"A Many Sided Genius" - Tindall on Casanova

Kenneth Tindall

(c) 2015 Northern Ballet: all rights reserved
Reproduced wth kind permission of  Northern Ballet

Next Saturday will be the first night of Casanova which Northern Ballet will launch at Leeds Grand Theatre. Between the 11 March and 13 May 2017, the company will dance the ballet at Leeds, Edinburgh, Sheffield, Norwich, Milton Keynes, Cardiff, The Lowry and Sadler's Wells. Last Monday, the choreographer of the ballet, Kenneth Tindall, gave me an exclusive interview in which we discussed the ballet, his interests and hopes for the future. 

What impressed me most in my conversation with Kenneth Tindall was not so much what he said but the way he said it. Though he spoke softly he did so confidently, with a clear vision, and a determined focus. Tindall is still a young man and Casanova is his first full-length commission. It is obvious from the costumes on display at the Casanova Unmasked preview and from the number of venues in which this ballet is to be performed that a lot rides on this production. Tindall readily acknowledged the risks when I put it to him that this project could make or break Northern Ballet. Yet where others might see risk he sees opportunity. He emphasized the strengths of his dancers and of his creative team. He spoke enthusiastically of their capacity to deliver a quality of performance and production to be surpassed by none.

That enthusiasm was infectious. I must admit to some private concern when I first wrote about Casanova on 24 May 2016. Tindall had created one act ballets like The Architect and Luminous Junc*ture that had appealed to audiences and critics (including Mel, Joanna and me) but, again as he agreed when I put it to him, the jump from one-act to full-length is an exponential and qualitative leap - not merely doubling or tripling of effort.  However, after 45 minutes with Tindall my concerns evaporated. I am as confident as I can be of anything in ballet that this production will succeed spectacularly.

Tindall is used to overcoming odds. He was one of 8 children to be selected from 250 candidates at his audition for the Central School of Ballet. The nation’s ballet schools are full of talented students but only a handful find employment in a top regional ballet company. Of that handful only a few become principals (or, as Northern calls them, “premier dancers”). As a premier dancer, he had a considerable following. He was especially admired for his roles as Wadjet in Cleopatra and Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights. When his retirement was announced in the Friends of Northern Ballet newsletter. I wrote in Kenneth Tindall on 28 Feb 2015 that it:

“contained a headline that made me root for a tissue - just for a second - before I also raised a smile. The headline was "Kenneth Tindall is retiring" and that was the bit that made me sad for he is one of my favourite dancers but my sadness was tempered with the words ‘award-winning Kenneth is moving on to a career as a Freelance Choreographer after gaining recognition for his work with Northern Ballet and other artists.’"

I amplified the reason for my smile in the last paragraph:

“He has an international following which was brought home to me when I visited Amsterdam earlier this month (see The Dutch National Ballet Junior Company's best Performance yet 8 Feb 2015). His name came up whenever I mentioned Northern Ballet or Leeds at the party after the show. Perhaps not so surprising for a choreographer who has already won a fistful of awards and nominations. He is still a young man and his career - though meteoric - has only just begun. I look forward to great things.”

I believe that Casanova will be the first of those great things.

At Casanova Unmasked on 15 Feb 2017 Tindall had told us that a ballet on the life of Giacomo Casanova had been one of three ideas that he had pitched to Northern Ballet’s artistic director, David Nixon. Nixon liked the idea and invited Tindall to refine his proposal. Tindall did some reading and came across Ian Kelly’s biography. He approached Kelly for a licence but he and Kelly got on so well that he invited Kelly to help him develop the story. Though Kelly is an actor and dramatist this is the first time he will have worked on a ballet. I asked Tindall how he came to hear of the historical Casanova. He replied that he had seen some film or TV footage and an article in the New York Times.

I had asked Tindall about his collaboration with his composer Kerry Muzzey at Casanova Unmasked recalling historical accounts of Petipa’s collaboration with his composers. Tindall had replied that unlike Petipa’s relationship with his composers his relationship with Muzzey had been a two-way process. In the interview I asked him to elaborate on his answer as he was in Leeds and Muzzey was in Los Angeles. In the early days, Tindall said, there had been Skype calls at least three time times a week. These had tapered off to two a week and were continuing at that rate right up to the present. I asked whether these conversations ever involved Kelly. Tindall replied that they did. He might play some music to Kelly who might reply with an observation such as “I can really feel Venice.” That was important as he and Kelly aimed to create a ballet about the times of Casanova as well as on his life.

Tindall emphasised more than once the importance of the story. 

“You need to have a libretto,” he said, “that is everything.” 

The plot is based on Kelly’s book but, he explained, yet it is not the book. 

That prompted me to ask about one of the main characters in the ballet, Father Balbi. According to the synopsis, the ballet opens with:

“A mass in honour of the new French Ambassador Cardinal de Bernis. Among the church clerics is aspiring priest Giacomo Casanova who has arrived late with his pupils the Savorgnan sisters. In the congregation is Father Balbi who has with him a book forbidden by the church. Balbi gives the book to a curious Casanova. After the mass the Three Inquisitors accost Balbi believing him to be still in possession of the forbidden book”

From what I could remember from my own reading, Casanova first met Balbi in gaol. Balbi had facilitated Casanova’s escape from the Piombi (or “the Leads”) prison that adjoins the Doge’s palace. Casanova’s life was surely colourful enough without inventing incidents, I suggested. What about his relationship with his mother? Kelly had told us at Casanova Unmasked that Casanova had been born while his mother was in a play. Immediately after he had been delivered she returned on stage for the next act.

Tindall replied that Balbi had been introduced early in the ballet to illustrate the repression of ideas by the Inquisition, the thought police of 18th century Venice. The book that Balbi handed to Casanova in the ballet was the Kabbalah, the Jewish theological work that had been proscribed by the Venetian authorities. Both Balbi and Casanova had read the Kabbalah, Tindall added. It was quite possible for Casanova to have known Balbi and even for Balbi to have given Casanova a copy of the Kabbalah before they met in prison.

Tindall and Kelly had thought about including Casanova’s relationship with his mother in the context of his treatment of women but had rejected it because this ballet is not just about sex. Sex is important, Tindall continued, because Casanova had written so much about it and so explicitly in his life story, but he was a many-sided genius. The imperative was to show different sides to that life. Tindall noted that Casanova’s conquests averaged 4 a year which was not much for a libertine. Thinking of Leporello’s catalogue of his master’s conquests in Don Giovanni, I could not help but agree:

“In Italia seicento e quaranta; In Alemagna duecento e trentuna; Cento in Francia, in Turchia novantuna; Ma in Ispagna son già mille e tre.”

“In Italy 640; In Germany 231; 100 in France, 91 in Turkey; But in Spain, 1003 and counting.”

Casanova’s philanderings had been on quite a different scale. I reminded Tindall of my speculation on whether Casanova might even be regarded as a proto-feminist. Quite possibly, he replied. Casanova said that he had never conquered a woman’s heart. He had always submitted.

That led us to the first of the extracts that we had seen at the preview on the 15 Feb 2017 where Casanova (danced by Giuliano Contadini) had met Bellino (Dreda Blow) and the way Tindall had represented by mime and dance the dropping of the mask and the developing of trust. I remarked that that had reminded me very much of Christopher Gable and Lynn Seymour in the balcony scene from MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet (see Rachel Thomas Romeo and Juliet Dance Highlight: The Balcony pas de deux 3 Sept 2015 Royal Opera House website). Tindall willingly accepted that possibility. He had after all been trained in Central which had been founded by Gable and Gable had directed Northern Ballet. Gable had been an important influence on his work. “But” he added with emphasis, “so was David Nixon”. 

At Casanova Unmasked Nixon had said that “he had been allowed to play with Kenny toys” in that he was acting as Tindall’s ballet master. “Quite a role reversal having been directed by Nixon for 14 years” I suggested. Tindall agreed adding that Nixon was performing the role of ballet master to perfection.

We talked about the role of choreographer which Tindall compared to that of a film director. The roles were similar and maybe even converging as techniques and technology that had been developed for the cinema were increasingly used in ballet. I recalled the filming of The Architect to which project I had contributed (see Tindall's Architect - How to Get a Piece of the Action - Literally! 7 June 2014). I asked whether another film might result from Casanova. Tindall’s eyes sparkled. No concrete plans as yet, he said, but would it not be splendid to film Act I in Venice and Act II in Paris.
“How do choreographers learn their trade?” I asked.
“They ask as they go along” was the reply. “For instance, they ask the lighting designer why he places a spot there? and ‘what would happen if he changed a filter here?”
I was reminded of my conversation with Cristiano Principato in Trecate (my Outstanding Young Choreographer of 2016 28 Dec 2016). He told me that he even had to operate the lighting himself.
“He is quite right,” added Tindall. His message to Principato and any other aspiring choreographer was:

“a choreographer has to know everybody’s job. For instance, I asked Christopher Oram our designer ‘How do you start with scenery or a character’s clothes.”

I have never been a dancer but I have done several intensive workshops where we started with floor exercises at 10:00, then 90 minutes class followed by wall to wall rehearsals until cool down at 17:00. That was exhausting enough for me but dancers have to pack in a performance on top and maybe even a matinee as well. 

“How do you fit all that in?” I asked.
“When you take on a project like this you put your life on hold” Tindall replied.  “You are always thinking about it, running scenes through your mind, even in your sleep.”
“But you need to turn it off occasionally” he quickly added, “otherwise you would go insane”
I asked Tindall how he switched off. “Meditation” was the reply, “and the cinema.” Tindall added that he is a great film buff. He even refers to the cinema as “church.”

We talked about the promotion of the ballet. “You see posters for the ballet everywhere in Leeds” I noted. He replied that it had been marketed very cleverly and that advanced ticket sales at all venues had been encouraging.

“This ballet will compare with anything that could have emerged from the Royal Opera’s workshops” but at a fraction of the cost.”

I reflected that the sets and costumes have to be robust to be brought out time and time again then packed away in a lorry for another destination, possibly on the other side of the country. I noted that Oram had never designed for the ballet before. Tindall saw that as an advantage. Oram will bring a fresh approach to his task as Kelly has done with the libretto.

“So what’s your next project?” I asked, “if you can tell me without risking commercial confidentiality.”
The answer was a triple bill in Germany 8 days later.

As for the longer term, Tindall would love his work to be performed in America.

“You never know” I replied, “only this weekend we have made contact with a company in Miami that seems to have a lot in common with Northern Ballet (see Miami City Ballet 26 Feb 2017. “I would cross the Atlantic to see your work in the USA” I added.

I asked him whether he aspired to be a resident choreographer somewhere. He replied that he had thought of it.

“How about forming his company or directing an existing one?”
That, too, was a possibility but for now he was content with freelancing.

“And how about film?” I suggested. “You would not be the first choreographer to cross over to that medium? Look at Helpmann, Shearer........”

“And Gable” he added.
Yet again his eyes lit up.
We discussed the convergence of film and ballet, experiments in 360 and other technologies. I mentioned Peter Leung’s Night Fall and the Royal Ballet’s The Nutcracker (see Virtual Reality in Ballet 13 Sep 2016 We could have explored that topic alone for at least another 45 minutes and maybe longer but Tindall had to prepare for a rehearsal.

Kenneth Tindall is much more than a choreographer. At the risk of embarrassing him, I would say that he, like the subject of his ballet, is a many-sided genius.

I shall be at the premiere next week and my review will appear next Sunday.  I wish the casts of this production "chookas", "toi-toi-toi" or whatever greeting theatrical and balletic tradition permits.

Casanova Unmasked

Venice, Birthplace of Giacomo Casanova

Photo Cocao
Source Wikipedia
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Northern Ballet, Casanova Unmasked Stanley and Audrey Burton Theatre, Leeds, 15 Feb 2017, 18:00 - 19:30

In my capacity as a Friend of Northern Ballet, I attended Casanova Unmasked last night. It was a preview of the work by the choreographer, Kenneth Tindall, and two of his collaborators, Ian Kelly his dramaturge and David Nixon his ballet master.  They were assisted by Giuliano Contadini, Dreda Blow, Hannah Bateman, Gavin McCaig and other dancers of the company.

The proceedings were streamed live over the internet and have been recorded at Northern Ballet - Casanova Unmasked on the company's YouTube channel. Unfortunately, the sound quality is not perfect. The sound is very faint throughout the video and appears to have been lost altogether at several points. However, the video is still worth watching. This article is intended to help those who were not in the theatre to appreciate that film. I have also written a brief introduction to the subject matter of Tindall's ballet and provided links to some of his source materials in Casanova, 24 May 2016.

The company's artistic director, David Nixon, made a short speech in which he introduced Kenneth Tindall. He spoke of his early recognition of Tindall's choreographic talent and how he had fostered it. Tindall had been a principal of the company and knew it well. It was, therefore, fitting that Northern Ballet should commission Tindall's first full-length ballet.

Tindall, in turn, introduced Ian Kelly. Tindall explained that Kelly had written the definitive biography of Casanova. He had approached Kelly for a licence but Kelly showed such interest in the project that Tindall invited Kelly to collaborate with him instead. In a fascinating presentation delivered without notes, Kelly brought to life the historical Casanova. Casanova is remembered nowadays as a libertine but he was so much more. He was a polymath with interests ranging from mathematics to gastronomy. He is remembered for his sexual exploits because he described them in minute detail (together with a lot of other things) in his autobiography which he wrote for therapy rather than publication. Kelly told us that Casanova's relationship with women was not as exploitative as might be thought. Intriguingly, Kelly said that Casanova had helped the women he knew "along their way". That gave me the impression that in some respects Casanova was a proto-feminist.

Among Casanova's relationships that Kelly discussed was the one with Bellino,  She is described on Northern Ballet's website as a "woman masquerading as a man in order to work as a castrato (castrated male) singer." Casanova and Bellino were represented on stage by Giuliano Costadini and Dreda Blow. In an exceptionally clever piece of choreography that I might never have interpreted without Tindall's commentary, the dancers recreated the couple's meeting, the tentative relaxing of their masks and the creation of trust between them. The development of trust was demonstrated by some rather scary looking tombés (I use that term in the loosest possible sense because I do not know how else to describe her fall) by Blow into the arms of Costadini. In the questions and answers that followed, Blow was asked how she felt when she performed that step. She replied that it was not easy at first but she had worked with Costadini before and gradually perfected it.

After the Q and A in which Bateman and McCaig joined Contadini and Blow. we were shown another extract from the ballet. This was by members of the corps representing Casanova's fellow seminarians when he was studying for the priesthood. There followed a fencing exercise which somehow transformed itself into a music lesson, the foils becoming violin bows. Altogether very ingenious and very attractive choreography.

There was another Q & A, this time with Tindall, Kelly and Nixon.  I asked Tindall about the mechanics of his collaboration with the composer Kerry Muzzey who was following the event in the United States. I asked him whether he worked as Petipa had with his composers specifying the phrases he needed for particular steps. Tindall replied that the collaboration went both ways. Having written music for film, Muzzey could envisage the interpretation of his work which Tindall had found useful.

After the presentations, Nixon invited the audience to drinks.  In some ways, this was the most valuable part of the evening because it afforded an opportunity to meet the collaborators and dancers informally and explore the work in greater depth. I had a particularly rewarding conversation with Ian Kelly about his methodology as history is forensic but theatre is expressive. Kelly well understood the difference having read history as a first degree.  I expect his work to be scholarly as well as entertaining.

The drinks were served in the atrium of Northern Ballet and Phoenix Dance Theatre's studios at Quarry Hill. Those who have entered the building will remember a landing where costumes are occasionally exhibited. Last night costumes from Casanova were arranged along that landing. Nixon reminded us that these come at a cost and that there is an appeal for wigs and costumes to which I invite all my readers to contribute.

Northern Ballet's "Wuthering Heights" at the West Yorkshire Playhouse

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Northern Ballet, Wuthering Heights, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds 6 Sep 2016

Guest Contributor  Janet McNulty

The West Yorkshire Playhouse (WYP) has always been a special performance space for Northern Ballet since their first season there in the early noughties. Most of the productions performed there have been created there and only A Midsummer Night's Dream has toured extensively to the Company's more usual theatres.

Wuthering Heights is a first for the Company as it is a main stage production transferring to the much more intimate space of the West Yorkshire Playhouse. Since the news was first announced I, and many other fans, have been waiting eagerly to see how this ballet favourite would transfer to WYP.

Well the wait was finally over last night when Northern Ballet opened a short season of Wuthering Heights at the WYP. There was a lovely sense of anticipation as the house lights went down...

I was not disappointed. Wuthering Heights looked every bit as wonderful as I expected it to in this terrific theatre. The orchestra was hidden away behind the set but their playing of the score, under the baton of John Pryce-Jones was splendid. The positioning of the orchestra also meant that the audience was very close to the action and we were able to take in every tiny gesture of the dancers.

Opening night was led by Dreda Blow as Cathy and Javier Torres as Heathcliff. Dreda was a wild Cathy, adoring Heathcliff from the start but also being swayed by the riches of Thrushcross Grange. She was totally hemmed in to her marriage to Edgar (exquisitely danced and acted by Nicola Gervasi). Javier was everything we would expect from Heathcliff - darkly brooding and very passionate in his feelings towards Cathy. One of my favourite moments of this work is the red duet when we have seen a subdued dance between Cathy and Edgar who cannot express their feelings to each other and as they part Heathcliff bursts into the garden. Their duet is exciting and passionate and last night I forgot to breathe!

We were very privileged to see Rachael Gillespie make her debut as Isabella last night - she was just exquisite. She was a total innocent abroad and it was easy to see how she fell for Heathcliff's rough charm.

The ballet starts with Mr Earnshaw bringing the foundling Heathcliff into his house and shows young Cathy's growing attraction to him as Hindley becomes neglected and embittered. Kevin Poeung and Ayami Miyata portrayed the young loves incredibly expressively. Kevin's facial expressions were subtle and a joy to behold. Giuliano Contadini gave a very nuanced performance as Hindley from enthusiastic young boy to embittered sadist and sad drunk. Victoria Sibson and Hiro Takahashi brought all their experience to the roles of devoted Ellen and the devout Joseph. I particularly noticed Victoria's devastation during Cathy's death scene.

One of the joys of watching Northern Ballet is to glance around the stage and see how involved all the dancers are, no matter how small their roles and last night was no exception.

It really was a terrific start to Northern Ballet's Autumn season!

Leebolt's Juliet

Watching the same ballet twice in a week is  not something I do very often for a variety of reasons. But I was so taken by Northern Ballet's Romeo and Juliet last Saturday with Tobias Batley and Dreda Blow in the title roles that I made an exception. I felt compelled to see it again last night but this time with Martha Leebolt and Giuliano Contadini as the lovers.

It was, of course, very good. How could it be anything else with Leebolt as Juliet, Contadini as Romeo, Antoinette Brooks-Daw as the nurse, Javier Torres as Tybalt, Lucia Solari as Lady Capulet, Sean Bates as Benvolio and Matthew Koon as Mercutio not to mention another impressive performance by Isaac  Lee-Baker  as Friar Lawrence. But somehow some of the sparkle of Saturday night was missing. That was surprising because the last night of a run is often the best. Especially when a show has received excellent reviews as this one has as well as great feedback from the audience.

The absence of sparkle was not the performers' fault. The dancers danced their hearts out as they always do and the Sinfornia played well. But theatre is a two way communication. A great show needs a great audience as well as a great cast and last night's house was definitely not the same as Saturday's. For a start there were fewer of us. The stalls where I sat were nowhere near full. And they were plenty of distractions. The Grand is a very noisy auditorium at the best of times. There's a light rumble whenever someone shifts in his or her seat. But when a file of latecomers take their seats in the middle of the first Act it sounds like a tube train. Worse, there were giggles at certain points such as when Juliet with her back to the audience slips off the top of her clothing before her embarrassed nurse or when the lovers envelope themselves in a sheet in the bedroom scene.

However, there are advantages of seeing a show twice in quick succession and that is that one notices details of the choreography and the story that one missed first time round. Maillot's choreography that I found angular on Saturday does have beauty though of a kind that we are not used to in this country. Until my concentration was disturbed by the arrival of latecomers I reflected on the relationship between the friar and his acolytes, Kevin Poeung and Jeremy Curnier. They hoist Lee-Baker in the air with his arms outstretched as in a crucifixion. The balcony pas de deux is really quite lovely, There is exuberance as Romeo slides between Juliet's feet. There is playfulness as she listens to his heart as Romeo lies prostrate at her side.

One of the reasons why I prefer not to see the same show twice in the same theatre in quick succession is that it is natural to compare one cast with the other. I'm not going to do that here. I liked Leebolt and Contadini just as much as Batley and Blow but they were very different.

Leebolt, who has danced all the major roles in Northern Ballet's repertoire, was magnificent but she was much more like Cleopatra than a teenage girl. There were times when that was good. She communicates emotion well. We could feel her anger throughout the theatre when Romeo sloped into her bedroom after strangling her cousin. Nobody does rage better than Leebolt. Again nobody does despair better than her. Her entreaties to the friar where masterly. It is a big ask of a mature woman at the height of her career to put herself literally in the shoes of a child - though not impossible for a I saw Fonteyn dance Juliet convincingly when she was well over 50.

Contadini was a perfect fit for Romeo, He was boyish, tender, headstrong, contrite and above all passionate, He partnered Leebolt convincingly.

Solari, Brooks-Daw, Torres, Koon and Bates and indeed the whole cast danced well in their roles. They deserved a lot more than one round of curtain calls.

I shall miss Maillot's Romeo and Juliet now that it is done. If ever there was a ballet that should be taken to the Wells then it ought to have been this one. I would just love to know what a London audience would make of a Romeo and Juliet without sword fights but with a turbulent priest. As they put up with Pastor's version for Scottish Ballet last year which was in many ways a lot more radical I think they just might buy it