Another Goodbye

Author: Mtaylor848
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Another departing artist who will be greatly missed is Northern Ballet's first soloist Victoria Sibson (see Saying Farewell 3 May 2018)  .  Like Moira Shearer who was the subject of my Christmas Day appreciation in 2016, Sibson has the most beautiful hair and features that must be a choreographer's canvass.  I have never had the good fortune of meeting her. Now that she is about to go I don't suppose I ever shall. But if dancing is any indication of personality, I imagine she is full of fun and just lovely in every possible way.

The first time I noticed Sibson was when she poked her face through the curtain in Kenneth Tindall's Luminous Junc*ture which I reviewed in Angelic - Northern Ballet's Mixed Bill 9 June 2013. Although I can't remember her in any leading roles she has danced some very important ones.  I think her performance that impressed me most was as Bertha (the first Mrs Rochester) in the wedding scene in Cathy Marston's Jane Eyre in Richmond (see Northern Ballet's Jane Eyre: the best new Ballet from the Company in 20 Years  2 June 2016).

Sibson has glowed (and occasionally smouldered) in so many roles:  La Fée Magnifique in Beauty and the Beast, the mother in Las Hermanas, Myrtle Wilson in The Great Gatsby and Ellen in Wuthering Heights to name a view. The last time I saw her was as Aunt Reed in Jane Eyre at Sheffield last month (see Jane Eyre Second Time Round 18 April 2018.

The notice announcing Sibson's departure does not mention where she is going or what she will do when she leaves the company but I wish her well in all that she sets out to do.  She has given me a lot of pleasure over the years for which I am very grateful.

Rachael Gillespie

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I am a colossal fan of Rachael Gillespie. I have singled her out for special commendation in many of my reviews and tweets. From this clip of her rehearsing with Jeremy Curnier you will understand why. She dances with passion but also with precision.

One of the articles in Friday's Friends' newsletter was 60 Seconds with ..... Rachael Gillespie.  It reminds readers that she comes from Swindon, a town that I had always associated with maddening roundabouts like this one.


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Henceforth, I shall associate Swindon with Cathy (see Wuthering Heights 19 March 2015), Tinkerbell (see Not too sure about Fairies but I certainly believe in Rachael Gillespie 21 Dec 2014) or one of the other roles that I have seen Gillespie dance. On reflection, it has just occurred to me that there may be a connection between Gillespie's prowess and Swindon's roundabouts. I've found from the little bit of ballet training that I have received that a dancer has to think fast on his or her feet. Negotiating Swindon's road system would be perfect mental training.

I won't spoil the article by telling you what else is in 60 Seconds save that there's a lovely self-deprecating story which shows that she must have a great sense of humour. She shares my love of Jane Austen and my hope to see Pride and Prejudice translated into ballet. Northern Ballet has two Brontë ballets in its repertoire, Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights. Surely Austin's comedy of manners lends itself to theatre so much more naturally than the tragic tales of the maungy maids of Haworth.

Northern Ballet will present three new full-length works this year with plenty of new roles which I am sure she will make her own.

Northern Ballet's "Wuthering Heights" at the West Yorkshire Playhouse - about as good as it can get

Emily Btonte

Artist Bramwell Brinte
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Northern Ballet Wuthering Heights West Yorkshire Playhouse, 9 Sept 2016

It was only upon a last minute impulse that I decided to check West Yorkshire Playhouse's website to see whether they had any tickets left for the law few performances of Northern Ballet's Wuthering Heights. Saturday evening appeared to be sold out but there were still a few seats for yesterday evening and today's matinee. As I have not attended class or even worked out in the gym for over a week I wanted to leave this afternoon free for Lucy's class at KNT if I finish my tasks in time to make it to Manchester by 15:00 or a 90 minute session in the local gym at the very least.

The reason I had not bought a ticket before is that I had intended to give Wuthering Heights a miss this year. I had seen the ballet in Sheffield and Bradford last year where I had been somewhat less than overwhelmed (see Wuthering Heights 19 March 2015 and Northern Ballet's Wuthering Heights in Bradford 22 Nov 2015). The Brontës are not among my favourite novelists, All their books seem dark and miserable to me. Except perhaps for Shirley and Villette, they are very heavy going. I much prefer Jane Austen. Her works are set in rather more agreeable places with generally more pleasant characters than the maungy folk who tend to populate the heaths of the rapidly industrializing West Riding.  Also I had been awake since 05:00 British time in order to catch my flight home from Amsterdam. There I had seen the best of one of the world's best ballet companies at their opening night gala in their magnificent auditorium. As the best is said to be the enemy of the good, I feared that experience would spoil me for anything else for weeks to come as it had last year when I saw 1984 for the first time (see My First Impressions of 1984 12 Sept 2015).

It was Janet McNulty's excellent review, Northern Ballet's "Wuthering Heights" at the West Yorkshire Playhouse 9 Sept 2016, that changed my mind and I am glad that it did because I enjoyed last night's performance.  I think there are two reasons why I enjoyed it so much.

The first is that it too place in the best possible auditorium for a performance of this ballet. The Quarry Theatre with 750 seats arranged as an amphitheatre is designed for drama and Wuthering Heights is nothing if not dramatic. In some ways it is more play than ballet. The West Yorkshire Playhouse is only yards away from Northern Ballet's premises on St Cecilia Street and the crowd who attend its performances there are fanatically loyal. Judging by snippets of conversation that I overheard it seemed that many members of the audience were also in the Brontë Society. The result was a receptive audience that must have given the dancers a lift. Also, their enthusiasm was infectious

The second reason why I enjoyed last night's show so much was the cast.  The website had advertised Dreda Blow, Javier Torres. Ayami Miyata, Kevin Poeung, Nicola Gervasi and Rachael Gillespie. The cast that we got was Antoinette Brookes-Daw as Cathy and Ashley Dixon as Heathcliff with Jenny Hackwell and Matthew Topliss dancing their younger selves. Matthew Koon was Edgar Linton and Pippa Moore, his sister Isabella. It was the first time that I had been them in those roles and they seemed fresh and energetic. I was particularly impressed by Brookes-Daw who was the best Cathy that I have seen to date. Dixon, too, was a perfect partner for her. It was also good to see Moore, the company's only female premier dancer (principal), in a substantial role.

There are many intense moments in the ballet such as the wedding where Heathcliff, who has somehow made his fortune, shows up unexpectedly. Heathcliff and Cathy forget their surroundings which is cleverly reflected in the score with changes of theme and choreography with the entry and exit of the wedding guests. Another scene that depicts the mean side of Heathcliff is the humiliation of Isabella when she returns Heathclkiff's riding whip. There are bits of the ballet that don't work quite so well such as the nervous maid with her tinkling tea tray or the Christmas card scene at the end with Heathcliff and his younger self and Cathy playing in the snow. However that is a matter of taste. The guffaws around the auditorium showed that the tea tray scene was appreciated by many.

After the show Gavin McCaig and Kiara Flavin kindly stayed behind to answer questions from members of the audience.

I was  gratified to learn that I was not the only one to find Wuthering Heights heavy going. McGaig said that he opened the book and put it down after the first chapter. He picked it up and put it down again several times before he got to the end.  He persevered because he felt he owed it to his audiences to understand the stories and emotions the were experiencing in dance. By contrast Flavin had listed Wuthering Heights as one of her favourite heart-wrenchers on her web page.

I was surprised to learn that Northern Ballet no longer record most of their ballets in choreology. Flavin described Benesch notation as "archaic" and said they relied on videos. As a lawyer it prompted me to wonder whether their choreography was legally protected since s.3 (2) of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 provided:

"Copyright does not subsist in a literary, dramatic or musical work unless and until it is recorded, in writing or otherwise; and references in this Part to the time at which such a work is made are to the time at which it is so recorded."

It is of course arguable that the words "or otherwise" connote film but there is yet to be a decision on the point,  Personally, if I were a choreographer or company I would not want to risk it, Especially if I was supported by sponsorship money.

I was sorry to learn that 1984  had not been a sell out everywhere. McCaig said that it had done well in Leeds, London and Edinburgh but there were more than a few empty seats in other cities.

Each dancer was asked how he or she came to Northern Ballet. Flavin said she had heard of the company as a 15 year old ballet student in Canada and she liked the sound of them. McCaig expressed his pleasure at finding a job immediately after finishing ballet school. The competition was intense, he explained, with the 5 major ballet schools and other conservatories training lots of dancers every year. It is particularly hard to get a job in the UK so if a dancer is offered a job with any company in this country he or she grabs it with both hands.

McCaig chatted with me for a few minutes after the Q & A. I had featured him in Meet Gavin McCaig of Northern Ballet on 3 Sept 2016 and it is good to see him doing well. He is a splendid chap as well as a fine dancer and I wish him all the best.

Northern Ballet's "Wuthering Heights" at the West Yorkshire Playhouse

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Northern Ballet, Wuthering Heights, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds 6 Sep 2016

Guest Contributor  Janet McNulty

The West Yorkshire Playhouse (WYP) has always been a special performance space for Northern Ballet since their first season there in the early noughties. Most of the productions performed there have been created there and only A Midsummer Night's Dream has toured extensively to the Company's more usual theatres.

Wuthering Heights is a first for the Company as it is a main stage production transferring to the much more intimate space of the West Yorkshire Playhouse. Since the news was first announced I, and many other fans, have been waiting eagerly to see how this ballet favourite would transfer to WYP.

Well the wait was finally over last night when Northern Ballet opened a short season of Wuthering Heights at the WYP. There was a lovely sense of anticipation as the house lights went down...

I was not disappointed. Wuthering Heights looked every bit as wonderful as I expected it to in this terrific theatre. The orchestra was hidden away behind the set but their playing of the score, under the baton of John Pryce-Jones was splendid. The positioning of the orchestra also meant that the audience was very close to the action and we were able to take in every tiny gesture of the dancers.

Opening night was led by Dreda Blow as Cathy and Javier Torres as Heathcliff. Dreda was a wild Cathy, adoring Heathcliff from the start but also being swayed by the riches of Thrushcross Grange. She was totally hemmed in to her marriage to Edgar (exquisitely danced and acted by Nicola Gervasi). Javier was everything we would expect from Heathcliff - darkly brooding and very passionate in his feelings towards Cathy. One of my favourite moments of this work is the red duet when we have seen a subdued dance between Cathy and Edgar who cannot express their feelings to each other and as they part Heathcliff bursts into the garden. Their duet is exciting and passionate and last night I forgot to breathe!

We were very privileged to see Rachael Gillespie make her debut as Isabella last night - she was just exquisite. She was a total innocent abroad and it was easy to see how she fell for Heathcliff's rough charm.

The ballet starts with Mr Earnshaw bringing the foundling Heathcliff into his house and shows young Cathy's growing attraction to him as Hindley becomes neglected and embittered. Kevin Poeung and Ayami Miyata portrayed the young loves incredibly expressively. Kevin's facial expressions were subtle and a joy to behold. Giuliano Contadini gave a very nuanced performance as Hindley from enthusiastic young boy to embittered sadist and sad drunk. Victoria Sibson and Hiro Takahashi brought all their experience to the roles of devoted Ellen and the devout Joseph. I particularly noticed Victoria's devastation during Cathy's death scene.

One of the joys of watching Northern Ballet is to glance around the stage and see how involved all the dancers are, no matter how small their roles and last night was no exception.

It really was a terrific start to Northern Ballet's Autumn season!

Northern Ballet's New Season

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Last September Northern Ballet opened their new season with Jonathan Watkins's 1984 at the West Yorkshire Playhouse which they then took on tour They danced Wuthering Heights in Bradford and finished with a brilliant Nutcracker at Christmas.  Thus year they are reviving three works: Nixon's Wuthering Heights at the WYP. They are taking Jean-Pierre Maillot's Romeo and Juliet to Sheffield, Canterbury, Belfast, Woking and Bradford. The Christmas show at The Grand will be Nixon's Beauty and the Beast which they will also dance at Norwich, Nottingham, Newcastle and Southampton.

Of those three shows the one that I would recommend without hesitation is Romeo and Juliet.  I saw it twice in Leeds last tear and enjoyed both performances (see Northern Ballet's Romeo and Juliet - different but in a good way 8 March 2915 and Leebolt's Juliet 13 March 2015). I also saw the Bolshoi dance Maillot's Taming of the Shrew earlier in the month and was enchanted by it (see Bolshoi's Triumph - The Taming of the Shrew 4 Aug 2016).  I have become something of a Maillot fan and wrote a short appreciation of his work on 5 Aug 2016.

We saw quite a lot of Wuthering Heights in 2015. I watched it in Sheffield including a dress rehearsal in March and liked it a lot (see Wuthering Heights 19 March 2015). I also caught it in Bradford in November where I was somewhat less impressed (see Northern Ballet's Wuthering Heights in Bradford 22 Nov 2015). I wrote:

"Batley and Leeboilt were good too as they always are but their performance lacked fire. It was like watching World Ballet Day or even company class. Old ladies like me who sacrifice their widow's mite for ballet (now increased by 133% - see The Increasing Prince of Friendship 14 Oct 2015) expect to float when we leave the theatre as I did on Friday when I saw Ballet Black (see Ballet Black's Return to Leeds 21 Nov 2015) or on 12 Nov 2015 when I left the Linbury after seeing Phoenix (see The Phoenix Soars Over London 13 Nov 2015). The reason I floated was that Ballet Black and Phoenix danced as though they were inspired as did Bateman, Takehashi and Gillespie yesterday. I swapped a ticket in the centre of row B of the Stanley and Audrey Burton for yesterday's performance of Ballet Black for one at the side of the top of the auditorium for Friday so that I could see the last performance of Wuthering Heights in Bradford. Had it not been for Bateman, Takehashi and Gillespie I think I would have regretted the exchange."

If Northern Ballet wanted to open their 2016/2017 season with a work inspired by a Brontë novel, my choice would have been Cathy Martson's Jane Eyre which I saw in Richmond at the beginning of June (see Northern Ballet's Jane Eyre: the best new Ballet from the Company in 20 Years 2 June 2016). That was a reminder of the old Manchester based Northern Ballet that welcomed me back to the North in 1985. The company offered real treats in those days such as Gillian Lynne's A Simple Man and Christopher Gable's Christmas Carol (see my review of its 2013 revival Christmas Carol - "A Fine Performance Filled with Joy" 19 Nov 2013). Save for the opening in Doncaster Jane Eyre has not been performed in Yorkshire and it would have suited the Quarry well as it is a more intimate auditorium than The Grand. I had to travel 200 miles to see a ballet based on a novel by a Yorkshire author. I do hope they bring it home soon.

Beauty and the Beast ought to be as popular as Cinderella for when you think about it de Villeneuve's story is simply Cinderella in reverse. Peter Darrell, Darius James and David Bintley have all had a go as I said in my review of David Nixon's 2011 production in IP Yorkshire over a year before I started this blog (see Jane Lambert Ballet and Intellectual Property - my Excuse for reviewing "Beauty and the Beast" 31 Dec 2011). In that article I said:

"Beauty and the Beast is not an easy story to choreograph. Scottish Ballet had a go with Thea Musgrave's score many years ago. I reviewed for "Aien" (St Andrews University student newspaper) when it was premiered at The King's Theatre in Edinburgh in 1969. Ballet Cymru also seems to have had a version in its repertoire. Another link with IP, incidentally, since Ballet Cymru is based in Newport, the same town as the Intellectual Property Office. And, of course, there is the Birmingham Royal Ballet's version. But none of those versions has ever achieved the popularity of works like Coppelia, Giselle, Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty or Swan Lake. Will David Nixon's version do any better? The answer is that I am just not sure."

Since I saw Nixon's Beauty and the Beast I have seen and reviewed Bintley's and James's. Both Mel Wong and I reviewed James's Beauty but Mel's review is far better than mine (see Mel Wong For grown ups who haven't lost touch with their childhoods - Ballet Cymru's Beauty & The Beast 24 June 2014). In my review of Bintley's Beauty I asked myself which was best.  Here is my reply:

"Well I like them all but in different ways. Musgrave's for the music. Birmingham's for the sets and costumes but also Bintley's choreography. Nixon's for the last Act. Ballet Cymru's for its spirit."

The one thing I remember most about Nixon's ballet is that the family piled into a derelict bus which I found risible but I also remember some great dancing from Martha Leebolt, Hannah Bateman and Victoria Sibson and a sublime final act. Here is what I wrote at the time:

"As for Nixon's choreography the first two acts reminded me of early McMillan - works like Anastasia which are not performed very often nowadays for a reason. But the last Act reminded me of Balanchine and I think it was that Act which saved the ballet. The pas de deux between Beauty - danced exquisitely by Martha Leebolt - and the beast showed just what the choreographer can do. Also impressive were Victoria Sibson and Hannah Bateman who danced the fairies, Hironeo Takahashi, the beast's servant and the coryphées, Michela Paolacci, Ayana Kanda, Christie Duncan and Isabella Gasparini who were four sprites. The last Act of the ballet could well stand as a work in its own right. I hope to see that Act many times again but I would happily skip the first two acts with its old bus and bailiffs."

A curious choice for a Christmas show. I would have preferred G able's Christmas Carol or indeed his Cinderella but I will be in the audience for the final act.

Of course, the show that everybody is anticipating with relish is Kenneth Tindall's Gasanova which opens in Leeds on 11 March 2017. It will then tour Edinburgh, Sheffield, Norwich, Milton Keynes, Cardiff, The Lowry and London. This is Tindall's first full length ballet. His shorter works such as Luminous Junc•ture and The Architect, have attracted favourable critical comment including some from me (see Angelic - Northern Ballet's Mixed Bill 9 June 2013 and A Wonderful Evening - Northern Ballet's Mixed Bill 21 June 2014 23 June 2013). I like Tindall as you can see from my appreciation of 28 Feb 2015. I am therefore looking forward to this work very much indeed.

Northern Ballet's Wuthering Heights in Bradford

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Northern Ballet, Wuthering Heights, Alhambra, Bradford 21 Nov 2015

I inserted a photo of Top Withens near Haworth into my review of Northern Ballet's performance of Wuthering Heights at the Sheffield Lyceum as it is said to be the inspiration for Emily Brontë's novel. Haworth is in the metropolitan district of Bradford and the Alhambra is the nearest theatre to that township. No doubt that is one of the reasons why Northern Ballet premièred David Nixon's ballet in that theatre to less than ecstatic reviews at the time (see Ismene Brown's Lost in the Moors 25 Sept 2002 in the Daily Telegraph and Judith Mackrell's Wuthering Heights 25 Sept 2002 in the Guardian).

The reviews have become somewhat kinder over the years, at least in the local press (see Emma Clayton's Northern Ballet brings Cathy and Heathcliff back home 12 Nov 2015 Telegraph and Argus and Yvette Huddleston's Review: Northern Ballet's Wuthering Heights 18 Nov 2015 Yorkshire Post) though not necessarily among balletomanes (see Emma's What we shouldn't try to tame in Balletical). Emma is particularly preceptive in her review, She begins with the observation:

"I could well be alone in my commentary of this ballet. I cannot be representative of the good ladies who rushed to the front of the stage to offer a standing ovationat the close of this performance. Then perhaps this review be considered a response rather than critique – and here is the enigma of Wuthering Heights and the creative challenge of this particular story ballet."

And concludes:

"I know it: I have been unduly harsh on Northern Ballet’s Wuthering Heights – a ballet that may please many, many people. I hope it does. My response is indeed less critical judgement than personal experience. That is the thing with Wuthering Heights and with Heathcliff, who we really shouldn’t try to tame."

A lot of choreographers other than Nixon have tries to tame Wuthering Heights. Cathy Marston has created one for the Berne Ballet which you can see in this YouTube video. Deborah Dunn has created Nocturnes which is said to be based on the novel (see Paula Citron's Cathy and Heathcliff in dance 12 Jan 2011 The Globe and Mail). Kader Belarbu made Hurlevent for the Paris Opera Ballet in 2002 which was reviewed by Patricia Boccadoro for Culture Kiosque 22 April 2002. Although Northern Ballet's version seems to do well enough in the English regions, none of those productions have really taken off.

Like Carmen which I discussed in Au Revoir but not Adieu 19 Nov 2015 Wuthering Heights has been very difficult to transpose into dance and probably for the same reason. Everyone loves Bizet's score and Mérimée, Each has his or her own interpretation of those works which seem to be violated by the choreography even of the calibre or Petit, Alonso or Acosta. It is the same with Brontë:

"The foundations of music, structure, costume, and above all, choreography, bore atone I disagreed with. This was not my Wuthering Heights. They lent to a feeling of romantic melodrama in classical gowns – when everything about Wuthering Heights for me is about being hungry and not having washed for days. Heathcliff – my Heathcliff – is full of dominance, violence and childhood hurt – yet the worst he does in Act I is knock a shuttlecock off play and drum on the table."

My own review of Nixon's work was much kinder than Emma's and I think that is because I am not really a fan of the novel and had no preconceptions for him to knock. I prefer Jane Austen, Elizabeth Gaskell, Sir Walter Scott and William Makepeace Thackeray to the Brontës any day of the week and if Nixon had made a ballet out of Emma or Persuasion my reaction might well have been the same as Emma's.

All that circumambulation is an introduction to the fact that I was at The Alhambra yesterday for the last performance of the current revival of Wuthering Heights with the same cast that I had seen in Sheffield. That was Northern Ballet's A Team: Tobias Batley as Heathcliff, Martha Leebolt as Cathy, Hironao Takahashi as Edgar, Hannah Bateman as Isabella and Pippa Moore as Ellen. The last performance of a flagship work by the company's stars after a successful provincial tour should have been brilliant and it was certainly OK. Bateman, now perhaps the strongest female dancer in the company, showed her considerable talent and expertise as a dancer and actor as the injured Isabella. It is a complex role that perhaps only she could do well. Takehashi showed his experience and authority in his role. Light, energetic and effervescent, Rachael Gillespie was a delight to watch and she was aptly rewarded in the reverence including a "brava" from me roared from the back of the stalls. Those three dancers made my evening.

Batley and Leeboilt were good too as they always are but their performance lacked fire. It was like watching World Ballet Day or even company class. Old ladies like me who sacrifice their widow's mite for ballet (now increased by 133% - see The Increasing Prince of Friendship 14 Oct 2015) expect to float when we leave the theatre as I did on Friday when I saw Ballet Black (see Ballet Black's Return to Leeds 21 Nov 2015) or on 12 Nov 2015 when I left the Linbury after seeing Phoenix (see The Phoenix Soars Over London 13 Nov 2015). The reason I floated was that Ballet Black and Phoenix danced as though they were inspired as did Bateman, Takehashi and Gillespie yesterday.  I swapped a ticket in the centre of row B of the Stanley and Audrey Burton for yesterday's performance of Ballet Black for one at the side of the top of the auditorium for Friday so that I could see the last performance of Wuthering Heights in Bradford. Had it not been for  Bateman, Takehashi and Gillespie I think I would have regretted the exchange.

Northern Ballet's Jane Eyre

Charlotte Bronte

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On 17 Sept 2015 Northern Ballet announced that it had commissioned Cathy Marston to create a new ballet called Jane Eyre based on the novel by Charlotte Brontë to a score by Philip Feeney. The ballet is to be premièred on 19 May 2016 at CAST in Doncaster where I saw Madame Butterfly earlier this year (see Nixon's Masterpiece 22 May 2015). It will also be performed in Richmond upon Thames, Aylesbury, Wolverhampton, Stoke on Trent and Leicester over subsequent days.

Marston was the artistic director of the Bern Ballet between 2007 and 2013 where she created a large number of new works.  One of them is Wuthering Heights which is rather different from David Nixon's version (see Wuthering Heights 19 March 2015).  Marston, like Brontë, was born in the North but she was brought up in Cambridge and London and spent most of her adult life in Switzerland.  She speaks about her life and her work in this video.

For Wuthering Heights Marston commissioned a score from Dave Maric. For her other work by a Brontë sister she will collaborate with a composer who has already written many scores for Northern Ballet (see Cinderella, Dracula and Christopher Gable's Cinderella).  I have had the pleasure of watching him play for Ballet Central when they have visited The Lowry and Stanley and Audrey Burton Theatres (see Central Forward 25 March 2013 and Dazzled 3 May 2015). The set designer is Patrick Kinmonth and the lighting engineer is Al West.  They will have a field day staging the fire.

No casting has been announced yet. I guess Tobias Batley and Martha Leebolt must be favourites for Jane and Mr Rochester. Blow and Bateman are also obvious alternates for Jane and maybe Takahashi for Rochester. I can only speculate who will be unfortunate enough to dance poor, mad Mrs Rochester. I can see a nice role for one of the younger dancers in  Helen and two horrible ones in Aunt Reed and the Rev Brocklehurst.  If you have not yet read Jane Eyre you can download it for free in several versions from Project Gutenberg.

Although I think Northern Ballet has quite enough ballets based on GCSE set texts as it is I am looking forward to this work, At the symposium on narrative dance earlier this year David Nixon said that the company was best known for that type of ballet.  Marston describes herself as

"a choreographer, who joins the artistic dots and creates form for stories, emotions and ideas. She gives new perspectives to old narratives; opens original ideas to new audiences and crafts unexpected matches between classical and contemporary art forms."

Elsewhere she adds:

"During her six year tenure in Switzerland directing the Bern Ballett, her British ‘respect for the playwright’ became influenced by the ideas of German theatre and ‘Director’s Theatre’, resulting in her unique, hybrid signature. Lending new perspectives to old narratives in her version of Chekov’s Three Sisters, or in her historically-inspired Witch-hunt: both are danced-stories stripped back to their essence and displaying high quality technique and unflinching expressive integrity."

Let's hope she remembers that the audiences the company is likely to find in Doncaster and the other mid-size venues will not be like those she found in Bern and that most of them will have very fixed ideas about Jane Eyre.

1984 and All That - Northern Ballet's New Season

Sellar and Yeatman's 1066 and All That is one of the books that we all read at school.  George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four is another. Jonathan Watkins's arrangement of Orwell's novel for Northern Ballet opens to a full house at the West Yorkshire Playhouse on 5 Sept 2015 is the company's big ticket production for the new season. Northern Ballet has released this hour long video on YouTube with talks by Watkins, David Nixon, rehearsals, a pas de deux by Tobias Batley and Martha Leebolt and more.

After Leeds the production tours Nottingham, Manchester, Sheffield, Edinburgh, Southampton culminating in a season at Sadler's Wells between 24 and 28 May 2016. My favourite venue for anything in Northern Ballet's repertoire is West Yorkshire Playhouse because it feels like the company's home. It is a stone's throw from Quarry Hill and the auditorium is so intimate. I have seen some lovely shows there in the past, notably A Midsummer Night's Dream on 14 Sept 2013 (see Realizing Another Dream 15 Sept 2013). Unfortunately, the West Yorkshire Playhouse season clashes with the Dutch National Ballet's opening gala in Amsterdam and professional commitments in London (see Triple Dutch 4 July 2015). If any of my readers would like to review the opening night I should be very grateful.  I will catch the ballet in Manchester or Sheffield with my Swiss friend who first dew it to my attention even though she does not go a bundle on ballet (see 1984 28 Feb 2015 and Für Andrea - more Information on 1984 26 July 2015).

Another new ballet in Northern Ballet's repertoire is the children's ballet Tortoise and the Hare which is choreographed by Dreda Blow and Sebastian Loe. Blow spoke briefly about her work for children in the panel discussion on narrative dance in ballet on 20 June 2015 (My Thoughts on Saturday Afternoon's Panel Discussion at Northern Ballet 21 June 2015). She told a delightful story about one child's reaction to one of her ballets. Although I had already admired her as a dancer I warmed to her ever more. Tortoise and the Hare opens at The Stanley and Audrey Burton Theatre in Leeds on 22 Oct 2015. It will also be performed in Southampton on 6 May 2015.

Elves and The Shoemaker another children's ballet choreographed by Daniel de Andrade to music by Philip Feeney is touring Hull, Nottingham, Canterbury, Manchester, Woking, Newcastle and Bradford. I saw it in Huddersfield on 11 April 2015 and reviewed it in The Ballet comes to me 12 April 2015.

Also coming to Hull is Madame Butterfly which I described as Nixon's Masterpiece in my review of the opening night in Doncaster. Another popular Nixon ballet Wuthering Heights which I saw in Sheffield on 18 March 2015 is coming to Canterbury in October and Bradford in November. Northern Ballet's take on The Nutcracker where the Stahlbaums become the Edwardses is coming to The Grand between 16 Dec 2015 and 2 Jan 2016 after touring Woking, Newcastle and Norwich. I saw it twice and sort of half reviewed it in my IP law blog for solicitors and patent agents in Manchester and Liverpool (Cracking Nuts - Copyright in Choreography 24 Nov 2011 IP North West). Even more liberties are taken with Swan Lake which is coming to Leeds, Norwich and Milton Keynes in the new year. I saw it in Leeds with my late spouse first time round. We both regarded it as interesting in the sense of "May you live in interesting times".

Au Revoir rather than Goodbye

As every reader of this blog knows, I am a huge fan of Kenneth Tindall.  Tindall makes his last appearance as a principal of Northern Ballet at Milton Keynes Theatre where he will dance Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights with Julie Charlet as Cathy. It will be quite a special occasion and one of the events arranged for Friends and Patrons (and prospective Friends and Patrons) of Northern Ballet will be a post-matinee performance discussion held in the MK Gallery from 16.45 which is next door to the theatre. Anyone who wants to come to that talk should email Joanne Clayton.

Although this will be Tindall's last appearance with Northern Ballet as a dancer it will not be his last connection with Northern Ballet.  The company will dance The Architect at The Stanley and Audrey Burton Theatre in Leeds as part of its mixed programme between the 6 and 9 May 2015 and at The Linbury in London between the 12 and 14 May 2015. Both Mel and I reviewed that work when we saw it last year (see Mel Wong Kenneth Tindall - The Architect of Ballet 21 June 2014 and Jane Lambert A Wonderful Evening - Northern Ballet's Mixed Bill 21 June 2014 23 June 2014).

I am sure readers (many of whom will be at Milton Keynes Theatre) will join me in wishing Kenneth Tindall toi-toi for Saturday and ever greater success in his career as a choreographer.

Further Reading

Northern Ballet  14 Years with Kenneth Tindall  29 Apr 2015
Jane Lambert   Kenneth Tindall 28 Feb 2015

Wuthering Heights

Top Withens, the inspiration for Wuthering Heights

Photo Wikipedia

Northern Ballet, Wuthering Heights, The Lyceum, Sheffield, 18 March 2015

On Saturday Northern Ballet acknowledged its northernness by performing Jonathan Watkins's A Northern Trilogy (see Sapphire 15 March 2015). It did so again last night at the Lyceum in Sheffield with David Nixon's Wuthering Heights. I've seen quite a lot of Northern Ballet lately: two performances of Romeo and Juliet on 7 and 12 March 2015 (see Northern Ballet's Romeo and Juliet - different but in a good way 8 March 2015 and Leebolt's Juliet 13 March 2015), the Sapphire gala on 14 March 2015 and a rehearsal and performance of Wuthering Heights yesterday.  I enjoyed all those performances but the one that I appreciated most was last night's Wuthering Heights.

That is probably because I attended the rehearsal and a discussion in The Crucible bar afterwards. I have only read Emily Brontë's novel once and that was decades ago. While I acknowledge its greatness this sort of work is not my favourite literary genre.  I read the book purely out of homage to its author and deference to its reputation and not because I wanted to. I found it very hard going and was glad to reach the end.  I much prefer her sister's work, particularly Shirley and Villette not to mention the work of other contemporary authors.  Because Wuthering Heights was not my favourite novel I was not tempted to see the ballet on the previous times it had been performed. I have to confess that I put off buying a ticket until after I had seen the rehearsal and it was entirely on the strength of the rehearsal that I decided to stay for the evening. Had I come to last night's performance without seeing the rehearsal and attending the discussion I would have been unprepared and might not have understood the choreography and enjoyed the evening as much as I did.

The ballet's synopsis is not quite as I remember the novel and not as I had expected it to be.  I had feared that it would start with Cathy's tapping at Lockwood's window and that it turn out to be somewhat other worldly and creepy like Giselle.  I was pleasantly surprised to find it was nothing like that. There was a momentary projection of Cathy's image in the first scene but that was no more spooky than the flickering image of Odile in Act III of Swan Lake. No. The ballet is a lot more subtle than that. It is very much about relationships - between Cathy and Heathcliff and Edgar; Cathy and Heathcliff and Hindley; Heathcliff and Cathy; and Isabella and Heathcliff and Hindley. It is also set in two timelines - the childhood of Cathy, Heathcliff and Hindley and their adulthood - with plenty of flashbacks. As a result Nixon has created a young Cathy and an adult Cathy and a young Heathcliff and an adult Heathcliff.  There are scenes when the young Cathy danced with adult Cathy and the young Heathcliff with the older Heathcliff. The ballet ends with the adult Heathcliff kneeling in the falling snow beneath a single spotlight with the young Heathcliff and Cathy playing around him. It was very arresting.

There are, of course, other major roles for Hindley, Edgar Linton, his sister Isabella and Ellen Dean.

In the rehearsal young Heathcliff was danced by Kevin Poeung, adult Heathcliff by Isaac Lee-Baker, young Cathy by Rachael Gillespie, adult Cathy by Dreda Blow, Hindley by Mlindi Kulashe, Edgar by Nicola Gervasi, Isabella by Jessica Morgan and Ellen by Victoria Sibson.  From where I was sitting in the middle of row R of the stalls it appeared that we got Jeremy Curnier as young Heathcliff, Tobias Batley as adult Heathcliff, Rachael Gillespie again as young Cathy, Martha Leebolt as adult Cathy, Hironao Takehashi as Edgar and Hannah Bateman as Isabella in the evening performance and that was confirmed in the cast list.  But the cast list said that Jeremy Curnier was also Hindley which can't be right and that "Samantha Moore" was dancing Ellen. I have never heard of a Samantha Moore but I do know Pippa.  Clad in a mop cap and 19th century garb I could not recognize her positively but the role required a strong character dancer which Moore proved herself to be par excellence when she danced the nurse in Romeo and Juliet a few days earlier. I can't think who else it might have been*.

Yesterday I enjoyed watching Gillespie twice.  I have raved about her many times already and probably embarrassed her to distraction for which I apologize profusely but she is one of three graces of British ballet who delight me in a very special way (see Not too sure about Fairies but I certainly believe in Rachael Gillespie 21 Dec 2014). The others are Ruth Brill of the Birmingham Royal Ballet and Sarah Kundi of English National Ballet. I don't know what it is about those artists. None of them is yet a principal though I am sure that is only a matter of time but when one of them dances I float.  Sibley had that effect on me 40 years ago though surprisingly not so much Fonteyn. Among male dancers Xander Parish delights me in a very similar way as does Damien Johnson of Ballet Black.

Yesterday evening I saw three of my other favourites, Batley, Leebolt and Bateman and they all danced magnificently. So, too, did Takahashi who in my humble opinion expressed considerable nobility as Edgar. In the discussion in The Crucible Janet McNulty who must know the ballet very well described him as "a wimp" and that was the consensus but that was not how Takehashi's danced him. It was difficult to get into the ballet in the rehearsal because there were occasional stops and starts and corrections but I am sure I shall be delighted by Lee-Baker and Blow when I see them. Sibson was an impressive Ellen in the rehearsal as was Moore or whoever danced Ellen in the evening.

The evening performance moved a lady in the centre of the front row who looked very like Janet McNulty to rise to her feet and she was joined by her companion. "Good old Janet", I thought. "The dancers deserve it" and I stood up too. I don't know who else did but I am sure there would have been some more.

So yesterday's pleasure was quite serendipitous. In case you are wondering why I decided to stay in Sheffield when I had many other commitments it was a combination of attractions. First, there was Claude-Michel Schönberg's score for which Nixon created spectacular lifts and jumps. Some of those lifts were quite innovative and I guess very uncomfortable for the ballerinas. Both Cathy and Isabella were grabbed by the throats and bundled like laundry in pas de deux with Heathcliff. Returning to the score I found it enchanting from the opening oboes. Next there was the choreography that I have already described. Blow and Lee-Baker had been magnificent and I was eager to see what Batley and Leebolt would make of it. Then there were Ali Allen's sets and David Grill's lighting. I have lived in the Pennines for 30 years among the royds, below enormous skies and know the sudden and sometimes dramatic changes of colour of heath and sky. Rarely have I seen such faithful re-creation of nature on the stage.

I did not think I would like this ballet but I did and I am now quite hooked on it. I am not sure I can get to see it while it is still in Sheffield but I will certainly follow it on tour.

Finally, I would like to commend Joanne Clayton of the Friends of Northern Ballet for arranging the discussion after the show. As I was at the box office I missed the introductions of the speakers. One was a gentleman and the other a lady. They certainly know the novel well and also the choreography. They alerted me to details that I had missed in the rehearsal. I looked out for those details and understood their significance in the evening. We need more events like that in the North. There are plenty in London organized by the London Ballet Circle, Danceworks, the London Jewish Cultural Centre and others. I had contemplated organizing some myself but had been deterred by the fear that nobody would turn up as we have a different culture in the North and a much smaller audience for ballet. Joanne Clayton's success has made me think again.

*Someone who knows a lot more about Northern Ballet than me has just sent me a DM to confirm that Samantha Moore is Pippa Moore and that there is some history.