Ballet Black at the Barbican

Barbican Centre

Author Tom Morris (Talk)
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Ballet Black, Triple Bill, Barbican, 19 March 2016

Since 2008, I have followed Ballet Black. Every year since then, I have attended their Linbury season at The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Without fail, Ballet Black always continue to amaze, inspire and leave me with an effortless feeling of elation when I leave the auditorium post-performance. This year marks Ballet Black’s first season at the Barbican in The City, London while the Linbury undergoes refurbishment. The company executed a programme from commendable and accomplished choreographers, Arthur Pita, Christopher Marney and Christopher Hampson – each choreographer bringing something unique and palatable to the table.

Pita’s piece, Cristaux, began the show. After the curtain went up, Ballet Black company Senior Artist, Cira Robinson, melted across the stage with her fluid bourées. Robinson, adorned in a blinged-out eye-catching tutu designed by Yann Seabra, was the star of Pita’s choreographic celebration. Noticeable Balanchine influences ran throughout the piece, which were utterly beautiful to watch. Unfortunately, I, personally, feel Pita’s creation needed to bake a bit more. All the necessary ingredients are there for success, choreographic and dance talent. However, Pita’s goal by not always having the dancers match the music to Steve Reich’s Drumming Part III needed tightening up. For the fresh observer, this did not always translate. Crisper transitions, which can still be done subtlety, from rhythmic footwork to intentionally off-beat attack (which is much more difficult to rehearse than one would imagine) would help the metamorphosis of this piece into the jewel it is meant to be.

Next on the programme was To Begin, Begin by Christopher Marney. Telling a clear story throughout of which begins with a woman walking under a wave to later be found by her soul mate who transcends from above is satisfying to watch. Ballet Black Senior Company Artist, Sayaka Ichikawa, has attack, tenderness, elegance and overall artistry from top to bottom. Her partner, fellow company member and Senior Artist, Jacob Wye, was strong and a compliment to Ichikawa from beginning to end. Seeing many of Marney’s works on Ballet Black and Ballet Central here in London and at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, he has a gift to tell a story that is effortless to follow letting you get lost in the moment and enjoy the theatrical experience at hand. Marney has a craft for creating beauty. One suggestion I have would be to see this talent, Marney, begin to take a few more risks. He has a powerhouse of technicians at his disposal in Ballet Black. Clean and elegant are Marney’s forté. Going beyond what Marney is naturally good at and pushing to that next level would be intriguing and a must see.

Concluding the Barbican programme was Storyville by Scottish Ballet Artistic Director, Christopher Hampson. Storyville was first created on Ballet Black in 2012. Since then, Hampson has expanded the piece. This has worked and was just as enjoyable to watch in 2016 as it was in 2012. It is difficult to pin point particular character’s in Hampson’s choreography as every company member on stage brought their talents to the table and delivered. Each company member standing out in their own right in their own character, shining like the soloists they are. I would like to point out the pairing of Senior Artists Cira Robinson and Damien Johnson was pure magic. Both dancers are originally American with American training behind them. Their American technique became more pronounced as they whirled and dazzled through Hampson’s enchaînements and partnerwork in unison. This is absolutely a good thing. For a brief moment, I thought I was in New York City at Lincoln Centre when Robinson and Johnson would take the stage together. Thank you Cassa Pancho and Christohper Hampson for brining these two artists together.

Overall, the programme is strong and very enjoyable to watch. Ballet Black is a company of eight strong links where not a single one falters with each pulling its own weight bringing their technical and artistic delights to each choreographic creation. Lighting design by David Plater complimented all three pieces in the company’s triple bill, simply beautiful and tasteful. I would also like to mention First Year Company Apprentice, Joshua Harriette, is definitely one to watch. Keep up the good work, Harriette. Your charisma shines through. I look forward to the company’s next performance, and hope all involved have received a well deserved break before the next show! Go and see this fantastic company and support them. Well done!           

Ballet Black return to Leeds

Millennium Square, Leeds

Author Mtaylor848

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Ballet Black, Mixed Bill, Stanley and Audrey Burton Theatre, Leeds 20 Nov 2015

Ballet Black always do well in Leeds for the reasons I stated in Ballet Black at Home in Leeds 7 Nov 2014. Last night was no exception. They returned with Sayaka Ichikawa, one of their most respected and best loved senior artists after a year's absence, and two outstanding young dancers, Mthuthuzeli November and Joshua Harriette. In a company the size of Ballet Black they are a substantial addition. Judging by their performance yesterday, a good one.

The programme that Ballet Black brought back to Leeds was the same as the one that they had launched at the Linbury (see Ballet Black's Best Performance Yet 17 Feb 2015) and performed in Nottingham (see Exactly My Cup of Tea 27 June 2015). This season in Leeds is likely to be their last performance of those works in the United Kingdom for some time though they are dancing them in Germany on 26 Nov 2015. When we see them again at the Barbican on 18 and 19 March 2016 they will have a new programme of works by Christopher Hampson, Christopher Marney and Arthur Pita.

The evening opened with To Fetch a Pail of Water? by Kit Holder danced by Kanika Carr and Jacob Wye. This is a work that can be sweet and innocent or dark and slightly menacing depending entirely on the cast. Yesterday it was danced sweetly by Carr and Wye. The near capacity crowd loved it as did I. Because I changed my ticket from Saturday to Friday at the last minute in order to see Northern Ballet's Wuthering Heights in Bradford I was seated towards the top of the auditorium. That turned out to be an advantage because I caught detail such as the rustling of clothes that I had missed in London and Nottingham when I was close to the stage. The significance of the question mark clicked at last. It is a shame that I won't see the work for a while now that I understand it a little bit better.

Depouillement was our first opportunity to welcome back Ichikawa who was as delightful as ever and see November and Harriette for the first time. Actually I had seen November in May when Ballet Central visited the Stanley and Audrey Burton Theatre and he had impressed me then (see Dazzled 3 May 2015). He did so again last night from his very first jump. This is a fine work by Will Tuckett and it was danced exquisitely by Damien Johnson, Cira Robinson and Isabela Coracey as well as by Ichikawa, Harriette and November.

Even though I have read and re-read Yeats's short poem since I first saw Mark Bruce's Second Coming in February and have now seen it three times I am still no nearer to understanding it. I think the work has more to do with voodoo and animism than the poem. There are two ritual stabbings with a dagger by the ruler danced by Johnson. The dancers are forced to pass through a hoop - literally kicked through by Carr in one case. In her angel costume with tiny wings Carr can do creepy as well as sweet when she so wishes.  The hoop seems to be the boundary between reality and some fantasy work. On the other side there is some gorgeous dancing to Shostakovich and and a delightful duet by Johnson and Robinson. Yeats writes of

"A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Wind shadows of the indignant desert birds."

In the ballet the shape has a lion's head and the body of a man and that's the creepiest bit if all. Maybe the ballet is not meant to be understood any more than the poem or even the book of Revelation from which it was inspired. Perhaps we should just relish the beautiful dancing, choreography, the haunting music and Dorothee Brodruck's rich designs.

The stage darkened and the auditorium erupted with applause. Not just polite ballet applause with the occasional "bravo" or "brava" but ululations and stamping. From the back of the theatre it was deafening. I feared for a moment that the seating would collapse from the vibrations. Leeds loves Ballet Black as Sharon Watson acknowledged in the Q & A that followed the performance when she thanked the company for performing in our city. What I did not realize until that Q & A was that Cassa Pancho had drawn inspiration from our own Phoenix Dance Theatre. Ballet Black and Phoenix have much in common. Yet another reason why Leeds loves Ballet Black.

KNT's Beginners' Adult Ballet Intensive - Swan Lake: Day 2

Author Marek Szczepanek
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This is only day 2 of the intensive but already I have learned a lot. A lot of choreography, of course: the cygnets' pas de quatre, the Hungarian dance, Siegfried's solo and the entry of the swans. I have also received some jolly good practical tips such as take a hot bath followed by a cold shower after strenuous physical exercise. I have learned a lot about myself and what I can still do at my age. But most of all I have learned a whole new respect for the dancer.

I have been exhausted by only two days of classes and rehearsals but members of a company have to do that sort of thing all the time and then dance in a matinee or evening performance or on some days both. To do that day in day out requires stamina, strength and determination. It is true that they are all much younger than me, that dancing is their vocation and that they have trained for it over many years but it is still gruelling stuff and I take my hat off to them.

Today I got to know some of students on this course a little better. Several of them had read this blog and we discussed some of the articles in it. I also got into conversation with Mark Hindle, one of the teachers at KNT, over lunch. We found out that we share a passion for Ballet Black and Ballet Cymru and are both fans of Sayaka Wright-Ichikawa and Krystal Lowe.

Tomorrow we are consolidating and refining what we have learned in order to give a performance at 15:45. Karen has very kindly allowed Gita to watch us so that she can review our show for Terpsichore. On Sunday night I was a bag of nerves quite convinced that I wouldn't make it through the first day. Well I have survived the first two days already and I think that tomorrow will be the best bit.

One of the reasons I didn't throw in the towel on Monday is that I was bucked up by an email from my clerk. The Chambers and Partners guides are to lawyers and law firms what the Michelin red guides are to restaurateurs. Just before I was due to go into class I learned that I was in it. Ballet takes a large part of the credit for that.  Five years ago I was devastated by the loss of my spouse to motor neuron disease and had more or less lost the will to live. About a month or so after my spouse's death I noticed a postcard on my gym noticeboard offering ballercise classes by a lady who had danced with Queensland Ballet. I took those classes and found that I enjoyed them. They made me exercise and gave me discipline. Ballercise led to ballet and eventually Northern Ballet's Over 55 class in Leeds. I made a lot of new acquaintances in that class and many more through the London Ballet Circle, Chelmsford Ballet, BalletcoForum and elsewhere.

On Thursday Jane Tucker will teach an advanced workshop based on Giselle.  Michelle, a member of my Over 55 class and one of the most prolific contributors to BalletcoForum, will be taking part. If it is only half as good as Swan Lake she is in for a treat.