David Wall 1946 - 2013

When I first fell in love with ballet in the late 1960s and early 1970s there were some great male dancers in the Royal Ballet such as Anthony Dowell, Rudolf Nureyev and David Wall. Sadly the last of those three died yesterday (see "Ballet dancer David Wall dies aged 67" BBC 19 June 2013).  

In the obituaries and news reports that I have seen today Wall is remembered for partnering Margot Fonteyn  but he also danced with the other great ballerinas of the day. My memory of him is dancing Romeo with Lynn Seymour and fortunately someone has posted a clip of the bedroom scene from Romeo and Juliet on YouTube. No doubt a lot of people like me will watch that pas de deux with glistening eyes.

I learned something new today from Wikipedia. The sculpture to the left which we have seen so many times is apparently based on David Wall.  It is called Jete and it is by Enzo Plazzotta. I shall now remember that wonderful principal every time I pass it.

Other Obituaries
"Ballet dancer David Wall dies of cancer aged 67" 19 June 2013 Independent
"Ballet star David Wall dies aged 67" 19 June 2013 Star Pulse

Angelic - Northern Ballet's Mixed Bill

Last Thursday, in the second interval of the transmission of Swan Lake, Valery Gergiev described Tchaikowsky as the greatest ballet composer ever. A lot of folk would go along with that including me but Aaron Copland is not far behind. Copland, unlike Tchaikowsky, can bring tears to my eyes. One of my favourite ballet scores is Appalachian Spring. It was commissioned for the great Martha Graham and Merce Cunningham in 1944. I have never seen that ballet on stage but here is the next best thing: some remarkable footage of the original production shot without sound upon which the music has been overlaid.

I heard that score again and was close to tears last night in Mark Godden's "Angels in the Architecture" danced by Northern Ballet as the first part of their Mixed Programme at the Stanley & Aubrey Burton Theatre.  Although Godden's choreography is very different his subject matter is the same, namely the pioneers of early America.

Appalachian Spring incorporates the lovely Shaker hymn Simple Gifts:

'Tis the gift to be simple,
'tis the gift to be free,
'tis the gift to come down
where we ought to be,
and when we find ourselves in the place just right,
'twill be in the valley of love and delight.
When true simplicity is gained
to bow and to bend we shan't be ashamed,
to turn, turn, will be our delight
till by turning, turning we come round right."

Godden's work focused on the Shakers, a sect which is now almost extinct. I am sorry they have gone because they seem to have had much in common with Quakers. Like us they adhered to pacifism, integrity and simplicity.  A manifestation of their integrity and simplicity is the elegant furniture that they produced and it was that rather than Frank Ticheli's score which inspired the title.  According to the programme the title  alludes to a quotation by Thomas Merton that "the peculiar grace of a Shaker chair is due to the fact that an angel might come and sit on it."

Comparing the film of Appalachian Spring to a clip of Ballet Memphis's production of Angels you can see the similarities in the sets, the props, the costumes and even the choreography. Graham waved the long skirts of the female dancers sexily which Godden extended into a sort of 17th century cancan. I am not sure that the pioneers would have done that - particularly not the Shakers who encouraged abstinence even though they had a reputation for wild and exuberant worship - but it worked balletically.

The dancers were Pippa Moore, Ashley Dixon, Martha Leebolt, John Hull, Teresa Saavedra-Bordes, Graham Kotowich, Rachael Gillespie, Matthew Topliss, Mariana Rodrigues, Sebastian Loe, Abigail Prudames and Matthew Broadbent.  Interestingly Godden collaborated with Paul Daigle to design the set which was woven into the choreography as were Daigle's costumes. Perhaps all choreographers try to do that but this was hands on.

The audience was on a high after Angels. We were brought down to earth with a thud by the opening bars of Ólafur Arnalds  "Brotsjór" in Kenneth Tindall's "Luminous Jun-cture" and the stiff arm and deathly w,hite face of (I think, apologies if I got it wrong) Victoria Sibson poking through the curtain. A very interesting score which also incorporated "Recomposed", "Luminous" and "Sarajevo" by Max Richter and Hans Zimmer's "Time" overlaid by a diatribe against greed and war that I just can't place for the time being. The other dancers in Luminous Junc-ture were Dreda Blow, Julie Charlet, Hannah Bateman, Tobias Batley, Benjamin Mitchell, Kevin Poeung, Giuliano Contadini and the lighting.  I say the lighting because Tindall wrote:

"My inspiration is always movement in its style and intention. I hope to use the lighting as if it were another dancer on the stage. That, coupled with the music, will help Luminous Junc-ture be a physically emotive, inventive and atmospheric work."

And so it was. He did indeed make clever use of the lighting not only to track movement but also as a prop. The descending light fittings at the end were a good example. You can see some of the choreography from the rehearsal tracks on the ballet web page.

A special word for the young costume designer Emma Guilfoyle who has a special YouTube clip that can also be accessed from the web page. Her costumes gave the work a retro-feel - something that might have been performed by Michael Somes, Moira Shearer or Pamela May immediately after the second world war - and the voiceover was definitely 1940s. No bad thing as the war was the cauldron in which modern the British ballet was forged.

The last work in the triple bill was Hans van Manen's classic Concertante. What can one say about a masterpiece? Especially when there is a YouTube video of the great man himself discussing his ballet. According to the clip van Manen staged the work for the Nederlands Dans Theater junior company (Dans Theater 2). He spoke very highly of the Leeds dancers (Bateman, Batley, Leebolt, Contadini, Lori Gilchrist, Nicola Gervasi, Prudames and Isaac Lee-Baker) as well he might for they were good.

This was my first visit to the Northern Ballet's new home and I was very impressed. Being a Mancunian I regretted their departure from my hometown but I can see they have a good home now with a well equipped theatre with most of the things that a company could possibly need. But I am sure they could do with some more.  There are many ways you can help them.   For instance, you could become a friend or patron, you could sponsor a dancer, run with the Northern Ballet on Bastille Day or, indeed, you could sponsor my long suffering dance teacher who is taking part in the run.

Further Information
BBC Radio 4 "Tales from the Stave, Appalachian Spring" 11 June 2013, 11:30
Jane Lambert  "The Junior Company of the Dutch National Ballet - Stadsshouwburg Amsterdam 24 Nov 2013" 25 Nov 2013

Swan Lake from St Pertersburg

High definition television has created new opportunities for theatre and music lovers in outposts like Holmfirth to see the world's great opera, ballet and theatre companies without the expense and inconvenience of traipsing down to London - or indeed other metropolises such as St. Petersburg and New York. Doubtless it has also created opportunities for those companies to develop new income streams and indeed new audiences.

Over the last 12 months I have watched performances of the Bolshoi and the Met streamed live from Moscow and New York to the National Media Museum in Bradford (a great national asset threatened with closure that we really must save), the Royal Ballet's Nutcracker in Wakefield and, yesterday, the Mariinsky Ballet in Swan Lake in Huddersfield.  It is not the same as watching the companies on the stage.   As Tamara Rojo said when interviewed on BBC Radio's Broadcasting House just before Christmas "It's a different experience." But not necessarily an inferior one.  The cameras go where audiences don't such as the orchestra pit when the maestro waves his raises his baton or in the case of Valery Gergiev his hands. They interview the stars and, in some cases, the composers, conductors, designers, directors and technicians behind the production which provides valuable insights not only into the show but also the work. The New York Met deserves particular commendation in that regard.

Yesterday the ballet was streamed to some audiences in 3D. I got to see it in 2D but that was still good enough. The transmission opened with an interview with Gergiev and Yekaterina Kondaurova (Odette-Odile) from the new Mariinsky about which I blogged last month.   The ballet was danced on the original stage but an audience in the new auditorium watched it in 3D. It is a rare pleasure to hear a ballerina speak, especially Kondaurova who has a good command of English.   The transmission then switched across the road to the Mariinsky foyer where Yorkshireman (not everybody and everything of value in British ballet comes from London, Cheryl) Xander Parish was interviewed.  He danced one of Siegried's friends.

The Mariinsky had rolled out its top team for the world's admiration.  Kondaurova was magnificent as was his partner Timur Askerov. Odette-Odile is a split role requiring considerable dramatic as well as balletic skill to transform from sweet swan to shameless imposter. Not every ballerina can combine those roles but Kondaurova is one who can. My favourite bit of any Swan Lake is Legnani's 32 fouettés and Kondaurova executed them exquisitely. Special praise also go to Vasily Tkachenko who danced the jester. The Mariinsky has produced the legendary male dancers Nijinsky, Nureyev  and Baryshnikov.  In Tkachenko I think we will see another.

Having been brought up on the Royal Ballet's version I missed Fred Ashton's charming Neapolitan divertissement but the end of the Mariinsky's Swan Lake was so much more satisfying than most versions.  Instead of the lovers jumping into the lake and sailing off to Heaven Siegfried tore a lump out of Von Rothbart (danced brilliantly by Andrei Yermakov) who writhed convincingly on the floor as the swans broke free.

St Petersburg is one of the great cities of Europe I have still to visit and the clips of the city in the two intervals were stunning. "We have to go there" I whispered to my foodie friend.  And although borsht isn't doesn't appeal to either of us are now saving our pennies to see Theatre Square for ourselves.

Heavy Arts: Flashdance

I mentioned Heavy Arts Theatre School in my article on The Base Studios, Huddersfield on 2 March 2013. On 25 and 26 May 2013 Heavy Arts presented Flashdance at The Lawrence Batley Theatre in Huddersfield. I bought tickets for myself and a friend largely out of loyalty to the show's producers. I had expected a good amateur performance but nonetheless an amateur one. In fact the show exceeded my expectations. It was good. by any standard.  It was exuberant. It was energetic.   It was polished. It was poignant.  And in some scenes it was funny.

Based loosely on the film which grossed over US$201 million in box office receipts the musical tells the story of how Alex, a young woman working in a Pittsburgh steelworks by day and in a bar by night with very little formal education achieves her ambition of becoming a dancer against all the odds.  There are a number of sub-plots.  Her employer's nephew, Nick, uses his influence to get Alex an audition.  Her friend, Gloria, is tempted away to a pole dancing joint where she is abused by its owner, Kool and has to be rescued by Alex.  Alex's mother, Hannah, is shot in an armed robbery by  Jimmy, Alex's first date, who is desperate to raise a few hundred dollars.

This plot provided a setting for some good songs and even better dancing.  A triumph for the producer, director and choreographer Sean Sedley and the producer and general manager Matt Slater.  Sedley and Slater coaxed the best out of their cast - Caroline Hamilton who played Alex, Alex Jones who played Nick, Leah Varnam who played Hannah, Lawrence Guntart who played Jimmy, Oliver Burkill the sinister Kool and Florence Anstey, Beki White and Macy Varnham who played Alex's friends, Gloria, Keisha and Jazmin. They were all good - as indeed were the performers I have not mentioned - and it would be invidious to single out any of them out for special praise.

The scene changes were slick moving convincingly from a steel mill to Hannah's dry cleaning shop, a ballet school, Alex's flat, Kool's Bar and so on.  There were some difficult technical effects such as the end of the first act when the heroine was doused in what appeared to be a jet of water.  I struggle to see the point of that scene but it was still impressive.

There was just one detail that did not quite work for me and that was the accents.   For most of the audience it would not have mattered but having lived and worked in the USA they grated on me.  Pittsburgh is a steel town in Western Pennsylvania rather like Sheffield.  Like Sheffield it has its own distinct speech patterns that are recognizable instantly in America. "Still" for "steel", for instance, and "yous" for the second person plural. There are some good examples on YouTube. The actors managed something vaguely transatlantic but it was not Pittsburgh. The show would have been even better for me had the company stuck to their native speech.. Either than or they find themselves a good dialect coach.

According to the programme  Flashdance is the company's tenth show since 2007 and they have tried some very ambitious productions.  I look forward to their next show.

"Dépouillement" - another beautiful Pas de Deux by Kundi and Christofi

I have just found this clip of Sarah Kundi and Jade Hale Christoi on YouTube.  Compare it to Dépouillage which I embedded in "Ballet Black's Appeal" on 12 March 2013. See also "Why Ballet Black is special" of 20 May 2013.

The music is by Alastair Broadley.

Dépouillement and dépouillage are not easy to translate because the word dépouiller has a literal as well as figurative meaning. The literal meaning is "to skin" so I guess the figurative meaning must be "to strip down". Thus, dépouillage would be the process of stripping down and dépouillement stripping down perhaps..

Whatever the meaning this is a chance to enjoy two fine dancers.

Why Ballet Black Is special

In "Ballet Black's Appeal" 12 March 2013, I wrote:

"I have yet to see Ballet Black on the stage but I fell in love with the company just by watching this film of Depouillage by Jade Hale-Christofi and Sarah Kundi on YouTube:"

I could not say so at the time but that clip of Depouillage reminded me of another pas de deux.  In 1969 I attended a special gala to mark Sir Fred Ashton's retirement as principal choreographer to the Royal Ballet.  One of the works presented at that gala was the pas de deux was from Marguerite & Armand.   It was danced by the late Rudolf Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn.   

I saw Fonteyn a number of times and even dined with her in a manner of speaking when she visited my Inn one Grand Night. She was exquisite and I have never seen her like again. Nor had I ever expected to.  But I was reminded of Fonteyn by Sarah Kundi when I first saw Depouillage on YouTube.  Am I flattering Kundi extravagantly? I don't think so. Take a look at this YouTube clip of Marguerite and Armand and then another look at Depouillage. See what I mean?  

When I actually saw Kundi on stage for the first time in a Quadruple Bill at the Bernie Grant Arts Centre on Saturday 18 May the resemblance to the prima ballerina assoluta was quite uncanny.   She danced in two of the four short ballets: "Dopamine (you make my levels go silly)" with Jazmon Voss and as one of the girl friends left back home in Christopher Marney's "War Letters".

Dopamine was a pas de deux choreographed by Ludovik Ondiviela to the music of Fabio d'Andrea. It demonstrated the virtuosity of both Kundi and Voss.  Next was "The One Played Twice" by Javier de Frutos - a charming suite of dances to a barbershop harmony. The dancers were Sayaka Ichikawa, Damien Johnson, Cira Robinson and Jacob Wye.  I loved Javier de Frutos's green and purple costumes. Finally there was Egal danced by Kanika Carr and Jose Alves choreographed by Robert Biner to a strong percussive score.  

Though I had trekked down to London specifically to see Kundi I was bowled over by the other dancers. Each and every one of them is a star.

War Letters, which took up the whole of the second act, brought all the dancers together.  It opened with the voice of Kwame Kwei Amah reading the words of a soldier's letter to his sweetheart rejoicing at their love. The mood changed with a poignant pas de deux between a wounded, gassed or shell shocked soldier in pyjamas and his lover who arrived with smiles and left with a broken. Next came a dance to the music of Glenn Miller. Four soldiers met four girls on the dance floor. Three of the girls were asked to dance but the fourth was ignored. She tried to attract the boys' attention but to no avail. The second reading came from Thandie Newton comparing throwing off a lover to the loss of a heavy coat - but then regretting the loss of warmth. This analogy was taken up by the choreographer as the boys tried to lend her their overcoats. The scene ended with the girl shrouded with the soldiers' coats.  Finally, there was the voice of the wartime radio presenter John Snagge announcing "Victory in Europe". The last scene is of the artists together which I reproduced in my previous post. Home came the boys nursing their injuries. This was not the first ballet on the horror of war but I still found it a very moving work.

According to the company's website Cassa Pancho started Ballet Black to provide opportunities for aspiring Black and Asian dancers. That may still be its mission even though dancers of all races are now establishing themselves in other companies but it is certainly not the main reason for watching the company.  See Ballet Black because it is very, very good.

We in the North will have an opportunity to watch Ballet Black in November when it comes to the Stanley and Audrey Burton Theatre in Leeds between 6 and 7 Nov 2013.  Do go and watch them. They really are unmissable.

See also
"'Dépouillement' - another beautiful Pas de Deux by Kundi and Christofi" 22 May 2013

They're not from Chigwell - they're from a small Welsh Town called Newport

Except that Newport is not all that small and it has a very good ballet company called Ballet Cymru. I blogged about the company in "Ballet Cymru: 'Romeo a Juliet'" and on Saturday 11 May 2013 I actually got to see them at the Brewery Arts Centre in Kendal.

Now Kendal really is a small town but its arts centre is impressive. Not only does it have a fair size auditorium for dance and drama but it also has space for pictures, cinema, a pretty good restaurant and several bars. Last Saturday there was a reggae concert and two first run films as well as the Welsh Ballet. My friend had an excellent sea food and I a meat platter before the show for £9.99 each. On the walls outside the auditorium I admired some interesting art work that appeared to have been made from rubbish washed up on a beach. Incidentally, the Brewery is only one of a number of attractions in this town. Earlier in the day we glimpsed the Quaker Tapesty and enjoyed some of the delicious drinking chocolate at the Famous 1657 Chocolate House. And there is so much more in this delightful town.

But we had come to see ballet and in particular Darius James and Amy Doughty's version of Romeo & Juliet. Now I knew Kenneth MacMillan's very well and had actually seen Lynn Seymour dance Juliet. It is a big ballet for a big company. I knew from the promotional video that Ballet Cymru would use the Prokofiev score and I wondered how on earth a small touring company without an orchestra on a tiny stage could possibly do justice to it.

The answer is that they did pretty well.  There used a backdrop and projector for the scene changes: stained glass for Friar Laurence's cell and flickering candles for Juliet's funeral.   Minimal props that had to include a double bed and catafalque. Contemporary clothes instead of Italian renaissance costumes. I liked Tybault's Welsh dragon tattoo that could have been lifted from the Jay-Z spoof. The music was recorded but it sounded almost as though it was live. According to the programme it was provided by Sinfonia Cymru conducted by Richard Laing.

However, it was the dancers who made the evening and they were delightful. It is probably unfair to singe any of them out but Emily Pimm Edwards as Juliet, Lydia Arnoux as Cerys (Juliet's girl friend instead of a nurse), Krystal Lowe as one of the Montagues and Daisuke Miura impressed me very much indeed. Edwards for her dramatic as well as balletic skill, Arnoux for her adorable, flirtatious girlishness, Lowe for her street wise swagger and Miura for his athleticism. I think I saw several stars in the making on Saturday night.

There was some interesting touches to the choreography. The use of a clog dance - not a sweet mother and daughter one as in Fille - but a more sinister emphasis of stamping feet by the Montagues. I have also mentioned the substitution of Cerys for the nurse which gave scope for Arnoux.  And finally the tragic pas de deux of Romeo and the lifeless Juliet.   Shortly after the performance I tweeted that I preferred James and Doughty's choreography to MacMillan. On reflection I would rather not compare the Royal Ballet's work with the Welsh because they are so different  but I certainly liked the Welsh version as much as the Royal's and I would really like to see more of James's choreography.   I have seen a lot of ballet over the last 40 years or so.   I rarely get as excited about a company as I did on Saturday.

The company spent only one night in Kendal. The next day they were off to Ayr. Then back to the Lake District.  Later this week they are on their way to Hertfordshire.  It must be an exhausting tour.  If Ballet Cymru come anywhere near you they are well worth seeing,