Breaking Pointe

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When I visited Cork to see Swan Lake by the Cork City Ballet nearly two weeks ago, I received a full-length copy of Breaking Pointe from Colette McNamee the chair of the company's board.  The film was made to celebrate the first 25 years of the ballet company and consists largely of an interview with its founder and artistic director, Alan Foley.

The first question to Foley was how he started dancing.  He replied that he started when he was very young dancing behind closed doors to records in his parents' sitting room.  Later he was sent to ballet class where he did well in competitions throughout Ireland and beyond. Eventually, he met Joan Denise Moriarty who terrified him.  On their first meeting, he bolted out of her presence.  However, he returned and submitted to her discipline even though there were times when he found it chafing.

In 1989 the Vaganova Ballet Academy invited dancers from around the world to attend a summer school in Leningrad.  He applied without first seeking Moriarty's permission. To his great joy and surprise, he was accepted.  His teacher was about to reprimand him when the Irish national broadcasting corporation learned of his success and asked her for her reaction.  What else could Moriarty say other than that she was very proud of him? In some footage that must be quite rare, she warned him that he could expect to work.  Apparently, he lost two stone in weight while he was there.

Although he also received training in London and New York, Foley seems to have established some close links with Russia.  His lead dancers in Swan Lake were Russian nationals. The sound recording and many of the costumes for his shows came from that country. Foley remarked in the film that Russians and Irish folk share a similar temperament which is a notion that had occurred to me from my own friends and acquaintances from those countries quite independently some time ago. One of Foley's former collaborators, Monica Loughman, who is best known in this country for Big Ballet in which several of my friends and acquaintances participated, trained at the Perm State Choreographic College (Пермский государственный хореографический колледж).

Although I had attended a ballet at either The Gate or Abbey in Dublin as long ago as 1982 I had not been aware of the strength of the balletic tradition in the Republic of Ireland.  I should have been, of course.  Dame Ninette de Valois, who founded our national company and leading ballet school, was born in Co. Wicklow.  Indeed, the teacher who led me back to the barre after a gap of 50 years is an Irishwoman albeit that she trained in Brisbane. What I learned in Cork from a taxi driver who had never attended a ballet was that Moriarty had set up a ballet company and school in Cork as long ago as the 1940s.  She had been a considerable choreographer.  She is particularly well remembered for adapting Synge's The Playboy of the Western World to dance.

Although Foley seems to be adept at rallying support from businesses and politicians - as I mentioned in my review of Swan Lake the President of the Republic wrote a foreword for the programme - it has received no support from the Arts Council of Ireland for several years. I was flabbergasted to learn that.  Performing arts companies in the UK grumble about state miserliness but lesser institutions than the Cork City Ballet seem to get something. Kruschev knew the value of ballet as an instrument of soft power when he sent the Bolshoi to tour the West immediately after Hungary. Maybe we had learned that lesson even earlier when we send the Sadler's Well Ballet to the neutral Netherlands in 1940.  The Cork City Ballet is a valuable cultural asset which should be cherished.

In my introduction to Cork City Ballet, I wrote that the company did not seem to have a school or associates programme but having seen shots of eager children and classes all over Cork and surrounding districts I think I may have been wrong.  It may not be called an associates programme as such but Foley and his company definitely train the young.  And not just the young for adult classes are offered at the company's Firkin Crane studio every Wednesday. According to McNamee, they are often given by Foley himself.

I warmed to the Cork City Ballet the moment the curtain rose and I want to see it do well. I have found lots of personal links to the company.  I have already mentioned Big Ballet and Loughman. There are many others.  One of Powerhouse Ballet's best dancers trained with Katherine Lewis, the company's ballet mistress. Sadly Lewis died earlier this year but she appears in the film. One of the company's solo artists trained at Ballet West.  His principal was delighted to learn of the success of her alumnus.  I shall be back in Cork next year for The Nutcracker and I hope that a good number of my theatre-going compatriots will be tempted to join me.

More than a Bit Differently: Ballet Cymru's Workshop and the Launch of the Powerhouse Ballet Circle

"We are a ballet company who like to do things a bit differently", proclaim Ballet Cymru on their home page.  "We enjoy finding new ways to make what we do exciting, innovative and relevant." They can say that again. Last night's workshop at Yorkshire Dance was one of the most challenging but also one of the most enjoyable balletic experiences since my first plié at St Andrews Dance Society over half a century ago.

It started off like any other ballet class with a walk around the studio except that we had to make and maintain eye contact with each other. The walk quickened to a trot and then a tennis ball was introduced which we had to catch and throw to one another.  Dan Morrison  and Robbie Moorcroft who led the exercises conducted the pliés, tendus and glissés in the centre and not at the barre. We did a few unusual exercises. For example, teaming up in pairs we pulled and pushed against each other to create support.

The first hint that we had to use our brains as well as our bodies came in the port de bras.   We were led gently enough through bras bas, first, second, thord and fourth,  "Now it is for you to decide what comes next," said our mentor. In other words we had to choreograph the rest of the phrase.  The obvious continuum for me was arms in fifth, rise and soutenu but others who included Fiona, the teacher who led me back to ballet nearly 50 years after that first plié, were much more ambitious. Dan and Robbie asked us to add steps and I tried an ababesque which is never a good idea with my sense of balance and excess weight.

About hslf way through the workshop the members of the company played an extract of the score of the company's new ballet, Dylan Thomas – A Child’s Christmas, Poems and Tiger Eggs.   Cerys Matthrews was reading ome of Dylan Thomas's poems - not one I know - about the thoughts that come to mind when waking with a start in the middle of the night.  The company demonstrated the way they had interpreted that poem.  Each dancer expresssed it differently.  It was now our turn and we each worked at it independently and in groups.  Members of the company circulated and helped us polish the piece. Beth Meadway worked with me. I couldn't quite manage the elevation or coordination for a cabriole so she suggested a temps levé instead.   In the last few minutes each group danced what it had learned to the other group and the Ballet Cymru dancers.   It was an unmissable experience.

But the evening did not stop there for Darius James and Ballet Cymru were the first guests of Powerhouse Ballet Circle.  We met in Martha's Room where we had laid on some drinks and nibbles. The Martha after whom the room is named is of course Martha Graham.  After our members had introduced themselves to members of Ballet Cymru and we each had a glass in our hands I interviewed Darius just as they do in the Civil Service Club in London.  "Croeso i Sir Efrog a Powerhouse Ballet" I said in my best Welsh. Happily, Peter, Alicia, Zoe and Holly were not there to correct me. I asked Darius about his career, what brought him into dance, his training in Newport and at the Royal Ballet School, his time at Northern Ballet (or Northern Dance Theatre a it was then called) and the ahievements of Ballet Cymru since he set it up in 1986.  Not much happened in the performing arts in Newport in the early days but now there is a lot thanks to the Riverfront Theatre on the banks of the Usk. I invited questions fropm the floor. Amelia asked about costume and set design and Sue about how Darius rated Powerhouse Ballet.   There were also questions from Miguel Fernandez and Krystal Lowe of the company,

Even thouigh I had a lot of last minute cancellations owing to illnesses and probems on the railways as well as other glitches both the workshop and the launch of the Powerhouse Ballet Circle went well.  The London Ballet Circle has a very close link with Ballet Cymru and we hope to do so too.  Our next guest is likely to be Yoko Ichino who has accepted our invitation in principle and I will advise members of the date and venue sooon. I also hope to arrange visits to schools and companies in the region and then, maybe, a trip to Newport.  At its 70th anniversary celebrations I learned that Dame Ninette de Valois regarded the London Ballet Circle as part of a tripod of achievements of equal importance to her company and school. I hope that Powerhouose Ballet Circle will be similarly supportive of dance in the North.

A Ballet Circle for the North

Photo Gita Mistry
© 2018 Gita Mistry: all rights reserved

The London Ballet Circle was founded in the year that the company that was to become the Royal Ballet returned to Covent Garden for its legendary performance of The Sleeping Beauty.  Dame Ninette de Valois was the Circle's first President.  At the 70th anniversary reception I learned that Dame Ninette regarded the Circle as her third great achievement alongside her company and her school.

I first joined the London Ballet Circle when I was an undergraduate. When I went to graduate school in Los Angeles I allowed my membership to lapse. It took nearly 50 years for me to rejoin,  But since I rejoined I have made full use of my membership attending talks by Cassa Pancho, Christopher Hampson, Li Cunxin, Ernst Meisner and Javier Torres.   The Circle also arranges visits to companies and ballet schools although I have only managed to make it to Ballet Cymru in their new premises in Newport (see Ballet Cymru at Home 5 Oct 2015). 

Most importantly the London Ballet Circle raises money for prizes and scholarships for outstanding young students.   One of its prize winners was Xander Parish who is now a principal with the Mariinsky.   According to its  website

"The London Ballet Circle provides financial support to student dancers. Typically, we pay for children to attend dance summer schools such as the Yorkshire Ballet Summer School, Dutch National Ballet Summer School or Newport Summer Dance & Wales International Ballet Summer School. We ask school principals to select naturally gifted students who, without the London Ballet Circle's financial support, would be unable to attend such specialist coaching sessions."

The Dutch National Ballet Academy, Ballet Cymru's Summer School and Yorkshire Ballet Summer School are three of my favourite causes.

As it is not easy for everybody to get to London I have long thought that we needed a Ballet Circle in the North. The visit by Ballet Cymru to Leeds at the end of November is a very good opportunity to set one one. Powerhouse Ballet is hosting a workshop for Ballet Cymru at Yorkshire Dance between 18:00 and 19:30 on 28 November to which everyone taking regular ballet classes will be welcome. After the workshop there will be a chance for everyone to meet members of Ballet Cymru over a glass of wine

If this meeting proves to be successful we shall hold others with choreographers, dancers, teachers and others from our region and beyond.

Ninette de Valois

Today is St Patrick's day. Ireland has given the world many great artists in every medium and genre over the centuries.  I can think of no better way of celebrating Ireland's national day than by remembering one of the finest of those artists, Dame Ninette de Valois.

Dame Ninette was born in Blessington on 6 June 1898. Although she is best known for establishing the Royal Ballet, the Birmingham Royal Ballet and the Royal Ballet School, she contributed much to the arts in Dublin. At the request of W B Yeats, she helped to establish the Abbey Theatre School of Ballet and choreographed several ballets for the Abbey theatre to scores by contemporary Irish composers. She was honoured for her services to the arts in Ireland by the Irish Catholic Stage Guild in 1949 and by an honorary doctorate from the University of Dublin in 1957.

Yet another country that honours Dame Ninette is Turkey for she founded the Turkish State Ballet and the Turkish State Ballet School and created the first full-length ballet for the national company.

I should like to wish all my readers whether Irish or not, and, in particular, Fiona Noonan who led me back to ballet, a very happy St Patrick's Day.

Another Chance to hear the Voice of Dame Ninette de Valis

Source Wikipedia

Dame Ninette de Valois was born on 6 June 1898 and died on 8 March 2001. Even now she is referred to as "Madam" by dancers of the Royal Ballet and the Birmingham Royal Ballet who could never have known her and indeed by students who were born after she died.

I regret that I never met her even though I could have done had I ever attended any of its meetings as she was patron of the London Ballet Circle in the 1970s. However, I did at least hear her speak at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1971 at an exhibition to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the company that is now the Royal Ballet.

I am therefore extremely grateful to the Royal Ballet School for the opportunity to hear Dame Ninette's voice again by linking to a recording of her appearance on Desert Island Discs on 20 Dec 1991 from its Facebook page. The Royal Ballet School rightly celebrated Dame Ninette as the founder of the Royal Ballet School which everyone knows but I also learned that she also founded the Turkish Ballet and the Turkish Ballet Academy.

I gained that information from a lady called Gülen Tekebas who wrote on the Royal Ballet School's Facebook page:

"She is also the Founder of Turkish Ballet.. and I am the first child she picked for Ballet Academy when I was 5 y"

Later she wrote:

"I am very proud of this.. Dame Ninette said: Turkish Ballet is my child..We all love her and appreciate what she did for us.. Happy Birthday 'Madam'..."

That is a delightful contribution from Ms Tekebas and a timely one for Turkey's relationship with the rest of Europe is an issue in our referendum. We should never forget that Turkey has made and will continue to make a great contribution to European culture and serves as an important bridge between the Islamic world and the West.