Chantry Dance's "Alice Wonderland through the Looking Class"

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Chantry Dance Company Alive Wonderland Through the Looking Glass Victoia Theatre, Halifax 3 Oct 2019

I have been following Chantry Dance ever since I attended their workshop at the Drill Hall in Lincoln in May 2014 (see Chantry Dance Company's Sandman and Dream Dance 10 May 2014). It was on the way to that workshop that I made friends with Mel Wong who has an encyclopedic knowledge of dance and been a great source of encouragement.  I had come to watch that workshop and not take part. No sooner had I settled into my seat in the stalls when I was coaxed out by Gail Gordon, the company's dance director, and led to the stage. That was the first time I had danced in public and the moment is recorded on film.

In those days Chantry Dance had only recently been formed.  They explained that they had been commissioned by Chinese calligraphers to translate their work into dance and had been asked repeatedly for the name of their company. The idea of freelance dancers seemed alien to those artists. Paul and Raw asked themselves "why not form a company" and, not long afterwards, Chantry Dance was established.

They were very ambitious and they have grown very quickly. A few months after their workshop I attended an open-air performance of a new ballet by Paul Chantry for Grantham's Gravity Fields science festival called Chasing the Eclipse featuring Dominic North of Sir Matthew Bourne's New Adventures and Rae Piper (see Gravity Fields - Chasing the Eclipse 28 Sept 2014).  A few weeks after Gravity Fields they made their first appearance in Halifax with three superb one-act ballets,  The Happy Prince, Rhapsody in Blue and All I can do is me - the Bob Dulan Ballet (see The Happy Prince in Halifax  24 Nov 2015).

They staged their triple bill at the Square Chapel which is a tiny auditorium.  It was a great show and the audience loved them but their numbers were disappointing. Any other company would have written off Halifax but Chantry Dance persevered and they have now built up a loyal following.  Every summer they tour the venues in advance with a free talk about their autumn show.  They also reach out to local dance schools and groups with their young choreographer programme  When they visited the Victoria - a much bigger theatre than Square Chapel - the place was heaving. There were a few empty seats at the back and sides of the stalls and the management had not opened up the upper levels but there was a definite buzz in the air.

Alice Wonderland through the Looking Glass is a full-length ballet.  In fact, it is their third or fourth.  That is an achievement in itself because not every small company has managed to stage even one full-length work. When I interviewed Kenneth Tindall about Casanova he explained that a full-length ballet is a much more difficult and complex proposition than a one-act piece.  The choreography is by Paul Chantry and Rae Piper. The music was written by Tim Mountain who had provided the score for Chasing the Eclipse.  Jenny Bowmam and Emma Darban designed the costumes.

The story, which was created by Rae Piper, could actually be considered a sequel to the other Alice books.  Piper imagines Alice as an adult working in a teashop trying to establish herself as a writer.  The connection with Lewis Carroll is an old looking class which turns out to be the one in Carroll's story. All Carroll's characters - the Mad Hatter, the Queen of Hearts the Cheshire Cat et al - are in the ballet. The big difference is that they come into our world which they find as mad as Alice found theirs.  The plot of the story is to prevent the Queen from doing mischief in our world.  She is eventually neutralized by being turned into a chess piece.  Alice writes all about it in a novel which is a runaway success.  Her reputation as a writer is made.

Alice was danced by Shannon Parker who has had a long career which has included stints with the San Francisco Ballet, Northern Ballet and the Ballet du Rhin.  The Queen of Hearts was danced by Rae Piper, the Mad Hatter by Paul Chantry, the March Hare by David Beer, the Cheshire Cat by Claire Corruble-Cabot and the Knave of Hearts by Vincent Cabot. The last two dancers had been two of my favourites with Ballet Theatre UK and it was good to see them again.

It was an ambitious undertaking and I think it worked well,  I think I preferred Mountain's score in Chasing the Eclipse to this one.  More than once I got a sense of délȁ vue,  Perhaps a little less percussion and a variation of the instruments and tempo would have made it more perfect. But I liked the story and there were some good performances, particularly by Chantry and Parker.  The very noisy applause that the dancers won at the reverence showed how much the public liked the work.

Before the show, David Beer introduced three short works by local dance groups.  The titles and dancers are not in the programme and they were only mentioned once on stage so I cannot say who they were or name their pieces. One was about Bollywood. They danced to Jai Ho, the theme song from Slumdog Millionaire.  Another was a solo about Anne Frank danced by a young woman of approximately the same age as the diarist.  The last featured different coloured shirts and that is all I can remember about it other than that the choreography was put together well.  From the sound of the cheering, I guess that many members of the audience were in Victoria to see and support the young people.

There is usually a question and answer session after Chantry Dance's shows and this was no exception.  There were questions about pointe shoes and how long it took to create the work.  I wanted to ask a question but I did not attract Rae Piper's attention in time. Probably just as well that I didn't because the remnants of a tropical storm were about to hit Halifax. The audience would have been caught in the deluge had they stayed a moment longer.   I had intended to say hello to Paul and Rae at the stage door but there is no shelter there from the elements.  If they read this review they will know that I was there and liked their show.

The company has come a long way in the time I have known it.   It is now very slick and polished.  There was an air of showmanship in the way that Rae Piper got the whole cast and audience to take part in a massive group selfie and in her speech at the end of the show.  Having toured the country for the last few autumns we can almost certainly look forward to a smart new production next September.

Duology

Van Gogh "Sunflowers"

Source Wikipedia

Reproduced under GNU free documentation licence

On 27 Sept 2015 Chantry Dance performed Duology, their double bill at the Square Chapel in Halifax. Gita and I had already seen their rehearsal of Vincent - a stranger to himself when we visited their rehearsal studios earlier in the month and knew what to expect (see Chantry Dance's Vincent - Rarely have I been more excited by a New Ballet 4 Sept 2015). Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, however, was completely new.

I enjoyed both works but I think that the Nachtmusik was the better of the two. Ostensibly it was a tussle between Paul Chantry, Rae Pipler and David Beer for space on a settee that could seat three at a pinch but comfortably only two. Of course as two of the contestants were men competing for the attention of the female it developed into something of a love triangle. It was very cleverly choreographed by Chantry and Piper to Mozart's famous music and executed beautifully by the three.

Vincent which followed after the interval was an opportunity for the company's recruits, Rebecca Scanlon and Sorel de Paula Hanika, as well as some of their associates to shine. They were a credit to the company. I was particularly impressed by the appearance of their ghostly faces from behind a glass screen at the back of the stage. Beer, dressed in black, was a disturbing presence. Did he represent death or madness? Piper and Chantry were powerful and their last duet was particularly moving. The production was impressive even in rehearsal. It was magnificent on Saturday night.

After the show the company stayed on stage to answer questions from the audience. Helen Gavaghan asked whether the choreographers had read much about van Gogh before they started to create the ballet and learned that they had read loads. In particular, they had read the artist's letters to his brother. Someone else asked about the creative process, whether the music came first and how they developed the story.  Gita commented on the enormous progress the company had made since their last visit to Halifax. I asked them about their school (see If only I were young again - Chantry School of Contemporary and Balletic Arts 27 July 2014).

It was a good evening. My only disappointment was that the Square Chapel was nowhere near full. I knew that they had a full house in Grantham and Woolwich and a good turnout in Birmingham. Piper said that we had been a lovely audience and that the company hoped to return to Halifax but I can't help wondering whether they might do better at some other venues such as the Studio in Bradford or even the Stanley and Audrey Burton in Leeds where there is already an audience for contemporary ballet. Halifax is at the very extremity of the Leeds City Region, it is not as easy to reach by public transport as Bradford or Leeds and not everybody has heard of the Square Chapel. I think most of the Square Chapel audience would travel to Leeds to see Chantry Dance again. I do not know how many of the crowd who regularly turn out in mass for Phoenix or Rambert would trek out west however good the show.

Chantry Dance's Vincent - Rarely have I been more excited by a New Ballet

Chantry Dance in Company Class

Photo Gita Mistry

(c) 2015 Gita Mistry, all rights reserved 

The rate at which Chantry Dance Company has grown and developed is remarkable. The story goes that it was started because the Chinese Calligraphy Association and Ministry of Culture could not comprehend the concept of freelancing when they collaborated with Paul Chantry and Rae Piper in the Calligraphy Concert. Now Chantry Dance are about to embark on their second nationwide tour having worked at the Royal Opera House and the Rome Opera Theatre and having established their very own school since the last tour (see If only I were young again - Chantry School of Contemporary and Balletic Arts 27 July 2015).

Yesterday Gita and I visited Chantry Dance at their rehearsal studios in Grantham to watch their company class and a dress rehearsal of their latest ballet Vincent - A Stranger to Himself.  Rarely have I been more excited by a new work and I except none of the works of much bigger and better established companies in saying this. Chantry Dance have some fine young dancers: David Beer and their latest recruits Rebecca Scanlon and Sorrel De Paula Hanika. Last year's Happy Prince was good but Vincent is so much more ambitious Vincent is danced by Chantry and his principal love by Piper. Beer in black represents death, madness and evil. The corps - Scanlon, Hanika and several of the company's associates intervene as ghastly masked spectres, as colours and eventually his inspiration as the bearers of his best known works. The score includes Satie's Gymnopédies which Chantry uses with no less skill than Ashton did in Monotones.

If you have not been to Grantham you really should.  Sir Isaac Newton studied at The King's School and Lady Thatcher was born at the intersection of the inner ring road and the main road to the A1. The town has a fine parish church with a magnificent tower and a chained library. Just down the road from the church is The Beehive pub with a living and no doubt stinging inn sign. Gita and I visited all those places.

Vincent and Eine Kleine Nacht Musik are touring Grantham, Stamford, Birmingham, Worcester, Halifax and London this month. Grantham is already sold out and they got a great preview from London Ballet Circle in respect of their visit to Elmhurst where Scanlon trained.  You can book on-line at any of the venues through Duology - Chantry Dance releases new details of its Autumn tour 21 Aug 2015.