Hampson & Parish sound like a firm of patent agents but they are not, They are two fo the biggest names in ballet and they are coming to the London Ballet Circle on the 5 June and 2 Aug 2016 respectively.
Both events are open to the public. They will take place on the first floor of the Civil Service Club at 13-15 Great Scotland Yard, Westminster, London SW1A 2HJ near Charing X and Embankment and right next door to the Nigerian embassy (identifiable by their green and white flag and pictures of Nigeria in the windows). Members pay £5 and non-members £8.
The analogy with Silicon Valley accelerators can be taken a stage further in that the object of such programmes is to enable the young companies to attract investment. The Junior Company has used crowdfunding in the past to train young dancers (see Crowdfunding for the Ballet25 May 2016). Now the company is using crowdfunding to raise money for a brand new ballet.
On the Dutch giving site Voordekunst (which I guess means "For the Arts") the company is appealing for €30,000 for a new ballet by Juanjo Arques to celebrate its fifth anniversary (see Maak een ballet met de Junior Company(so like English that I am not going to insult my readers' intelligence by translating it)). The choice of choreographer is a good one because Arques has already created Blink and Fresas (Strawberries) for the young dancers.
This is a rare and possibly unique opportunity for members of the public to participate in the creative process (see "The First Ballet by the Junior Company and You"). Contributors can attend the first meeting with the artistic team at the beginning of September where they will be "brainstorming about the ballet, the music, the lighting, the costumes and the dancers." The company's website describes it as "a unique moment, as this is where the very first ideas for the ballet are conceived" and adds appealingly "you can be part of it." Contributors will also be among the first to see the costumes and to witness the rehearsals.
So far €3,045 has been raised for the project from 29 donors which is not a bad start and there are still another 33 days to go. I invite all my readers to dig deep for Juanjo Arques, Ernst Meisner and his talented young dancers.
According to the Celebrating the International Dance Day page of the ITI website, anybody and everybody can organize an event but it does not appear that anybody outside Shanghai, Argentina, Germany and the Azores has actually done very much about it.
I think Ore Oduba can be forgiven for missing International Dace Day ..... don't you?
Standard YouTube Licence Ballet Central, Mixed Programme, Stanley and Audrey Burton Theatre 28 April 2017 Ballet Central has aways been good and, having met Christopher Marney at several Ballet Black and London Ballet Circle events, seen him speak, and, most importantly, watched him work I expected great things from his first season as the company's artistic director. I had been dazzled by Marney's dancing as Count Lilac in Sir Matthew Burne's Sleeping Beauty. I have been awed by his choreography, particularly War Letters which he created for Ballet Black. On Friday I discovered his prowess as an artistic director. All I can say without gushing hyperbole is that Friday's mixed bill greatly exceeded my highest expectations.
We were presented with a varied programme arranged in three parts:
the triumphant return of Solor in the first act of La Bayadḕre;
Christopher Bruce's fascinating Mya; and
Michael Pink and Christopher Gable's spine-chilling Dracula.
After another interval, the programme ended with a major part of Sir Matthew Bourne's Highland Fling, awitty but slightly disturbing reworking of La Sylphide.
Lee's ballroom scene was a beautifully crafted classical piece though with original reinterpretation of some of Prokofiev's most popular music. It is very dramatic and very clever. In that regard, very like Marney. It was very different from the work that appears on Lee's YouTube channel and website which
"..... pushes the boundaries of classical ballet, by fusing world-class ballerinas with more modern art forms such as break dancing and beat boxing, providing a world of professional bespoke entertainment for any event."
Cira Beautiful Misfitsfeaturing one of my very favourite dancers from Ballet Black and Confluxwith a beatbox Swan Lake are examples. Commissioning Lee to revisit Shakespeare and Prokofiev where Lavrovsky, Cranko and MacMillan already walk tall and create a 20-minute work to open the show was an imaginative and risky but, as it turned out, spectacularly rewarding step. I long to see the rest of the story. I wonder how Lee would rework the bedroom scene when Romeo or the conflict of emotions when Juliet learns that her husband has dispatched Tybalt. I do hope someone commissions that talented choreographer to finish the ballet.
Lee had the perfect Juliet in Amy McEntee. She seemed born for that role. An actor and storyteller at least as much as a dancer. she enchanted us with her knowing glance to Romeo and galvanized us with her expression of horror as Romeo squared up to her brother. Central has trained a disproportionately large number of my favourite dancers and choreographers, including Marney himself. I think we saw several future stars on Friday one of whom is definitely McEntee.
Dzierzon's Sleepless was a complete contrast. Beginning with a huddle of dancers in subdues lighting the work exploded into vigorous movement. Dzierzon had 10 dancers in that work - 9 on stage and one at the piano. My seat was at the far right hand of the second row next to the pianist and though I tried to concentrate on the stage I could not help my gaze returning to the composer and pianist Phil Feeney. His score was vibrant and exciting as indeed was his playing of it. But those on stage were great too. Representing the spray can wielding shadows of my youth who transformed every carriage of the New York subway, those kids darted around the stage one scribbling letters on the shirts of the others. A real frisson of subversion.
Yet another change of mood with Liam Scarlett's elegant Indigo Children to the music of Philip Glass. A work created for Ballet Black - Beautiful Ballet Black, as I like to call the company - it was lovingly re-staged by Cira Robinson and Damien Johnson. McEntee shone in this work too as did Craig McFarlane who had been her Romeo.
Although I have only seen two complete performances of La Bayadḕre I love that ballet. I have even tried to dance little bits of it. Last Autumn I saw the Dutch National Ballet's performance of Makarova's version with the magnificent Sasha Mukhamedov in the title role. I had expected Ballet Central to perform the entry into the kingdom of the shades which is probably the best-known scene from the ballet. Instead, Marney chose the triumphant return of Solor to Golkonda which was an opportunity to show off the corps as well as Kanon Kihara and Jaume Ruiz who danced the principal roles. A word of commendation to Dante Baylor who designed the costumes. I loved those outfits: trousers and turbans for the men and pantaloons and scarves for the women.
On Friday I had complained that we had been deprived of Marney when I wrote All that was missing from this Evening's Performance was a Ballet by Marney ......In fact, I had not read the programme carefully and, in any case, I should have recognized his mark. It was a masterly restaging of a much-loved work. May we have some more of that beautiful arrangement, please?
Christopher Bruce's Mya turned out to be my favourite work of the evening. Three dancers clad head to foot in tightly fitting, somewhat shapeless, almost colourless gowns moving to Arvo Pärt'sSpiegel im Spiegel(literally mirror in the mirror). But what could it mean? The costumes reminded me of the chrysalis of a butterfly and there was a touching moment when the limbs of one of the dancers began to emerge from the constraint. An analogy with the human condition? The composer is Estonian whose nation has emerged like a butterfly from the Soviet thrall. Doesn't matter. The music is haunting. The choreography compelling. The performance enthralling.
Central was founded by Christopher Gable who was the artistic director of Northern Ballet when I returned to Manchester. As a Mancunian in exile, I had read about Northern Ballet (then known as Northern Dance Theatre) in the dancing press but had never actually seen any of its performances. I thought I would miss Covent Garden, Sadler's Wells, the Coliseum, the Place ....... I did not do so at all, They continued to exist 200 miles away, of course, but on my doorstep was a wonderful company treating us to a succession of delicious works in that golden age of Northern Ballet. We were reminded of that golden age by Pink and Gable's Dracula. Not an easy watch but an enthralling one as Harker is first seduced then savaged by vampires. Yet another star in the making, Matthew Morrell, dominated the stage. Tall and menacing he induced teal fright, however, many times I reminded myself that this was only theatre.
The last work of the evening was act 2 of Sir Matthew Bourne's "romantic wee ballet" a Highland Fling. "Romantic" indeed with a woman hobbling about the stage her costume drenched in blood. Well, stage blood of course. It was Sir Matthew's take on La Sylphide which is one of the oldest ballets in the modern repertoire. I have often said that it ought to be our national ballet as it is set in Scotland. Bourne kept Løvenskiold's score but gave it a new twist portraying James as a drunken Glaswegian in a Highland glade cavorting with winged and kilted sylphs. I'm not sure what happened to Effie or Madge but Sir Matthew arms James with a pair of garden shears instead of a poisoned scarf with which he does even more damage. The sight of the wounded sylph was the second tummy turning moment of the evening, Dracula being the first.The sylphs get their own back on James after mourning their murdered sister for he sprouts a pair of wings in the last scene.
Marney chose this piece well. I have not always been a fan of Sir Matthew Bourne but I loved this work. I can well understand why Scottish Ballet currently performs Highland Fling but not the 1836 original. Much of the appeal of this work lies the designs as well as Bourne's quirky humour. Lez Brotherston, who had designed Scottish Ballet's, appears to have inspired Baylor who designed Ballet Central's production.
Sir Matthew staged that work himself. An enormous compliment to Marney but one he well deserves. Bourne would not be where he is today without an uncanny knack of recognizing talent when he sees it. He saw it in Adam Davies who danced James and Brittanie Dillion, his sylph. I don't know where they come from but they looked pretty Scottish, in fact totally Glaswegian to me. Especially the sylph with the suitcase wandering sheepishly hand in hand with James. So much to see in this work.
Ballet Central is making only one other appearance in the North on this tour. In Whitehaven on 13 May 2017 which I can't make because I am in Move It at The Dancehouse in Manchester. However, I am determined to see this year's mixed bill again. Even though I shall have to travel I just gotta see those fine young artists again.
So, here is a gift to everyone who attended the show to turn a great evening into a perfect one. A charming extract from Chris's ballet, The Carnival of the Animals, which he created for the Chelmsford Ballet Company in 2015. In my review of the ballet, A Delight Indeed, 22 March 2015 I explained:
"Marney did not create a new version of The Carnival of the Animals. He made a ballet about a company that was about to dance The Carnival of the Animals. A young stage hand longed to dance - perhaps because of his longing for its principal dancer performed beautifully by Wallis. But when he tried to lift her - dainty though she is - he found that pas de deux work was not quite as easy as it looked. According to Tim Tubbs's programme notes the ballet was set in the 1930s - the heroic early days of the English ballet after Diaghilev had died but before the Second World War when endless touring by the Vic-Wells Ballet won the hearts of the nation to this originally foreign art form. There were a few animals - foxes perhaps - and a yapping lap dog quite invisible to all but the dancers but clearly another dog like Bif which could do ballet (see Woof 12 Oct 2014 to understand the reference) - but the main characters were people. Quildan the stage hand, Wallis his sweetheart and principal dancer and Pettet her mother"
As you probably guessed, the stagehand was Stephen Quidlan and Jasmine Wallis was the dancer.
The person who uploaded the film to Vimeo was Marion Pettett. She is the Chair of the Chelmsford Ballet Company of which Chris is joint patron and I am a non-dancing associate. Marion graciously permitted me to embed the film into this blog and I am enormously grateful to her. I should add that Marion appears in the film clad in red.
I need to spend some time on my write-up in order to do justice to Chris and Ballet Central. It will appear towards the end of the day or maybe tomorrow.
DEL Dance Theatre is a new dance company for young people in York. According to its Facebook page, DEL stands for "Dance", "Education" and "Learning" though it also appears to be the middle name of the company's founder, Hayley Del Harrison. The reason I know that is because the company is appealing for funds on Crowdfunder for a new production of Saint-Saëns’s Carnival of the Animalswhich will feature several styles of dance.
The company had appealed for £1,500 and has already exceeded that target. The appeal, incidentally, ends at 15:05 today British time so there is still time to contribute if you would care to do so. The aim is to introduce musical theatre to the young people of York, both as patrons and performers. Ms Harrison explains that:
"Dance theatre not only entertains; it sparks the imagination, provides tools for expression, and increases our ability to empathise."
She adds that though there is a lot of other artistic activity in York there is not much home-grown musical theatre in the city - especially not for children. The company plans to fill that gap offering opportunities not just for the young:
"We are also keen to draw on the talent and skills of so-called ‘mature’ dancers living in the area (these people should be cherished, not side-lined!), and provide opportunities for them to share their experience and knowledge."
And not just for dancers as local artists and musicians are also invited to participate in the project.
Ms Harrison spent her career in the West End and on stage. I plan to review the show when it appears and also to write a longer feature on the company for Terpsichore Yorkshire.
Standard YouTube Licence The company that David Murley saw on 8 April 2017 is the fourth oldest in the world. The Royal Swedish Ballet was founded in 1773 and its ballet masters include some of the greatest names in ballet:
Despite its importance in the history of dance, we do not see much of this company. It last appeared at Sadler's Wells between the 24 and 27 Sept 2014 and its previous appearance before then was in 1995.
When it came to London in 2014 it brought Mat's Ek's Romeo and Juliet based on a score by Tchaikovsky rather than Prokofiev. Sadly, I could not get down to London in time to see it for myself but the following YouTube video suggests that I missed something good.
Standard YouTube Licence The ballet that David saw (extracts of which appear above) was The Dream of Swan Lake but the Royal Swedish Ballet seems to have a pretty good traditional Swan Lake in its repertoire.
Standard YouTube Licence
There are, of course, other fine companies in Sweden such as The Culberg Ballet which celebrates the 50th anniversary of its foundation this year and the Gothenburg Opera Dance Company about which I shall try to find out more.
