An Evening of Music and Dance

Symphony Hall, Birmingham

Author JimmyGuano Licence CC BY-SA 4.0  Source Wikimedia Commons

 

Birmingham Royal Ballet  An Evening of Music and Dance  Symphony Hall, Birmingham 11 Feb 2023  19:30

If there is one thing that riles a Mancunian it is the proposition that the city of a thousand trades somehow rakes precedence in the national pecking order.   When propounded by a southerner our usual riposte is "Oh I always thought the second city was London." But to be fair, Birmingham has some great institutions not least of which are the Birmingham Royal Ballet and Symphony Hall.

An opportunity to enjoy them both occurs every February in An Evening of Music and Dance.  That is a concert by the Royal Ballet Sinfonia with contributions from artists of the Birmingham Royal Ballet and students of Elmhurst Ballet School.  It is one of the rare occasions when the audience can see the orchestra on stage.  I imagine that it must be a liberation for the musicians to escape from the orchestra pit and share the limelight with the dancers they support for the rest of the year.

According to the Birmingham Royal Ballet's website, the programme was "hand-picked" by Carlos Acosta and Paul Murphy which perhaps explains the preponderance of works associated with the Spanish-speaking world.    The programme was as follows:

• Rossini The Barber of Seville: Overture
• Howard/Nunes Interlinked pas de deux
• De Falla El amor brujo: Ritual Fire Dance
• Rachmaninov/Ashton Rhapsody pas de deux
• Granados Goyescas: Intermezzo
• Pugni//Petipa/Vaganova Diana and Actaeon pas de deux
• Chabrier España
• Tchaikovsky/Petipa/Wright Swan Lake: Act III pas de deux
• Albéniz Tango
• Bizet/Acosta Carmen pas de deux
• Ginastera/Fajardo Estancia, Danza dek trigo and Malambo 
• Drigo/Petipa/Vaganova Le Corsaire pas de deux

The evening was compered by Marverine Cole.

The first ballet was Juliano Nunes's Interlinked, Pas de Deux to Luke Howard's score of the same name.  According to the programme notes it was created for On Your Marks, a triple bill to celebrate the Commonwealth Games which were held in Birmingham last summer.  It was danced by Tzu Chao-Chou and Brandon Lawrence, two very graceful but also very muscular dancers.  I stress muscular because they were clad in what appeared to be romantic tutus.  According to the programme the costumes and choreography do not distinguish between male and female performers often turning balletic conventions on their heads.  For me, that was a distraction but it was still possible to appreciate the virtuosity of the dancers. 

Having attended An Evening with Ashton at Elmhurst on 24 Jan 2023 I was particularly looking forward to Ashton's Rhapsody Pas de Deux. Ashton had created Rhapsody for Mikhail Baryshnikov and Lesley Collier in August 1980 on the occasion of the late Queen Mother's 80th birthday.  At Elmhurst, Collier had coached  Frieda Kaden and Oscar Kempsey-Fagg so her tips and recollections were fresh in my memory.  It had been a direct link with Sir Frederick himself.  The dancers who performed that piece at Symphony Hall were Max Maslen and Beatrice Parma. Throughout the piece, I recalled Collier's instructions to Kaden and Kempsey-Fagg such as "Lift her but not too high".  Altogether, it was a rare and precious moment.

Diana and Actaeon is a spectacular piece.  It begins with the entry of Diana practically jumping on pointe.  Actaeon joins her on stage with massive leaps It was choreographed by Agrippina Vaganova to the music of Cesare Pugni. The only time that I had seen the work before was when I watched Michaela DePrince for the first time.  I was bowled over both by her and the choreography (see The Junior Company of the Dutch National Ballet - Stadsshouwburg Amsterdam 24 Nov 2013 25 Nov 2013).  Tyrone Singleton and Sofia Liñares danced this piece at the Evening of Music and Dance.  Their interpretation was quite different.  Elegant, fluid and lyrical and while still exciting their performance was somehow, a little more restrained.  

There was an interval between Diana and Actaeon and España.  The first ballet of the second half of the show was the seduction scene from Act III of Swan Lake.  That pas de deux was performed exquisitely by Brandon Lawrence and Céline Gittens. Gittens is one of my all-time favourite ballerinas. Odette-Odile is one of her most impressive roles.  Her execution of Legnani's 32 fouettés was the high point of my evening.  In the full-length ballet, the piece is followed by pandemonium as Rothbart and his daughter exit the stage.  It is the last that audiences ever see of Odile.  As this was a concert, there was a reverence after the performance at which Gittens acknowledged her applause with the most enchanting smile.  I could not help thinking that she was much too nice for Odile.

Liñares returned with Lachlan Monaghan to dance the Interlude from Carmen which Carlos Acosta had choreographed for himself and Marienela Nuñes while he was still a principal with the Royal Ballet.  I had previously associated Carmen with Zizi Jeanmaire and to a lesser extent Maya Pliesetskaya though I had only seen them on film.  Acosta's version is based on one of the most haunting parts of Bizet's score.  It will be interesting to see the work in full.

Students from Elmhurst performed Danza del trigo and Malambo from Alberto Ginastera's Estancia which were choreographed by Sonia Fajardo.  According to the programme notes, the composer wrote Estancia for American Ballet Caravan whose choreographer was George Balanchine. The rhythm of Malambo is infectious.  The artists threw themselves into the work.  it was the most exuberant performance of the evening.

The finale was Drigo's pas de deux  from Le Corsaire.  Although most of the score had been composed by Adolphe Adam I learned from the programme notes that Marius Petipa had incorporated music by other composers including Ricardo Drigo.  I also learned that Vaganova had created a pas de deux on Drigo's work which was performed by Riku Ito and  Yaoqian Shang.  Only English National Ballet includes Le Corsaire in its repertoire.  It is a work that would suit Birmingham Royal Ballet well.

This was a very interesting programme.   I was introduced to three composers, namely Ricardo Drigo, Alberto Ginestera and Luke Howard and two new choreographers, namely Juliano Nunes and Sonia Fajardo.   It was also good to meet the Elmhurst students some of whom will join the Birmingham Royal Ballet and other leading companies.   It was my first visit to Symphony Hall and I look forward to returning, perhaps for a concert by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra which I have so far heard only in recordings and broadcasts.   

The Birmingham Nutcracker

Nutcracker 22 Homepage sizzle from Birmingham Royal Ballet on Vimeo.

Birmingham Royal Ballet The Nutcracker Royal Albert Hall, 31 Dec 2022 16:00

When I was young the London Festival Ballet converted the Royal Festival Hall into a theatre and staged The Nutcracker during the Christmas holidays.  Because of the venue, those performances were less formal than those at Covent Garden, or Sadler's Wells.  Probably they were also significantly less expensive because there were always lots of families at those shows. I was introduced to ballet at one of those performances as were many other young people.  The Birmingham Royal Ballet continues that tradition by turning the Royal Albert Hall (London's other great concert hall) into a theatre and staging The Nutcracker there between Christmas and New Year's Eve. 

Although the story, choreography, casts and costumes appear to be the same, a performance of The Nutcracker in the Royal Albert Hall is an altogether different experience from a performance of the same ballet at the Hippodrome. For a start, there is a narrator.  The story is told by Simon Callow who is described as the "voice of Drosselmeyer".  The performing space is large.  The orchestra occupies a balcony above the stage.   Scene changes such as the expanding Christmas tree are achieved by lighting and projection  

The ballet is essentially about a young girl's dream.  Clara (as she is called in this country) is given a nutcracker in the shape of a prince by Drosselmeyer, one of the guests at her parents' Christmas party.  In her dream, the nutcracker comes to life and leads a detachment of toy soldiers against a pack of rodents.  The rodents are about to gain the upper hand but Clara saves the day by thumping their king.  As a reward, she is transported to a magical land where she is entertained by Spanish, Arabian and Chinese dancers representing chocolate, coffee and tea, cossacks, mirlitons, flowers and finally the Sugar Plum fairy and her cavalier.   That is significantly different from the Russian version where the girl (known as Marie) becomes the Sugar Plum (see the "About the Performance" page on the Bolshoi's website).

One of the strengths of the Russian version is that audiences see the lead ballerina from the start.  In the Birmingham and most other Western versions, she enters at the very end.  Her pas de deux with her cavalier is little more than a divertissement,  That always strikes me as a shame when Sugar Plum is danced by a principal.  That is so different from Odette, Giselle, Aurora or any of the other great classical roles where audiences get to know the lead ballerina

I attended the 16:00 performance on New Year's eve which had a stellar cast.  Céline Gittens was the Sugar Plum. Brandon Lawrence was her cavalier. Reina Fuchigami was Clara.   Jonathan Payn was Drosselmeyer.  Gittens is my favourite ballerina with that company,  As I said in my review of her performance as Juliet, she has a quality that reminds me of her compatriot Lynn Seymour. Lawrence supported her gallantly as her cavalier.

Perhaps because it was the last performance of the year and they were looking forward to New Year's eve parties the artists seemed to dance with added energy and flair.   I particularly liked the Spanish dance performed by Rosanna Ely, Louis Andreasen and Oscar Kempsey-Fagg. I also enjoyed the Snowflakes scene in the first act and the Waltz of the Flowers in the second.  That is because I had performed those dancers, albeit after a fashion.  Martin Dutton of the Hammond taught me the first snowflake's role at a KNT workshop in Manchester.  I have also attended several of Jane Tucker's workshops on Waltz of the Flowers for KNT and Powerhouse Ballet.  I learned more about The Nutcracker from those workshops than I had previously gained in a lifetime of watching it from the stalls.

There were some fun gimmicks on the set.  Clara's brother was given a rat on wheels for Christmas.  After that same brother had trashed the nutcracker Drosselmeyer was able to fix it remotely.  I should have mentioned earlier that Drosselmeyer's store with his name in gothic writing appeared at the beginning.

A good ballet needs a good orchestra and this company has one of the best.  Peter Murphy conducted them on New Year's eve to loud applause from both cast and audience.  

Every major company in the UK has its version of The Nutcracker.  I have seen them all at one time and another.   We all have our favourites.  This version is mine.

Review of 2019

Alexander Campbell, Male Dancer of 2019

Author Wild21swan

Licence CC BY-SA 4.0

Source Wikipedia Alexander Campbell (dancer)

The year that has just ended was a particularly good one for dance. Two of the world's greatest ballet companies, the Bolshoi and the San Francisco Ballet visited London. There were excellent productions of Carlos Acosta's Don Quixote by the Royal Ballet, Rudi van Dantzig's Swan Lake by the Dutch National Ballet, Christopher Wheeldon's Cinderella by English National Ballet and Giselle and The Nutcracker by the Birmingham Royal Ballet.  Phoenix Dance Theatre excelled itself with its Rite of Spring performed as part of a double bill with Opera North at the Lowry.  There was some great choreography by David Dawson, Cathy Marston, Mthuthuzeli November and Ruth Brill. Scottish Ballet, the first company that I got to know and love, celebrated the 50th anniversary of its déménagement from Bristol to Glasgow, Northern Ballet the 50th anniversary of its first performance at the University Theatre in Manchester and Chelmsford Ballet, the amateur company in Essex on which Powerhouse Ballet is modelled its 70th.  Incidentally and on a much more parochial level but very importantly for me, our little transpennine amateur company gave its first performance at the Dancehouse Theatre in Manchester in May as part of the KNT Dancework's 10th-anniversary gala in a work that was choreographed by Terence Etheridge who had been one of the original members of what is ow Northern Ballet.

With all this activity, readers might think that this would be a particularly difficult year to pick performances, performers, companies and choreographers of the year and for the most part, they would be right.  But there was once performance that stood head and shoulders above the rest and that was the Bolshoi Ballet's Spartacus at the Royal Opera House on 10 Aug 2019.  This is what I wrote about the show:

"Ever since I saw a streaming of the ballet from Moscow nearly 6 years ago I have longed to see it on stage. I have had a long wait because few if any Western companies seem to perform the work and certainly no British ones. This year, however, the Bolshoi included Spartacus in its London season so I traipsed down to London yesterday to see it. The ticket in the centre of row G of the stalls wasn't cheap. Neither was the rail fare. The rail network was all over the place as a result of the high winds and the aftermath of Friday's power outage. Nevertheless, I can think of no better use of my time or a better way to spend my money. I have been going to the ballet for nearly 60 years and see about 50 shows a year. Rarely have I been more excited by a performance than I was yesterday by the Bolshoi's performance of Spartacus."

One of the reasons why the show was so good is that Igor Tsvirko and Ruslan Skvortsov danced the male leads and Margarita Shrayner and Ekaterina Krysanova the female ones.  They were so good that I had shortlisted Tsvirko and Skvortsov for premier danseur noble and Shrayner and Krysanova for ballerina for 2019.

Male dancer of the year was very difficult this year because there were so many to choose from.  In addition to the two from the Bolshoi, I had listed Xander Parish of the Mariinsky whom I saw at the Dutch National Ballet's gala in September, Daniel Carmargo of the Dutch National Ballet and my ballerina of the year's partner Brandon Lawrence,  In any other year, any of those fine artists would have been my male dancer of the year but this was the year of Alexander Campbell. He won my heart for his Don Basilio in Don Quixote on 30 March 2019.  Here is what I wrote about him in Campbell and Magri in Royal Ballet's Don Quixote on 2 April 2019:

"My enjoyment of the show was facilitated greatly by the casting of Alexander Campbell as Don Basilio. A year or so ago I read about his taking part in a scheme by the RAD and MCC to encourage kids to take up ballet and cricket. Perfectly natural in my view as I have always had a passion for the two. I think it was Arnold Haskell who observed that cricket had predisposed the British to ballet pointing out many parallels between the two. Like another of my favourites, Xander Parish, Campbell had been a promising cricketer as a boy. I had long surmised that that might be the case before I had read that article for Campbell commands the stage like a batsman at the crease. There is something about his manner - perhaps his grin - that makes it impossible not to like him. He wielded his guitar while wooing the coquettish Kitri as an extension of himself just as a batsman holds his bat. As he seized her fan in the same scene I imagined his diving for a catch. In his jumps and lifts, he is much an athlete as an artist. It may be a figment of my imagination as it may be have been years since he last played the game, but I think that his youthful cricketing prowess has contributed more than a little to his appeal as a dancer."

I have never met Campbell but his personality bubbles as readers can see from this interview with him by Guerilla Cricket.

I had the same difficulty in choosing a ballerina of the year because of the abundance of talent. In addition to Shrayner and Krysanova, there was Maia Makhateli whom I described as "perhaps the best Odette-Odile I have seen since Sibley" and the ultra-talented Celine Gittens.  I have seen Gittens in many roles including Sugar Plum in the Albert Hall this year and last,  Swanilde in Coppelia and Juliet in MacMillan's Masterpiece but it was her performance as Giselle on 29 Sept 2019 that touched my heart:

"Gittens was outstanding in the title role. An accomplished actor as well as virtuoso, it was hard to stay dry-eyed as she glided inexorably towards her fate. First, the plucking of the petals, the heart murmurs, the warning from her mother, feeling the hem of Bathikde's garment and finally the deception as Hilarion produced Albrecht's sword and Albrecht acknowledged his posh betrothed."

My acknowledgement of Gittens's excellence is long overdue.  After I saw her in Romeo and Juliet I wrote:

Because of MacMillan's focus on Juliet's transition I can't help comparing the ballerina who dances that role with Seymour. I have never seen a performance that has impressed me as much as Seymour's over the last 50 years but some have come close. Last night's exquisite performance by Celine Gittens came closest of all. She taught me new things about the ballet. Her realization of her womanhood as she tossed aside her toy. The look that she gives Romeo before they dance a step. No doubt that is part of the choreography but somehow I had missed them all the other times that I have seen the work. In Gittens I saw Juliet rather than a representation of Juliet. Just as I had with Seymour all those years before.

After reading those words, Gittens reminded me on twitter that she like Seymour also came from Vancouver.

I saw some brilliant new works this year:  David Dawson's Requiem in Amsterdam, Jeanguy Saintus's The Rite of Spring, Cathy Marston's Snowblind as well as her Victoria and The Suit, Mthuthuzeli November's Ingoma and Ruth Brill's Peter and the Wolf.  Dawson and Marston are two of my all-time favourite choreographers.  I love Dawson's Swan Lake and admire Marston's Snowblind enormously November's Ingoma moved every emotion but there was just one work that I just had to see twice, That work was Peter and the Wold. When I saw it in Shrewsbury I wrote:

"Peter and the Wolf is just so well known and well-loved it could not possibly fail to appeal. I first heard the score and dialogue on Children's Favourites with Uncle Mac on the Light Programme in the early 1950s and I have seen countless performances in various genres on different mediums at different levels of performance ever since. So, no doubt, would a lot of other people in the audience,
Yet Brill created something new. First, she set it in the urban wilderness and not a rural one. The set was scaffolding. A tree only in a child's imagination. There was a pond for a duck that was probably a burst water main or a crater. And the wolf was very much of the two-footed kind as in Annabelle Lopez Ochoa's Little Red Riding Hood. Secondly, she cast Day as Peter, Tori Forsyth-Hecken, Alys Shee and Eilis Small as the hunters and Tzu-Chao Chou as the little bird. I have to be careful here for I once got into trouble with several of the company's dancers by discerning a dimension that upset them but I detected a feminist twist here. If Peter is a boy and the hunters are men, as they usually are, it is the female duck that is eaten by the male wolf (Mathias Dingman) it is the makes who remove the pest and lead him into captivity. Whether intended or not there was a strong feminist twist Brill made it clear that women can take care of threats without the need for heroes thanks very much.
Day may have been cast as a boy but she danced like a girl and one with spirit - particularly when her granddad (Barton) scooped her from the meadow (building site) and lectured her about keeping safe. Like a girl, she showed ingenuity in catching the wolf and I think also like a girl she interceded with the hunters to save its life. Downs made a great cat. I loved the way she probed the air with her paw just like a real moggy. And there was a lovely performance of the duck by Shee taking the place of Brooke Ray. I enjoyed her riposte to the bird's taunt: "What sort of bird are you if you can't fly?"
Peter and the Wolf will be danced in Birmingham and London as well as other places and I think audiences will love it."

I liked it even better when I saw it again in London:

"Even though I liked Lyric Pieces and Sense of Time very much, the highlight for me was Peter and the Wolf. The cast was the same as it had been in Shrewsbury except that Brooke Ray was able to dance the duck. Laura Day danced Peter as charmingly as she did in Theatre Severn, Matthias Dingman the wold, Tzu-Chao Chou the bird, Samara Downs the cat, James Barton the grandfather and Tori Forsyth-Hacken, Alys Shee and Eilis Small the hunters. As I forecast in my review of their performance in Shrewsbury, the audience at Sadler's Wells loved Peter and the Wolf. I don't think that they danced any better in London than they did in Shrewsbury but a London audience somehow lifts a show. I think that is because a show is a sort of conversation. An audience that sees a lot of dance appreciates a good show and responds accordingly. That, in turn, is picked up by the cast who shine even more. It was a great atmosphere and it was lovely to see the choreographer acknowledging our applause at the reverence."

I notice from her twitter stream that Brill has been appointed artistic director of the London Children's Ballet.  All I can say about that is that the kids are very fortunate to work with such a fine choreographer at an early point in their lives. I wish Ruth Brll every success in that endeavour and I will support it any way I can.

Brill used to dance for the Birmingham Royal Ballet and Gittens still does. Over the year that company has offered some great shows such as the Seasons in our World and Peter and the Wolf double bill, [Un]leashed,  Giselle and The Nutcracker at the Royal Albert Hall. Its former director has just been awarded a knighthood.  It has done tremendous outreach and educational work throughout the country and particularly in the West Midlands. It is starting a new era with Carlos Acosta as its artistic director.  There can be no doubt to acknowledge the Birmingham Royal Ballet as the company of the year.

My character artist for 2019 is Sarah Kundi for her performance as Hortensia in Christopher Wheeldon's Cinderella.  In Cinders in the Round I wrote:

"The second act is the prince's ball where the step mum and her daughters turn up with Cinders's dad but no Cinders wearing quite the wrong outfits and generally making fools of themselves. Things got worse when the drink was served because the stepmother drank just a teeny weeny bit too much and had to be lifted off the floor and carried to a couch. That role was performed by Sarah Kundi who is one of my favourite dancers. I have followed her ever since she was with Northern Ballet in Leeds. She used to remind me of a famous dancer of my youth whom she still resembles in many ways. Since she joined ENB I have begun to appreciate her for her own qualities. Kundi stole the second act if not the show and she raised more than a few laughs in the third act when she showed up at the breakfast table with one almighty hangover."

I concluded my review as follows:

"Erina Takahashi was a lovely Cinders and Joseph Caley was a great prince. Good to see Gavin Sutherland from Huddersfield conducting the orchestra, But the star for me on Sunday was definitely Kundi."

In most years Gary Avis would win character artist of the year hands down. Alas, I can't give him that accolade this year as I saw him live only once as Don Quixote.  He is a charming man who excels in every role.  He deserves special recognition for a brilliant career.  He is certainly the best character artist of his time.  With the possible exception of Wayne Sleep, he is probably the best I have ever seen.

Finally, conductor of the year and there are some worthy contenders:  Koen Kessels, Boris Gruzin, Gavin Sutherland, Matthew Rowe and Jonathan Lo.  My choice for 2019 is Maestro Rowe for his work as director of music and principal conductor of the orchestra of the Dutch National Ballet.

Summary

Ballet of the Year   Bolshoi Ballet, Spartacus, Royal Opera House, 10 Aug 2019
Male Dancer of the Year   Alexander Campbell, the Royal Ballet
Ballerina of the Year  Celine Gittens, Birmingham Royal Ballet
Choreographer of the Year  Ruth Brill, London Children's Ballet
Company of the Year  Birmingham Royal Ballet
Character Artist of the Year  Sarah Kundi
Conductor of the Year  Matthew Rowe
Best Character Artist of his Time Gary Avus

The Nutcracker returns to the Royal Albert Hall

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Birmingham Royal Ballet The Nutcracker 29 Dec 2019 14:00 Royal Albert Hall

Each of the five largest ballet companies of the United Kingdom has a version of The Nutcracker in its repertoire.  I have seen all of them at one time or another and the ones that I like best which are Scottish, Northern's and the Birmingham Royal Ballet's more than once.  If I had to choose one it would be Peter Wright's production for the BRB. Last year I saw it in the Hippodrome in Birmingham. Yesterday I saw it upscaled fro the Royal Albert Hall.

This was not the first time I had seen ballet in that auditorium.   On previous occasions, I had seen Romeo and Juliet and Swan Lake in the round performed by the English National Ballet.  Birmingham Royal Ballet used the space quite differently.  They created a stage at one end of the floor above which they positioned the orchestra. On either side of the stage, they placed enormous screens upon which all sorts of images such as pine branches and baubles to represent a growing Christmas tree and falling snow for the snow scene. Seating was installed in the part of the floor not used as a stage and the gallery was closed off altogether.  My view from the centre of the Rausing circle was comparable to the view from the front of the amphitheatre at Covent Garden.

The libretto was very similar to the one for the version that I had seen at the Hippodrome last year and used about the same number of dancers. The one big difference was a voiceover by Simon Callow which was probably harmless enough but not particularly necessary. He was supposed to represent Drosselmeyer who was already represented in dance more than adequately by Rory Mackay.  What rankled a little bit with me was that Callow spoke in a thick continental accent that made Drosselmeyer appear to be some kind of foreigner which was unlikely as he was Clara and Fritz Stahlbaum's godfather. Unlike Sir Peter Wright's production for the Royal Ballet, there was no subplot of the nutcracker being Drosselmeyer's nephew imprisoned in wood. Nor were there an,y angels in the Birmingham version.

The other three lead characters yesterday were the Sugar Plum danced by Celine Gittens, her prince Brandon Lawrence and Clara who was Arancha Baselga. On 26 June 2018, I had been captivated by Gittens's portrayal of Juliet although she had been one of my favourites for some time (see MacMillan's Masterpiece 29 June 2018). I chose yesterday's matinee specifically to catch Gittens and I am glad to say that she did not disappoint me. I was too far away to see her face which had been so eloquent when she danced Juliet but her elegance was unmistakable.  As in June, she was partnered by Lawrence who demonstrated his strength and virtuosity. Baselga delighted her audience with her energy as she threw herself into the divertissements in Act II. I admired and liked her particularly in the Russians ance as she was tossed from dancer to dancer like a bag of cement.

Another of my favourites is Ruth Briill who danced Clara's grannie with Kit Holder. I had thought of auditioning for that role if and when Powerhouse Ballet ever performs that ballet but having seen Brill in Birmingham's production and Hannah Bateman in Northern's (see Northern Ballet's "The Nutcracker" - All My Favourite Artists in the Same Show 14 Dec 2018) that may be a little bit too ambitious.  I had also contemplated auditioning for Mrs Stahlbaum until I saw Yvette Knight's impressive solo. Maybe I could be a rodent but not the rat king like Tom Rogers yesterday.

Plaudits are due to Harlequin, Columbine and the Jack in the Box danced by Gus Payne, Reina Fuchigami and Max Maslen, the Snow Queen (Alys Shee) and each and every one of the dancers in the divertissements in Act II. I particularly liked Laura Purkiss as the Spanish princess and Beatrice Parma as the rose fairy.

I must also congratulate the orchestra and its conductor Koen Kessels whom I had the pleasure of meeting ar the party following the Dutch National Ballet's gala on 8 September 2018. I attended the ballet with the nearest I have to a grandson and his mum who is the nearest I have to a daughter. She was particularly affected by the music saying that it had touched her in a way that previous performances of the score had not/. Clearly, I was not the only one to regard the music as special

Altogether it was one of the best performances of The Nutcracker that I have ever attended and a great way to end the year.  It is in the running for my ballet of the year as indeed is the Birmingham Royal Ballet for company of the year.  Upon the merger of my chambers with Arden Chambers earlier this year we acquired an annexe at Snow Hill in Birmingham which I intend to use to the full.  As I shall be spending far more time in their city I hope to see even more of the Birmingham Royal Ballet and get to know it even better.

MacMillan's Masterpiece

Romeo and Juliet web trailer from Birmingham Royal Ballet on Vimeo.

Birmingham Royal Ballet Romeo and Juliet 28 June 2018, 19:30 Birmingham Hippodrome

We have seen a lot of work by Sir Kenneth MacMillan over the last year or so to mark the 25th anniversary of his death. Everybody has his or her favourite work by that great man.  Mine is Romeo and Juliet.  It is about 50 years since I first saw that ballet at the Royal Opera House and I was captivated by it.  I have two abiding memories of that performance: Georgiadis's designs and Lynn Seymour's dancing.  I cannot for the life of me remember who partnered Seymour on that occasion.  It might have been Donald MacLeary, It may even have been Rudolf Nureyev. I certainly saw Nureyev with Fonteyn in that ballet - at least in film when I was a graduate student in Los Angeles if not on stage as I remember how much I preferred Seymour's dancing.

The reason I remember Seymour but not her partner is that MacMillan's ballet is a study of Juliet or rather her overnight transition from childhood to womanhood. Other choreographers have focused on different aspects of the story: Krzysztof Pastor on power or rather the power struggle between Capulets and Montagues reflecting the battle between left and right in modern Italian history (see Scottish Ballet's Timeless Romeo and Juliet 18 May 2014) while Jean-Christophe Maillot explores the role of Friar Lawrence (see Northern Ballet's Romeo and Juliet - different but in a good way 8 March 2015).  Romeo does not change or at least not in the same way and nothing like as much as as Juliet which is why I can always remember who danced Juliet in MacMillan's ballet but seldom her Romeo.

Because of MacMillan's focus on Juliet's transition I can't help comparing the ballerina who dances that role with Seymour. I have never seen a performance that has impressed me as much as Seymour's over the last 50 years but some have come close. Last night's exquisite performance by Celine Gittens came closest of all.  She taught me new things about the ballet.  Her realization of her womanhood as she tossed aside her toy. The look that she gives Romeo before they dance a step. No doubt that is part of the choreography but somehow I had missed them all the other times that I have seen the work.  In Gittens I saw Juliet rather than a representation of Juliet.  Just as I had with Seymour all those years before.

Another dancer who impressed me particularly last night was Ruth Brill.  She was the nurse. Not a big role  perhaps but a pivotal one.  She accompanies Juliet through every stage of the story.  A bighearted woman full of love.  She is ragged mercilessly by Juliet in the nursery and outrageously by the Montagues in the town square as she tries to deliver Juliet's note to Romeo. She prepares Juliet for her first ball. She witnesses her wedding. She tries to intercede with Juliet's parents when they force her to marry Paris. She discovers Juliet's lifeless body on the morning of what was supposed to be her wedding day.  She kneels beside her in the Capulet family crypt in the very last scene. Though very little of her face was visible under her veil I watched her eyes convey indignation as she was molested in the market place and then a frisson of delight as Romeo pecked her cheek after he had read Juliet's note.

Tall and athletic Brandon Lawrence was as worthy a Romeo as any I had seen in that role.  His duel with Tybalt was as thrilling as his dance with the seemingly lifeless Juliet in the crypt was chilling.  Valentin Olovyannikov was a haughty, headstrong Tybalt just as Shakespeare had portrayed him. Lachlan Monaghan was a gallant Mercutio stabbed in the back after he has every reason to believe his fight with Tybalt was over. It is always hard to hold back tears as he strums his sword as if it were a musical instrument and it was particularly hard last night. Samara Downs was a formidable Lady Capulet from the first icy curtsy at Escalus's command to the explosion of rage at the sign of her slain son. Alice Shee was a charming Rosaline. How many lives would have been saved had Romeo not given up on her.

There was so much to like in that performance.  There is the dance by Juliet's friends at the Capulets' party as she plucks the strings.  There is the mandolin dance  by the men in fuzzy costumes.  There was Paul Andrews's sets and costumes even though I think I prefer Georgiadis's which remind me so much of the work of Leon Bakst. There was the magnificent Maestro Kessels who won perhaps even more generous applause than he would otherwise have received after the second interval when the result of the Belgium match would have been known.

It was a long, hot drive to Biirmingham with congestion on the M1 and A52 forcing me to detour via Lichfield and Sutton Coldfield and an even worse drive back with the A38 (M) hors de combat and a massive tailback on the M6.  After delivering my friend to her home I crawled into my bed at 02:55 this morning. But last night's show was worth it.  Like the first time I saw Lynn Seymour I think I shall remember this performance for the rest of my life.

Birmingham Royal Ballet's Aladdin nearly Five Years on

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Birmingham Royal Ballet Aladdin The Lowry, 23 Sept 2017, 19:30

Shortly after I started this blog I reviewed Birmingham Royal Ballet's Aladdin (see my review of 1 March 2013). I saw it just after I had started taking ballet lessons with Fiona Noonan several months before I entered the over 55 class at Northern Ballet. Although I had seen a lot of ballet before 2013 I had not actually done very much. I have since learned that however much ballet you see from the stalls or dress circle you really don't know what you are talking about until you try your hand at it. Then your admiration for those who make their living from the art soars beyond bounds.

In March 2013 I wrote:

"Having developed my love of ballet while Frederick Ashton was the Royal Ballet's choreographer I am very hard to please. But pleased I was. The pas de deux that Bintley created for Aladdin and the Princess danced yesterday by Jamie Bond and Jenna Roberts reminded me a lot of Ashton. So did the powerful roles for the djinn (Matthias Dingman), Mahgrib and Sultan (Rory Mackay). Also, the sweet role for Aladdin's mother danced delightfully by Marion Tait - no Widow Twankey she. Other lovely touches - and very familiar to Manchester with our famous Chinese quarter - were the lion and dragon dances. It is probably unfair to single out any of the other dancers because all excelled but I was impressed particularly by Céline Gittens who danced Diamond. Finally, Davis's score with its oriental allusions was perfect for Bintley's choreography."

I saw many of the same dancers in the same roles last night. Would I still like it especially as I had been looking forward to Stanton Welch's La Bayadère which had to be axed when Birmingham City Council reduced its grant to Birmingham Royal Ballet? (see A Birmingham Bayadère 26 Nov 2016 and How Nikiya must have felt when she saw a snake 31 Jan 2017)

Well, I am glad to say that I liked Aladdin even more last night and I think I have to thank my teachers in Leeds, Manchester, Huddersfield, Sheffield, London, Liverpool, Cambridge, Budapest and, half a century ago, St Andrews for that as they taught me how to appreciate ballet. As before I loved Carl Davis's score. I was impressed by Sue Blane's costumes, Dick Bird's sets and Mark Jonathan's lighting. I was thrilled by David Bintley's choreography. Most of all I was dazzled by the dancing.

César Morales was a perfect Aladdin alternating from an awkward adolescent to the sultan's splendid sun in law. Jenna Roberts was as lovely as she had been when I had last seen her in that role. Iain Mackay was a magnificent magician (why does Salford feel it has to boo him at the curtain call just because he is cast as a baddie?)  Aitor Galende. clad and coloured from head to toe in blue was a noble djinn. Tom Rogers was every inch a sultan.  Marion Tait is always a delight. One of my all-time favourites. It was appropriate that many of my other favourites appeared as jewels for gems they are. The incomparable Céline Gittens, glittered as a diamond, Chi Cao glowed as an emerald, Samara Downs and Alys Shee gleamed as gold and silver, Yasuo Atsujii and Yijing Zha radiated as rubies, Karla Doorbar shone as onyx as indeed did the whole cast.

I attended the performance with a friend who has seen a lot of ballet and attended a lot of classes though she likes the other performing arts and other dance forms at least as well. She also saw the 2013 show with me and said she enjoyed last night's performance even more. Sitting next to us were a couple for whom ballet was still a new experience. In fact, for one them it was his first live show. I was curious to see whether he would take to it. He told me that he found difficulty with the first act but enjoyed the second and third very much. On balance he enjoyed the whole experience.

I hope to see Stanton Welch's La Bayadère one day even if I have to fly to Texas to do so.  As one of my favourite young dancers has just moved from HNB to the Houston Ballet I hope to do so soon, I was sad to learn that the company had suffered so much from Hurricane Harvey.  As I said in Houston Ballet  30 Aug 2017 we in the North know the damage flood water can do. I am sure that company will emerge stronger than ever as Northern Ballet did. I shall look out for the Houston Ballet on World Ballet Day and give it a special cheer.

Birmingham Royal Ballet's Three Short Ballets: Le Baiser de la fée, Pineapple Poll and Arcadia

Celine Gittens and Brandon Lawrence in Ruth Brill's Arcadia

Photo Ty Singleton
© 2017  Birmingham Royal Ballet: all rights reserved
Reproduced with the kind permission of the company

Birmingham Royal Ballet Le Baiser de la fée, Pineapple Poll and Arcadia, Birmingham Hippodrome, 21 June 2017, 19:30

The strength of the Birmingham Royal Ballet was on display last night with important works from three generations of choreographers:

• John Cranko's Pineapple Poll from the company's early days;
• Michael Corder's Le Baiser de la fée from its recent past; and
• Ruth Brill's Arcadia which may be a glimpse of its future.

The ballets were presented in reverse order.

By any measure, Arcadia is an important ballet and there are two reasons for its importance. 

First, its artistic quality with a powerful score by saxophonist John Harle, striking designs by Atena Ameri, ingenious lighting by Peter Teigen and of course inspired choreography by Ruth Brill beautifully executed by Brandon Lawrence, Céline Gittens as the moon goddess Selene, Brooke Ray, Yijing Zhang and Delia Mathews as the nymphs Pitys, Syrinx and Echo and a chorus that consisted of Laura Day, Karla Doorbar, Reina Fuchigami, Miki Mizutani, Anna Monleon, Alexander Bird, Feargus Campbell, Max Maslen, Lachlan Monaghan and Lewis Turner. 

Secondly, its timing. In the programme, Ruth Brill writes:

"The ballet opens as Pan watches over the nymphs Pitys, Syrinx and Echo from the shadows, In Pan's paradise he is worshipped by his subjects, the chorus. As night falls, Pan is left alone. Selene, the beautiful goddess of the moon appears. Through their interaction, Pan is transformed. Selene uplifts him to become both a better man and a better leader. Finally, we see an Arcadia, now harmonious, after Pan learns that to connect with his people he must respect them. The change in Pan is reflected by the emergence of a more loving and united society."

Now what could be apter than those sentiments after a bruising referendum and general election, the tragedy of Grenfell Tower and the outrages at Finsbury Park, Borough Market, Westminster Bridge and Manchester?

In my preview, Ruth Brill's Arcadia, 16 Dec 2016 I tipped Arcadia as "one of the works to look out for in the coming year".  Having seen Matryoshka two years ago (see Birmingham Royal Ballet in High Wycombe 31 May 2015) I expected Arcadia to be good but my expectations were exceeded greatly. Arcadia was of quite a different order to Matryoshka. In the medieval guilds, the apprentice craftsman proved his readiness to join the masters with a masterpiece and that is exactly what Brill has done with Arcadia. It is no longer appropriate to refer to her as a "promising" or "up and coming" choreographer. With this work, she is undeniably an established choreographer and, in my humble opinion, she is likely to become a great one.

Jenna Roberts  and artists of Birmingham Royal Ballet in
Le Baiser de la fée

Photo Bill Cooper
© 2017  Birmingham Royal Ballet: all rights reserved
Reproduced with the kind permission of the company

Michael Corder's Le Baiser de la fée is based on Hans Christian Andersen's Ice Maiden.  I watched this ballet with Gita who had previously seen Ratmansky's version for Miami City Ballet (see Gita Mistry Attending the Ballet in Florida: Miami City Ballet's Program Three 6 March 2017) and I had seen Donald MacLeary's reconstruction of part of Kenneth MacMillan's version with James Hay in Pavlova's sitting room (see A Minor Miracle - Bringing Le Baiser de la fée back to Life 2 June 2014). The synopsis of Corder's ballet is very much the same as Ratmansky's and he also uses Stravinsky's score. The ballet contains one strong male role (the young man) for Joseph Caley and three strong female ones for the young man's mother (Daria Stanciulescu), his fiancée  (Momoko Hirata) and the fairy who had selected him for her own (Jenna Roberts).

In the interval, I asked Gita which of the two versions of the ballet that she had seen recently she preferred. She replied that she enjoyed them both. Perhaps because this year is the 25th since his death I had driven to Birmingham expecting MacMillan. I found Corder instead but was not in the least disappointed. I am a big fan of Caley, Roberts and Hirata. I loved the sets and costumes. With Sir Matthew Bourne's The Red Shoes, David Nixon's The Little Mermaid and Paul Chantry's The Sandman we shall see quite a lot of ballets based on Hans Christian Andersen this year. Last night's performance has whetted my appetite.

Pineapple Poll

Photo Roy Smiljanic
© 2017  Birmingham Royal Ballet: all rights reserved
Reproduced with the kind permission of the company

y

The evening ended with a favourite work by my all-time favourite choreographer which has a personal as well as balletic significance for me as I explained in Doing the Splits 8 May 2016.  Since writing that preview I have seen the work performed by the company at York which I reviewed in Birmingham Royal Ballet's Northern Tour 2017 13 May 2017:

"Pineapple Poll with its synopsis based on W S Gilbert's ballad The Bumboat's Woman's Story, Charles Mackerras's arrangement of a selection of Gilbert and Sullivan's favourite tunes and Osbert Lancaster's intricate designs was a wonderful way to round off a wonderful evening. Yesterday it occurred to me that this work may well have inspired Ashton to create Fille and Balanchine to create Union Jack. There is certainly a link in Osbert Lancaster in that he created the designs for both Poll and Fille and the exuberance of Mackerras's arrangement finds resonance in Hershey Kay, Maybe my imagination but why not. Matthias Dingman was the gallant Captain (later Admiral) Belaye. Easy to see why the girls' hearts were aflutter. Laura Day (who had earlier delighted the audience as a playmate in Solitaire) danced his sweetheart Blanche. Laura Purkiss was her interfering aunt, Mrs Dimple, who doubles as Britania at the end. Nao Sakuma danced Blanche's rival, Pineapple Poll. Kit Holder was the hero of the piece rising from pot boy to naval officer and Poll's husband without even having time to remove his apron."

It was almost the same cast and an equally glorious ending to another great evening of ballet last night. I think the only important substitution was Daria Stanciulescu for Lau Purkis as Mrs Dimple. I believe there may have been some extra bits of choreography and a bit more scenery in Birmingham but maybe I just didn't take it all in last time.

After being reassured by Birmingham resident, Sarah Lambert, in a comment to my review of Coppelia that flowers are presented and even cut flowers thrown at the Hippodrome I had expected the stage to be ankle if not knee deep. It was a premiere of an important new work after all.  Yet another flower free reverence. My only disappoinment of the evening.  So here are digital blooms. First a van load of the choicest roses for Ruth Brill for Arcadia. She did get tumultuous applause when she stepped on stage for her curtain call and I was able to catch her in the bar to tell her in person how much I loved her show but I wish I could have given her flowers. Enormous bouquets also to Brill's leading ladies, Gittens, Ray, Zhang and Matthews, to Roberts and Hirata for their performances in Fée and a whole greenhouse full for the delightful Nao Sakuma for being such a spirited, comical and quite enchanting Poll.

Comings and Goings

Birmingham Royal Ballet

Both Birmingham Royal Ballet and Northern Ballet have published press releases on arrivals and departures and promotions within the company. Birmingham's was published on Monday and is headed End of Season Announcements. Northern's was published yesterday and is headed Dancer promotions and joiners for 2016/17.

I should like to congratulate everyone in both companies who has been promoted. All are well merited. As readers know I try not to have favourites but there are some artists who delight me particularly in both companies.

Of those who have been promoted in Birmingham I am especially glad to see the elevation of Celine Gittens to Principal. Her performance as Swanilde in Coppelia at the Lowry on the 5 March 2015 was Sensational.  Another of my favourites is Delia Matthews who is now a First Soloist. I was at the Opera House in York when she was injured in Les Rendezvous. I almost felt her pain (see Birmingham Royal Ballet in York 21 May 2015). I was so sad. But she made a great recovery and danced beautifully in Romeo and Juliet as Rosaline (see A Good Outcome from an Unhappy Event - Singleton's Fine Performance 6 March 2016) and in The Taming of the Shrew just a few days ago. Yet another promotion that delights me is Brandon Lawrence who is now a soloist. A Bradford man he soars in every role - particularly when he dances in Yorkshire.  As I said last year

"if I have to single out anyone it has to be Brandon Lawrence, a Bradford lad who clearly relished his return to God's own county. He danced proudly and magisterially. There was no doubt that he was glad to be back on home turf."

 Finally, I am delighted by Valentin Olovyannikov's promotion. He was a great cleric and innkeeper in The Taming of the Shrew.

I was delighted by all the promotions in Leeds but particularly by Rachael Gillespie's. Abigail Prudames's and Kevin Poeung's.  Rachael excel's in everything but one role that she danced particularly well was as Tinkerbell in Peter Pan (see Not too sure about Fairies but I certainly believe in Rachael Gillespie 21 Dec 2014). My favourite performance by Kevin Poeung was as Puck in Midsummer Night's Dream at West Yorkshire Playhouse in 2013 (see Realizing Another Dream 15 Sept 2013). I think my favourite performance by Abigail was in Jane Eyre which I saw in Richmond a month ago.

There is one advancement that I long to see, especially as two of Northern Ballet's premier or principal dancers are on leave of absence. No names no pack drill but her dancing is

Heavenly

and she is

Beautiful 

to watch. Though Janet McNulty and Mel Wong might argue otherwise I am probably that dancer's number one fan.

Sad to be see departures and leave of absence from both companies and I wish all leavers well. However, my sadness at Luke Schaufuss's departure is mitigated by the fact that I can still see him in Scotland. He was great in La Sylphide last year (see A dream realized: the Queensland Ballet in London 12 Aug 2015). Finally, a big hello to all the joiners to both companies. I shall look forward to watching them dance. No doubt some will become big stars.

Birmingham Royal Ballet brings Shakespeare to York

York Theatre Royal

Source Wikipedia
Creative Commons Licence

Birmingham Royal Ballet, Shakespeare Triple Bill, York Theatre Royal, 14 May 2016, 19{30


Birmingham Royal Ballet has a lot of links with Yorkshire. Brandon Lawrence, one of my favourite dancers, comes from Bradford and David Bintley, the company's artistic director, comes from the next village to mine (see My Home and Bintley's 12 May 2015. "We like coming to York" said Jade Heusen in the talk before the show and I think I speak for most theatre goers in this county when I say that we like having you here but we wish we could see a lot more of you. Not just the Northern tour and not just in York but in Leeds, Bradford, Sheffield, Hull and any other theatres in the county that are geared up for dance.

I asked David Bintley about that once and he seemed receptive to the idea. He said that he had first seen ballet at the Alhambra and that it would also be good to see Northern Ballet in Birmingham. One of the reasons why that does not happen now is the perceived need to build up local loyalty for regional ballet companies, but I don't think it works like that. Three of Northern's biggest fans of my acquaintance live miles from Leeds. Two in Buckinghamshire and one in Merseyside. I for my part feel a particular attachment to Scottish Ballet which was the first dance company that I got to know. I do not see it anything like as often as I wish because it is in Glasgow which is further away than Birmingham. I am also a Friend of Ballet Cymru, Ballet Black, the Dutch National Ballet and Covent Garden. I donate regularly to Northern Ballet, attend all its shows and take at least one adult ballet class there every week but I am just as much a fan of English National Ballet and Birmingham Royal Ballet.

Anyway, this beautiful company (or at least part of it) was in York last Saturday night and it brought a programme of ballets based on the plays and sonnets of Warwickshire's most famous son, William Shakespeare. The programme began with Wink choreographed by Jessica Lang to a score by Jakub Ciupinski. It was followed by three pas de deux from Ashton's Dream, MacMillan's Romeo and Juliet and Cranko's The Taming of the Shrew and concluded with José Limón's The Moor's Pavane.  I was attracted to the show by the prospect of seeing the three pas de deux which are among the best bits of three of my favourite ballets. I was not disappointed. They were danced exquisitely and were the highlight of my evening; but I liked Wink too and The Moor's Pavane somewhat more.

As I remarked in my review of the company's  performance in Birmingham in Ashton's Double Bill 21 Feb 2016, I cannot even hear Mendelssohn's music let alone watch The Dream without thinking of Dame Antoinette Sibley who is my all time favourite ballerina or indeed Sir Anthony Dowell who partnered her in this as in all ballets so beautifully. It makes me root for tissues. Titania was danced by Karla Doorbar who looks a little bit like Sibley and Obseron by the magnificent Chi Cao. I think I enjoyed watching them even more than I did Sakuma and Caley in Birmingham.

Ideally an interview or at least a pause should have finished that performance but it was followed immediately by another treat. Tyrone Singleton and Celine Gittens danced the second pas de deux from Romeo and Juliet.  I had seen Singelton as Romeo once before when he took over the role from Jamie Bond at very short notice but this time he was dancing with Gittens and when those two are together the result is magic. I saw them in Coppelia at The Lowry last year and they were sensational. They were sensational again last Saturday night.

The last pas de deux was from one of my favourite ballets (even though I have only seen it once) by my all time favourite choreographer, John Cranko, and its was danced delightfully by Elisha Willis and Iain Mackay. It was from the part of the ballet that starts with a battle of wills but ends with the first signs of attraction and softening by Katherina. It is an amusing but also very beautiful piece and the change in mood is caught by the choreography. This work was created for the Stuttgart Ballet and it is performed not nearly as frequently as it should be in this country.  I look forward to Birmingham's production at the Hippodrome next month very much.

According to David Mead's programme note Wink comes from the first line of Shakespeare's sonnet 43 "When most I wink, then do my eyes best see." As it was also derived from the sonnets I could not help comparing Lang's work to Kate Flatt's Undivided Loves for Phoenix Dance Theatre which I reviewed in Phoenix's 35th Anniversary Tour 18 Feb 2016 and I have to say that I think I liked Flatt's work more. The score was stronger and the choreography more interesting. The black and white slabs that are intended to represent pages according to the programme note were distracting. I found it hard to get into the work and maybe need to see it again when I have not driven from Holmfirth to Bradford, Bradford to Manchester and Manchester to York all in the same day. What could not be faulted was the dancing and so many of my favourites were in that work including Singleton, Gittens, Cesar Morales, Yijing Zhang and Ruth Brill.

Created in the year of my birth The Moor's Pavane is a classic of American dance that I have long wanted to see. It tells the tragedy of Othello to the music of Purcell in 20 short minutes. Morales was the Moor, Yvette Knight was Desdemona, Chi Cao was Iago and Yijing Zhang was Emilia.  A powerful, very beautiful but also quite disturbing work. It is performed without props. The story is told entirely by the music and perhaps also by the lighting.

I should say a word about the theatre. Built in the ruins of St Leonard's Hospital it is one of the most beautiful and intimate theatre that I know.  it was established in 1744 and has staged many great productions. In her talk Jensen mentioned that it was adapted well for dancing. I can well understand why the company likes performing there. Situated not far from the Minster and almost opposite the art gallery and some lovely public gardens with a pleasant cafe and bistro the theatre is a tourist attraction in its own right,

Birmingham Royal Ballet comes to York

At this time of the year the dancers of the Birmingham Royal Ballet split into two tours. One goes to Durham, York and Shrewsbury while the other visits Poole and Truro.   Each tour has a different programme.  The Northern programme consists of ballets based on Shakespeare's plays and sonnets and features Wink, the pas de deux from The Dream, Romeo and Juliet and The Taming of the Shrew and The Moor's Pavane. The Southern programme includes two of may favourite works, van Manen's Five Tangos and Ashton's Monotones II.

I have a ticket for the Northern tour in York and am looking forward to it tremendously. I always associate The Dream with Antoinette Sibley and Anthony Dowell who are my favourite dancers of all time and I cannot watch that ballet without thinking of them.  Cranko is my all time favourite choreographer and The Taking of the Shrew is pretty close to the top if not the very top of my favourite ballets. I am also looking forward to Jessica Lang's Wink very much indeed.

However I would love to have seen the Southern tour as well.  Last year that tour visited High Wycombe which is less than two hour's drive from Holmfirth but Poole and Truro are just too far away.  I have checked the trains and even the airlines but that would mean taking a whole day off work or missing the Northern tour.

Happily both Monotones II and 5 Tangos are danced not too infrequently by the company so I should see them one day. Also, we have a really super cast for Saturday which includes Tyrone Singleon, Céline Gittens, Chi Cao and Ruth Brill to mention just a few. It should be a real treat.

Birmingham Royal Ballet's Swan Lake at the Lowry

Reproduced under standard YouTube licence

Birmingham Royal Ballet, Swan Lake, The Lowry 24 Sept 2015

I like a traditional Swan Lake. The productions by David Nixon, Christopher Moore and Matthew Bourne are all quite admirable in their way but I want my swans to be girls, the same ballerina to dance Odette and Odile with 32 fouettés in act III and the action to take place somewhere in Central Europe rather than the United States. Peter Wright's production for the Birmingham Royal Ballet was of the traditional kind and it was one of the best I have ever seen.

Even though it followed tradition Sir Peter did add some original touches which I think worked quite well. During the overture the curtain lifted on a funeral cortège for Siegfried's father. Suddenly the 21 year old has to assume state responsibilities including marriage to a princess who will bear children to continue the royal line. The weight of those responsibilities come home to him as he dances alone towards the end of the first act. Such a Siegrfied meeds to be a young, sensitive dancer and that role was danced exquisitely by Joseph Caley.

Such a Siegried also needs a very special Swan Queen. A fragile and vulnerable Odette and a wily and wilful Odile. Such roles are not always combined well. Some ballerinas soar as swans but are utterly unconvincing seductresses. For other it is the other way round. On Thursday night Momoko Hirarata excelled in both. Her solo in the pas de deux in the third act with all those turns was breathtaking. How could any prince resist her even if he had been aware that she was Rothbart's daughter.

I was delighted to see Celine Gittens as the Polish princess who is one of my favourites in the company. Ruth Brill, another favourite was also there as one of Siegrfied's attendants. Valentin Olovyannikov made a formidable Rothbart and Matthias Dingman a faithful Benno.

I should say a word for Philip Prowse's designs which were magnificent  I was particularly impressed with the lakeside scene with the moonlight reflected by the ripples on the surface. It was a beautiful romantic setting enchanting but also slightly forbidding.

Having attended KNT's summer intensive last month I took a particular interest in the dances that I had learned. I relived every temps levé and arabesque of the swans, the pas de chats and changements of the cygnets, my feeble attempts to pirouette and turn in the air in Siegfried's solo and the stately czardas.  That course enhanced my appreciation of the ballet a hundred thousand times. I wish I could do a similar workshop for every ballet I see.

In the first interval I met Janet McNulty in the temporary bar area. She was as enthralled by the performance as much as I had been. She had already seen Gittens and Tyrone Singleton the night before for which I really envy her.  I wish I could have seen the other casts but I was also performing today and had to rehearse for my show. However I love this production and was well satisfied with Thursday night's show. I hope to see it again with the other casts at one of the other venues this season,