delivered a delightful performance of the winsome young princess's coming of age.  The other major female roles were the queen and her reflection danced by Caroline Reece and Gwen Berwick. Reece is an accomplished actor as well as dancer who projected malice and menace quite chillingly. Gavin Coward morphed from a ghastly henchman into noble hero before our eyes. John Kendall  danced the king of the neighbouring kingdom summoned to woo the queen but stricken by the beauty of her daughter.

Carol Ann Duffy's story was narrated by Lindsay Duncan. I worried a little about the narration because I had suggested the show to a friend of two German speaking tourists who understood very little English. They had asked to see a ballet simply because dance does not require an understanding of English. I am told that they left the theatre "beaming from ear to ear."  They followed the plot without difficulty and enjoyed the show very much indeed.

I should mention the music and designs. Murray Gold's vibrant and pulsating score, Phil Eddolls's ingenious sets and some very clever lighting by Malcolm Rippeth contributed greatly to the success of the show.

As this was the first time I had seen a performance by BalletLORENT I looked them up over the weekend. The company was founded in 1993 and is based at DanceCity in Newcastle. It carries out extensive educational and outreach work as well as performances and the home page of its website quotes some very favourable comments from The Guardian and Financial Times.  

Snow White is the second of a series of Grimm tales retold by Carol Ann Duffy hat have been set to dance in collaboration with Sadler's Wells and Northern Stage.  The first of these stories was Rapunzel which I hope to see in due course. I shall also look out for news of the third.  Snow White is moving on to Stirling (11-12 Oct), Dundee (21-22 Oct), Inverness (25-26 Oct) and Bangor (11-12 Nov 2016) and tickets for all those performances can be booked through the company's website.