Ballet West's "Swan Lake" - A Show of which any Company could be proud

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Ballet West Swan Lake  SEC Armadillo, Glasgow, 8 Feb 2020 and Beacon Arts Centre, Greenock, 9 Feb 2020, 19:30

According to Wikipedia, the SEC Armadillo has 3,000 seats. When I attended Ballet West's performance of Swan Lake on Saturday evening the place was heaving.  That was the wild night that Glasgow was hit with 70 mph winds and horizontal, torrential rain when most sensible Glaswegians would have been safely ensconced at home.  Though the Beacon Arts Centre in Greenock is somewhat smaller, there was also a pretty large audience there on Sunday.  A small ballet school nearly 500 miles from London and even 87 from Glasgow that attracts crowds like that must be doing something right.

And indeed it is.   The current production of Swan Lake is the best show that I have seen from Ballet West in the 7 years that I have been following them.  It was not just a good student production.  It was a good show - one of which any company could be proud.

There are several reasons why this show worked so well.

 First, it was a true Swan Lake and not just a dance show about humanoid swans.  Swan Lake's appeal lies not just in Petipa and Ivanov's choreography or Tchaikovsky's score but in its simple, powerful message of redemptive love.  Consider the opening lines of Milton's Paradise Lost:

"OF Mans First Disobedience, and the Fruit
Of that Forbidden Tree, whose mortal tast
Brought Death into the World, and all our woe,
With loss of Eden, till one greater Man
Restore us, and regain the blissful Seat."

The swans have lost their humanity and are held in thrall to von Rothbart for a reason that we know not.  They could have been redeemed by Siegfried but he betrays them by pledging his love for von Rothbart's daughter.  The only other way is the sacrifice of Odile and Siegfried.  Any deviation from that story is just not Swan Lake/   That is why I am exasperated by works called Swan Lake that omit that narrative

The second reason for the success of the show lay in the casting.  I was impressed by Norton Fantinel who danced Siegfried and even more by Karina Moreira who danced Odette-Odile but the artist who caught my eye from his serpentine entrance at the beginning of the white act to his destruction at the very end was Rahul Pradeep. He danced von Rothbart and his role is as crucial as Odette-Odile's and Siegfried's in that he is the personification of evil.  He manifests it in so many ways from the moment he and his daughter barge onto the scene literally sending the chamberlain flying to his studied rudeness as he slouches next to the queen turning his back on the divertissements.  Other dancers who grabbed my attention were Luciano Ghideli, Michaela Fairon and Josephine Mansfield in the pas de trois, Fairon again with Florence Blackwood, Caitlin Jones and either Freya Hatchett or Josie Ridgway in the cygnets and Fairon once again with Gianni Illiaquer in the Neapolitan divertissement.  Their agility and joie de vivre reminded me of Wayne Sleep and Rosemary Taylor in my salad days.  I could go on to list the artists in the Spanish and Hungarian dances and the Mazurka but then this review would resemble a telephone directory. All who took part in the show including the Glasgow associates merit commendation.

The third reason for the production's success was the investment in sets and costumes. The backcloths displayed computer-generated graphics which included falling leaves, a waterfall and ripples on the surface of the lake which were of cinematographic quality. The author of the graphics software is not mentioned in the programme but I understand him to be Léon ten Hove. Rarely have I seen detail of that kind on stage. There were two moments that literally took my breath away. The sudden appearance of a super life-size vision of Odile as Siegfried is on the point of declaring his love for Odile and the final scene as the swans soared above the clouds illuminated by an outsize moon. The costumes, especially the dresses of the guests to Siegfried's party, were sumptuous. So, too, were von Rothbart's robes. How the artists must have enjoyed wearing them.

I take a close interest in dancers' education.  I support other schools such as Central, the Northern  Ballet School and, more recently, the National Ballet Academy in Amsterdam.  But Ballet West has a special place in my esteem which is why I return to Scotland at this time of the year every year.  It is partly its idyllic position with views of the banks of Loch Etive but I think there is something special in the quality of its training.  Towards the end of the programme, there are pages headed "School Highlights" and "Where are they now?" They make very interesting reading.

Ballet West's Tour of Scotland

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My very first post to Terpsichore was a review of The Nutcracker by Ballet West Company. I was so impressed that I had to write it down.  I had been blogging for years on the law and had even found an excuse to squeeze in a review of a show by Northern Ballet on the ground that choreography is an intellectual asset protected by copyright. The only way to do justice to Ballet West's performance at Pitlochry was to publish my review somewhere. As I did not then know any other dance blogger I decided to start my own ballet blog

Not least the most impressive aspect of that 2013 performance was that it was largely a student show,  Ballet West states on its website:

"As part of your studies, you will be part of the Ballet West company which gives you the experience of working with professional dancers and choreographers to perform classical ballet repertoire and new works in genuine performance contexts throughout your time at Ballet West."

Now all ballet schools stage shows but the unique feature of Ballet West's training is that they take their show on a strenuous tour of Scotland.  Between 25 Jan and 16 Feb 2020 they will perform Swan Lake no less than 12 times in 8 cities and towns including Edinburgh, Glasgow and Dundee, Some of their venues such as the Glasgow Armadillo and the Stirling Macrobert Arts Centre are fair size auditoriums which they manage to fill.

Bearing in mind that all major classical companies in the UK except the Royal Ballet tour the country regularly and some of them such as Ballet Theatre UK and Ballet Cymru can cover enormous distances between performances, this must be the best possible training for professional life.  In fact, Ballet West notes:

"Previous students always consider the experience of these performances as the most useful in securing work and preparing them for life as a professional dancer."

The only other school that sends its students on tour is the Central School of Ballet.  They visit even more venues but they start in March and finish in July.

Although Ballet West is a small school located a long way from Londo, it achieves a lot,  One of the last British students to make it to the final the Grand Prix de Lausanne was a Ballet West alumna (see Natasha Watson in Lausanne 15 Nov 2014).  She also did well in the Genée a few months earlier. So, too, have a number of other students. The school holds outreach classes in the vicinity for students of all ages. Possibly Ballet West's most impressive achievement is the training they give to their associates. Some of those students are very young. Many travel long distances to attend classes and rehearsals. They have a limited time to prepare for a show. But the standard of performance is very high indeed.

If I had a son or daughter of the appropriate age with an interest in and aptitude for ballet, I would certainly not discourage him or her from considering Ballet West very seriously.

Made in Wales

© 2019 Sian Trebart: all rights reserved
Reproduced with kind permission of Ballet Cymru

Ballet Cymru Made in Wales Dance House, Cardiff, 22 March 2019 19:30

One of the reasons why the Dutch National Ballet is so strong is that it provides "a stepping stone for young dancers to make the leap from the Dutch National Ballet Academy to The Dutch National Ballet, Holland’s largest ballet company."  That stepping stone is the Junior Company and it has launched the careers or some of HNB's most exciting young dancers such as Michaela DePrince, Martin Ten Kortenaaar, Riho Sakamoto and Sho Yamada.

I have often argued for a British junior company and I think I may have found one at Rogerstone in South Wales.  Rogerstone is a small town near Newport where Ballet Cymru is located.  One of Ballet Cymru's initiatives is a Pre-Professional Programme for "talented, aspiring and highly motivated young dancers with bold ambitions." Like the Junior Company, the Pre-Professional Programme is "designed to facilitate the transition from full time training into professional company life in a focused, nurturing environment."

Last Thursday, I was lucky enough to meet those motivated young dancers and to watch them rehearse. There are 13 of them:

• Natalia Cimpeanu
• Beau Dillen
• Kibyusa Forcos
• Anais Gentjens
• Colleen Grace
• Emma Ikavalko
• Caitlin Liston
• Renan Alvez Manhaes
• Sophie Morris
• Guilia Machado Rossi
• Michaela Skuce
• Naomi Stientstra, and
• Ann Wall.

They come from Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Finland, Romania, the UK and Ukraine and have trained at some of the world's top ballet schools such as the Australian Conservatoire, Ballet West, English National Ballet School, the International Dance Academy of Berlin, Kiev State Choreographic College, the National Ballet School of Finland, Northern Ballet Academy, the RAD Academy, Royal Ballet School of Flanders, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School and the State School of Municipal Theatre in Rio de Janeiro.  

They have all done well to have progressed as far as they have. Awareness that they have achieved a lot gives them confidence and poise in their dance but there is no cockiness about them. They are 13 of the most likeable young people that I have ever met or am ever likely to meet.  When we discussed connections I told Sophie Morris, who had graduated from Ballet West, that I had attended the first year undergraduates' class with Jonathan Barton and that I have dined out about it ever since. They laughed heartily imagining the honour to have attended such a class but also the exertion it must have required of me (see Visiting Taynuilt 6 May 2018).

The piece the dancers rehearsed for me was an excerpt of As We Are choreographed by Emma Lewis who had been teaching them when I arrived.  They were to perform it the following evening at the Dance House in Cardiff. Ballet Cymru had very kindly offered me a ticket to the show which I had declined as I had to be in Leeds to set up Powerhouse Ballet's company class on Saturday morning.  After watching those angels move I just had to see them again even if though it would mean driving through the night to Yorkshire.  I asked whether I could change my mind about the ticket and, happily, I could.

The Dance House is behind the Wales Millennium Centre, an auditorium that I had visited once before to see Ballet Cymru's Little Red Riding Hood and Three Little Pigs (see Ballet Cymru's 'Sleeping Beauty' Moment  5 Dec 2016). It is very close to the National Assembly for Wales and reminded me of The Quays near Manchester with its waterfront, pubs and restaurants and expensive looking flats and townhouses. The Dance House is the home of the National Dance Company of Wales which is a frequent and very welcome visitor to the North of England.

The Cardiff Dance House is somewhat smaller than ours in Manchester but it appears to be very well equipped.  The auditorium reminds me of the Stanley and Audrey Burton in Leeds and the Lilian Baylis Studio at Sadler's Wells in that it is a very intimate space.  The front row is within inches of the dancers.

We saw five pieces on 22 March 2019:

• Excerpts from Child's Christmas by Darius James OBE and Amy Doughty 
• As We Are by Emma Lewis
• Concerto Junkins by Alex Hallas
• Ex Situ by Jack Philps, and
• Divided We Stand by Patricia Vallis.

Each work was introduced by a short video from the choreographer just as the Junior Company's shows.

The Child's Christmas is very familiar to me as I had seen it in Leeds and Bangor and described it aptly as the company's best work ever (see Ballet Cymru's Dylan Thomas Programme: The Company's Best Work Ever 13 Dec 2018). I had even danced a little bit of In My Craft or Sullen Art at Ballet Cymru's workshop in Leeds on 28 Nov 2018 (see More than a Bit Differently: Ballet Cymru's Workshop and the Launch of the Powerhouse Ballet Circle 29 Nov 2018). When the words "Not for the proud man apart" I felt myself bracing as I had been taught to do in the workshop.

I loved all the works but one that made a particularly deep impression on me was Alex Hallas's Jenkins Concerto.  That is partly because I like Carl Jenkins's music and in particular, The Armed Man and Dies Irae which formed the bulk of Hallas's contribution, partly because it was an opportunity for Renan Alvez Manhaes (the only gentleman on the course) to show his potential which is considerable and partly because the ballet enabled all the artists to shine.  Not an easy work but, I should imagine, an immensely satisfying one to perform.

Hallas, a Yorkshireman, has impressed me several times in Ballet Cymru's Cinderella and the Dylan Thomas double bill and Ballet West's The Nutcracker.  He attended our reception in Leeds after Ballet Cymru's workshop and he taught at KNT's Day of Dance in December. I have booked him for a workshop for Powerhouse just as soon as he is free. Maybe he can teach us some of his Concerto Jenkins or other choreography.

Even though I had to stop for an espresso at every service station between Cardiff and Sheffield and arrived so full of caffeine that I could not sleep once I made it to my bed in Holmfirth at 05:45, I would not have missed the evening for all "the cats in Wales standing on a wall" with a 6 foot drift of snow. Or, indeed, even a fire in Mrs Prothero's parlour.

Ballet West's Best Show Ever

Ballet West The Nutcracker McRobert Centre, Stirling 2 Feb 2019 19:30

Ballet West is a ballet school on the outskirts of a little village not far from Oban.  Every winter it tours Scotland with a full-length ballet to give its students stage experience.   This year it offers a new production of The Nutcracker.   I have been following Ballet West for nearly 6 years and I have seen at least one performance of every show that it has taken on tour.  I  say without hesitation that this is the company's best show yet.  I add that I don't think I have ever enjoyed a performance of The Nutcracker as much as tonight's.

The production is an original interpretation of Hoffmann's tale of The Nutcracker and the Mouse King that nevertheless remains true to the story.  The Stahlbaums' house is set by a lake in the country rather than in a town in Germany. Some nifty computer-generated graphics take the audience inside where we see falling snow through the windows. There Mr and Mrs Stahlbam (Alex Hallas and Hannah Tokely) with their children Clara (Michaela Fairon) and Fitz (Luciano Ghidoli) receive their guests who include Ballet Cymru's Miguel Fernandes. The most important guest is, of course, the conjurer, Drosselmeyer, danced impressively by second year student, Rahul Pradeed.  I noticed that young man for the first time last year and I am convinced he is going places.  Another impressive character dancer was the grandmother, Lauren Pountney-Barnes.  She grabbed Fritz by the ear, patted Clara on the head before performing a spirited solo before the guests and collapsing in a heap. A small role, maybe, but an important one that has been performed by the likes of Marion Tait and Hannah Bateman in other productions.

A detail of a previous version of The Nutcracker which seems to be unique to Ballet Weast is the furtive dram taken by the servants after the Stahlbaums have taken to their beds.  I was delighted to see that Daniel Job, who has staged this work, has retained that detail in the new production.  They assemble around the butler glass in hand. Like traffic drill, they look to the left, then to the right and even to the ceiling before downing their bevvy.  I don't know why because that scene could occur anywhere but it just seems so Scottish - like the children dancing around their patents as in an eightsome reel.  Yet another fragment of the former production that has been preserved.

It is in the fight scenes of act I that the computer-generated graphics come into their own. Toy soldiers descend from the sky by parachute.  An intrusive rodent with the word "PRESS" on its back takes photos of a dying murine. The artist who designed those graphics is a genius.  I wonder how long it will take for Sir Matthew Bourne or someone like him to snap up that animator.  "Never," said the director with the force of the late Sir Ian Paisley, "we're keeping him" and I fervently hope they do.

The first act concluded with a delightful pas de deux by Hallas who had morphed from Clara's dad into the snow king and Natasha Watson, his queen.  The recording that Ballet West used for their show made better use of the choir than in most productions. The voices seemed to linger to the very end of the snow scene which I appreciated.  I left the auditorium at the interval grinning like a Cheshire cat. The director and Mr Job could see from my face how much I had enjoyed that act.

The kingdom of the sweets is very saccharine with representations of lollies and bonbons in most productions.  However, "sweet" can have a figurative meaning and it was the figurative meaning that the designer seems to have had in mind for this work. The backdrop was more Far Pavilions or Shangrila than Willy Wonka or the witch's hut in Hansel and Gretel.  The usual divertissements - the Spanish, Arabian and Chinese dances representing chocolate and tea followed by Cossacks, mirlitons and flowers - were performed with verve.  There were also new divertissements that gave Sara-Maria Barton's associates a chance to shine. One divertissement was performed by some very young kids but they were kids who knew how to hold an audience.   Three, in particular, dazzled us with their acrobatics.  In previous productions, there had been a scene for kids called "Mother Ginger".  She has been dropped from this version and I doubt that the show has suffered from her absence in the least.

The highpoint of the ballet is the pas de deux by the sugar plum fairy and her cavalier.  It is the bit that audiences remember and it is the yardstick by which some print critics seem to rate a Nutcracker.  Those roles were performed by Lucy Malin, another student who impressed me last year. and Maxine Quiroga. They were magnificent. They were exciting to watch. They justified my trip to Scotland.  Those folks are seriously good. They deserve to go far.

This is a short season and the students never stray furth of Scotland.  If you want to see them - and if I were looking for dancers I would want to see them for they consistently win medals at the Genée and other competitions - you have to travel.  London may be a Weltstadt and its ballet schools are good but they have no monopoly of excellence.

Ballet West's Winter Tour ................... and a bit of McGonegall

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Not long now before Ballet West's tour of Scotland.  Once again they are dancing The Nutcracker.  They danced that ballet at Pitlochry the first time I ever saw them.  My review of their performance is my very first post.  I am very grateful to Ballet West for allowing me to attend class with their undergraduates earlier this year (see Visiting Taynuilt 4 May 2018).

As usual they will begin their tour in Oban on 26 Jan 2019.  They will proceed to Stirling on 2 Feb, Dundee on 5 Feb, Livingston on 7 Feb, Glasgow on 9 Feb, Greenock on 15 Feb and Edinburgh on 22 Feb.   Dundee is a new venue.   They will perform at the Gardyne Theatre which is a new auditorium on the campus of  Dundee and Angus College along the way to Broughty Ferry.  I know it well.

I think that is where I shall see the show because it is not far from my alma mater  (see Thoughts on St Andrew's Day  1 Dec 2016).   The performance in Dundee takes place on a Tuesday.  With any luck I can resume my old place at the barre in the beginners' class at the St Andrews Dance Club some 50 years after I learned my first plié.   According to the Club's Facebook page, that class meets in the town hall at 14:00 on Wednesdays.

In Thoughts on St Andrew's Day, I quoted Andrew Laing's atmospheric first verse of his Almae Matres.   That poem never fails to cheer me up when I miss Scotland.    Dundee also has a bard in William Topaz McGonogall.  You may be amused by one of his poems:

"Oh, Bonnie Dundee! I will sing in thy praise
A few but true simple lays,
Regarding some of your beauties of the present day
And virtually speaking, there’s none can them gainsay;
There’s no other town I know of with you can compare
For spinning mills and lasses fair,
And for stately buildings there’s none can excel
The beautiful Albert Institute or the Queen’s Hotel."

Both of those buildings remain though the Albert Institute is now known as "The McManus".

I digress.  Wherever you see the show it will delight you.  Especially the Mother Ginger divertissement. 

Ballet West in Asia

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Long before I got to know Ballet West I wrote Taynuilt - where better to create ballet?  31 Aug 2013. It is a beautiful location and I saw for myself when I attended a class there how the surroundings inspire the staff and students.   In a grand jeté en tournant exercise the instructor, Jonathan Barton, pointed to the surrounding hills urging the class to "soar like the mountains" (see Visiting Taynuilt 4 May 2018). Nobody who has seen a show by Ballet West can doubt the quality of the training that is available there.

And yet Ballet West alumni have to work harder than those from other schools to establish themselves in the profession. In Visiting Taynuilt I explained why. Ballet West is a long way from London and indeed a long way from just about every other major population centre in the British Isles.  If a company in London (or Leeds, Birmingham or Glasgow for that matter) wishes to fill a vacancy and can find excellent candidates immediately from the Royal Ballet School and possibly a handful of other ballet schools there is very little incentive to spend time and money looking further. That may be unfair but it is perfectly understandable.  The same sort of thing happens in other professions including my own.

So what can Ballet West do about that?  Well one partial solution is to look beyond London to the tiger economies of East Asia where there is an insatiable appetite for dance. That is exactly what Ballet West seems to be doing with its International Touring Company. According to the company's website it is a professional ballet company devoted to delivering world class ballet productions globally. It comprises 32 dancers including Jonathan Barton, Natasha Watson, Uyu Hiromoto and Joseph Wright. It will begin with 6 performances of Daniel Job's production of Swan Lake in Genting, Malaysia between 24 Aug and 2 Sept 2918. Performances in Macau and other places are envisaged for the future.

According to the Malaysian website Star Online, those performances will take place at the Genting International Showroom which describes itself as a hi-tech multimedia entertainment venue seating up to 1,000 people with the latest sound and lighting system a revolving stage and flying towers.  Apparently the season was heralded by a flash mob ballet with 80 dancers on the SkySymphony stage. If that report is accurate and all the advertised facilities were used it must have been quite a spectacle.   The Star Online website quotes Gillian Barton as saying that “This will be the first professional full-UK cast, full-length Swan Lake ballet in Malaysia."

As well as providing work for British dancers this summer (see the Auditions Notice on the Dancers Opportunities website) the tour should offer opportunities for young Malaysian dancers. The Star Online website reports that there will be masterclasses at the Arena of Stars on 22, 23, 24 and 30 Aug.  It is entirely possible that some of those dancers will wish to undergo further training abroad in which case Ballet West will be the first overseas school to spring to mind.

With a GDP of US$340 billion Malaysia is already an important economy and it is growing rapidly. English is widely used in commerce, education, government and the arts. Malaysia has many links with the UK.  It could be an important market for the creative industries generally and not just the performing arts.

Ballet West's International Touring Company will not employ all Ballet West's students but it will employ some and that is an important start. More importantly, however, it shows that there is a place for enterprise in the arts just as there is in any other industry. Those who don't find work with the touring company have an example of how they can create a niche for themselves.  As in so many other walks of life it may not be enough to be good at your job. Maybe you need to be an entrepreneur as well.

Remarkable Stuff - St Andrews University Dance Club Videos

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According to The Guardian's University League Table for 2019, St. Andrews lies # 3 in the nation. A mere 2.8 points behind the leader, Cambridge, 0.2 of a point behind Oxford which is #2 and almost 10 points clear of Loughborough which is #4.  Now I know that there are other league tables and in any case one should never believe everything one reads in newspapers but there is no denying that St Andrews is what Americans would call "a good school". It is not easy to get into St Andrews and students have to work very hard once they are there.

It is all the more remarkable that many of those students find time to dance between handing in essays or laboratory work. "Ballet," as the wise teacher who led me back to ballet once said, "is a jealous mistress who is out to see you fail". Dancers have to put in the hours to see that they don't.

I danced when I was at St Andrews. In fact I was one of the founder members and first secretary of "Dance Soc" as we used to call it.  I danced then for the same reason that I dance now.  It helped relieve the pressure of a heavy workload. Then it was essays.  Now it is pleadings, opinions and court work. I don't think I could have endured the pressures then without my weekly class with Sally Marshall in the Athletics Union on the North Haugh and I certainly couldn't do so now without my Tuesday evening classess with Karen Sant in Manchester or my Wednesdays with Jane Tucker in Leeds.

Last month I returned to St Andrews to watch the Dance Club's 50th anniversary gala.  I was impressed by all the pieces but there were several that were particularly interesting.  They included the intermediate ballet class's combination of ballet and Bollywood.  In my review, St Andrews University Dance Club's 50th Anniversary Gala 5 May 2018 I wrote:

"I should add that I loved all the ballets and, in particular. Ailsa Robertson's setting of Colour of Love to the Bollywood film song Gerua. It was an ingenious juxtaposition of two art very different art forms that worked brilliantly."

Colour of Love has been uploaded to the Dance Club's YouTube channel together with videos of much of the rest of the show. If, like me, you had never heard of Highland Fusion before then take a look at "From Here On In".  It is very beautiful.  Not a bagpipe in earshot nor a tartan in sight and just look at those gorgeous costumes. There is a lot of other good stuff up there "so feast your eyes" as they say in Australia where Fiona, the teacher who led me back to ballet, learned her skills.

To celebrate the 50th anniversary (more or less) of its formation, the Dance Club procured these anniversary t-shirts two of which arrived through the post a few days ago. They were a gift from my friend, a distinguished Scottish lawyer, who also attended the anniversary show.  I wore one of them proudly to Move It at the Dancehouse in Manchester on 19 May 2018 which I mentioned in The Importance of Performance 20 May 2018 and the other at Ballet West's Showcase in Stirling on Sunday.

Dance was not formally on the curriculum when I was at St Andrews but it was certainly one of the most useful things that I learned there.

Ballet West Showcase 2018

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Ballet West Showcase 27 May 2018 19:30 Macrobert Arts Centre, Stirling

Each winter for the last 5 years I have come to Scotland to see a performance of a full-length classical ballet by Ballet West.  On Sunday I returned to Scotland for Ballet West's 2018 Showcase.

The Showcase took the form of a gala consisting of 18 separate works divided into two parts or "acts".   Each act began with an extract from a classical ballet and included a solo and original choreography by the school's teachers, Natasha Watson, Indra Reinholde and Martin Fenton. Ballet West performed the Showcase at the Conran Halls in Oban on 19 May 2018 and the Macobert Arts Centre at Stirling University on 27 May 2018.

The first act opened with the grand pas de deux from Paquita which I had seen in rehearsal on my visit to Taynuilt on 30 April 2019.  The full work is not performed very often in the United Kingdom but the pas de deux is seen more frequently in competitions and galas. As in the rehearsal Paquita was danced by Uyu Hiromoto and Lucien by Joseph Wright. I admire both dancers but especially Hiromoto. As I wrote in Ballet West at the Beacon 13 Feb 2017 which was the first time I saw her, Hiromoto has a certain quality that is difficult to pin down but I spotted it in Xander Parish and Michalea DePrince. She danced delightfully on Sunday. In her dancing I saw not just a talented and accomplished student but Paquita herself. Congratulations to Wright for his partnering and also to the soloists and corps de ballet who accompanied them.

The solo for the first act was the victim's dance from The Rite of Spring.  It was performed by Francesca Rees who is still in her first year at Ballet West. The sharp, angular, movements to Stravinaky's throbbing score still manage to shock after 105 years.  It cannot be an easy work to perform even for an experienced dancer and it must be particularly challenging for one so young. Rees responded to that challenge splendidly. She is clearly someone to watch and I shall look out for her on next year's winter tour.

Watson contributed no less than five works to the the first act   They ranged from Symphony No 3 which was reflective to Who Lights the Sun which was playful.  The contrast in mood was the difference between a deep, dark, pool and a fountain.  Until last night the only work by Watson that I had seen was the piece that she had prepared for Oscar Ward and Uyu Hiromoto in the BBC Young Dancer Competition. Having seen her several times in principal roles and having blogged about her achievements in Lausanne and at the Genée even before I saw her I knew that she was an outstanding dancer. Now I see that she is at least as talented as a dance maker.  The nation's - indeed the world's - artistic directors, impresarios, angels and others who commission dance would do well to take note.

Hey Now by Martin Fenton was in complete contrast to everything that had gone before. The programme stated that the music was by "London Generation" but I wonder whether that should have been "London Grammar". Be that as it may it was a pleasure to watch. The girls wore jeans and trainers with their hair in pony tails. They danced freely and vivaciously. It was the first time I had seen them like that.  I was delighted.

One of most interesting works of the first act was Indra Reinholde's November to Max Richter's music. This was a fluent classical piece for third year dancers.  Reinholde's A Mid-Autumn Night's Dream appeared to be an intriguing study of the unfulfilled aspirations. It consisted of a soloist with one group dancing reality and the other dreams. With layer upon layer of meaning I need to see it again and probably several times to understand it properly.

The first act finished with Sarajevo, a piece that Watson had made for the company's Glasgow Associates to Max Richter's score.  A deeply moving piece that those excellent young students performed brilliantly.

The second act opened with the scene from La Sylphide in which James abandons Effie and follows the sylph. The work is performed regularly overseas but rarely in the UK which is odd as it is set in Scotland. We may see more of it in future as it has been staged recently by English National Ballet and Sir Matthew Bourne has produced Highland Fling for Scottish Ballet which is based on  La Sylphide. Dylan Waddell, whom I knew from MurleyDance and Ballet Cymru, danced James and Sarah Nolan was the sylph.  Nolan performed her role charmingly.  I think hers will be yet another name to watch.  Waddell partnered her sensitively enabling her to shine. In what I believe to be a variation to Bournonville's choreography, the ballet mistress, Olga Savienko, created roles for the sylphs which they performed delightfully.

Watching a Scottish company perform that beautiful work just south of the Highland line gave me considerable personal satisfaction. As long ago as August 2013 I wrote in Taynuilt - where better to create ballet: 

"I don't know whether Ballet West has ever thought of staging La Sylphide but they might because Taynuilt is Gurn and Effie territory."

Well now they have and I am over the moon.

The solo for the second act was From Within by Hortense Malaval who is in the second year.  It had been created for her by Watson.  A very different work from the Rite of Spring but probably no less challenging. Malaval displayed not only considerable virtuosity but also the power to possess a stage and command an audience.  The audience warmed to her and rewarded her with thunderous applause.

The solo was followed by three more works by Reinholde: Light and Ash, A Song of Sorrow and Pride and, my favourite of her works, Symphony No 41.   The last work was created for the young women who had welcomed me to their class on 30 April 2018. They were my team.  They had a difficult score.  Late Mozart to me sounds a little like Beethoven and that's what I thought it was. I remembered one of the pundits at Northern Ballet's symposium on narrative ballet on the alleged impossibility of dancing to Beethoven yet here were these splendid young dancers doing just that. Or at least interpreting music that was equally difficult. Clad in flowing blue garments that must have been a delight to wear, they were clearly having fun. They danced with verve and my heart danced with them. They finished the piece on their backs as the lights cut. Bravissime! I clapped and clapped until my palms were raw.

A work that reminded me of van Manen's In the Future was Watson/s Pocket Calculator.  Just listen to the words "I'm the operator of the pocket calcuulator". Watson spun those works in a generally fun slightly disconcerting work that showed yet another side of her immense creativity. The song also began the finale that drew the audience into the show. They clapped rhythmically to the music breaking into deafening applause as each wave of artists appeared to take their bow. Again, I clapped enthusiastically and shouted "brave, brave" for the women in blue.

I had seen the winter shows. I had even visited the school, watched and indeed attended one of its classes. But it was only on Sunday that I fully appreciated how good it was.  In that Showcase  the school showed the strength and depth of the artistic education that it offers.  Had I any aptitude for dance and an ambition to go on stage, I should have loved to have studied there.

Visiting Taynuilt

Ballet West's Grounds

© 2018 Jane Elizabeth Lambert: all rights reserved 

In my very first blog post I wrote:

"I was intrigued to receive a mailing for a performance of "The Nutcracker by Ballet West". Now I had heard of a company by the name of Ballet West in the United States which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year but if that company ever came to the United Kingdom I would have expected it to tour major cities rather than towns in the Highlands of just over 2,500 souls. It occurred to me that there might be a company from the West Country which is where Scottish Ballet originated, I googled "ballet, west, uk" and was surprised but delighted to find a company and school in Taynuilt. Delighted because where could be more idyllic to study dance than by the banks of a real lake (or more properly loch) which might even host the occasional swan?"

I attended that performance and enjoyed it so much that I returned to Scotland the following and each subsequent year to see other shows by that company. Over the years I have made the acquaintance of the school's principal Gillian Barton, her children Jonathan and Sara-Maria, the choreographer Daniel Job and teachers, alumni and students of the school.

When I was in Greenock to see Giselle and the Rossini Cocktail earlier this year I told Gillian Barton that I would be in the area at the end of April.  The reason for my visit was to see Scottish Ballet's Highland Fling in Oban on 29 April and the St Andrews University Dance Club gala on the 30. Gillian invited me to call in to Ichrachan House on the way which invitation I readily accepted.

When I first made contact with the St Andrews Dance Club just over a year ago I asked whether I could attend one of their classes 50 years on.  I was told that I would be most welcome.  I checked the Dance Club's Facebook page and found that there was a beginners' ballet class between 16:00 and 17:00 on Sundays.  As St Andrews is only 120 miles from Oban I thought there would be ample time to dash along the A85 and arrive in time for Scottish Ballet's Highland Fling at 19:30. When I checked it out on Google maps I found that the journey would take at least 3 ½ hours with expected traffic and roadworks delays. Sadly, I had to abandon that idea and I tweeted my disappointment.

Gillian Barton picked up my message and invited me to one of her classes.  Even though I am old and slow and fat with no real aptitude for ballet, her invitation was irresistible.  I had often thought of attending one of Ballet West's outreach classes when next in the area (see Taynuilt - where better to create ballet? 31 Aug 2016).  I had even asked about private lessons because the leading contributor to BalletcoForum who has also attended my over 55 class in Leeds makes regular visits for that purpose. However, I had never thought in my wildest dreams that I would ever attend class with exceptionally talented students who were training for the stage. It would be like meeting Roger Federer on the tennis court. I consulted Fiona Noonan, the teacher who had led me back to ballet after a break of 45 years, and my good friend, Mel Wong, who know my limitations.  "Go for it and enjoy it" they replied as if in chorus adding their personal tips on how to survive.

I very nearly fluffed the opportunity.

The hotel that I had chosen because it seemed to be the closest to Ichrachan House turned out to be worse than Fawlty Towers, The description on Booking.com was idyllic. The rate of £65 for a twin (I had intended to travel with a companion and had made double bookings for everything) seemed reasonable enough. When I arrived after driving from Ecclefechan I found the place deserted.  There was a sign stating that check in was between 16:00 and 18:00 with a mobile number to ring for arrivals outside those hours.  "Not to worry" I thought "I'll take tea at the Robin's Nest." When I arrived at the nest I found that the redbreast had flown that day.  The tea shop normally opens on Sunday but not that particular day.  "Roosting perhaps with my landlady" I thought.

Loch Etive

© 2018 Jane Elizabeth Lambert
All rights reserved

I drove down to the pier and to my relief and joy I found that Loch Etive and its majestic, surrounding hills were still there. Indeed, there was even a swan on the loch.

I returned from the pier and found my landlady who was lovely. She was also interested in dance and thinking of attending Highland Fling.  I told her the story and the story of La Sylphide from which it was derived. I thought I had encouraged her though she did not like the idea of cutting off wings with garden shears.

As I mentioned in Scottish Ballet's "Highland Fling" in Gurn and Effie Land 2 May 2018 I skipped supper to attend Scottish Ballet's pre-performance talk and I had skipped lunch in anticipation of Oban's legendary fish and chips. By the time the post-performance talk was over all the purveyors of that delicacy were closing and I did not fancy a curry or chow mein the night before a ballet class. Breakfast at MacFawlty's did not begin before 08:00 which was when I was supposed to be at the barre.  Pangs of hunger, heavy lorries on the Oban road, strange groans from the bathroom fan and the failure of the radiator to take the chill off the air kept me awake all night  The result was that I was half comatose when I should had had my wits about me on Monday morning.

Worse.   My landlady had directed me along a road that ran parallel to the road I should have taken and Google maps seemed to back her up.  Then Google maps led me a merrier dance than any ballet teacher could have done.  I eventually found the entrance to Ballet West a few hundred yards from my hotel with the result that a journey that should have taken a few minutes actually took more than half an hour.  Instead of arriving at the studio 15 minutes before time which I had always been taught to do, I arrived right in the middle of glissés.

The class was taken by Jonathan Barton who had danced the lead roles brilliantly in The Nutcracker, Swan Lake and Romeo and Juliet.  Graciously he admitted me to his class despite my tardiness.  The students welcomed me with smiles. I recognized some of them from Rossini Cocktail which I had reviewed in Fizzing! Ballet West's Rossini Cocktail 6 Feb 2018.

I rattled through the warm up exercises facing the barre that Karen had taught me.  I rather prefer Jane's warm up of running round the studio, suddenly changing direction on a sixpence, skipping facing in, skipping facing out, jumping jacks and stretches but obviously that was not possible on that occasion. I followed it up with my own pliés and side bends in 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th, tendus with foot flexes and glissés before joining the class exercises.

The class was unlike any that I had ever attended before.  First, it lasted two hours although 30 minutes was pointe work which I did not do. With the benefit of hindsight I could have participated in a lot of that on demi but I never thought to ask.  Secondly, it was much faster than any class that I had ever attended before. Normally, in adult ballet classes there are breaks in exercises from stage right and stage left but on Monday the pianist kept playing and we kept dancing.  Thirdly, the instructions were more complex than anything I am usually asked to do.  I don't think that we were asked to do anything that I had not been taught at some point or other though there was plenty that I had never mastered.  Fourthly, there was not much actual teaching though I did learn a lot as I will explain blow. The experience was very like the company classes that I had seen in Amsterdam, Leeds and Oxford. Jonathan was more like a ballet master putting his cast through their paces than an adult ballet teacher.

I learned a lot by observing the regular students.  For instance, between barre exercises they stood in 5th with their arms in bras bas and their faces inclined towards the centre.  "I can at least do that" I thought.  In fact, they may have taught me something much more valuable and that is to concentrate on the instructions and get on with the exercise in hand. Miraculously, despite my lack of sleep I woke up in class. I forgot my hunger, The aches and pains that usually start after 40 minutes didn't bother me. I normally want to rest on the barre. Nobody did that on Monday so neither did I. The result was that I attempted everything.  Even the exercises where I did not have a clue winning a round of applause for trying at one point.

Of course, I also learned a lot from Jonathan. In particular, never look at yourself in the mirror when trying to dance. As he put it: "You can watch a performance or you can do a performance but not both at the same time." This is a very bad habit that I had acquired and it will not be easy to break but if I can crack it I am sure it will improve my dancing.  Jonathan is an inspiring teacher.  In a grand jeté en tournant exercise he pointed to the surrounding hills urging us to "soar like the mountains".  Even I cleared a few inches with that exhortation ringing in my ears.

I have had two lessons since Monday.  One with Karen Sant in Manchester on my way back from St Andrews and the other with Jane Tucker in Leeds on Wednesday. I doubt if my dancing can have improved much from just one class but my mental attitude and self-confidence certainly have.  I emerged from both classes much happier than usual feeling as though I had achieved something.

After the class Jonathan invited me to watch him coach Joseph Wright and Uyu Hiramoto for the grand pas de deux in Paquita.   I had seen both of them in Giselle earlier this year and they both impressed me.  Particularly Uyu.  In Ballet West Amplified 11 Feb 2018 I wrote:

"The last scene was enchanting. Mist (dry ice) wafted across the stage. Lights flashed. Myrtha (Uyu Hiromoto) glided onto the stage. She was as regal last night as she had been the week before. I have been a fan for some time and yesterday I had the chance to meet her. It is as hard to pick stars in dance as it is winners at Aintree but occasionally a student or member of the corps seems to stand out from his or her peers. Xander and Demelza Parish did so at the Yorkshire Ballet Summer School gala in York on 31 Dec 2007 (see "Review: A Summer Gala of Dance and Song, Grand Opera House, York"31 July 2007 The Press) . So, too, Michaela DePrice did in Amsterdam in 2013 (see The Junior Company of the Dutch National Ballet - Stadsshouwburg Amsterdam 24 Nov 2013 25 Nov 2013). I saw the same signs in Hiromoto yesterday. Now I could be wrong but I was right about the Parishes (especially Xander) and I was right about DePrince though she was already in the Junior Company and on her way to great things when I first saw her."

Grounds of Ballet West

© 2018 Jane Elizabeth Lambert
All rights reserved

I also saw a contemporary class after that session.

As I wanted to spend some time at my alma mater, my visit to Ballet West was necessarily brief. I did not see any of the students' quarters or dining or recreation facilities so I won't attempt to discuss the learning experience or compare it to other ballet schools.  All I will say is that the surroundings are magnificent and the teaching staff that I have met - Gillian, Jonathan and Sara-Maria Barton, Daniel Job, Natasha Watson inter alios - have impressed me greatly. Students and alimni have brought back an impressive haul of medals and trophies from the Genée and other competitions (see the Student Achievement page of the Ballet West website) so Ballet West appears to be doing something right.  They have also trained some of my favourite young dancers such as Isaac Peter Bowry and Sarah Mortimer.

However, none of them are in the Royal Ballet or other great  national companies so I asked Gillian Barton why not.  Actually I already knew the answer because a very similar situation exists in my profession.  The bench contains a disproportionate number of judges because they are recruited from the best chambers and the best chambers tend to recruit from the Russell Group and particulalry Oxbridge because any vacancy can be filled many times over with good candidates from those law schools. That is not to say that there are not even better candidates from the other universities but they are harder and require more resources to find.  If you can fill a vacancy immediately with excellent candidates from the Royal Ballet School (and possibly a handful of other schools) there is very little incentive to spend time and money looking further. Rather unfair perhaps but perfectly understandable. There are ways round the problem.  Ballet West has set up its own touring company which will provide some opportunities for its alumni and it is developing ever closer links with the big companies but these are  long term projects that will take time to achieve.

As Ballet West is already training an adult ballet student I asked Gillian Barton whether she would be prepared to train any more of us to which she replied that she would.   I asked about costings and she replied that she charged £600 for a week's summer school which includes accommodation.  She could probably do the same for adults or less if they found their own accommodation and transport.  I asked about content to which she replied that she would give us anything that we needed - repertoire, technique - anything.  I suggested talks on putting ballet in a cultural and historical context. She said that Daniel Job is an authority on dance history and theory. I also asked about day courses to bone up on something awkward as pirouettes and other turns are for me.  She said that she could do that for £40 per hour.

Argyll is breathtakingly beautiful and if I could learn some ballet there I would be in 7th heaven.  If anyone would like to join me on an adult ballet residential course, do let me know.

At Last - Sylphs in Gurn and Effie Land: Scottish Ballet's Tour of the Highlands and Islands

Standard YouTube Licence


As regular readers know, I love La Sylphide.  I have been hinting like mad to Gillian Barton and Daniel Job to stage that ballet for their students since 2013 for they are located in the Highlands where the ballet is set (see Taynuilt - where better to create ballet  31 Aug 2013).  They considered it but for one reason or another decided against it. Instead, they staged that other great romantic ballet, Giselle, which has proved to be a howling success (see A Very Special Giselle 4 Feb 2018 and Ballet West Amplified 11 Feb 2018). 

Last year Central School of Ballet, which, like Ballet West, tours the country to give its students stage experience, performed a large part of Sir Matthew Bourne's "romantic wee ballet", Highland Fling, as part of its show.  I caught it at Leeds and blogged about it in Triumphant on 1 May 2017. Highland Fling is by no means the same as La Sylphide but it does keep Løvenskiold's music which to my mind is the best bit of the ballet.

This Spring Scottish Ballet are taking Highland Fling on tour to the Highlands and islands and one of their stops will be Atlantis Leisure in Oban which is the nearest town of any size to Taynuilt.  The show takes place on 29 and 30 April and as there is a ballet school just down the road there is likely to be a run on the tickets. Needless to say, I bagged mine early.

While I am in Scotland I shall attend the 50th Anniversary Show of the St Andrews Dance Society which I helped to found (see Ballet at University 27 Feb 2017).  That will take place at the Byre in St Andrews on the 30 April and 1 May 2018. The Dance Soc used to have a link with Scottish Ballet through Professor Steer and to a much lesser extent yours truly.  It was I who helped to bring Scottish Theatre Ballet to the Buchanan on 15 Feb 1970 as I was on the steering committee of the first St Andrews Arts Festival. I will try to find out whether there is still a link between Dance Soc and Scottish Ballet and if it is broken do what I can to restore it.  It would also be good to link Scotland's oldest degree awarding institution with Ballet West which is one of the newest.

Ballet West Amplified

(c) 2018 Ryan James Davies: all rights reserved
Reproduced with the kind permission of the copyright owner

Ballet West  Giselle and Rossini Cocktail  10 Feb 2018, 19:30 SEC Armadillo, Glasgow

I returned to Scotland yesterday as I said I would in A Very Special Giselle 4 Feb 2018 and Fizzing! Ballet West's Rossini Cocktail 6 Feb 2018 to see Ballet West's double bill again. This time they were in the Scottish Event Campus Armadillo which is a major auditorium with 2,000 seats. That is much larger than the Bradford, Alhambra (IMHO the best theatre for dance in Yorkshire) which has 1,456 seats and it is only slightly smaller than the main stage at Covent Garden which has 2,256.

When the company announced its intention of performing in the Armadillo for the first time in 2014 I was worried (see Scottish Ballet and Ballet West 3 Oct 2014). I had seen Ballet West perform The Nutcracker and Swan Lake in Pitlochry and I knew it was good. It attracted a big enough crowd to the Pitlochry Festival Theatre in an area that may not see a lot of ballet but Glasgow is altogether different. It is one of our major conurbations and hosts one of our leading ballet companies. I feared that Ballet West would be swamped on a massive stage and that it would rattle in an empty auditorium.

Clearly that did not happen for the company has come back to the Armadillo every year since its debut on Valentine's day 2015.  For those who do not know Glasgow the Armadillo is one of several buildings on the edges of the city centre known as the Scottish Event Campus. "Campus" is the right word for the space is huge. Much bigger than G-Mex or the Leeds Arena with its own railway station and several hotels. The Armadillo is one of the most comfortable theatres I have ever visited with seats like armchairs and masses of leg room. It is also one of the least fussy allowing members of the audience to come and go more as less as they please even while artists are dancing. I have mixed opinions about that.  Ballet West did not fill the auditorium but they attracted a very respectable turnout. I saw at least as many empty seats in the Alhambra for Northern Ballet's excellent MacMillan triple bill and there are times when even the Lowry struggles to fill its seats.

More importantly the company took possession of the massive stage and commanded it effectively. I feared the Glasgow associates who began the show with the first movement of the Rossini Cocktail might be daunted by the space and lights. Not a bit of it. Those young women in blue were as confident as they had been in Greenock.  I sat next to one of their mums in the auditorium and congratulated her on her daughter's performance.  Accepting my praise she was quick to point out that all the other students had done well, particularly in view of the short amount of time they had to rehearse.

First year full time students in Daniel Job's Rossini Cocktail

(c) 2018 Ryan James Davies: all rights reserved
Reproduced with kind permission of the copyright owner

The associates were followed in the second movement of Rossini Cocktail by the first year full-time students. Now that I knew who they were I viewed their performance much more critically but I could not find fault. I was as impressed yesterday as I had been last week.   I particularly enjoyed the last bit when the dancers lean forward and advance towards the stage like a wave. From the grins on their faces they seemed to be having fun and certainly the audience did.

Giselle followed shortly afterwards with the same cast as last week.  My heart missed a beat when I heard the first few bars of the overture because it seemed to be far too fast but it had slowed down enough for the dancers by the time the curtain rose.  The backdrop, barn and Giselle's bothy that had fitted the Beacon's stage like a glove looked a little bit lost in the Armadillo but the performers seemed to enjoy the extra space for dancing.

As I noted last week it was a very dramatic production.  Hilarion (Joseph Wright) tore Giselle (Natasha Watson) and Albrecht (Dean Rushton) apart and showed her Albrecht's sword with the misplaced relish of the prosecuting attorney in Perry Mason.  This week my attention centred on Watson's reaction.

(c) 2018 Ryan James Davies: all rights reserved
Reproduced with kind permission of the copyright owner

She is a superb actor and I mean superb.  All dancers have to act a little but it is formal and often strained. Watson's is real.  Her mad scene - or distraction on learning of her betrayal and humiliation if you prefer - is chilling.  She rips Albrecht and Bathilde apart.  I shuddered as she tore the locket that Bathilde had given her from her neck and grabbed the sword by its point.  Niamh Dowling (Giselle's mother) impressed me again.  So, too, did Rahul Pradeep who danced Bathilde's dad.  Tall and slender he was every inch an aristocrat.  Congratulations to them and also to all the dancers who had impressed me last week and did again last night.

The last scene was enchanting.  Mist (dry ice) wafted across the stage.  Lights flashed.  Myrtha (Uyu Hiromoto) glided onto the stage. She was as regal last night as she had been the week before.  I have been a fan for some time and yesterday I had the chance to meet her.  It is as hard to pick stars in dance as it is winners at Aintree but occasionally a student or member of the corps seems to stand out from his or her peers.  Xander and Demelza Parish did so at the Yorkshire Ballet Summer School gala in York on 31 Dec 2007 (see "Review: A Summer Gala of Dance and Song, Grand Opera House, York"31 July 2007 The Press) . So, too, Michaela DePrice did in Amsterdam in 2013 (see The Junior Company of the Dutch National Ballet - Stadsshouwburg Amsterdam 24 Nov 2013 25 Nov 2013). I saw the same signs in Hiromoto yesterday. Now I could be wrong but I was right about the Parishes (especially Xander) and I was right about DePrince though she was already in the Junior Company and on her way to great things when I first saw her.   However, Hiromoto was not the only fine dancer.  Once again I need to commend Sarah Nolan as Moyna and Storm Norris as Zulme as well as Wright, the hapless Hilarion, and all the corps of wilis.

Next year the company will tour Scotland with The Nutcracker.  I hope one year they may dip their toes into England for, as I said at the end of my very first blog post five years ago, audiences there will take them to their hearts.

Fizzing! Ballet West's Rossini Cocktail

Gioachino Rossini

Author Vincenzo Canuccini
La Scala Theatre Museum, Milan
Source Wikimedia Commons

Ballet West Rossini Cocktail Beacon Arts Centre, Greenock, 3 Feb 2018, 19:30

I was inspired to start this publication by the students of Ballet West when I saw their performance of The Nutcracker at Pitlochry almost 5 years ago (see Ballet West's "The Nutcracker" 25 Feb 2013). I noted that Ballet West is a school as well as a company which reaches out to the public and in that performance it appeared that everyone had been given a go.  In The Nutcracker that is easy because there is a full scale battle in Act 1 and lots of divertissements in Act II. In Giselle there are far fewer divertissements and only so many ranks of wilis or villagers can cram on stage.

To show off the considerable talents of the dancers who could not be cast for Giselle, the company's choreographer, Daniel Job, created a delightful work to the music of Giaochino Rossini called Rossini Cocktail.  I mentioned it briefly in my review of Giselle but I did not begin to do justice either to the choreographer. designers and costume makers who created it or to the artists who danced it.

The programme explains that when Giselle was first performed it was a common practice to present a short unrelated production and that on that day it was the third act of Rossini's Moses in Egypt (Mosè in Egitto). Although I am not aware of any full length ballet by Rossini he did compose ballet interludes for his other operas of which the soldiers dance in William Tell is perhaps the best known. Rossini was born just before and died several years after Adolphe Adam, the composer of Giselle, and somewhat before that towering genius, Herman Severin Løvenskiold, who composed the music for what ought to be Scotland's if not the UK's national ballet.  The pieces that Job had selected for his dancers were gorgeous.  Delightful to hear and perhaps even more delightful to dance.

Rossini Cocktail was performed in two movements.   The first was danced by 33 senior members of the Associates Programme in Glasgow.  They were all in blue flowing dresses.   I counted 33 names in the programme.  All were good and some were outstanding.  I do not rise to my feet easily but I did so at the end of their performance. I am told by Gillian Barton that those young women would have met only one day in each month.  Some travel considerable distances a few from over the border. The Glasgow associates are trained by Jonathan Barton and Natasha Watson and the Edinburgh associates by Sara-Maria Barton. 

The second movement was danced by Ballet West's full time first year students who appeared in gold costumes.  All were impressive and some were excellent. I don't know the names of the dancers who impressed me most but I shall look forward to seeing them in subsequent shows with Ballet West - no doubt some in solo roles - and I am sure that several of them will have successful careers on stage.  I congratulate all the dancers in both groups. They have done well and any friends or relations who saw them on Saturday must be proud of them.

I enjoyed Giselle and Rossini Cocktail so much that I am coming back to Glasgow for more on Saturday. I seldom do that even for a show in Leeds or Manchester but this was the best show that Ballet West has performed to date. I can't wait to see what they can do in a large auditorium in a major city.

A Very Special Giselle

Ballet West Giselle Beacon Arts Centre, Greenock
3 Feb 2018, 19:30 

I've seen a lot of performances of Giselle in my time and I have seen some of the world's greatest dancers from some of the leading companies in the leading roles but never have I seen a more dramatic performance than this evening's by Ballet West.  Let me give just one example. In the first act Hilarion denounces Albrecht to Giselle. Albrecht tries bluff and bluster but Hilarion will have none of it.  He takes a hunting horn, holds it to his lips and then blows it. For several seconds everything freezes. It is like the pause of a slow motion video of a simulated car crash.  Bathilde emerges from the cottage where she had been resting and makes clear to Giselle that Alcrecht is her man. Everybody knows what happens after that. Tonight's performance was not just a ballet. It was a thriller.  The tension  ratcheted up from the moment that Hilarion spotted Albrecht with his girl.

What was remarkable about this show was that most of the cast were students. Not students of the Upper School or even Elmhurst, Central or Tring but of Ballet West, some 500 miles North of London. In terms of distance from the metropolis, it may be the remotest and most beautifully located ballet school in the whole the United Kingdom but it also appears to be one of the best (see Taynuilt - where better to create ballet? 31 Aug 2013).

Nobody should be surprised.  Natasha Watson who danced Giselle today was a Genée medallist (see Yet More Good News from Ballet West - Natasha Watson's Medal in the Genée 30 Sep 2013) and the only British finalist of her year, or indeed several years. at the Prix de Lausanne (see Natasha Watson in Lausanne  15 Nov 2014).  Watson is not the only student to have done well. Uyu Hiromoto, who danced Myrtha, reached the finals of the BBC Young Dancer of 2017 with her classmate Oscar Ward (see the Student Achievement page of the Ballet West website).

One reason why those students do so well is that they have excellent teachers.  I met several of them tonight. Daniel Job, who staged Giselle, has danced with some of the world's leading companies. He is one of the most impressive individuals I have ever met in dance.  In a few minutes of conversation during the interval, he pointed to all sorts of nuances and dimensions of his work in addition to all those that I could see for myself. If his classes are anything like his chat, they must be inspiring.

We glimpsed a little bit of the quality of the teaching in a short work before Giselle called Rossini Cocktail that was performed by several of the company's associates and first year full-time students.  Some of the associates seemed to be very young indeed but all the performers in that piece were poised and polished.  Every step was precise and controlled.  Every synchronized movement perfectly in time. Those students had been trained by Watson. As they live in Glasgow which is a 2 hour drive and an even longer train journey from Taynuilt they could only rehearse infrequently. Clearly, all were talented but they were also inspired.   I have reviewed Rossini Cocktail separately in Fizzing! Ballet West's Rossini Cocktail 6 Feb 2018.

The designers and technicians who created the sets and costumes are as talented and resourceful in their specializations as the dancers are in theirs. Everything has to be assembled and  dismantled for each performance and transported considerable distances.  There are at least two scenes  in Giselle and one of those scenes has at least two structures.  The sets have to be robust as well as realistic. Although the students and staff of Ballet West come from all parts of the world this is an unmistakably Scottish company and its Scottishness was emphasized in the set designs. The backdrop to Giselle's house was Argyll with a loch and hills - not a winding river with watch towers and distant castle.  Giselle's grave was marked by a Celtic cross surrounded by birch trees with the outline of a loch in the distance.

Hilarion (called "Hans" in this production) appeared pinning his gifts of game to Giselle's door.  Much of the ballet depends on that character for it is his jealousy and anger that lead to the death of Giselle.  The role was danced by Joseph Wright who projected those emotions impressively.  Hilarion is followed by Albrecht and his squire.  Albecht was to have been danced by Jonathan Barton, the Vice-Principal of the school but he was indisposed by an injury sustained in a previous performance. Barton's place was taken by Dean Rushton and he was magnificent.

Albrecht knocks on Giselle's door and she appears.   I cannot speak too highly of Watson. I have been one of her fans for years.  She delights me with her dancing.  In this performance she dazzled me with her acting.  Having seen the Royal Shakespeare Company's Hamlet on Thursday I feared that Mimi Ndiweni's performance as Ophelia would have spoilt me for any performance of Giselle. Not a bit of it.  Her hair loose, dangling the sword, eyes rolling, Watson was chillingly realistic.  Her acting was as impressive as her dancing.

The other leading female role is Myrtha. She was danced by Hiromoto who had impressed me last year as Odette-Odile and in the BBC dancer of the year competition.  She was brilliant: icily serene, emotionless, technically perfect.  It was as if she had been born for the role.  She and Watson alternate as Giselle and Myrtha and I am told that Hiromoto's Giselle and Watson's Myrtha are exquisite.  I would love to see the ballet again with Hiromoto and Watson swapping roles.

There are so many dancers to congratulate that this review risks resembling a telephone directory but I have to mention Dylan Waddell and Lucy Malin for their peasant pas de deux.  I know Waddell from Ballet Cymru and Murley Dance and he has always impressed me. He did so again in Giselle. I also have to add Niamh Dowling for her performance as Giselle's mum - another seemingly small but pivotal role - Sarah Nolan as Mayna and Storm Norris as Zulma. All the cast danced well.  I wish I could name them all.

This show moves on to Livingston on 7 Feb, Oban on 8, Glasgow on 10, Inverness on 15 and Edinburgh on 17. I would love to see this show again but when? Phoenix's Windrush  opens on 7 Feb. Northern Ballet's fundraiser follows on the 8. I have tickets for The Winter's Tale on 15 and The Lowry's Dance Sampled for 17.  If you live in Scotland you must catch this show. If you live anywhere else get a train or plane.  This Giselle is special.  It is too good to miss.

I have been following Ballet West since I saw their performance of The Nutcracker on 23 Feb 2013 (see Ballet West's The Nutcracker 25 Feb 2013. Every subsequent show has been better than the last.  Last year's Swan Lake was good but this was on a different level.  It is Ballet West's best show ever.  How will they improve on something close to perfection?