Ballet West's Tour of Scotland

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My very first post to Terpsichore was a review of The Nutcracker by Ballet West Company. I was so impressed that I had to write it down.  I had been blogging for years on the law and had even found an excuse to squeeze in a review of a show by Northern Ballet on the ground that choreography is an intellectual asset protected by copyright. The only way to do justice to Ballet West's performance at Pitlochry was to publish my review somewhere. As I did not then know any other dance blogger I decided to start my own ballet blog

Not least the most impressive aspect of that 2013 performance was that it was largely a student show,  Ballet West states on its website:

"As part of your studies, you will be part of the Ballet West company which gives you the experience of working with professional dancers and choreographers to perform classical ballet repertoire and new works in genuine performance contexts throughout your time at Ballet West."

Now all ballet schools stage shows but the unique feature of Ballet West's training is that they take their show on a strenuous tour of Scotland.  Between 25 Jan and 16 Feb 2020 they will perform Swan Lake no less than 12 times in 8 cities and towns including Edinburgh, Glasgow and Dundee, Some of their venues such as the Glasgow Armadillo and the Stirling Macrobert Arts Centre are fair size auditoriums which they manage to fill.

Bearing in mind that all major classical companies in the UK except the Royal Ballet tour the country regularly and some of them such as Ballet Theatre UK and Ballet Cymru can cover enormous distances between performances, this must be the best possible training for professional life.  In fact, Ballet West notes:

"Previous students always consider the experience of these performances as the most useful in securing work and preparing them for life as a professional dancer."

The only other school that sends its students on tour is the Central School of Ballet.  They visit even more venues but they start in March and finish in July.

Although Ballet West is a small school located a long way from Londo, it achieves a lot,  One of the last British students to make it to the final the Grand Prix de Lausanne was a Ballet West alumna (see Natasha Watson in Lausanne 15 Nov 2014).  She also did well in the Genée a few months earlier. So, too, have a number of other students. The school holds outreach classes in the vicinity for students of all ages. Possibly Ballet West's most impressive achievement is the training they give to their associates. Some of those students are very young. Many travel long distances to attend classes and rehearsals. They have a limited time to prepare for a show. But the standard of performance is very high indeed.

If I had a son or daughter of the appropriate age with an interest in and aptitude for ballet, I would certainly not discourage him or her from considering Ballet West very seriously.

The Importance of Performance

I posted those words to Facebook just before we appeared on stage to give readers who have never danced in public some idea of the thrill of doing so.   Possibly the  anticipation of the performance is even more delicious that the performance itself.  It is during those moments that the adrenaline begins to flow and a thousand thoughts slip in and out of the brain.   We danced our piece.  I don't think there were too many disasters. At least nobody shouted at us to get off or booed.  We detected no flying tomatoes or rotten eggs. Or if any were thrown the aim of the person throwing such missile would have been worse than our dancing. We even got a clap at the end.

I didn't see any of the show because we were the third act of the second part but I did see the dress rehearsal and was very impressed.  Particularly good this year were the repertoire class which presented their own original ballet entitled Pirates of the Caribbean choreographed by their instructor, Josh Moss.  I do not yet have a clip of yesterday's performance of Pirates but here in a video of their entry into the kingdom of the shades in October 2016 which I reviewed in Pride.   This film shows how good they are:


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That performance is all the more impressive when you consider that all the dancers have busy lives and  meet only for a few minutes on Wednesday evenings.  As usual, the Chinese dancers delighted me and the advanced ballet, intermediate and pointe classes thrilled me.

My Facebook post elicited a whole tas de merde, a "chookas" and several invitations to "break a leg" but also the following comment: "Sadly, I don't get to do an annual show, despite attending two schools."  The student who posted that response was right to be sad because performance is so important to ballet education.  As I said in my review of Hype Dance's Annual Show:

"Performances are important to dance education because ballet and kindred styles of dance developed in the theatre and are intended for an audience. The experience of appearing before a living, breathing (and paying) audience is delicious. I well remember the charge of excitement I felt in my first show which I tried to describe in The Time of My Life 28 June 2014. Every dance student from toddler to pensioner can and should feel that charge no matter how inexperienced or incompetent he or she may be. Most get that opportunity because almost every dance school worth its salt offers its students a chance to take part in its annual show. Training and rehearsing for that show is what distinguishes dance classes from dreary keep fit."

A flippant answer might be "Go find yourself another ballet school", but that would not be very helpful. I happen to know that one of the schools to which the dancer refers is rated as one the best in the country - at least for highly talented young students with the ambition and ability to make a career in dance.  Also, that school is not the only fine ballet school not to offer its adult dance students a chance to perform on stage.   Northern Ballet Academy did the same a couple of years ago which is why I spend at least one evening a week in Manchester even though there are outstanding teachers in Leeds and the Academy's timetabling is much more convenient

In Essex, Cornwall and other parts of the country, an opportunity to perform in public is offered by local amateur ballet companies.  I think we need something like that in the North,  That is why I hope we can launch Powerhouse Ballet.  However, everything depends on whether we can get a reasonable turnout (in both senses of the word) at Jane Tucker's class in Huddersfield on Saturday.

If you want to come but have not already registered, now is your chance.  This will be great class:

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Evolve in Leeds

I try not to have any favourites in the dance world or at least not to how favouritism but I have a particularly soft spot for Scottish Ballet which was the first company that I got to know and love. One of my favourite dancers in that company was Eve Mutso and one of the most beautiful performances that she has ever given is not on a stage but in the short video A Dancer's Journey. Do cluck that link, ladies and gentlemen. Your effort will be amply rewarded.

The film is made for Dancers' Career Development ("DCD") which helps "dancers to make the often difficult transition from professional dancing to a new career by giving them the confidence and skills they need to keep working beyond dance." According to its website, DCD is the only organization of its kind in the UK and it is a world leader in dancer transition.

DCD is holding a one-day workshop called EVOLVE in Leeds on 15 May in conjunction with Northern Ballet to explore "life after a dance career, offering practical tools, insight and inspiration" (see EVOLVE Leeds Workshop 23 April 2017 Northern Ballet's blog). DCD has come to Leeds once before and you will see what happened last time in Dancers’ Career Development: EVOLVE Leeds #1.

If you want to come, here's what you need to know:

"DCD supported dancer Anna Nowak, formerly of Company Wayne McGregor will be amongst speakers sharing her own story.
One to one coaching sessions will also be available on Tuesday 16 May!

• Date: Monday 15 May 2017 (followed by one to one coaching sessions on Tuesday 16 May)

• Time: 9:00am - 4:30pm

• Venue: Northern Ballet, Quarry Hill, Leeds, LS2 7PA

• Facilitated by: Jo Wright, DCD Coach

• Price: Early bird: £30 (until 30th April), Full price: £35 - includes lunch and refreshments throughout the day. (Please contact us on 020 7831 1449 if cost is a barrier to you attending. Limited subsidised places are available)."

Here is a link to the booking page if you want to come.

Northern Ballet and Phoenix Dance Theatre's premises are incredibly easy to reach as they are literally just across the road from Leeds's bus station, a 10-minute walk from the railway station (though if you don't know your way around Leeds I would recommend a bus as folk have been known to get lost) and there is plenty of overpriced parking on the waste ground behind Northern Ballet and the music school and West Yorkshire Playhouse. The local authority has the cheek to charge up to 22:00 for parking on that desert.

I've got a modest suggestion which I shall try to follow. Just as some airlines encourage us to pay for a tree whenever we book a flight, how about making a small donation to the DCD when we book a ticket to the ballet? Those swans and shades and mirlitons have already given us so much in terms of classes, rehearsals and injuries. The performing phase of their careers is limited. They have so much more to give in the post-performance phase. It is in our interests as theatregoers (and probably also in the interests of the nation) for us to give a little back.

What Manchester Did Yesterday ......

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 If you are in London tomorrow you nay want to make your way to Canada Square Park at Canary Wharf between 12:30 and 14:00 for a pop-up performance of ballet, contemporary, modern and street dance promoted by the Royal Academy of Dance. There have already been pop-up performances at Finsbury Square this  month and there will be another at King's Cross in October.

These events build on the success of pop-up performances at Broadgate Circle and King's Cross in support of the Genée last September.

All good stuff but these are not the first pop-up dance performance in a major UK city.  Enjoy this video of KNT Manchester dancers in Piccadilly Gardens supporting Oxjam in 2013.