Review of 2019

Alexander Campbell, Male Dancer of 2019

Author Wild21swan

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Source Wikipedia Alexander Campbell (dancer)

The year that has just ended was a particularly good one for dance. Two of the world's greatest ballet companies, the Bolshoi and the San Francisco Ballet visited London. There were excellent productions of Carlos Acosta's Don Quixote by the Royal Ballet, Rudi van Dantzig's Swan Lake by the Dutch National Ballet, Christopher Wheeldon's Cinderella by English National Ballet and Giselle and The Nutcracker by the Birmingham Royal Ballet.  Phoenix Dance Theatre excelled itself with its Rite of Spring performed as part of a double bill with Opera North at the Lowry.  There was some great choreography by David Dawson, Cathy Marston, Mthuthuzeli November and Ruth Brill. Scottish Ballet, the first company that I got to know and love, celebrated the 50th anniversary of its déménagement from Bristol to Glasgow, Northern Ballet the 50th anniversary of its first performance at the University Theatre in Manchester and Chelmsford Ballet, the amateur company in Essex on which Powerhouse Ballet is modelled its 70th.  Incidentally and on a much more parochial level but very importantly for me, our little transpennine amateur company gave its first performance at the Dancehouse Theatre in Manchester in May as part of the KNT Dancework's 10th-anniversary gala in a work that was choreographed by Terence Etheridge who had been one of the original members of what is ow Northern Ballet.

With all this activity, readers might think that this would be a particularly difficult year to pick performances, performers, companies and choreographers of the year and for the most part, they would be right.  But there was once performance that stood head and shoulders above the rest and that was the Bolshoi Ballet's Spartacus at the Royal Opera House on 10 Aug 2019.  This is what I wrote about the show:

"Ever since I saw a streaming of the ballet from Moscow nearly 6 years ago I have longed to see it on stage. I have had a long wait because few if any Western companies seem to perform the work and certainly no British ones. This year, however, the Bolshoi included Spartacus in its London season so I traipsed down to London yesterday to see it. The ticket in the centre of row G of the stalls wasn't cheap. Neither was the rail fare. The rail network was all over the place as a result of the high winds and the aftermath of Friday's power outage. Nevertheless, I can think of no better use of my time or a better way to spend my money. I have been going to the ballet for nearly 60 years and see about 50 shows a year. Rarely have I been more excited by a performance than I was yesterday by the Bolshoi's performance of Spartacus."

One of the reasons why the show was so good is that Igor Tsvirko and Ruslan Skvortsov danced the male leads and Margarita Shrayner and Ekaterina Krysanova the female ones.  They were so good that I had shortlisted Tsvirko and Skvortsov for premier danseur noble and Shrayner and Krysanova for ballerina for 2019.

Male dancer of the year was very difficult this year because there were so many to choose from.  In addition to the two from the Bolshoi, I had listed Xander Parish of the Mariinsky whom I saw at the Dutch National Ballet's gala in September, Daniel Carmargo of the Dutch National Ballet and my ballerina of the year's partner Brandon Lawrence,  In any other year, any of those fine artists would have been my male dancer of the year but this was the year of Alexander Campbell. He won my heart for his Don Basilio in Don Quixote on 30 March 2019.  Here is what I wrote about him in Campbell and Magri in Royal Ballet's Don Quixote on 2 April 2019:

"My enjoyment of the show was facilitated greatly by the casting of Alexander Campbell as Don Basilio. A year or so ago I read about his taking part in a scheme by the RAD and MCC to encourage kids to take up ballet and cricket. Perfectly natural in my view as I have always had a passion for the two. I think it was Arnold Haskell who observed that cricket had predisposed the British to ballet pointing out many parallels between the two. Like another of my favourites, Xander Parish, Campbell had been a promising cricketer as a boy. I had long surmised that that might be the case before I had read that article for Campbell commands the stage like a batsman at the crease. There is something about his manner - perhaps his grin - that makes it impossible not to like him. He wielded his guitar while wooing the coquettish Kitri as an extension of himself just as a batsman holds his bat. As he seized her fan in the same scene I imagined his diving for a catch. In his jumps and lifts, he is much an athlete as an artist. It may be a figment of my imagination as it may be have been years since he last played the game, but I think that his youthful cricketing prowess has contributed more than a little to his appeal as a dancer."

I have never met Campbell but his personality bubbles as readers can see from this interview with him by Guerilla Cricket.

I had the same difficulty in choosing a ballerina of the year because of the abundance of talent. In addition to Shrayner and Krysanova, there was Maia Makhateli whom I described as "perhaps the best Odette-Odile I have seen since Sibley" and the ultra-talented Celine Gittens.  I have seen Gittens in many roles including Sugar Plum in the Albert Hall this year and last,  Swanilde in Coppelia and Juliet in MacMillan's Masterpiece but it was her performance as Giselle on 29 Sept 2019 that touched my heart:

"Gittens was outstanding in the title role. An accomplished actor as well as virtuoso, it was hard to stay dry-eyed as she glided inexorably towards her fate. First, the plucking of the petals, the heart murmurs, the warning from her mother, feeling the hem of Bathikde's garment and finally the deception as Hilarion produced Albrecht's sword and Albrecht acknowledged his posh betrothed."

My acknowledgement of Gittens's excellence is long overdue.  After I saw her in Romeo and Juliet I wrote:

Because of MacMillan's focus on Juliet's transition I can't help comparing the ballerina who dances that role with Seymour. I have never seen a performance that has impressed me as much as Seymour's over the last 50 years but some have come close. Last night's exquisite performance by Celine Gittens came closest of all. She taught me new things about the ballet. Her realization of her womanhood as she tossed aside her toy. The look that she gives Romeo before they dance a step. No doubt that is part of the choreography but somehow I had missed them all the other times that I have seen the work. In Gittens I saw Juliet rather than a representation of Juliet. Just as I had with Seymour all those years before.

After reading those words, Gittens reminded me on twitter that she like Seymour also came from Vancouver.

I saw some brilliant new works this year:  David Dawson's Requiem in Amsterdam, Jeanguy Saintus's The Rite of Spring, Cathy Marston's Snowblind as well as her Victoria and The Suit, Mthuthuzeli November's Ingoma and Ruth Brill's Peter and the Wolf.  Dawson and Marston are two of my all-time favourite choreographers.  I love Dawson's Swan Lake and admire Marston's Snowblind enormously November's Ingoma moved every emotion but there was just one work that I just had to see twice, That work was Peter and the Wold. When I saw it in Shrewsbury I wrote:

"Peter and the Wolf is just so well known and well-loved it could not possibly fail to appeal. I first heard the score and dialogue on Children's Favourites with Uncle Mac on the Light Programme in the early 1950s and I have seen countless performances in various genres on different mediums at different levels of performance ever since. So, no doubt, would a lot of other people in the audience,
Yet Brill created something new. First, she set it in the urban wilderness and not a rural one. The set was scaffolding. A tree only in a child's imagination. There was a pond for a duck that was probably a burst water main or a crater. And the wolf was very much of the two-footed kind as in Annabelle Lopez Ochoa's Little Red Riding Hood. Secondly, she cast Day as Peter, Tori Forsyth-Hecken, Alys Shee and Eilis Small as the hunters and Tzu-Chao Chou as the little bird. I have to be careful here for I once got into trouble with several of the company's dancers by discerning a dimension that upset them but I detected a feminist twist here. If Peter is a boy and the hunters are men, as they usually are, it is the female duck that is eaten by the male wolf (Mathias Dingman) it is the makes who remove the pest and lead him into captivity. Whether intended or not there was a strong feminist twist Brill made it clear that women can take care of threats without the need for heroes thanks very much.
Day may have been cast as a boy but she danced like a girl and one with spirit - particularly when her granddad (Barton) scooped her from the meadow (building site) and lectured her about keeping safe. Like a girl, she showed ingenuity in catching the wolf and I think also like a girl she interceded with the hunters to save its life. Downs made a great cat. I loved the way she probed the air with her paw just like a real moggy. And there was a lovely performance of the duck by Shee taking the place of Brooke Ray. I enjoyed her riposte to the bird's taunt: "What sort of bird are you if you can't fly?"
Peter and the Wolf will be danced in Birmingham and London as well as other places and I think audiences will love it."

I liked it even better when I saw it again in London:

"Even though I liked Lyric Pieces and Sense of Time very much, the highlight for me was Peter and the Wolf. The cast was the same as it had been in Shrewsbury except that Brooke Ray was able to dance the duck. Laura Day danced Peter as charmingly as she did in Theatre Severn, Matthias Dingman the wold, Tzu-Chao Chou the bird, Samara Downs the cat, James Barton the grandfather and Tori Forsyth-Hacken, Alys Shee and Eilis Small the hunters. As I forecast in my review of their performance in Shrewsbury, the audience at Sadler's Wells loved Peter and the Wolf. I don't think that they danced any better in London than they did in Shrewsbury but a London audience somehow lifts a show. I think that is because a show is a sort of conversation. An audience that sees a lot of dance appreciates a good show and responds accordingly. That, in turn, is picked up by the cast who shine even more. It was a great atmosphere and it was lovely to see the choreographer acknowledging our applause at the reverence."

I notice from her twitter stream that Brill has been appointed artistic director of the London Children's Ballet.  All I can say about that is that the kids are very fortunate to work with such a fine choreographer at an early point in their lives. I wish Ruth Brll every success in that endeavour and I will support it any way I can.

Brill used to dance for the Birmingham Royal Ballet and Gittens still does. Over the year that company has offered some great shows such as the Seasons in our World and Peter and the Wolf double bill, [Un]leashed,  Giselle and The Nutcracker at the Royal Albert Hall. Its former director has just been awarded a knighthood.  It has done tremendous outreach and educational work throughout the country and particularly in the West Midlands. It is starting a new era with Carlos Acosta as its artistic director.  There can be no doubt to acknowledge the Birmingham Royal Ballet as the company of the year.

My character artist for 2019 is Sarah Kundi for her performance as Hortensia in Christopher Wheeldon's Cinderella.  In Cinders in the Round I wrote:

"The second act is the prince's ball where the step mum and her daughters turn up with Cinders's dad but no Cinders wearing quite the wrong outfits and generally making fools of themselves. Things got worse when the drink was served because the stepmother drank just a teeny weeny bit too much and had to be lifted off the floor and carried to a couch. That role was performed by Sarah Kundi who is one of my favourite dancers. I have followed her ever since she was with Northern Ballet in Leeds. She used to remind me of a famous dancer of my youth whom she still resembles in many ways. Since she joined ENB I have begun to appreciate her for her own qualities. Kundi stole the second act if not the show and she raised more than a few laughs in the third act when she showed up at the breakfast table with one almighty hangover."

I concluded my review as follows:

"Erina Takahashi was a lovely Cinders and Joseph Caley was a great prince. Good to see Gavin Sutherland from Huddersfield conducting the orchestra, But the star for me on Sunday was definitely Kundi."

In most years Gary Avis would win character artist of the year hands down. Alas, I can't give him that accolade this year as I saw him live only once as Don Quixote.  He is a charming man who excels in every role.  He deserves special recognition for a brilliant career.  He is certainly the best character artist of his time.  With the possible exception of Wayne Sleep, he is probably the best I have ever seen.

Finally, conductor of the year and there are some worthy contenders:  Koen Kessels, Boris Gruzin, Gavin Sutherland, Matthew Rowe and Jonathan Lo.  My choice for 2019 is Maestro Rowe for his work as director of music and principal conductor of the orchestra of the Dutch National Ballet.

Summary

Ballet of the Year   Bolshoi Ballet, Spartacus, Royal Opera House, 10 Aug 2019
Male Dancer of the Year   Alexander Campbell, the Royal Ballet
Ballerina of the Year  Celine Gittens, Birmingham Royal Ballet
Choreographer of the Year  Ruth Brill, London Children's Ballet
Company of the Year  Birmingham Royal Ballet
Character Artist of the Year  Sarah Kundi
Conductor of the Year  Matthew Rowe
Best Character Artist of his Time Gary Avus

[Un}leashed

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Birmingham Royal Baller [Un]leashed (Lyric Pieces, Sense of Time and Peter and the Wolf) Sadler's Wells, 25 June 2019, 19:30

I enjoyed Peter and the Wolf so much when I saw it in Shrewsbury on 18 May 2019 that I booked to see it again in London on 25 June 2019. Sadly, that performance clashed with the transmission of Nothern Ballet's Victoria which I believe to have been the first time that Northern Ballet had streamed its output to cinemas.  Although I always prefer stage to screen, the big advantage of HDTV is that offers close-ups of the artists, their costumes and the sets. Having seen the show in Leeds and Leicester several curiosities on my part could have been satisfied.

Returning to Peter and the Wolf, it appeared at the end of a triple bill with Jessica Lang's Lyric Pieces and Didy Veldman's Sense of Time.   The title of the show was [Un]leashed and I wondered why.   I considered whether it was something to do with the wolf.  It would explain the letters in square brackets for the animal had been leashed in the sense that it was lassoed by Peter and led off to the zoo. The nearest I got to an explanation in the programme notes was in the welcome from David Bintley. He wrote that "[Un]leashed epitomises Birmingham Royal Ballet's enthusiasm for and commitment to new work."  I have to say that it had never previously occurred to me that the Birmingham Royal Ballet's artists had been constrained in any way.  With Brill, Holder and Day to name just three, the BRB has always struck me as a prodigiously creative company.

Lyric Pieces is the second of Lang's pieces that I have seen.   In 2016 she contributed Wink based on Shakespeare's 43rd sonnet to commemorate the 400th anniversary of his death (see Birmingham Royal Ballet brings Shakespeare to York 18 May 2016).  The piece consists of 10 dances set to selected short solo piano compositions by Edward Grieg.  With titles like Elves Dance, Peasants Song, Norwegian Melody and March of the Trolls they are clearly connected with Norwegian folklore. The dancers' space is defined or in some cases marked by expandable or contractable black kraft paper. They constructed fan-like props for themselves.  I enjoyed all of the pieces, particularly Phantom, a duet by Celine Gittens and Brandon Lawrence, and March of the Trolls by Maureya Lebowitz, Yvette Knight, Yijing Zhang, James Barton and Max Maslen.

Didy Veldman's Sense of Time explores our relationship with time.  Possibly because busses, trains and aeroplanes run to timetables the central feature of this piece is a pile of suitcases some of which fall away. Others are removed to reveal cosy boltholes through which artists climb.  The piece is not just about the dominance of time.  It is also about time as a resource and how we sometimes squander it.  In one scene the dancers appear to squint at mobile phones.  The score was composed by Gabriel Prokofiev who also created the music for Shobana Jeyasingh's La Bayadere - The Ninth Life.  There is a sort of connection with Peter and the Wolf as Gabriel Prokofiev is Sergei Prokofiev's grandson. The music combines the sort of melodies the grandfather could have written with strident electronic sounds.  Gittens, Lawrence, Zhang and Knight were in Sense of Time together with Tyrone Singleton, Delia Matthews, Gabriel Anderson, Edivaldo Souza da Silva, Yaogiang Shang, Lachlan Monaghan, Beatrice Parma and Aitor Galende.

Even though I liked Lyric Pieces and Sense of Time very much, the highlight for me was Peter and the Wolf. The cast was the same as it had been in Shrewsbury except that Brooke Ray was able to dance the duck. Laura Day danced Peter as charmingly as she did in Theatre Severn, Matthias Dingman the wold, Tzu-Chao Chou the bird, Samara Downs the cat, James Barton the grandfather and Tori Forsyth-Hacken, Alys Shee and Eilis Small the hunters.  As I forecast in my review of their performance in Shrewsbury, the audience at Sadler's Wells loved Peter and the Wolf.  I don't think that they danced any better in London than they did in Shrewsbury but a London audience somehow lifts a show. I think that is because a show is a sort of conversation.  An audience that sees a lot of dance appreciates a good show and responds accordingly.  That, in turn, is picked up by the cast who shine even more. It was a great atmosphere and it was lovely to see the choreographer acknowledging our applause at the reverence.

Peter and the Wolf have more performances in Plymouth in October and children will be introduced to that ballet with a special hour-long, interactive show, called First Steps: Peter and the Wolf.  I hope that they will bring it to the Lowry or some other Northern theatre one day.  Sadly, we have to wait until March to see them again but as they will bring us their Swan Lake it will be worth the wait.  Two shows that I shall try to catch in Birmingham will be Giselle and The Nutcracker.   I also recommend The Nutcracker in the Albert Hall.

The Nutcracker returns to the Royal Albert Hall

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Birmingham Royal Ballet The Nutcracker 29 Dec 2019 14:00 Royal Albert Hall

Each of the five largest ballet companies of the United Kingdom has a version of The Nutcracker in its repertoire.  I have seen all of them at one time or another and the ones that I like best which are Scottish, Northern's and the Birmingham Royal Ballet's more than once.  If I had to choose one it would be Peter Wright's production for the BRB. Last year I saw it in the Hippodrome in Birmingham. Yesterday I saw it upscaled fro the Royal Albert Hall.

This was not the first time I had seen ballet in that auditorium.   On previous occasions, I had seen Romeo and Juliet and Swan Lake in the round performed by the English National Ballet.  Birmingham Royal Ballet used the space quite differently.  They created a stage at one end of the floor above which they positioned the orchestra. On either side of the stage, they placed enormous screens upon which all sorts of images such as pine branches and baubles to represent a growing Christmas tree and falling snow for the snow scene. Seating was installed in the part of the floor not used as a stage and the gallery was closed off altogether.  My view from the centre of the Rausing circle was comparable to the view from the front of the amphitheatre at Covent Garden.

The libretto was very similar to the one for the version that I had seen at the Hippodrome last year and used about the same number of dancers. The one big difference was a voiceover by Simon Callow which was probably harmless enough but not particularly necessary. He was supposed to represent Drosselmeyer who was already represented in dance more than adequately by Rory Mackay.  What rankled a little bit with me was that Callow spoke in a thick continental accent that made Drosselmeyer appear to be some kind of foreigner which was unlikely as he was Clara and Fritz Stahlbaum's godfather. Unlike Sir Peter Wright's production for the Royal Ballet, there was no subplot of the nutcracker being Drosselmeyer's nephew imprisoned in wood. Nor were there an,y angels in the Birmingham version.

The other three lead characters yesterday were the Sugar Plum danced by Celine Gittens, her prince Brandon Lawrence and Clara who was Arancha Baselga. On 26 June 2018, I had been captivated by Gittens's portrayal of Juliet although she had been one of my favourites for some time (see MacMillan's Masterpiece 29 June 2018). I chose yesterday's matinee specifically to catch Gittens and I am glad to say that she did not disappoint me. I was too far away to see her face which had been so eloquent when she danced Juliet but her elegance was unmistakable.  As in June, she was partnered by Lawrence who demonstrated his strength and virtuosity. Baselga delighted her audience with her energy as she threw herself into the divertissements in Act II. I admired and liked her particularly in the Russians ance as she was tossed from dancer to dancer like a bag of cement.

Another of my favourites is Ruth Briill who danced Clara's grannie with Kit Holder. I had thought of auditioning for that role if and when Powerhouse Ballet ever performs that ballet but having seen Brill in Birmingham's production and Hannah Bateman in Northern's (see Northern Ballet's "The Nutcracker" - All My Favourite Artists in the Same Show 14 Dec 2018) that may be a little bit too ambitious.  I had also contemplated auditioning for Mrs Stahlbaum until I saw Yvette Knight's impressive solo. Maybe I could be a rodent but not the rat king like Tom Rogers yesterday.

Plaudits are due to Harlequin, Columbine and the Jack in the Box danced by Gus Payne, Reina Fuchigami and Max Maslen, the Snow Queen (Alys Shee) and each and every one of the dancers in the divertissements in Act II. I particularly liked Laura Purkiss as the Spanish princess and Beatrice Parma as the rose fairy.

I must also congratulate the orchestra and its conductor Koen Kessels whom I had the pleasure of meeting ar the party following the Dutch National Ballet's gala on 8 September 2018. I attended the ballet with the nearest I have to a grandson and his mum who is the nearest I have to a daughter. She was particularly affected by the music saying that it had touched her in a way that previous performances of the score had not/. Clearly, I was not the only one to regard the music as special

Altogether it was one of the best performances of The Nutcracker that I have ever attended and a great way to end the year.  It is in the running for my ballet of the year as indeed is the Birmingham Royal Ballet for company of the year.  Upon the merger of my chambers with Arden Chambers earlier this year we acquired an annexe at Snow Hill in Birmingham which I intend to use to the full.  As I shall be spending far more time in their city I hope to see even more of the Birmingham Royal Ballet and get to know it even better.

MacMillan's Masterpiece

Romeo and Juliet web trailer from Birmingham Royal Ballet on Vimeo.

Birmingham Royal Ballet Romeo and Juliet 28 June 2018, 19:30 Birmingham Hippodrome

We have seen a lot of work by Sir Kenneth MacMillan over the last year or so to mark the 25th anniversary of his death. Everybody has his or her favourite work by that great man.  Mine is Romeo and Juliet.  It is about 50 years since I first saw that ballet at the Royal Opera House and I was captivated by it.  I have two abiding memories of that performance: Georgiadis's designs and Lynn Seymour's dancing.  I cannot for the life of me remember who partnered Seymour on that occasion.  It might have been Donald MacLeary, It may even have been Rudolf Nureyev. I certainly saw Nureyev with Fonteyn in that ballet - at least in film when I was a graduate student in Los Angeles if not on stage as I remember how much I preferred Seymour's dancing.

The reason I remember Seymour but not her partner is that MacMillan's ballet is a study of Juliet or rather her overnight transition from childhood to womanhood. Other choreographers have focused on different aspects of the story: Krzysztof Pastor on power or rather the power struggle between Capulets and Montagues reflecting the battle between left and right in modern Italian history (see Scottish Ballet's Timeless Romeo and Juliet 18 May 2014) while Jean-Christophe Maillot explores the role of Friar Lawrence (see Northern Ballet's Romeo and Juliet - different but in a good way 8 March 2015).  Romeo does not change or at least not in the same way and nothing like as much as as Juliet which is why I can always remember who danced Juliet in MacMillan's ballet but seldom her Romeo.

Because of MacMillan's focus on Juliet's transition I can't help comparing the ballerina who dances that role with Seymour. I have never seen a performance that has impressed me as much as Seymour's over the last 50 years but some have come close. Last night's exquisite performance by Celine Gittens came closest of all.  She taught me new things about the ballet.  Her realization of her womanhood as she tossed aside her toy. The look that she gives Romeo before they dance a step. No doubt that is part of the choreography but somehow I had missed them all the other times that I have seen the work.  In Gittens I saw Juliet rather than a representation of Juliet.  Just as I had with Seymour all those years before.

Another dancer who impressed me particularly last night was Ruth Brill.  She was the nurse. Not a big role  perhaps but a pivotal one.  She accompanies Juliet through every stage of the story.  A bighearted woman full of love.  She is ragged mercilessly by Juliet in the nursery and outrageously by the Montagues in the town square as she tries to deliver Juliet's note to Romeo. She prepares Juliet for her first ball. She witnesses her wedding. She tries to intercede with Juliet's parents when they force her to marry Paris. She discovers Juliet's lifeless body on the morning of what was supposed to be her wedding day.  She kneels beside her in the Capulet family crypt in the very last scene. Though very little of her face was visible under her veil I watched her eyes convey indignation as she was molested in the market place and then a frisson of delight as Romeo pecked her cheek after he had read Juliet's note.

Tall and athletic Brandon Lawrence was as worthy a Romeo as any I had seen in that role.  His duel with Tybalt was as thrilling as his dance with the seemingly lifeless Juliet in the crypt was chilling.  Valentin Olovyannikov was a haughty, headstrong Tybalt just as Shakespeare had portrayed him. Lachlan Monaghan was a gallant Mercutio stabbed in the back after he has every reason to believe his fight with Tybalt was over. It is always hard to hold back tears as he strums his sword as if it were a musical instrument and it was particularly hard last night. Samara Downs was a formidable Lady Capulet from the first icy curtsy at Escalus's command to the explosion of rage at the sign of her slain son. Alice Shee was a charming Rosaline. How many lives would have been saved had Romeo not given up on her.

There was so much to like in that performance.  There is the dance by Juliet's friends at the Capulets' party as she plucks the strings.  There is the mandolin dance  by the men in fuzzy costumes.  There was Paul Andrews's sets and costumes even though I think I prefer Georgiadis's which remind me so much of the work of Leon Bakst. There was the magnificent Maestro Kessels who won perhaps even more generous applause than he would otherwise have received after the second interval when the result of the Belgium match would have been known.

It was a long, hot drive to Biirmingham with congestion on the M1 and A52 forcing me to detour via Lichfield and Sutton Coldfield and an even worse drive back with the A38 (M) hors de combat and a massive tailback on the M6.  After delivering my friend to her home I crawled into my bed at 02:55 this morning. But last night's show was worth it.  Like the first time I saw Lynn Seymour I think I shall remember this performance for the rest of my life.

My Thousandth Post

A thousandth post is something of a milestone I think you will agree.  It deserves a special article to celebrate the occasion.  I have been thinking about the best way to do it and I think a retrospective of the most memorable performances of each of the last four and a bit years would be appropriate. So here goes.

Without a doubt, the most memorable performance of 2013 was the launch of the Dutch National Ballet Junior Company's tour of the Netherlands at the  Stadsshouwburg in Amsterdam on the 24 Nov 2013 (see The Junior Company of the Dutch National Ballet - Stadsshouwburg Amsterdam 24 Nov 2013 25 Nov 2013). I had come to Amsterdam to see Michaela DePrince who had joined the company a few months earlier. I had already heard of her because of her success at the Youth America Grand Prix in 2010 and the critical acclaims she had received in South Africa and New York but I was particularly fascinated by her Sierra Leonean origin as I had been married to a Sierra Leonean national for nearly 28 years.

When I saw DePrince dance I described her as "quite simply the most exciting dancer I have seen for quite a while." I have watched her progress in the Dutch National Ballet from élève to soloist with enormous satisfaction for I get the impression that she is a very likeable young woman as well as a fine artist.  I once had the pleasure of meeting her at the opening night gala of the 2015/2016 ballet season and "I left the Stopera thinking how that exceptionally talented young dancer was as gracious off stage as she is magnificent upon it" (see The best evening I have ever spent at the ballet 13 Sept 2013).

DePrince led me to the Junior Company and its remarkable artistic coordinator Ernst Meisner whom I featured a year later (see Meet Ernst Meisner and his talented young dancers 6 Dec 2014) and he, in turn, led me to the Dutch National Ballet which is one of the best companies I have ever seen. That company performed the most memorable performance of the 4 1/2 years that I have been keeping this blog, namely Natalia Makarova's La Bayadère with the excellent Sasha Mukhamedov in the title role on the 13 Nov 2016 (see Dutch National Ballet's La Bayadere 14 Nov 2016). Once in a while, a ballerina shines in a role with such brilliance that she makes it her own. Fonteyn did that for me many years ago in Marguerite and Armand as did Sibley as Titania in Frederick Ashton's Dream.  For me, Nikiya will always be Mukhamedov.

Of course, Fonteyn might not have shone so brightly in that role had it not been for Nureyev. Sibley was always partnered magnificently by Sir Anthony Dowell. Similarly, Mukhamedov had the most gallant Solor in Jozef Varga. There were many other fine dancers in that matinee including Daniel Robert Silva who danced the bronze idol. He is a man to watch. He first came to my notice in Meisner's No Time Before Time on 14 Feb 2016 which is the best birthday treat I have ever had and he impressed me again on 26 June 2017 in Cristiano Principato's Purcell Variations (see New Moves 2017 27 June 2017).

The shows that impressed me most in 2014, 2015 and 2017 were all by the Birmingham Royal Ballet. They were Gillian Lynne's atmospheric reconstruction of Sir Robert Helpmann's Miracle in the Gorbals which I saw at Sadler's Wells on 18 Oct 2014 (see A Second Miracle 23 Oct 2014, David Bintley's The King Dances at the Birmingham Hippodrome on 20 June 2015 (see A Special Ballet for a Special Day 23 June 2015) and Ruth Brill's Arcadia also at the Hippodrome on 21 June 2017 (see Birmingham Royal Ballet's Three Short Ballets: Le Baiser de la fée, Pineapple Poll and Arcadia 22 June 2017).

The first two of those works were reconstructions though I suspect Miracle in the Gorbals would have been quite an accurate one as Dame Gillian had been in the original production even though she and Henry Danton have said that they cannot recall a single step. However, the score has survived as has the libretto and images of the sets and costumes. The ballet would have evolved had it remained continuously in the repertoire so I think we are as close to the original as we are to the original of any other ballet. We have Dame Gillian to thank for another great work, namely A Simple Man which marked the centenary of L S Lowry's birth.  It was the first work by Northern Ballet that I saw after I returned to the North in 1987 and it remains my favourite offering from that company. One of the reasons why I love it so is that it was the last time I saw Christopher Gable and Moira Shearer on stage. I hold both of them in the highest possible esteem. Shortly after I saw that ballet, Gable became artistic director of the company and his term of office was unquestionably its golden age.

Bintley's The King Dances was quite different. Less of a reconstruction because the original pageant lasted all night. More an homage. But an impressive one all the same. Several 17th-century conventions were observed in that nearly all the female roles were danced by men and the stage appeared to be lit at times by torches. But the score was new and, of course, so was the lighting at the end of the ballet that radiated Louis's majesty more effectively than anything available to the royal household at the time. The premiere of the show coincided with the 25th anniversary of the company's move to Birmingham and the 20th of David Bintley's appointment as artistic director. It was danced with Carmina Burana, one of Bintley's most popular ballets.

Brill's Arcadia is a masterpiece. I knew she was talented from Matryoshka but Arcadia reveals brilliance. It is a complex work full of historical, mythical and literary allusions. Any choreographer would be proud of such a work but when one takes into account Brill's youth it is nothing short of prodigious. I am impatient for Brill's next new ballet....... and the next ... and next.

These were the five best shows I have seen since I started the blog but they are not the only precious moments. I have met some lovely people through ballet - great teachers in Manchester, Leeds, Huddersfield, Sheffield, London and even Budapest, delightful classmates at all those venues and particularly those in Manchester, knowledgeable ballet lovers in person through the London Ballet Circle and the various friends groups to which I belong as well as many more online through Facebook, twitter and BalletcoForum. I have listened to some impressive presentations and interviews by dancers, choreographers, composers, designers and administrators many of whom I have interviewed for this blog. I have had the opportunity to dance before a living, breathing and paying audience in Leeds and Manchester (see The Time of my Life 28 June 2014 and Show 14 May 2017) and thanks to the ever patient Jane Tucker I have had a go at dancing cygnets, Juliet, knights, shades, Siegfried, sugar plum, swans, guests at the Stahlbaums' party and even a golden idol.

All that within months of the expiration of my three score years and ten expiring. Could anyone wish for anything more?

Birmingham Royal Ballet's Three Short Ballets: Le Baiser de la fée, Pineapple Poll and Arcadia

Celine Gittens and Brandon Lawrence in Ruth Brill's Arcadia

Photo Ty Singleton
© 2017  Birmingham Royal Ballet: all rights reserved
Reproduced with the kind permission of the company

Birmingham Royal Ballet Le Baiser de la fée, Pineapple Poll and Arcadia, Birmingham Hippodrome, 21 June 2017, 19:30

The strength of the Birmingham Royal Ballet was on display last night with important works from three generations of choreographers:

• John Cranko's Pineapple Poll from the company's early days;
• Michael Corder's Le Baiser de la fée from its recent past; and
• Ruth Brill's Arcadia which may be a glimpse of its future.

The ballets were presented in reverse order.

By any measure, Arcadia is an important ballet and there are two reasons for its importance. 

First, its artistic quality with a powerful score by saxophonist John Harle, striking designs by Atena Ameri, ingenious lighting by Peter Teigen and of course inspired choreography by Ruth Brill beautifully executed by Brandon Lawrence, Céline Gittens as the moon goddess Selene, Brooke Ray, Yijing Zhang and Delia Mathews as the nymphs Pitys, Syrinx and Echo and a chorus that consisted of Laura Day, Karla Doorbar, Reina Fuchigami, Miki Mizutani, Anna Monleon, Alexander Bird, Feargus Campbell, Max Maslen, Lachlan Monaghan and Lewis Turner. 

Secondly, its timing. In the programme, Ruth Brill writes:

"The ballet opens as Pan watches over the nymphs Pitys, Syrinx and Echo from the shadows, In Pan's paradise he is worshipped by his subjects, the chorus. As night falls, Pan is left alone. Selene, the beautiful goddess of the moon appears. Through their interaction, Pan is transformed. Selene uplifts him to become both a better man and a better leader. Finally, we see an Arcadia, now harmonious, after Pan learns that to connect with his people he must respect them. The change in Pan is reflected by the emergence of a more loving and united society."

Now what could be apter than those sentiments after a bruising referendum and general election, the tragedy of Grenfell Tower and the outrages at Finsbury Park, Borough Market, Westminster Bridge and Manchester?

In my preview, Ruth Brill's Arcadia, 16 Dec 2016 I tipped Arcadia as "one of the works to look out for in the coming year".  Having seen Matryoshka two years ago (see Birmingham Royal Ballet in High Wycombe 31 May 2015) I expected Arcadia to be good but my expectations were exceeded greatly. Arcadia was of quite a different order to Matryoshka. In the medieval guilds, the apprentice craftsman proved his readiness to join the masters with a masterpiece and that is exactly what Brill has done with Arcadia. It is no longer appropriate to refer to her as a "promising" or "up and coming" choreographer. With this work, she is undeniably an established choreographer and, in my humble opinion, she is likely to become a great one.

Jenna Roberts  and artists of Birmingham Royal Ballet in
Le Baiser de la fée

Photo Bill Cooper
© 2017  Birmingham Royal Ballet: all rights reserved
Reproduced with the kind permission of the company

Michael Corder's Le Baiser de la fée is based on Hans Christian Andersen's Ice Maiden.  I watched this ballet with Gita who had previously seen Ratmansky's version for Miami City Ballet (see Gita Mistry Attending the Ballet in Florida: Miami City Ballet's Program Three 6 March 2017) and I had seen Donald MacLeary's reconstruction of part of Kenneth MacMillan's version with James Hay in Pavlova's sitting room (see A Minor Miracle - Bringing Le Baiser de la fée back to Life 2 June 2014). The synopsis of Corder's ballet is very much the same as Ratmansky's and he also uses Stravinsky's score. The ballet contains one strong male role (the young man) for Joseph Caley and three strong female ones for the young man's mother (Daria Stanciulescu), his fiancée  (Momoko Hirata) and the fairy who had selected him for her own (Jenna Roberts).

In the interval, I asked Gita which of the two versions of the ballet that she had seen recently she preferred. She replied that she enjoyed them both. Perhaps because this year is the 25th since his death I had driven to Birmingham expecting MacMillan. I found Corder instead but was not in the least disappointed. I am a big fan of Caley, Roberts and Hirata. I loved the sets and costumes. With Sir Matthew Bourne's The Red Shoes, David Nixon's The Little Mermaid and Paul Chantry's The Sandman we shall see quite a lot of ballets based on Hans Christian Andersen this year. Last night's performance has whetted my appetite.

Pineapple Poll

Photo Roy Smiljanic
© 2017  Birmingham Royal Ballet: all rights reserved
Reproduced with the kind permission of the company

y

The evening ended with a favourite work by my all-time favourite choreographer which has a personal as well as balletic significance for me as I explained in Doing the Splits 8 May 2016.  Since writing that preview I have seen the work performed by the company at York which I reviewed in Birmingham Royal Ballet's Northern Tour 2017 13 May 2017:

"Pineapple Poll with its synopsis based on W S Gilbert's ballad The Bumboat's Woman's Story, Charles Mackerras's arrangement of a selection of Gilbert and Sullivan's favourite tunes and Osbert Lancaster's intricate designs was a wonderful way to round off a wonderful evening. Yesterday it occurred to me that this work may well have inspired Ashton to create Fille and Balanchine to create Union Jack. There is certainly a link in Osbert Lancaster in that he created the designs for both Poll and Fille and the exuberance of Mackerras's arrangement finds resonance in Hershey Kay, Maybe my imagination but why not. Matthias Dingman was the gallant Captain (later Admiral) Belaye. Easy to see why the girls' hearts were aflutter. Laura Day (who had earlier delighted the audience as a playmate in Solitaire) danced his sweetheart Blanche. Laura Purkiss was her interfering aunt, Mrs Dimple, who doubles as Britania at the end. Nao Sakuma danced Blanche's rival, Pineapple Poll. Kit Holder was the hero of the piece rising from pot boy to naval officer and Poll's husband without even having time to remove his apron."

It was almost the same cast and an equally glorious ending to another great evening of ballet last night. I think the only important substitution was Daria Stanciulescu for Lau Purkis as Mrs Dimple. I believe there may have been some extra bits of choreography and a bit more scenery in Birmingham but maybe I just didn't take it all in last time.

After being reassured by Birmingham resident, Sarah Lambert, in a comment to my review of Coppelia that flowers are presented and even cut flowers thrown at the Hippodrome I had expected the stage to be ankle if not knee deep. It was a premiere of an important new work after all.  Yet another flower free reverence. My only disappoinment of the evening.  So here are digital blooms. First a van load of the choicest roses for Ruth Brill for Arcadia. She did get tumultuous applause when she stepped on stage for her curtain call and I was able to catch her in the bar to tell her in person how much I loved her show but I wish I could have given her flowers. Enormous bouquets also to Brill's leading ladies, Gittens, Ray, Zhang and Matthews, to Roberts and Hirata for their performances in Fée and a whole greenhouse full for the delightful Nao Sakuma for being such a spirited, comical and quite enchanting Poll.

Even more Sensational - Peter Wright's Coppelia

Nao Sakuma as Swanilda

Author Bill Cooper
© 2017 Birmingham Royal Ballet: all rights reserved
 Reproduced with kind permission of the company

Birmingham Royal Ballet. Coppelia, Hippodrome, 16 June 2017, 19:30


When I last reviewed a performance by the Birmingham Royal Ballet of Sir Peter Wright's Coppelia, I described it as "sensational" (see Sensational 6 March 2015). Having seen the ballet again on the company's home turf the only way I can describe the performance is "even more sensational." Maybe that should not be surprising for who better to perform one of Sir Peter's greatest productions than Sir Peter's company.

I made up my mind to attend the ballet last night at the very last moment after a pig of a journey home. I had driven to London the night before to take delivery of a massive set of instructions that could not be carried on the train. While down there, I attended a chambers' garden party that continued until after midnight and two conferences, one of which began with a volley of emails between 05:00 and 06:00 and a phone call shortly before 07:00. I left Plumstead where I had parked my car and cleared the river after an epochal wait for the Woolwich ferry.  There was heavy traffic on the North Circ and the M11. Congestion outside Cambridge on the A14.  As the A14 leads eventually to the M6 the idea of breaking my journey in Birmingham occurred to me. I called the Hippodrome on the off-chance that they might still have space and was told that they had one isolated seat in the centre of the rear stalls.  I grabbed it.  After battling with more traffic all the way into Birmingham, I rolled up at the theatre hot, bothered and exhausted with 15 minutes to spare.

Dropping by the Hippodrome was one of the best calls I have ever made. The performance was magic. It was just what I needed.  I had not had time to study the cast list but I knew we were in for a treat when I glimpsed the unmistakeable hair of Koen Kessels. He had conducted the orchestra of the Dutch National Ballet in Ted Brandsen's Coppelia last December. Nobody seems to understand Delibes's score better than Maestro Kessels. The curtain rose to Peter Farmer's village somewhere in Mitteleuropa. Nao Sakuma appeared.  I started to clap but nobody followed. Nor did anyone clap Joseph Caley when he entered the stage. Clearly, the balletic tradition of welcoming the male and female leads with a brief burst of applause that happens in almost every other theatre in the world is not followed in Birmingham. That is surprising because all of Birmingham Royal Ballet's principals are good.

Sakuma was a gorgeous Swanilda. I loved the way she threw her book at Caley after catching him making eyes at the humanoid on the balcony across the square. "Sukkel" hissed Swanilde in Het's animation. How she gave him the hardest of hard times when the ear of wheat did not appear to rattle. How she led her pals into Dr Coppelius's workshop while he was in the pub recovering from his mugging. How she dared the faintest of faint hearts to approach Coppelia.  How she coaxed the deluded doctor into believing his spell had worked as she sought to rescue her dopey (even at the best of times) boyfriend. And above all, I loved the final pas de deux in "Peace" which ends the ballet on a high. Whenever I see Coppelia I always wonder how long that marriage will last. Surely, such a brave, resourceful, spirited girl could surely have done so much better.

Of course, she falls for Franz because he is a hunk. The handsomest lad in a very small village in the middle of nowhere. Girls find him attractive and doesn't he just know it. After blowing kisses at a robot, he flirts with the leader of the czardas. Caley, whom I am sure is nothing like Franz in real life, fills the role perfectly. Even after nearly losing Swanilda he is silly enough to break into Coppelius's workshop. Good job there was no copper around (see R v Collins [1972] 2 All ER 1105, [1973] 3 WLR 243, [1972] EWCA Crim 1, 136 JP 605, 56 Cr App Rep 554, [1973] QB 100, a case that has entertained every law student in England for nearly 50 years). The silly twit deserved everything that happened to him. But Franz can dance. And how he can dance. All those great tours en l'air and entrechats and the final lift that left Swanilda dangling across his back in a curious sort of fish dive.

Dr Coppelius is a juicy character role and it was performed exquisitely by Michael O'Hare last night. Scorned as slightly screwy by the Burgermeister (Jonathan Payn) and the villagers when loud bangs and smoke erupt from his laboratory, he is surely more sinned against than sinning. Does he really deserve to be roughed up by the louts or have his home ransacked by girls on a hen night? I can quite see why he sought compensation from Swanilda's dowry.

We had a stellar cast last night. Many of my favourite dancers came on stage: Delia Mathews as Prayer and also one of Swanilda's friends along with Arancha Baselga, Karla Doorbar, Reina Fuchigami, Alys Shee and Yaoqian Shang; Rory Mackay as the publican and Old Father Time; Ruth Brill with Lewis Turner in Betrothal and earlier in the mazurka and czardas; William Bracewell in the call to arms with yet another favourite Brandon Lawrence from Bradford. Everyone in the cast was good and I congratulate them all whether I have mentioned them or not.

There was loud applause at the reverence but, sadly, no flowers. In another auditorium and perhaps at a different time the stage would have been ankle deep in cut flowers throw after a show like that.  A massive bouquet of my county's reddest roses, then, to Sakuma.  Flowers, too, for each and every lady soloist. Indeed, each and every lady who appeared on stage. And a resounding cheer for each and every one of the men who partnered them so gallantly. "You are so lucky to have this company in your city," I said to a lady who was at the ballet for the first time. "The Birmingham Royal Ballet is one of the great companies of the world." How I wish it could have made its home in Manchester instead. 

Doing the Spits

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This is the time of the year when the Birmingham Royal Ballet splits into two. One lot goes to Durham, York and Nottingham while the other goes to Cheltenham, Poole and Truro. I like to see both shows whenever I can but Cheltenham clashed with my only chance to see Northern Ballet's Casanova again before it goes to London. Also, the show in the southern tour's repertoire that I most want to see is Ruth Brill's Arcadia and that will come back to Birmingham as part of Three Short Story Ballets between the 21 and 24 June 2017.

For once I think the North will get the better end of the deal because it brings Pineapple Poll by John Cranko, my all time favourite choreographer ever, and 5 Tangos by Hans van Manen, my favourite living choreographer as well as Sir Kenneth MacMillan's Solitaire.

Pineapple Poll, created for the Sadler's Wells Ballet in 1951 as part of the celebrations for the Festival of Britain when Cranko was only 24, shows the genius of the man. With the possible exception of Graduation Ball (see Please, pretty please, will somebody revive this lovely ballet 2 Jan 2016) it is the happiest, jolliest, prettiest one act ballet ever and a personal favourite. I have only seen it twice. Once quite recently by the Chelmsford Ballet as part of their double bill with Marney's Carnival of the Animals (see A Delight Indeed 24 March 2015). And once at Sadler's Wells with what was then the Royal Ballet Touring Company in the late 1960s and 1970s.

The first occasion was the one and only time my mother and I could ever persuade my father to attend the ballet. An erudite and urbane Mancunian and a fine economist he regarded the ballet with a mixture of suspicion and contempt. Suspicion because he regarded it as an instrument of Soviet soft power which was certainly one of the reasons for the Bolshoi's first tour of London in 1956 and contempt because he regarded the classical tutu and gentlemen's tights as bordering on the indecent. He sat very quietly through the show with a half benign and half sarcastic grin. At the end of the performance, my aunt asked him whether he had enjoyed it. "Up to a point", he replied. With Union Jacks everywhere Pineapple Poll was far subversive and there are no tutus in sight. He admitted to a certain admiration for the athletic prowess and nimbleness of the dancers and indeed the beauty of the women but he was less kind about the middle-aged matrons who made up the audience. "I should like to see them try to do some of the jumps that those girls cam do" he added.

Like Graduation Ball, Pineapple Poll is a wonderful period piece with sets and costumes by Osbert Lancaster and music by Sir Arthur Sullivan. Enjoy the YouTube clip which would have been made not long after the ballet was created with such stars as Merle Park, David Blair, Stanley Holden, BrendaTaylor and Gerd Larsen. Birmingham Royal Ballet will dance it at the Theatre Royal York this Friday and Saturday and then in Nottingham on the 16 and 17 May. It really is a treasure.

Taking Stock of 2016 and Looking Forward to 2017

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I have been comparing what I had tipped last year in Looking Forward to 2016 which I posted on 30 Dec 2015 with The Year of the Swans: My Review of 2016 27 Dec 2016 to see how many of my forecasts turned out to be correct. It seems that most of them were.

I featured a clip of Jean-Christopher Maillot's version of The Taming of the Shrew to Looking Forward to 2016 which was uncannily prescient as I did not get a chance to see it in the cinema until a month later.  As you know, it was my ballet of the year (see The Terpsichore Titles: Ballet of 2016 30 Dec 2016). I was also right about Mata Hari (see Brandsen's Masterpiece 14 Feb 2016), Ballet Bubbles and David Dawson's Swan Lake (see Empire Blanche: Dawson's Swan Lake 4 June 2016) for Ted Brandsen, Ernst Meisner and David Dawson were my choreographers of 2016 (see Terpsichore Titles: Best Choreographers 30 Dec 2016). Also, I was right about Kate Flatt's Undivided Loves because Phoenix ended up as my contemporary company of the year.

On the other hand I missed David Bintley's new work The Tempest and Cathy Marston's Jane Eyre. Like a lot of bloggers and journalists I expected far too much of Akram Khan's Giselle.

Looking forward to this year, I am very excited by the return of the Mariinsky to Covent Garden between 24 July and 12 Aug 2017. They are bringing Ekaterina Kondaurova, Oxana Skorik, Viktoria Tereshkina, Diana Vishneva, Timur Askerov, Yevgeny Ivanchenko, Kimin Kim Vladimir Shklyarov and of course good old Xander Parish. Not so much of the old perhaps even though the Mariinsky's visit will fall on the 10th anniversary of the first time I saw that remarkable young artist. I saw him and his sister Demelza dance in Christopher Hampson's Echoes at the Grand Opera House in York on my 25th wedding anniversary on the 29 July 2007.  I did not blog about ballet in those days but Charles Hutchinson of The Press reviewed the show in A Summer Gala of Dance and Song, Grand Opera House, York, Sunday 31 July 2007. Incidentally, Xander will be dancing Albrecht in English National Ballet's Giselle later this month.

Returning to the Mariinsky, they will perform Don Quixote on 24, 25, 26 July and 5 Aug at 19:30 and also at 14:00 on 5 Aug, Swan Lake on 27, 28, 29, 31 July and 1,2, 7 Aug at 19:30 and 14:00 on 29 July, Anna Karenina on 3, 4 Aug at 19:39, Contrasts a triple bill consisting of Carmen Suite, Infra and Paquita Grand Pas on 8, 9 Aug at 19:30 and La Bayadere on 10, 11, 12 August at 19:30 and also at 14:00 on 12 Aug. Tickets will be on sale from 7 March for Friends of Covent Garden and 28 March for everyone else.

Other treats coming to Covent Garden are Wayne McGregor's Woolf Works which I missed first time round, a mixed bill consisting of David Dawson's The Human Seasons, Christopher Wheeldon's After the Rain and a new ballet by Crystal Pite, Balanchine's Jewels which is unmissable and three of my favourite Ashton works, The Dream, Symphonic Variations and Marguerite and Armand. I may be reaching for a tissue as memories of Fonteyn and Nureyev, Sibley and Dowell come flooding back.

just down Long Acre and right at St Martin's Lane lies The Coliseum where English National Ballet will stage Mary Skeaping's Giselle (see English National Ballet's other Giselle 22 Oct 2016). English National will run Akram Khan's Giselle at Sadler's Wells from the 20 to 23 Sept 2017. As a van Manen fan I am looking forward to the company's Pina Bausch, William Forsythe and Hans van Manen triple bill between 23 March and 1 April 2017.  Having grown up with Festival Ballet's Nutcracker at the Festival Hall it will be good to see them reclaim that space with their Romeo and Juliet between 1 and 5 Aug 2017. I saw that production when they were in Manchester on 28 Nov 2015 (see Manchester's Favourite Ballet Company 29 Dec 2015). A special treat for me as I have been following her ever since she danced in Leeds was Sarah Kundi's performance as Lady Capulet.

The show from Birmingham to which I am most looking forward is Ruth Brill's Arcadia and I explained why in Ruth Brill's Arcadia  16 Dec 2016, It will be performed with The Moor's Pavane and Wink on the company's tour of the South (Cheltenham, Poole and Truro) and at the Hippodrome with Cranko's Pineapple Poll and Macmillan's Le Baiser de la Fee.  Talking of Cranko, the Dutch National Ballet (which was my company of the year in 2016) will dance Onegin in April, That will be unmissable as will Juniors Go Dutch  at the Meervaart.  Crossing back to the Hippodrome, the Birmingham Royal Ballet's Coppelia is another "must see."

I shall be in the audience for Scottish Ballet's Hansel and Gretel in Newcastle next month and also for their visit to Sadler's Wells in June with Emergence and MC14/22 (ceci est mon corps). I shall gladly travel to Glasgow or Edinburgh for Christopher Hampson's new Rite of Spring as well as another Baiser de la Fee in Scottish Ballet Dances Stravinsky. Finally, the company will re-stage Peter Darrell's version of The Nutcracker for Christmas in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Inverness.  Having seen  The Nutcracker two years ago I  recommend it highly (see Like meeting an old friend after so many years 4 Jan 2015).

Other shows I hope to see will be Kenneth Tindall's new Casanova. Daniel de Andrade's The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and David Nixon's The Little Mermaid for Northern Ballet, Ballet Black's triple bill with new works by Martin Lawrance, Michael Corder and Annabelle Lopez Ochoa and Alexander Ekman's Swan Lake for the Norwegian Ballet in Paris. The Norwegians impressed me considerably on World Ballet Day.

Ruth Brill's Arcadia

Pan

Autor Mikhail Vrubel

Source Wikipedia

One of the works to look out for in the coming year will be Ruth Brill's Arcadia.  it will launch at the Everyman Theatre in Cheltenham on the 5 and 6 May 2017 and continue to Poole on the 9 and 10 and Truro on 12 and 13 May. It will also be included in the Three Short Stories mixed bill to be performed in Birmingham between 21 and 24 June 2017.

Although there is an interesting article on Birmingham Royal Ballet's website on working as a female choreographer, there is not much on Arcadia.  We know the music is by John Harle and the designs are by Atena Ameri but that is almost as much as the company is willing to say. All it will add is:

"Finally, in Arcadia the ancient god Pan is unleashed, as Birmingham Royal Ballet’s Ruth Brill makes her first commissioned piece to a new score composed by renowned saxophonist John Harle."

Brill is a fine dancer who is beginning to make her mark as a choreographer.  Here is a list of her ballets since 2013:

• Hit on all Sixes (Choreographic workshop, 2013)
• Butterfly Effect (Elmhurst School for Dance, 2013)
• Rhapsody in Blue (Birmingham Royal Ballet, 2014)
• Matryoshka (Birmingham Royal Ballet, 2015)
• Tempo di Polacca (Elmhurst School for Dance, 2015)
• Sound of Strength (Rugby World Cup welcoming ceremony for England, 2015)
• 'Flash Flock' - community flash mob, The Bullring for Birmingham Weekender Festival, 2015)
• Pennies from Heaven (A Winter Less Ordinary Festival, 2015)
• Arcadia (Birmingham Royal Ballet, to premiere spring 2017).

The only one that I have seen so far is Matryoshka but you can see from my blog that I liked it (see  Birmingham Royal Ballet in High Wycombe 31 May 2015. Chookas from all of us at Terpsichore, Ruth.

Birmingham Royal Ballet comes to York

At this time of the year the dancers of the Birmingham Royal Ballet split into two tours. One goes to Durham, York and Shrewsbury while the other visits Poole and Truro.   Each tour has a different programme.  The Northern programme consists of ballets based on Shakespeare's plays and sonnets and features Wink, the pas de deux from The Dream, Romeo and Juliet and The Taming of the Shrew and The Moor's Pavane. The Southern programme includes two of may favourite works, van Manen's Five Tangos and Ashton's Monotones II.

I have a ticket for the Northern tour in York and am looking forward to it tremendously. I always associate The Dream with Antoinette Sibley and Anthony Dowell who are my favourite dancers of all time and I cannot watch that ballet without thinking of them.  Cranko is my all time favourite choreographer and The Taking of the Shrew is pretty close to the top if not the very top of my favourite ballets. I am also looking forward to Jessica Lang's Wink very much indeed.

However I would love to have seen the Southern tour as well.  Last year that tour visited High Wycombe which is less than two hour's drive from Holmfirth but Poole and Truro are just too far away.  I have checked the trains and even the airlines but that would mean taking a whole day off work or missing the Northern tour.

Happily both Monotones II and 5 Tangos are danced not too infrequently by the company so I should see them one day. Also, we have a really super cast for Saturday which includes Tyrone Singleon, Céline Gittens, Chi Cao and Ruth Brill to mention just a few. It should be a real treat.