Just over a year ago I mentioned that Sarah Mortimer had left Ballet Theatre UK to start a new career as a freelance dancer and teacher (see Sarah Mortimer24 Nov 2016). Sarah was a delightful dancer and I was very sorry to see her go. However, teaching is at least as important as I explained in One of the Best Ballet Experiences Ever14 Feb 2018.
I was therefore pleased to learn that Sarah has acquired her own dance studio known as Tenterden Studio Dance Company in one of the prettiest towns in Kent. According to the studio website, the studio hosts Tenterden Ballet Studios which teaches a wide range of classes including adult ballet between 11:00 and 12:00 on Friday mornings. Should I find myself in the area on a Friday morning (which is not impossible as Tenterden is not far from Ashford International railway station) I shall try to attend it.
Sarah also offers private and personalized coaching and lets out studio space to other teachers. I wish her every success in this venture.
(c) 2017 Chantry Dance Company Reproduced with kind permission of the company
Move It, which takes place at the Excel Centre between the 10 and 12 March 2017, is billed as the UK's biggest dance event with "over 24,500 dancers – three days – performances, classes, career advice, celebrities, interviews and shopping!!"
I was there last year and described the day in MOVE IT 2016. My verdict on the day was:
"There are worse ways of spending a Sunday afternoon and I did pick up a free copy of The Stage and Dancing Times with a great article by Gavin McCaig in Talking Point which I read over an overpriced burrito but it was not a cheap afternoon out."
This may sound like damnation by faint praise but it is not really. There was a lot to see and do. The trouble was that almost everything I had most wanted to see had already happened by the time I arrived. Also, the open ballet class which was the only one that I felt able to do was fully booked.
Clearly, Friday and Saturday are the best days to come to MOVE IT. Friday is out for me because it is a working day and even balletomanes have to eat. I could not make Saturday last year because I was on my way to see the Chelmsford Ballet Company's The Sleeping Beauty. I regret that I won't be there on 11 March this year because that is the day Kenny Tindall's Casanova opens in Leeds.
One of the performances that I missed last year was a piece by Chantry Dance Company and Chantry Dance School. I am a friend of the company and I like its work. A video of its performance appears in A Good Month for Chantry Dance26 March 2016. The company and school will be there again this year. Rae Piper will conduct a contemporary ballet workshop at 15:45 and members of the school and company will also be on the main stage at some time during that day. We wish them chookas, toi, toi, toi and anything else that does not offend theatrical superstition.
One person that I did get to meet at Move IT last year was Christopher Moore who directs Ballet Theatre UK. I am a big fan of his company for two reasons. First, I take my hat off to them for producing two or three full-length ballets every year and taking them to small town and suburban venues the length and breadth of the kingdom. They provide a first taste of ballet for many people, including a lot of children. I like to think that at least a few of those kids will find their way onto the stage one day. The company has just finished Romeo and Juliet which I reviewed in Ballet Theatre UK's Romei and Juliet15 Jan 2017 and it has already started another tour with a new production of Giselle. Alice in Wonderland follows Giselle and The Nutcracker will follow Alice. The second reason I like Mr Moore is that he has given work to several graduates of Ballet West and any friend of Ballet West is a friend of mine.
Ballet Theatre UK now has a school and its students were also on stage at MOVE IT last year. You will find a video of their performance on thefamousbelgian's YouTube channel. Wishing them all the best too.
Ballet Theatre UK Romeo and Juliet Theatre Royal Wakefield, 14 Jan 2017, 19:30 I have been blogging about Ballet Theatre UK for nearly three years and have reported their performances of The Little Mermaid (see Pure Delight - BTUK's Little Mermaid in Southport27 Apr 2014), Swan Lake (see The Bedouin of Ballet12 Dec 2014), Aladdin (see Ballet Theatre UK's Aladdin5 Apr 2015) and Pinnochio (see Pinnochio6 June 2016). It is a troupe of some 14 talented young dancers who create two full-length ballets a year which they perform in small and medium town and suburban auditoriums the length and breadth of the country. Each of those ballets is choreographed by their founder and artistic director, Christopher Moore and is either an adaptation of a well-known work such as last night's Romeo and Juliet or a folk or children's tale like last season's Pinnochio. Through that work, Ballet Theatre UK introduces high-quality dance to audiences whose only other experience of ballet might be a show on BBC 2 or BBC 4 around Christmas or an end of term review by kids from a local ballet school. There is a complete absence of gimmickry in Moore's productions. His Romeo and Juliet, for example,is set firmly in renaissance Verona and his costume designer, Daniel Hope, has obviously spent time and trouble on researching the period in order to produce the most elaborate and what to my eyes at any rate are historically accurate representations of the elaborate headgear that might have been worn by Lady Capulet, Paris and Juliet's nurse. Phillip Moore's set consisted of a simple classical arch which, when combined with some imaginative lighting design by Russ Marquis, transported us effortlessly from the town square of Verona, to Juliet's boudoir, to her parents ballroom, to her balcony, to Friar Lawrence's chapel, the square again, the bedroom and finally to her tomb. All of those costumes and props will no doubt be dismantled and packed in the vehicle that will convey last night's show from the county town of the West Riding to Horsham in sunny Sussex.
The audience that saw last night's show got a lot for their money. As the crowd included a fair sprinkling of children I should imagine ballet teachers and dancewear shops the length and breadth of the country owe an enormous debt of gratitude to Christopher Moore and his dancers for inspiring an endless supply of new pupils and customers all of whom will be in the market for tights, shoes and snazzy new leotards. Indeed, it may not just be children in the market for such kit as adult ballet classes are sprouting like mushrooms everywhere as I noted in Back to Class8 Jan 2017. Those teachers, retailers, studios and theatres would probably be willing to advertise if Ballet Theatre UK would take advertising.
So Christopher Moore and his talented young dancers perform an important public service not just to dance itself but also to education, retailing and possibly even public health in getting kids and possibly some adults off their backsides and onto the barre. When the time comes for giving gongs I hope the powers that be remember him.
It is vital that this company keeps going but it is not obvious how they manage it. If they get anything from Arts Council England, which seems to have plenty of dosh for projects that seem to be much less worthy, Ballet Theatre UK don't mention it on their website or in their sumptuously designed and printed, but singularly uninformative, programmes at £5 each. They appeal for corporate giving and sponsorship on their website but if they get any they keep quiet about it. There is an acknowledgement of some 22 individual donors on the last page of the programme some of whom bear the names or at least the surnames of creatives and dancers in the company. The only advertisement in the programme is for The School of Ballet Theatre UK.
Ticket and programme sales will bring in some revenue but it can't be that much. The Theatre Royal Wakefield, which is a beautiful Victorian venue with a glorious history (see Theatre has a rich history22 Aug 2097 Wakefield Express), seats only 499 punters. Although yesterday's turnout was not bad there was more than one empty seat.
Of the five shows by Ballet Theatre UK that I have seen since I started this blog, this was by far the best. I think it helped that I knew the story backwards. By contrast, Aladdin and Pinnochio were not the easiest ballets to follow.
However, I think a lot of credit must go to the dancers and in particular to Isaac Peter Bowry who, like me, is a Mancunian (see Born to be a star: Wythenshawe dancer Isaac, 16, on the road to ballet success12 Oct 2012 Manchester Evening News). Yesterday was not the first time I had seen Bowry in a major role. I mentioned him in my very first post for his performance as Drosselmeyer in Ballet West's "The Nutcracker"on25 Feb 2013, again when he danced von Rothbart the following year (see Swan Loch - Ballet West's Swan Lake, Pitlochry 1 March 20143 March 2014) and Paris the year after that in Ballet West's Romeo and Juliet1 Feb 2015. He impressed me when he was a student and again last night. I am delighted that he has found a home in Hinckley. He is a naturally talented actor as well as a strong dancer.
His glazed expression after seeing Juliet for the first time at her parents' ball was priceless.
Laia Ramon, his Juliet, also acted and danced well. Alistair Beatte handled a sword adroitly as Mercutio as did Lucien Vecchienelli who danced Tybalt. Claire Corruble, the only name I remember from the last time I saw the company, danced Lady Capulet with passion. Dominic Who portrayed her husband as not a very nice man threatening Lady Capulet as well as Juliet with a clout at one point. All danced well.
I can't tell you much about anyone in the cast except Bowry because there were no biographies in the £5 programme and the information on the dancers' page of the company's website is "coming soon" - and has been for several months. That's a pity because Gita likes to name "a man or woman of the match" but can't identify her nominee. All she can say is that it was "that tall slender girl."
Ballet Theatre UK inspires a lot of loyalty. The mother of one of its former dancers describes the company as "fine". Another former dancer who is a Facebook friend wrote "enjoy" when I announced I was on the way to the theatre. A subscriber to Balletco Forum who identifies him or herself only as a Nottinghamshire ballet lover contributed a glowing review of the Chesterfield show to that website. As I said above, friends and family of the company, members as well as the dancers and creatives themselves have donated. It is clearly a cause worth supporting.
Yesterday I mentioned Ballet West and its touring company (see Congratulations to Ballet West - here's to the next 25 Years23 Nov 2016). One of my favourite dancers, Sarah Mortimer, is a graduate of Ballet West. I first noticed her as the mermaid in Christopher Moore's version of The Little Mermaid for Ballet Theatre UK (see Pure Delight - BTUK's Little Mermaid in Southport27 April 2014). I looked out for her in that company's other shows. She was one of the reasons why I followed BTUK.
Sarah has now left BTUK and has become a freelance teacher and performer. She has put together an impressive associates programme with some excellent guest teachers, some of whom such as David Brewer and Inês Ferriera, danced with her in BTUK. She also gives private coaching at various levels and workshops on popular ballets such as The Nutcracker. Having seen a large part of the world including a lot of Scotland with Ballet West and every nook and cranny of the UK with BTUK whom I once described as the Bedouin of Ballet, Sarah has based herself in Maidstone where she was born and brought up. Apart from the associates, coaching and workshops which she offers through her website, Sarah teaches at Masters Performing Arts College in Rayleigh, 360 Dance in Tunbridge Wells and Tenterden Ballet Studios and as a guest teacher on various associate programmes and courses including Ballet West Edinburgh Associates and South East Ballet Scholars.
As ballet is intended for the stage, the best type of teacher is one who has enthralled an audience. Sarah has done that in countless repertory theatres, arts centres and other auditoriums the length and breadth of the United Kingdom. Without doubt, she will already have inspired hundreds of little boys and girls (not to mention many adults including, perhaps, a few pensioners) across the land to study ballet. Now she has an opportunity to guide many of those students to the next level. Very few of them (if any) of those studemts will emulate Carlos Acosta or Lauren Cuthbertson, but they should all develop a love for the art as theatregoers as well as dancers that will never leave them. I am sure that all my readers will join me in wishing Sarah well in this latest phase of her career.
One of my favourite ballet companies is Ballet Theatre UK, They have some lovely young dancers: David Brewer, Ines Ferreira and Sarah Mortimer to name just three. They work incredibly hard travelling sometimes hundreds of miles for one or at the most two performances and then back on the road again. Look at their tour dates for their Autumn and Winter tour: Coventry on the 23 Oct (the company's website says the 25 by the way), Wimborne on the 24 and Bognor on the 25. And yet when they come on stage they seem fresh and full of energy.
By touring the small towns and suburbs of the UK they are bringing ballet to an audience that would never otherwise see it. Yes I know that the Birmingham Royal Ballet splits into two and tours some of the smaller venues of Northern and Southern England (see Vaut le Voyage - Birmingham Royal Ballet in Shrewsbury28 May 2015 and Birmingham Royal Ballet in High Wycombe31 May 2015) and that Northern Ballet has just completed a tour of smaller theatres with Madame Butterfly (see Nixon's Masterpiece22 May 2015) but these talented and incredibly resilient young men and women do that sort of thing all the time. Through their work they are removing some of the elitism and snobbery of ballet for which I for one am extremely grateful. To appreciate why that's important, read For Emma28 April 2014 an article that I wrote after their visit to Southport.
In order to draw an audience the company's artistic director Christopher Moore bases his ballets around well known stories. Ballet Theatre UK performed The Little Mermaid in Spring 2014 (see Pure Delight - BTUK's Little Mermaid in Southport27 April 2014), Swan Lake (albeit with a radically different libretto to take account of the size and structure of the company which annoyed some people but not me) last Autumn and Winter (see The Bedouin of Ballet12 Dec 2014) and Aladdin earlier this year (Ballet Theatre UK's Aladdin5 April 2015). This time the company is reviving The Snow Queenwhich is based on Hans Christian Andersen's well known fairy tale.
I have no doubt that this show will draw in the crowds from Coventry to Yeovil and I shall see them on one of their transits from the North but I do have a plea to Mr Moore as a reviewer. Please - pretty please - type out a cast list for each of your venues and get the local Staples to run off as many copies as you've sold tickets. It'll only cost a few quid and it will pay dividends in audience (and critics') goodwill. It really will. Also the dancers will be acknowledged - and these fine young men and women deserve to be acknowledged. Up to now I have been relying on the mother of one of the dancers to give me the cast lists but she is a busy lady with her own dance classes (see There's more to Harpenden than Thameslink17 May 2015). Alternatively, invest in an easel and pin up the names in the foyer as Matthew Bourne's New Adventures does.
Ballet Theatre UK also has a school which I shall discuss in a future post. One day I hope to meet Mr Moore and learn more about his vision and ambition for the company. If you have not yet seen this company do go to one of their shows. I have not yet met anyone - including grizzlies like me who can remember Fonteyn and Fracci - who has not left the theatre in which they have performed on a high.
I attended Ballet Theatre UK's performance of Aladdin in Southport with Jane and her family on 4 April 2015 (see Ballet Theatre UK's Aladdin5 April 2015). Like Jane I was annoyed at having to wait outside the auditorium until minutes before the start of the show and the lack of programmes and cast sheets.
I saw the show again at The Key Theatre in Peterborough on Saturday and I am glad to say that it had improved greatly. I set out my immediate reactions in a text to Jane who had been watching the Dutch National Ballet Junior Company at the Linbury. I wrote:
"Performance polished, refined and graceful. The pas de deux was as smooth as a baby's bottom. Real improvement on last time and very well articulated by the dancers. The male dancers as a group were very well composed and extremely responsive to the score and well disciplined."
The production was more polished in other ways. In Southport some of the dancers seemed to be in danger of losing their costumes. Nothing like that happened in Peterborough.
However, there were still no cast lists or programmes making it difficult for me to identify the dancers and I found that really annoying. It is also unfortunate that the dancers do not get the credit they deserve. I appreciate that BTUK must have lots of overheads with its extensive touring but a Xeroxed cast list or even just a sign on an easel at the entrance to the auditorium (which is what Matthew Bourne's company does) would hardly break the bank. We were after all paying nearly £20 per head for our tickets. I might add that many theatre goers keep a programme as a souvenir of their evening. With a programme they are much more likely to come twice.
Another reason why the absence of a programme was annoying is that there was no synopsis. It was not easy to follow what is going on. That is partly because the choreography was too complex. Each sequence was exquisite. The costumes and coiffures were gorgeous. But it was all too much.The ballet would have benefited from far fewer scenes, particularly in Act I. The succession of dances complicated rather than elucidated the story. The changes of costume did little to assist my comprehension.
I attended the ballet with an enthusiastic family member who was born in Mumbai but who had lived in this country for many years. She had read the story of Aladdin twice and was reasonably familiar with it. This was her first experience of ballet and I suggested Aladdin to her because of its oriental theme, colour and music which I thought might appeal to her tastes. As it happened I was right. She did enjoy all that as well as the pointe work but she asked me several times to explain what was happening and I was not really able to help her. There must have been many people like us in the audience and if they can't understand a performance there is a risk that they will conclude that ballet is not for them.
In the absence of a cast list I think the following roles were danced by the following dancers:
The reason I say "I think" is that I got this cast list from Jane who got it from Helen Brewer (David's mum and the lady who runs the Harpenden Summer Dance School). Helen originally told Jane that that cast would dance the matinee performance. I think I recognized David and Ines because they had danced those roles in Southport last time.
Being a sports fan I am used to looking out for a man or woman of the match. In this ballet I would award the person of the match (overall best dancer) to Ines and man of the match (best male dancer) to David. Having seen the same ballet in diametrically opposite parts of England I consulted their website to see where else they danced. They do go to a lot of places. I counted over 50 shows in just short of 4 months. The distances they have to cover between venues in a very short time are considerable. I feel really sorry for the young dancers. It all makes me wonder whether a little less could yield so much more.
I should like to say a word about the Key Theatre. It is a very pleasant venue on the banks of the Nene. It is quite a modern building and all facilities were in order. It has an elegant restaurant with great service where we savoured asparagus and poached egg with Hollandaise sauce and beautiful French fries. Generous portions too. Save for the lack of programmes and cast lists it was a much better experience than at the Atkinson."
I've discovered that the easiest and cheapest way to London is to drive to Luton Parkway which takes just over two and a half hours from Dodworth (the "w" is not pronounced by the locals and they glare at you if try to do so) where I join the M1. I park in the multistorey for £2.50 so long as I arrive after 17:00. Then I make my way into town by Thameslink which takes me to Farringdon that is close to the Wells and within walking distance of the House and Coli for £10 return. "Easy peasy lemon squeezy" as they say. So much more convenient than East Midlands Trains from Sheffield or Virgin from Donny.
Just past Parkway there is a station called Harpenden. For a long time I thought that was all there was to Harpenden but on Friday I learned that there is also The Harpenden Summer Dance School. Not only that but one of the teachers is Hfbrew (Helen Brewer) who tells me who is dancing in Ballet Theatre UK's performances. Without her help I could never review that company's shows because BTUK does not publish cast lists and the chap who sells the programmes never knows who is dancing.
According to its home page The Harpenden Summer Dance School "is primarily a week long dance course that takes place every August during the week prior to the Bank Holiday." Apparently it is suitable for keen dance students of all levels and its ethos is to provide top quality dance training during the summer break in a friendly and informal atmosphere. I have already said that Helen is, one of the teachers. The others are Mary Schon and Richard Reynard. All three have impressive credentials. There are classes in ballet, jazz and musical theatre at junior, senior and advanced levels as well as coaching for the more advanced students.
Fees start at £12 for a single class with discounts for second and subsequent classes on the same day. A weekly pass costs £150 which is not bad for the Home Counties, the land of milk and honey, where everybody drives a Bentley and the average mortgage is bigger than the GDP of several UN member states.So if you are interested you can download the application form here. The school has a really pretty logo (or device marks as we sad old fossils call such things) and a t-shirt emblazoned with that design will set you back £12.
If you want to learn more about this course you can call Helen on 07818 448400 or send her an email.
This Easter weekend my home has been full of laughter as I have been entertaining Vlad the Lad and his mum and dad.
As I've said many times before Vlad likes ballet and he got more than a little this weekend. On Good Friday he watched Darcey's Ballerina Heroinesbounding around my sitting room attempting grands jetésand tours en l'air. On Saturday he watched Ballet Theatre UK's Aladdin at The Atkinson in Southport. And yesterday I was even more excited than he was when I recognized Quarry Hill on Mr Tumble. "Ooh look Vlad" I squealed, "This is where you saw me dance when you last came to visit me" (see The Time of My Life28 June 2015).
But Vlad's favourite ballet by a country mile is Ballet Black's Dogs Don't Do Ballet which he saw at Harlow on 11 Oct 2014 where he was also lucky enough to meet Chris Marney and Cassa Pancho (see Woof12 Oct 2014). Ballet Black and their beautiful dancers are bringing that show to Leeds the weekend after next and North London on 22 May 2015.
Although Ballet Back come from London they are very much at home in Leeds as I noted the last time they paid us a visit (see Ballet Black at Home in Leeds7 Nov 2014). One of the reasons for that is that Northern Ballet has grown an audience for ballet in Yorkshire and they start them off young. Northern Ballet is about to tour Yorkshire and the rest of the country with Elves and the Shoemaker.
Vlad's first ballet was English National Ballet's My First Coppeliawhich he saw at The Peacock this time last year. This year I have promised to take him to My First Swan Lake.
Vlad's mum has seen a lot of ballet with me and my late spouse over the years and she loves it. Her husband has only seen a few but his favourite to date was Ballet Black's triple bill at the Linbury on 14 Feb 2015 which happened to coincide with my birthday. That was a great performance. I don't think I have ever seen a better one from that company (see Ballet Black's Best Performance Yet17 Feb 2015).
A good test of the mettle of a company is how well it copes with adversity. Because it danced in Southport in the middle of Easter bank holiday weekend a lot of things went wrong yesterday most of which were not the fault of the company.
First, The Atkinson's bakery closed at 15:00. This is one of the USPs of the theatre if not the whole metropolitan borough of Sefton. My hungry crowd which included an omnivorous and voracious 4 year old who c an't stop jumping and running and "the foodie friend" referred to in my review of The Atkinson of 2 Aug 2014 had been saving themselves for the Bakery's delights all the way from Yorkshire. Quelle deception! We had to hoof off scouring the town for fish and chips which was our second choice. I am sorry to say as an exiled Lancastrian in the Land of the Tykes that the establishment that claimed to be the best chippie in town was decidedly inferior in the size of its portions and the quality of its frying to the West Riding average. Secondly, the Atkinson's ladies' was a disgrace. No bog roll in the cubicles and tissues floating in the communal sink in which we were supposed to wash our hands. Thirdly, we were kept out of the auditorium until well after the advertised start of the show. Fourthly, nobody was selling programmes or even giving away cast lists which means that I can't give you any details of the synopsis or even the composer of the score. I can tell you the names of some of the dancers but only because the mum of one of the dancers told me before the show. I can also say that Daniel Hope designed the costumes but only because of the video Ballet Theatre UK - The Making of Aladdin - Costumes. Finally, there was a much smaller crowd than I had seen for The Little Mermaidor Swan Lakewhich was hardly surprising given the date of the performance.
Yet despite all those glitches it was still a good show. The young dancers danced their hearts out and were rewarded at the end by enthusiastic applause and even whoops of delight in the case of Philip Tunstall who danced the jinn. Two ladies in row B actually rose to their feet. So I think artistic director Christopher Moore can safely chalk up yesterday's show as a success malgré tout. His heart must have been in his shoes even more than his dancers David Brewer and Ines Ferreira at the end of a very difficult pas de deux in the last scene of the show.
Aladdin is not an easy story to tell in ballet terms. There was an awful lot of detail in Act I that I couldn't follow. Happily I was put in the picture by Janet McNulty of BalletcoForum whom I met in the bar in the interval. She had a much better recollection of the Bintley plot than I did and she was able to reel off the story as well as Madame Novikova of Pathe Live. Act II was much easier to follow and contained some thrilling choreography including the pas de deux that I mentioned above. I was impressed with Brewer and Ferreira. My companion Gita liked Tunstall and a dancer who fitted the description of Sarah Mortimer. Gita who is new to ballet but not to dance spots technical points that I miss. And 4 year old Vlad loved the sword swallower. He likes ballet but I had feared that yesterday's show might have been too long and too complex for him. It wasn't. He was leaping and bowing like the dancers he had just seen even before we left the auditorium.
I do urge the denizens of Dartford and other towns to flock to the show on Tuesday and subsequently for they will have a good time. A company of this quality deserves a good crowd. I just hope that the management of those theatres do a better job than The Atkinson did yesterday. As yesterday fell in the middle of a double bank holiday weekend I am not giving up on that normally excellent arts centre.
If the above trailer is anything to go by the good folk of Southport are in for a treat tonight. Ballet Theatre UK whom I have previously described as the "Bedouin of Ballet" return to The Atkinson with a new version of Aladdin by Christopher Moore. I have seen two of their shows already: The Little Mermaidon 27 April 2014 and Swan Lake on 11 Dec 2014 and enjoyed them both very much. I have also seen and enjoyed David Bintley's version and it will be interesting to compare the two.
Southport from Holmfirth is a fair old jaunt. There and back is nearly as far as a trek to the Great Wen and can take at least as long if there is a lot of traffic around Manchester. I am making the journey for two reasons. The first is that I like my ballet and this is a good little company. It has assembled a troupe of promising young dancers one of whom is the son of a lady with whom I correspond through BalletcoForum. It is the nearest we have to the Dutch National Ballet's Junior Company in this country and deserves to be encouraged for the same reason. The second is that my grandson manqué seems to have taken a liking to ballet and shows signs that he may be good at it. He was imitating some of the dancers in Darcey's Ballerina Heroinesand not making too bad a hash of it. Though he was born in London his mum comes from Sierra Leone and we have told him all about Michaela De Prince and her life story.
After tonight the caravan moves on to Dartford (which is only a few miles from where the little lad lives so her may pester his parents to take him again), Yeovil, Dunstable, Cambeley and then back to Runcorn. As I say, they do get around a bit. Wherever you live there is a good chance that you will catch them. Like Peter Brinson's Ballet for All when I was young Ernst Meisner's Junior Company in the Netherlands now Ballet Theatre UK is taking ballet to the parts that other companies cannot reach. HDTV transmissions from Moscow and Covent Garden are all very well but they are to ballet in the theatre what hamburger is to fillet steak (see For those who may be interested ........ 24 Jan 2014). Ballet Theatre UK are the real McCoy and they deserve to be supported.
"BTUK is no ordinary company. It has a punishing schedule. Before coming to Southport it had danced a matinee and evening at Dunstable on the 22 April, an evening show at Tamworth on the 23, a matinee and evening at Keswick on the 24 and an evening at Runcorn on the 26. Today it crosses the Ribble to Blackpool and on 1 May it comes to Rotherham and then on Peterborough on the 2. I counted over 66 different venues throughout the British Isles. This show has quite elaborate scenery and props and sumptuous costumes. Bearing in mind that the dancers must find time for company classes, rehearsing their next production, eating and drinking, some kind of family and social life as well as travelling, I take my hat off to them."
Last night BTUK returned to Southport to dance Swan Lake and I was in the audience to welcome them.
I have to start by saying that with the exception of Matthew Bourne's (see "Swan Lads - Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake, Bradford Alhambra 4 March 2014"5 March 2014) this was the most unusual Swan Lake that I have ever seen. It was very much shorter - two acts instead of the usual three or four. Different dancers danced Odette and Odile and in this version Odile turned out not to be all bad. Nobody gave Siegfried a bow. He simply got lost in the woods looking for Odette. Instead of cygnets there was a pas de quatre - that is to say two men and two women and not just four girls with arms linked in lock step. Siegfried and Odette already knew each other at the start of the ballet. We see Rothbart turn Odette into a swan so that he could offer Odile to Siegfried as a bride. Siegfried is not deceived by Odile's appearance but is influenced by the same sort of drug that Puck used to make Titania fall in love with a donkey in Midsummer Night's Dream. Thiswas not the only balletic allusion that the choreographer, Christopher Moore, used. Odile wielded a sword just like Giselle in the mad scene before she plunges it into Rothbart's body. And there is a sword fight in Act II just as in Romeo and Juliet. Instead of the lovers plunging into the lake to break Rothbart's spell there is a happy ending which would have pleased Joseph Stalin.
Not everyone likes the reworking of this plot. Yesterday, one of the members of my ballet class warned me that BTUK "had murdered Swan Lake." When I asked her what she meant she replied that the music was still there "but precious little else." It is true that some important bits of the ballet are missing - most notably Legnani's 32 fouettés and the Venetian dance though the czardas and the Spanish dance survived - but the ballet still worked. In fact, I have to congratulate Moore on his adaptation of this ballet for the exigencies of touring.
If BTUK were a traditional company with principals, soloists, coryphées and corps it might have been possible to run the traditional version of Swan Lake but this is a touring company where all the dancers are of approximately the same age and experience and each of them is allowed a go at the leading roles. This production was engineered for a young company constantly on the move. Hence my nickname for them: "the Bedouin of Ballet".
My only criticism of the show is that BTUK never publish cast lists though they do sell a very glossy souvenir brochure for a fiver. Towards the back of the brochure there are biographies and thumbnail photos of the dancers. It is always difficult to recognize on stage faces in a programme because of the lighting and make-up but I was told by the programme seller I mentioned in my Little Mermaid review that Nathalie Cawte was Odette, Claire Corruble Odile, David Brewer Rothbart and Vincent Cabot Siegfried, They and indeed everybody in the company danced beautifully and deserve to be commended.
Tomorrow the company are performing in Cannock. They are spending the weekend in Warwick. Then on to Dorchester and Newbury before a well-earned Christmas break. This company is taking ballet to every nook and cranny of the British Isles introducung the art to new audiences just as Peter Brinson's Ballet for All did in the 1960s and 1970s. They all deserve our gratitude and there are many ways we can repay it through their support page.
The Atkinson was established in 1875 by a gift of £6,000 from William Atkinson, a wealthy Yorkshire industrialist, to provide an art gallery and library for the town. The building opened in 1878. It is now Southport's home for music, theatre, art, poetry, literature and history. Over the years it has acquired a vast collection of works of art and curiosities that it has had to archive. Following extensive recent renovation it now has space to display its collection of Egyptian artefacts, fine art and archaeological and historical items. That part of the museum will open in October 2014.
At the reception I met The Atkinson's Director. I told her that I was a dance fan and that I had already visited the centre recently to see Ballet Theatre UK and Ballet Black. She replied that she had been told that the theatre had one of the finest surfaces for dance in the country and that the Atkinson hoped to attract more dance companies. I noted that there was no ballet at theOne City One Summer arts festival which had accompanied the International Festival of Business though there had been other types of dance. I had drawn the absence of ballet to the attention of Paul Kelly of MurleyDance and suggested that might be an opportunity for his company to grow a following since Merseyside is a major conurbation with a massive hinterland that extends well into Lancashire, Cheshire, the Marches and North Wales. Mr Kelly did look into it but had found no suitable venues in greater Liverpool. The Director replied that she would welcome any company that wanted to perform in Southport. She gave me her card which I passed on to Paul Chantry and Rae Piper of the Chantry Dance Company when I saw them on Saturday (see "Chantry Dance Summer School" 2 Aug 2014).
Searching The Atkinson's website I see that Ballet Theatre UK will return on the 11 December 2014 with their production of Swan Lakeand that the BalletBoyz will perform on 13 March 2015. The Atkinson will also screen performances of the Bolshoi streamed from Moscow and host the Sereno School of Dance's annual show Dance Matters on 6 Dec 2014.
Having sponsored Liverpool Sound City earlier this year QualitySolicitors Jackson & Canter have already demonstrated their commitment to the performing arts. I understand from Michael Sandys who heads the firm's commercial department that that commitment extends to dance but I must emphasize that there are far more worthy causes in the performing arts than any law firm could possibly support.
After speeches from Michael and the head of wills and probate of his firm and also from the Director of the Atkinson we were led off to tour of the building. We were shown samples of some of the rare Egyptian artefacts and paintings including a gorgeous portrait by Augustus John which will be on display from October. We were also taken around the current Walk on exhibition which actually had some choreography of a kind. There was a film of a a group of soldiers wandering aimlessly round the City of London one Sunday morning carrying firearms. When they met one of their number they formed a file which grew bigger and bigger until a whole platoon marched 8 abreast towards the Thames where they suddenly broke step and dispersed again. I watched it transfixed because there were some lovely shots of the Temple and the Barbican but I could not see how this exercise could be art or made military sense. I couldn't help wondering what one of the theatre companies that lost out on the recent Arts Council funding spree could do with the money but then what do I know about art or the military?
Anyway we all had a good day at The Atkinson especially my foodie friend who took all the delicious cakes and canopies that had been prepared in the centre's bakery off their hands. "It would only be binned if I didn't eat it" she explained. I am sure she will put the food to very good use.
Yesterday evening I saw Ballet Theatre UK ("BTUK") dance The Little Mermaidat The Atkinson in Southport. This was the first time I had seen BTUK and my first visit to The Atkinson and i was impressed with both. I left the theatre on a high (as I always expect to do) eager to see more of both.
BTUK is no ordinary company. It has a punishing schedule. Before coming to Southport it had danced a matinee and evening at Dunstable on the 22 April, an evening show at Tamworth on the 23, a matinee and evening at Keswick on the 24 and an evening at Runcorn on the 26. Today it crosses the Ribble to Blackpool and on 1 May it comes to Rotherham and then on Peterborough on the 2. I counted over 66 different venues throughout the British Isles. This show has quite elaborate scenery and props and sumptuous costumes. Bearing in mind that the dancers must find time for company classes, rehearsing their next production, eating and drinking, some kind of family and social life as well as travelling, I take my hat off to them. An hour's class alone takes it out of me. Admittedly I am a lot older than the dancers and very new to ballet but a couple of hours on stage is still hard work requiring considerable concentration and stamina even for a young man or woman with years of training.
The company is also remarkable in that it has an extensive repertoire choreographed largely by its artistic director Christopher Moore. These include an Aladdin but not David Bintley's, A Christmas Carol but not Christopher Gable's, an Alice in Wornderland but not Christopher Wheeldon's as well as old favourites such as Swan Lake, The Nutcracker and The Sleeping Beauty. I googled Christopher Moore but all I could find was the blurb on BTUK's website stating that he had trained at Tring and had danced professionally all over the world in many different productions. Clearly, the company is ambitious. It has established a school in Hinckley with Daria Klimentova as its patron and, according to its website, its guest tutor. In many ways BTUK reminds me of the London Festival Ballet in the 1960s when I first took an interest in ballet. I think BTUK is going places and I am not just referring to the tour schedule.
Yesterday's performance was lovely. First, it was a good story based closely on Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale. In the programme Christopher Moore wrote that on the first day in the studio the company faced two rather large challenges one of which was
"would we use the original ending written by Andersen and used in the book's first edition, or would it be better to have a happier ending similar to the one used by the Walt Disney company in the classic 1989 animated film!"
In the end after much deliberation Moore and the company chose to stick with the original and I think that they were right to do so because it made for a much more interesting story and gave the character of the little mermaid some depth.
Having lost out on one Faustian pact with the sea witch she was offered another. The first agreement allowed her to come on shore with legs but only on condition that she should marry the prince whose life she had saved. The downside was that she would perish if she failed. The terms of the other pact were that she could return to the sea as a mermaid if she killed the prince who had rejected her.
Now that presented the mermaid with an interesting moral dilemma. At least some of the audience would urge her to accept the offer and kill the prince in order to save herself. Some would say that the prince had it coming for his ingratitude to the one who had rescued him. However, she decided to sacrifice her life in order that he might live. As Hans Christian Andersen tells us that mermaids do not believe in an after life, accepting instant annihilation in order to do the right thing is even more of a sacrifice than it would be for a human,
Secondly, the ballet had a very good score. I don't know how much of it was original. I recognized the Geordie ditty about a little fishy when the boat comes in as well as some sea shanties from the last night of the proms and an ear worm that was never off Uncle Mac's Children's Favourites in the 1950s but which I can't for the life of me remember/ However, it all fitted together very well indeed and I found myself humming bits of it to myself on the long drive back from Southport.
I have already mentioned the scenery, props and costumes which was yet another aspect of the ballet that I liked. Comparisons are odious and I have already cut out lots of references to The Winter's Tale but lengths of fabric have far more in common with waves than large land mammals. After being hauled half way round the kingdom and back one would expect the sea backdrop and the wedding dresses to look a bit tired by now but they were still fresh. And they really wowed the audience.
However, it was the dancing that I really loved. Now that there is a very remote possibility that I may perform in public at the end of June I am treating every ballet performance as an extra lesson. In this lesson I learnt a lot about port de bras. That is the most appealing aspect of Moore's choreography. There was drama as the mermaid painfully discovered her legs and was forcibly accustomed to human ways, How she grimaced and struggled in the bath, especially as the soles of her soles were scrubbed. All that added yet another dimensions to the ballet. How do people born without legs get used to them and begin to walk?
The programme came without a cast list and that was my only grip of the evening. I asked a gentlemen in a BTUK tee shirt who was selling programmes where I could get one.
"Oh we never give them out" he replied.
"But I want to review this show for my blog," said I. "Can you tell me who danced tonight?"
"Was the mermaid blonde or brunette?" the programmer enquired.
"Brunette, I think but under the lights with all that makeup ......"
"Oh it must have been Sarah" he said.
I looked at my programme and it did indeed look like Sarah Mortimer: but it was not until I returned home and looked up a post on BalletcoForum by someone I know only as Hfbrew that I could be sure. According to Hfbrew
"Sarah Mortimer as mermaid (the beautiful mermaid on the poster) , Luca Verone as the prince,Jessica Hill as sea witch and Natalie Cawte as princess."
All of them danced well as indeed did the whole cast.
When looking up Sarah Mortimer I noticed that she had trained at Ballet West in Taynuilt near Oban. I know a little bit about the school having seen its pupils and teachers perform "The Nutcracker"and Swan Lake. I have also visited the village in which it is located and rejoiced at its success in the Genée. I was delighted to see that not just Mortimer but also Joseph Mackie-Groves and Charlotte Eades studied at Ballet West. I am delighted that students of that school who are hundreds of miles from Floral Street, Tring, Birmingham, Leeds and even Glasgow are establishing themselves in their careers. I wish them and indeed all the dancers from every other ballet school and company every success.
Finally, I should like to say a word or two about Southport in general and the Atkinson in particular. Southport is a town that I should know better than I do because my father was born there. Apart from two forays to its county court when I was starting out at the Bar and one weekend at a party conference when I was on the committee of the party's lawyers' association I have never had much to do with the town. That is a pity because it has an excellent fish restaurant, the smallest pub in England, a lawnmower museum, an elegant thoroughfare called Lord Street (happily being restored to its Edwardian glory), a dance shop called Centre Stage and a magnificent arts complex all collectively known as "The Atkinson" of which the theatre forms part. The best thing about The Atkinson is that it has pictures and exhibits to admire during the interval as it is an art gallery, museum and library as well as a theatre.
Yesterday the theatre seemed to be packed. There was barely an empty seat in the house. We started at the slightly unusual time of 18:00 which worked out very well. Dining in time for a 19:30 start really is a little too early for most folk and after 22:00 (always supposing restaurants are open at that time) is a little too late. An early start meant that the show finished at a reasonable time for supper. It was not too late for young children - of which there were many - and it allowed me to navigate the somewhat, twisty roads of rural Lancashire in daylight. Maybe other companies and theatres should try an 18:00 start if they can.
PS
The reason why Hfbrew was able to give me accurate casting for last Saturday is that her son dances with the company. She did not identify him and I won't guess but if he was dancing on Saturday he did very well. I wish him and the others in the company all the best. If he cares to read "For Emma" he will see that I was not the only one who was bowled over by Saturday's show.
