Ballet Cymru at its Best

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Ballet Cymru Dream Stanley and Audrey Burton Theatre, Leeds 19L30

Yesterday I saw Ballet Cymru's Dream for the third time and I think it was their best performance of that ballet yet.  There were two reasons for that.  The first is that the performers and audiences are more familiar with the work.  They know what makes us laugh (and cry) and members of the audience who have seen it before know what to look out for.  As I said in Croeso i Ŵyl Dream on 9 July 2019:

"Shows often grow as they tour the country and I think that has happened with Dream. It was already a good show when I saw it in Mold on 29 May but it was even better yesterday."

The second reason is that the ballet was performed in a theatre in Northern Ballet and Phoenix's studios that those companies use for their own shows before an audience that knows and appreciates dance.

The Stanley and Audrey Burton's lighting and projection equipment enabled the company to make full use of James and Doughty's projection and Charles Illingworth's lighting designs.  The company has always made ingenious use of those projections to create a sense of space.  For example, their Romeo and Juliet is set not in 15th-century Verona but in contemporary Newport.  The scene of the rumble between the Capulets and Montagues is instantly recognizable as the pedestrian walkway under the approach road to the bridge over the Usk.  Well, despite the Greek music in the mechanicals' play, I felt transported not to an Athenian wood or even Warwickshire or South Wales but to New South Wales where Cobwebs or rather their makers are to be feared.  The giveaway was the image of Sydney Harbour Bridge which I once walked across not to mention the gum trees and pyrotechnics in another scene.  A reminder that Ballet Cymru has a strong link with Australia as well as Wales in Amy Doughty and Robbie Moorcroft.

Every dancer excelled last night and it would be wrong to single any out for special praise.  It was hard not to adore Kotone Sugiyama who danced a feisty Hermia.  Especially as she wiped her hands after knocking Demetrius (Jacob Hornsey) cold.   Hornsey must also be commended for his performance as Bottom.  Also, I loved Sanea Singh as Puck.  An interesting contrast to Ballet Black's Isabela Coracey who also dances Puck in Arthur Pita's Dream within a Dream.  Llongyfarchiadau calonnog to Caitlin Jones whom I think I remember from Swan Lake in Glasgow and Greenock the last full-length ballet that I saw live on stage before lockdown.   She has created the role of Lysandia and made it her own.  Moorcroft who dances Oberon and Helena's dad is always a pleasure to watch as is Isobel Holland his Titania.  A special cheer for Beth Meadway and not just because she is one of our own.  Her main character was Helena but she was also Wall and any artist who can bring to life a structure of cereal boxes has a very rare gift indeed.  Her little dance at the curtain call for Pyramus and Thisbe was greeted with thunderous applause.

The company's patron, Cerys Matthews, once described Ballet Cymru as "the pride of Newport and the pride of Wales."  But not just of Wales.   They have performed three very different works, Child's Christmas, Giselle and now  Dream in Leeds.   I think it is safe to say that we have taken them to our hearts.  And Yorkshire folk are not known for wearing their hearts on their sleeves.