Sir Frederick Ashton created Birthday Offering to mark the 25th anniversary of the founding of the Royal Ballet. I was reminded of Ashton's ballet yesterday when I attended Ballet Cymru's performance ofThe Sleeping Beautyat Theatr Clwyd in Mold for two reasons. First. Ballet Cymru is celebrating its 40th anniversary. Secondly, the show took place on the birthday of one of the dancers.
Ballet Cymru employs no more than a dozen dancers at any time, yet still manages to stage full-length productions. Last year, it presented Giselle which impressed me greatly (seeBallet Cymru's Giselle 3.0 14 June 2025). In previous years, I had been impressed by its Romeo a Juliet (see A Romeo and Juliet for our Times7 Nov 2016) and its Cinderella (see Ballet Cymru's Cinderella Second Time Round3 June 2018. Wherever possible, Ballet Cymru places its ballet in a Welsh setting, often introducing characters from the Mabinogion or Welsh folklore. The stage never seems empty because dancers fill more than one role, sometimes challenging gender stereotypes, as in last year's Giselle, where half the wilis were men.
Choreographers Darius James and Amy Doughty applied that formula to Perrault's tale with great success. Several members of the audience took to their feet at the curtain call while every solo or pas de deux was greeted with cheers and sustained clapping from the back of the stalls.
In accordance with tradition, the ballet consisted of a prologue and three acts. The prologue and Act 1 followed Perrault more or less, but Act 2 was quite different. The last Act was called a "Celebration" rather than a wedding, but it was very much the same idea.
James and Doughty introduced a new set of characters. The sleeping beauty was called Seren (which means "Star" in Welsh) rather than Aurora. Her parents were Modron (Protector of the Earth) and Gwilym, who is described simply as Seren's Dad. Aurora and her parents did not seem to be royalty, and Elen (Protector of Light), Gwydion (Protector of the Forest), Rhiannin (Protector of Animas) and Dyrnwyn (Protector of Fire) were no fairies. Arianrhod (protector of the Moon) performed more or less the same role as Carabosse. There was no lilac fairy, but Modron seemed to enjoy similar powers. There was one completely new character called Brân. He was Seren's childhood friend, and it was he who woke Seren from her slumbers.
Despite the different characters and changes to the story, I was glad to see that much of Petipa's choreography had been preserved. Even though there were no fairies, the Protectors danced something close to the fairy variations. Beth Meadway had taught those dances to Powerhouse Ballet when she was still with Ballet Cymru (see Sleeping Beauty Workshop19 March 2023). A variation of the rose adagio was performed in Act 1. There were still bluebirds in the Celebration even though their costumes were a different colour. The only significant absence was the white cat and Puss 'n Boots. Ballet Cymru has dancers who would enjoy that divertissement.
Gwenllian Davies danced Seren. I first saw her in Romeo a Juliet in 2016 and wrote:
"One of the reasons why I loved the show so much was Gwenllian Davies's remarkable performance as Juliet. Davies is in her first year with the company and this is her first job. Consequently, she is barely older than Shakespeare's Juliet. As I told her after the show, I have seen some of the world's greatest dancers in the role including Lynn Seymour and more recently Alina Cojocaru and Viktoria Tereshkina, but never have I seen a more convincing Juliet. Davies danced with passion and energy and, for a while, I saw in that talented young artist what Shakespeare must have imagined."
She never fails to delight, and she performed magnificently last night. She was partnered gallantly by Karmal Singh,who danced Brân. He is athletic and energetic and evidently trained in the Russian tradition. The other lead female role was Madron, which was danced by Isobel Holland. In many ways this was an even more demanding role than Seren's because Modron combines both mother and Lilac Fairy. She danced that role with flair and grace. Mika George Evans, who danced Arianrhod, also impressed me. She is an accomplished character dancer, and I look forward to seeing her in other character roles. I also commend Jacob Hornsey, who danced Gwilym, Maya Roueche, who danced Elen, Joe Burdett, who danced Gwydion, Siân James, who danced Rhiannon and Oliver Bocero, who danced Dyrnwyn.
Credit is also due to Chris Illingworth for his lighting designs, Frank Duffy for his projected images and Angharad Spenncer for Seren's costumes. Other sets and costumes seem to have been designed by members of the company.
Before the show, the audience was treated to a curtain raiser by the students of Ysgol Ty Ffynnon. They are part of the Duets programme, which introduces dance to children throughout Wales, particularly those in inner cities and rural areas who might otherwise not experience it. This is a two-year programme, and I was impressed by the skills that the students had acquired since I last saw them. After their show, the students were conducted to the back of the stalls where they formed the liveliest and most enthusiastic section of the audience.
Wales has a very distinct folk dance tradition as Ameer discovered in this Hansh video for S4C, There is a very broad foundation on which to build a dancing nation.
This year has been Powerhouse Ballet's best ever. We gave our second and third public performances to packed houses at the Chroma Q Theatre in Leeds on 19 Nov 2022. I reviewed the show in A Celebration of Dance: Wilis and Moreon 21 Nov 2022. We held full-day workshops on The Nutcracker in March and Giselle in July. We returned to the Northwest with company classes in Bolton and Salford in September and November. We have offered training and rehearsing opportunities for four of our members with teaching skills, namely Katherine Wong, Lauren Savage, Christie Barnes and Alicia Jolley.
We are now on a roll and will build on that success immediately with a special online-only Post-Christmas company class with Beth Meadway between 14:00 and 15:30 on 28 Dec 2022. Beth is one of Ballet Cymru's lead dancers. I reviewed her performance as Helena and the Wall in Dream in Ballet Cymru at its Beston 13 Nov 2022 and in A Child's Christnas in Wales and Terms and Conditions in Ballet Cymru in Bangor - Finishing a Great Week of Balleton 19 Dec 2022. Anyone can attend Beth's class from anywhere in the world. There will be no charge. All you need is a computer with an internet connection, a leotard or other danceweaer, ballet shoes and a little bit of space at home or elsewhere. It is not every day that you get a chance to dance with an up and coming ballet star from the comfort of your home. If you want to attend, register here.
Our first class in the studio of the New Year will be given by Northern Ballet Academy's Annemarie Donoghue at Dance Studio Leeds from 13:00 to 14:30 on 28 Jan 2023. In February we hope to give our first class in Wales. Alicia Jolley who danced in Aria has kindly agreed to give that class. The date, time and venue have yet to be agreed but it will probably take place in Mold on the afternoon of Saturday, 25 Feb 2023. In response to popular demand I have asked Fiona Noonan to deliver our March class and she has accepted in principle. Her class is likely to take place on 25 March 2023 either at Dance Studio Leeds or Huddersfield University.
Karen Lester-Sant of KNT Danceworks has kindly invited Powerhouse Ballet to dance in KNT's next show in Manchester. We are looking forward to this opportunity immensely. We shall start rehearsals as soon as we know the date. We already have the piece that we presented in Leeds on 19 Nov 2022 but it is possible that we may have a new work by then. Jane Tucker who directed and choreographed the Dance of the Wilis has offered us a workshop on another scene from Giselle early in the New Year. I shall leave the choice of scene to Jane but we have discussed some of the possibilities. These include the Retour des Vendageurs in act 1 as there is a big role for the ensemble. As soon as Jane gives me a date, I shall announce the workshop on Eventbrite.
One of the objectives of Powerhouse Ballet is to provide opportunities for members to develop their skills in all aspects of theatre. We have already made use of our members' teaching skills but other members also have skills that could be useful to the company. Fiona Cheng, for instance, is a drama student at Leeds Conservatory. I have seen her act in one of the Conservatory productions and was very impressed. The betrayal scene at the end of act 1 of Giselle requires considerable dramatic skills from Giselle and the other characters Drama is not formally taught in many dance schools and perhaps it should. I have therefore invited Fiona to propose an acting workshop for us. Other possible workshops include exhibition classes in Kathak and Welsh folk dancing with its spectacular grasshopper step.
As we are a company and not a school we will never charge our dancers for attending our classes and workshops. However, we shall be introducing a Friends scheme for those who wish to support the company and participate in some of its activities but not dance in its shows. A year's subscription will be around £25 a year and it will be possible for members to switch from "Friend" to "Dancer" and vice versa within the course of the year.
As this will be one of my last posts for this year, I should like to wish all my readers a happy and prosperous New Year.
The Wales Theatre Awards recognize excellence in theatre, dance and opera created and presented in Wales. Nominations for the 2017 awards were made by 40 English and Welsh language critics working throughout Wales for print, broadcast and online platforms. They made 830 nominations for 281 artists and 157 shows from 89 companies (see Mike Smith Wales Theatre Awards - The Winners25 Feb 2017 Art Scene in Wales).
The best male dance artist award was won by Phil Willians of Cascade Dance Theatre. I have not yet made the acquaintance of Mr Williams or his company but I hope to do so before long. His company describes itself as
"a repertory touring company working with the Creu Cymru dance touring network to provide ensemble dance that is artist-led with a Wales and international perspective, having high production values and with an equal emphasis on quality of the art and a passion to speak to a general public audience."
For the benefit of readers outside Wales, I should say that Creu Cymru is the development agency for theatres and arts centres in Wales. Its members include nearly all the professionally run theatres, arts centres and other venues in Wales.
Last year was a good year for Ballet Cymru having been nominated for the second year running for one of the National Dance Awards. It has recruited some fine young dancers one of whom was my outstanding young dancer for 2016 (see The Terpsichore Titles: Outstanding Young Dancers of 201628 Dec 2016). We hope to see more of them in Ballet Cymru's Spring Tour with its new production, The Light Princess which I previewed in Ballet Cymru's The Light Princess25 Jan 2017 and A Midsummer Night;s Dreamthat I also mentioned in that post. Ballet Cymru has now supplied us with the photo for The Light Princess with its press release which I have posted above.
"We have Anglophile and Francophile, but what do we call someone who is a lover of the Americas - particularly North America?" asked The Guardian on its Semantic Enigma page. "Mad" was one ungracious reply which not unnaturally ruffled more than a few Transatlantic feathers. A more serious reply was Americophile which I googled and, yes, the word does seem to exist.
But the English language doesn't seem to have a word for a lover of Welsh culture which is strange because there is so much to admire in that beautiful peninsula just a short drive away for most of us. So I'm going to coin one which I hope will one day find its way into the OED. "Cambriophile" and its noun "Cambriophilia". That adjective certainly applies to me. As I said in Ballet Cymru in London1 Dec 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 that country."
One of the reasons I am a Cambriohile is that Wales has a great ballet company in Ballet Cymru. I am delighted to say that it also has a fine contemporary dance company in the National Dance Company Wales.
The National Dance Company Wales spent a day in Huddersfield on 10 March 2016 and we got to know them well. They invited us to their company class over cakes at lunch time before performing three of their works on their current Spring tour and then finally sticking around in the meeting room afterwards for a Q & A. I should say for the benefit of those readers who have never been to Wales or Huddersfield that we share quite a bit in common. We also live in a hilly, gritty landscape which once had mines and mills and we share a love of singing with one of the best choral societies in the world. A language close to Welsh was once spoken in Yorkshire and quite a bit of it remains in names of geographic features such as Pen-y-ghent for one of the highest points in our county.
Company class was taken by Lee Johnston, the company's rehearsal director, and it was entirely classical starting with warm ups on the floor, barre work, and the usual centre exercises albeit to slightly different music than would normally accompany a ballet class. While the dance these artists perform on stage may not be ballet they are clearly ballet trained and they are as supple and graceful as any ballet dancer. Gita and I ran into Johnston on the way from the auditorium to the cafe.
"Thanks for coming" she said.
"On the contrary. we thank you for letting us watch your company class" was our reply.
We introduced ourselves as Team Terpsichore and expressed our delight at meeting another Welsh dance company.
"We are good friends of Ballet Cymru", we were told, "who are just down the road from us."
The NCDW is based in the Dance House in the Millennium Centre in Cardiff which is indeed not far from Rogerstone which is the suburb of Newport where Ballet Cymru is based. The facilities of the Dance House sound magnificent: "a world-class production facility and performance and rehearsal space for local artists, youth groups and touring companies across the UK and beyond." They share that space with a roll call of some of the best and the brightest in Wales Welsh National Opera, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Touch Trust, Ty Cerdd, Literature Wales, Hijinx and Urdd. Facilities include "two dance studios, a lounge area and office space. The main production studio, the Blue Room, has the highest quality technical specification for producing and presenting dance, including 100 tiered and retractable seats. The second studio, Man Gwyn, is a simple square rehearsal studio complete with ballet barres, mirrors and full circle grey drapes for rehearsal, auditions or intimate presentations." Apparently the Dance House is always buzzing with activity.
The company has 9 dancers of whom only Josie Sinnadurai seems to be Welsh. The rest come from England and the Continent.
"You call yourself the National Company of Wales" I asked in the Q & A after the show, "so what's so Welsh about you?"
"Good question" replied David Pallant, their latest recruit, "well we go to all parts of the country and interact with schools of community groups."
"Our dancers are actually learning Welsh to work with children" added Lee Johnstone.
"Would you like to say something in Welsh?" said our Canadian master or rather mistress of ceremonies to Angela Boix Duran who is a strikingly beautiful young woman from Barcelona.
"Yr wyf o Sbaen" ("I'm from Spain") came the fluent reply.
I liked all three works enormously but the one I enjoyed the most was Verbruggen's Mighty Wind. It was exciting as the men tossed one of the women between them as though she were a sack of potatoes and also innovative in the way he used four mobile fans with powerful lighting to flare the dancers hair as though they were on fire. Verbruggen had created The Nutcrackerfor the Geneva Ballet which I mentioned in Geneva Nutcrackeron25 Oct 2015. I would love to see that work one day but for now A Mighty Wind will do.
The National Dance Company of Wales's next stop on their Spring tour is The Place in London on 12 April and then on to Aberystwyth, Milford Haven and Mold. If you live anywhere near those places they are worth a visit.
