The Days I went to Bangor - Ballet Cymru's Relaxed Performances

View of Bangor University and the Pontio Centre

Author Andrew Woodvine  Licence CC NY-SA 2.0  Source Wikimedia Commons

 

Ballet Cymru Giselle relaxed performance Pontio Centre 14 Jun 2025

The great David Plumpton knows that there are two ways to revive me when I am flagging in class.  One is to play Khachaturian's adagio of Spartacus and Phrygia from Spartacus. The other is to play The Day We Went to Bangor  (see Our Anniversary Company Class 26 May 2029 and Magic 26 May 2024 Powerhouse Ballet),  Bangor occupies a special place in my affections, not least because it reminds me so much of my alma mater, which Andrew Lang celebrated in his Almae Matres.  

Just below the main university buildings lies the Pontio Arts and Innovation Centre. It is important not just for the University and the city but also for Wales. I have tried to explain its importance in Ballet Cymru's Dylan Thomas Programme: The Company's Best Work Ever 12 Dec 2018, Ballet Cymru at the Bangor Pontio Centre, 24 Nov 2019, Ballet Cymru's Outreach Work 8 Jun 2020, Ballet Cymru's DUETS Programme and why it is important, 14 Feb 2022 and Dance for Parkinson's in the Pontio Centre 2 Feb 2023).

Yesterday, the Pontio Centre hosted Ballet Cymru's relaxed performance of their new production of Giselle, which I reviewed in Ballet Cymru's Giselle 3.0.  A relaxed performance is designed for very young children and some adults who, for one reason or another, are inhibited from sitting in a darkened auditorium for 2 hours or more watching a full-length ballet.  The idea of a relaxed performance is best explained by Birmingham Royal Ballet in their Cinderella Relaxed Performance page and their YouTube video.

I have attended two relaxed performances by Ballet Cymru:  yesterday's Giselle and last year's Romeo a Juliet, which I did not get around to reporting. Those shows are a vade mecum to the appreciation of ballet.  Between 1864 and 1976, the Royal Ballet operated a relaxed performance programme called "Ballet for All" which toured village halls, factory canteens and other makeshift auditoriums around the country. It brought ballet into the lives of 70,000 people a year, according to Wikipedia.   I think my love of ballet was ignited by one of those performances.

Yesterday, the Pontio Centre was thronged by children and their parents, though there were more than a few unaccompanied adults like me. They mobbed Louise's exhibition spot to touch the pointe shoes, Myrtha's twigs, Giselle's headdress and other props from the performance. They gathered around a screen showing the storyboard as though it were an ice cream van.  Some were jumping, humming snatches of the score and attempting pirouettes and arabesques. When the artists appeared in costume, I was reminded of the entry of Micky and Minnie in Disneyland.  I met several and congratulated them.  I also firmed up the arrangements for Powerhouse's visit to Mold, Ballet Cymru's workshop in Leeds and Isobel Holland's masterclass.

Bangor could be regarded as the intellectual and cultural capital of Welsh-speaking Wales.  Last year, only a handful of the dancers introduced themselves and their characters in Welsh.  This year they all did so llongyfarchiadau mawr to them.   Ceris Matthews once described Ballet Cymru as "the pride of Newport and the pride of Wales."   I could not agree with her more.

Ballet Cymru's Giselle 3.0

Scene from Act Two of the Original Performance of Fisekke

 

Ballet Cymru Giselle  Pontio Arts and Innovation Centre, Bangor 13 Jun 2025 19:30

Yesterday I saw Ballet Cymru's third production of Giselle.  Their first production was in 2006 when they were known as Independent Ballet Wales (see Ballet at the Bridport Arts Centre, BBC website, Oct 2006).  Their second was livestreamed from Lichfield Cathedral on 5 Jul 2021 (see Giselle Reimagined, 9 Jul 2021).  I later saw it in Leeds and Newport and even danced a bit of Darius James and Amy Doughty's choreography for a workshop that Ballet Cymru held for Powerhouse Ballet when they visited Leeds (see Ballet Cymru's Giselle, 10 Nov 2021).  Their latest version was premiered in Newport on 16 May 2025 and is now touring the United Kingdom (see Ballet Cymru's New Giselle, 8 Jun 2025).  I was not in Bridport to see Giselle 1.0, but I did see and liked Giselle 2.0.  In Giselle 3.0, Darius James and Amy Doughty reverted to Adolphe Adam's original score and much of Petipa's choreography, albeit with a simplified libretto.   I thought it worked very well.

The versions of Giselle that big national companies perform, such as Peter Wright's, Rachel Beaujean's or Mary Skeaping's, require a lot of dancers for such roles as the vignerons and hunters in Act 1 and the wilis in Act 2.  Ballet Cymru is still not a big company so the story has to be tweaked if it is to be told successfully.  That is probably why James and Doughty dropped such characters as Giselle's mother who warns her daughter of the likes of Albrecht and the consequences of too much dancing for a girl with a dicky heart, Bathilde (Albrecht's betroathed) who presents Giselle with a necklace just before Hilarion exposes Albrecht or Moyna and Zulma in Act 2 aptly described by Susan Dalgetty-Ezra as "Myrtha's sidekicks".  But they did keep a lot of the essentials, including the peasant pas de deux and the mesmerizing arabesques from Act 2.  They set Act 1 in a Welsh village and Act 2 in a forest, and they dressed their wilis, including the men, in romantic tutus.

Isobel Holland, who had danced Myrtha powerfully in Giselle 2.0, was equally impressive in the equivalent role in Giselle 3.0.  If I am not mistaken, her makeup and costume in Giselle 3.0 were similar to her costume and makeup in  Giselle 2.0.   I gave her my loudest clap at the reverence.  Also impressive were Mika George Evans in the title role and Jakob Myers as Albrecht.  They are both athletic dancers, and they came into their own in Act 2.  I once saw Carlos Acosta and Natalia Osipova in Giselle, and Evans and Myers reminded me strongly of their performance.  Jacob Hornsey elevated Hilarion's role into a major part of the drama, which cannot have been easy, as he is portrayed as a bit of a churlish chump in most productions.   The same is true of Wilfred, Albrecht's squire. James Knott, who danced the equivalent role as Albrecht's friend, made that a much bigger role.  It is not clear from the cast list whom I should congratulate for the peasant pas de deux bit they delivered one of the highlights of my evening.

Before the show, the audience was treated to a performance by local ballet students called Duets.  It is part of a programme that offers dance training to children in rural or former mining, steel-making or heavy industrial communities who would otherwise be unable to receive it.  Immediately after their performances, the children are led to any vacant seats in the auditorium where they watch the company.  Until Wales gets its own national ballet school with connected associates schemes, it is the best way to identify and promote talent and ambition in that nation.  It is good not only for Ballet Cymru and Wales but also for all the other ballet, contemporary dance and theatre companies in the rest of the UK and beyond.  It is a project that deserves the widest possible support.  

Rachel Hickey and Her Company

The Stage of the Czech National Theatre. Prague

Author Jorge Royan Licence CC BY-SA 3.0  Source Wikimedia Commons

I am delighted to announce that Rachel Hickey of the Czech National Ballet has agreed to give Powerhouse Ballet a masterclass from 14:00 to 16:00 on Sunday, 20 July 2025, at KNT Danceworks.  Many thanks to Emily Joy Smith for introducing us to Rachel and to Karen Lester Sant for hosting us at KNT.  I shall post the registration card on the Powerhouse Ballet website shortly. Tickets will be allocated strictly first come first served.

Readers can see from Rachel's web page on the National Ballet's website that she was born in Manchester, trained at Elmhurst, and danced first for the Olomouc Ballet before joining the Czech National Ballet in 2022.  In Olomouc, she danced Myrthe in Giselle and Gamzatti in La Bayadère.  She has greatly extended her repertoire with the National Ballet.

Rachel's company was founded in 1883, nearly 50 years before the Vic-Wells Ballet which later became the Royal Ballet.  According to Wikipedia, the National Ballet was the first company to perform Swan Lake outside Russia and Tchaikovsky attended the first night (per Pask, Edward H. (1982). Ballet in Australia: the second act, 1940-1980. Oxford University Press. p. 22. ISBN 978019554293). The "About" page states that the company consists of 75 dancers from 19 countries.  Its current artistic director is Filip Barankiewicz.

The National Ballet shares the National Theatre in Prague with the Czech National Opera and the Czech National Theatre Company.   It promises a very diverse and interesting new season with a programme that includes works by Van Manen and MacMillan.  I am not sure whether they have any plans to visit the United Kingdom in the near future but there are plenty of budget airlines that fly to Prague,

Local Hero

Author Tim Green Licence CC BY 2.0 Source Wikimedia Commons

Huddersfield Station

 

The Birmingham Royal Ballet's website and programmes used to state: "Huddersfield is not as famous in the world of classical dance as St Petersburg, Paris or London, but it was the birthplace of David Bintley - one of the most consistent and significant forces in British ballet."  After attending  Deborah Weiss's online interview of Andrew McNicol for the London Ballet Circle on 7 May 2025, I looked up the McNicol Ballet Collective and found that it was based in Huddersfield.   IMHO the Collective counts as another significant contribution from Huddersfield to the world of classical dance.

Andrew McNicol is a freelance British choreographer and Artistic Associate at English National Ballet School.  He has created work for companies and ballet schools around the world, including the Royal Ballet, Northern Ballet, the Royal Ballet of Flanders, the Joffrey Ballet, the Tulsa Ballet, the Royal Ballet School and the English National Ballet School.   He founded the McNicol Ballet Collective in 2021.

The McNicol Ballet Collective describes itself as "a creation-based ensemble of extraordinary artists at the peak of their creative powers, alongside emerging talent primed to showcase their brilliance and artistry."  They create works for the stage and screen and have launched a learning programme called "Compositions and Configurations."

I discovered that the Collective has a mailing list, so I subscribed to it.  Yesterday, I received my first newsletter.  It started with a note of thanks from McNicol to those who had attended the Collective's shows, made donations or engaged with it on social media.  Since its formation, the Collective had presented 4 ballets to critical acclaim, premiered a new ballet called Liquid Life and commissioned a new score from Jeremy Birchall. There is also a link to the Collective's Insight Event with the Royal Academy of Dance.   

For those who want to learn more about McNicol and his project, I recommend Trevor Rothwell's write-up of Deborah Weiss's interview on the London Ballet Circle website and the Insight Event video.  Apart from asking McNicol why he chose Huddersfield as his base during that interview, my only contact with him was at the Tell Tale Steps Choreographic Laboratory  10 years ago.  I remember struggling to get a word in edgeways at the panel discussion.   I welcome McNicol's initiative in setting up the Collective and I will do my best to support it.

Northern Ballet's Romeo and Juliet at the Playhouse

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Northern Ballet will perform Christopher Gable's Romeo and Juliet at Leeds Playhouse between 18 and 21 Jun 2025.  In my article on the Royal Ballet's rehearsal of Romeo and Juliet, I wrote that I had never seen a better Romeo than Gable though others have come close (see Attending My First Friends' Rehearsal 31 May 2025).  As I also wrote in A Christmas Carol - A Reflection of a Golden Age on 19 Jan 2025, it was Gable who led me to Northern Ballet Theatre nearly 40 years ago when I saw him in A Simple Man.  When he became the Artistic Director of Northern Ballet, Gable directed and devised a production of Romeo and Juliet for Northern Ballet in 1992.  As Federico Bonelli acknowledged in his interview with Dominique Larose, that production is special to Northern Ballet and its audiences.

I last saw that production in Sheffield in 2024 and I reviewed it in Moriconi and Gable's Romeo and Juliet on 5 Apr 2024.  As regards the title of my review, I should explain that Massimo Moriconi was the choreographer whom Gable appointed to create his Romeo and Juliet.  There is one important difference between the show that I reviewed and next week's performances in Leeds.  The music for next week's shows will be recorded.   According to Northern Ballet's website, the recording was made by the Orchestra of the Slovak National Theatre led by Mario Kosik which is probably the next best thing to live music.  Everything else seems to be the same.

In his interview with Larose, Bonelli referred to the many other versions of Romeo and Juliet that he had danced.   One of the versions with which he may well be familiar is Rudi van Dantzig's for the Dutch National Ballet, as he danced for that company before coming to the Royal Ballet.  I have not yet seen that production, but van Dantzig's choreography with designs by Toer van Schayk and an orchestra conducted by Koen Kessels is likely to be exceptional.  Romeo and Juliet will be performed at the Music Theatre (aka the Stopera) from 14 Oct to 11 Nov 2025.  It is perfectly possible to fly to Amsterdam, watch a matinee and return the same day.

While I am delighted to see Gable and Moriconi's Romeo and Juliet again, Northern Ballet also has a version by Jean-Christophe Maillot which I hope they will continue to perform.   As I said in one of my reviews of that work, it is different but in a good way.

Ballet Cymru's New Giselle

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Ballet Cymru is touring the United Kingdom with a new production of Giselle.  It opened in Newport on 16 May 2025, and the company will bring it to Bangor on 13 Jun and Mold on 8 Jul 2025.  The opening night was reviewed by Molly Stubbs for The Nation (see Dance Review: Ballet Cymru's Giselle, 20 May 2025).

If I am not mistaken, this is Ballet Cymru's third version of the ballet.  They had one in the early days of the company when they were known as Ballet Gwent.  They created a new version with a score by Catrin Finch in 2021.  It opened in Lichfield and I reviewed it in Giselle Reimagined  9 Jul 2021).  I also saw it in Leeds and Newport.   

In their latest version, they appear to have reverted to Adam's score, banished the zombies and restored to the stage Myrthe and her wilis resplendent in their romantic tutus.   While I liked Darius James and Amy Doughty's reimagining much more than I enjoyed Aktam Khan's, I do not like change for change's sake.   If the live performance is anything like the trailer, we are in for a treat.   I shall be in the Bryn Terfel auditorium on Friday and my write-up will appear soon afterwards.

Tess

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Ockham's Razor Tess Home, Manchester 7 Jun 2025, 19:30

Last night, I finally got to see Tess.  I was supposed to see it at the Leeds Playhouse on 31 May 2025, but the show was cancelled at the last minute owing to staff illness. I was sorry to learn of that illness and hope that the person(s) affected made a full recovery.  I managed to get a ticket for a performance at the Home, a new arts complex just off Whitworth Street in Manchester.  It was my first opportunity to visit that venue, and I liked that arts complex a lot.

Ockham's Razor, the company that stages Tess, introduced themselves as "a contemporary circus company" on the home page of their website. They describe Tess as weaving "together acrobatics, aerial, physical theatre, spoken word and an inventive, evocative set to conjure Hardy’s world."  I agree with that. The was a lot of dance but it was not a ballet.  There was a spoken narrative, but it was not a play.  There were also a lot of acrobatics, precarious balancing on planks of wood and feats of amazing strength.  At one point, a single performer bore the weight of three others on her shoulders.  The women seemed as strong as the men, lifting the men as easily as the men had lifted them.  The performers shaped their bodies into all sorts of forms, even resembling a horse and cart at one point.

Although contemporary circus has much in common with dance and drama, it is best considered as an art form in its own right. I have seen only one other performance which I can compare with Tess.   That was Citrus Arts' Savage Hart in the grounds of Oakwell Hall in Birstall, which I reviewed in  Citrus Arts' Savage Hart on 23 July 2017.  Although contemporary circus is a separate art form, it tells a story through dance, mime and movement just like ballet. Indeed, one of the performers in Savage Hart was Krystal Lowe who had been a dancer with Ballet Cymru.  In fact, Darius James and Amy  Doughty of Ballet Cymru have collaborated with Citrus Arts and incorporated circus into their productions of Cinderella and The Light Princess. 

Tess followed Hardy's novel pretty faithfully.   For those who have not read it, a digital copy of Tess of the D'Urbervilles can be downloaded from Project Gutenberg's site.  There is also a good summary in Wikipedia.  The phases of Tess's life in the novel - "The Maiden", "Maiden No More", "The Rally" et cetera - were flashed onto the backdrop together with the occasional quotation.  Planks of wood were arranged to create scenes such as the dairy in "The Rally" and Stonehenge and, chillingly, the gallows of Wintoncester gaol in "Fulfilment".  

Telling a story which once appeared in a 3-volume novel with 7 performers must have been a challenge for the directors, Alex Harvey and Charlotte Mooney and the producers, Alison King and Carina Simões. The role of Tess was divided between the narrator, Lila Naruse, and Anna Critchlow, who danced, mimed and otherwise represented Tess on stage.  There were powerful performances by Joshua Fraser as Alec D'Urberville (Tess's seducer) and Nat Whittingham as Angel (her husband).  Lauren Jamieson, Victoria Skillen and Leah Wallings played several parts in the show.  They raised a laugh from the audience with their plaintive sigh to attract Angel Clare's attention.  One of the strengths of the show was its score, an amalgam of several musical genres by composer and sound designer Holly Khan.  Choreographer Nathan Johnston interpreted that music imaginatively and spectacularly.   Another strength was Tina Bicât's designs combined with Aideen Malone's lighting and Daniel Denton's projections.

The audience rewarded the performers with a standing ovation.   I have noticed recently that Mancunian audiences are increasingly inclined to rise to their feet for just about anything, but on this occasion, I think it was justified.  For many, it would have been their first experience of contemporary circus, and there were plenty of spectacular acrobatics and aerial displays to impress them.

Finally, I should say a word about Ockham or Occam's Razor, from which the company that staged Tess appears to take its name.  It is a logical concept with applications in mathematics, natural science and philosophy.  The way it was taught to me is that the best way to solve a problem is to reduce it to the minimum number of variables.   It is attributed to the 14th-century English friar, William of Ockham. For the sake of completeness, Ockham is a village in Surrey.   There is a good introduction to the concept on The New Scientist's website by Chris Sims.