Northern Ballet at its best: The Great Gatsby in Bradford

Northern Ballet "The Great Gatsby", Bradford Alhambra, 18 Nov 2014


I saw David Nixon'a The Great Gatsby for the first time on 7 March 2013 ("Life follows Art: The Great Gatsby" 8 March 2013). It was good then.  It is even better now.

The cast that I saw at the Bradford Alhambra last night were almost the same as last time: Martha Leebolt danced Daisy Buchanan, Tobias Batley Jay Gatsby, Kenneth Tindall Tom Buchanan and Giuliani Contadini Nick Carraway.  On the last occasion I had seen Benjamin Mitchell and Victoria Sibson dance the Wilsons.  Last night those roles were performed by Isaac Lee-Baker and Jessica Morgan respectively.

Each of those dancers excelled in their roles. They had danced those characters well in 2013 but this time they seemed to live them.   Isn't that supposed to happen in every narrative ballet?  Well yes and no. Every landscape is supposed to reflect the scene before the artist's eyes but it takes a work of genius to come to life. Well, yesterday I felt involved in the tragedy as though I was in Long Island and New York City all those years ago and in a way that I didn't before. Not for the first time several members of the audience rose to their feet for the curtain call including me.

Having seen the work before I concentrated on the detail. The choreography is very clever.  For example, Nixon did remarkable things with tyres incorporating one into Wilson's dance as though it were a partner. He slid along it and then hugged it as his wife slipped out of the garage for her liaison with Buchanan. The choreography is also very beautiful - particularly the final ecstatic pas de deux between Gatsby and Daisy which is shown on the clip above. All of this is set to a magnificent score, ingenious scenery and gorgeous costumes - all of which I mentioned in my previous review.

Yesterday I reflected on the treasure that we in the North have in this company. It deserved to win the Taglioni award for best company and it is right that it should be nominated for the National Dance Awards 2014. It has outstanding dancers in Batley, Leebolt, Moore and Tindall with more on the way at every level. A personal pleasure for me in that regard was to see Gavin McCaig on stage for the first time. I had first met this talented and personable young man in the audience for the mixed bill on the 21 June 2014 and again for Dracula on the 13 Sept 2014. On the 3 Sept 2014 Gavin gave me an interview which has proved to be the most popular article in this blog.

A few months ago in London Christopher Marney, my favourite living British choreographer, was asked by a young student to name his favourite dancer. He thought for a moment. "Lauren Cuthbertson" he mused but then the answer came to him "Northern Ballet" he replied "and Martha Leebolt in particular." I was so proud. I don't think Marney has ever worked with Northern Ballet but I hope that one day he will for I am sure that they would create something wonderful between them.

Northern Ballet's Cinderella - a Triumph!

Northern Ballet Cinderella Leeds Grand Theatre 26 Dec 2013

In my review of Scottish Ballet's Hansel and Gretel on 23 Dec 2013 I wrote:

"Brilliantly conceived, brilliantly orchestrated, brilliantly designed and brilliantly danced my only fear is that it will spoil me for the next ballet that I shall see which will be Northern Ballet's Cinderella at the Grand on Boxing Day."

Hansel and Gretel was not the only ballet that might have spoiled me. I had also seen Ashton's Cinderella with Sir Fred and Sir Bob as the ugly sisters. I had seen Matthew Bourne's Cinderella which is set in  wartime London and is the best work from New Adventures that I have seen so far. While waiting for the Grand to open I watched on my mobile phone the trailer for Christopher Wheeldon's new version for the Dutch National Ballet which looks amazing. How could anything that Northern might produce possibly stand comparison?

Well, it does. Nixon's Cinderella is his best work yet. Even better than Gatsby (see "Life follows Art: the Great Gatsby" 8 March 2013) and indeed Dream though the audience did not respond so enthusiastically (see "Realizing Another Dream" 15 Sept 2013).  As you can see from the synopsis Nixon has reworked the story and used a completely new score by Philip Feeney.  Setting the ballet in pre-revolutionary Russia has worked at least as well as Hampson's setting Hansel and Gretel in post-war central Scotland which I commended last week. The first scene brought Chekhov's Cherry Orchard to mind and the circus and skating scenes on the Crystal Lake reminded me of Petrushka. The setting provided the opportunity for some spectacular sets by Duncan Hayler with dashing uniforms for the men and gorgeous skirts and headdresses for the women.

Nixon also created a strong new male character: a magician who replaced the Fairy Godmother  in other versions of the story. Danced yesterday by Hironao Takahashi who was also Cinderella's father, Count Serbrenska, he literally wrought magic before our eyes. Conjuring tricks at first and then bigger ones such as doing the housework in a trice (making me and probably every other woman in the audience smile)- a better job than even James Dyson for all his technical wizardry could accomplish - and then finally, after audience dazzling light effects, his tour de force, the Cinders mobile. Her sleigh pulled not by mice but by huskies with the word "Cinders" on the sides in flashing lights.  Nixon and Hayler have probably started a new trend in stretched limos. Every girl in Adel, Bramhope and Harrogate will want one for her 18th birthday, prom or hen night.

I must say something about the leading dancers. Like millions of balletomanes I watched Acosta and Nuñez dance Basilio and Kitri in Don Quixote in the cinemas and on BBC4 on Christmas day. There was a special sort of rapport between them which I attributed to their being Latin Americans dancing roles derived from one of the classics of Spanish literature. I saw something of the same yesterday in  Javier Torres, who danced the prince, and Lucia Solari, who was Cinderella. Torres, like Acosta, is Cuban and Solari was born in Uruguay which is next to Argentina though she has lived in Europe for many years. Was it coincidence, my imagination or something more?  Whatever the reason I was captivated by their dancing, particularly the pas de deux at the end of the ball and the second pas de deux in the last scene.

It would however be unfair to single out those two for special praise.  All performed well. Teresa Saavedra-Bordes and Rachael Gillespie, who danced Cinderella's, were anything but ugly except in the way they treated poor Cinders. A strong performance from Jessica Morgan, the stepmother.  Oh and I loved the performing bear who I suspect was Matthew Broadbent.

If you want to know more about the show Janet McNulty, who seems to be as big a fan of Northern Ballet as me, has written some marvellous notes for Balletcoforum  I have just discovered that forum and am hooked on it. It is a wonderful resource and I commend it to all. Cinderella will be at Leeds until the 4 January 2014 and it will be staged in Hull and Cardiff in April. If you live in or near any of those cities you really must see it.

My only thought - which is only half frivolous - is will Cinderella spoil me for the next ballet that I shall be see which will be Giselle with Acosta and Osipova on 18 Jan in Covent Garden? When I tweeted that thought yesterday @norhernballet (Dolly?) replied that Giselle might give me the wilis which provided plenty of Myrthe.