The Importance of Performance

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I spent last weekend driving to Truro and back to see Duchy Ballet (see Cornwall's Coup: Duchy Ballet's Sleeping Beauty 19 March 2017).  I shall spend this weekend driving to Chelmsford to see my company dance Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. I have emphasised the possessive adjective because I am proud to be a non-dancing associate member of the company and the only reason why I have never auditioned for dancing membership is that Chelmsford is just a tad too far for rehearsals.

It would have been cheaper and easier to have whizzed down to London and back by Hull Trains, Virgin or Grand Central to see Project Polunin at the Wells or even the Pite, Wheeldon and Dawson triple bill at the Royal Opera House and cheaper and easier still to have stayed in Leeds to see another performance of Northern Ballet's Casanova  (which I strongly recommend, by the way - see Casanova - "it has been a long time since I enjoyed a show by Northern Ballet as much as I enjoyed Casanova last night" 12 March 2017) but I would have missed something important.

Performances like the one I saw in Truro on Saturday and the one I expect to see in Chelmsford are important because they give a purpose to all those years of exercises at the barre and in the centre.  Ballet, like Shakespeare, is intended for the stage. Without performance, class is just a workout - about as arid as cramming Romeo and Juliet for an exam.  Performances are important not just for children and young adults but for students of any age.  I shall never forget the thrill of my first performance at Northern Ballet Academy's end of term show in 2014 (see The Time of my Life 28 June 2014).

However, students will take performances seriously only if audiences take them seriously.  Such audiences should include not just mums, dads and siblings but also regular ballet goers and even the occasional ballet blogger.  The attendance of a critical audience is particularly important when principals of leading companies perform in a student show as Elena Glurdjidze and Arionel Vargas of English National Ballet did in the Bristol Russian Ballet School's Romeo and Juliet (see Good Show - Bristol Russians' Cinderella in Stockport 19 Feb 2014) and Tom Thorne and Laura Bösenberg of the Cape Town City Ballet did on Saturday.

There is sometimes a reward for audiences who make it to civic theatres in remote parts of the country. Sometimes you see stars of the future as I did when I saw Xander Parish for the first time in York in 2007. Even as a student it was clear that he was going places.  I think I saw a spark of excellence in the lilac fairy on Saturday and also in Odette-Odile in Greenock last month (see Ballet West at the Beacon 13 Feb 2017). I don't want to embarrass or tempt fate for either of those two promising young women but I don't think I have seen the last of either of them.

Ballet Cymru at Home

The Riverfront Theatre, Newport

Photo  Gif absarnt

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After the State of the Art Panel Discussion: Narrative Dance in Ballet earlier this year I exchanged a few words with The Herald's dance critic Mary Brennan, Brennan had spoken very warmly of Peter Darrell whom I greatly admired and once had the honour of meeting. Darrell was artistic director of what was then Western Theatre Ballet and it was he who took the company to Glasgow shortly after I went up to St Andrews. "He gave us our national dance company" Brennan enthused. "But at the expense of the West Country and South Wales" I replied. Being a native Mancunian I know how it stung when Northern Ballet crossed the Pennines even though it never affected me personally as Leeds is no further away from my home than Manchester. The departure of Northern Ballet diminished our city even though we still have Northern Ballet School, The Lowry and Manchester City Ballet.

Well, South Wales and the West Country have had to wait a very long time but they now have a first class ballet company again in Ballet Cymru. Actually the company has existed  for nearly 30 years but it is now receiving the recognition and funding that it needs to go places. It is still quite small. It reminds me very much of Scottish Theatre Ballet when I first knew it. Although James is very different from Darrell he has similar drive and similar sense of vision. Nearly half a century ago I envisaged Scottish Theatre Ballet as it is now - one of the world's great companies. I have the same feeling about Ballet Cymru and I hope that I live long enough to see it

On Saturday 3 Oct 2015 I joined the London Ballet Circle's visit to Ballet Cymru's premises in Newport. In order not to pre-empt the official write up I will say that we met James, Amy Doughty, Patricia Vallis and Mike Holden as well as the dancers. We watched the company class and a rehearsal of Cinderella. We toured the company's building which is on an industrial estate in Rogestone a few miles to the north west of the city centre.  Darius James told us about the history of the company and his plans for the future which are very ambitious indeed.

The London Ballet Centre's transactions are subject to a a regime very similar to the Chatham House rule so I can't say too much about what was said and done during our visit. I will however mention two things that I knew already. The first is that there is now a magnificent theatre in Newport for the company to showcase its work. That is the Riverfront arts centre on the banks of the Usk. The second is that the company provides great opportunities to local dancers.  It runs workshops, intensives and associates programmes in conjunction with the Royal Ballet and the RAD. On the 18 Oct it is hosting a "Creative Spaces" event in conjunction with the RAD and on the 30 Oct a Junior Associate Experience Day for the Royal Ballet School. It also offers body conditioning and ballet classes to the general public every Monday for a very reasonable fee. Details of these outreach programmes can be obtained from the education officer Mandev Sokhi on mandevsokhi@welshballet.co.uk.

Newport lies at the heart of the Great Western Cities with a combined population of 2.5 million and a GVA of £58 billion. This is South Wales and the West's answer to the Northern Powerhouse. The initiative aims to improve transport links and attract investment to the region.  If it succeeds it will greatly expand Ballet Cymru's market. It will also provide opportunities for attracting sponsorship and funding of other kinds. After the visit I toured some of the city's landmarks and did a little shopping in a local supermarket. I got the impression that things are beginning to buzz around the Severn estuary.

The Guys of the Golden West

Enrico Caruso as Dick Johnson in The Girl of the Golden West  Source Wikipedia

We owe a lot to the West Country. Both Northern Ballet and Scottish Ballet trace their origins to Elizabeth West's Western Theatre Ballet in Bristol. Sadly there is no longer a resident professional ballet company in Bristol but that does not mean that there is no ballet in that city. One of the Golden Guys of the West is Dave Wilson who keeps the best ballet blog that I have come across so far (see "Fantastic New Blog: Dave Tries Ballet" 28 Sep5 2013).

Dave is a member of the the Bristol Russian Youth Ballet Company which danced Cinderella in Stockport last month (see "Good Show - Bristol Russians' Cinderella in Stockport" 19 Feb 2014). The company is dancing the same ballet again at The Playhouse in Weston Super Mare on 4 May 2014 at 16:00 with Elena Glurdjidze and Arionel Vargas as guest principals. I shall be in the audience again on that occasion and I shall review the performance for this blog. Glurdjidze is not only the company's guest artist she is also the Bristol Russian Ballet School's patron and she will take some of the school's master classes. The school is run, incidentally, by Chika Temma who trained with Glurdjidze at the Vaganova Academy in St Petersburg and Yury Denakov who trained at the Boshoi. All of those great dancers and teachers are Golden Guys.

Other Golden Guys are Duchy Ballet whose existence I discovered only yesterday. This evening and yesterday they were performing The Mousehole Cat & Other Ballets at The Hall for Cornwall in Truro. Roberta Marquez of the Royal Ballet appeared as a guest artist. According to the company's website Duchy Ballet was formed to celebrate the opening of The Hall for Cornwall with the aim was of establishing a youth ballet company for Cornwall providing the opportunity to train, rehearse and perform within a professional setting.  The company's choreographer is Terry Etheridge who was a guest choreographer of the Chelmsford Ballet Company some years ago and inspired and taught Andrew Potter who danced Drosselmeyer in that company's recent production of The Nutcracker (see "The Nutcracker as it really should be danced - No Gimmmicks but with Love and Joy" 20 March 2014). Potter acknowledged his debt to Etheridge on twetter this morning:

"Mr Etheridge, Found me, taught me and inspired me."

Having seen Potter's performance I congratulate Etheridge on a very good job. I really wish I could have been in Truro to support this production. I will be present at their next performance.

That brings me on to the last Golden Guy though of the North rather than the West. Chris Hinton-Lewis, who had the Herculean labour of trying to teach me last year, is running in the London Marathon on the 13 April 2014 to raise money for the Multiple Sclerosis Society. Please do sponsor him.

Elena Glurdjidze - So Lovely, So Gracious

I have just nipped down to London and back to see Elena Glurdjidze. On the train back to Luton Parkway to pick up my car I tweeted:

"@DaveTriesBallet I have just seen and spoken to Elena Glurdjidze at @BalletCircle. So lovely and so gracious. Looking forward to Cinderella"

For those of you who don't already know, @DaveTriesBallet keeps the Dave Tries Ballet blog of which I am a great fan (see "Fantastic New Blog: Dave Tries Ballet" 28 Sep 2013). One reason I tweeted Dave about the talk is that he is a member of the Bristol Russian Youth Ballet Company which will dance Cinderella this Sunday at 16:00 at the Stockport Plaza to raise funds for Reuben's Retreat. Glurdjidze and Arionel Vargas will be the guest principals (see "Remember Reuben - and see Vargas, Glurdjidze and Dave"  14 Jan 2014). Glurdjidze referred to Reuben's Retreat as a wonderful charity which indeed it is,

The other reason I tweeted Dave is that he alerted me to Glurdjidze's dancing The Dying Swan in the Gala for Ghana. I had intended to give this event a miss but I changed my mind after learning that Dying Swan was to be performed. As I said "In Leeds of all Places - Pavlova, Ashton and Magic" 18 Sept 2013 my mother saw Pavlova dance the Dying Swan at The Grand in Leeds when my mother was a small girl and it made such an impression on her that I resolved to see a modern ballerina dance it one day. Last week at the Royal College of Music I fulfilled that resolution. I think Glurdjidze made on me a similar impression to the one that Pavlova had made upon my mother all those years ago (see "Gala for Ghana" 4 Feb 2014).

The meeting took place in the dining room of the Civil Service Club which is a few hundred yards from Charing Cross station.  I arrived just before the meeting was due to start.  I did not count the audience but there were about 7 or 8 rows of chairs of about 20 each and not many empty seats.  The room was big enough to require a public address system. Glurdjidze sat at a table with an interviewer facing the audience. She was dressed very simply but elegantly.

The speaker and interviewer were introduced by our chair, Susan Dalgetty-Ezra.  Speaking softly but very clearly from the table our guest answered questions put to her by the interviewer. 

She said that she had been born in Georgia. Her father was a scientist.  Though talented in  other ways, none of her family was in ballet. She was sent to a performing arts school where she took up ballet. She showed such promise that her teachers directed her to the Vaganova Ballet Academy where so many great dancers and choreographers were trained. Baller school was not easy.  Discipline was strict and classes were demanding.  Everything was in Russian which was a new language for her. She had to board.  She missed her family and her family missed her.  She said that she cried every night for the first few weeks at the school.

Nevertheless, she survived and graduated into one of the new companies that were established by former dancers of the Kirov after the fall of communism.  She came to the notice of the English National Ballet who recruited her as a principal in 2002. She said that at that time she spoke very little English and that even now she makes a few errors.  One of her personal ambitions is to perfect her knowledge of our language. I have to say that if she still makes errors I did not spot any last night. I could not help reflecting after hearing Eric  Pickles's performance in the House of Commons on the drive back home that Elena Glurdjidze could teach our Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government a thing or two in that regard.

While in London Elena Glurdjidze met her husband, also a dancer and also a Georgian. They have a 9 year old son who is very bright with a good voice and shows talent in many directions.  They are not pushing him into ballet though, of course, he could not have a better start in that career if that is what he wanted to do.

Glurdjidze talked about her roles. She has, of course, performed all the classics, Odette-Odile, Giselle, Juliet and so on.  She said she had never danced in Le Corsaire and would like to perform in that ballet.  She will be dancing just one matinee with Vargas in Romeo and Juliet at the Albert Hall in June.  As for the long term she hopes to teach dance and it was then that she mentioned her work with the Bristol Russian Ballet School.

The meeting was then opened to the floor, Remembering an earlier tweet from Dave that his teacher had trained with Glurdjidzke I asked her to say a little more about her connection with the Bristol School and her performance in Stockport on Sunday. She spoke about her friendship with the founder of that school from the days when they were both at the Vaganova Academy, about the impressive work that her friend was doing, about the request to dance in a charity show and commended the cause  The clip that is embedded in this post is a rehearsal for that ballet.  My admiration for Glurdjidze increased all the more. She is not simply a great dancer. She is also a lovely human being.

Others asked her about her pointe shoes; about the differences between the regime in the Royal Ballet School and the Vaganova Academy; whether she had considered choreography and her plans for the future including the performance at the Albert Hall that I mentioned above; how she returned to work after giving birth; the national dance companies in Georgia and lots of other matters that I cannot now remember.  

After we had asked her everything that could reasonably be asked of her our Chair presented her with a gift from the Circle.  However, she stayed for a few minutes to talk to her fans, sign programmes and pose for photographs.  Forming an orderly queue we each had a few words with her.  A gentleman in front of me said that he was a schoolmaster and he could tell that she had much to give her pupils.  That reminded me of Clement Crisp's conversation with Dame Antoinette Sibley and I told her about Dame Antoinette's affection for her teachers and her advice on teaching (see "Le jour de gloire est arrive - Dame Antoinette Sibley with Clement Crisp at the Royal Ballet School"  3 Feb 2014).  Glurdjidze replied that Sibley had taught her a lot particularly about the role of Manon which, of course, was created for Sibley.  When it came to my turn I told Glurdjidze how I had longed to see Dying Swan ever since I had heard about Pavlova in Leeds and how I had been moved by her performance. I added that I was looking forward to Cinderella this Sunday. Glurdjidze accepted everybody's compliments including mine with grace.

As soon as I could get a signal on the train to Luton I texted my teacher who, like Glurdjidze, leaned ballet in a sunnier clime and cheers me up and motivates me with her antipodean enthusiasm: 

"Oh Jane xXxX I can imagine how special the moment was sXsX ur  lucky woman to be given such as opportunty"

And indeed I am although any member of the public could have shared my good fortune by turning up at the Civil Service Club yesterday.  If you missed Glurdjidze you can still catch Tamara Rojo on the 3 March, Ruth Brill on the 24th and Peter Wright on the 14th April.  Ruth Brill has already tweeted that she is looking forward to her talk.

The Circle hopes to increase its membership outside London and our Chair sent me North with a stash of brochures which I am going to take to every class, every ballet and every ballet related event that I attend outside London until I have got rid of them all. So be warned.  Incidentally one can join the London Ballet Circle through its website. I would urge you to do so even if you can't get to London because the Circle supports financially young dancers from all parts of the nation with scholarships to events throughout the land including in particular the Yorkshire Ballet Summer School.

I shall give the last words about Glurdjidze to Dave. His response to my tweet was

"@nipclaw @BalletCircle So glad to hear! Was so sad to miss the talk. She's truly the loveliest dancer to rehearse with."

About her teaching, he added that although he could not take her class because of injury

"I still learned so much watching her teach class in the summer. And was amazing to see her coach the girls in the Raymonda Act III variation! Got goosebumps seeing her demonstrate even the simplest moves - sheer perfection!"

I can understand that. I got goosebumps watching her last week and I expect to get more when I see her, Vargas and Dave in Cinderella this Sunday.

Remember Reuben - and see Vargas, Glurdjidze and Dave

There can't be many more distressing things in life than losing a child. And especially not one like little Reuben Graham who looks like the bonniest little fellow one could every hope to meet. Reuben died quite suddenly of a brain tumour which was detected while on holiday in Devon.  The lad received emergency treatment in Bristol and while he was there his family were lodged in a CLIC Sergeant Home from Home. In memory of Reuben the family wish to "provide a retreat in the North West of England countryside that will relieve the distress of families and their close friends who have suffered the bereavement of a child or have a child suffering from a life limiting or life threatening illness."

Although Reuben died in Bristol he came from Mottram which is just across the Pennines from me.  On 16 Feb 2014 Bristol Russian Youth Ballet Company will visit our neck of the woods to dance Cinderella. Now as I tweeted earlier Reuben's Retreat is such a good cause that I would gladly watch Dot and Albert Shufflebottom perform the hokey cokey in the car park of the Tipsy Ferret in Rawtenstall but the Bristol Russian Youth Ballet Company promises rather more than that. They have arranged for Elena Glurdjidze and Arionel Vargas of the English National Ballet to dance with them. Not only that but Dave of the Dave Tries Ballet blog will also be dancing.  If you have not dipped into Dave Tries Ballet yet you should because it is the best ballet blog by a country mile. Dave announced yesterday that his blog had attracted a million hits which does not surprise me at all.

The ballet will be performed at the The Plaza, Mersey Square, Stockport, Cheshire. SK1 1SP at 16:00 on 16 Feb 2014.  Tickets cost £15 plus a £1.50 booking fee which is a bargain compared to what you would pay in The Coliseum or even The Lowry or Palace to see Glurdjidze and Vargas. You can buy tickets by telephone or on-line. The number of the box office is 0161 477 7779. I would advise you to book in person if you are in walking distance of the Plaza or by telephone if you are not. The problem of booking on-line is that the box office charges you a whopping £2 for postage which I for one would rather give to the charity.

I have booked my ticket and if you run into me in the theatre bar you can buy me a drink for my birthday.