Ballet Cymru in Bangor - Finishing a Great Week of Ballet

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Ballet Cymru A Child's Christmas and Terms and Conditions Pontio Centre, 2 Dec 2022 19:30

Last week I was lucky enough to see the Royal Ballet in Mayerling at the Royal Opera House on Tuesday, Ballet Black in Say it Loud and Black Sun at the Lowry on Thursday and Ballet Cymru in A Child's Christmas and Terms and Conditions at the Bryn Terkyl auditorium in Bangor on Friday. These were very different productions by very different companies in very different locations but each of those shows was outstanding in its own way.

Ballet Cymru created A Child's Christmas in Wales as part of a Dylan Thomas double bill in 2018.  I saw that show several times and actually learnt some of the choreography in a workshop that Powerhouse Ballet hosted for Ballet Cymru (see More than a Bit Differently: Ballet Cymru's Workshop and the Launch of the Powerhouse Ballet Circle 28 Nov 2022). When I reviewed it in Ballet Cymru's Dylan Thomas Programme: The Company's Best Work Ever on 13 Dec 2018 I described it as the company's best work ever.    I an still of that opinion even though the company has staged new productions of Giselle and Midsummer Night's Dream which I like very much in the meantime.

I noticed a few changes in the show since 2018.  A different group of children seem to have been asked about their experience and expectations of Christmas or, in the case of one child, Eid. There seem to have been a new set of projections. Also, there is an almost entirely new cast.  Robbie Moorcroft, Beth Meadway and Isobel Holland are the only dancers who performed in the 2018 show.  One thing that has not changed is the mellifluous voice of Cerys Matthews,  The laughter in her voice as she mimics the dialogue of kids fantasizing as to how they would deal with a hippopotamus in their street never fails to induce giggles.  I used to associate Dylan Thomas with Richard Burton,  Now I associate him with Matthews. 

Ballet Cymru paired A Child's Christmas with Terms and Conditions, new work by Marcus Jarrell Willis.  Marcus is an American who spent 8 years with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.  As one who makes a living from drafting and construing terms and conditions, I was bemused by the title. I could not envisage how contract terms could possibly be spun into a 40-minute ballet.  The answer is that these terms and conditions are about the negotiations that humans enter when experiencing love.  Several aspects of love were explored, Each topic was introduced by the projection of a typewriter typing words on a screen punctuated occasionally by a voiceover.   I will have to see the piece at least one more time in order to understand it properly but it seemed to work.

Before the main show, we were treated to a performance of Snow Day by pupils of Llanllyfni Primary School who had taken part in the Duets programme.  This is an initiative by the Arts Council of Wales, the Paul Hamlyn Foundation and regional community dance organizations to introduce dance to schoolchildren in inner city and rural communities throughout Wales.  It is important work. At the very least it should generate an informed audience for the performing arts,  For a few highly talented children it may be the first step of a career in the theatre.

I have seen Ballet Cymru four times this year, They have performed in very different venues: a medieval cathedral, a university arts centre, a municipal theatre and the studios of two major dance companies. Audiences in those venues will have had different experiences of dance but there was no difference in the warmth of the reception.  The company has had a good year and it can look forward to the future with confidence.

Ballet Cymru's Outreach Work

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On 29 Nov 2019, I attended a performance of Ballet Cymru's Three Works: Wired to the Moon, Divided We Stand and Celtic Concerto at the Pontio Centre in Bangor. You will find my review at Ballet Cymru - Even Better than Last Year  6 Dec 2019.

Before the show, local schoolchildren staged a performance of work that they had created with artists of the company in the foyer of the Pontio Centre.  Yesterday, Ballet Cymru released a video of that collaboration on YouTube which I have embedded in this blog.

Few companies in the UK do as much outreach work as Ballet Cymru and our little ballet company has already worked with them and their artists.  On 28 Nov 2018, we learned some of Darius James and Amy Doughty's latest choreography in a workshop on Dylan Thomas's poem In My Craft or Sullen Art  (see More than a Bit Differently: Ballet Cymru's Workshop and the Launch of the Powerhouse Ballet Circle  29 Nov 2018).  Earlier this year in almost our last event before lockdown Alex Hallas gave us one of our best ballet experiences ever when he gave us an excellent class and taught us some of his own choreography. Alex's workshop took place after my birthday nearly all of which was spent in arguing a trade mark case in the IP Office and driving through the rain from Newport.  I, therefore, celebrated my birthday on the day of my workshop and it turned out to be one of my best birthdays ever.

Immediately after Alex's workshop, there were requests for a similar one.  I have therefore asked Beth Meadway to give us a repertoire workshop as soon as possible after our studios reopen. Beth has already worked with us in the Dylan Thomas workshop and she will give us an online class on 27 June.

Ballet Cymru's artists have already done much to raise dancers' morale through the lockdown with their short video clips. We look forward to seeing them on stage just as soon as this emergency ends.

Ballet Cymru's Dylan Thomas Programme: The Company's Best Work Ever

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Ballet Cymru  Dylan Thomas – A Child’s Christmas, Poems and Tiger Eggs 29 Nov 2018 Stanley and Audrey Burton Theatre, Leeds, 1 Dec 2018 Pontio Arts and Innovation Centre, Bangor

I have been following Ballet Cymru for over five years and they have never failed to impress  In 2015 their Cinderella was my ballet of the year and their TIR was the runner-up (see Highlights of 2015. 29 Dec 2015).  In that year they were also my year and I tipped Krystal Lowe as a dancer to watch. They have continued to impress me every year but I think their Dylan Thomas double bill - Dylan Thomas – A Child’s Christmas, Poems and Tiger Eggs - is their best work yet.

It was so good that I saw it twice. The first time was in Leeds on 29 Nov and the second at the Pontio Arts and Innovation Centre at Bangor on 1 Dec 2018.  Leeds was excellent but Bangor was even better as Cerys Matthews and Arun Ghosh were on stage and the audience was even more receptive and responsive.  The show was in effect a double bill.  It began with Poems and Tiger Eggs which consisted of readings of a selection of Thomas's poems by Matthews to Ghosh's music.  The second piece was A Child's Christmas in Wales.  Both works were created by Darius James and Amy Doughty.

Poems and Tiger Eggs opened and closed with In My Craft or Sullen Art.  That is a poem I did not know before Ballet Cymru introduced me to it at the workshop on 28 Nov 2018 (see More than a Bit Differently: Ballet Cymru's Workshop and the Launch of the Powerhouse Ballet Circle 29 Nov 2018). It is now a poem that I adore.  Beth Meadway danced to it as a solo in the opening and the whole cast danced to it at the end.  In the workshop, we were taught to listen for the words "Not for the Proud Man" and then react. Meadway turned her head sharply in the solo and the whole cast moved as one when the poem was read again.

Scottish Ballet had staged Ten Poems by Christopher Bruce on the centenary of Dylan Thomas's birth which I saw in Edinburgh and reviewed in Bruce Again on 6 Oct 2014.  One of the works that Bruce had set to dance was Do Not Go Gentle Into That Food Night.  Darius James and Amy Doughty also chose that poem for Poems and Tiger Eggs.  Both Bruce and James and Doughty created duets but James and Doughty's was somehow softer and more lyrical.  Incidentally, if anyone wants to listen to a fine reading of the poem, I strongly recommend the performance by Benjamin Zephaniah which is published on YouTube by the Poetry Society.

Thomas's poems incline to the melancholy but there was some levity too in Laugharne with Krystal Lowe as the stranger who got off the bus and forgot to take it back again.  I particularly liked the bit about people coming from all sorts of places like Tonypandy and even England.  The cast made the sign of the cross at that point though I wonder whether Calvinist Nonconformist chapel folk would do that.  Maybe the Welsh Italians (of whom there are many) though there are more of them on the banks of the River Chubut than the Taf Estuary.

A Child's Christmas was very different and undiluted fun.  It began with a film clip made (I think) by my good friends Lawrence and Samantha Smith-Higgins of Red Beetle Films.   In it, children explained what Christmas (or, in the case of one little girl, Eid) meant to them. Mainly presents and lots to eat.  It proceeded with "One Christmas was so much like the others" and proceeded to snow, cats and Mrs Protheroe's fire.  That fire was better than all the cats in Wales lined up on a wall.  There was the "What would you do if you saw a hippo?" and the carol singing where the children heard a ghostly voice joining in their carol. My favourite bit of the dancing was "Still the Night" before a stained glass image. There were other favourites too such as "The Uncles". I'm not Welsh but I can relate to that for we Saes have uncles too as well as aunties who get a little tipsy and start singing about death.

The workshop on 28 Nov 2018 helped my understanding of James and Doughty's choreography considerably.  Sue Pritchard, who also attended the workshop, thought the same.  Peter Harrop (who lives in Wales) joined us the performance. Peter was not in Leeds on 28 Nov 2018 but he attended Ballet Cymru's company class and reported that it was very gruelling. Apparently, no concessions were made for the adult ballet dancers.

The Pontio Arts and Innovation Centre is an impressive building just below the Arts building of Bangor University.  It has a theatre, cinema and a FabLab (see  Liverpool Inventors Club Re-launch - Fabulous FabLab 28 Jan 2012 NIPC Inventors Club).  There has been a lot of investment by the university to build a knowledge-based economy on both sides of the Menai Straits (see Jane Lambert Anglesey and the Fourth Industrial Revolution 12 Oct 2018 IP Northwest).  There has always been a close link between the University and the community in this corner of Wales. It was actually founded by a subscription of local quarrymen, This Centre will do much for the artistic and cultural life of the region.

Dylan Thomas – A Child’s Christmas, Poems and Tiger Eggs

© 2018 Sleepy Robot 

If I were washed up on Sue Lawley's desert island with a DVD player and had seconds to rescue discs from the jaws of a sea monster, Cerys Matthews's TIR  would be one for which I would risk a limb.  The reason I say that is that it would remind me of an unforgettable performance by Cerys and Ballet Cymru of her music interpreted in dance by Darius James and Amy Doughty at The Riverfront Theatre in Newport on 6 Nov 2015 (see "The Pride of Newport and the Pride of Wales" 8 Nov 2015).

Cerys Matthews, Darius James, Amy Doughty and Ballet Cymru have collaborated again to create Dylan Thomas – A Child’s Christmas, Poems and Tiger Eggs.  This is a new ballet to be premiered in Brecon on 12 Oct 2018.  It will then tour the country including London, Newport and Leeds on 29 Nov 2018.  

According to the company's press release, the ballet will be based on  Cerys's album Dylan Thomas – A Child’s Christmas , Poems and Tiger Eggs.  These are based on Dylan Thomas's writings featuring the story about the uncles and snow that we all read at school.  Cerys will recite the story in person when the show comes to Bangor, London and Newport.  The music for the ballet is composed and arranged by Cerys and Mason Neely.

This is not the first time that I have seen a ballet based on Dylan Thomas's work.   Christopher Bruce created Ten Poems for Scottish Ballet in 2014 which I reviewed in Bruce Again  on 8 Oct 2014.  That was an impressive work but as I said at the time "there weren't too many laughs." Ballet Cymru's ballet promises to be more cheerful though even A Child's Christmas has a sombre side.

Powerhouse Ballet (several of whose best dancers live in North Wales) will be hosting a workshop for Ballet Cymru at Yorkshire Dance on 28 Nov 2018 between 18:00 and 19:30 to which all are welcome.  Particulars of that event will be announced on the company's website shortly.  Booking will be through Eventbrite.

Newyddion Gorau drwy'r dydd! Ballet Cymru are coming to Leeds

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The bit of the headline in Welsh means "Best news all day,"

Ballet Cymru are coming to Leeds on 29 November 2018 to perform A Child's Christmas in Wales.  It is another collaboration between Cerys Matthews, Darius James and Amy Doughty  The last time those three worked together they produced TIR .   This is one of my all time favourite ballets as you can see from my reviews The Pride of Newport and the Pride of Wales 8 Nov 2015 and Ballet Cymru in London 1 Dec 2015.

James and Doughty are not the first choreographers to translate Dylan Thomas's poetry into dance.  Christopher Bruce created Ten Poems for Scottish Ballet in 2014 to mark the centenary of the poet's birth.  I reviewed the work in Bruce Again on 6 Oct 2014.

This may be Ballet Cymru's first visit to Stanley and Audrey Burton Theatre but Darius James is no stranger as he danced with Northern Ballet when it was called Northern Ballet Theatre.  It will be good to welcome him back.  I hope that this is the first of many visits.

Tickets for this show are already on sale and are likely to go like hot cakes.  This link will take you to the Stanley and Audrey Burton Theatre website.

Ballet Cymru's 2018 Summer Tour

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For its 2018 summer tour which opens in Newport on 11 May 2018, Ballet Cymru has revived Darius James and Amy Doughty's Cinderella.  The first time I saw that beautiful ballet I wrote in Ballet Cymru's Cinderella 15 June 2015:

"I have seen a lot of versions of Cinderella over the years: Ashton's of course for the Royal Ballet but also Matthew Bourne's set in wartime London, Nixon's for Northern Ballet and a version danced by the Bristol Russian Youth Ballet Company which starred Elena Glurdjidze (see Good Show - Bristol Russians' Cinderella in Stockport 19 Feb 2014), Until yesterday evening I liked Ashton's version best but now I think I prefer Darius James and Amy Doughty's for Ballet Cymru. Perhaps I will change my mind again when I see Christopher Wheeldon's for the Dutch National Ballet at the Coliseum on 11 July 2015 as it looks lovely in the YouTube trailer, but for now this Welsh Cinderella is my favourite."

I saw Wheeldon's Cinderella less than a month later and loved it but not more than James and Doughty's. Theirs is a little gem.  One of the best Cinderellas ever created by any company.

The places to which Ballet Cymru are taking Cinderella on tour are as follows:

• Newport  11-12 May
• Ayr 16 May
• Blackwood  23 May
• King's Lynn 27 May
• Teignmouth 30 May
• Abergavenny 1 June
• Sale 2 June 
• Preston 3 June
• Hereford 7 June 
• Lincoln 10 June
• Bury St Edmunds 11-12 June
• Newcastle under Lyme 13 June
• Tewkesbury 15 June
• Basingstoke 16 June
• Bracknell 17 June 
• Milford Haven 20 June 
• Taunton 30 June 
• Stevenage 4 July 
• Lichfield 6 July
• Bangor 7 July.

If you live anywhere near any of those towns and cities, do yourself a favour and book yourself a ticket.

What thrills me even more than the revival of Cinderella is the launch of  A Child’s Christmas In Wales at the Gordon Craig Theatre in Stevenage on 5 July 2018.  Why the company has waited until just after the summer solstice to launch a ballet about Christmas and why it as decided to do so in Hertfordshire of all places beats me. Never mind! It will be good.  I shall be there. With music by Cerys Matthews, how could it be anything else? Even though its dancers and creatives come from the four corners of the earth, Ballet Cymru is an unmistakably Welsh company.  As such it is at its best when it is most Welsh. 

So this should be Ballet Cymru's best summer season yet.  As I also said in my 2015 review of Cinderella: "Ballet Cyrmu is a great national treasure not just for the principality but for the whole United Kingdom ...... It is a good example of what a small touring company can do and provides an excellent model for others."

News from Scotland - Dylan Thomas, The Crucible and the Commonwealth Games

This year marks the 100th anniversary of Dylan Thomas's birth and to celebrate the occasion Christopher Bruce has created Ten Poems which he set to Thomas's poetry as read by Richard Burton. You can get a flavour of the work from Fern Hill on Scottish Ballet's website. Ten Poems is to be premièred in the UK by Scottish Ballet at the Theatre Royal in Glasgow on 25 Sept 2014 together with the world première of Helen Pickett's The Crucible.  As I am now formally a Friend of Scottish Ballet I shall be there and I shall report back to you.  In the meantime here are some gorgeous photos from Scottish Ballet of the rehearsals for the two works.

I received that information in my Scottish Ballet newsletter for July 2014. Among a number of important events in Scotland over the next few months are the Glasgow Commonwealth Games which take place between 23 July to 3 Aug.  The equivalent of the Olympic torch is the Queen's Baton which is being relayed over 190,000 kilometres across 70 countries in 288 days. The last part of the baton's journey will be in Glasgow itself where it will be carried by dancers of Scottish Ballet on 22 July.

Two other events connected with the Games in which Scottish Ballet is taking part are the Commonwealth Youth Exchange by which a group of exceptionally talented young dancers visited Singapore and the Commonwealth Youth Dance Festival at which that group will be performing.

I am not sure how much if any of those events I can see for myself as the Games coincide with the visit of the Mariinsky to London and there is only so much that one can do, but I am glad to have renewed my acquaintance with this fine company and I will certainly see The Crucible, Ten Poems and The Nutcracker later this year.