Scotland the Brave

Scotland

Source Wikipedia

Some of the most interesting new work over the next few months is likely to be performed in Scotland. Scottish Ballet will tour Glasgow, Edinburgh, Inverness and Aberdeen between the 25 Oct and 10 Oct with a triple bill consisting of Javier de Frutos's Elsa Canasta, Bryan Arlas's Motion of Displacement and Sophie Laplane's Maze.  The company will dance Cinderella which its artistic director, Christopher Hampson, created for the Royal New Zealand Ballet in 2007 in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Inverness in December and January. In April and May Scottish Ballet will dance David Dawson's new Swan Lake in those same venues in the Spring.

I am looking forward to all those works. I am a great fan of Christopher Hampson and was very disappointed not to have the chance to shake his hand when he visited Leeds on 20 June 2015 (see My Thoughts on Saturday Afternoon's Panel Discussion at Northern Ballet 21 June 2015). I loved his Hansel and Gretel (see Scottish Ballet's Hansel and Gretel 23 Dec 2015), Four for Ballet Central (see Dazzled 3 May 2015) and Perpetuum Mobile for Northern Ballet (see Between Friends - Northern Ballet's Mixed Programme 10 May 2015). Hampson described his Cinderella as a study of grief in the Narrative Dance in Ballet discussion. Having seen two excellent but very different versions of Cinderella from Ballet Cymru and the Dutch National Ballet I shall be very interested in Hampson's interpretation of the story.

However, the performances to which I am looking forward even more than Cinderella are Laplane's Maze and Dawson's Swan Lake. Why those two in particular? Well Laplane is a dancer who has caught my eye more than once. Like Constant Vigier who contributed to Tell Tale Steps in Leeds last June she comes from France. Not long ago I would have struggled to name a woman choreographer other than Ninette de Valois and Bronislava Nijinska. Now there are several coming through strongly in this country and abroad. My interest in Dawson has been stimulated by his Empire Noir which I saw in Amsterdam in June (see Going Dutch 29 June 2015). Dawson has spent a lot of time with the Dutch National Ballet and he must know van Dantzig's Swan Lake very well. I wonder how much (if anything) of van Dantzig's style has rubbed off on to him.

I have had some other good news from Scotland which is that The Byre theatre will reopen today. I remember the original Byre which was literally a byre or cow shed. There was a notice in the auditorium requesting patrons in the front row to refrain from resting their legs on the stage. The Byre was forced to close for financial reasons early in 2013 and I feared that that great St Andrews institution might be lost forever. One of the shows that was to have been performed at The Byre was Ballet West's The Nutcracker but that had to be cancelled when the theatre went dark and I saw Ballet West at Pitlochry instead (see Ballet West's The Nutcracker 25 Feb 2013). It would be lovely if Ballet West could return to St Andrews. It may be too late for them to book a slot for 2016 but perhaps they can return with La Sylphide in  2017. The Byre would make a good venue for other companies such as Chantry Dance, Ballet Cymru, Ballet Black and maybe even Scottish Ballet. I was on the steering committee of the first St Andrews arts festival which brought that company to St Andrews on 15 Feb 1971 though the venue was the Buchanan and not the Byre.

It was at St Andrews that I learned to dance and appreciate ballet. I had spent my first 18 years without setting foot on any kind of dance floor not even a discotheque.  I think my first time on my feet was the Celtic Society's bejants' ceilidh when I was dragged protesting to make a third for the dashing white sergeant. Later I discovered ballet and took my first lessons in St Andrews. The first company that I got to know and love was Scottish Ballet (then called Scottish Theatre Ballet) and that company still has a special place in my affections and I am proud to be one of its Friends.

Let it snow - Ballet Theatre UK's Autumn and Winter Tour

One of my favourite ballet companies is Ballet Theatre UK, They have some lovely young dancers: David Brewer, Ines Ferreira and Sarah Mortimer to name just three. They work incredibly hard travelling sometimes hundreds of miles for one or at the most two performances and then back on the road again. Look at their tour dates for their Autumn and Winter tour: Coventry on the 23 Oct (the company's website says the 25 by the way), Wimborne on the 24 and Bognor on the 25. And yet when they come on stage they seem fresh and full of energy.

By touring the small towns and suburbs of the UK they are bringing ballet to an audience that would never otherwise see it. Yes I know that the Birmingham Royal Ballet splits into two and tours some of the smaller venues of Northern and Southern England (see Vaut le Voyage - Birmingham Royal Ballet in Shrewsbury 28 May 2015 and Birmingham Royal Ballet in High Wycombe 31 May 2015) and that Northern Ballet has just completed a tour of smaller theatres with Madame Butterfly (see Nixon's Masterpiece 22 May 2015) but these talented and incredibly resilient young men and women do that sort of thing all the time. Through their work they are removing some of the elitism and snobbery of ballet for which I for one am extremely grateful. To appreciate why that's important, read For Emma 28 April 2014 an article that I wrote after their visit to Southport.

In order to draw an audience the company's artistic director Christopher Moore bases his ballets around well known stories. Ballet Theatre UK performed The Little Mermaid in Spring 2014 (see Pure Delight - BTUK's Little Mermaid in Southport 27 April 2014), Swan Lake (albeit with a radically different libretto to take account of the size and structure of the company which annoyed some people but not me) last Autumn and Winter (see The Bedouin of Ballet 12 Dec 2014) and Aladdin earlier this year (Ballet Theatre UK's Aladdin 5 April 2015). This time the company is reviving The Snow Queen which is based on Hans Christian Andersen's well known fairy tale.

I have no doubt that this show will draw in the crowds from Coventry to Yeovil and I shall see them on one of their transits from the North but I do have a plea to Mr Moore as a reviewer. Please - pretty please - type out a cast list for each of your venues and get the local Staples to run off as many copies as you've sold tickets. It'll only cost a few quid and it will pay dividends in audience (and critics') goodwill. It really will. Also the dancers will be acknowledged - and these fine young men and women deserve to be acknowledged. Up to now I have been relying on the mother of one of the dancers to give me the cast lists but she is a busy lady with her own dance classes (see There's more to Harpenden than Thameslink 17 May 2015). Alternatively, invest in an easel and pin up the names in the foyer as Matthew Bourne's New Adventures does.

Ballet Theatre UK also has a school which I shall discuss in a future post. One day I hope to meet Mr Moore and learn more about his vision and ambition for the company. If you have not yet seen this company do go to one of their shows. I have not yet met anyone - including grizzlies like me who can remember Fonteyn and Fracci - who has not left the theatre in which they have performed on a high.

"A Swan? Me a Swan? Ah! Go on!"

I have just received my joining instructions from Karen Sant for the KNT Danceworks summer intensive in Manchester between 17 and 19 August and I can't begin to contain my excitement I am. I am joining the beginners class based on Swan Lake which will be led by Jane Tucker who has already taught me at Northern Ballet.

Here is what Karen has written:

"Each day will start at 10:00 am with a 45 minute warm-up session, so please make sure to bring either a yoga mat or a towel with you! We will have a short 15 minute break after the warm-up session, and then the morning ballet class will begin at 11:00 am. 

Class will be 90 minutes long, and we’ll have a short break in the middle so you can get some water and rest. We will have another 15 minute break afterwards, and then at 12:45 pm we will start our technique/repertoire class.

Lunch will be at 1:30 pm for one hour, and you will be able to eat it in the café/coffee shop on the first floor (no food or drink, except for water, is allowed in the studios). There are lots of shops, cafés, and other food places around The Dancehouse Theatre, so there will be plenty of choice if you are not bringing food with you!

The afternoon will be filled with rehearsals for the performance on the final day. We have split this into two sessions with a short break in the middle – the first session starts at 2:30 pm and runs for one hour, and the second starts at 3:45 pm and runs for 45 minutes. On the final day, the second session will be when the performance takes place."

As for the performance I have been told to bring a white leotard (or at least a white t-shirt over the top of  another leotard) and a black skirt together with flesh/pink and black tights. A a decision will be taken on the day as to which we all prefer.

Now this is unlikely to kill me (though if it did I can't think of a better way to go) but I am no spring chicken and no sylph either. I am not particularly well coordinated and while I do my best and try very hard I am the first to admit that I am one of the least talented ballet students who has ever clutched a barre. Added to that I pulled a muscle two weeks ago which was so painful that I thought that my last hour had come. So it will be a challenge for me and even more for Jane.

But you know what? Opportunities like this do not come every day. This one is definitely once in a lifetime because next year I will definitely be far too old and far too busy. For three days I shall pretend to be a swan. How good is that?

A dream realized: the Queensland Ballet in London

Queensland Ballet, La Sylphide, Coliseum 8 Aug 2915 19:30

Jane Lambert and Gita Mistry

In their Annual Report for the year ended 31 Dec 2010 the directors of the Queensland Ballet wrote:

"Our dream

By 2013, Queensland Ballet will be recognised, not only in Queensland but throughout Australia and also overseas, for:

• creating and presenting a broad repertoire of quality work which ranges from the great classics, through contemporary dance, new ‘story’ ballets, and works for children 

• exciting and challenging both dancers and audiences 

• developing choreographers

• training dancers to a consistently high standard in classical ballet technique, and developing that technique through excellent coaching and creative artistic development

• having a strong and coherent artistic team led by a strong Artistic Director and Chief Choreographer

• best practice in company management."

Their season at the Coliseum which ended last Saturday shows just how far that dream has come true. Much of the credit for their success is due to their artistic director, Li-Cunxin who combines business acumen with artistic genius.

The Queensland Ballet is not a large company. it has 23 dancers according to Wikipedia (though I have counted rather more on its website) but it stages full length classics like The Sleeping Beauty, Coppelia and The Nutcracker as well as contemporary works. It is based in Australia's third largest city and it must compete for attention and to some extent audiences with the Australian Ballet in Melbourne and Sydney and the West Australian Ballet in Perth. To bring La Sylphide to one of the world's two alpha ++ cities which hosts two of the world's greatest ballet companies and sees most of the rest periodically was extremely ambitious. Some would say recklessly so.  In our view the Queensland Ballet carried off this enterprise magnificently.

The company did not choose the easiest work for its début in England.  La Sylphide is not performed very often in the UK. The last performance by the Royal Ballet was in 2012 (see La Sylphide 7 Aug 2015). Why that should be is not clear because it is a lot more credible than say Giselle. James on the day before his wedding is distracted by the image of a sylph which he follows into the woods. Well men do that.  He is not very nice to an old lady who tries to warm herself by the fire. There are no trysts beyond the grave and the ladies in white are much less offensive than the wilis. From a feminist perspective  the outcome of the ballet is satisfying. Effie is rescued from a disastrous marriage with an utter prat. Gurn is much more likely to look after her properly.  Also in the last scene James is taught some manners. if you treat the sylph and the poisoned scarf as a figment of James's lurid imagination the story makes perfect sense today.

The version that Queensland Ballet brought to London was created by Peter Schaufuss for what is now the English Festival Ballet in 1979. It is still remembered by a lot of people. When Li-Cunxin spoke to the London Ballet Circle on 3 Aug 2015 Gerald Dowler asked how many members of the audience remembered that production. It was surprising how many hands sprang up (see Li-Cunxin at London Ballet Circle 5 Aug 2015).  Not everybody liked that version at the time, particularly not in Denmark. The better known and more popular version is Johan Koburg's.

To appreciate this ballet you have to put yourself in the mind of the 19th century theatre goer. This was one of the first works (if not the first) in which a ballerina rose on pointe as part of the choreography.  The stage would have been lit not by electricity but by gas or flickering candle. The impression on the audience must have been almost magical.  Something of that magic was wrought by Yanela Piñera who reminded me of Carla Fracci who enchanted me when I saw her dance the sylph nearly half a century ago.  She was accompanied - I won't say partnered because there is no pas de deux as such - by Peter Shcaufuss's son Luke as James. It was great to see Greg Horsman and Mary Li  (nee McKendry) again. They are both well known in England.  Horsman danced Madge and Li Anne, James's mother. Mia Heathcote was a delightful Effie. I particularly liked her first dance with the foot flexing.  Vito Bernasconi was a worthy Gurn.

There is a lot of drama in this ballet as well as a fair measure of levity. It was also colourful David Walker's sets and costumes were gorgeous. Steen Bjarke's lighting was the next best thing in the 21st century to gaslight. I have only one niggle and that's the dancing with folded arms. It's not Schaufuss's fault. Bournonville is unlikely ever to have seen Scottish country dancing which explains why the the reels look as though they came out of Hungary. It would be nice if a modern choreographer or a producer made those dances look a little bit more Scottish.

The audience on Saturday night loved the show. A phalanx in the centre stalls actually gave the company a standing ovation though I think these may have been the company's supporters from Brisbane. The Queensland Ballet now has fans on the other side of the world.  It can return to Australia well satisfied with its season in London.

The Norwegian Ballet

Opera Oslo House

Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage

Creative Commons Licence

Source Wikipedia

One of the highlights of the Dutch National Ballet Junior Company's show in Amsterdam and London was Milena Siderova's Full Moon danced by the gifted young Dutch dancer Bart Engelen to Prokofiev's Dance of the Knights from Romeo and Juliet.  Well Bart now has a new job with the Norwegian National Ballet which is based in Oslo's new Opera House.

That building was opened in 2008 which must make it one of the newest and most advanced performing spaces in the world. I have not visited Oslo since the opera house was constructed so I have no personal knowledge of the building but I am very impressed by the pictures and description on the Norwegian Opera and Ballet's website. There is a short video of the building on YouTube. I shall certainly take a guided tour of the building on my next visit to Norway.

That may come soon because I am tempted by the new programme which includes box office staples like Kenneth MacMillan's Manon, Giselle and The Nutcracker as well as Anna Karenina, a new work by Christian Spuck to a score by Rakhmaninov, Lutoslawski, Tsintsadze and Bardanashvili. According to the company's website the Norwegian Ballet

"focuses greatly on new works created especially for the company by choreographers like Alexander Ekman, Liam Scarlett and Choreographers in Residence Jo Strømgren and Alan Lucien Øyen."  

Now I have heard of Ekman and I know Scarlett but Strømgren and  Øyen are completely new to me and I am curious. A chance to seen Øyen's work will come with Back to the Future which opens on 16 Oct 2015.  Also on my wish list is Jiří Kylián’s Black and White.

The company that Bart will be joining has some British dancers like Philip Currell, Lindsay Craig from Preston and Natasha Jones. Its principals include Currell and the Cuban dancer Yoel Carreño. The company made a good choice when they recruited Bart Engelen. I wish him and the Norwegian ballet all the best and I look forward to seeing them in the new season.

One Last Chance to Shine

Last month I danced in Northern Ballet Academy's end of year show (see My Second Ballet 5 July 2015). This is likely to be our class's last show because the new timetable does not allow time for rehearsals. But we shall have one last chance to dance at Morley Town Hall on Saturday, 26 Sept 2015. We are dancing in A Feast of Music and Dance by Older Performers which will take place between 11:30 and 13:30.  We are appearing with West Yorkshire Playhouse Heydays and the Australian performance group The Golds.

Our show is part of a 2-year programme known as Time to Shine which is delivered by Yorkshire Dance and the Leeds Education Arts Forum (City Varieties, Leeds Grand Theatre, Northern Ballet, Opera North and Yorkshire Dance) to improve the lives of older people in Leeds. Our show is free but tickets must be booked in advance. Call 0113 243 8765 or email admin@yorkshiredance.com.

As this may well be my last performance anywhere I am hoping for a flower throw as is customary for retiring dancers at Covent Garden. "Happen" as we say in these parts.

Looking forward to a great year at Chelmsford

Marion Pettet as Britannia, Pineapple Poll 2015

Photo Amelia Potter
Copyright Chelmsford Ballet Company 2015, All rights reserved

Reproduced with kind permission of the company

I am very proud to be an associate member of the Chelmsford Ballet Company. It is one of the oldest ballet companies in the United Kingdom and has launched the careers of some of the country's most talented artists and teachers. I travel half way across the country to attend its events and I have never been disappointed.

The reason I am thinking of that company today is that members' subs are due for renewal this month. Associates like me who have the excuse of distance to mask our lack of talent are asked to pay only £14, Dancing members have to pay £27 unless they are in full time education in which case they get a a £5 discount. That is hardly going to break anybody's bank.

A lot of activities are promised for the next 12 months.   A Sleeping Beauty workshop on the 27 September and company classes on the first Sunday of most months for dancing members. A Let's Make a Ballet workshop for students between the ages of 7 and 14 on the 18 Oct 2015. The AGM before the end of October. There is usually a Christmas concert in conjunction with the Brentwood Choral Society. And finally the piece de resistance which is the annual performance in The Chelmsford Civic Theatre,

This year the company will dance Petipa's The Sleeping Beauty, This is one of the most ambitious ballets that any company can undertake. It is probably the best known and best loved ballet in the modern repertoire, particularly in England where it will always be associated with the reopening of Covent Garden on 20 Feb 1946. The score is riddled with earworms and there are so many lovely dances. Not just the pas de deux of the Prince and Aurora but also such favourites as the Bluebird and Puss in Boots. The performance will take place between the 16 and 19 March 2016.

There is one important link with Northern Ballet. One of our most popular teachers Cara O'Shea danced Aurora in a previous production of The Sleeping Beauty. I was lucky enough to take one of her classes last year (see A Treat for us old Ladies 27 Feb 2014) and I saw how she coaxed every ounce of effort from her children's class at the Northern Ballet Open Day 15 Feb 2014.

I think we can all look forward to a great year at Chelmsford,