Northern Ballet's New Director

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"Bravo bloody oh!" That was the reaction of one of my friends when I told her the news of Federico Bonelli's appointment as the next Artistic Director of Northern Ballet.  Other reactions have been a little less colourful but no less enthusiastic. I have been a fan of Bonelli for years and could not have wished for a better choice.  If you ever see him on stage or just watch this video you will understand why. 

Nevertheless, it was a very unexpected appointment.  Graham Watts tweeted:

"I definitely didn’t see this one coming - Northern Ballet has announced Federico Bonelli as the Company’s new Artistic Director."

Watts was not the only one.   Even though I am a fan of Bonelli he had not been on my radar.  Had anyone kept a book my money would have been on a brilliant young choreographer whose style reminds me of Cranko whose appointment would have recemented a link with Central or, possibly, on one of our leading female choreographers who has already contributed two much-loved ballets to the company.

Bonelli's appointment coincides with the publication of the government's "levelling up strategy".  It has promised to ensure that great cultural institutions play their part in spreading access to excellence:

"100% of the Arts Council England funding uplift announced at SR21 will be directed outside London, with support for theatre, museums and galleries, libraries and dance in towns which have been deprived of investment in the past. We will explore how more flagship national cultural institutions can support the strength of our historic cultural heritage in great cities such as Stoke and Manchester."

Not a bad time to make a move outside London. 

Dame Beryl Grey

Insignia of the Companions of Honour

Author Robert Prummel
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This blog tries to avoid obsequiousness (though we may not always succeed) but we happily make an exception for Dame Beryl Grey. Today the Prime Minister announced Dame Beryl's admission into the Order of the Companions of Honour of which there are only 65 members. Other members include Stephen Hawking, Janet Baker, David Hockney, Harrison Birtwistle, Judi Dench, Peter Higgs and Lord Woolf.

Dame Beryl is the President of the English National Ballet and was artistic director of the company when between 1968 and 1979 when I first took an interest in ballet. I had the good fortune to meet her at the 70th anniversary celebrations of the London Ballet Circle (see 70 Years of the London Ballet Circle 10 May 2016). I add my congratulations on Dame Beryl's latest honour to the many others that she will already have received or can expect in the next few days.

Other persons to have been honoured this year for services to dance include:

• Kenneth Olumuyiwa Tharp, former chief executive of The Place
• Romayne Grigorova
• Alexandra Clarke, and
• Deborah Ann Holme.

Congratulations to them too.

Calling all Northerners and Fans of Northern Ballet

Civil Service Club, Venue for London Ballet Circle Meetings

Author Google

David Nixon, one of the Vice Presidents of the London Ballet Circle and Artistic Director of Northern Ballet will be interviewed by Esme Chandler on the first floor of the Civil Service Club at 13-15 Great Scotland Yard, London SW1A 2HJ from 19:30 on Monday, 28 Nov 2016, The event is open to the public for a fee of £5 for members of the Circle and £8 for everybody else.

In case anyone from the North of England wants to attend that event, the venue is easy to reach by tube from King's Cross, St Pancras and Euston Stations and the Victoria coach station.  Embankment, which is served by the District Line and Charing Cross are not far away.  Great Scotland Yard leads off from Northumberland Avenue which runs from Trafalgar Square to the river. Look out for the green and white flags of the Nigerian embassy which abuts Northumberland Avenue as the venue is right next door.  If you are driving from the North a good place to park is Luton Parkway. The station multi-storey is very cheap even by Northern standards and you can make the rest of your way into town by Thameslink. You can change to the District line at Blackfriars.

Those coming to the London Ballet Circle can order meals and drinks before and after the talk. Again, at Northern prices. I can particularly recommend the fish and chips and the roast dinner. If you want to combine Nixon's talk with a spot of Christmas shopping, Harrods and Harvey Nicks are within walking distance and Fortnums is even closer. There is, of course, also the whole of the West End to entertain you if you want to stay for any length of time.

Of course, you will have come mainly to hear about Northern Ballet. The season began with revivals of Nixon's Wuthering Heights (see Janet McNulty's review Northern Ballet's "Wuthering Heights" at the West Yorkshire Playhouse 9 Sept 2016 and my Northern Ballet's "Wuthering Heights" at the West Yorkshire Playhouse - about as good as it can get 10 Sept 2016) and Jean-Christophe Maillot's Romeo and Juliet (see Romeo and Juliet after the Shrew 15 Oct 2016) and will continue with Nixon's Beauty and the Beast which I reviewed in my law blog IP Yorkshire (see Ballet and Intellectual Property - my Excuse for reviewing "Beauty and the Beast" 31 Dec 2011 IP Yorks).

Happily, some new work is promised for the new year.  There is, of course. Kenneth Tindall's first full-length ballet Casanova as I mentioned on 24 May 2016. I will try to get an interview with Kenny before the premiere on 11 March. There will also be Daniel de Andrade's The Boy in The Striped Pyjamas that opens in Doncaster in May and will tour the rest of the country before finding its way back to Yorkshire and Nixon's own Little Mermaid  which opens in Southampton in September and trundles into Sheffield in November and Leeds in December.

There should be a lot to discuss with our company's artistic director. We don't get a chance to talk to him very often. It will be worth making the long trek south just this once.

Richmond

The Thames at Richmond

Author Diliff 
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I arrived home in the early hours of this morning after a diversion via Leeds because I missed my connection from Wakefield owing to a late departure from London. Leeds has much to commend it not least its adoption of Northern Ballet but its attractions are far from obvious at 23:15 in the evening.

My visit to London had not been entirely a pleasure trip.  I had to give a course on Intellectual Property Law and Fashion in the City between 09:30 and 17:00 yesterday which was followed immediately afterwards by a VoIP con with lawyers in London and the United States.  I shuffled into King's Cross trundling heavy equipment and papers as well as a lady's typical accoutrements for a night at the theatre and a day's business with minutes to spare before the advertised departure only to find that my service was not even in the station.

Nevertheless I had a great time in the Smoke and that was largely thanks to the performance of Cathy Marston's Jane Eyre which, as you will note from my review, was the best new work I had seen from Northern Ballet for yonks. The fact that it was so good should surprise no-one  for Marston is an important choreographer. She was Associate Artist at the Royal Opera House between 2002 and 2006 Artistic Director of the Berne Ballet between 2007 and 2013 and the footage on her YouTube channel is amazing. The only surprise to me is that Jane Eyre, which ought to be a flagship work as it towers over 1984 and just about everything else that the company has done since the days of Christopher Gable, was launched in Donny and is being traipsed round Richmond (which is at the end of the tube and awkward to reach from most parts of London) and places like Leicester and Stoke on Trent. A work like Jane Eyre could easily have filled The Grand (if not the Wells) not to mention The Palace in Manchester, the Festival in Edinburgh and The Mayflower in Southampton.

Doubtless there is an explanation and I am not complaining as I know Richmond very well having grown up in Molesey and attended school in West Kensington. My school was just across the Talgarth Road from the Royal Ballet School and one of its students used to catch our train to Barons Court. I can't remember her name and have often wondered what became of her. It was good to return to the theatre on the Green where I have seen many pantomimes.

I didn't buy a programme on Wednesday as I found it was exactly the same as the one I had bought last March for the Simon and Anthony show. I have since had a chance to read the interview with Marston, which confirmed my surmise that the "D-Men" were demons. It also has a lovely photo Gavin McCaig and Abigail Prudames with Marston in rehearsal.

After the show I reflected on its success with a bife de lomo and a glass of Malbec at the Buenos Aires restaurant in The Square. I also found Barreworks not far away and took a peak at one of the classes upstairs. The studio where the class took place was spacious, light and well equipped studio and the students seemed to be having fun but I did not stay long as there was nobody on reception and I did not want to distract the instructor. However, I would love to sample one of the classes on another visit and I shall try out its on-line workouts in the meantime.

The only shadow over my visit to Richmond was that a child or young woman in the seat next but one to me was taken ill during the curtain call. She grasped the lady next to me shouting "Mum", "Mum", "Mum". Her companion asked  for an ambulance and I passed that request onto an usher who acted with commendable alacrity and efficiency. The patient left her foot behind in her haste and I handed that to the usher after the reverence. I feel so sad for the patient and her party. They had just seen something splendid and this attack must have marred their evening. I wish them all the very best.

PS

Delighted to announce @chrismarney appointed as our new Artistic Director https://t.co/X1OXeSwPVY Photo: Kate Parkes pic.twitter.com/oC2c2E0e4s

— Ballet Central (@balletcentral) April 25, 2016

This news couldn't have been timed better. I write about the Ballet Central's tour only this morning (Ballet Central's Only Performance in the North 25 April 2016).

Congratulations to Chris upon his appointment which must be one of the best jobs in British ballet and congratulations to Ballet Central on its excellent artistic director. I really can't think of a better man for the job.

Looking forward to welcoming the company to my stamping ground (literally) all the more.