Ballet Rising

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One of my favourite principals at the Dutch National Ballet was Casey Herd.  He impressed me in Dawson's Empire Noir. Brandsen's Mata Hari and many other works. He continues to impress me now with his latest enterprise, Ballet Rising.

Ballet Rising is the standard-bearer of a movement with the following vision:

"The stars of the ballet world used to be born and trained in Europe and North America or sometimes Japan, Cuba and Argentina. Today the talent pool has grown. More major dancers are coming out of China, Mexico, Brazil, South Korea and elsewhere. Dancers have a wider range of ethnic, racial, and religious backgrounds than ever before. Globalization is expanding the ballet world, fueling international exposure to and passion for ballet—and transforming the art form. Ballet Rising takes an in-depth look at the communities reshaping ballet and brings their stories to global audiences. Although ballet has always spoken to people on a profound level, imagine how engagement would grow if people all over the world felt like ballet represented them. What if ballet were accessible to dancers everywhere? Ballet Rising is joining the movement to make ballet a truly global art form that welcomes all to take part."

Now if those sentiments sound familiar you are quite right. Though my background and experience have been from the other side of the footlights, I have shared Herd's vision ever since I helped to establish a dance club at my university over 50 years ago. It has been one of the focuses of Terpsichore  and it is one of the reasons why I set up Powerhouse Ballet and The Stage Door,

Some idea of the breadth of Herd's vision can be gleaned from its recent articles:

• Ballet in Cambodia 
• Indian Letters and
• Imagining the Future of Ballet from Nigeria.

Now all of those countries have a long and rich tradition of dance. Many in those countries regard ballet which developed in the imperial and royal courts of the former colonial powers with understandable suspicion.  Herd acknowledges that  possibility and accommodates it:

"We want to highlight communities where there is already an interest in ballet. We are careful to visit places where the drive to build ballet communities has originated within the local communities themselves. We pay close attention to the sensitive nature of cultural encounters, and we strive to build positive relationships with local arts organizations so that the global ballet community grows in harmony with local customs. While we encourage the exposure of ballet to people in all walks of life, we hope that classical ballet expands only in places where a community expresses its own interest."

In fact, as the South African dancer, Dada Masilo has shown, ballet can be the medium through which African dance tradition can be communicated to audiences outside that continent (see A Brace of Giselles 13 Oct 2019).

For many years the best and the brightest students from Africa, Asia and other countries have won scholarships to Europe and North America where they have been hired by the world's leading companies.  That's fine for the dancers as it provides them with an opportunity to perform but not so good for audiences and other students in their countries of origin,  That is understood by Ballet Rising and it is for that reason that Herd and others encourage the development of schools and companies in those countries.

This will not be the last time I shall mention Ballet Rising and if there is any way that I can further its objectives I shall certainly do so.

Bollywood Beginner

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Yesterday I had my first lesson in Bollywood dance. As part of the Southbank Alchemy, the largest UK festival of South Asian culture, members of the cast of Bring on the Bollywood offered a dance workshop to those with tickets for their show at the CAST in Doncaster.  That is the company featured in the video above.

Now I have to confess that I do not know a lot about Indian dance or popular culture. I don't speak any Indian languages beyond a few words of Urdu that my mother had taught me. She picked them up from her father who had lived in Lahore. He was the last of several generations of my mother's family who had spent their lives in the Sub-Continent some in the armed forces and others in the civil service.

Everyone in my mother's family, whether they had spent any time in the Sub-Continent or not, had an enormous affection for the region and a very high regard for its people. My mother and her sisters always wanted to return and, in particular, to see my grandfather's house in Lahore which was next to the Roman Catholic cathedral. Something I managed to accomplish in 1992, a few months after my mother's death while my aunts were still alive, on my one and only trip to Pakistan.  I have inherited that affection and regard and while my knowledge of the culture of the Sub-Continent remains superficial, I take every opportunity I get to learn a little bit more.

Before attending the workshop I had seen one Bollywood film in an Indian cinema in Southall and a couple more on video at the Washington home of my best friend from St Andrews who was then working for the World Bank. I had attended the Bollywood Icons: 100 Years of Indian Cinema (8 March – 16 June 2013) at the National Media Museum (as it was then) in Bradford.  I had also read Irna Qureshi's Bollywood in Britain blog. That was just about it.

I attended the workshop with  a friend of Indian heritage who knows a lot about Indian dance in general and Bollywood, in particular, having danced in a Bollywood musical at the West Yorkshire Playhouse a few years ago. The workshop was due to start at 14:00. It was to take place in a dance studio on the first floor of the theatre.  I collected my friend from her home in Bradford just after 12. Normally that have been would be more than enough time to reach Donny but there was an incident on the A1 which delayed us by over half an hour. As a result, we arrived at the CAST theatre after the workshop had started.

We, therefore, missed the warm-up and introductions but not a lot of the choreography. Nisha Aaliya showed us the steps and arm movements that the rest of the class had been taught and we were able to catch up quite well. The routine that we learned was the second number in the show.  It started with the dancers in the wings. After a few bars, we danced on stage using the steps that Nisha had taught us. We then faced the audience with our hands in what I believe to be the namaste position. We raised our hands above our heads. More dancing to the left and right, then a clockwise turn and an anticlockwise turn, we exchanged something like a high five with the person next to us with different hands several times, we danced around each other, we drew an imaginary bow and arrow several times, assembled ourselves into a line in height order with our arms at different angles and then broke from the line assuming a pose of our choice.

Not knowing how to dress for a workshop I turned up as I would for ballet in a leotard, tights and ballet shoes.

"You're showing me up" hissed my friend, "this is Bollywood, not La Bayadere" 

Well, it is true that I was the only one dressed like that but nobody had told me about a dress code. Moreover, the plot of the show that we saw in the evening had several things in common with Petipa's ballet including a compulsory marriage, a scene in the mountains and a snake of a woman who nearly destroyed the heroine.

The workshop passed very quickly and I had a whale of a time. It was a friendly class that included children who seemed to know quite a lot about this style of dance as well as adults. I was the most overweight, woefully unfit and least coordinated member of the class but even I was able to keep up. If I had more time, I would certainly look out for a regular Bollywood class. Alas, I struggle to find time even for ballet.

The class was an opportunity to see a bit of the theatre than few members of the public ever see.  The studio had a wall mirror and barre and a beautifully sprung floor. The dancers at Northern Ballet, Ballet Black and the National Dance Company of Malta must know that studio. I can see why so many fine dance companies include Doncaster in their itineraries.

The "D" Word

Author: Canuckguy
Source: Wikipedia
Copyright released by the author

In the foreword to the programme for this year's triple bill, Cassa Pancho, the founder and artistic director of Ballet Black writes:

"I am often asked why I started Ballet Black. I don't have a perfect answer, even after our sixteen years, but in short it is all about the D word, diversity. I believe diversity on stage inspires diversity at the beginning of the classical ballet food chain, in local ballet schools.  That in turn fuels the number of black and Asian students attending vocational school, which leads to more culturally diverse artists following a professional career in dance. From there, those diverse dancers can become teachers, choreographers, technicians, designers, managers, decision makers who will change the shape of dance. Finally, diversity on stage - and off - means the same thing for the audience, put it on your stage. But top down or ground up approaches are not effective on their own. Real diversity will only happen when you work in both directions at the same time, by giving a platform to professional dancers working across the globe today, whose very existence will inspire the tiny tree and four year olds to plié and skip for the first time in their local church hall."

Cassa is surely right. The diversification of which she writes is important not just for professionals, students and audiences from Africa, Asia and the African and Asian diasporas but for the future of dance on stage generally and ballet in particular as an art form and for everyone who loves that art regardless of his or her individual ethnicity.

Nearly three years ago to the day I answered an article by David Lister entitled Ballet Black is a wonderful company. But it's a shame on the arts that it still exists 7 March 2014 in which he wrote:

"Ballet Black has been delighting crowds and critics at the Royal Opera House this week. The company, founded in 2001 to create opportunities for dancers of black and Asian descent, has, according to our critic’s review, “never looked better”. They are good, so good that I want to pay them the ultimate and richly deserved accolade – they should be abolished."

In  David Lister's Post on Ballet Black 9 March 2014 I wrote:

"It is clear that Mr Lister abhors racism like all right thinking people. His article is no doubt written with the best of intentions but he is wrong. Ballet Black has never been more necessary than now. Not because black or South Asian dancers cannot get into other ballet companies as, clearly, they can and do. But because Ballet Black is claiming an art form that began in the courts of renaissance Italy and developed in imperial Russia for all cultures including (but by no means exclusively) kids from Bradford, Brixton and Moss Side."

The process of diversification to which Cassa refers has only just begun in the United Kingdon. Yes, there are fine dancers of African and Asian heritage in all the leading dance companies and there are also more children of African and Asian heritage in local dance and vocational ballet schools, but there is still a mountain to climb with audiences, even for the performances of Ballet Black.

In climbing that mountain we have to be very careful to avoid representing ballet as a fundamentally European art form in which African and Asian heritage artists and audiences are invited to participate because that is not how it is. It is more like a language that can be adapted by artists of any culture to express music, literature and thought from any source. An analogue of the diversification process. perhaps. is jazz. That came to the world (albeit indirectly) from Africa but was embraced not just by artists of European heritage but by those of other cultures (see Audio slideshow: Bombay's jazz age 27 Jan 2012 BBC website).

Unless the process of diversification accelerates ballet risks becoming a predominately white, elitist museum piece and that would be a tragedy for everybody and a betrayal of a beautiful art form. The process will not be complete even when every company and every dance school in the UK becomes representative of the population as a whole because diversification is an international imperative. That is one of the reasons why Ballet Black and companies with a similar mission in this country and abroad are so precious and so necessary.

Changing the subject, I was at the last night of Ballet Black's Barbican season yesterday and I have never been more delighted.  At the risk of Cassa's gentle reprimand "Well you always say that, don't you" I repeat what I have said many times in this blog, Ballet Black have never danced better. Everybody around me in the auditorium (remember, this is stuffy old London - not Amsterdam) leapt to their feet.  The applause was deafening. I will review last night, of course, but the lead review will come from the distinguished journalist, Joanna Goodman. We shall also publish a splendid report by David Murley of last week's Little Red Riding Hood workshop by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa.

Altogether, we have a lot of good things to say about Ballet Black and for once I won't be the only one saying them.

La Bayadere - where it all took place

Golconda

Author Haseeb1608

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Source Wikipedia

Throughout the 19th century Russia was fascinated by India. Such fascination was perceived by Britain as a diplomatic and military threat which prompted several Afghan wars.  However, that fascination found dramatic expression in Sergei Khudekov's libretto, La Bayadère or "temple dancer".

In an article on the history of La Bayadère, Gerard Charles explains that in the early 19th century a librettist (nowadays we might call such a person a dramaturge) penned the story and then left it to the composer and choreographer to the rest:

"It is important to understand how ballets in this period were traditionally put together. The librettist (or author) would select a story or legend that suited his fancy and transpose it into a ballet in five or six acts, regardless of weather it had sufficient dramatic content to support this length. The librettist would also have little acquaintance with either the music, choreography or design."

There is no evidence that Khudekov or any of the creators of La Baydere ever visited India but then it is unlikely that Shakespeare ever visited Italy or even Scotland but that did not stop him from setting plays set in both of those countries. Khudekov seems to have done some work for the Rajah whom Solor served ruled over Golconda which is a real place. In fact, it is an important archaeological site just outside Hyderbad, in South West India.

Now I have no idea what Jane Tucker will teach us at the Bayadere intensive next month but central to the story is the wedding between Solor and Gamizatti at which Nikiya is forced to dance.



It is there, you will remember, that she is presented with some flowers in which  someone (most likely Gamzatti or her sidekick) had accidentally or on purpose concealed a venomous snake.  Now we all know that Indian weddings go on for days even in Hendon, Cheadle and Bradford.  So elaborate, in fact, that Anaish Parmar made a ballet on the theme called Shaadi Magic a, review of which you can see here.   Imagine the extravagant affair that the rajah would  have staged for the wedding if his daughter to his conquering commander.  You get the picture.

According to Wikipedia Hydrabad is famous for its palaces but also for its food:

"Hyderabadi cuisine comprises a broad repertoire of rice, wheat and meat dishes and the skilled use of various spices. Hyderabadi biryani and Hyderabadi haleem, with their blend of Mughlai and Ara cuisines,have become iconic dishes of India. Hyderabadi cuisine is highly influenced by Mughlai and to some extent by French, Arabic, Turkish, Iranian and native Telugu and Marathwada cuisines. Other popular native dishes include nihari, chakna, baghara baingan and the desserts qubani ka meetha, double ka meetha and kaddu ki kheer (a sweet porridge made with sweet gourd)."

There us in fact a whole Wikipedia article on  Hyderbadi Cuisine. Yum!

Jane and Karen can't promise us any of that but we are bound to build up an appetite from Jane's warm up, her 90 minute class, her wall to wall rehearsals until 16:00 and cool down after all that.  And Rusholme with all its culinary delights is only a mile down the road from the Danceouse where the intensive takes place.


 So if you want to take part call Karen on 07783 103 037 or get in touch through her contact form, Facebook page or twitter.

Bend it like Cinders - My Take on Cinderella

I saw the evening performance of Cinderella by the Dutch National Ballet's at the Coliseum on 11 July 2015 and loved it. I am aware that not everyone did but I can't see why because for me it was magical.  The dancers were as light as chiffon ribbons. The sets and lighting were ingenious. The costumes were gorgeous. Anna Tsygankova was my idea of Cinderella and Matthew Golding was the perfect prince.

I have been shown some of the criticism of the Dutch production on BalletcoForum and I actually overheard a conversation in which someone boasted of having walked out of the theatre at the first interval because she had better things to do like watch television. What a waste if true! And what nonsense! As for the milder criticism on BalletcoForum I do not see how anyone could have been bored by stars like Golding or Tsygankova and I cannot understand comments that the performance was vulgar or that it was not like Ashton's.

I have not seen quite so many versions of Cinderella as Jane (see the first paragraph of her review of Wheeldon's Cinderella 13 July 2015) and in particular I have not seen Ashton's but I do not believe that all new versions of Cinderella have to be like Ashton's to be great.  If all new work in ballet were compared to the those in the past, where would innovation and creativity lie?  Where would be the opportunities for choreographers to explore classic themes with their dancers and add value to them?  I have seen Nixon's for Northern Ballet and Matthew Bourne's as well as Wheeldon's and I enjoyed all three.   All were different but all were good in their own way.  I have yet to see Ballet Cymru's version and I learned that Christopher Hampson is working one for Scottish Ballet at the panel discussion on 20 June 2015. I hope to see that too.

Perhaps the reason for my heresy is that I do not consider myself to be a "balletomane" though I do love ballet as I love all the performing arts. I think the word balletomane must have been coined by Arnold Haskell in his book Balletomania : the story of an obsession which was published in 1934. Now how can anyone take pride in an obsession? I would be worried if I believed that I was succumbing to any sort of mania,

The story of Cinderella has a special resonance for me as it does for many British Asians. We are, of course, brought up on the Western version of the story at primary school and on television like everybody else but we also have our own ancient equivalent of the story which is derived from Sanskrit verse. In our version Cinderella is called Shakuntala. Here is a summary that I found in Indian Cinderella - History for Kids. There are also too many Indian women and indeed women in this country of Indian and Pakistani heritage who are real Cinderellas in that they are brought up in the shadow of their brothers and after marriage their husbands and are thereby denied the opportunity in their own right. That is not to say that all arranged marriages are like that. Most develop into very beautiful relationships but I would hate to be married off in my early teens or told that that I could not have a say in choosing my marriage partner as was of the old tradition years ago. 

I digress into Indian culture because earlier in the day I attended the matinee of Bend It Like Beckham at the Phoenix Theatre. Now that is another type of Cinderella story if you care to think of it.

Ballet and Bollywood - why they don't meet more often

A few weeks ago we had the pleasure of welcoming Raj and Mel to our adult ballet class at Team Hud. Raj had danced with Mel in Big Ballet and it was great to see them both. After the class the three of us together with another friend crossed the road for a coffee and a chat.

Raj has many interests one of which is Spice Entertainment with its Bollywood Dance Group. Over coffee we discussed Bollywood and ballet and one of us - almost certainly Mel - suggested a Bollywood version of La Bayadère. "Ooh! With Sarah Kundi as Nikiya!" I enthused. Anyone who reads this blog will know that I am one of Sarah Kundi's fans and I had just seen her for the last time in England for a while in English National Ballet's Romeo and Juliet in the Round.  We discussed ways in which we could make it happen and Mel and Raj decided that the first step might be a workshop exploring ballet and Bollywood.

Clearly great minds think alike for a few weeks later Mel and I attended the Tenth Anniversary CAT Gala at the Stanley and Audrey Burton Theatre where David Nixon presented some of the Northern Ballet Academy's recent alumni.  One of them was Joseph Poulton who has already begun to make a name for himself as a dancer with Ballet Black and also as a choreographer. Nixon mentioned that Poulton had the idea of combining Bollywood with La Bayadère. Mel sat up bolt upright in her seat. "That's my idea" she whispered. After the show Mel introduced herself (and me to Poulton) and told him about her idea for a workshop.

Such a workshop is actually going to happen at Hype Dance Company in Sheffield on Sunday 10 Aug 2014 between 14:00 and 16:30. According to the Eventbrite web page Mel and Raj will give an introduction to classical ballet and Bollywood techniques between  14:00 and 15:00. After a short break delegates will use the rest of their time devising their own Bollywood inspired improvisation.  It sounds tremendous fun. Tickets cost £12 and can be booked here.

Considering that La Bayadère is set in India and there are several other ballets with Indian dances as divertissements I wondered why there were not more workshops like Raj and Mel's including some in India as well as in England. Part of the answer may be that ballet has not taken off in India in the way that it has in Japan and China. Considering that English is widely used in business, government and education in India and the many ties between India and the UK and other European countries that is surprising.

There are, however, signs that that may be changing. I googled "ballet" and "India" and discovered the National Ballet & Academy Trust of India in Delhi, a School of Classical Ballet and Western Dance in Mumbai and the Imperial Fernando Ballet Company in both cities which show that there is some interest in ballet in India. I also looked up theatres and found the National Centre for Performing Arts in Mumbai which is a complex of auditoriums, rehearsal studios and outdoor performing spaces including the Godrej Dance Theatre. The Centre hosts The Symphony Orchestra of India, the country's first and so far only professional symphony orchestra whose repertoire includes Stravinsky's Firebird.  The performance of that suite was applauded warmly so there seems to be an audience for ballet and the National Centre certainly provides an infrastructure.