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.  

Just as most Adult Ballet Classes are folding up for the Summer, here's one that's opening

Photo Huddersfield University~
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At a time of the year when many adult ballet classes are winding down for the summer, it is great to hear of one that is opening up. Today and for the next four Thursdays, Fiona Noonan will run an open adult class at Huddersfield University Sports Centre between 11:00 and 12:00.

Fiona is an excellent teacher. She trained at Queensland Ballet Academy in Brisbane which is the ballet school for Li Cunxin's company that made such a memorable impression on critics and audiences when it brought La Sylphide to London in 2015 (see A dream realized: the Queensland Ballet in London 12 Aug 2015). She then danced with a number of companies around the world before settling in the United Kingdom. She, therefore, brings two rare qualities to her teaching. A rigorous pursuit of excellence and an attention to detail which I have noticed in other Australian trained teachers such as Adam Pudney at Pineapple and more than a little stardust from the stage that some of my favourite teachers at Northern Ballet Academy and KNT also scatter.

I have attended Fiona's classes at The Base Studios and Team Hud in Huddersfield and at Hype Studios in Sheffield (see More than just Hype - Beginners and Improvers Classes in Sheffield 14 May 2014).  They are not easy.  She pushes her students to their limits and then some. But that is exactly what a ballet student needs whatever his or her age or natural ability. I have also learned some important lessons from her. "Ballet is a harsh mistress", I once heard her tell a promising young student " and she is wanting and waiting for you to fail."  Like most balletomanes, I had associated dance with tiaras and gravity defying leaps but the reality is graft, sweat, pain and on more than a few occasions physical danger. Something that requires will, determination and resilience even if you are just taking an adult ballet class. Transferable qualities, incidentally, if you are lucky enough to enjoy your job and have no plans to quit just because you have reached pensionable age.

So if you come to her class this morning you had better pack a towel with your leotard or sports kit because you can expect to sweat. If this is your first class you will be allowed to dance barefoot. However, if you plan to stay the course and invest in some shoes there is a dance shop in the Byrom Arcade called "Mr Frog Dancewear".

For those who do not know the campus, the Sports Centre is in a new building called "Student Central" where you will also find the students' shop and cafeteria. It is almost opposite Sainsbury's car park and there are two multi-storey car parks on the other side of Queensway. The Sports Centre is one floor down and you have to report at the front desk. I don't yet know how much Fiona will charge for her classes but it was £5 two years ago. Most other ballet schools in the North charge between £6 and £8. Well worth it for a fair dinkum touch of stardust, mate. Gooday.

Working my way through World Ballet Day footage: Part 1 The Bangarra Dance Theatre

Rock Paintings, Kimberley, Western Australia

Author TimJN1

Source Wikipedia

Creative Commons Licence

I am slowly working my way through the footage of World Ballet Day and I am still only on Australia. However one of the delights that I have already encountered is the Bangarra Dance Theatre which is introduced by one of its dancers, Tara Bower. The company describes itself as "an Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander organisation and one ofAustralia’s leading performing arts companies." It consists of 16 dancers and according to the video each and every one of them shares an indigenous Australian or Torres Islander heritage.

The company was formed just over 25 years ago and is directed by Stephen Page. According to its website the company's dance technique is "forged from over 40,000 years of culture, infused with contemporary movement." Although based in Sydney it remains close to the Aboriginal communities from whom its material is drawn.

The slot given to Bangarra on World Ballet Day was not long. Just enough time to show a class, a trip to the country, a dancer stretching by the sea shore, a rehearsal, part of a performance and snippets from the company's tour to Turkey and Paris. The film shows the dancers in a magnificent modern auditorium in Istanbul and then in a special performance in the Australian embassy in Paris.

As they have been to Paris it occurred to me that they had probably been to London so I googled Sadler's Well and Bangarra. I found that they were here in 2008 with the Australian Ballet with whom they danced a version of Rite of Spring called Rites. The film is very impressive and I really wish I had seen those dancers on stage. In her commentary Tara Bower says that the dancers are trained in several styles including jazz and contemporary and of course ballet. In fact the class shows the dancers performing the traditional barre exercises.