Ballet West in Asia

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Long before I got to know Ballet West I wrote Taynuilt - where better to create ballet?  31 Aug 2013. It is a beautiful location and I saw for myself when I attended a class there how the surroundings inspire the staff and students.   In a grand jeté en tournant exercise the instructor, Jonathan Barton, pointed to the surrounding hills urging the class to "soar like the mountains" (see Visiting Taynuilt 4 May 2018). Nobody who has seen a show by Ballet West can doubt the quality of the training that is available there.

And yet Ballet West alumni have to work harder than those from other schools to establish themselves in the profession. In Visiting Taynuilt I explained why. Ballet West is a long way from London and indeed a long way from just about every other major population centre in the British Isles.  If a company in London (or Leeds, Birmingham or Glasgow for that matter) wishes to fill a vacancy and can find excellent candidates immediately from the Royal Ballet School and possibly a handful of other ballet schools there is very little incentive to spend time and money looking further. That may be unfair but it is perfectly understandable.  The same sort of thing happens in other professions including my own.

So what can Ballet West do about that?  Well one partial solution is to look beyond London to the tiger economies of East Asia where there is an insatiable appetite for dance. That is exactly what Ballet West seems to be doing with its International Touring Company. According to the company's website it is a professional ballet company devoted to delivering world class ballet productions globally. It comprises 32 dancers including Jonathan Barton, Natasha Watson, Uyu Hiromoto and Joseph Wright. It will begin with 6 performances of Daniel Job's production of Swan Lake in Genting, Malaysia between 24 Aug and 2 Sept 2918. Performances in Macau and other places are envisaged for the future.

According to the Malaysian website Star Online, those performances will take place at the Genting International Showroom which describes itself as a hi-tech multimedia entertainment venue seating up to 1,000 people with the latest sound and lighting system a revolving stage and flying towers.  Apparently the season was heralded by a flash mob ballet with 80 dancers on the SkySymphony stage. If that report is accurate and all the advertised facilities were used it must have been quite a spectacle.   The Star Online website quotes Gillian Barton as saying that “This will be the first professional full-UK cast, full-length Swan Lake ballet in Malaysia."

As well as providing work for British dancers this summer (see the Auditions Notice on the Dancers Opportunities website) the tour should offer opportunities for young Malaysian dancers. The Star Online website reports that there will be masterclasses at the Arena of Stars on 22, 23, 24 and 30 Aug.  It is entirely possible that some of those dancers will wish to undergo further training abroad in which case Ballet West will be the first overseas school to spring to mind.

With a GDP of US$340 billion Malaysia is already an important economy and it is growing rapidly. English is widely used in commerce, education, government and the arts. Malaysia has many links with the UK.  It could be an important market for the creative industries generally and not just the performing arts.

Ballet West's International Touring Company will not employ all Ballet West's students but it will employ some and that is an important start. More importantly, however, it shows that there is a place for enterprise in the arts just as there is in any other industry. Those who don't find work with the touring company have an example of how they can create a niche for themselves.  As in so many other walks of life it may not be enough to be good at your job. Maybe you need to be an entrepreneur as well.

Visiting Taynuilt

Ballet West's Grounds

© 2018 Jane Elizabeth Lambert: all rights reserved 

In my very first blog post I wrote:

"I was intrigued to receive a mailing for a performance of "The Nutcracker by Ballet West". Now I had heard of a company by the name of Ballet West in the United States which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year but if that company ever came to the United Kingdom I would have expected it to tour major cities rather than towns in the Highlands of just over 2,500 souls. It occurred to me that there might be a company from the West Country which is where Scottish Ballet originated, I googled "ballet, west, uk" and was surprised but delighted to find a company and school in Taynuilt. Delighted because where could be more idyllic to study dance than by the banks of a real lake (or more properly loch) which might even host the occasional swan?"

I attended that performance and enjoyed it so much that I returned to Scotland the following and each subsequent year to see other shows by that company. Over the years I have made the acquaintance of the school's principal Gillian Barton, her children Jonathan and Sara-Maria, the choreographer Daniel Job and teachers, alumni and students of the school.

When I was in Greenock to see Giselle and the Rossini Cocktail earlier this year I told Gillian Barton that I would be in the area at the end of April.  The reason for my visit was to see Scottish Ballet's Highland Fling in Oban on 29 April and the St Andrews University Dance Club gala on the 30. Gillian invited me to call in to Ichrachan House on the way which invitation I readily accepted.

When I first made contact with the St Andrews Dance Club just over a year ago I asked whether I could attend one of their classes 50 years on.  I was told that I would be most welcome.  I checked the Dance Club's Facebook page and found that there was a beginners' ballet class between 16:00 and 17:00 on Sundays.  As St Andrews is only 120 miles from Oban I thought there would be ample time to dash along the A85 and arrive in time for Scottish Ballet's Highland Fling at 19:30. When I checked it out on Google maps I found that the journey would take at least 3 ½ hours with expected traffic and roadworks delays. Sadly, I had to abandon that idea and I tweeted my disappointment.

Gillian Barton picked up my message and invited me to one of her classes.  Even though I am old and slow and fat with no real aptitude for ballet, her invitation was irresistible.  I had often thought of attending one of Ballet West's outreach classes when next in the area (see Taynuilt - where better to create ballet? 31 Aug 2016).  I had even asked about private lessons because the leading contributor to BalletcoForum who has also attended my over 55 class in Leeds makes regular visits for that purpose. However, I had never thought in my wildest dreams that I would ever attend class with exceptionally talented students who were training for the stage. It would be like meeting Roger Federer on the tennis court. I consulted Fiona Noonan, the teacher who had led me back to ballet after a break of 45 years, and my good friend, Mel Wong, who know my limitations.  "Go for it and enjoy it" they replied as if in chorus adding their personal tips on how to survive.

I very nearly fluffed the opportunity.

The hotel that I had chosen because it seemed to be the closest to Ichrachan House turned out to be worse than Fawlty Towers, The description on Booking.com was idyllic. The rate of £65 for a twin (I had intended to travel with a companion and had made double bookings for everything) seemed reasonable enough. When I arrived after driving from Ecclefechan I found the place deserted.  There was a sign stating that check in was between 16:00 and 18:00 with a mobile number to ring for arrivals outside those hours.  "Not to worry" I thought "I'll take tea at the Robin's Nest." When I arrived at the nest I found that the redbreast had flown that day.  The tea shop normally opens on Sunday but not that particular day.  "Roosting perhaps with my landlady" I thought.

Loch Etive

© 2018 Jane Elizabeth Lambert
All rights reserved

I drove down to the pier and to my relief and joy I found that Loch Etive and its majestic, surrounding hills were still there. Indeed, there was even a swan on the loch.

I returned from the pier and found my landlady who was lovely. She was also interested in dance and thinking of attending Highland Fling.  I told her the story and the story of La Sylphide from which it was derived. I thought I had encouraged her though she did not like the idea of cutting off wings with garden shears.

As I mentioned in Scottish Ballet's "Highland Fling" in Gurn and Effie Land 2 May 2018 I skipped supper to attend Scottish Ballet's pre-performance talk and I had skipped lunch in anticipation of Oban's legendary fish and chips. By the time the post-performance talk was over all the purveyors of that delicacy were closing and I did not fancy a curry or chow mein the night before a ballet class. Breakfast at MacFawlty's did not begin before 08:00 which was when I was supposed to be at the barre.  Pangs of hunger, heavy lorries on the Oban road, strange groans from the bathroom fan and the failure of the radiator to take the chill off the air kept me awake all night  The result was that I was half comatose when I should had had my wits about me on Monday morning.

Worse.   My landlady had directed me along a road that ran parallel to the road I should have taken and Google maps seemed to back her up.  Then Google maps led me a merrier dance than any ballet teacher could have done.  I eventually found the entrance to Ballet West a few hundred yards from my hotel with the result that a journey that should have taken a few minutes actually took more than half an hour.  Instead of arriving at the studio 15 minutes before time which I had always been taught to do, I arrived right in the middle of glissés.

The class was taken by Jonathan Barton who had danced the lead roles brilliantly in The Nutcracker, Swan Lake and Romeo and Juliet.  Graciously he admitted me to his class despite my tardiness.  The students welcomed me with smiles. I recognized some of them from Rossini Cocktail which I had reviewed in Fizzing! Ballet West's Rossini Cocktail 6 Feb 2018.

I rattled through the warm up exercises facing the barre that Karen had taught me.  I rather prefer Jane's warm up of running round the studio, suddenly changing direction on a sixpence, skipping facing in, skipping facing out, jumping jacks and stretches but obviously that was not possible on that occasion. I followed it up with my own pliés and side bends in 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th, tendus with foot flexes and glissés before joining the class exercises.

The class was unlike any that I had ever attended before.  First, it lasted two hours although 30 minutes was pointe work which I did not do. With the benefit of hindsight I could have participated in a lot of that on demi but I never thought to ask.  Secondly, it was much faster than any class that I had ever attended before. Normally, in adult ballet classes there are breaks in exercises from stage right and stage left but on Monday the pianist kept playing and we kept dancing.  Thirdly, the instructions were more complex than anything I am usually asked to do.  I don't think that we were asked to do anything that I had not been taught at some point or other though there was plenty that I had never mastered.  Fourthly, there was not much actual teaching though I did learn a lot as I will explain blow. The experience was very like the company classes that I had seen in Amsterdam, Leeds and Oxford. Jonathan was more like a ballet master putting his cast through their paces than an adult ballet teacher.

I learned a lot by observing the regular students.  For instance, between barre exercises they stood in 5th with their arms in bras bas and their faces inclined towards the centre.  "I can at least do that" I thought.  In fact, they may have taught me something much more valuable and that is to concentrate on the instructions and get on with the exercise in hand. Miraculously, despite my lack of sleep I woke up in class. I forgot my hunger, The aches and pains that usually start after 40 minutes didn't bother me. I normally want to rest on the barre. Nobody did that on Monday so neither did I. The result was that I attempted everything.  Even the exercises where I did not have a clue winning a round of applause for trying at one point.

Of course, I also learned a lot from Jonathan. In particular, never look at yourself in the mirror when trying to dance. As he put it: "You can watch a performance or you can do a performance but not both at the same time." This is a very bad habit that I had acquired and it will not be easy to break but if I can crack it I am sure it will improve my dancing.  Jonathan is an inspiring teacher.  In a grand jeté en tournant exercise he pointed to the surrounding hills urging us to "soar like the mountains".  Even I cleared a few inches with that exhortation ringing in my ears.

I have had two lessons since Monday.  One with Karen Sant in Manchester on my way back from St Andrews and the other with Jane Tucker in Leeds on Wednesday. I doubt if my dancing can have improved much from just one class but my mental attitude and self-confidence certainly have.  I emerged from both classes much happier than usual feeling as though I had achieved something.

After the class Jonathan invited me to watch him coach Joseph Wright and Uyu Hiramoto for the grand pas de deux in Paquita.   I had seen both of them in Giselle earlier this year and they both impressed me.  Particularly Uyu.  In Ballet West Amplified 11 Feb 2018 I wrote:

"The last scene was enchanting. Mist (dry ice) wafted across the stage. Lights flashed. Myrtha (Uyu Hiromoto) glided onto the stage. She was as regal last night as she had been the week before. I have been a fan for some time and yesterday I had the chance to meet her. It is as hard to pick stars in dance as it is winners at Aintree but occasionally a student or member of the corps seems to stand out from his or her peers. Xander and Demelza Parish did so at the Yorkshire Ballet Summer School gala in York on 31 Dec 2007 (see "Review: A Summer Gala of Dance and Song, Grand Opera House, York"31 July 2007 The Press) . So, too, Michaela DePrice did in Amsterdam in 2013 (see The Junior Company of the Dutch National Ballet - Stadsshouwburg Amsterdam 24 Nov 2013 25 Nov 2013). I saw the same signs in Hiromoto yesterday. Now I could be wrong but I was right about the Parishes (especially Xander) and I was right about DePrince though she was already in the Junior Company and on her way to great things when I first saw her."

Grounds of Ballet West

© 2018 Jane Elizabeth Lambert
All rights reserved

I also saw a contemporary class after that session.

As I wanted to spend some time at my alma mater, my visit to Ballet West was necessarily brief. I did not see any of the students' quarters or dining or recreation facilities so I won't attempt to discuss the learning experience or compare it to other ballet schools.  All I will say is that the surroundings are magnificent and the teaching staff that I have met - Gillian, Jonathan and Sara-Maria Barton, Daniel Job, Natasha Watson inter alios - have impressed me greatly. Students and alimni have brought back an impressive haul of medals and trophies from the Genée and other competitions (see the Student Achievement page of the Ballet West website) so Ballet West appears to be doing something right.  They have also trained some of my favourite young dancers such as Isaac Peter Bowry and Sarah Mortimer.

However, none of them are in the Royal Ballet or other great  national companies so I asked Gillian Barton why not.  Actually I already knew the answer because a very similar situation exists in my profession.  The bench contains a disproportionate number of judges because they are recruited from the best chambers and the best chambers tend to recruit from the Russell Group and particulalry Oxbridge because any vacancy can be filled many times over with good candidates from those law schools. That is not to say that there are not even better candidates from the other universities but they are harder and require more resources to find.  If you can fill a vacancy immediately with excellent candidates from the Royal Ballet School (and possibly a handful of other schools) there is very little incentive to spend time and money looking further. Rather unfair perhaps but perfectly understandable. There are ways round the problem.  Ballet West has set up its own touring company which will provide some opportunities for its alumni and it is developing ever closer links with the big companies but these are  long term projects that will take time to achieve.

As Ballet West is already training an adult ballet student I asked Gillian Barton whether she would be prepared to train any more of us to which she replied that she would.   I asked about costings and she replied that she charged £600 for a week's summer school which includes accommodation.  She could probably do the same for adults or less if they found their own accommodation and transport.  I asked about content to which she replied that she would give us anything that we needed - repertoire, technique - anything.  I suggested talks on putting ballet in a cultural and historical context. She said that Daniel Job is an authority on dance history and theory. I also asked about day courses to bone up on something awkward as pirouettes and other turns are for me.  She said that she could do that for £40 per hour.

Argyll is breathtakingly beautiful and if I could learn some ballet there I would be in 7th heaven.  If anyone would like to join me on an adult ballet residential course, do let me know.

BBC Young Dancer Ballet Final

I don't usually watch a lot of television. Not even when there is ballet on the box. But I made an exception tonight because I had recently seen Oscar Ward and Uyu Hiromoto in Ballet West's Swan Lake in Greenock (see Ballet West at the Beacon 13 Feb 2017). As it happened I saw a lot of other familiar faces in the programme such as Samira Saidi, Ed Watson, Cassa Pancho, Darius James, David Nixon, Shobana Jeyasingh, Jonathan Barton and Natasha Watson. I even glimpsed Janet McNulty in the audience. There were also a lot of familiar places such as the Riverfront Theatre in Newport, Taynuilt and, of course, the Lowry.

There were five fine young dancers:  Ryan Felix, Jade Wallace, Rhys Antoni Yeomans, Uyu Hiromoto and Oscar Ward. Each of their performances thrilled me and I would have hated to have had to pick a winner. I loved Jade's typewriter dance, Oscar and Uyu's pas de deux, the solo that Natasha Watson created for Oscar but someone had to win and Rhys was indeed a worthy winner.

Rhys will compete with the winners of the contemporary, street dance and South Asian dance. If it was difficult to choose a winner from five ballet finalists I have no idea how one could possibly compare a street dancer with a South Asian dancer. Just for once I think I got some real value from my licence fee.

Ballet West at the Beacon

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Ballet West, Swan Lake. Beacon Arts Centre, Greenock, 12 Feb 2017


I have been coming to Scotland at this time of the year to see Ballet West's winter show for the last four years (see Ballet West's "The Nutcracker" 25 Feb 2013, Swan Loch - Ballet West's Swan Lake, Pitlochry 1 March 2014 3 Marh 2014, Ballet West's Romeo and Juliet 1 Feb 2015 and  Thinking out Loud about Ballet West 8 Feb 2016). Each and every production has been a little better than the last. The current production of Swan Lake  is no exception.  Accordingly, it is the company's best show yet.

I saw Swan Lake last night at Greenock, a small town on the southern bank of the Clyde estuary about 25 miles from Glasgow, in the main auditorium of its magnificent Beacon Arts Centre, which is just over 4 years old.  That auditorium has a fair size stage and seats about 500 with an uninterrupted view from every point. The building is near the river and I would expect its location to command spectacular views of the river. Obviously, there was not much to see as I wandered down from Greenock Central station with my phone on Google maps at 18:00 on a cold, dark and drizzly Sunday evening.

I was welcomed to the Beacon by Ballet West's principal and artisic director, Gillian Barton, who staffed a concession stall with programmes and merchandise. She told me that the previous night's performance at the Armadillo (SECC) had been excellent and wondered how her company could possibly match that success. She added that Natasha Watson, whom I had mentioned in so many reviews and featured in A Cause for Double Celebration at the Robin's Nest 8 Feb 2016 and who had been cast as Odette-Odile, had fallen ill. Her place was taken by Uyu Hiromoto who is a second year student at the school. An exceptionally talented student it has to be said who had impressed me in last year's performance of The Nutracker and who had been selected to tour Malaysia (see Ballet West in Malaysia 18 June 2016) but Odette-Odile is a demanding role even for a principal ballerina of a major company.

If Gillian Barton really did worry about the performance, she need not have done.  I did not see the show at the Armadillo so I am in no position to compare the two, but I should be very surprised to learn that last night's performance fell short of Saturday's in any way. Last night's show was a triumph for two many reasons and here are just too. First, Hiromoto rose to the occasion magnificently. The second was casting Rothbart as a woman and the inspired execution of that role by Miranda Hamili.

Hiromoto and Hamili in their different ways are super talented young women. As my wise first ballet teacher (a seasoned performer who had once danced with the Queensland Ballet as well as a wonderful teacher) once warned, "ballet is a jealous mistress and a tough task master out to break you" so I will not tempt fate by forecasting a golden future for either of them. All I will say is that I sensed the same feeling that I had when I first saw Michaela DePrince in Amsterdam in 2013 (see The Junior Company of the Dutch National Ballet - Stadsshouwburg Amsterdam 24 Nov 2013 25 Jan 2013) or Xander Parish at the York Summer School gala in July 2007 andjust  look at both of them both now. I knew I was looking at something special then and I saw something special again last night.

The reason why Swan Lake is so compelling is that it reveals two faces of humanity in the same dancer.  The sweet, loving, tragic Odette and the brassy, brazen Odile. I have seen many performances in my time and many of the world's leading ballerinas in  the role.  Some are the perfect Odette.  More are the perfect Odile. Few can dance both roles equally well (Scottish Ballet's Bethany Kingsley-Garner being one who can). Hiromoto, despite her youth, is another,  She was a perfect Odette - delicate, lyrical, willowy.  Could she transform herself into what Mr Trump would call "a nasty woman" I asked Daniel Job, the company's choreographer and artistic advisor during the interval. "You'd be surprised" he replied with a smile.  Job was right. Her head raised and somehow holding her arms and upper body in quite a different way Hiromoto transformed herself.  Haughty and heartless, she executed Legnani's 32 fouettés splendidly.  I was counting as I always do and ready to break into applause at number 28.

Hamili has a mastery of character. In Acts 2 and 4 she is of course the evil magician and danced the role largely as a man would have done but in Act 3 she came into her own. She dominated that Act as she slouched over the throne one leg slung over the arm of the chair.  Yawning first, then filing her nails much to the discomfort of Mary Anderson who danced the Queen. It was hard to take my eyes off her even for the divertissements which were beautifully danced.  She assumed centre of stage as Odile began the seduction scene whispering into Odile's shell-like not to accept anything less from Siegfried that betrothal. Ballet West had a brilliant Rothbart in Isaac Peter Bowry who is now dancing lead roles for Ballet Theatre UK. Hamili was every bit as good. Whoever cast her in that role, coached her and dressed her deserves a medal. She added a whole new dimension to the work.

However, they were not the only stars. As in 2014 Siegfried was danced by Jonathan Barton, a graduate of the school who is now its Vice-Principal and yet another Genée medallist. Even though I had seen Anthony Dowell and Rudolf Nureyev in that role I had always regarded Siegfrield as a secondary role because of the focus on Odette-Odile. But I have begun to understand his role better over the years and Barton has helped with that understanding. He is transformed in the ballet every bit as much as Odette. We see him as a callow and not a particularly nice teenager mad for gadgets and unwilling to grow up. "Gee, Ma, that crossbow is really cool." "Don't even mention marriage to me, ma" he gestures extravagantly when his mum suggests he has regal responsibilities.  He meets Odette and begins to grow, Reluctantly he becomes a hero.  He has to jump in the lake to do it but he liberates all those girls who would have been condemned as swans to scrub about bulrushes for stale bread from humans.

Oscar Ward, who accompanied Hiromoto to Malaysia, danced Benno. Ballet West's Benno is not quite as pivotal as David Dawson's but I could detect a little of Dawson's influence in the way Ward danced that role. He came into his own in the pas de trois supported delightfully by Sarah Nolan and Storm Norris. Later Ward danced the Neapolitan divertissement with Abigail Drew with the exuberance and charm.  It was good to see two familar faces, Dylan Waddell whom I had previously seen in MurleyDance and Ballet Cymru and Mark Griffiths who is also from Ballet Cymru. Those chaps danced several roles - guests at the party and Siegfried's mates on the swan shoot.  Later Waddell was also in the Spanish dance.

Other highlights included the cygnets (Alice Flinton, Perihan Gulen, Lucy Malin and Rebecca Strain), the divertissements (particularly the kids from Glasgow who were lovely and came close to stealing the show) and of course the swans in Act 2 and 4. I've had a go at learning the cygnets, Hungarian dance, prince's solo and swans' entry and know just how demanding those dances are (see KNT's Beginners' Adult Ballet Intensive - Swan Lake: Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3).

The current Swan Lake is a new production with new sets and, I think, new costumes.  The designs that I saw at Pitlochry in 2014 had been good but last night's were even better.  I instinctively drew breath as the curtain rose on the opening scene as the guests arrived for Siegfried's coming of age party. My only criticism of the whole evening was the excessive use of the yellow and blue filters in the lighting design. Swans are supposed to be white, not birds of Paradise, yet for long stretches of the evening they were yellow and blue. There were hitches. The arch of someone's cross-bow fell off, there was the occasional stumble, acts did not follow quite as fast as they might have done and the curtain came down slightly too late at the end of Act 2 and too soon early at the end of Act 4. But this was a tour and I have seen far worse from far more famous companies in far bigger theatres.

So Gillian Barton, Daniel Job and their cast can congratulate themselves on an excellent performance. Next year they will dance Giselle. I had hoped for La Sylphide as Gurn, James and Effie used to haunt Ichrachan House but I guess Madge must have put a spell on them.  I would love to see a Scottish company dance La Sylphide on their home turf but the nearest any of them have got is Sir Matthew Bourne's Highland Fling which Ballet Central (another ballet school's performance company) are taking on tour this year.

There is one more show before the dancers return to Taynuilt and that is at Edinburgh International Conference Centre on 18 Feb. If you are free that day and can get a ticket you should be there. Since I have been following them, this really is Ballet West's best show yet.

Ballet West in Malaysia

Performance at the Penang Performing Arts Centre

(c) Ballet West, 2016, all rights reserved

Licensed by kind permission of the company

While Ballet West's alumni Natasha Watson and Andrew McFarlane have been dancing with the English National Ballet in Swan Lake in the Round at the Royal Albert Hall, teachers and students of Ballet West have been holding three days of intensive workshops at Direct Academia International in Penang in North West Malaysia. The party was led by Gillian Barton, Ballet West's Principal, and Jonathan Barton who is Vice-Principal of the School and the principal male dancer of its performing company. Also in the party were Martin Fenton who teaches contemporary, jazz and hip-hop (see the staff page of the Ballet West website) and their students Uyo Hiromoto and Oscar Ward.

Some 150 young dancers from all parts of Malaysia and the Republic of Singapore took part in the workshops. The workshops finished with a performance at the Penang Performing Arts Centre on 12 June 2016. Gillian Barton, who saw the show, remarked:

"The performance was spectacular. Oscar and Uyu ..... performed superbly. I could hardly believe that Jonathan and Martin had only worked with the students for one day plus a few rehearsals. It was such a polished performance. No other teachers could have done better.”

The workshops provided an opportunity to audition prospective students for Ballet West. Two students from Singapore are already there and five others from Malaysia have attended short courses.

Any students from Malaysia or Singapore who find their way to Taynuilt will get an opportunity to obtain performance experience by dancing in one of the full length classical ballets which the performance company stages at various auditoriums around Scotland each year. In 2017 the company will dance Swan Lake at the following venues on the following dates:

• Stirling, Macrobert 20 and 21 January
• Helensburgh, Tower Digital Arts Centre 27 January 
• Paisley, Paisley Town Hall 28 January 
• Oban, Corran Halls 9 February 
• Glasgow, SECC 11 February 
• Greenock, Beacon Arts Centre 12 February 
• Livingston, Howden Park Centre 16 February 
• Edinburgh, EICC, 18 February.

Ballet West last performed that ballet in 2014 and I saw it in Pitlochry on 1 March 2013 (see Swan Loch - Ballet West's Swan Lake, Pitlochry 1 March 2014 3 March 2014). It was a beautiful production with an Odette and an Odile danced by the same person, a Siegfried, cygnets, Legnani's  32 fouettés, all the usual divertissements and not a single bike to be seen. 

It is probably too late for Ballet West to do anything about it for the coming tour but maybe they could consider adding The Dancehouse in Manchester or the Stanley and Audrey Burton Theatre in Leeds to their touring schedule in future years. After all, Isaac Bowry who came from Manchester and Andrew Cook who came from Leeds contributed considerably to their 2014 production. If they can make it to Penang they can surely find their way to the North of England.

Thinking out Loud about Ballet West

A few miles outside Oban lies the village of Taynuilt. I spent a day there on 31 August 2013 before catching a McBrayne ferry to the Isle of Mull.  I wrote about my visit in Taynuilt - where better to create ballet? 31 Aug 2013.  The reason I came to Taynuilt is that Ballet West is there.  That school must be one of the most remarkable educational institutions in the United Kingdom. It offers degrees in dance and higher national diplomas in professional dance performance to residential students, dance training through its associate programmes to children and young people in Glasgow and Edinburgh and summer schools in Taynuilt and outreach classes to children, young people and adults at various venues in the Highlands.

The training that appears to be available at Taynuilt is particularly rich in that the staff includes Daniel Job, who danced with the Royal Danish Ballet and the Ballets des Marseille and with such greats as Roland Petit, Kenneth MacMillan and even George Balanchine, and Olga Voloboueva who trained at the Vaganova Academy and danced with the Mariinsky Ballet when it was known as the Kirov.

The best testimonials for an educational institution are the achievements of its students and last year the only British finalist in the Lausanne International Ballet Competition was Natasha Watson who has now graduated from Ballet West. I have followed the career of this talented young woman for some time and celebrated her success in the Genée in Yet More Good News from Ballet West - Natasha Watson's Medal in the Genée 30 Sept 2013 and her entry for Lausanne in Natasha Watson in Lausanne 15 Nov 2014. Another graduate of Ballet West is Sarah Mortimer who dances with Ballet Theatre UK. I first came across this artist in Ballet Theatre UK's Little Mermaid at the Atkinson and wrote about it in Pure Delight - BTUK's Little Mermaid in Southport 27 April 2014 and I have been following her career ever since. Ms Mortimer also did well in the Genée in a previous year and I should mention in passing that Ms Watson is by no means the only medallist (see Ballet West's Competition and Awards page), In fact, on Saturday evening I shook hands with three of them: Ms. Watson and her teachers, Jonathan Barton and his sister Sara-Maria Barton.

One of the reasons why Ballet West achieves so much is that it gives its students and associates touring experience through its performance company. Northern Ballet School offers its students performance experience in Manchester City Ballet (see Alchemy 13 Dec 2014 and Manchester City Ballet's Giselle 12 Dec 2015) and, of course, the Central School of Ballet does the same with Ballet Central (see Dazzled 3 May 2015 and Central Forward 25 March 2013).  At the beginning of every year Ballet West tours Scotland and I have been coming to Scotland for these tours since 2013. In fact the first post in this blog was on the company's performance of The Nutcracker in Pitlochry (see Ballet West's "The Nutcracker" 25 Feb 2013). I also reviewed their Swan Lake in Swan Loch - Ballet West's Swan Lake, Pitlochry 1 March 2014 3 March 2014 and Rome and Juliet in Ballet West's Romeo and Juliet 1 Feb 2014.

Last Saturday I saw Ballet West perform The Nutcracker again in Stirling.  The 2013 production had been good but this production was even better. It was tight and slick and could stand comparison with that of any professional company. Indeed, in my humble and totally ill informed North Country opinion as some of the metropolitan toffs who sound off about dance  would have it, in some respects it was even better.   Of course, it did have pros - Mr Barton who danced the Snow King and Herr Stahlbaum partnering Ms Watson as Frau Stahlbaum and the Snow Queen, Sara-Maria Barton as the Sugar Plum who was partnered by Ballet Cymru's Andrea Battagia and Andrew Cook, a graduate of Ballet West whom I had greatly admired for his performance in Swan Lake two years ago who danced Drosselmeyer and the Russian divertissement in Act II.

One of the reasons why I like this version of The Nutcracker so much is that it is faithful to its libretto and the choreography of Ivanov and Petipa. Though it had some delightful Scottish touches like Mother Ginger who shook Clara vigorously by the hand, draped a red shawl round Clara's neck and decanted a gaggle of associates from her ample skirts there were none of the gimmicks of other productions that tend to get my goat. There were, for example, no rodent kings clinging onto the dirigible into Act II.  Clara does not morph into the Sugar Plum but remains childlike. The Stahlbaums remain the Stahlbaums of somewhere in Mitteleuropa rather than the Edwards of Bramhope. All credit in that regard to Mr. Job, the choreographer, whom I had the pleasure of meeting after the performance.

I think on Saturday I saw some stars in the making.   Uyu Hiromoto who danced in the snow scene and as Columbine in Act I and was the dew drop fairy in Act II, Owen Morris who was Rat King, accompanied Andrew Cook in the Russian divertiseement and also danced the Arabian and Alice Flinton who was an adorable Clara.  She is only a first year HND student yett she already knows how to hold an audience. We were enchanted by her mime scene where she recounts the battle with the mice and how she clobbered King Rat. She was Gita's man (or in this case) woman of the match.

In any production of The Nutcracker it is the children who often make or break the show for they take on so many roles. In this show they took on even more than usual and coaching them all cannot have been easy. They brought real joy to the stage but they kept their discipline. Whoever drilled those kids deserves enormous applause.  I think a large part of the credit goes to Ms Barton who told me that she had been teaching as well as dancing Sugar Plum that evening when I met her after the show but there were others and if I had flowers to throw they would have got some.

I should say a word about the sets, costumes and lighting.  They were magnificent, particularly the party scene which reproduced the Romanesque columns from the video that appears above.   The backdrop of the kingdom of the sweets was a vivid floral design.  The programme says that these were designed by Amelia Seymour.  There are a lot of tutus of various colours in this show not to mention the mouse king's outfit and period clothes of the party guests. More flowers for the wardrobe team.   There was also some clever lighting particularly in the transition scenes in Act I which was designed by Matthew Masterson.

The production is moving on to Inverness on the 11 Feb, Glasgow on the 13, Greenock on the 14 and Edinburgh on the 20. If you live anywhere near those places you should do yourselves a favour and get tickets for the show.  Gita and I drove 250 miles to see it and it was well worth the journey.

Ballet West's Romeo and Juliet

Macrobert Arts Centre, Stirling, 31 Jan 2015

I've seen three performances by Ballet West: The Nutcracker in 2013, Swan Lake last March and now Romeo and Juliet. The other two were good but this is the best by far. This is a very ambitious production with a big cast including some very young children. It would have been a credit to a full time performing company. As most of the dancers are students Ballet West's achievement is all the more remarkable.

Several factors made this production special.  Excellent choreography by Daniel Job: dramatic and with plenty of detail that is often missed by other productions. Great sets by Ryan Davies and Sara-Maria Barton. A well trained and coordinated corps where even the children performed like pros. Sparkling dancing not only from the principals Jonathan and Sara-Maria Barton but also from the soloists Owen Morris as Tybalt, Andremaria Battaglia as Paris, Miranda Hamill as the nurse, Isaac Bowry as Lord Capulet, Kathrine Blyth as his wife, Andrew Cook as Prince Escalus and Karen Terry as Friar Lawrence.

This is a ballet that demands not only great virtuosity from the principals with no less than 4 major pas de deux (the ball, the balcony, the bedroom and the crypt) but also great drama. Juliet grows up literally overnight. A playful adolescent teasing her nurse in the first Act. A woman who knows her mind and is capable of taking enormous risks in defiance of her father in the next. Romeo - passionate in love but also in fury. Drama also from the soloists. Katherine Blyth's grief at her son's death. Her anger on seeing his killer. Her performance gripped the audience - or at any rate it gripped me. Bowry who I had previously seen as Drosselmeyer and Rothbart showed he can act as well as dance. So too could Cook whom I had also admired very much last year.

Because the cast is large and the sets were elaborate the show needed a big stage. The Macrobert is not a small auditorium but it did not do justice to the show. This production has already toured China where it was no doubt danced in bigger auditoria. Probably the best place to see this show is the Clyde Auditorium in Glasgow where the tour concludes on Valentine's day. This will be a memorable performance and if you live in Glasgow or anywhere near it you really should try to be there.

In the programme the company's founder and artistic Gillian Barton wrote how it started from humble beginnings in 1991 and how it has achieved great things with tours of China, finalists and medallists in important competitions and graduates in several major companies. Tonight I met Gillian Barton for the first time. Others including one of the members of my class at Northern Ballet had spoken very highly of that lady and I can quite see why.

Further Reading

4 Fev 2015 Kenneth Speirs Brother and sister look ahead to Romeo and Juliet performance in Paisley Daily Record
2 Feb 2015 Kelly Apter Ballet review: Romeo and Juliet, Stirling The Scotsman

Stirling Stuff

Ballet West will dance Romeo and Juliet at the Macrobert Centre in Stirling tonight and tomorrow and with any luck  I will be in the audience tomorrow night to cheer them.  I enjoyed their Swan Lake and  The Nutcracker very much and I have high hopes of this production.

The company has already performed at The Corran Halls in Oban and by all accounts they did very well. The following message appeared on their Facebook page:

"Congratulations to the entire cast of Romeo & Juliet!! Each and every one of you were outstanding! A special well done to the outreach students, you were brilliant! Thank you also to the artistic and admin staff, chaperones, technical crew and wardrobe! Hope you're all ready for tonight's performance!!"

These shows are the only time I get to see Jonathan and Sara-Maria Barton who are accomplished performers as well as teachers at the school. I was very impressed with both of them in Odette's seduction scene last year.

Stirling is in one of our finest cities. Although it has fewer than 50,000 inhabitants it has the feel of a metropolis. It was for a time the capital of Scotland. Like Edinburgh it has an ancient castle built on a volcanic mound and the splendid Church of the Holy Rude where King James VI of Scotland and I of England was crowned. For the last 50 years Stirling has been a university town with a fine research university with the science park and Macrobert Centre.

The weather forecast for tomorrow is discouraging with high winds and driving snow threatened for both sides of the border but Ballet West, like a Michelin restaurant vaut le voyage.

O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?

Oban

Photo Wikipedia

In Oban, Stirling, Livingston, Paisley, Greenock, Musselburgh and Glasgow.

Ballet West, Scotland's other classical ballet company, is on tour. It will dance Romeo and Juliet in each of those towns on the following dates:

The principal roles will be danced by Jonathan Barton and Sara-Maria Smith who teach at the school. Other roles will be danced by the school's students some of whom are already beginning to distinguish themselves (see Natasha Watson in Lausanne 15 Nov 2014). If this show is anything like as good as The Nutcracker and Swan Lake it should be well worth the trek up the M6 and M74.

Swan Loch - Ballet West's Swan Lake, Pitlochry 1 March 2014

Ballet West is a ballet school in Taynuilt a few miles from Oban. It seems to be a good school because its students did very well in last year's Genée (see "Yet More Good News from Ballet West - Natasha Watson's Medal in the Genée" 30 Sept 2013). Every year Ballet West produces a full length ballet which it performs around Scotland (see "Ballet West's Swan Lake - Dates and Venues 24 Jan to 1 Mar" 7 Nov 2013). Those performances benefit the students by giving them valuable stage experience but also members of the public who might not otherwise get to see ballet. Last year Ballet West danced The Nutcracker which I reviewed in the first post of this blog (see "Ballet West's "The Nutcracker" 26 Feb 2013). This year it did Swan Lake and I watched the last performance of its tour in Pitlochry on Saturday, 1 March 2014.

I enjoyed that performance very much. In watching Ballet West, a reviewer has to bear in mind that it is primarily a school. Consequently the main roles have to be danced by its teachers, Jonathan Barton and Sara-Maria Smith, and most of the other roles are performed by students some of whom seem to be quite young. The troupe has to dance to recorded music which limits the opportunities for acknowledging applause and makes no allowances for the the styles and capabilities of individual dancers. Similarly. the small stages of some of the auditoriums will limit the scenery and props that can be used. Also audiences must vary considerably. Last year the company danced to a rather larger and more appreciative audience at the Pitlochry Festival Theatre. On Saturday the house was much less full, there was applause in a number of wrong places, silence where applause would have been justified and even some pantomime style booing (thankfully drowned out by cheers) when Rothbart took his bow even though Isaac Bowry had danced that role very well. When all those factors are taken into consideration it was a very good evening indeed.

Swan Lake is quite a long ballet and demands much from the principals especially in the third act when Siegried is deceived by Odile. In particular, there are Legnani's 32 fouettés which is the probably the best known part of the choreography.  They require considerable stamina, concentration and skill and not every dancer is up to the test. When that test came I was counting and I am glad to report that Smith passed with flying colours. I should add that Barton danced his part of that pas de deux with equal virtuosity.

Another good strong male dancer was Andrew Cook who danced the pas de trois in Act 1 impressively with Daniella Brown and Helen Foskett. He seemed somewhat more mature than the other dancers and I have been scouring the programme and googling his name (so far unsuccessfully) for some background information.  Brown and Foskett also danced well and they appeared again with Ally Barnes and Yolanda Magashi as the little swans, another difficulty bit of choreography which they performed successfully. Other female dancers who particularly impressed me were Claire Rice and Hannah Fowler. I liked Rice's part in the mazurka very much. Another divertissement that I enjoyed was the Neapolitan dance which was danced by Duncan Saul (a guest artist) and Yolanda Magashi.  In the 1970s that role was danced by Wayne Sleep, The Neapolitan dance was a great favourite of the crowds and it was probably the foundation of his career.  Saul's performance reminded me a little of Sleep's all those years ago.  But my favourite dancer this year as last was Isaac Bowry who danced Rothbart. A very talented young man showing promise as a character artist I shall follow his career with considerable interest.  Although I have singled out a few names I must stress that all danced well and I commend them all.

The programme announced that Ballet West will be celebrating its 25th anniversary and that it is looking for 25 Scottish patrons to raise its profile as a centre of excellence for ballet in Scotland. Why just Scottish and why not a centre of excellence for ballet simpliciter? I have travelled from Yorkshire which is a 640 mile round trip to see the show and I am aware of at least one of Ballet West's admirers who had come from London. They have a lot of goodwill outside Scotland and it would be good to see them in the rest of the country.

More on Ballet West

Just before I set off for Leeds to see The Great Gatsby the postman delivered a large white envelope from Ballet West. One of my very few criticisms of their performance of The Nutcracker at Pitlochry was the lack of a programme. Inside that envelope to my enormous delight was a programme.

Inside the programme was a compliments slip from the company's administrator and admissions officer, Leanne Irwin, with the following message:

"Many thanks for the lovely review! We think it's amazing you travelled such a long distance to see us perform! We hope to see you at our next show."

I was so pleased that I called them immediately to thank them. The lady who answered the phone thanked me again for the review and told me that they were so happy that they printed it out and posted it on a notice board by their rehearsal studio. I am grateful that people read my blog and the thought that the company were happy with it was a bonus.  Dancers have brought me and millions of other members of the public around the world considerable pleasure.  It is gratifying occasionally to be able to return the favour.

Now that I have the programme I can tell you so much more about the company.   It is a company limited by guarantee and a registered charity. It is directed by its founder, Gillian Barton.   Jonathan Barton is the company's senior principal dancer (which some companies would call premier danseur noble) and I am told that Sara-Maria Smith, its other senior principal dancer or ballerina is his sister.   It will be remembered that it was Mr. Barton and Mrs. Smith who danced at Pitlochry. The choreography that I admired so much 2 weeks ago was adapted by its guest chorus master Daniel Job.   I still can't tell you who designed the sets or arranged the lighting but the costumes were by Anne and Vicky Horn.

Much of the programme is about the work of the school which claims with some justification to be a Centre of Excellence. Its students have done well in all sorts of national and international competitions and many have found their way in to major ballet companies around the world.   As well as its full time courses it holds

• holiday schools for particularly gifted students in July, 
• monthly classes for aspiring professionals in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Perth, and
• outreach classes for kids and adults at various centres around the Highlands and Islands.

Ballet West's patron is the comedian Billy Connolly.   "I know ballet isn't something that people associate with me" wrote Connolly in the foreword, "and they're always surprised .when they see me in the audience, but I've loved ballet for a long, long tine ever since my daughter took me to see "Cinderella" in London." He adds that he went under protest and has been a "ballet convert ever since."   We know the feeling, Mr. Connolly. That has happened to us too.

In the inside of the back cover is the headline "Can you help Ballet West?"   Suggested ways include:

• Helping students with tuition costs;
• Becoming a patron or sponsor;
• Joining the mailing list for information about future events. and
• Making a donation.

If you are interested in doing any of those things please contact

Ballet West
Ichrachan House
Taynuilt
PA35 1HP
Tel 01866 822641
balletwest@btconnect.com

The same page indicates that they are planning to tour the rest of the UK and that was confirmed by the lady I phoned on Thursday.   The next show is planned for March 2014 or thereabouts and this time they hope to dance in London and perhaps a few other big cities in  England.

Update: 
9 March 2013
I have just added Gillian Barton's adult ballet class to the "Where to learn" page and the "Adult Ballet" side panel.

Ballet West also have a Facebook page with some great video and photos.

Ballet West's "The Nutcracker"

Pitlochry

Val Vannet

Source Wikipedia

Creative Commons Licence

For those who do not know Pitlochry, it is a small town in Perthshire just outside the Cairngorms National Park. Overlooked by Ben y Vrackie, on the banks of the River Tummel and not far from the Queen's View with its magnificent panorama of Loch Tummel and Schiehallion  Pitlochry is surrounded by spectacular scenery.  The town has many attractions but the one that distinguishes it from everywhere else in the Highlands is the Pitlochry Festival Theatre. Between May and October every year it holds a summer theatre festival under the strapline "Stay 6 Days, See 6 Plays."  I have been coming to the summer festival on and off for the last 40 years and I can recommend it strongly.  You will find the programme for this year's season right here.

The theatre stages the occasional show in the Winter and I was intrigued to receive a mailing for a performance of "The Nutcracker by Ballet West". Now I had heard of a company by the name of Ballet West in the United States which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year but if that company ever came to the United Kingdom I would have expected it to tour major cities rather than towns in the Highlands of just over 2,500 souls.  It occurred to me that there might be a  company from the West Country which is where Scottish Ballet originated,  I googled "ballet, west, uk" and was surprised but delighted to find a company and school in Taynuilt.  Delighted because where could be more idyllic to study dance than by the banks of a real lake (or more properly loch) which might even host the occasional swan?

Now "Nutcracker" is a ballet I know very well.  Every Christmas I used to see the London Festival Ballet's production at the Festival Hall.   I have seen several other companies' productions, including one by the Cairo Opera Ballet in their new opera house.  More recently I saw David Nixon's production for Northern Ballet in Leeds and the Royal Ballet's which was streamed to cinemas just before Christmas.   I had travelled a long way on Saturday to see Ballet West's production and I am glad to say that I was not in the least disappointed.

This is a very young company and also a manifestly Scottish one.  I loved the reel at the Christmas party in the first Act.   Other touches that I appreciated were a clog dance reminiscent of Simone's in Fille and automatons as in Coppelia in the first act and some extra divertissements such as the Sailor's solo and Mother Ginger and her children in the second.   It is also refreshing to find a ballet with naughty little girls as well as naughty little boys making a nuisance of themselves.  Usually it is just young Fritz or Hans who gets ticked off for damaging the nutcracker,   Another bit of humour was the servants snatching a furtive dram after their employers had had their party.

Altogether I loved the choreography which I now know to have been created by the late Alexander Bennett.   All I know about him is as what appears on the company's website:

"Born in Edinburgh, Mr Bennett achieved international acclaim in the Ballet Rambert and the Royal Ballet. Throughout his years as a principal dancer in both companies he partnered such distinguished ballerinas as Dame Margot Fonteyn & Lynn Seymour, and worked with many of the great choreographers including Peter Darrell, Sir Peter Wright and Sir Robert Helpmann. This production was the last full-length work completed by Mr Bennett."

I shall find out more.

A ballet is made by the virtuosity of its principals who in this production were:

• Sara-Maria Smith who danced Sugar Plum - a particularly demanding role with its pointe work and fouettés in the pas de deux; 
• her partner Jonathan Barton, and 
• Isaac Bowrey who danced Drosselmeyer. 

They all danced well. The website says that Smith and Barton are graduates of Ballet West's school but says nothing about Bowrey whom I liked best of all.

Finally I loved the sets. This is a complicated ballet with a Christmas party, snow scene and a ball room and lost of different costumes from mice and toy soldiers to Chinese, Russians and flowers. Not easy for a great theatre like Covent Garden as we learned from the cinema production. Harder still for the different often tiny stages upon which this company has to perform. Whoever designed the backdrops and costumes did a very good job. The backdrops were much more solid looking than most though Bowrey had to free some fabric which snagged on an expanding Christmas tree.   Particularly impressive were the costumes for the mice whose heads resembled shock troops' helmets and particularly charming were the rainbow skirts for Mother Ginger's daughters.

Was there anything I did not like? Not much. I would have appreciated a programme instead of just a cast sheet. I only found out the name of the choreographer by calling the company and I still do not know the name of the set designer. Some of the divertissements were under-rehearsed and there were a few slight mishaps which hardly anybody noticed and nobody minded. It has to be remembered that Ballet West is a school as well as a company which reaches out to the public. It appears that everyone is allowed a go. There was no orchestra but then this ballet was performed in a theatre designed for drama and the theatre's speakers were pretty good.

The company has one more show to perform on its current tour of Scotland at The Howden Park Centre near Livingston in West Lothian on 1 March. If you live in the area I urge you to see them because you are in for a treat. Surprisingly they have no immediate plans to tour the rest of the United Kingdom though they have advertised a tour of China. I do hope they come to London because I think audiences there will take them to their hearts.