Chantry Dance 2018 Tour

Chantry Dance Company's 'DRACULA - Welcome to D's' (trailer) from Chantry Dance Company on Vimeo.



Four years ago almost to the day Mel Wong and I drove to Lincoln where we took part in Chantry Dance Company's Sandman and Dream Dance.  It was a memorable day for me because it was the first time that I had danced in public and on film and it gave me the chutzpah to put my name down for Northern Ballet Academy's end of year show (see The Time of My Life 26 June 2014). It was also the first time I met Mel.  I remember how our conversation took off like a rocket from the moment she entered my car and continued in that way throughout the day.

In those days the Chantry Dance Company was a very small and a very new operation.  It has grown over the years staging its first full length ballet last year and offering three year diploma courses in ballet and contemporary dance as well as well as associate programmes, workshops, intensives and outreach events through its School of Contemporary and Balletic Arts.  Dominic North, Clemmie Sveaas and Sarah Kundi are now patrons of that school.

Last year, Rae Piper and Paul Chantry of Chantry Dance built up their audience by visiting in advance several of the venues at which they were to perform and giving a talk with demonstrations about an aspect of the show that they were about to dance. I covered their visit to Halifax in More than "Dancing Bananas": Chantry Dance's Demystification of Contemporary Dance 30 June 2017 as well as their show (see The Sandman in Halifax 28 June 2017).

This year Paul Chantry and Rae Piper are creating a new work around Bram Stoker's Dracula.  For some reason or other Dracula attracts choreographers like wasps to a honey pot.  I have seen and reviewed David Nixon's for Northern Ballet (see Dracula 14 Sep 2014) and an extract from Michael Pink and Christoper Gable's which was performed by Ballet Central last year (see Triumphant 1 May 2017). I am also aware of Mark Bruce's Dracula and Ben Stevenson's for Houston Ballet (see the 1987 - 2003 Archive Page on the company's website) and I believe there are many more. It is not a topic that would attract me were I a choreographer as the story gives me the creeps but that is no doubt the creator's intention.  Chantry Dance are performing their new work it in Grantham, Halifax, Worcester, Sale, Stamford, Andover, Lincoln, Horsham and Greenwhich between 21 Sept and 14 Oct 2018.

The company are preparing the ground as they did last year with a talk entitled Day in the Life of a Dancer.   The strap line is "How do they do that" which is a question that Chantry and Piper propose to answer while giving some insight into a dancer's say:

"Learn what it takes to become a dancer, how they maintain fitness, strength and flexibility, and how they rehearse.  Rae and Paul are among the UK’s finest dancers and West End choreographers whose work includes David Walliams’ OLIVIER NOMINATED GANGSTA GRANNY."

They will be at The Waterside in Sale on 27 June and The Victoria in Halifax on 6 July 2018. Tickets are free but must be booked in advance. Chantry and Piper will also visit Stamford, Horsham, Andover and Grantham.

I will mention the talk and the show to anyone who turns up to Powerhouse Ballet's first class at Huddersfield on 26 May 2018.

Houston Ballet

Houston Ballet's Centre for Dance

Author Marshall Strabala
Licence Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported

Although I sympathize with everybody in the USA who has been bereaved, injured, displaced, inconvenienced or in any way affected adversely by Hurricane Harvey and the subsequent flooding, I have a particular concern for Houston Ballet, its dancers and other staff. There are two reasons for my concern: the first is that this is an important company with close links to this country through its former artistic director Ben Stevenson; and, secondly, one of my favourite young dancers, Emilie Tassinari, has recently joined the company's corps de ballet. 

The pictures and press reports from Houston are horrendous.  According to the Houston Press, Houston's theatre district had taken a serious hit from the hurricane (see Natalie de la Garza Houston's Theater District Takes Serious Hit From Harvey 29 Aug 2017 Houston Press). One of the photos to Ms de la Garza's report shows flood waters lapping the walls of the company's studios. I see from the company's website that the company suffered a power outage and water damage and that its offices will be closed until after Labour Day which is a public holiday that falls on the first Monday of September and that it has had to cancel its opening performances of Poetry in Motion that was scheduled to start the new ballet season (see Hurricane Update, a message from Jim Nelson and Staunton Welch).

Although we have been spared weather as intemperate as Hurricane Harvey, we in Yorkshire know the damage that water can do to a ballet company's costumes and properties. On 26 Dec 2015, the River Aire burst its banks and flooded the warehouse where our regional ballet company, Northern Ballet, stored many of its sets and costumes (see Northern Ballet's press release Flood Update 21 Jan 2016). Northern Ballet is a company to which I am particularly close as it was formed in Manchester, my home town, and is now based in Leeds which is my nearest big city. I have followed its productions for many years and support both the company and the academy (of which I am an adult ballet student) financially. Many of the productions were salvaged but some were lost, including Peter Pan which I enjoyed very much (see Not too sure about Fairies but I certainly believe in Rachael Gillespie 21 Dec 2014).

Happily, Messrs Nelson and Welch have reported that the dancers, artists, and staff are safe, although many have been displaced and otherwise affected by this terrible storm.  I was in touch with Emilie through Facebook on Sunday morning. She replied that her district was unaffected and that she was safe and well. She responded very quickly indicating that she still had electricity and access to the internet.  I wondered whether that was still the case but I am very glad to report that she marked herself safe on Facebook 21 minutes ago.

Northern Ballet recovered from the flood and is now as strong as ever. This year it will have created three new ballets including Kenneth Tindall's excellent Casanova (see Casanova - "it has been a long time since I enjoyed a show by Northern Ballet as much as I enjoyed Casanova last night" 12 March 2017). I am sure Houston Ballet will do the same.  They will probably need a little bit of extra help from ballet fans around the world.  If you want to lend them a hand they have a donations page though it is not open yet. I am sure it will be very soon.