Chantry Dance goes North

Sale, Greater Manchester

Photo Alan Halfpenny
Creative Commons Licence
Source Wikipedia

When I first mentioned Chantry Dance Company's new full-length ballet in The Sandman Cometh - Chantry Dance's New Full Length Ballet 20 Nov 2016 I wrote:

"They have not yet published their venues but I hope that they will make at least one stop in the North next year. We were sorry not to see them in our region this year. They were missed."

When Chantry Dance did announce their list of venues they were all in the Midlands and South East (see The Sandman Tour 27 Jan 2017.

Yesterday the company announced that it would add the Waterside Arts Centre in Sale and the Victoria Theatre in Halifax to its list (see the "What's On" page on the company's website). The Waterside is a particularly good venue as it is close to the Metrolink station and a multi-storey car park in one of the more pleasant suburbs of Greater Manchester. I attended two performances of Ballet Black's Dogs Don't Do Ballet last May and found it an excellent venue for dance (see As Fresh as Ever: Ballet Black's Dogs Don't Do Ballet in Sale 7 May 2016 and I never tire of Dogs Don't Do Ballet 8 May 2016). Halifax is a town in which Chantry Dance has performed in the past though at a different venue. It is, incidentally, also the first place where Northern Ballet set up when it left Manchester.

Chantry Dance is more than just a dance company.  It also runs a number of educational and outreach programmes as well as the Chantry School of Contemporary and Balletic Arts in Grantham. It was through one of those programmes that I first made the acquaintance of Paul Chantry, Rae Piper and Gail Gordon who are the prime movers of the company as well as Mel Wong who subsequently contributed several interesting articles to this publication (see Chantry Dance Company's Sandman and Dream Dance 10 May 2014). Because of that work I tweeted:

@ChantryDance @WatersideArts it would be nice if you could look into doing a workshop or giving a class to local students while you are here

— Terpsichore (@jelterps) March 13, 2017

They replied:

@jelterps @WatersideArts we're hopefully running the YCC there for dance students & already looking into other participation possibilities x

— ChantryDanceCompany (@ChantryDance) March 13, 2017

"YCC" stands for Young Choreographers Celebration which is described in detail on the company's website. A few years ago I looked into the possibility of bringing Chantry Dance to Manchester or Leeds for a day workshop and actually went so far as to find a venue but the costs and risks were daunting. However, if the company does offer some sort of workshop, class or other event in Manchester or Yorkshire I will publish details of it.

This company that can fill a venue in London as well as small towns in the East Midlands. It has a choreographer who trained at Christopher Gable's Central School of Ballet where two of my very favourite young British choreographers, Christopher Marney and Kenneth Tindall, and many of my favourite dancers such as Hannah Bateman, Rachael Gillespie, Dominic North and Sarah Kundi also studied. It has coached one of the finalists in the Youth America Grand Prix (a competition that boosted the career of Michaela DePrince). It is certainly worth seeing.

Rocketing

It is just over two years since Mel and I attended Chantry Dance's Dream Dance workshop and their performance of Sandman at the Drill Hall at Lincoln but the company seems to get stronger and stronger each time I hear from them. Yesterday they announced that the Council for Dance and Education Training had recognized the Chantry School of Contemporary and Balletic Arts with its certificate of good professional practice. Not bad progress for s school which was launched less than a year ago (see If only I were young again - Chantry School of Contemporary and Balletic Arts 27 July 2015). It says a lot for the prestige of an institution if it can attract to a small town in the East Midlands on a Sunday afternoon some of the biggest names in the performing arts as it did on 17 April 2016 (see What's in a Name 26 April 2016).

With such a meteoric rise it is not surprising that the company's newest work will be on rocketry. The title of the work is Ulysses Unbound. As the company celebrated the 160th anniversary of the birth of Oscar Wilde with the Happy Prince two years ago (see The Happy Prince in Halifax 23 Nov 2014) I had supposed that Ulysses Unbound might have something to do with another Irish literary giant but I couldn't have been more wrong. According to the company's website:

"The last astronaut has left a dying earth in search of a new home. In a thrilling cascade of stunning characters, costumes and imagery, he witnesses the birth of a new star and finds himself on an alien world, populated by very alien creatures!
This extraordinary ballet combines an exciting original soundtrack with contemporary ballet danced by an exceptional international cast. Through the fascinating choreography the dancers interpret cosmic events, from the evolution of a star to the formation of a deadly black hole."

The choreography for this new ballet is by Paul Chantry and Rae Piper to a score by Tim Mountain who wrote the music for Chasing the Eclipse which I reviewed in Gravity Fields - Chasing the Eclipse 28 Sept 2014.

Chasing the Eclipse was launched at the Gravity Fields science festival in 2014 and Ulysses Unbound will be launched during this year's festival at the Guidhall Arts Centre on 21 Sept 2016. It will then go on tour around England stopping at Stamford, Birmingham, Worcester and London. Science and the arts are said to be opposites but they needn't and shouldn't be. One of the reasons why I admire Sharon Watson's TearFall so much is that the piece combines science with s lot of humanity (see my reviews The Phoenix Soars Over London 13 Nov 2016 and Phoenix in Huddersfield 27 Nov 2015). The programme for this year's Gravity Fields festival between 21 and 24 Sept 2016 promises all sorts of interesting talks, performances and other events.

Sadly I have to be in Geneva for a WIPO meeting at  CERN  of all places  between the 22 and 24 Sept 2016 but I do hope to see something of this festival. I also hope that as many of my readers as possible will hop into their cars, board a train or even a plane to see this beautiful little town and this fine company.

A Good Month for Chantry Dance

Chantry Dance at Move It 2016   Standard YouTube Licence


Move It 2016 was billed as "The UK's Biggest Dance Event ...... with 22,000 dancers - three days - performances, classes, career advice, celebrities, interviews and shopping!"  I visited the show on Sunday and described it in MOVE IT 2016 24 March 2016. One of the events that took place the previous day was a performance on the main stage by Chantry School of Contemporary and Balletic Arts. To share that stage with the likes of Darcey Bussell, Elena Glurdjidze and BalletBoyz is a singular distinction and one that reflects the growing reputation of the School.

Even more significant in my book is the patronage that the School has received from Sarah Kundi (see the Patrons page). I have been following her ever since she was at Northern Ballet and it was she who led me to Ballet Black (see Why Ballet Black is special 20 May 2013) and MurleyDance (see  Something to brighten up your Friday - MurleyDance is coming to the North 8 Nov 2013). I was almost heartbroken when I feared that we would have to travel to Madrid to see her again (see Bye Bye and All the Best 10 June 2014) and overjoyed when I learned that she was staying after all (see
Saved for the Nation 17 July 2014). The last time I saw her was as Lady Capulet in English National Ballet's Romeo and Juliet in Manchester where she was magnificent (see Manchester's Favourite Ballet Company 29 Nov 2015). Kundi is one of three young British women dancers who move my spirit in a very special way (the others if you are interested are Birmingham's Ruth Brill and Northern's Rachael Gillespie). As I have said, before when Kundi dances I float.

Kundi is not the only fine dancer to be a patron of the Chantry School. Dominic North is another. He, like Kundi, trained with Paul Chantry at Central School of Ballet. North will attend a special studio naming ceremony on 17 April 2016 at DancePointe in Grantham where Chantry Dance are based. The great ballerina, Deborah Bull, who is now Director of Cultural Partnerships at King's College, London, and Robert Parker, Artistic Director of Elmhurst who also flies aeroplanes, will be there too. I last saw Parker on stage at the Hippodrome at the double bill to mark the 25th anniversary of the Sadler's Well Royal Ballet's move to Birmingham and the 20th anniversary of David Bintley's appointment as that company's Artistic Director (see In Praise of Bintley 21 June 2015).

One of the reasons why the Chantry School attracts such support is that it is attached to the Chantry Dance Company. Last autumn the company toured England with its Duology double bill which I caught at Halifax (see my review Duology 29 Sept 2015). One of the works that comprised that programme was Vincent - a stranger to himself which Paul Chantry created. The company's other contribution to MOVE IT 2016 was a class based on that piece.  That took place at the LSC studio by the double decker London bus on Friday and it must have been a wonderful experience for everyone who took part.

The company is planning another Autumn tour of the Midlands and London this Autumn featuring two new works Ulysses Unbound and The Stacked Deck. Sadly they will not make it to the North this time but perhaps we can tempt them to Leeds or Manchester for a workshop or other event one of these days.

Chantry Dance looks forward to 2016

This has been a great year for the Chantry Dance Company. They started the year by performing in Un ballo in maschera at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden which was followed by an engagement in La Dama di Picche in Rome between which they spent some weeks in Japan (see Welcome Home Paul and Rae 10 June 2015). They spent the summer with their summer school and associate programmes before hitting the road with their Autumn tour. I caught them in Halifax on 27 Sept 2015 and was very impressed (see Duology 29 Sept 2015). They also managed to find time to found the Chantry School of Contemporary and Balletic Arts (see If only I were young again - Chantry School of Contemporary and Balletic Arts 27 July 2015).

The company is now planning its 2016 tour "which will involve two original pieces - one set in space, and the other at a card game!" (Chantry Dance newsletter Dec 2015). It has already performed Chasing the Eclipse at the Gravity Fields festival which is about the cosmos with Dominic North and Rae Piper in the title roles (see Gravity Fields - Chasing the Eclipse 28 Sept 2014).

Chantry Dance has opened its company class to professionals and student dancers in full-time vocational training on the following dates:

January 2016:
9, 15-22, 24-29

February 2016:
1-6, 8-13, 15-16

I have been fortunate enough to watch the company class when Chantry Dance visited Halifax in 2014 (see The Happy Prince in Halifax 21 Nov 2014) and also in their rehearsal studios in Grantham earlier this year (see Chantry Dance's Vincent - Rarely have I been more excited by a New Ballet 4 Sept 2015). Here is what I wrote about them:

"Earlier in the day I got a chance to see their company class and a rehearsal for the Dylan ballet. All dancers work hard. I appreciated that when I saw English National Ballet in class in Oxford three weeks ago (Coppelia in Oxford 2 Nov 2014) but I think this troupe works harder than most. I had been to class in Leeds in the morning and had done several of the same exercises. Watching the professionals from a distance of a few feet I noted how they hold their arms in bras bas and second, how they define space in a forward port de bras, how they find their balance on demi-pointe and arabesque and much, much more. I hope I can remember and incorporate what I learned in my own dancing the next time I go to class."

If I could pick up this much from a chair think how much  more a real dancer or serious student can learn from joining them at the barre.  If you want to put your name forward send your email to the joint artistic director, Rae Piper.

The School will publish a new prospectus for its three year vocational course shortly as well as information on its summer intensives, associate programmes and other activities. I first got to know the company through one of its workshops (see Chantry Dance Company's Sandman and Dream Dance 10 May 2014) and I learned so much from them. They have offered to run a workshop in either Leeds or Manchester in the New Year if enough people are interested so let me know if you would like to attend.

The Chantry School is based in Grantham which is a beautiful old town with a magnificent medieval church and other historic buildings such as the high school that one of our greatest scientists attended and the grocery store where our first and so far only female prime minister was born. Until very recently Grantham might have been regarded as a bit of a backwater but now there are more and more opportunities for dancers in the Midlands. The whole region has been designated as an engine of growth (see Jane Lambert The Midlands Engine 7 Dec 2015 IP East Midlands) and the Chancellor has promised a £4 million public investment in the Birmingham dance hub (see Thanks George 8 Dec 2015). Paul Chantry and Rae Piper are picking up plenty of commissions such as Horrible Hitsories' Horrible Christmas in Cambridge and Davis Walliam's Gangsta Granny in Birmingham. There is such a thing as being in the right place at the right time.

If only I were young again - Chantry School of Contemporary and Balletic Arts

A few days ago I wrote about Serendipity. Chantry Dance Company about which I have written a lot in the past is another example of serendipity. Formed in reaction to a Chinese bureaucrat's unfamiliarity with the concept of freelancing it has become a significant touring company attracting such guest artists as Dominic North whom I last saw in Matthew Bourne's The Car Man (see my review of Chantry Dance's Chasing the Eclipse 26 Sept 2014). The Company has always been engaged in education and indeed it was at one of their workshops that I made their acquaintance in the first place (see Chantry Dance Company's Sandman and Dream Dance 16 May 2015). Now it has put its educational activities on a formal basis by launching the Chantry School of Contemporary and Balletic Arts.

If I were young again with some ability and a vocation for dance (and could not be deterred by Matthew Henley's report that "Most professional dancers ‘earn less than £5k a year’" 24 July 2015 The Stage) this is one school that I would consider very seriously. The reason I would consider it seriously it is that it is run by Rae Piper and Paul Chantry who are young and still on an upward trajectory in their dancing careers. Paul Chantry is also a talented choreographer. The quality of their work has been recognized and rewarded with commissions in Rome, Japan and Covent Garden in the last 9 months alone. The best chance for a young dancer to make a reasonable living out of his or her career would be by taking some tips from Piper and Chantry.

What would give me some hope that I might find work at the end of my course is the curriculum which includes classes in nutrition for the dancer, audition technique and marketing as well as classical and contemporary ballet. modern and contemporary dance and acrobatics. How many other dance schools offer classes in the last skill? The fees at £4,500 a year are not beyond the range of most families and in the few cases where such fees just cannot be raised scholarships and bursaries are available.

If I were the parent of such a young dancer I would encourage him or her to consider the Chantry school because Chantry and Piper are persons of principle. I am not going to embarrass them by repeating their tweets and posts to Facebook but I have noted their posts about such things as literacy and other matters outside dance and strongly approve of them. I love reading about their little dog, about their wonder at their discoveries in Japan and Italy. In Chasing the Eclipse Piper expressed her wonder at the universe with an enormous smile. It is upon her more than any other dancer that I have tried to model myself on the two occasions that I have been inflicted on the paying public. I can imagine her viewing the lakes, mountains and temples and castles of Japan and the ruins and archaeology of ancient Rome with that  same expression of wonder.

The vocational course is just one of the School's activities. There is also an associate programme whose show at Sadler's Wells I reviewed last year (Chantry Dance Associates: Lots of Promise 28 July 2014 ) and a summer school whose award ceremony last year I also attended (see Chantry Dance Summer School 2 Aug 2014). I have already mentioned the workshops in which I have participated and I woukd add that Gita and I are making enquiries with a view to facilitating one in Manchester on a convenient occasion.

This school fills a very obvious need and it deserves to do well. Its programmes have already been successful. I look forward to even more from them as Piper and Chantry develop this activity.