The Terpsichore Titles: Outstanding Young Dancers of 2016

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In The Year of the Swans: My Review of 2016 27 Dec 2016 I wrote:

"Every so often one spots a dancer with what I call the wow factor. Michaela DePrince had it when I first saw her in Amsterdam in 2013 and described her as "quite simply the most exciting dancer I have seen for quite a while" (see The Junior Company of the Dutch National Ballet - Stadsshouwburg Amsterdam 24 Nov 2013 25 Nov 2013)."

I have already mentioned Michaela DePrince. Xander Parish stood out in much the same way when I saw him for the first time in York in July 2007.  The outstanding young dancer title is for a young man or woman who impresses me in very much the same way as they did. Such performances do not grow on trees. For many years it may be impossible to make a selection.

Also, such a selection will always be very unfair. As readers can see from the above YouTube clip, all the young dancers in the Dutch National Ballet Junior Company are excellent and they are just one company. Because I live near Manchester most of the performances that I see are in Britain or the near continent. There must be so many great performances that I do not see in Russia and other countries in the former Soviet Union, in the United States the other great powerhouse of dance, not to mention China, Japan, Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Cuba and the rest of South America and the entire continent of Africa. Indeed, as I live 200 miles north of London, 250 south of Glasgow and at least 100 from Birmingham there will be many breathtaking performances in my own country that I never get to see.

This year there are two dancers who stand out in the way that Parish did in 2007 and DePrince in 2013 and I want to acknowledge them both.

One is the young Brazilan dancer, Daniel Robert Silva, who began Ernst Meisner's No Time before Time at the Meervaart Theatre on 14 Feb 2016 (see Ballet Bubbles 16 Feb 2016), in Lausanne where the ballet was premiered and at the opening gala of the Dutch National Ballet's season. I saw Silva again as the bronze idol in La Bayadere and he impressed me again even more (see Dutch National Ballet's La Bayadere 14 Nov 2016).

The other is Gwenllian Davies of Ballet Cymru. In the Riverfront Theatre on the banks of the Usk in Newport on Guy Fawkes night, I witnessed something extraordinary (see A Romeo and Juliet for our Times 7 Nov 2016). I have seen many of the world's greatest ballerinas dance Juliet. Technically and indeed artistically their performances were brilliant. But when I saw them dance I knew that I was watching Seymour, Tereshkina and Cojocaru. When Davies danced I saw only Juliet. That is why her performance was spellbinding. Perhaps on another night it would not have been but magic was wrought that night.

I want to express my appreciation and gratitude to all the excellent young dancers whom I have admired but not yet acknowledged in this way and to wish them all the very best in their careers and lives.

Circulation

There are still another 11 days to run before the end of the month but December has already turned out to be our best month ever with 13,438 page hits. We have received 216,581 since we started this publication with our review of Ballet West's performance of The Nutcracker at Pitlochry on 25 Feb 2013.  The choice of subject matter proved to be prescient because each and every one of our top 5 articles has had a Welsh or Scottish connection.

Our most popular article of all time measured by the number of page hits has been David Murley's review of Ballet Cymru's performance of Little Red Riding Hood and the Three Little Pigs at Sadler's Wells on 29 Nov 2016 (see David Murley Little Red Riding Hood comes to London 2 Dec 2016).  It is followed very closely by my review of the same company's Romeo a Juliet in Newport on 5 Nov 2016 (see A Romeo and Juliet for our Times 7 Nov 2016). I am delighted by the interest that my readers have shown in Ballet Cymru.  On 4 Dec 2016, Ballet Cymru appeared on the stage of the Donald Gordon Theatre with the entire BBC National Orchestra of Wales in the Wales Millennium Centre before a packed house in a performance that may turn out to be as significant for the development of ballet in Wales as Sader's Wells Ballet's performance of The Sleeping Beauty proved to be for the development of ballet in the United Kingdom (see Ballet Cymru's "Sleeping Beauty Moment" 5 Dec 2016).  I am proud to say that I am a Friend of Ballet Cymru and that I am very fond of that company.

Another company that has a special place in my affection is Scottish Ballet because it was the first company that I got to know and love.  I was at St Andrews when the Western Theatre Ballet moved from Bristol to Glasgow and our Professor of Fine Arts, John Steer, who had known the company when it was in the West Country introduced me to its great choreographer, Peter Darrell, and its talented dancers.  I am therefore particularly satisfied that our third most popular article is my preview of David Dawson's Swan Lake in Liverpool (see Dawson's Swan Lake comes to Liverpool 29 May 2016). The article was prompted by Christopher Hampson's on-stage elevation of two of my favourite ballerinas, Bethany Kingsley-Garner and Constance Devernay, to principals of the company after their performances in Swan Lake. I reviewed Dawson's ballet in which Kingsley-Garner danced Odette in Empire Blanche - Dawson's Swan Lake 4 June 2016. The company has re-staged Hampson's Hansel and Gretel which I reviewed when it first appeared (see Scottish Ballet's Hansel and Gretel 23 Dec 2013).

My fourth most popular article is my interview with Gavin McCaig (see Meet Gavin McCaig of Northern Ballet 3 Sept 2014). Gavin is, of course, a Scotsman.  I interviewed him shortly after he had joined the company as an apprentice and before he had started to tour.  He seems to be doing very well in the company and has toured the length and breadth of the United Kingdom as well as venues in China. I last saw him in Beauty and the Beast on Saturday where he was a friend of Isabelle and Chantelle and a guest at Beauty and Orian's wedding. In the latter role he and the other guests had to do some thrilling jumps and turns. Like everybody in the cast, he did very well and they earned a special "bravi" from me at the curtain call. Northern Ballet is a company that I have followed ever since its formation and supported ever since I moved back to Manchester in 1985. I am a Friend of both the company and the Academy and for the last 3 years I have been attending at least one and often two ballet classes there a week,

Appropriately, my fifth most popular article of all time is about Ballet West (see Congratulations to Ballet West - here's to the next 25 Years 25 Nov 2016). I am looking forward to seeing Ballet West in Swan Lake early in the New Year. They were very impressive when I last saw them in 2014 (see Swan Loch - Ballet West's Swan Lake, Pitlochry 1 March 2014 3 March 2914). This time I hope to catch them at the Armadillo where they will show what they can do on a big stage. Next year their artistic director, Gillian Barton, has promised that they will dance La Sylphide - just for me.  I do hope that is still possible because it is a lovely ballet rarely performed in the UK which is surprising as it is set in Scotland.

I wish all the folks in Ballet Cymru Nadolig llawen a blwyddyn newydd dda and all the Scots a Merry Christmas and a Good New Year.

A Romeo and Juliet for our Times

Ballet Cymru, Romeo a Juliet, Riverfront Theatre, Newport, 5 Nov 2016, 19:30


Never has the story of Romeo and Juliet been more relevant to our times. Powerful aristocratic families may no longer brawl in Verona but, as Krzysztof Pastor showed in his version of Romeo and Juliet for Scottish Ballet, other forces have taken their place (see Scottish Ballet's Timeless Romeo and Juliet 18 May 2014). In Pastor's ballet the protagonists wore red shirts and black shirts and his message was reinforced by documentary footage from recent Italian history which was projected onto the backdrop. We see similar divisions in the bitter election campaign on the other side of the Atlantic  and, indeed, in our own country since the EU referendum. Shakespeare teaches us that hate kills. A lot of people die in his story - not just Romeo and Juliet but also Tybalt, Mercutio and Paris. However, there is also hope in Shakespeare's tale for the feuding families eventually come to their senses.

It is one thing for a theatrical work to be relevant to our times but quite another to transpose it to our times. It is sometimes said that ballet (like the other performing arts) needs to "get with it" (as folk used to say in the 1960s) if it is not to wither on the vine. It was the subject of the discussion between David Nixon and Luke Jennings on Front Row a few weeks ago which I mentioned in Of Bikes and Busses 25 Oct 2016. Pastor's colleague at the Dutch National Ballet, David Dawson, successfully brought  Swan Lake up to date for Scottish Ballet (see Empire Blanche: Dawson's Swan Lake 4 June 2016). It seems that Ted Brandsen may have pulled it off with Coppelia (see A Coppelia Makeover  5 Nov 2016). Other choreographers have been less successful. I fear that Akram Khan did not quite manage it with Giselle nor Nixon with Swan Lake I think Darius James and Amy Doughty succeeded in Romeo a Juliet.

Over the last few years, James and Doughty have produced one fine work after another - Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella and Tir to name just three. They have a company of dancers who in my view stand comparison with any similarly sized troupe in the world. They have rightly been nominated for the National Dance Awards for the second time year running, Why they do not get even more critical attention and indeed acclaim beats me. I may be a humble blogger but I have seen a lot of ballets in my time and in my book James and Doughty and their company are among the brightest stars in the balletic firmament just now.

I had seen Ballet Cymru's Romeo a Juliet in the Brewery Arts Centre in Kendal in 2013 and loved it (see They're not from Chigwell - they're from a small Welsh Town called Newport 14 May 2013). On Saturday I saw the same ballet in the company's hometown and loved it even more. The show was presented in the Riverfront Arts Centre, a modern complex of galleries, studios and auditoriums on the banks of the Usk. The larger of the auditoriums seats 482 persons and has a big stage for dance. It was there that the show took place.

One of the reasons why I loved the show so much was Gwenllian Davies's remarkable performance as Juliet. Davies is in her first year with the company and this is her first job. Consequently, she is barely older than Shakespeare's Juliet. As I told her after the show, I have seen some of the world's greatest dancers in the role including Lynn Seymour and more recently Alina Cojocaru and Viktoria Tereshkina, but never have I seen a more convincing Juliet. Davies danced with passion and energy and, for a while, I saw in that talented young artist what Shakespeare must have imagined. Of course, Juliet is nothing without her Romeo. Andrea Battagia partnered Davies exquisitely.  Also young he has already achieved much in his career. He brought that experience and authority to the performance. He commands a stage in a way that few other dancers of his age can equal.

Another reason for the success of the ballet was Lydia Arnoux. She danced Cerys or Juliet's best friend. Because I am accused of double standards in not criticizing this innovation as "change for change's sake", I should explain that James and Doughty have set their ballet in modern Britain (indeed Newport) in which teenagers' nurses no longer exist but best friends do. Cerys more than makes up for the absence of the nurse. She introduces a new dynamic into the show. I had seen Arnoux in Kendal but she was even moredelightful on Saturday night.

Anther excellent young dancer whom Ballet Cymru has recruited as an apprentice just over a month ago is Ann Wall. As a member of the London Ballet Circle, I am proud to see that we have supported her. She danced Lady Capulet which is a demanding role for any dancer but particularly a very young one. She has to balance conflicting emotions of love and duty and acquire instantly the weight of years. She succeeded admirably.  In that role she was partnered deftly by Robbie Moorcroft as Lord Capulet. Moorcroft, another of the company's most experienced dancers and well liked by audiences, was impressive. He was magisterial in restraining Tybalt and rebuking Romeo after Romeo had gatecrashed the Capulets' party but tyrannical in his anger when confronted by a defiant daughter.

It was her father's blow that triggered the chain of events that led to the death of the lovers and Paris. Paris, danced by Mark Griffiths, yet another recent recruit by the company. Paris, an apparently decent man with seemingly sincere affection for Juliet, suffers not just her rejection but also death after lingering in the crypt for just a little bit too long. I have always had sympathy for him as I have for Hilarion in Giselle. He has even less cause to die.

The same cannot always be called for the headstrong Tybalt whom I have always regarded as a bit of a thug. Dylan Waddell portrayed him as a loyal brother zealous in defence of his sister's honour. Waddell, whom I had previously seen in MurleyDance, us a strong but sensitive dancer and a fine actor. Miguel Fernandes was a great choice for Mercutio. Another exciting dancer tp watch. So, too, was Anna Pujol, a convincing Benvolio.

One dancer I was particularly glad to see on stage was Krystal Lowe. She first impressed me in Kendal and my admiration for her work has increased with every performance. Her appearance in Tir at Sadler's Wellls last year a few weeks after the loss of Mandev Sokhi  was one of the most moving I have ever seen. She was the Friar on Saturday, a pivotal role but not the extended one created by Jean-Christophe Maillot for his version. Lowe was as magnificent as ever. If I had flowers I would gladly have tossed them on stage for her. On Saturday she performed as a guest artist. I understand that she is now at the University of South Wales and teaching Ballet Cymru's adult ballet class. I am sure all my readers join me in wishing her well in this latest stage of her career.

I said above that this was a Romeo and Juliet for our times. James and Doughty achieved this with only minimal changes to the libretto and only an abridgement of Prokofiev's score. The dancers wore modern dress and images of Newport flashed on stage. For instance, an image of the passage under the bridge across the Usk (which lies just yards away from the Riverfront) appeared in the riot scenes. The flashing light of a police vehicle appeared just at the point where the duke would arrive in other productions. Instead of swords the boys carried shillelaghs and knives. Nothing to suggest Verona.

Romeo a Juliet is James and Doughty's best work yet, It shows how a small company of young dancers with modest resources can stage a full-length ballet brilliantly.  It would not surprise me in the least if Ballet Cymru were nominated for a National Dance Award next year on the strength of this production.

Powys Dance

Powys is huge. It accounts for 25% of Wales. It stretches all the way from the county that we used to know as Merioneddshire to erstwhile Monmouthshire. It straddles the English border to Machynlleth by the Irish sea. It stretches from the Brecon Beacons almost to Snowdonia.

Powys was created by the Local Government Act 1972, the same monstrous legislation that abolished our Saxon ridings and left us "Cleveland" and "Humberside" in its stead. Save for early medieval historians and archaeologists whose research or teaching concerned the 5th-century Celtic kingdom by that name, nobody spoke of "Powys" before that Act came into force.

But never mind, the people of that massive local government entity have created institutions with which folk from its ancient market towns and rural villages can identify. One of those institutions is Powys Dance (or Dawns Powys if you prefer).

Powys Dance is the dance authority for this municipality and claims on the About page of its website to have "been a part of the cultural fabric of the Powys arts scene for 35 years." Its mission is "to inspire more people to enjoy participating in dance" and, if the following video is anything to go by, it succeeds in that objective.

What We Do at Powys Dance from Powys Dance on Vimeo.

Classes are offered to kids, young people and adults with disabilities at very reasonable rates. These include ballet, Pilates and yoga at an impressive looking studio and auditorium at Llandrindod Wells.

Powys Dance's blog shows that the county is visited by the National Dance Company of Wales (see National Dance Company of Wales @ The Hafren: Class + Performance 24 Oct 2016) and I see from Ballet Cymru's website that that company will dance Romeo a Juliet at the same venue on 9 Dec 2016. Having seen that performance in Kendal three years ago (see They're not from Chigwell - they're from a small Welsh Town called Newport 14 May 2013) and the National Dance Company in Huddersfield (see Cambriophilia  19 March 2015) I can tell the ballet and dance fans of Newtown that they are in for a treat.

Arts Council of Wales grants to Dance in Wales

The Arts Council of Wales has published its portfolio allocations for 2015-2016 and recommendations for 2016-2017 and has some good news for Ballet Cymru.  The company's grant will increase to £193,842 for the current year and an extra £50,000 is recommended for the year after. The National Dance Company of Wales will get £835,209 this year and £805,977 next year.

Ballet Cymru will start a nationwide tour with Little Red Riding Hood and Three Little Pigs on 20 May 2016 (see Tour Dates). It will also take Romeo a Juliet (which I reviewed in They're not from Chigwell - they're from a small Welsh Town called Newport 14 May 2013) to Portsmouth, Llanelli and Stevenage.

The company is also doing great educational and outreach work with ballet and body conditioning classes in Newport between 18:00 and 19:30 on Mondays.  Next time I find myself in Swyddfa Batent I shall bring my shoes and leotard with me.

So head over the water - on the transporter - to visit Ballet Cymru - in their home city

On 3 Oct 2015 the London Ballet Circle will visit Ballet Cymru at its studios in Newport. Audrey Allen writes in the Circle's newsletter:

"As the company is small in size it is possible to meet and talk to everyone in a friendly and informal setting, and those who went last year commented on the warm hospitality they received."

I have already had the pleasure of meeting Darius James and Marc Brew but it is dancers who make a company and Ballet Cyrmru has some lovely dancers. Last year at Stuck in the Mud in Llandudno I came very close to two of my favourites, Krystal Lowe and Mandev Sokhi (see An Explosion of Joy 21 Sept 2014). So maybe this year I will actually get to shake their hands.

Ballet Cymru reminds me a lot of Scottish Theatre Ballet when it first moved to Glasgow from Bristol. It is still a small company but it already has the confidence to stage full length classics like Romeo and Juliet and Cinderella and interpret them in an original way (see They're not from Chigwell - they're from a small Welsh Town called Newport 14 May 2013 and Ballet Cymru's Cinderella 15 June 2015). It is very conscious of being a national ballet company. For instance, it has commissioned two scores from the young Welsh composer Jack White, its programmes and website are bilingual and it has introduced characters with Welsh names into Romeo and (or rather "a") Juliet and Cinderella.

The London Ballet Circle is one of the company's funders.  It contributes the Stanley Hawkins bursary which enables a student to attend the company's advanced ballet summer school. The company also receives support from the Arts Council of Wales, its local authority, the Garfield Weston Foundation and other trusts and foundations as well as donations from the public. One of the reasons for the London Ballet Circle's visit is to raise funds and members of the Circle and their guests are invited to contribute £12.50 each.

If you are coming from London you should aim to catch the 09:45 from Paddington. If you live in the North or Midlands there will be space in my car for at least one passenger. I can take either the M6 and M5 if I have a passenger from the North West or the M1, M42 and M5 if I have a passenger for Sheffield or Nottingham. Just let Audrey know you are coming and send your cheque for £12.50 to her at 8 Goldsmith Road, London, N11 3JP (tel: 020 8361 2872, Email: audrey8allen@gmail.com). The main party have to catch their train back to the Smoke at 16:39 but we can leave whenever we like and there is much to see in Newport.

First and foremost there is Caerleon with its Roman archaeological site, museum, fortress and baths. When I was learning Latin I had to translate an unseen about a man who threw a stone at a dog which had walked on his mud tiles as they were drying in the sun. I seem to remember that he missed. In the text book there was a photo of the canine footprint and the indentation made by the stone. The Romans didn't waste the tile. They installed it in the Caerleon baths and if you get to Caerleon you can actually see it.

There is also the Riverfront Theatre where Ballet Cymru will perform TIR, Celtic Concerto and a new ballet by Marc Brew on 6 Nov 2015.  The music for TIR will be provided by Cerys Matthews who is one of the company's patrons. She has such a lovely voice that it would almost be worth learning Welsh to understand her song. It is certainly worth a trip to Newport to hear her live.



I find myself going to Newport quite often for work. The Intellectual Property Office moved to Concept House in parkland on the outskirts of the city nearly 25 years ago. I argue such matters as entitlement actions (disputes over who owns or is entitled to apply for a patent) or oppositions and invalidity applications (disputes over the registration of trade marks) before tribunals known as hearing officers. At a recent conference on intellectual property law that I attended which was organized by the Intellectual Property Office I found that several senior officials were quite unaware that Newport had a national ballet company. I will try to bring those great institutions closer together.

Now, what's the transporter mentioned in the Jay Z  spoof?  It is actually a bridge across the Usk. It is called the transporter because goods and passengers are carried across the river in a module that is hauled by an electric motor. There are similar ones in Middlesbrough and Warringtom.  These structures seem to have their own friends' groups rather like ballet companies. I find it strange that anyone can become passionate about an obsolete mode of transport but maybe the friends of those bridges would say the same about my passion for ballet.

They're not from Chigwell - they're from a small Welsh Town called Newport

Except that Newport is not all that small and it has a very good ballet company called Ballet Cymru. I blogged about the company in "Ballet Cymru: 'Romeo a Juliet'" and on Saturday 11 May 2013 I actually got to see them at the Brewery Arts Centre in Kendal.

Now Kendal really is a small town but its arts centre is impressive. Not only does it have a fair size auditorium for dance and drama but it also has space for pictures, cinema, a pretty good restaurant and several bars. Last Saturday there was a reggae concert and two first run films as well as the Welsh Ballet. My friend had an excellent sea food and I a meat platter before the show for £9.99 each. On the walls outside the auditorium I admired some interesting art work that appeared to have been made from rubbish washed up on a beach. Incidentally, the Brewery is only one of a number of attractions in this town. Earlier in the day we glimpsed the Quaker Tapesty and enjoyed some of the delicious drinking chocolate at the Famous 1657 Chocolate House. And there is so much more in this delightful town.

But we had come to see ballet and in particular Darius James and Amy Doughty's version of Romeo & Juliet. Now I knew Kenneth MacMillan's very well and had actually seen Lynn Seymour dance Juliet. It is a big ballet for a big company. I knew from the promotional video that Ballet Cymru would use the Prokofiev score and I wondered how on earth a small touring company without an orchestra on a tiny stage could possibly do justice to it.

The answer is that they did pretty well.  There used a backdrop and projector for the scene changes: stained glass for Friar Laurence's cell and flickering candles for Juliet's funeral.   Minimal props that had to include a double bed and catafalque. Contemporary clothes instead of Italian renaissance costumes. I liked Tybault's Welsh dragon tattoo that could have been lifted from the Jay-Z spoof. The music was recorded but it sounded almost as though it was live. According to the programme it was provided by Sinfonia Cymru conducted by Richard Laing.

However, it was the dancers who made the evening and they were delightful. It is probably unfair to singe any of them out but Emily Pimm Edwards as Juliet, Lydia Arnoux as Cerys (Juliet's girl friend instead of a nurse), Krystal Lowe as one of the Montagues and Daisuke Miura impressed me very much indeed. Edwards for her dramatic as well as balletic skill, Arnoux for her adorable, flirtatious girlishness, Lowe for her street wise swagger and Miura for his athleticism. I think I saw several stars in the making on Saturday night.

There was some interesting touches to the choreography. The use of a clog dance - not a sweet mother and daughter one as in Fille - but a more sinister emphasis of stamping feet by the Montagues. I have also mentioned the substitution of Cerys for the nurse which gave scope for Arnoux.  And finally the tragic pas de deux of Romeo and the lifeless Juliet.   Shortly after the performance I tweeted that I preferred James and Doughty's choreography to MacMillan. On reflection I would rather not compare the Royal Ballet's work with the Welsh because they are so different  but I certainly liked the Welsh version as much as the Royal's and I would really like to see more of James's choreography.   I have seen a lot of ballet over the last 40 years or so.   I rarely get as excited about a company as I did on Saturday.

The company spent only one night in Kendal. The next day they were off to Ayr. Then back to the Lake District.  Later this week they are on their way to Hertfordshire.  It must be an exhausting tour.  If Ballet Cymru come anywhere near you they are well worth seeing,

Ballet Cymru: "Romeo a Juliet"

Ballet Cyrnru is based in Newport which became notorious for a Jay Z take-off that many thought was better than the original. Of course, there is more to Newport than that.  It is the home of the Swyddfa Eiddo Deallusol ("Intellectual Property Office" to you sunshine) which keeps me busy. It also has The National Roman Legion Museum at Caerleon, one of the best archaeological museums in the country. It has a castle, cathedral, a university campus and curious bridge called The Transporter.  And of course, the ballet company.

The company has just produced a new version of Romeo and Juliet (or "Romeo a Juliet" as it prefers to call it) which will be premièred at the Riverfront Theatre in Newport on 3 May and then go on tour.  Appropriately their first port of call outside Wales will be Cumbria and Ayrshire where Welsh was once spoken.

I shall try to catch up with them at The Brewery Arts Centre in Kendal where they are performing on the 11.  I shall let you know how they get on.