English Youth Ballet's Giselle deserves Full Marks for Innovation

English Youth Ballet, Giselle, St George's Hall, Bradford 5 June 2015

If the rest of British industry were as innovative as English Youth Ballet Silicon Valley and South Korea wouldn't hold  candle to us. Janet Lewis, the company's artistic director, has completely rewritten Giselle setting it in rural England in 1912. Contrast the synopsis of the English Youth Ballet's production with Peter's Wright's for the Royal Ballet or the plot of the first performances as set out in Wikipedia.  Lewis has invented for Giselle a father and made him head butler of the local estate, a girl friend for Hilarion called Lucienne and lots of parlour maids, scullery maids, wood nymphs, villagers and others. She has given Giselle a job as the posh kids' governess and inserted whole new scenes into the ballet with chunks of music that I had never heard before into the score.

They say that necessity is the mother of invention and the necessity in this case was to find roles for the English Youth Ballet's massive cast.  As I noted in English Youth Ballet in Bradford 24 April 2015 English Youth Ballet consists largely of children and young people who tour the country with the full length classical ballets. The idea, according to the "About EYB" page, is to give young dancers outside London aged 8 to 18 an opportunity to perform in public in a professional setting.  The "EYB Experience" page continues:

"English Youth Ballet gives young dancers a unique opportunity to experience what life in a professional ballet company is really like. It is an exciting journey from acceptance at the audition, to classes, challenging choreography, tough rehearsals and enjoyable performances in the theatre, which mirrors exactly what a dancer in a professional company experiences."

That brings obvious benefits for the kids, their teachers and their parents.

The English Youth Ballet brought their production to St George's Hall in Bradford last night and despite anxieties about the show that I kept to myself when I  blogged about it in April I am glad to say that it worked. Lewis had retained all the good bits of Giselle, her signature dance in Act I with its awkward pointe work, the poignant mad scene, the beautiful arabesques for the corps in Act II, the despatch of Hilarion and the powerful and affecting pas de deux as Giselle dances with Albrecht (re-branded "Albert" in this production) to keep him alive.

The mad scene by Amy Drew, one of the resident principals, was really chilling.  For once I understood the nature of Hilarion's offence.  He was portrayed brilliantly as a really nasty piece of work by Richard Read another of the resident pros.  He thoroughly deserved the bunch of fives landed on him by Giselle's dad (Trevor Wood). I felt far less sorry for Hilarion than I usually do when he was done over by Myrtha (Adele Robbins) and the girls. Dangerous ladies those wilis for they also destroyed a group of schoolboys. When I came across two of them rattling collection buckets for a new children's unit at Bradford Royal Infirmary on the way out of the auditorium I wasn't going to argue and coughed up meekly. Oliver Speers, one of the tallest dancers I have ever seen with very expressive features, brought Albrecht to life.  I have lost count of the number of times I have seen Giselle and I have always been troubled by it (see Reflections on Giselle 29 Jan 2014). One of my problems is that Albrecht, who is a thorough blighter, lives yet poor old Hilarion has to die. Well I actually felt sorry for Speers's Albrecht and I can quite see why Giselle gave him a second chance.

All the dancers - not just the principals - were good and that includes a little boy who may not have slept well last night. He was good too and I'm not just saying that. As there were so many kids it would be invidious to single any out for special praise but this ballet depends largely on the strength of the corps in the second Act. There are some really nasty bits for the wilis as they have to balance in arabesque for quite a time and move forward in formation as the music rises to crescendo which could easily look scrappy of not done well. Yesterday it was done well and all credit to the girls and those who coached them.

The programme notes do not identify the orchestra or the arranger of the score but it was done very well. As I noted above there was quite a few chunks of new music were apparently taken from other Adam ballets. Equally ingenious was Sebastian Petit's set with its backdrop of pines which doubled for both Acts and his atmospheric lighting.  St. Geroge's Hall is really a concert hall and not the best venue for ballet.  I have seen opera there and that's even worse because the front of the house had to be cordoned off for the orchestra. The stage is quite small and the dancers seemed quite cramped at times.  Three qrands jetés brought Giselle from the back to the very edge of the stage.  Had Osipova danced those steps she would have found herself in row E of the stalls. Yet, despite the limitations, the show was a success.

The young dancers were there to have fun and jumping by the chatting and giggling as I passed the stage door they certainly seemed to have enjoyed themselves.  The audience, which seemed to consist largely of mums, dads and teachers. applauded enthusiastically though not always in the right places. At the end of the show, the director appeared with one of the consultants from the Infirmary to appeal for funds for the children's unit. The doctor told us that the company had danced to the patients in the paediatric ward many of whom had never seen ballet before and they really loved it.  On Thursday I mentioned two initiatives to bring ballet to the people of Bradford (BP's big screen in Centenary Square and Northern Ballet's Start Project) so this is a yet another.

There are two more performances today. If you are in Bradford today and have no plants for the afternoon or evening I thoroughly recommend this show.

English Youth Ballet in Bradford

A welcome change from  the usual harvest of junk mail and bills was a flyer from Bradford Theatres about the English Youth Ballet's performance of Giselle at St George's Hall, Bradford on 5 and 6 June 2015. This is a company made up largely of young people which tours the country performing full length classical ballets.If the video of the rehearsals are anything to go by it should be an impressive production. Tickets cost between £19.50 and £23.50 and you can book online,

There are, incidentally, some very good videos on the English Youth Ballet's website such as How to create a high bun which my hairdresser seems to accomplish with ease but quite defeats me and for those young, slender and strong and competent enough to attempt pointe (which will never include me) ribbon tie techniques.

One bit of advice that I heartily advice and not just in ballet is what to do if you make a mistake on stage. The answer is:

"The worst thing you can do in the middle of a performance if you go wrong is to stop dancing, or something else the audience might notice. Continue with what you are doing; don’t draw attention to yourself, as if you look confident in what you are doing people will think you’re doing the right thing. Sometimes unexpected things can happen on stage, like a piece of a headdress or costume falls off, and everyone is left wondering what to do. Use your common sense- if something is laying on stage, and you have an appropriate opportunity to pick it up and save the day, DO! And don’t forget: a smile goes a long way…"

Exactly the same applies to advocacy. So if your witness does not come up to proof or if the judge asks you a question you should have thought have but didn't just keep thinking and talking and never lose your composure.  As I have said many times before, I couldn't do my job - or at least not so well - if I didn't do ballet.

So I am really looking forward to seeing these kids for many reasons and I wish them, their teachers and their pros well in everything they seek to do.

No Excuses! If the Dancers in Big Ballet can do it so can I

St George's Hall, Bradford       Source Wikipedia

I was very suspicious of Channel4's Big Ballet for many reasons. First, I am not a fan of reality TV. I have never watched an episode of "Big Brother". I have watched the odd episode of "The Apprentice" but I get very cross at the bitchiness particularly when members of the losing team turn on each other. I have tried to watch "Dragons' Den" but am infuriated at the arrogance of the investors. The second reason I was suspicious is that I live in Yorkshire and I have seen far too many shows that take the mickey out of my county. I also dance for fun even though I am the wrong shape and size and have not the slightest natural aptitude.  The idea of gathering a bunch of plus size dancers to dance Swan Lake  struck me as the modern equivalent of watching the lunatics at Bedlam.

Nevertheless, I did watch highlights of the show on Channel4oD and was pleasantly surprised. Now this was not great ballet. The choreography was very simple. There was just one lift and nobody danced on pointe but it was not a shambles either. Far from it. When one considers the time available for training and rehearsal the dancers and their teachers, Wayne Sleep and Monica Loughman, did very well indeed.  Indeed, I drew some inspiration from them for myself. Until I saw the video I had blamed my wobbliness in arabesque and my very unsteady pirouettes on being the wrong shape and size but lo and behold folk who are even less well proportioned than me were getting arabesques and pirouettes right before my very eyes.  So I have no excuses.  I must just work harder.

The ballet was performed in St George's Hall in Bradford which is really a concert hall. I have seen opera there but never ballet.  That usually takes place at The Alhambra a few hundred yards away. The Halle and other visiting orchestras perform there and when they appear they seem very tightly packed together. How the dancers managed to move on a stage of that size beats me. If only for that they deserve a medal.

The story of Swan Lake was tweaked a little. Scene 1 was set in a New York art gallery in the 1920s which was fine except that I could not quite see the advantage of that setting since all the other scenes seemed to follow the story. There were some very clever adaptations of the music - the cygnets for example was used in part of the dance of Siegfried and Odile to underscore their intimacy as I think Sleep said in the preceding programme. I also liked the divertissements - particularly the Neapolitan dance - different choreography from when Sleep used to dance it but still good to watch.  All the artists did well but I particularly liked the men, AJ who danced Siegfried and Raj who was Rothbart.

The programme received a lot of help from Northern Ballet.  The dancers rehearsed in Quarry Hill, the music was provided by the Northern Ballet Sinfornia and David Nixon was in the audience. That is one of the good things about Northern Ballet. They cultivate excellence like every other company but they bring ballet to everyone: not just to elderly hippopotamuses like me but also to folk who have far greater challenges to overcome than simply being the wrong age, shape and size and bereft of any obvious talent.  When everything is taken into account I am very proud of my beloved Northern Ballet for facilitating this project and even more proud of my fellow Yorkshire folk who danced before a live audience and cameras on very little training. It has motivated me to work that much harder when Northern Ballet Academy reopens after its half term break.

Post Script
21 Feb 2013  Northern Ballet has just published s press release on its contribution to the series entitled  "The door is always open with Northern Ballet Big Ballet may have seen their last curtain call but the stage door is always open with Northern Ballet".

Related Articles
7 Sep 2013 "Adult Ballet Classes" on adult ballet classes throughout the UK
12 Sep 2013 "Realizing a Dream" on Northern Ballet  Academy's over 55 class
6 Dec 2013 "It's an Ill Wind - Review of Northern Ballet's Beginner's Class"
12 Feb 2014 "Migrating Swans - Dance Classes for the Over 50s in the North"
18 Feb 2014 "Northern Ballet Open Day" on the Academy and its teachers in acton

And for a little bit of background on Monica Loughman see "Ballet in Ireland" 8 Feb 2014