According to its website, The Lowry is holding an open day on 6 Aug 2023. It has not published any details yet though it has posted a video about the event in 2021. As we have a company class in Leeds on 5 Aug 2023 and I shall be speaking at the Cambridge IP Law Summer School between 7 and 11 Aug 2023 I would have given the event a miss had I not received an email about it from the Birmingham Royal Ballet last week.
That email carried an image of Carabosse doing her worse towering over a smaller image of Désiré and Aurora at their wedding above the banner headline "Join us at The Lowry Open Day on Sunday 6 August". The email announces that the Birmingham Royal Ballet will attend the open day between 10:00 and 17:00 bringing costumes for The Sleeping Beauty that visitors can try on. Between 11:00 and 14:00 there will be workshops where attendees can learn some of the choreography.
The Birmingham Royal Ballet returns to Salford to dance Sir Peter Wright's production of The Sleeping Beauty between 7 and 9 March 2024, Readers can view the trailer here. Companies around the world dance that production and I have seen performances of that work by the Hungarian and Dutch National Ballets. The best that I have ever seen was in Amsterdam on 17 Dec 2017 with Maia Makhateli as Aurora, Daniel Camargo as the prince and Igone de Jongh as Carabosse (see The Dutch National Ballet's "The Sleeping Beauty" - I have waited nearly 50 years for this show20 Dec 2017). That bit of ballet history will never be repeated but I have very high hopes of BRB's visit to the Lowry in the Spring.
Modern Films Coppelia BBC 2 18:15 27 Dec 2022 and iPlayer
On the evening of 27 Dec 2022, the BBC broadcast Modern Films' Coppeliain the UK. Readers who missed the transmission can still catch it on the iPlayer. It was choreographed by Ted Brandsen and has much in common with his production for the Dutch National Ballet which I reviewed in Brandsen's Coppelia on 12 Dec 2016. The main differences are that the score is by Maurizio Malagnini and not by Leo Delibes and it is very much shorter. Most of the dancers are or were in the Dutch National Ballet and some of the designs seem to be the same.
DePrince introduced me to the rest of the Junior Company which included some outstanding dancers. Through them, I got to know the rest of the company which has given me enormous pleasure over the last 10 years. Some of its members have become dear friends and acquaintances and I have made many more friendships among its regular ballet-goers. I am therefore grateful to her not only for her performances but also for the introduction to the company and its fans.
DePrince is now in Boston which is a lot further away. Modern Films' production was one last chance to see her with members of the Dutch National Ballet. She danced Swan, the lead role in the film. Traditionally the heroine is called Swanhilde though, in Brandsen's stage production, she is known as Swantje. Daniel Camargo who has also crossed the Atlantic but was formerly a principal of the Dutch National Ballet danced Franz. Dr Coppelius was danced by Vito Mazzeo. Swan's friends were Nancy Burer, JingJing Mao and Sasha Nukhamedov, Franz's were Timothy van Poucke, Sam Sjouke and Edo Wijnen and Igone de Jongh was the ballet teacher. Darcey Bussell, one of the few cast members not to be in HNB danced the mayor. Floor Eimers, Giovanni Princop and Rachel Beaujean were also in the film.
I enjoyed it more than Scottish Ballet's Coppelia but not as much as English National or Birmingham Royal Ballet's or indeed Ted Brandsen's stage version. I think that is because all those companies retain Delibers's score which contributes so much to the ballet. It was lovely to see DePrince again as well as other members of HNB. I am not sure that I would have liked it as much had the cast come from any other company.
Standard YouTube Licence The Dutch National Ballet The Sleeping Beauty, Stopera, Amsterdam 17 Dec 2017, 14:00
It's funny how some performances stand out in one's memory over the years. The performance of The Sleeping Beauty by the Royal Ballet on 22 July 1972 was one of those. Dame Margot Fonteyn danced Aurora and Rudolf Nureyev Florimund. It was a glorious evening and I saw the show when I was at a high point of my life, shortly after graduating from St Andrews and just before I was due to take up a scholarship to UCLA.
I've seen many excellent performances of The Sleeping Beauty since then by Birmingham Royal Ballet, the Hungarian National Ballet and lots of other companies including the Royal Ballet. None has come close to that show on 22 July 1972. It was for me the gold standard. At least not until last Sunday. Now, over 46 years after that remarkable performance by Fonteyn and Nureyev, I have seen its peer.
The matinee that I attended on Sunday afternoon had been staged by Sir Peter Wright, It is a production that I had seen several times before and know very well, Although the music, choreography and designs appeared to be the same as those I had seen before, Sunday's show had a freshness, an energy, a je ne sais quoi that somehow distinguished it from all previous performances of that ballet since 1972. The reason why it was so good is that HNB is one of the world's great companies and very special as Sir Peter noted in a YouTube clip to promote a previous revival (see Sir Peter Wright has wonderful words for the company (Dutch National Ballet)HNB 6 Dec 2010). In fact, when a gentleman in the seat next to me asked how it compared with London I replied that for my money HNB was the best company in Europe if not the world.
HNB has some brilliant dancers. Aurelia was danced on Sunday by Maia Makhateli. Although she trained in Georgia and the USA she seemed to dance very much in the English way displaying a pleasing line and considerable virtuosity but without exaggeration or gratuitous theatricality. Her rose adage was superb and readers can see her performing it in Maia Makhateli Sleeping Beauty Rose Adagio28 Oct 2016 YouTube. It is the best I can remember. I should add that Ms Makhateli is as charming off stage as she is impressive on it for when I asked her to sign a card to my contributor, Helen McDonough, in a signing session after the show she knew exactly to whom I was referring.
Ms Makhateli was partnered gallantly by Daniel Camargo. He is a very powerful but also very graceful dancer and he can also project emotion and feeling as well as any voice actor. In those regards he reminds me very much of Nureyev at the same age. Sunday's performance was the first time I had seen him in a major role and I was impressed, His rise to principal in Stuttgart over just a few years was meteoric. Although he is still quite young, he has already achieved a lot. His potential must be considerable.
As Perrault's tale is essentially a struggle between good and evil, the most important characters are perhaps the lilac fairy and Carabosse. Erica Horwood was a delightful lilac fairy but the prima ballerina, Igone de Jongh, was the best Carabosse I have ever seen, Both appeared with their attendants and Carabossse's were particularly creepy. The other fairies, Jessica Xuan, Suzanna Kaic, Yuanyuan Zhang, Naira Agvannean, Aya Okumura and Maria Chugai, danced exquisitely There were strong solo performances in the final act. I particularly liked Young Gyu Choi's and his partner Suzanna Kaic as the bluebirds and Clotilde Tran-Phat and Daniel Montero Real as the white cat and Puss'n Boots. Everyone in the cast danced well but this overlong review would resemble a telephone directory if I gave every artist the credit he or she deserves.
It was thrilling to sit in centre of the second row of the stalls just a few feet behind the celebrated conductor Boris Gruzin. It was tantamount to being in the orchestra pit. Indeed, it was almost like being on stage.
The Sleeping Beauty will run to New Year's Day but, sadly, almost every performance is fully booked. However, Birmingham Royal Ballet's version, also produced by Sir Peter Wright and also very good, is about to go on tour. It will visit Southampton between 31 Jan and 3 Feb, Birmingham between 13 and 24 Feb, Greater Manchester between 28 Feb and 3 March, Cardiff between 14 and 17 March and Plymouth between 21 and 24 March.
Finally, I must apologize to readers for the long and embarrassing delay since my last post in November. I have made made copious notes of Rambert's Ghost Dances at the Alhambra, Northern Ballet's The Little Mermaid in Sheffield, Birmingham Royal Ballet's The Nutcracker in Birmingham and the Russian State Ballet and Opera House's Romeo and Juliet in Harrogate not to forget the preview of Sharon Watson's Windrush, cinema relays of the Bolshoi's Le Corsaire and the Royal Ballet's Alice in Wonderland and The Nutcracker, Martin Dutton's inspiring Nutcracker intensive, great classes at Pineapple and Huddersfield and the Arts Council's seminar on grant applications. I will try to get these out to you by the end of the year.
Photo Altin Kaftira (c) 2016 Dutch National Ballet: all rights reserved Licensed by kind permission of the company
Dutch National Ballet Kammerballett Stopera, 7 Sept 2016 Kammerballett (literally Chamber Ballet in German) was created by Hans van Manen for the Netherlands Dance Theatre (Nederlands Dans Theater) and was first performed in the Hague in 1995. It is set to the music of Domenico Scarlatti and features a piano and a lot of chairs as well as the dancers.
Photo Altin Kaftire (c) 2016 Dutch National Ballet: all rights reserved Reproduced by kind permission of the company
Photo Michel Schnater (C) 2016 Dutch National Ballet: All rights reserved Licensed by kind permission of Richard Heideman
Dutch National Ballet, Gala, Stopera, 7 Sept 2016
Nothing gives a better impression of the strength of the Dutch National Ballet and the Dutch National Ballet Academy than the Grand Défilé or big parade that begins the gala that opens the Amsterdam ballet season. As the curtain rises the first year students of the Academy present themselves to the audience. The girls are in light blue leotards and the boys in white t-shirts. They give way to the second year and so on until the Junior Company appear. They in turn give way to the élèves who are succeeded by the corps and each and every other rank in the company until the ballerinas and premiers danseurs nobles. All to the strains of the polonaise from Tchaikovsky's The Sleeping Beauty.
Compared to the Paris Opera Ballet, the Royal Danish Ballet and the Mariinsky the Dutch National Ballet is very new. It will celebrate its 70th anniversary next year. But it has achieved much in its 69 years as the timeline on the company's website indicates. In his speech at last year's gala Ted Brandsen remarked that there had been no balletic tradition in the Netherlands before 1947 (see The best evening I have ever spent at the ballet13 Sept 2015). The Dutch can and do take enormous pride in those achievements.
Of course, like all great companies the Dutch National Ballet is international. Artists of many nationalities have contributed to its success including some from our country. Wayne Eagling was the company's artistic director between 1991 and 2003. David Dawson is one of its associate artists. Matthew Rowe is, its director of music and principal conductor. Judy Maelor Thomas, who assisted Ted Brandsen with the choreography of the Grand Défilé, is the company's ballet mistress. More than a few of the dancers trained at the Royal Ballet School including its great ballerina, Igone de Jongh and the artistic coordinator of the Junior Company, Ernst Meisner.
The links between the Netherlands and the United Kingdom go back a very long way. David Bintley mentions the tour of the Vic-Wells Ballet to the Netherlands on the eve of the German invasion in Dancing in the Blitz: How World War II made British Ballet.The links are not all one way. Meisner, for example, was a very popular dancer at the Royal Ballet. He continues to contribute to British ballet through the New English Ballet Theatre and the Royal Ballet School summer programme. According to Bintley, the flower throw which I had always regarded as a quintessentially English tradition was invented by the Dutch who showered the Vic-Wells dancers with flowers on their visit in 1940.
The company's press officer, Richard Heideman, has sent me some lovely pictures of the gala of which this is only the first. My next post will be on the extract from La Bayadere.
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The first time I saw the video of Ernst Meisner's No Time Before Time was in the Prix de Lausanne finals. I fell in love with it there and then. When I saw it live for the first time in Ballet Bubbles at the Meervaart Theatre on my birthday on Valentine's day it was the best present anyone could possibly receive. I expressed my appreciation in Thank You Ernsta few days later. Ernst Meisner is an extraordinary choreographer. His Saltarello had been the highlight of the Junior Company's Stadsshouwburg show of 24 Nov 2013. The performance of Embers by Nancy Burer and Thomas van Damme to the haunting music of Max Richter was my favourite of the following year. I described it my review as quite simply one of the most beautiful ballets I have ever seen. Well, No Time Before Time is Ernst's best work yet.
I was led to the Dutch National Ballet by Michaela DePrince who entered the Junior Company in 2013 and is already a grand sujet at age 21. Because I was married to a Sierra Leonean for more than 27 years I took an interest in her career before she joined the company (see Michaela DePrince4 April 2013). When I saw her on stage for the first time I described her as "quite simply the most exciting dancer I have seen for quite a while." When I met her briefly at last year's gala "I left the Stopera thinking how that exceptionally talented young dancer was as gracious off stage as she is magnificent upon it." Michaela DePrince was as magnificent and exciting as ever yesterday in Balanchine's Tarantella Pas de Beux which she danced passionately with Remi Wörtmeyer. The applause was deafening. "They really love her" remarked my companion, We really do.
Earlier DePrince had been one of the dancers in the grand pas d'action from La Bayadere. Having recently learned some of the choreography from Jane Tucker I took a particular interest in that work. Sasha Mukhamedov danced Nikiya and Daniel Camargo was Solor. It was a tantalizing taster for this Autumn's production which I look forward to seeing in full on 13 Nov 2016.
One of my favourite full length ballets so far this year has been Ted Brandsen's Mata Hari which I reviewed in Brandsen's Masterpiece14 Feb 2016. Yesterday was my chance to see the magnificent Anna Tsygankova in the title role again. She was partnered gallantly by Artur Shesterikov. It was another opportunity to hear Tariq O'Reagan's beautiful score.
These were the highlights of the evening for me but there was so much more:
the Grand Defile or parade of the company and students of the National Ballet Academy starting with the first year students in light blue leotards and finishing with the principals;
the final pas de deux from Sir Peter Wright's Sleeping Beauty with Anna Ol as Aurelia and Jozef Varga as the prince;
Sinatra favourites with Anna Tsygankova and Matthew Golding in Twyla Tharp's Sinatra Suite;
the premiere of Remi Wörtmeyer's Penumbra with Anna Ol and Artur Shesterikov, and
the final pas de deux from Balanchine's Theme and Variations with Igone de Jongh and Jozef Varga in the leading roles.
The evening celebrated not only Igone de Jongh's 20 years with the company but Toer van Schayk's long and distinguished career as dancer, choreographer and designer. Qian Liu and Young Gyu Choi danced in the world premiere of van Schayk's ballet Episodes van Fragmenten after showing a short film of his life and career.
As happened last year, the performance was followed by a party which was still going strong well after we left to catch the last tube to Central Station at which the stars mingled with us lesser mortals. I was particularly glad to meet some of the young dancers from last year's Junior Company who are now soaring in the company, their mentor Ernst Meisner and Esther Protzman, the wonderful teacher who inspired so many of the company's finest dancers. I have written many times about the importance of a great teacher and I know a little about it because have been inspired by mine.
I described last year's gala as The best evening I have ever spent at the ballet. Could last year's excellence be exceeded? The answer is an emphatic "yes". Was yesterday's performance perfection? I will tell you next year.
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This time next week Team Terpsichore should be in Amsterdam.
We are very excited about it. One member of our team is an eating expert who can't wait to get her gnashers into riijsttafel,Gouda, Edam, Leerdammer and every other cheese in Holland not to mention Calve peanut butter which you just can't get in this country.
Apart from one meeting with my editor at Kluwer at which we shall probably speculate at great length whether Brexit has torpedoed the unitary patent and the Unified Patent Court, this will be my first opportunity in years to play the tourist and see the bits of Amsterdam that I have never quite got round to before. Top of my list is the van Goch museum having been inspired by Chantry Dance's Vincent (see Duology 29 Sept 2015) and our pals at Casa Alessia in Italy (see From Italy with Love1 July 2016).
However, we are looking forward to the Galamost of all. I attended it last year and described it as The best evening I have ever spent at the ballet13 Sept 2015 without the slightest exaggeration. The only comparable event I can remember was Sir Fred's retirement gala at the Royal Opera House on 24 July 1970. This year promises to be even better as it features Igone de Jongh who is one of my favourites in the company.
Having praised the Dutch National Ballet to the rafters I am now going to say something that they probably won't like so much and that is that is that I can't see anything special about Night Fall. The hype in yesterday's press release would have done credit to Lord Mandeslson:
"In Night Fall, the viewer feels like part of the corps de ballet, entering a world where the boundary between dream and reality seems to vanish. The choreography is inspired by the world-famous ‘white acts’ from Romantic ballets like Swan Lake, La Bayadère and Les Sylphides. The ballet was choreographed by Peter Leung, a former dancer with Dutch National Ballet, to music composed by Robin Rimbaud (Scanner). It was directed by Jip Samhoud and Marijn Korver from &samhoud media. Night Fall is a co-production by Dutch National Ballet, &samhoud media and Chester Music. The Samsung Galaxy S7 and Gear VR provide the technology that makes it possible to produce the first ballet in Virtual Reality."
That may be the idea but it hasn't worked for me up to now. I've tried the YouTube video on my Chromebook and a brand new Huawei Honor smart phone which cost me a lot of lolly. The phone showed everything double. The images were was so small that I could hardly make out any detail. The figures on the YouTube were very dimly lit and seemed to me out of focus. As for the violin I couldn't stop thinking of Sherlock Holmes.
Now it may well be that I don't have the right kit or that I failed to carry out the instructions correctly but I got more and more grumpy as the night wore on. That was a shame because I had such a nice class in Manchester and was in excellent spirits at the start of the evening. This is not the first time the company has experimented with mobile phone technology. Ernst Mesiner choreographed Bounden for the Game Oven and I actually downloaded the app (see Bounden - Something that appeals to my Interests in Technology and Dance17 Dec 2013). Mel and I tried very hard to get it to work in a cafe in Sheffield no doubt providing hilarious entertainment for everyone in the eatery - but it just wouldn't.
Now as a patent lawyer (which I do better than shades. swans or even statues) I applaud innovation as it funds my balletomania. But I think a bit more R & D needs to go into Night Fall. The press release came from Richard Heideman. We'll look out for him on Wednesday. Maybe he or one of his staff can get Night Fall to work for Mevrouw de Eter en me.
Earlier this month a dozen adult ballet students at KNT Danceworks in Manchester took part in a three-day workshop on La Bayadère. We did a little show at the end which you can see in La Bayadere Intensive Day 3: No Snakes17 Aug 2016. While I don't think I would be wise to give up the day job just yet I enjoyed the workshop enormously.
I think the main benefit of the workshop will be the insight into the ballet that I have gained from attempting the shades and golden idol dances. I have lost count of the number of times I have seen Swan Lake in Covent Garden and other theatres around the world over the last 55 years or so but I learned so much more about the ballet from Jane Tucker in her three day intensive last year that I did in a lifetime of watching performances of it from the stalls or reading about it in the books.
The next opportunity for most of us in the UK to see La Bayadère will be the Dutch National Ballet's production in Amsterdam between 8 Oct and 13 Nov 2016. That is Makarova's version which must be similar to the one she did for the Royal Ballet that was last performed in 2013. We in Team Terpsichore have already got our tickets. We are flying out from Ringway on 12 Nov and returning in the evening of the 13. We shall see the matinee on the 13. If Floor, Cristiano, Emilie, Thomas, Giovanni or any of our other Facebook friends will be in that show do let us know.
As there are still plenty of tickets for the matinee it would be super duper if some of our classmates could meet us in Amsterdam. The above video shows two of the dances we learned in Manchester, namely the golden idol and the entry into the kingdom of the shades. It would be a wonderful opportunity to see the experts do those dances properly.
We could also perhaps make a side trip to the Hague to see our dear teacher, Mark Hindle, lead the gazelles in theLion King at the AFAS Circustheater. The only problem is that the ticket prices for this musical which has been running in London since Adam was a boy start at 29 euro and go up to 100 euro. That is far more than the cost of the equivalent seats in the Stopera to see one of the greatest ballet companies in the world with some of its biggest stars and a full orchestra. And that is for a show in the Hague - not Amsterdam. However, it may be possible to negotiate a discount if we could organize a party.
Whether or not we get to see Mark on this occasion the ballet is a must. If you have not seen the Dutch National Ballet it is very like our own English National Ballet. It has many connections with this country. One of its leading ballerinas, Igone de Jongh trained in London. Its magnificent choreographer and artistic co-ordinator of the Junior Company, Ernst Meinser, danced with the Royal Ballet for many years and is one of out own (see Meet Ernst Meisner and his talented young dancers6 Dec 2014). Matthew Rowe, the company's musical director and principal conductor, comes from London. Indeed, he may even have attended my old secondary school for there is a tantalizingly oblique reference to him in the latest issue of our alumnus magazine.
The company performs in the Stopera which is a lovely theatre. I was lucky enough to be given a tour of the building on my last visit to Amsterdam (see Double Dutch Delights17 Feb 2016). It is one of the most modern auditoriums in the world with a good view of the stage from every seat. There is a terrace on every floor which overlooks the square and canal below. There is no better way of spending an interval than standing on the terrace and reflecting on the show.
Amsterdam has become a little more expensive for us since the recent fish dive of the pound after the referendum but it is still cheaper than London. There are lots of reasonably priced restaurants offering a wide range of national cuisines. My favourite is rijjsttafel which comes from Indonesia, a country that used to be administered by the Netherlands. It seems to be as popular in Amsterdam as curry in Rusholme and for very similar reasons. There are convenient flights from Ringway and Speke by easyJet. Transport around Amsterdam is very easy. Nearly everyone seems to speak at least some English and Dutch is the closest relation to our language.
I admire the Dutch National Ballet very much for many reasons not least of which is the opportunity that the Junior Company gives to outstanding young dancers from many parts of the world. There is a Friends' scheme of which I am a member. If you come with me to Amsterdam and fall in love with these beautiful artists as most do, I do hope you will consider joining it.
The Dutch National Ballet have just released a trailer for their production of Giselleon YouTube and it looks very special indeed. The season opened last Tuesday with Anna Tsygankova in the title role with Maia Makhateli, Anna Ol and Igone de Jongh also dancing that part. The trailer shows some interesting choreography,
The show has received some very favourable reviews from Theaterkrant and Noordhollands Dagblad.
The production will tour the major Dutch cities before returning to Amsterdam on 12 Nov 2015 for another two performances.
"Igone" is of course Igone de Jongh, one of three female principals with the Dutch National Ballet. I have only seen her on film up to now coaching Martin ten Kortenaar and YuanYuan Zhang in the pas de deux from the white act in Swan Lake but maybe I shall be lucky enough to see her in the flesh at the Gala on the 8 Sept.
The film is in Dutch but there are English subtitles. De Jongh talks about her first time on pointe as a little girl. She also tells us how she feels wearing pointe now. Apparently they give her a sense of freedom. They are an extension of her limbs,
The film also introduces the company's shoe manager who describes his job and its many responsibilities. Each female dancer has her own shoes and often her own shoemaker and these have to be registered and tracked by computer,
Finally, the film shows folk who are prepared to pay good money for used pointe shoes. I'm a great fan of Sarah Kundi of English National, Ruth Brill of Birmingham Royal Ballet, Rachael Gillespie of Northern Ballet and indeed Michaela DePrince of the Dutch National Ballet but I'd draw the line there.
