Ballet Cymru Giselle relaxed performance Pontio Centre 14 Jun 2025
The great David Plumpton knows that there are two ways to revive me when I am flagging in class. One is to play Khachaturian's adagio of Spartacus and Phrygia from Spartacus. The other is to play The Day We Went to Bangor (see Our Anniversary Company Class26 May 2029 and Magic26 May 2024 Powerhouse Ballet), Bangor occupies a special place in my affections, not least because it reminds me so much of my alma mater, which Andrew Lang celebrated in his Almae Matres.
Yesterday, the Pontio Centre hosted Ballet Cymru's relaxed performance of their new production of Giselle, which I reviewed in Ballet Cymru's Giselle 3.0. A relaxed performance is designed for very young children and some adults who, for one reason or another, are inhibited from sitting in a darkened auditorium for 2 hours or more watching a full-length ballet. The idea of a relaxed performance is best explained by Birmingham Royal Ballet in their Cinderella Relaxed Performance page and their YouTube video.
I have attended two relaxed performances by Ballet Cymru: yesterday's Giselle and last year's Romeo a Juliet, which I did not get around to reporting. Those shows are a vade mecum to the appreciation of ballet. Between 1964 and 1976, the Royal Ballet operated a relaxed performance programme called "Ballet for All" which toured village halls, factory canteens and other makeshift auditoriums around the country. It brought ballet into the lives of 70,000 people a year, according to Wikipedia. I think my love of ballet was ignited by one of those performances.
Yesterday, the Pontio Centre was thronged with children and their parents, though there were more than a few unaccompanied adults like me. They mobbed Louise's exhibition spot to touch the pointe shoes, Myrtha's twigs, Giselle's headdress and other props from the performance. They gathered around a screen showing the storyboard as though it were an ice cream van. Some were jumping, humming snatches of the score and attempting pirouettes and arabesques. When the artists appeared in costume, I was reminded of the entry of Micky and Minnie in Disneyland. I met several and congratulated them. I also firmed up the arrangements for Powerhouse's visit to Mold, Ballet Cymru's workshop in Leeds and Isobel Holland's masterclass.
Bangor could be regarded as the intellectual and cultural capital of Welsh-speaking Wales. Last year, only a handful of the dancers introduced themselves and their characters in Welsh. This year they all did so llongyfarchiadau mawr to them. Ceris Matthews once described Ballet Cymru as "the pride of Newport and the pride of Wales." I could not agree with her more.
Birmingham Royal Ballet CinderellaSunderland Empire 15 Mar 2025 14:00
Between 6 Feb and 12 Apr 2025, the Birmingham Royal Ballet took Sir David Bintley's Cinderellaon a nationwide tour. I caught it at the Sunderland Empire on 15 March 2025. I had already reviewed it in Bintley's Beston 2 Mar 2017. I wrote in that article that I liked everything that I had seen of Bintley's work, but I thought Cinderella was the best. That is still my view now.
The reason I admire the ballet so much is that it tells the Grimm brothers' story (with a few variations) through Bintley's spectacular choreography to Prokofiev's beautiful music with John Macfarlane's sumptuous designs and David Finn's ingenious lighting. The Cinderella Relaxed Performance YouTube video is a good introduction to and overview of the ballet. In Cinderella: An Interview with Sir David Bintley. Sir David confirms Mark Monahan's programme notes that Sir David agreed to create the ballet if Macfarlane agreed to do the designs. Monahan reports: "Lo and behold, John said yes." Readers will recall that Macfarlane designed Liam Scarlett's Swan Lake, a recording ofwhich I mentioned in Swan Lake at the Leeds Showcaseon 30 May 2025. The importance of those designs is explained in Cinderella: John Macfarlane's Designs.
In his programme notes, Mark Monahan observed that many choreographers had created versions of Cinderella, but it was Sir Frederick Ashton's for the Royal Ballet that "cast the longest shadow". It was important to Bintley that his company's Cinderella should be distinctive. One important difference is that Bintley's stepsisters are danced by two young women, whereas Sir Frederick and Sir Robert Helpmann danced the stepsisters in the tradition of the English pantomime dame. As the stepsisters' video shows, those young women were quite beastly to Cinderella and, sometimes, even to each other. Ashton and Helpmann were absurd but far from menacing. Bintley retained the fairy godmother, tradesmen and seasonal fairies (or at least the seasons) in his ballet, introducing also a frog coachman and lizard attendants.
Beatrice Parma danced the title role with flair and grace. One of the most satisfying moments in the show is when she momentarily turned on her tormentors with a broom. Others were, of course, her arrival at the ball, her duet with the prince, her producing the missing slipper and her final dance with the prince. Enrique Bejarano Vidal was an impressive prince with his sweeping lifts and powerful jumps. Isabella Howard was a dazzling fairy godmother. Having seen Oscar Kempsey-Fagg at An Evening with Ashtonon24 Jan 2023 in Elmhurst Ballet School, which I discussed in An "Evening with Ashton" and the Launch of an English Junior Companyon 30 Jan 2023, it is good to see his progress in the company.
Sunderland has a beautiful Edwardian theatre capable of accommodating an audience of 2,200. It was opened by Vesta Tilly in 1907. It has a massive stage and excellent acoustics. It is said to be haunted by the ghosts of Sid James and Vesta Tilly. Neither spectre appeared on my visit. Sunderland has a population of just over 277,000. It used to be known for shipbuilding. Nowadays, it is better known for making Nissan cars. It has a university, a football club and beaches.
Every March the Birmingham Royal Ballet visits The Lowry to perform one of its full-length works. This year the company brought Sir Peter Wright's production of The Sleeping Beauty. I had been looking forward to it very much. I have seen many performances of that ballet by different companies over the years but none has danced it better than the Birmingham Royal Ballet. It is not surprising that Sir Peter has been commissioned to create versions of that work for the Dutch National Ballet and the Hungarian Ballet.
I attended the evening performance on 7 March 2024. As I had expected, the dancing, drama, music, sets and costumes were outstanding but I do have one criticism. A performance of The Sleeping Beauty normally lasts three and a half hours with intervals between each of the Acts and between the Prologue and Act I. Those intervals are there for a purpose. They allow the audience to reflect on the dancing that they have just seen and, unless they already know the ballet backwards, prepare for the next Act by consulting the synopsis. Intervals also provide opportunities to look out for friends and acquaintances, take a comfort break, grab some refreshments or just stretch pairs of legs. The show that I attended was telescoped into 2 hours and 50 minutes with just 2 breaks of 15 minutes each. Acts I and II, which are supposed to span 100 years in the story, were juxtaposed with just a 3-minute pause between them. Those intervals were just not long enough to absorb and appreciate fully the cascade of colour, sound and movement.
Happily, there was still plenty to enjoy. The Sleeping Beauty is a contest between good and evil represented by the Lilac Fairy and Carabosse. I know that Aurora and Florimund are supposed to be the leads and that their roles are always performed by principals but I have always found them two-dimensional. The success of the ballet hinges on the performance of those two fairies. If they fall flat then the ballet is nothing more than an endless string of divertissements,
By far the more interesting fairy is Carabosse as she arrives on a black conveyance surrounded by petty monsters on a peel of thunder following a flash of lightning. In some productions, Carabosse is danced by a man but I sense an extra frisson when the role is danced by a woman. The best Carabosse that I have ever seen was the great Dutch ballerina Igone de Jongh but Daria Stanciulescu was pretty good too. I felt her rage as she peevishly plucked the last remaining hair from Catalabutte's pate,
But evil does not win completely because Carabosse's curse is mitigated by the Lilac Fairy. She was danced by Eilis Small. She has a demanding role because she is the only character that appears in every scene of the show. She guides Florimund through the thicket to Aurora's bed, projecting goodness and calm, banishing Carabosse in a puff of smoke on the way.
Though their characters may not be as interesting as Carabosse's or Lilac's, Aurora and Florimund have the best choreography. The grand pas de deux at their wedding requires considerable virtuosity. Momoko Hirata and Max Maslen performed those lead roles with flair. Perhaps the most demanding part of Aurora's role is the rose adagio inAct Iwhere she has to pass gracefully between four suitors. The sequence requires considerable poise and concentration but Hirata almost made it look easy.
The only parts of the choreography of The Sleeping Beauty that I have ever tried to learn are the fairy variations in the Prologue. Each is very short but none is easy. Isabella Howard, Rasanna Ely, Rachele Pizzillo,Reina Fuchigami, Sofia Liñares and Yu Kurihara danced the fairies of beauty, honour, modesty, song, temperament and joy respectively. I learnt a lot from them. They were a joy to watch.
Liñares and Pizzillo joined Enrique Bejarano Vidal and Shuailun Wu in the pas de quatre forAurora's wedding. I loved Gus Payne's cheeky Puss-in-Boots and Isabella Howard's coquettish White Cat. I must congratulate Riku Itu and Yaoqian Shang on their Bluebird pas de deux. Itu started his career at Northern Ballet and it was good to see him again. Tessa Hogge and Callum Findlay-White were an amusing Little Red Riding Hood and Woolf.
This production has been in the company's repertoire for nearly 40 years but it seems as fresh as ever. Philip Prowse's sets and costumes continue to awe. Touches like the scattering of the stage with gold confetti continue to delight. So, too, does the Royal Ballet Sinfonia. On 7 March it was conducted by Paul Murphy.
The Sleeping Beauty itself occupies a special place in the history of British ballet as it was the first work to be performed by the Sadler's Wells Ballet at the Royal Opera House after the Second World War. That show took place on 20 Feb 1946. However, according to the Manchester Guardian review of that performance of 21 Feb 1946, it was not the first time that the company performed The Sleeping Beauty at Covent Garden. The company danced The Sleeping Beauty there at a special performance for the state visit of the President of France in March 1939.
As this review will appear early on Easter Day, I wish all my readers who observe the festival a Happy Easter and everyone in the UK a happy bank holiday weekend.
According to its website, The Lowry is holding an open day on 6 Aug 2023. It has not published any details yet though it has posted a video about the event in 2021. As we have a company class in Leeds on 5 Aug 2023 and I shall be speaking at the Cambridge IP Law Summer School between 7 and 11 Aug 2023 I would have given the event a miss had I not received an email about it from the Birmingham Royal Ballet last week.
That email carried an image of Carabosse doing her worse towering over a smaller image of Désiré and Aurora at their wedding above the banner headline "Join us at The Lowry Open Day on Sunday 6 August". The email announces that the Birmingham Royal Ballet will attend the open day between 10:00 and 17:00 bringing costumes for The Sleeping Beauty that visitors can try on. Between 11:00 and 14:00 there will be workshops where attendees can learn some of the choreography.
The Birmingham Royal Ballet returns to Salford to dance Sir Peter Wright's production of The Sleeping Beauty between 7 and 9 March 2024, Readers can view the trailer here. Companies around the world dance that production and I have seen performances of that work by the Hungarian and Dutch National Ballets. The best that I have ever seen was in Amsterdam on 17 Dec 2017 with Maia Makhateli as Aurora, Daniel Camargo as the prince and Igone de Jongh as Carabosse (see The Dutch National Ballet's "The Sleeping Beauty" - I have waited nearly 50 years for this show20 Dec 2017). That bit of ballet history will never be repeated but I have very high hopes of BRB's visit to the Lowry in the Spring.
Nearly 10 years ago I was in Amsterdam for the first performance of the Dutch National Ballet's Junior Company (see The Junior Company of the Dutch National Ballet - Stadsshouwburg Amsterdam 24 Nov 201325 Nov 2013). I had come to see Michaela De Prince about whom I had heard a lot. She did not disappoint me, but she was not the only artist who impressed me. The other members of the cast were super talented too. Several are now principals in the Dutch National Ballet and other companies.
The Junior Company has greatly strengthened the Dutch National Company by attracting some of the world's best young dancers, Because of its success I urged British companies to set up their own junior companies. The Central School of Ballet set up Ballet Central to tour the South, Ballet West had a company that toured Scotland and Northern Ballet had Manchester City Ballet which gave several excellent performances in the Dancehouse. But that was not quite the same as the Dutch National Ballet's Junior Company as none of those student companies was associated with an established company.
The company is now on tour. According to the programme, their debut was in Northampton on Tuesday 25 April 2023. Nottingham is their second stop. Their next will be Peterborough on 3 and 4 May, London on 13 and 14 June and finally Wolverhampton on 24 June. When I visited Elmhurst someone told me that Northampton would be the best place to see them because they would have a live orchestra. Had it been possible I would have been there. Sadly, barristers tour at least as much as ballet dancers and I had a breakfast meeting in Colwyn Bay at 09:00 the day after their Northampton show. Even without an orchestra, BRB2 were impressive. I would have trekked down the M1 to see them again tonight had Powerhouse Ballet's company class not been scheduled for this afternoon in Salford. I will try to catch them again at the Linbury or elsewhere on the tour.
The format of last night's show was very similar to the Dutch National Ballet Junior Company's. Except for Majisimo which was the finale the show consisted of solos, duets and pas de deux. The first part consisted of four very well-known works plus Carlos Acosta's bolt-on of Descombey's Dying Swan to Fokine's which he called Dying Swans. The second part of the show consisted of seven less familiar works. Two of the works that I saw yesterday were also in the Dutch National Ballet's opening performance, namely the pas de deux from Act II of Swan Lake and Diana and Actaeon.
The show opened with an empty stage except for a travelling barre and other touring paraphernalia. One by one the artists walked on stage. They limbered up as if preparing for class. Two of them, Kaden and Kempsey-Fagg, peeled away and approached that front. A backdrop fell to hide the other dancers and they performed Rhapsody just as Collier had taught them at Elmhurst. They had impressed me even in the master class. Yesterday they were polished and confident and executed the piece with flair. There could not have been a better start to the show.
The backdrop was lifted to reveal the company again. This time Olivia Chang Clarke appeared in a romantic tutu and Eric Pinto-Cata in a kilt to dance the pas de deux from La Sylphide. Their piece turned out to be the high point of my evening. That may have been partly because I love Bournonville's ballet very much and know it well but credit must also go to the dancers. Pinto-Cata was the perfect James with his powerful tours en l'air and Chang Clarke was a delightful sylph, playful and flirtatious. I almost wept at the thought of what Madge's shawl would do to her.
Maɨlȅne Katoch and Mason King followed with the pas de deux from Act II of Swan Lake. Interestingly, Katoch had written on her web page that her dream would be Odette-Odile because she finds it interesting to be able to interpret an ethereal and delicate swan and then a mischievous swan. It must have pleased her to have been given a taste of her dream role so early in her career. I am sure it will not be long before she performs the whole role. King partnered her gallantly. Not hard to envisage him as a principal in the not-too-distant future.
I had seen Javier Torres perform Descombey's Dying Swan at Northern Ballet's 45th anniversary in 2015 and had admired the work greatly (see Sapphire 15 March 2015). I would have enjoyed watching it again in its original form and I am sure that Jack Easton would have danced it magnificently. I would have enjoyed Fokine's Dying Swan even more for the reason I gave in to Sapphire. I am sure that Regan Hutsell would have danced it exquisitely. Combining the two works and their music to create a solo did not work for me. I had to switch between the two alternately as though I was watching two separate ballets at the same time. That way I appreciated Easton and Hutsell's considerable virtuosity.
Diana and Actaeon had been the highlight of my evening in Amsterdam because De Prince and Sho Yamada displayed exceptional virtuosity. The ballerina enters the stage to Pugni's punchy music practically jumping on pointe. I had described De Prince as "quite simply the most exciting dancer I have seen for quite a while" and she will always be my Diana just as Antoinette Sibley will always be my Titania. Beatrice Parma's interpretation was softer, more delicate, more Ashtonesque perhaps? Enrique Bejarano Vidal was spectacular.
Part 2 opened to a blue background with several dancers seated around tables. There is a suburb of Buenos Aires near the cemetery where Eva Peron is buried called La Recoleta which is famous for its cafes. As the second piece was Gustavo Mollajoli's A Buenos Aires to Astor Piazzolla's music I was transported there.
However, the second part began with Ben Stevenson's apocalyptic End of Time danced hauntingly by Lucy Waine and Kempsey-Fagg to Rachmaninov's Cello Sonata in G Minor. Stevenson started his career with the precursor of the Birmingham Royal Ballet and he did great things in Houston including sheltering Li Cunxin according to Mao's Last Dancer.
Kaden and Easton were the first couple to leave the table to dance A Buenos Aires. They were followed by Hutsell's spirited Je ne regret rien tIt io Ben van Cauwenbergh's interpretation of Edith Piaf's famous song. She was followed by Vidal's Les Bourgeois also by van Cauwenbergh. He tottered around the stage clutching a bottle executing unusual jumps and turns to Jacques Brel's music prompting loads of laughs from the audience. As bouré is another word for "drunk" in French I quipped on Twitter that he gave a whole new meaning to pas de bourrée. It is however very difficult to clown successfully in ballet and those who can carry it off are abundantly talented.
I enjoyed Acosta's Carmen much more than his Dying Swans. Chang Clarke reminded me a little of Zizi Jeanmaire who will always be my Carmen though I had seen her only on film. Wearing her hair loose she danced the pas de deux with Cata passionately. it was one of my favourite pieces from Part 2. My other favourite from Part 2 was Will Tuckett's Nisi Dominus danced by Lucy Waine to Montiverdi's Vespers. Sacred music does not often fit well with ballet for many reasons but Tuckett's choreography seemed to work well with the score.
The evening finished with Kaden, Vidal, Katoch and King together with Rachele Pizzillo, Ryan Felix and Ava May Llewellyn in Jorge Garcia's Majissimo to Massenet's music. The piece focused on each of the artists to demonstrate his or her skills and strengths. It was a good way to round off a very successful evening.
Carlos Acosta and Kit Holder, BRB2's artistic coordinator, are to be congratulated. The company could not have made a better start. One of the strengths of the Dutch Junior Company is that they draw heavily on their heritage as well as their talented up-and-coming choreographers. There is always a van Manen and van Dantzig in their repertoire as well as new works by Ernst Meisner and Milena Siderova. The Birmingham Royal Ballet also has a rich heritage. In future, I would like to see a little more Ashton and maybe some MacMillan, Peter Wright and Bintley as well as perhaps pieces by Holder himself and other young choreographers.
Now that two of Europe's leading ballet companies have junior companies it is likely that a friendly rivalry between the two will spur them both to even greater achievements. But I also hope there will be more than rivalry. I would love to see what BRB2's artists would make of In the Future orNo Time Before Time. TheDutch National Ballet's Junior Company remains my first love. I will continue to support it in any way I can. But I can now take pride in an excellent English junior company. I shall follow, encourage and support it too.
If there is one thing that riles a Mancunian it is the proposition that the city of a thousand trades somehow rakes precedence in the national pecking order. When propounded by a southerner our usual riposte is "Oh I always thought the second city was London." But to be fair, Birmingham has some great institutions not least of which are the Birmingham Royal Ballet and Symphony Hall.
An opportunity to enjoy them both occurs every February in An Evening of Music and Dance. That is a concert by the Royal Ballet Sinfonia with contributions from artists of the Birmingham Royal Ballet and students of Elmhurst Ballet School. It is one of the rare occasions when the audience can see the orchestra on stage. I imagine that it must be a liberation for the musicians to escape from the orchestra pit and share the limelight with the dancers they support for the rest of the year.
According to the Birmingham Royal Ballet's website, the programme was "hand-picked" by Carlos Acosta and Paul Murphy which perhaps explains the preponderance of works associated with the Spanish-speaking world. The programme was as follows:
Rossini The Barber of Seville: Overture
Howard/Nunes Interlinked pas de deux
De Falla El amor brujo: Ritual Fire Dance
Rachmaninov/Ashton Rhapsody pas de deux
Granados Goyescas: Intermezzo
Pugni//Petipa/Vaganova Diana and Actaeon pas de deux
Chabrier España
Tchaikovsky/Petipa/Wright Swan Lake: Act III pas de deux
Albéniz Tango
Bizet/Acosta Carmen pas de deux
Ginastera/Fajardo Estancia, Danza dek trigo and Malambo
The first ballet was Juliano Nunes's Interlinked, Pas de Deux to Luke Howard's score of the same name. According to the programme notes it was created for On Your Marks, a triple bill to celebrate the Commonwealth Games which were held in Birmingham last summer. It was danced by Tzu Chao-Chou and Brandon Lawrence, two very graceful but also very muscular dancers. I stress muscular because they were clad in what appeared to be romantic tutus. According to the programme the costumes and choreography do not distinguish between male and female performers often turning balletic conventions on their heads. For me, that was a distraction but it was still possible to appreciate the virtuosity of the dancers.
Having attended An Evening with Ashton at Elmhurst on 24 Jan 2023 I was particularly looking forward to Ashton's Rhapsody Pas de Deux. Ashton had created Rhapsody for Mikhail Baryshnikov and Lesley Collier in August 1980 on the occasion of the late Queen Mother's 80th birthday. At Elmhurst, Collier had coached Frieda Kaden and Oscar Kempsey-Fagg so her tips and recollections were fresh in my memory. It had been a direct link with Sir Frederick himself. The dancers who performed that piece at Symphony Hall were Max Maslen and Beatrice Parma. Throughout the piece, I recalled Collier's instructions to Kaden and Kempsey-Fagg such as "Lift her but not too high". Altogether, it was a rare and precious moment.
Diana and Actaeon is a spectacular piece. It begins with the entry of Diana practically jumping on pointe. Actaeon joins her on stagewith massive leapsIt was choreographed by Agrippina Vaganova to the music of Cesare Pugni. The only time that I had seen the work before was when I watched Michaela DePrince for the first time. I was bowled over both by her and the choreography (see The Junior Company of the Dutch National Ballet - Stadsshouwburg Amsterdam 24 Nov 201325 Nov 2013). Tyrone Singleton and Sofia Liñares danced this piece at the Evening of Music and Dance. Their interpretation was quite different. Elegant, fluid and lyrical and while still exciting their performance was somehow, a little more restrained.
There was an interval between Diana and Actaeon and España. The first ballet of the second half of the show was the seduction scene from Act III of Swan Lake. That pas de deux was performed exquisitely by Brandon Lawrence and Céline Gittens. Gittens is one of my all-time favourite ballerinas. Odette-Odile is one of her most impressive roles. Her execution of Legnani's 32 fouettés was the high point of my evening. In the full-length ballet, the piece is followed by pandemonium as Rothbart and his daughter exit the stage. It is the last that audiences ever see of Odile. As this was a concert, there was a reverence after the performance at which Gittens acknowledged her applause with the most enchanting smile. I could not help thinking that she was much too nice for Odile.
Liñares returned with Lachlan Monaghan to dance the Interlude from Carmen which Carlos Acosta had choreographed for himself and Marienela Nuñes while he was still a principal with the Royal Ballet. I had previously associated Carmen with Zizi Jeanmaire and to a lesser extent Maya Pliesetskaya though I had only seen them on film. Acosta's version is based on one of the most haunting parts of Bizet's score. It will be interesting to see the work in full.
Students from Elmhurst performed Danza del trigo and Malambofrom Alberto Ginastera'sEstancia which were choreographed by Sonia Fajardo. According to the programme notes, the composer wrote Estancia for American Ballet Caravan whose choreographer was George Balanchine. The rhythm of Malambo is infectious. The artists threw themselves into the work. it was the most exuberant performance of the evening.
The finale was Drigo's pas de deux from Le Corsaire. Although most of the score had been composed by Adolphe Adam I learned from the programme notes that Marius Petipa had incorporated music by other composers including Ricardo Drigo. I also learned that Vaganova had created a pas de deux on Drigo's work which was performed by Riku Ito and Yaoqian Shang. Only English National Ballet includes Le Corsaire in its repertoire. It is a work that would suit Birmingham Royal Ballet well.
This was a very interesting programme. I was introduced to three composers, namely Ricardo Drigo, Alberto Ginestera and Luke Howard and two new choreographers, namely Juliano Nunes and Sonia Fajardo. It was also good to meet the Elmhurst students some of whom will join the Birmingham Royal Ballet and other leading companies. It was my first visit to Symphony Hall and I look forward to returning, perhaps for a concert by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra which I have so far heard only in recordings and broadcasts.
Birmingham Royal Ballet The Nutcracker Royal Albert Hall, 31 Dec 2022 16:00
When I was young the London Festival Ballet converted the Royal Festival Hall into a theatre and staged The Nutcracker during the Christmas holidays. Because of the venue, those performances were less formal than those at Covent Garden, or Sadler's Wells. Probably they were also significantly less expensive because there were always lots of families at those shows. I was introduced to ballet at one of those performances as were many other young people. The Birmingham Royal Ballet continues that tradition by turning the Royal Albert Hall (London's other great concert hall) into a theatre and staging The Nutcracker there between Christmas and New Year's Eve.
Although the story, choreography, casts and costumes appear to be the same, a performance of The Nutcracker in the Royal Albert Hall is an altogether different experience from a performance of the same ballet at the Hippodrome. For a start, there is a narrator. The story is told by Simon Callow who is described as the "voice of Drosselmeyer". The performing space is large. The orchestra occupies a balcony above the stage. Scene changes such as the expanding Christmas tree are achieved by lighting and projection
The ballet is essentially about a young girl's dream. Clara (as she is called in this country) is given a nutcracker in the shape of a prince by Drosselmeyer, one of the guests at her parents' Christmas party. In her dream, the nutcracker comes to life and leads a detachment of toy soldiers against a pack of rodents. The rodents are about to gain the upper hand but Clara saves the day by thumping their king. As a reward, she is transported to a magical land where she is entertained by Spanish, Arabian and Chinese dancers representing chocolate, coffee and tea, cossacks, mirlitons, flowers and finally the Sugar Plum fairy and her cavalier. That is significantly different from the Russian version where the girl (known as Marie) becomes the Sugar Plum (see the "About the Performance" page on the Bolshoi's website).
One of the strengths of the Russian version is that audiences see the lead ballerina from the start. In the Birmingham and most other Western versions, she enters at the very end. Her pas de deux with her cavalier is little more than a divertissement, That always strikes me as a shame when Sugar Plum is danced by a principal. That is so different from Odette,Giselle, Aurora or any of the other great classical roles where audiences get to know the lead ballerina
I attended the 16:00 performance on New Year's eve which had a stellar cast.Céline Gittens was the Sugar Plum. Brandon Lawrence was her cavalier. Reina Fuchigami was Clara. Jonathan Payn was Drosselmeyer. Gittens is my favourite ballerina with that company, As I said in my review of her performance as Juliet, she has a quality that reminds me of her compatriot Lynn Seymour. Lawrence supported her gallantly as her cavalier.
Perhaps because it was the last performance of the year and they were looking forward to New Year's eve parties the artists seemed to dance with added energy and flair. I particularly liked the Spanish dance performed by Rosanna Ely, Louis Andreasen and Oscar Kempsey-Fagg. I also enjoyed the Snowflakes scene in the first act and the Waltz of the Flowers in the second. That is because I had performed those dancers, albeit after a fashion. Martin Dutton of the Hammond taught me the first snowflake's role at a KNT workshop in Manchester. I have also attended several of Jane Tucker's workshops on Waltz of the Flowers for KNT and Powerhouse Ballet. I learned more about The Nutcracker from those workshops than I had previously gained in a lifetime of watching it from the stalls.
Therewere some fun gimmicks on the set. Clara's brother was given a rat on wheels for Christmas. After that same brother had trashed the nutcracker Drosselmeyer was able to fix it remotely. I should have mentioned earlier that Drosselmeyer's store with his name in gothic writing appeared at the beginning.
A good ballet needs a good orchestra and this company has one of the best. Peter Murphy conducted them on New Year's eve to loud applause from both cast and audience.
Every major company in the UK has its version of The Nutcracker. I have seen them all at one time and another. We all have our favourites. This version is mine.
Birmingham Royal Ballet Don QuixoteThe Lowry 4 March 2022 19:30
I have seen a lot of shows in Greater Manchester in my time from pantomimes to grand opera. I cannot recall one with greater flair than last night's Don Quixote at the Lowry. Never have I been part of a more appreciative audience. Standing ovations are rare in this country, particularly outside London. Yesterday, a large part of the audience (including yours truly) rose to our feet at the end of the show.
I have followed the Birmingham Royal Ballet for many years. Indeed long before it moved to Birmingham. Never have I seen it dance as well as it did last night. Yesterday was the first time that I had seen the company since Carlos Acosta became its director. He seems to have galvanized it.
When I saw the Royal Ballet's Don Quixote at Covent GardenI wrote:
For those who do not know the ballet, there is a brief synopsis in Wikipedia. The work is known for its spectacular jumps and fouettés requiring considerable virtuosity not only of those who dance Basilio and Kitri but also Espada, the matador, Mercedes, the street dancer, the Queen of the Dryads and the gipsy and fandango dancers. There are also great character roles for Sancho Panza, Gamache and, of course, Don Quixote himself.
I had been looking forward to seeing Lachlan Monaghan as Don Basilio as advertised on the company's website. He had been my guest at The Stage Door. As I said in my interview, I admire his choreography and photography as well as his dancing. Yesterday he was cast as Espada which he danced with panache. Basilio was danced by Mathias Dingman another of my favourite artists. He impressed us with his virtuosity and amused us with his touches of humour. Miki Mizutani was a perfect Kitri. Coquettish when interacting with Gamache and her father. Spectacular in her solos and pas de deux. I was impressed by Eilis Small as Mercedes and Lucy Waine as Queen of the Dryads. It is always a delight to see Tzu-Chao Chou who danced Amour. Casting Laura Day as Don Quixote's hapless squire was inspirational. I have never seen or even imagined the role being performed by a woman. She carried it off brilliantly. I must also commend Rory Mackay for his performance of Gamache and Jonathan Payn for the title role. Everyone in the cast delighted and impressed us and I congratulate them all.
One of the strengths of yesterday's performance was the designs and special effects. I was particularly impressed with the sails of the windmills which morphed into limbs and claws before our eyes. I am not sure whether credit for that scene belongs to Tim Hatley who designed the sets and costumes or Nina Dunn the video designer. It was spectacular.
The Symphonia conducted by Peter Murphy excelled themselves as much as the dancers. Before the performance, they played the Ukrainian national anthem. There has always been a large Ukrainian community in the North as is evidenced by the many Ukrainian clubs and churches to be seen. Playing that anthem was an apposite reminder of those links.
The first two performances of this short season had to be cancelled because of injuries and illness. There will be more performances at the Lowry this afternoon and evening. The tour continues to Sunderland, Plymouth and at Sadler's Wells. If you can reach any of those theatres you should see this show.
The year that has just ended was a particularly good one for dance. Two of the world's greatest ballet companies, the Bolshoi and the San Francisco Ballet visited London. There were excellent productions of Carlos Acosta's Don Quixote by the Royal Ballet, Rudi van Dantzig's Swan Lake by the Dutch National Ballet, Christopher Wheeldon's Cinderella by English National Ballet and Giselle and The Nutcracker by the Birmingham Royal Ballet. Phoenix Dance Theatre excelled itself with its Rite of Spring performed as part of a double bill with Opera North at the Lowry. There was some great choreography by David Dawson, Cathy Marston, Mthuthuzeli November and Ruth Brill. Scottish Ballet, the first company that I got to know and love, celebrated the 50th anniversary of its déménagement from Bristol to Glasgow, Northern Ballet the 50th anniversary of its first performance at the University Theatre in Manchester and Chelmsford Ballet, the amateur company in Essex on which Powerhouse Ballet is modelled its 70th. Incidentally and on a much more parochial level but very importantly for me, our little transpennine amateur company gave its first performance at the Dancehouse Theatre in Manchester in May as part of the KNT Dancework's 10th-anniversary gala in a work that was choreographed by Terence Etheridge who had been one of the original members of what is ow Northern Ballet.
With all this activity, readers might think that this would be a particularly difficult year to pick performances, performers, companies and choreographers of the year and for the most part, they would be right. But there was once performance that stood head and shoulders above the rest and that was the Bolshoi Ballet'sSpartacusat the Royal Opera House on 10 Aug 2019. This is what I wrote about the show:
"Ever since I saw a streaming of the ballet from Moscow nearly 6 years ago I have longed to see it on stage. I have had a long wait because few if any Western companies seem to perform the work and certainly no British ones. This year, however, the Bolshoi included Spartacus in its London season so I traipsed down to London yesterday to see it. The ticket in the centre of row G of the stalls wasn't cheap. Neither was the rail fare. The rail network was all over the place as a result of the high winds and the aftermath of Friday's power outage. Nevertheless, I can think of no better use of my time or a better way to spend my money. I have been going to the ballet for nearly 60 years and see about 50 shows a year. Rarely have I been more excited by a performance than I was yesterday by the Bolshoi's performance of Spartacus."
One of the reasons why the show was so good is that Igor Tsvirko and Ruslan Skvortsov danced the male leads and Margarita Shrayner and Ekaterina Krysanova the female ones. They were so good that I had shortlisted Tsvirko and Skvortsov for premier danseur noble and Shrayner and Krysanova for ballerina for 2019.
Male dancer of the year was very difficult this year because there were so many to choose from. In addition to the two from the Bolshoi, I had listed Xander Parish of the Mariinsky whom I saw at the Dutch National Ballet's gala in September, Daniel Carmargo of the Dutch National Ballet and my ballerina of the year's partner Brandon Lawrence, In any other year, any of those fine artists would have been my male dancer of the year but this was the year of Alexander Campbell. He won my heart for his Don Basilio in Don Quixote on 30 March 2019. Here is what I wrote about him in Campbell and Magri in Royal Ballet's Don Quixoteon 2 April 2019:
"My enjoyment of the show was facilitated greatly by the casting of Alexander Campbell as Don Basilio. A year or so ago I read about his taking part in a scheme by the RAD and MCC to encourage kids to take up ballet and cricket. Perfectly natural in my view as I have always had a passion for the two. I think it was Arnold Haskell who observed that cricket had predisposed the British to ballet pointing out many parallels between the two. Like another of my favourites, Xander Parish, Campbell had been a promising cricketer as a boy. I had long surmised that that might be the case before I had read that article for Campbell commands the stage like a batsman at the crease. There is something about his manner - perhaps his grin - that makes it impossible not to like him. He wielded his guitar while wooing the coquettish Kitri as an extension of himself just as a batsman holds his bat. As he seized her fan in the same scene I imagined his diving for a catch. In his jumps and lifts, he is much an athlete as an artist. It may be a figment of my imagination as it may be have been years since he last played the game, but I think that his youthful cricketing prowess has contributed more than a little to his appeal as a dancer."
I have never met Campbell but his personality bubbles as readers can see from this interview with him by Guerilla Cricket.
I had the same difficulty in choosing a ballerina of the year because of the abundance of talent. In addition to Shrayner and Krysanova, there was Maia Makhateli whom I described as "perhaps the best Odette-Odile I have seen since Sibley" and the ultra-talented Celine Gittens. I have seen Gittens in many roles including Sugar Plum in the Albert Hall this year and last, Swanilde in Coppelia andJuliet in MacMillan's Masterpiecebut it was her performance as Giselle on 29 Sept 2019 that touched my heart:
"Gittens was outstanding in the title role. An accomplished actor as well as virtuoso, it was hard to stay dry-eyed as she glided inexorably towards her fate. First, the plucking of the petals, the heart murmurs, the warning from her mother, feeling the hem of Bathikde's garment and finally the deception as Hilarion produced Albrecht's sword and Albrecht acknowledged his posh betrothed."
My acknowledgement of Gittens's excellence is long overdue. After I saw her in Romeo and Juliet I wrote:
Because of MacMillan's focus on Juliet's transition I can't help comparing the ballerina who dances that role with Seymour. I have never seen a performance that has impressed me as much as Seymour's over the last 50 years but some have come close. Last night's exquisite performance by Celine Gittens came closest of all. She taught me new things about the ballet. Her realization of her womanhood as she tossed aside her toy. The look that she gives Romeo before they dance a step. No doubt that is part of the choreography but somehow I had missed them all the other times that I have seen the work. In Gittens I saw Juliet rather than a representation of Juliet. Just as I had with Seymour all those years before.
After reading those words, Gittens reminded me on twitter that she like Seymour also came from Vancouver.
I saw some brilliant new works this year: David Dawson's Requiemin Amsterdam, Jeanguy Saintus's The Rite of Spring, Cathy Marston's Snowblind as well as her Victoria and The Suit, Mthuthuzeli November'sIngoma and Ruth Brill's Peter and the Wolf. Dawson and Marston are two of my all-time favourite choreographers. I love Dawson's Swan Lake and admire Marston's Snowblind enormously November's Ingoma moved every emotion but there was just one work that I just had to see twice, That work was Peter and the Wold. When I saw it in Shrewsbury I wrote:
"Peter and the Wolf is just so well known and well-loved it could not possibly fail to appeal. I first heard the score and dialogue on Children's Favourites with Uncle Mac on the Light Programme in the early 1950s and I have seen countless performances in various genres on different mediums at different levels of performance ever since. So, no doubt, would a lot of other people in the audience,
Yet Brill created something new. First, she set it in the urban wilderness and not a rural one. The set was scaffolding. A tree only in a child's imagination. There was a pond for a duck that was probably a burst water main or a crater. And the wolf was very much of the two-footed kind as in Annabelle Lopez Ochoa's Little Red Riding Hood. Secondly, she cast Day as Peter, Tori Forsyth-Hecken, Alys Shee and Eilis Small as the hunters and Tzu-Chao Chou as the little bird. I have to be careful here for I once got into trouble with several of the company's dancers by discerning a dimension that upset them but I detected a feminist twist here. If Peter is a boy and the hunters are men, as they usually are, it is the female duck that is eaten by the male wolf (Mathias Dingman) it is the makes who remove the pest and lead him into captivity. Whether intended or not there was a strong feminist twist Brill made it clear that women can take care of threats without the need for heroes thanks very much.
Day may have been cast as a boy but she danced like a girl and one with spirit - particularly when her granddad (Barton) scooped her from the meadow (building site) and lectured her about keeping safe. Like a girl, she showed ingenuity in catching the wolf and I think also like a girl she interceded with the hunters to save its life. Downs made a great cat. I loved the way she probed the air with her paw just like a real moggy. And there was a lovely performance of the duck by Shee taking the place of Brooke Ray. I enjoyed her riposte to the bird's taunt: "What sort of bird are you if you can't fly?" Peter and the Wolf will be danced in Birmingham and London as well as other places and I think audiences will love it."
I liked it even better when I saw it again in London:
"Even though I liked Lyric Pieces and Sense of Time very much, the highlight for me was Peter and the Wolf. The cast was the same as it had been in Shrewsbury except that Brooke Ray was able to dance the duck. Laura Day danced Peter as charmingly as she did in Theatre Severn, Matthias Dingman the wold, Tzu-Chao Chou the bird, Samara Downs the cat, James Barton the grandfather and Tori Forsyth-Hacken, Alys Shee and Eilis Small the hunters. As I forecast in my review of their performance in Shrewsbury, the audience at Sadler's Wells loved Peter and the Wolf. I don't think that they danced any better in London than they did in Shrewsbury but a London audience somehow lifts a show. I think that is because a show is a sort of conversation. An audience that sees a lot of dance appreciates a good show and responds accordingly. That, in turn, is picked up by the cast who shine even more. It was a great atmosphere and it was lovely to see the choreographer acknowledging our applause at the reverence."
I notice from her twitter stream that Brill has been appointed artistic director of the London Children's Ballet. All I can say about that is that the kids are very fortunate to work with such a fine choreographer at an early point in their lives. I wish Ruth Brll every success in that endeavour and I will support it any way I can.
Brill used to dance for the Birmingham Royal Ballet and Gittens still does. Over the year that company has offered some great shows such as the Seasons in our World and Peter and the Wolf double bill, [Un]leashed, Giselle and The Nutcrackerat the Royal Albert Hall. Its former director has just been awarded a knighthood. It has done tremendous outreach and educational work throughout the country and particularly in the West Midlands. It is starting a new era with Carlos Acosta as its artistic director. There can be no doubt to acknowledge the Birmingham Royal Ballet as the company of the year.
My character artist for 2019 is Sarah Kundi for her performance as Hortensia in Christopher Wheeldon's Cinderella. In Cinders in the RoundI wrote:
"The second act is the prince's ball where the step mum and her daughters turn up with Cinders's dad but no Cinders wearing quite the wrong outfits and generally making fools of themselves. Things got worse when the drink was served because the stepmother drank just a teeny weeny bit too much and had to be lifted off the floor and carried to a couch. That role was performed by Sarah Kundi who is one of my favourite dancers. I have followed her ever since she was with Northern Ballet in Leeds. She used to remind me of a famous dancer of my youth whom she still resembles in many ways. Since she joined ENB I have begun to appreciate her for her own qualities. Kundi stole the second act if not the show and she raised more than a few laughs in the third act when she showed up at the breakfast table with one almighty hangover."
I concluded my review as follows:
"Erina Takahashi was a lovely Cinders and Joseph Caley was a great prince. Good to see Gavin Sutherland from Huddersfield conducting the orchestra, But the star for me on Sunday was definitely Kundi."
In most years Gary Avis would win character artist of the year hands down. Alas, I can't give him that accolade this year as I saw him live only once as Don Quixote. He is a charming man who excels in every role. He deserves special recognition for a brilliant career. He is certainly the best character artist of his time. With the possible exception of Wayne Sleep, he is probably the best I have ever seen.
Finally, conductor of the year and there are some worthy contenders: Koen Kessels, Boris Gruzin, Gavin Sutherland, Matthew Rowe and Jonathan Lo. My choice for 2019 is Maestro Rowe for his work as director of music and principal conductor of the orchestra of the Dutch National Ballet.
Summary
Ballet of the Year Bolshoi Ballet, Spartacus, Royal Opera House, 10 Aug 2019 Male Dancer of the Year Alexander Campbell, the Royal Ballet Ballerina of the Year Celine Gittens, Birmingham Royal Ballet Choreographer of the Year Ruth Brill, London Children's Ballet Company of the Year Birmingham Royal Ballet Character Artist of the Year Sarah Kundi Conductor of the Year Matthew Rowe Best Character Artist of his Time Gary Avus
Standard YouTube Licence Birmingham Royal BalletThe Nutcracker Royal Albert Hall, 29 Dec 2019 13:00
Having seen Sir Peter Wright's version of The Nutcracker for the Birmingham Royal Ballet several times in Birmingham as well as once at the Royal Albert Hall I had very high expectations of yesterday's performance. I am pleased to report that those expectations were exceeded. There are two reasons why I liked yesterday's matinee so much. The first was the sheer quality of the dancers and musicians with Celine Gittens and Brandon Lawrence in the leading roles and Koen Kessels conducting the orchestra. The second was the straightforward interpretation of Hoffman's story with great special effects but no creepiness or spookiness.
The performance began not with the familiar overture but sounds of industrial activity from Dr Drosselmeyer's workshop. Drosselmeyer (Tom Rogers) appeared on stage and introduced himself through the voice of Simon Callow. He explained that he is called a doll maker but prefers to call his creations "automatons" as he likes to think they have a touch of magic about them. Nowadays, that "touch of magic" might be called artificial intelligence and that was seen in the self-propelled toy mice that scurried about the Stahlbaums' sitting room as well as the humanoids Columbine, Harlequin, Jack-in-the-Box and, of course, the Nutcracker. Callow announced that he was bringing gifts for his delightful goddaughter Clara and her somewhat less agreeable brother Fritz. Beatrice Parma danced Clara. Wesley Mpakati, an 11-year old schoolboy from Tyseley according to Brum Pic, was Fritz,
After that introduction, the orchestra struck up and the ballet unfolded in the traditional way. The workshop was removed and replaced by a Christmas tree which became the centrepiece of the Stahlbaums' Christmas party. Guests arrived including Drosselmeyer and his assistant (Gus Payne). They distributed presents to the children: dolls to the girls and drums, rattles and war toys to the boys and the nutcracker to Clara. Fritz and his friends made thorough nuisances of themselves earning more than a few tickings off from Mr Stahlbaum (Jonathan Payn). At one point they grabbed the nutcracker from Clara and damaged it. Happily, Drosselmeyer was able to repair the damage. He demonstrated Harlequin (Hamish Scott), Columbine (Rosanna Ely) and the Jack-in-the-Box (Max Maslen) to the guests.
I took a particular interest in the Jack-in-the-Box because Joey Taylor tried to teach me that dance in KNT's Day of Dance last April (see Best "Day of Dance" Ever23 April 2019). "And were you able to do any of that?" my companion asked. "Not much" I had to admit, "but then I am over 70." However, I am proud to say that several of my classmates who are also adult ballet students did very well even managing a couple of cartwheels. In yesterday's performance, Taylor was in the Spanish dance. As my box in the grand tier overlooked stage right, I shouted "Bravo Joey" at the end of the divertissement which I hope he heard. If not, he will know that I appreciated his performance should he ever get round to reading this review.
After the party, the Christmas tree expanded and giant baubles descended from the ceiling. Mice and toy soldiers appeared and fought a battle that the mice nearly won. Clara saved the day for the soldiers by clobbering the mouse king (Gabriel Anderson) with one of her pointe shoes. As a reward, she was transported to the land of sweets by a jet-propelled seagull. The expansion of the Christmas tree was achieved by massive side panels on either side of the stage. The same side panels showed rotating rotor blades in engines below the seagull's wings. In the land of sweets, Clara was treated to the Spanish, Arab, Chinese and Russian divertissements followed by the mirlitons, waltz of the flowers and the Sugar Plum pas de deux.
Gittens was excellent as ever Over the years I have seen her in most of the leading classical roles. I think that she is particularly good in The Nutcracker. I should mention in passing that she is this publication's ballerina of the year, her company is Terpsichore's "company of the year" and Ruth Brill is our choreographer of 2019. Finally, Birmingham Royal Ballet's former director, David Bintley, has been awarded a knighthood in the 2020 honours list. As he comes from the next village but one to mine in the Holme Valley I take particular pleasure in congratulating him on that accolade (see My Home and Bintley's12 May 2015). Quite an annus mirabilis for the company.
Everybody danced well yesterday and I say that despite a couple of slips on the artificial snow. Lawrence partnered Gittens deftly and jumped impressively in the final pas de deux. Rogers was a splendid Drosselmeyer. Yijing Zhang was a delightful snow fairy. Anderson was a fine mouse king. Maslen made an impressive Jack-in-the-Box. Finally, it was good to see the musicians at work. Kessels, whom I met briefly at the Dutch National Ballet's gala in 2018, is almost a dancer in his own right and I was grateful for the monitor that remained focused on the maestro throughout the show.
There are three more performances of The Nutcracker before the season ends. Ticket prices are not cheap. Even the programmes cost £10. However, if you see no other ballet over the coming year this is the one to catch.
Standard YouTube Licence Birmingham Royal Ballet and Ballet Black (A Brief Nostalgia, The Suit and Nine Sinatra Songs) Sadler's Wells 30 Oct 2019 at 19:30
As a fully paid-up Friend of Ballet Black and a big fan of Birmingham Royal Ballet and Cathy Marston, I decided to nip down to London on Wednesday to see their combined triple bill. I say "nipped" with some caution. It was easy enough to get down to the Smoke but coming back was quite a different matter. The East Coast mainline has deteriorated considerably since its re-nationalization by LNER and it is now a shambles. It took an hour for the 23:30 from King's Cross to amble from Doncaster to Leeds by way of Pontefract and goodness knows where else with the result that I arrived home at 04:00 yesterday morning.
Happily, the show made it all worthwhile. I arrived at Sadler's Wells just in time for a talk by Kit Holder of Birmingham Royal Ballet, Tom Harrold who had composed the score for the first work, A Brief Nostalgia, and Cassa Pancho, founder and artistic director of Ballet Black. I am very glad that I did because Tom's talk prepared me for A Brief Nostalgia and helped me appreciate it properly. He explained that he was a Scottish composer living in Manchester and this commission had been his first work for the theatre. The ballet was a collaboration between the Birmingham Royal Ballet and the Queensland Ballet. The companies had chosen Jack Lister, to choreograph the work and Tom described their long-distance collaboration. Lister had wanted to express a mood that is expressed in Portuguese by the word saudade. Deborah Jones's programme note described it as "a delicate, complicated feeling that has melancholy and pain built in but also has room for the beauty of remembering emotions, people or objects of personal value." She added that an American academic had offered "a word for 'the presence of absence," as an apt translation.
In the questions and answers that followed, a member of the audience asked why the ballet was entitled "A Brief Nostalgia". I guess he meant why a ballet addressing such a nuanced and complex topic should have been given such a prosaic title. Tom could not really answer the question but warned that it was quite a "dark ballet". "Oh dear!" I thought to myself as I remembered what The Suit is all about. "Happen we are in for a right barrel of laughs."
The piece when it came to be performed was not too bad. It was certainly not as miserable as a marital breakdown and a suicide. For a start, I liked the score and I was even more impressed with the lighting design for shadows on the sets exaggerated the dancers' line and movements. There were also some dramatic moments such as when the cast dashed in and froze in arabesque. It was the lighting which actually punctuated the phases of the ballet. It began at ground level while the later scenes lit up the space above the artists' heads.
The work that I had come primarily to see was The Suit. I am a big fan of Ballet Black both for their outstanding artistry but also for their work in bringing ballet to every section of our community including those that have not been represented in ballet proportionately. I am also a fan of Cathy Marston having seen her Jane Eyre and Victoria for Northern Ballet and Snowblind for the San Francisco Ballet recently and, of course, The Suit at least four times. Of her works that I have seen live, The Suit is by far the best in my humble opinion. However, I have seen a lot of videos of her work in Berne which I should like to see on stage.
It is one respect a very depressing work. It starts happily enough with Philomom, the husband, José Alves, and Matilda, his wife, Cira Robinson in marital bliss. The alarm clock sounds and Philemon has to go to work. He gets up, shaves, showers and dons a suit with the rest of the cast playing washbasins, showers, wardrobes and mirrors. He says goodbye to his wife still in her nightie and absent-mindedly leaves his briefcase behind. The next few minutes show his commute to work. He meets all sorts of folk such as stylish ladies like Isabella Coracey and Sayaka Ichikawa, one of whom earns a wolf whistle. and little old ladies bent double over their walking sticks such as Marie-Astrid Mence, in real life probably the youngest members of the troupe. Suddenly, it dawns on him that has left his case behind. He returns to the house and finds it is not all it should be. Matilda is still in bed but she is not alone.
Philip Feeney's music changes dramatically from regular rhythms to sounds more akin to sirens. He freezes. His home is shattered. Momentarily he is broken. When he recovers his composure he is a changed man. Matilda may have deceived him but she must have been bored looking after the home while Philemon was in the city. When good-looking Simon, Mchuthuzeli November, paid her attention it would have required a lot of resolve to resist him.
Simon had darted out of the house in his underwear leaving his suit behind. It was through that suit that Philemon exacted his terrible revenge. For the rest of the marriage, he tortured his wife with the garment forcing her to treat it as an honoured guest even taking it for walks around the neighbourhood. Everyone would have known that she had erred. She felt scorn and shame. For a brief moment, there seems a to be a chance of reconciliation but his anger gets the better of him and he shoves her away.
She wanders the home desolate and then spots the tie. She wraps it around her neck connecting the end to a beam. There then follows one of the most chilling scenes possible in theatre. That beautiful woman perishes before our eyes and then rests lifeless. I had seen that ballet four times and know that Cira springs back to life for the curtain call but I can't help shaking and feel the tears welling up in my eyes. No, this is not a comfortable ballet to watch. In fact, it is shocking. But it is compelling watching.
We needed cheering up and that is just what we got with Twyla Tharp's Nine Sinatra Songs. Each of the girls is beautifully dressed and coiffed wearing heels instead of pointe shoes. Karla Doorbar who accompanied James Barton in his last performance with the company wore the most scrumptious costume. Before the show Kit Holder told the audience that this was to be Barton's last appearance with the company and invited us to give him an extra burst of applause which we did. I was sad for a while but then overjoyed to learn that he has not retired but is on his way to Glasgow to join Scottish Ballet. Readers will tire of my saying that that was the first company that I got to know and love. They will know that I am an even bigger fan of Scottish Ballet than I am of BRB, Far from saying goodbye I look forward to seeing more of him in his new company.
I have never really listened much to Frank Sinatra but I have heard a lot of his music in lifts, waiting rooms and on the telephone waiting to be put through to the right extension in the course of a lifetime. There is something comforting in the banal and the artists of the Birmingham Royal Ballet made us forget the horror of the previous piece with their wit, their charm and their virtuosity. Although the ballet is called Nine Sinatra Songs we actually got eight for My Way is played twice. The first time with three couples - Rachele Pizzillo, Emma Price and Yaoquian Shang with Rory Mackay, Edivaldo Souza da Silva and Alexander Yap. The second time was the finale with the whole cast.
I have followed Ballet Black for as long as I have kept this blog and seen them grow. Watching them perform in one of the world's premier dance auditoriums with de Valois's foundation I thought they had come of age, Interestingly one of the audience members had reminded me of their appearance of the pyramid stage of Glasto. That must have earned them a lot of fame but I think the shows at The Hippodrome and Sadler's Wells would have given them even more kudos.
Later this month Ballet Black will perform Pendulum, Click! and Ingoma in Oxford, Stratford, Leeds and York in the next few weeks, I described that triple bill as stunning when I saw it at The Barbican earlier this year. I recommend it strongly.
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