Ailey II in Bradford

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Ailey 2 (Enemy in the Figure, Freedom Series, The Hunt and Revelations) Alhambra Theatre, Bradford 18 Oct2023 19:30

Aikey II is to Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre what NDT2 is to the Nederlands Dans Theater.  According to its website, Ailey 2 is "universally renowned for merging the spirit and energy of the country’s best early-career dance talent with the passion and creative vision of today’s most outstanding and emerging choreographers."  By inference, it consists of some of the best early-career dance talent in the United States.

The company has just completed a tour of England and Inverness.   I caught it at the Bradford Alhambra on 18 Oct 2023 where it performed four of its works:

• an excerpt from William Forsyth's Enemy in the Figure; 
• an excerpt from Francesca Harper's  Freedom Series; 
• The Hunt by Robert Battle; and 
• Alvin Ailey's Revelations.

The choice of works and the order in which they were presented were a reverse retrospective of the development of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre and Ailey II.  Although William Forsyth is an American he made his reputation in Germany.  His works have been performed by companies all over the world including the Royal Ballet but it was through performances by Continental companies that I learned about his work.  Ailey II's artistic director Francesca Harper danced with the Frankfurt Ballet while Forsyth was the Director.  Robert Battle is the current Artistic Director of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre and Alvin Ailey was, of course, the companies' founder.

Another way of looking at the programme was that it started with a work or at least a style that is familiar to European audiences as it is in the repertoire of many of the world's leading companies, continued with a work in the same tradition but by an American choreographer, followed with one that was quintessentially American and finished with pure African-American music and dance.  Visually my abiding memory of Freedom Series is of the illuminated white globes carried by the audience.  Aurally it is of the juxtaposition of voice against the electronic score.   Excitement mounted with the beat of Les Tambours de Bronx.  The show climaxed with Revelations bringing African-American spirituals that were familiar but sung and danced with a rawness and energy that was anything but.

Revelations was my favourite piece of the evening.   There were remarkable performances by everyone in the cast but I was particularly impressed by Spencer Everett in I Wanna Be Ready and Corinth Moultrie, Patrick Gamble and Alfred L Jordan II.  Interestingly, I heard some of the same music two weeks later in Mthuthuzeli November's Nina By Whatever Means where it was interpreted subtly differently by a South African choreographer and a Brazilian lead dancer.  

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre and Ailey II are more than just performance companies. There is a vocational school in New York and classes for the general public,   I was pleased to read in the programme notes that there is a scheme for the school and companies to train promising British students known as Ailey Project UK.  Apparently, the first batch of British students is already in the USA.   The programme also states that the project has been promoted by Marcus Willis who danced with Alvin Ailey and is now the Artistic Director of Phoenix.   I met Marcus several times when he was with Ballet Cymru and was very impressed.

The last tour of the UK by Ailey II was in 2011 though we have seen the main company several times since them.   I hope that we do not have to wait another decade to see those super-talented young artists again,

My Visit to the Acosta Dance Centre

Jane Lambert

(c) 2023 Melissa Rayne Reproduced with kind permission of the copyright owner

 

During that glorious Indian summer at the beginning of September, I was in London.  I was there for many reasons.  A landmark birthday of someone very dear and close to me.  Open house Sunday at the Royal Opera House and Lincoln's Inn.  A reception at the House of Lords to launch Wales Innovation Week in London.   A webinar on digital enterprise at the Welsh Government's office in Victoia.  And the piȅce de résistance a visit to The Acosta Dance Centre in Woolwich.

As its name indicates, the Centre is a project of Carlos Acosta.   Its mission is "to become an international reference for dance, providing a nurturing space for dance-creative practitioners, industry professionals, and passionate dance enthusiasts."  It is situated a short distance from the Elizabeth Line in the former Royal Arsenal. 

As it is some distance from the West End, Woolwich may not be the most obvious choice for "an international reference for dance" but it is culturally and socially one of the most diverse neighbourhoods of London   It already has several theatres and it now hosts the Thamesmead Festival to which my good friend Melissa Rayne contributed The Tree of Life Emergence.

Melissa also teaches a regular Creative Dance and Improvisation class at the Centre. She gave me a tour of the premises and took the photographs.  I have seen a lot of dance studios over the years and most of them are run down.   The Acosta Centre is one of the most impressive I have ever seen,  Every studio had a well-sprung floor with barres and a pristine feel like a new car in a showroom, but even more impressive were the space and natural light.  

That is perhaps best illustrated by the following photo which I believe to have been the ground floor.

 

However, I think it would be impressive even at night because the light fittings are glorious,

Mel demonstrated her dramatic prowess below which prompted me to stand bras bas.  Unfortunately, I was wearing quite the wrong trousers 

There is a massive range of classes in all styles of dance.    Ballet with great teachers like Denzil Bailey, Diana Conti and Ludovic Ondiviela.  There is also ballroom, contemporary, Cuban, orishas, rumba - you name it.   There are several membership schemes and gift cards.  Fees vary with the teacher and dance style but ballet classes seem to start at around £10 per session.  That is not much more than I pay in the North of England and it is certainly not bad for London.

Although Carlos Acosta founded the Centre it is run by his compatriot Javier Torres. He was one of my favourite dancers at Northern Ballet.  I can't think of a better qualified person to undertake that role.  

Northern Ballet's Generations - A Treat in Store for London

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Northern Ballet Generations Three Short Ballets 16 Sept 2023 14:00

Tomorrow Northern Ballet will dance Benjamin Ella's Joie de Vivre, Hans van Manen's Adagio Hammerklavier and Tiler Peck's Intimate Pages at the Linbury.  Those who are fortunate enough to obtain tickets are in for a treat.  I saw the show at the Stanley and Audrey Burton Theatre in Leeds on 16 Sept 2023. I have to think back to the first time I saw A Simple Man nearly 40 years ago for a show by Northern Ballet that I have enjoyed as much.  

In his foreword to the programme, Federico Bonelli wrote how much he had been looking forward to the moment when he could present a programme of his own to reflect his ambitions for Northern Ballet in the years to come.  Each of the works that the company danced had a connection with the Bonelli.  Adagio Hammerklavier was a reminder of his time with the Dutch National Ballet, Joie de Vivre of his career at the Royal Ballet and Intimate Pages of his guest appearances around the world.

My favourite work of the three was Adagio Hammerklavier.  I had seen it online as part of the Dutch National Ballet's Hans van Manen's Variations which were screened from an almost empty Music Theatre on 27 and 28 Feb 2023.  In my review of that performance, I referred to a panel discussion in the Stanley and Audrey Forum in 2015 when a critic who really should have known better opined that Beethoven is impossible to choreograph (see My Thoughts on Saturday Afternoon's Panel Discussion at Northern Ballet 21 June 2015).  It was glorious to watch a ballet set to Beethoven's music in the same theatre in which it had been declared impossible.   

In my humble opinion, van Manen is the world's greatest living choreographer.  I had the enormous good fortune to shake his hand at the Dutch National Ballet's gala in June 2022.  This is not the first time Northern Ballet has performed his work   The company performed Concertante in 2013 and on being asked what he thought of the dancers he replied that he liked them very much indeed (see YouTube Dance Master Hans van Manen on Concertante & Northern Ballet),   There is now a new generation of dancers at Northern Ballet and I think he would like today's artists even more.  The first couple in Adagio Hammerklavier were Amber Lewis and Jonathan Hanks, the second Alessandra Bramante and George Liang and the third Dominique Larose and Joseph Taylor. The pianist was Colin Scott.  They danced with flair and precision and I think van Manen would have liked them too,

I was not the only one to relish that ballet.   In the second interval, I spotted Bonelli standing on his own so I introduced myself.  As I was telling him about my blog Janet Mclty of  BalletcoForum joined us.  She like me had been impressed by van Manen and she asked the director whether we could have more van Manen, ideally one of his ballets in every mixed bill.  Bonelli did not think that would be possible but said that it was a very nice idea and I agree.

Joie de Vivre was light, fresh and exuberant - a perfect start to a triple bill.   The score consisted of 8 violin and piano concertos performed live by Geoffrey Allan and Ewan Gilford.  Ella described it as "a poem or epigram of human feelings, emotions or reactions."  Three couples performed this work: Dominique Larose and Joseph Taylor, Sarah Chun and Harris Beattie, Kirica Takahashi and  Jun Ishii.  Finally, I should say a word for the costumes and lighting which were exquisite.

The last piece was choreographed to Leoš Janáček's String Quartet No. 2 Intimate Letters and again we had a live string quartet  consisting of Geoffrey Allan, Helen Boordman, Rosalyn Cabot and Toby Turton.  The music was plaintive and haunting. Peck explained in the programme notes that the composer wrote it with a love interest in mind.  The piece requires a main couple, two soloists and three couples.  Sarah Chun and Harris Beattie were the main couple.  Aerys Merrill and Kirica Takahashi were the soloists.  The couples were Julie Nunes and Stefano Varalta, Kaho Masumoto and Archie Sherman and Helen Bogatch and Bruno Serraclara.

Just before the show I watched the dancers in company class.  They looked happy, energetic and motivated.

Sarah Kundi - An Appreciation

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Readers of this blog will know that I have a particularly high regard for Sarah Kundi.  Although I must have seen her several times when she was with Northern Ballet she first came to my notice through the YouTube video of Depouillage in which she danced with Jade Hale-Christofi.  It was that film that led me to Ballet Black (see Ballet Black's Appeal 12 March 2013).  When I saw her dance for the first time in  "Dopamine (you make my levels go silly)" and War Letters at the Bernie Grant Arts Centre on Saturday 18 May 2013 I was bowled over (see Why Ballet Black is Special 20 May 2013).

When Ballet Black came to Leeds 6 months later, Sarah Kundi had left the company.  As I said in Ballet Black is Still Special on 7 Nov 2013, I enjoyed Ballet Black's performance in Leeds at least as much as their show in Tottenham but I did miss Sarah Kundi.   I did not have long to wait because I found out that she had joined MurleyDance which performed in Leeds on 1 Dec 2013 (see MurleyDance Triple Bill 2 Dec 2013).

Sarah Kundi did not stay long with MurleyDance and there were reports that she had been offered work with Victor Ulate in Spain (see ByeBye and All the Best 10 June 2014).  Happily, English National Ballet offered her an appointment while she was dancing in Romeo and Juliet in the Round (see Saved for the Nation 17 July 2914).  She remained with that company for the rest of her career picking up the emerging dancer award and triumphing as Lady Capulet (see Congratulations to Sarah Kundi on 20 June 2018) and Hortensia in Christopher Wheeldon's Cinderella (see Cinders in the Round  13 June 2019).

She announced her retirement on Facebook at the end of English National Ballet's latest season in the Royal Albert Hall and I shall miss her greatly.   She was blessed with an expressive countenance that made her a remarkable actor as well as a fine dancer and a physique that gave her an aetherial appearance on stage. Those are qualities that not all principals possess and it is why there were many times that I enquired whether she was in the cast before looking up the leading artists.

Although it is unlikely that we shall ever see her on stage again, Sarah Kundi is not lost to dance.  I was delighted to see the Royal Ballet School's announcement that she has joined its staff. There she will pass on her skills, knowledge and experience to promising students.   I have had the good fortune to meet her at the stage doors of the Palace Theatre in Manchester and the Albert Hall as well as interview her over Zoom for the Stage Door.   I can report that she is as graceful and charming to her fans as she is magnificent on the stage.

I have to thank her for the many years of pleasure that she has given me and no doubt countless other balletgoers and wish her well in her new career as a teacher.

News from Ballet Black

 

In Ballet Black Takes York By Storm I recalled some of the great shows that Ballet Black had performed and added that none has impressed me more than their performance of Nina: By Whatever Means at York Theatre Royal on 23 June 2023. It will therefore come as no surprise that the ballet's choreographer Mthuthuzeli November and its leading lady Isabela Coracy are in the running for Black British Theatre Awards. More details about the Awards and how audiences can participate in the process are available on the BBTA Nominations Form.  The closing date for nominations is 1 Aug 2023.

Another bit of good news is that Ballet Black has recruited 4 new dancers.   I have no information about them other than that they come from Brazil, India, South Africa and the USA and that Ballet Black has appealed for accommodation for them.   When I do know who they are I shall ask the press spokesperson for their photos and bios and I shall write up about them here.

The accommodation that the company seeks is: "short term (a few months while they get settled) or for the length of a season (September to July). I thought the best place to start would be with our own mailing list! Are you able to help? If so, please could you get in touch with some details: 

• location (it needs to be in London, accessible for travelling to work in Marylebone each day)
• type of space: room, flat, house
• rent and any other charges
• are pets allowed? One dancer has two lovely cats!."

Talking of pets, Vlad the Lad (now a very self-assured young man excelling at sports, music and school work) loved Dogs Don't Do Ballet (see Woof  12 Oct 2014).  That show sparked in him a love of theatre which will stay with him forever.   I am sure that the work also inspired crowds of other children across the United Kingdom to appreciate dance and in some cases even study it.   I do hope the company will revive the ballet one day for another generation of children.  Of course, it will be hard to recast Madame Kanikova with her dancing, smiling eyes, the adorable Anna, her Obamaesque dad, Miss Polly with her hip flask and of course the star of the show, Bif the red setter.  Having said that, Chris Marney would find plenty of talent in Ballet Black's current membership.  They might interpret the roles quite differently,

Anyone with suitable accommodation that could be let to a dancer should contact Cassa Pancho and not me through the contact page of the company's website.

My First Class in KNT's New Studios

 

Yesterday I attended Karren Lester Sant's  Pre-Intermediate Class in her new studios at 114 Chapel Street for the first time and was very impressed.  The studio was easy to find with ample parking just across the street.  It has been fitted out with everything that a dance student could possibly need including a well-sprung floor, travelling barres and excellent acoustics. Best of all many of the dear friends and acquaintances that I have met in Karen's classes over the last 9 years were at the barre.  It was a great experience.

I set off from Holmfirth much later than I would normally do because a previous commitment had overrun. I messaged Karen to say that I was running late and asked whether I could do the advanced class barre.   As it happened I did not need to do that because Chapel Street is much easier to reach from Yorkshire than Oxford Road and there are masses of parking spaces. I came in during glissés. I did a quick warm-up of tendus and pliés and took my place at the barre in time for ronds de jambe.  

Thereafter we did all my favourite exercises. frappés at the barre, an enchantment that included tendus in the centre, grands battements and soutenus, balancés and pirouettes, posés pirouettes or "pirate peglegs" as another dear teacher calls them, glissades and assemblés finishing off with joyous temps levés.  Karen chose some lovely music for us.  I recognized "Getting to Know You" from  "The King and I" and I think also Piazzolla?  Definitely Argentine tango.

The only drawback to the evening is that I was forced to acknowledge just how far I have fallen below my previous level of ability.   I can't raise my leg to the barre for a stretch,  My balance was completely AWOL. I was slow and quite out of puff by the time I was halfway across the floor.  I can no longer stand on demi-pointe on my right foot.   Some of it is a loss of fitness which I can recover in the gym.  Some of it will be age-related.  I shall be 75 next birthday.  Some of it will be the result of the broken tibia that I suffered last year.  Happily, I can still do something in ballet and as it is nearly 55 years since I learnt my first plié at St Andrews I really can't grumble,

Anyone thinking of joining one of KNT's classes will find the schedule here.  There is lots of choice at many different levels.  On 22 July 2023, there will be a Special Guest Tracher Day with Emily-Joy Smith which looks like a lot of fun.  I have attended similar events in the past and can strongly recommend this one.

Birmingham Royal Ballet at the Lowry's Open Day

Author RobChafer Licence CC BY-SA 3.0 Source Wikimedia Commons

The Lowry

 

According to its website, The Lowry is holding an open day on 6 Aug 2023.  It has not published any details yet though it has posted a video about the event in 2021.   As we have a company class in Leeds on 5 Aug 2023 and I shall be speaking at the Cambridge IP Law Summer School between 7 and 11 Aug 2023 I would have given the event a miss had I not received an email about it from the Birmingham Royal Ballet last week.

That email carried an image of Carabosse doing her worse towering over a smaller image of Désiré and Aurora at their wedding above the banner headline "Join us at The Lowry Open Day on Sunday 6 August".  The email announces that the Birmingham Royal Ballet will attend the open day between 10:00 and 17:00 bringing costumes for The Sleeping Beauty that visitors can try on.  Between 11:00 and 14:00 there will be workshops where attendees can learn some of the choreography.

The Birmingham Royal Ballet returns to Salford to dance Sir Peter Wright's production of The Sleeping Beauty between 7 and 9 March 2024,  Readers can view the trailer here.  Companies around the world dance that production and I have seen performances of that work by the Hungarian and Dutch National Ballets. The best that I have ever seen was in Amsterdam on 17 Dec 2017 with  Maia Makhateli as Aurora, Daniel Camargo as the prince and Igone de Jongh as Carabosse (see The Dutch National Ballet's "The Sleeping Beauty" - I have waited nearly 50 years for this show 20 Dec 2017).  That bit of ballet history will never be repeated but I have very high hopes of BRB's visit to the Lowry in the Spring.