Ballet Cymru - Even Better than Last Year

Author Sian Trenberth Photography Ltd
© 2019 Ballet Cymru: all rights reserved
Reproduced with kind permission of the company

Ballet Cymru (Three Works: Wired to the Moon, Divided We Stand and Celtic Concerto) Pontio Centre, Bangor 30 Nov 2019, 19:30

In my review of 12 Dec 2018, I described Ballet Cymru's Dylan Thomas programme as "the company's best work ever" but I think this year's triple bill was even better.  I say that because Dylan Thomas's words as read by Cerys Matthews eclipsed the dance whereas this year the focus was on dance. 

The three works that Ballet Cymru could not have been more different: Celtic Concerto, an exquisite classical work by Darius James and Amy Doughty, Patricia Vallis's cotemporary Divided We Stand and Charlotte Edmond's innovative Wired to the Moon. The company performed all three works with flair. Ballet Cymru is undoubtedly a company in the classical tradition but it can shine in other styles as well.

In my preview of Ballet Cymru's appearance in Bangor, I linked to a YouTube film of the company's inaugural performance of Celtic Concerto in Newport in 2013.  Readers will appreciate the beauty of Catrin Finch's score, the exuberance of the choreography and the elegance of the costumes and lighting.  The women in black tutus and the men in matching leotards.  The cast has changed since then with highly talented young recruits like Beau Dillen, Joshua Feist and Oliver Wilkinson-Smith.  I first saw that work at Sadler's Wells exactly four years ago. I like it even better now than I did then.

I saw Divided We  Stand in Made in Wales on 22 March at the Dance House in Cardiff.  That was the end of course performance of the Pre-Professional Programme.  If I am not mistaken, Patricia Vallis has added to that work.  There is dialogue and real needle in some of the duets.  The choreographer trained in Rotterdam and New York which explains why I was put in mind of both NDT and Joffrey by her work.  Everyone danced well but there was an exchange between Alex Hallas and Beth Meadway that seemed to express perfectly the message that I drew from the work, namely a new harmony eventually emerges from confrontation.  The score was by Henry Purcell that suited the narrative precisely.  

In the programme, Wired to the Moon is said to have been inspired by functioning systems and how they respond to changes in their environment and shows us "how technology is an extension of our world and in this increasingly interconnected works we must exist in balance." Well, maybe. To me, the work seemed to have more in common with tide and beaches. There was a beach on the front page of the programme, some of the artists removed their trousers as if preparing for a swim, white boxes on stage suggested crests of waves or breakwaters. For a while, I was puzzled by the title then I realized that the moon actuates our tides and I suppose that it is a kind of system.  Katya Richardson's score was dramatic and Eleanor Bull's designs were thought provoking.  The dancing was, of course, superb.

I enjoyed all the elements of the triple bill, perhaps Celtic Concerto and Divided We Stand slightly more than Wired to the Moon because I had seen the first two works before and understood them better.  Although the company performed all three works equally well I think Celtic Concerto showed the artists to their best advantage.  They are a classical company and it is in that style that they are (in my eyes at least) most beautiful.

I saw the show with a member of staff of M-SParc and her 12-year-old daughter.  My guest's daughter had studied ballet for a while but she had previously seen only one live performance.  She was thrilled by Ballet Cymru and delighted to meet Darius James, Patricia Vallis and the cast after the show.  Several of the dancers asked whether she would like to dance professionally to which she said she would.  She told me that she would resume her classes with renewed enthusiasm.  She was not the only young student to have been inspired by Ballet Cymru. Just before the performance, pupils from the local schools performed a curtain-raiser in the foyer.  I missed most of it but I caught a scene on the balcony and those students were very good. Alex Hallas, who had rehearsed them, told me that quite a few of the children including several boys intended to join local classes. 

Most if not all major ballet companies in the UK have associates and outreach programmes but none seems to be as close to their local communities and young people from those communities as Ballet Cymru.  When I told Patricia Vallis what my guest's daughter had said to me, she replied: "That is such wonderful news! That is one of the reasons why we do what we do!"  It is yet another reason why I love Ballet Cymru so.

Ballet Cymru at the Bangor Pontio Centre

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Ballet Cymru has commissioned Charlotte Edmonds to create a new ballet called Wired to the Moon. to a score by Katya Richardson with sets and costumes by  Eleanor Bull,  It will be performed at the Pontio Centre in Bangor together with Patricia Vallis's Divided We Stand and Darius James and Amy Doughty's Celtic Concerto on 29 Nov 2019.  I saw Divided We Stand in Cardiff earlier this year (see Made in Wales 29 March 2919) and Celtic Concerto at Sadlers Wells (see Ballet Cymru in London 1 Dec 2015). I can recommend the evening for those two works alone.  Having seen Edmunds's Fuse for the Dutch National Ballet Junior Company and her contribution to Northern Ballet's Tell-Tale Steps I think we can expect a very special evening.

The Pontio Centre is more than a theatre as I said in The Pontio Centre: A Resource for Inventors, Designers and Makers in North Wales 14 Dec 2018 NIPC Inventors Club. There is also a cinema, restaurant, students' union, bars and cafés and, most importantly, the Hwb which is the Pontio innovation area.  According to the Centre's website:

"Pontio Innovation is about equipping individuals and businesses with the tools they need to succeed in the modern economy. With a focus on transdisciplinary working and rapid prototyping, the Co-Lab, Media Lab, Hackspace and Fablab areas are equipped with cutting-edge technologies. It will boost the University’s cross-disciplinary teaching programmes and encourage collaborative work between students, staff and local businesses,"

Like the Menai Science Park (M-SParc) which I shall be visiting earlier in the day to give a talk to local entrepreneurs, inventors and creatives it is an initiative of Bangor University. New knowledge-based businesses are sprouting are springing up on both banks of the Menai Strait.

Many of the folk who have migrating or returning to Bangor and Anglesey will be attracted by the combination of coastal, mountain and pastoral landscapes that make Northwest Wales one of the most beautiful corners of the planet, but they also require the arts.  That is why the Ponto Centre's facilities supporting regular visits by Wales's classical dance company and other world-class performing artists are crucial to the social and economic development of Northwest Wales.

Ballet Cymru in London

Criccieth, one of my favourite places on the planet

Author Ken Bagnall

Source Wikipedia

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Ballet Cymru Triple Bill Lilian Baylis Studio, 30 Nov 2015

To the best of my knowledge and belief there is not a millilitre of Welsh blood in my veins. Such Celtic heritage as I can claim is Irish and Scottish yet I love Wales as much as anyone who was lucky enough to have been born in the principality. I guess one of the reasons I love Wales so much is that I spent much of my childhood on Black Rock Sands, the banks of the Dwyfor, the slopes of Swowdon and the towers and battlements of Edward I's castles. My parents could not afford continental holidays in the 1950s but Wales was as good as abroad with its own language and distinct landscapes and architecture, but nothing like as far away,

The Welsh language fascinated me and I longed to learn it. I even bought a phrase book called Welsh in a Week and must have tried the patience of every shopkeeper in Portmadoc and Criccieth (many of whom seemed to come from the Midlands or Lancashire) as I tried out my phrases. My mother once told me that my first words were in Welsh which is possible but unlikely as I don't know where I could have picked them up. Later when I learned Latin I saw lots of similarities like ffenestr for window (not too different from fenestra) and eglwys for church (apparently derived from ecclesia). Welsh is a naturally musical language with an "-ion" sound like a peel of bells. The language has lots of sounds that don't exist in English like the double "L" that seems to be produced by placing the tongue at the roof of the mouth and breathing over it.

Cerys Matthews has made an album of folk songs  called TIR most of which are in Welsh. I was led to her album by Ballet Cymru's YouTube video and yesterday I actually bought it. Indeed the artiste actually signed it and shook my hand. I think I have become one of her biggest fans though I regret to say I am also one of the most recent ones and I am grateful to Ballet Cymru for introducing her to me. She is a patron of the company. Yesterday she disclosed that she used to study ballet as a child and actually did very well in her RAD exam. She mentioned that fact between the songs that Darius James and Amy Doughty had choreographed for their dancers.

The dancers come from every part of the world other than Wales but they interpreted Matthews's words eloquently. Some bits of the performance were exuberant like  Bugeilio’r Gwenith Gwyn while other songs such as Myfanwy (danced by Emily Pimm-Edwards) tugged at our heart strings. The Rev Eli Jenkins's prayer in memory of Mandev Sokhi was particularly moving. Those members of the audience who had seen him dance were close to tears. For the dancers who had worked with Mandev it was so much harder. However, they are pros and though we could see their emotion in their faces they never missed a count or movement. TIR finished with Sosban Fach where each of the dancers did his or her turn. Each and every one of them impressed us but I have to say a special word for Tim Hill who thrilled us with his entrechats.

Ballet Cymru welcomed back Daisuke Miura and Suzie Birchwood as well as Pimm-Edwards for TIR. Birchwood is artistic director of ActOne ArtsBase. I first saw her in Stuck in the Mud where I was impressed by her grace and technique. The beauty of her dancing lies in her port de bras whether lifted in a pas de deux or sitting in a wheelchair. I never tire of watching her and I try to imitate her arm movements in my own dancing.  Miura and Pimm-Edwards delighted me in Romeo a Juliet and is was a treat to see them again.

Stuck in the Mud had been choreographed by Marc Brew whom I met in Llandudno. He created Traces Imprinted which I had admired in Newport. I had seen that work from the dress circle at the Riverfornt theatre in Newport where I appreciated its form and the movement of the dancers but missed much of the detail.  I caught all that detail yesterday from the second row of the stalls in a much more intimate auditorium. It was though I was seeing a different ballet. There was harshness with one dancer literally treading on the back of another but also tenderness as in the final duet. I think I understood the ballet a little better second time round.  Traces Implanted suggests memories and in particular memories of people who are no longer with us. Some of those memories we overwrite - hence the treading - others we keep alive and build upon - as in the duet.

I had missed Celtic Concerto in Newport for various reasons that I explained in The Pride of Newport and the Pride of Wales 8 Nov 2015 which was a shame because this ballet tuned out to be a gem. Choreographed by James and Doughty to a Catrin Finch's it begins with the company on stage and then some delightful solos and duets. You can get the idea from this video. I admired the stained glass projection and the costumes - simple black tutus for the women and shorts and translucent tops for the men.

The evening in Newport was very special but so was yesterday. Matthews asked whether there were any Welsh folk in the audience yesterday and it transpired that they were several.  They must have been so proud of their nation's ballet company. Also in the audience were several members the London Ballet Circle who had visited the company in October (see Ballet Cymru at Home 5 Oct 2015). We are certainly proud of our association with the company.

Other Reviews

Judith Mackrell   Ballet Cymru review – Cerys Matthews joins dancers for mercurial performance 1 Dec 2015 The Guardian

"The Pride of Newport and the Pride of Wales"

Ballet Cymru and Guests, Riverfront Theatre, Newport 6 Nov 2015

Author Gita Mistry

(c) 2015 Gita Mistry: all rights reserved

Ballet Cymru, TIR, Riverfront Theatre, 6 Nov 2015

Towards the end of her performance Cerys Matthews described Ballet Cymru as "the pride of Newport" and a little bit later as "the pride of Wales". The auditorium exploded and rightly so for indeed they are at least that.  Friday night was one of those very rare times in the theatre when something special happens. Something like the moment when Igone de Jongh and Casey Herd stepped on stage to dance Voorbij Gegaan which Rudi van Dantzig had created for Alexandra Radius and Han Ebelaar immediately after the presentation of the Alexandra Radius prize (see The best evening I have ever spent at the ballet 13 Sept 2015.) Or when Hans van Manen took a bow at the Stadsshouwburg at the Junior Company's opening performance (see The Junior Company of the Dutch National Ballet - Stadsshouwburg Amsterdam 24 Nov 2013 25 Nov 2013). Or when Northern Ballet danced A Midsummer Night's Dream  at the West Yorkshire Playhouse on 14 Sept 2013 (see Realizing Another Dream 15 Sept 2013). Or indeed Sir Frederick Ashton's retirement gala on 24 July 1970.

There were many reasons why Friday's performance was special.  The company was at home. In the magnificent Riverfront Theatre in its home town. The company's artistic director, Darius James, is a Newport man and his pride in his city and company is palpable. I watched Darius in the intervals as he greeted well wishers. There is real affection for James and his company in Newport very much as I found in Birmingham for Bintley and his company, or in Glasgow for Scottish Ballet or in Amsterdam for the Dutch National Ballet. Another reason is that the company is like a family - a family still in shock and mourning one of its finest dancers (see Mandev Sokhi 10 Oct 2015). Mandev was never far from our thoughts but  in Marc Brew's Traces Implanted and Matthews's setting of the Rev Eli Jenkins's prayer from Under Milk Wood it was as though he was still centre stage. Yet another reason which Friday was special is that the dancers seemed to be inspired. I have never seen them dance so well. I have rarely seen any company dance as well.

The evening was a triple bill consisting of Catrin Finch's Celtic Concerto. Traces Implanted and Cerys Matthews's TIR. As I got hopelessly lost in the one way system after encountering the notoriously, stroppy taxi driver who charges £50 if you're sick in the back seat in Newport State of Mind  which we were assured by our hotel reception we needed for the "enormous distance" (for a snail) between the Newport Travelodge and the Riverfront Theatre, we missed Celtic Concerto.  But we were in time for Traces Implanted which impressed me even more than Brew's other works and, of course, Matthews's glorious TIR. We also have the perfect excuse to see the triple bill again in another venue.

On his website Brew explains that "Traces Implanted explores the imprints and memories made and the traces left behind".  Gita tells me that she discussed that theme with Brew when she met him after the show. Gita confirmed that the subject matter is death and bereavement, something that we don't wish to mention about every day even though we are confronted with that reality constantly. The dancers must have found it particularly difficult as they had recently been bereaved themselves. But as Brew added, he doesn't always want to create conventional balletic beauty. Although there was beauty in this piece - particularly in the final duet with almost ethereal figures in the soft and subtle lighting - it was a compelling but not a comfortable work to watch.

TIR was quite a different work. Matthews has a lovely voice which is admired everywhere in the UK but when she sings in Welsh to a Welsh audience she is adored. Darius James and Amy Doughty have created dances for some of her best known works. Works that I was relieved to find are almost as well known on this side of Offa's Dyke as on the other. I caught myself clapping to Sospan Fach and rooting for a tissue for Myfanwy. Half concert, half ballet it was a thrilling experience. The company were joined by Daisuke Miura and Emily Pimm-Edwards who had delighted us in Romeo a Juliet (see They're not from Chigwell - they're from a small Welsh Town called Newport 14 May 2013) and Suzy Birchwood who had amazed us in Llandudno (see An Explosion of Joy 21 Sept 2014).

After the show Gita and I were invited to meet the dancers and creative team over drinks and canapés. It was a privilege to shake their hands again - particularly Krystal Lowe's who never fails to move me. I got to meet Jack White the gifted young composer of Cinderella and Stuck in the Mud and many of the the creative and technical team who have worked with the company  though sadly not Matthews on this occasion. Still, I have seen her perform live for the first time and that was more than enough.

Triple Celebration

Ballet Cymru is not one of the biggest national ballet companies in the world but it is certainly one of the most appealing. Today it welcomes Marc Brew as its associate artistic director. I featured him in my article Special Brew after I had seen his Exalt for Scottish Ballet and Indepen-dance 4 (see No Mean City - Accessible Dance and Ballet 26 April 2015.

Brew's first work for Ballet Cymru as assistant artistic director will be Traces Imprinted which will be premièred at Newport on 6 Nov 2015. This work will be performed with TIR to the beautiful singing of Cerys Matthews and Catrin Finch's Celtic Concerto.

If you want to see the première in Newport here is the link to the Riverside Theatre. The company will perform the same programme in Llandudno and Sadler's Wells which s where I shall try to catch them.