Chantry Dance - Making Connections

Chantry Dance Company is one of two professional dance companies in the East Midlands and the only one in Lincolnshire. It is based in Grantham which was the home town of Sir Isaac Newton. On the 25 and 27 Sept 2014 the company will dance Chasing the Eclipse as part of the Gravity Fields science and arts festival to celebrate his life and work and connection with the town. Chantry Dance presents great performances as I mentioned in Chantry Dance Company's Sandman and Dream Dance on 10 May 2014 but it also does great educational and outreach work which I covered in Chantry Dance Summer School 2 Aug 2014 and Chantry Dance Associates: Lots of Promise 28 July 2014.

On Tuesday 26 Aug 2014 the company opened its doors to the public in Making Connections.  This consisted of presentations by the company's artistic directors and principal dancers Rae Piper and Paul Chantry about the company and its work and a preview of its new production The Happy Prince which it is taking on tour in the Autumn as part of a triple bill.  Although the event took place immediately after a bank holiday the event attracted a distinguished audience that included His Worship the Mayor of Grantham Councillor Ian Selby.

Over sandwiches and wine Rae Piper told the story of how the company came to be formed. I had heard the story before in May but not really taken it in.  Piper and Chantry had been engaged to dance with a famous Chinese calligrapher who made his brush strokes to music.  Piper and Chantry were freelance dancers at that time.  The idea of independent dancers is not well known or understood in China so their collaborators kept asking them "What is the name of your company?" Eventually they gave in and said "Chantry Dance" and a new company was formed.

Although they are based in a small town in the East Midlands they are not in any sense small town or provincial. Their standards are those of the West End and they made that very clear to the prisoners of HMP Bronzefield who auditioned for "Sister Act" in the hope that it would be a cushy number. The company set up a stage in the prison gym and put the women through their paces. They worked very hard as a result of which their self esteem that had been pretty low soared to great heights.

After the refreshments Paul Chantry led us into a rehearsal studio where we saw some of the scenes from The Happy Prince. I had expected it to be good but not quite that good. Based on Oscar Wilde's short story it has great choreography to a beautiful score and wonderful dancing. My spine began to tingle in the way that it did when I saw Sibley and Dowell, still does when I see Kundi and Christophi and last did when I saw Parish and Tereshkina in Romeo and Juliet. In Piper's pas de deux with Graziano Bongiovanni I had to struggle to hold back the tears. It really was that moving.

Chantry Dance Company's initiative in working with its local community is to be commended for as I argued in Ballet is a Brand 13 March 2014. They do a lot more of that sort of thing in the USA than they do now and though Kathryn Barber counsels me that not everything is rosy on the other side of the Atlantic nowadays I do remember a lot of good ballet almost everywhere when I travelled around America as a graduate student many years ago.  Getting sponsorship and support from the local community is not a substitute for Arts Council funding and other forms of revenue and it should be encouraged.

July News from Chantry Dance Company

It's no secret that both Jane and I are big admirers of Chantry Dance Company! This beautiful modern ballet company, based in Grantham, have helped spark Jane's dancing ambitions and are helping to develop mine by enabling me to participate in their Summer School this year. With that in mind I am pleased to share their July newsletter with Tepsichore readers, I hope you will take this opportunity to carry out a little investigation into the company and see for yourselves the stunning work that they create and read up on their outreach work, too.


Company News

The one and only Aled Jones MBE (fellow Welshie and all round lovely chap!) has recently become one of CDC's patrons. Jones is best known for his television work (including Songs of Praise, Escape to the Country and Daybreak) and radio shows (Classic FM and Radio 2).

CDC Performance News

Chasing the Eclipse 
CDC are preparing and rehearsing for their unique production of Chasing the Eclipse, in partnership with Rosa Productions, for the Gravity Fields Festival taking place in Lincolnshire from 24th to 28th September. The production will be starring Dominic North, Principal Dancer for Matthew Bourne's New Adventures. This is a free outdoor event, and more information about times and dates can be found here.

The Happy Prince
Rehearsals will also be starting soon for CDC's Autumn tour of The Happy Prince. Tour dates and venues can be found here.

Sandman and Rhapsody in Blue
On Saturday 26th July, as part of the Lincoln Dances festival, CDC will be performing two works 'Sandman' (created by West End choreographer, Gail Gordon, and the first piece that Jane & I saw CDC perform live) and 'Rhapsody in Blue' (a dynamic duet danced to Gershwin's infamous jazz concerto). Tickets for this event can be booked directly from www.lincolndrillhall.com.

An Invitation

In August, CDC will be holding a special event for local and national businesses and individuals to meet, engage and connect with the company.

The event will share what CDC does, how it can support businesses and individuals and what they can do reciprocally. In addition to a video presentation, some company members will also be performing a live dance presentation featuring material from CDC's new production of 'The Happy Prince'
The aim of the event will be to build positive, productive relationships with others leading to mutually beneficial outcomes. This is an event that Jane I will certainly be attending when we present the brand new 'Terpsichore' to the world (shhhh, spoilers!!) and if you would like to join us the please email rae@chantrydancecompany.org

Education News

Associates

Dancers from CDC's Associate Programme will be performing their end of year presentation on July 27th at Sadler's Wells. The work they show will be the culmination of the year's work, including technique demonstrations, pieces choreographed for the group, and some of the student's own choreographies.

Workshops
CDC is leading workshops or teaching on Summer Schools in 2014 for:

• Central School of Ballet
• Waltons Girls' School
• West Grantham Academy St Hugh's
• Bristol Old Vic Theatre School
• Lincoln College
• Stinson Stage Academy

Dance with CDC
The Associate Programme is auditioning now for the next intake, and places are still available on the  Summer School (no audition required). For more details, please email education@chantrydancecompany.org.

If you would like to book a workshop or masterclass with CDC for your school or group, please email education@chantrydancecompany.org.


CDC Beyond

CDC's Artistic Directors, Paul Chantry and Rae Piper, have just finished reviving Lucy Burge's choreography for Antony Mcdonald's production of Queen of Spades for Grange Park Opera. Queen of Spades will play until July 12th and stars Carl Tanner as Hermann and Giselle Allen as Lisa.

Rae and Paul have also just finished performing in La Traviata for Grange Park Opera, directed by Lindsay Posner and choreographed by Nikki Woollaston.