Local Hero

Author Tim Green Licence CC BY 2.0 Source Wikimedia Commons

Huddersfield Station

 

The Birmingham Royal Ballet's website and programmes used to state: "Huddersfield is not as famous in the world of classical dance as St Petersburg, Paris or London, but it was the birthplace of David Bintley - one of the most consistent and significant forces in British ballet."  After attending  Deborah Weiss's online interview of Andrew McNicol for the London Ballet Circle on 7 May 2025, I looked up the McNicol Ballet Collective and found that it was based in Huddersfield.   IMHO the Collective counts as another significant contribution from Huddersfield to the world of classical dance.

Andrew McNicol is a freelance British choreographer and Artistic Associate at English National Ballet School.  He has created work for companies and ballet schools around the world, including the Royal Ballet, Northern Ballet, the Royal Ballet of Flanders, the Joffrey Ballet, the Tulsa Ballet, the Royal Ballet School and the English National Ballet School.   He founded the McNicol Ballet Collective in 2021.

The McNicol Ballet Collective describes itself as "a creation-based ensemble of extraordinary artists at the peak of their creative powers, alongside emerging talent primed to showcase their brilliance and artistry."  They create works for the stage and screen and have launched a learning programme called "Compositions and Configurations."

I discovered that the Collective has a mailing list, so I subscribed to it.  Yesterday, I received my first newsletter.  It started with a note of thanks from McNicol to those who had attended the Collective's shows, made donations or engaged with it on social media.  Since its formation, the Collective had presented 4 ballets to critical acclaim, premiered a new ballet called Liquid Life and commissioned a new score from Jeremy Birchall. There is also a link to the Collective's Insight Event with the Royal Academy of Dance.   

For those who want to learn more about McNicol and his project, I recommend Trevor Rothwell's write-up of Deborah Weiss's interview on the London Ballet Circle website and the Insight Event video.  Apart from asking McNicol why he chose Huddersfield as his base during that interview, my only contact with him was at the Tell Tale Steps Choreographic Laboratory  10 years ago.  I remember struggling to get a word in edgeways at the panel discussion.   I welcome McNicol's initiative in setting up the Collective and I will do my best to support it.

Pulse

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National Dance Company of Wales Pulse 18 May 2023  19:30 Lawrence Batley Theatre 

The National Dance Company of Wales is Wales's national contemporary dance company.  It is one of three very important institutions at national, level the others being Ballet Cymru which is Wales's classical dance company and Dawnsio, the  Welsh Folk Dance Society.  It is based at the Cardiff Dance House but partners with a number of "priority venues" one of which is the Lawrence Batley Theatre in Huddersfield. The company has visited Huddersfield regularly for many years and I have seen several of its performances there.  When it comes to our theatre it sometimes allows the public to watch its company class and it always holds a Q&A after the show.  By reaching out to its audience in this way it has made a lot of friends here.

The company visited Huddersfield on 18 May 2023 to dance Pulse (or Pwls in Cymraeg).  This was a double bill consisting of Waltz by Marcos Morau and  Say Something by Sarah Goldring and Yukiko Masui.  The cast for both shows were Vito Bintchende, Jill Goh, Niamh Keeling, Mario Manara, Bianca Mikahil, Ed Myhill, Euan Stephen, Faye Tan and Tim Volleman.  These were two very different works.

Waltz started with the dancers enveloped in a black hood with diamante sequins that sparkled in the dim light.   A recording of Sibelius's Valse Triste was played.   Gradually the dancers unfurled and formed some extraordinary shapes of which the most memorable was something that reminded me of the DNA double helix.  Eventually, they separated though their movements were synchronized.  There is a very good video on the work at Waltz by Marcos Moreau and more information on the Waltz page. 

According to the programme notes:

"A haunting waltz plays in the distance. From the ashes a tangle of shining creatures emerge to inhabit a new world. In the chaos and turbulence their only hope is to remain united."

I have to say that was not my interpretation,  Perhaps because I focused on the double helix I thought it was about the origin of life in the primordial soup and the beginning of evolution.   I should have added that the music changed as the piece progressed.   Sibelius was followed by Suspirium by Thom Yorke, Crawler by Holly Herndon and Pneuma by Caterina Barbieri.  I had heard the Sibelius before but not the other works.   The ingeniously designed customers were by Elizabeth Catherine Chiu (Costume Supervisor and Maker) and Danial Thatcher (Maker).  Lighting was designed by Bernat Jansà and programmed by Will Lewis.   

Say Something was a vibrant, exuberant, percussive work with plenty of beatbox sounds.   There were pulses of light and colour.  The video Say Something by Sarah Golding and Yukiko Masui (SAY) describes it far more accurately than I ever could.   The programme notes state: "Say Something explores what it means to 'represent', and the ever-growing expectation to have a voice."  I don't think the piece needed an interpretation.   For me, it was enough to enjoy the kaleidoscope of sound, light, movement and colour.  The music was by MC Zani and Dean Yhnell. Lighting was designed by Joshie Harriette.  The very striking costumes were by George Hampton Wale.

Euan Stephen was part of the panel for the Q&A after the show.  He was asked how long he had been a dancer.  As he was about to answer the gentleman next to me whispered "That's my boy".Euan had danced well in the show so congratulations were in order.  I was able to express my appreciation to him personally as he was standing with his parents as I was leaving the theatre.   It was quite a good Q&A with questions ranging from the rehearsal times for the two productions to the company's work for Dance for Parkinson's about which I had written before.  I was very heartened to learn that the company always tried to include some of its own choreography in its Parkinson's classes.

The day after tghe show I tweeted the following:

Sioe wych yn @theLBT ddoe. Mwynheais i "Waltz" a "Say Something". Hefyd, y Holi ac Ateb. Falch o gwrdd ag Ewan a'i fam a'i dad wedyn. Dwi'n ysgrifennu adolygiad rwan. Gobeithiaf eich gweld yng Nghaerdydd rhyw ddydd.

— Jane Lambert (@nipclaw) May 19, 2023

That means:

"Great show at @theLBT yesterday.  I enjoyed both "Walrz" and "Say Something," Also the Q&A. Pleased to meet Euan's mum and dad.    I'm writing the review now.  Hoping to see you in Cardiff one of these days."

Digwyddiad Cyntaf yng Nghymru - February Company Class in Myndd Isa

© 2023 Powerhouse Ballet: all rights reserved

 

I was inspired to found Powerhouse Ballet by the examples of the Chelmsford Ballet Company in Essex and the Duchy Ballet in Cornwall,  As Huddersfield is about the same size as Chelmsford and has good road and rail connections with Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield I thought about basing the new company in Huddersfield and calling it the Huddersfield Ballet,  I decided to broaden it to Powerhouse Ballet because the original concept of the Northern Powerhouse was a Leeds to Liverpool agglomeration as a counterweight to London (see my article Creating a Northern Counterweight to London is good for the Nation 5 April 2014 IP Northwest).  That is why I resolved to alternate monthly events between Yorkshire and the Northwest.

We held our first company class in Huddersfield in May 2018 and attracted 11 dancers "from Salford in the west and York in the east, from Harrogate in the north and Birmingham in the south and points in between" (see We have a Company 27 May 2018 Powerhouse Ballet).  We held our second class in Manchester in June and attracted four beautiful dancers from Wales.  Two of them, Holly Middleton and Alicia Jelley, were chosen by Terence Etheridge to dance in his ballet Aria.  They rehearsed assiduously for 6 months even though they are busy young women with careers and families.  The distances they had to travel were enormous as rehearsals alternated between Leeds and Manchester and on one occasion York.

During that time I promised them events west of Manchester including at least one in Wales just as soon as they could be arranged.  The pandemic and the closure of our studios in Liverpool and Manchester delayed the delivery of that promise until 25 Feb 2023 when we held our first company class at Elite Studios in Myndd Isa near Mold.  The class was delivered by Alicia Jelley who teaches at the studios. It included Sarah Lambert, Sue Pritchard, Holly Middleton, a very gifted local dancer and me.  It was not a big class but it was a very good one.  Alicia worked us very hard at the barre, in the centre and in the choreographic exercises.

Elite Studios is an excellent venue.  It is very close to the A55 and there are acres of free parking in the village centre and behind the studio.  There is a Sainsbury's local with an ATM and a fish and chip shop that would delight Gareth the Orangutan nearby.  The studio has two well-equipped studios with fixed barres and well-sprung floors, ample changing facilities for both men and women and excellently maintained bathrooms.   We shall certainly be back. 

As soon as it can be arranged I plan to hold a residential summer school which will alternate between the university cities of York and Bangor.  According to Christie Barnes, York St John University could host the York school.  We have already held a Giselle workshop and a rehearsal for Aria there.  The Bangor venue could be a recently opened youth theatre called Frân Wen.  We have already recently received an expression of interest from its management.  There is a lot of work to be done and I am not sure that I will be ready by this summer but we have made a start,

Huddersfield University's Graduate Costume Show

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University of Huddersfield  Graduate Costume Show 15 June 2018 17:00 Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield

I am often asked by friends who regard balletomania as an addiction how I came to be hooked. Even  though I saw a lot of theatre, attended a lot of concerts and visited a lot of art galleries and museums as I was growing up, I never had much to do with ballet.  That was largely because my father, a kindly and erudite man of letters, regarded it as slightly disreputable owing to its association with the Soviet Union and the tendency of the classical tutu and male dancers' tights to reveal more than many considered decent.

My interest in ballet was sparked by an exhibition of early 20th century Russian art at the Victoria and Albert Museum or possibly Royal Academy when I was about 16 or 17.  There I saw some of the work of Leon Bakst and was quite bowled over. I learned of his work with Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes. I found that he was just one of many great artists who had been commissioned to design for the ballet.  When I should have been revising for "A" levels and Oxbridge scholarships in Hammersmith Library I was pouring over its massive collection of reference books on theatre design and ballet.  I watched what I could on television and became an early fan of Peter Darrell's Western Theatre Ballet. Eventually the London Festival Ballet staged a triple bill at The Coliseum that included the The Firebird, widely regarded as Bakst's masterpiece.

On the pretext of treating an elderly aunt I persuaded my parents to pay for me to see the show. It was better than I had ever imagined. The music, the colour, the movement and the drama absorbed all my senses.  It was the most thrilling experience that I had ever known.  The auditorium exploded at the curtain call.  The cheering, whooping and growling from the crowd, the thunderous applause, the mountains of flowers were theatre in themselves. Nobody with any soul could fail to have been moved by that experience.  Although I had to wait till I got to St Andrews with an independent income before I could afford another show or ballet lessons my passion for dance had been ignited.

I experienced a similar frisson  of excitement last night when I saw another costume for The Firebird .  That garment had been designed by Amelia Sierevogel who has just graduated from the University of Huddersfield with a bachelor's degree in Costume with Textiles. The costume was modelled by Erin Phillips who also reads Costume with Textiles at Huddersfield.  As soon as she came on stage I recognized her as a fellow adult ballet student. Erin did not simply display that costume. She danced in it.  Much of her performance was on pointe.  It was - or rather costume and dancing were - spell binding.

Amelia's costume was just one of several excellent works that I saw last night at the Graduate Costume Show at the Lawrence Batley Theatre in Huddersfield.   The students on that course learn to design costumes for theatres around the world as can be seen from the placements.  Amelia's were with the Australian Ballet and the Australian Opera last year.  Students pick characters from theatre, literature, film or television and create costumes for them. Last night we saw costumes for Cinderella and Ophelia as well as The Firebird and many other characters.  There were several designs for the ballet. Erin was not the only model on pointe last night.  The show opened spectacularly with a scene from Midsummer Night's Dream with a splendid Bottom dressed as an ass.

Although last night's show was filmed, it is likely to be some time before any of it is posted to YouTube.  Happily one can get some idea of its format from the above recording of Rhianna Lister's designs for characters from A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy from the 2016 show.

As I said above, I was led to ballet by Leon Bakst so I cannot stress too much the importance of theatre design. Over the years I have been impressed by other designers such as Nicholas Georgiadis, Osbert Lancaster and more recently Lez Brotherston   The course at Huddersfield is described in Costume with Textiles at the University of Huddersfield - Natalie Day. It is clearly an important resource for the theatre and thus for all of us.

Although it has nothing to do with costume design or fashion I must report another find.  On my way back to my car I passed an eatery called Rostyk Kitchen that advertised jollof rice. It is a delicacy from West Africa that my late spouse used to cook and I miss it so.  West African food requires a lot of preparation and the ingredients are not always readily available. I can cook simple dishes like plantains and sweet potatoes but not plasas, pepper chicken or groundnut stew. Now I no longer need to mither Vlad the Lad's mum and dad, my sisters in law in London or my relations by marriage in Freetown when I get a craving.  My feast of jollof rice and chicken completed a perfect day.

Powerhouse Ballet - What comes next

Kirklees Leisure Centre

© 2018 Jane Elizabeth Lambert: all rights reserved

At about 3 pm today. a group of dancers will meet in the studio shown in the photograph above to begin a 90 minute class with Jane Tucker of Northern Ballet Academy. I have no idea how big that group will be. Some 20 people have registered for the class but several have had to drop out. On the other hand, I have received at least one intimation through twitter from a dancer who has not yet registered that she is looking forward to meeting everybody. All I would say is that if you want to come and have not yet registered is please let me know as soon as possible so that I can ask the staff at reception to let you in.

The class will take place at the Kirklees Leisure Centre at Spring Grove Street, Huddersfield, HD1 4BP which is just to the west of the Castlegate ring road. It is just down the hill from junction 24 on the M62 with oodles of onsite parking at 70p per hour and a short walk from the bus and railway stations for those who will use public transport.

There will be a short meeting after the class to decide whether we want to form a company and to elect a small steering committee to draw up a business plan and constitution. Several of the people who have had to drop out have stressed that they still want to form a company. Several others who can't be here today have said the same. We have even had messages of support from Mel Wong and David Hotchkiss in Hungary. I think we have enough support to plan for our next activity.

It is important to keep the momentum. Chelmsford Ballet holds company classes with a different teacher on the first Sunday of every month. Cara O'Shea, who once danced Princess Aurora for the the Chelmsford Ballet, gave her old company a very good class a few years ago. We need to do the same. Jane Tucker has very kindly agreed in principle to give us another class as have a number of other teachers.

As many of us have progressed from beginners to improvers and beyond without mastering all the basics and have acquired bad habits I have asked Karen Sant of KNT to arrange a day long ballet boot camp to iron some of these out (see Ballet Boot Camp Pilot 9 May 2018 Powerhouse Ballet). As it is likely to take a little more than a day for folks like me I have discussed the possibility of residential courses with Gillian Barton in Scotland and Terence Etheridge in Cornwall.

Chelmsford arranges all sorts of other events throughout the year such as workshops, an annual coach trip to London to see a show, a performance with the Brentwood Choral Society at Christmas and a children's workshop called "Let's make a ballet" in the Autumn. As workshops and summer schools require time off work I was thinking that we may as well hold them in places where we might well go on holiday such as Taynuilt and Truro. I was also thinking of inviting artistic directors of visiting companies, choreographers, dancers and musicians to dinner meetings where we talk to them over a glass of wine or coffee after a light supper. If I can persuade them to sit down with us, Christopher Marney, Yoko Ichino, Cira Robinson and Koen Kessels are high on my list. Finally, I hope we can persuade Northern Ballet, Phoenix Dance Theatre and visiting companies to arrange special events with us where we can explore the choreography and maybe meet their dancers, creatives and technicians.

I emphasize that we need artists, craftsmen and women, designers, managers, musicians and technicians as well as dancers. If you would like to help us in any capacity even if you live outside the North, do get in touch.

BalletLORENT's Rumpelstiltskin

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BalletLORENT  Rumpelstiltskin 7 April 2018, 14:30 Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield

The dancers of BalletLORENT performed the Poet Laureate's adaptation of the Grimms' Rumpelstiltskin to an almost full house at Huddersfield's municipal theatre with great gusto yesterday afternoon.  The audience which consisted largely of schoolchildren and their patents seemed to like it. In so far as I have reservations they relate to the style of dance which is just not my personal preference.  The exaggerated and sometimes unpredictable jumps, turns and arm movements as well as the clambering over the sets reminded me more of troops on an assault course or even children in an adventure playground than highly trained dancers but then that may be because I see too much ballet and not enough of other styles of dance.  Having said that, it had very little in common with Wayne MacGregor;s Yugen or Sharon Watson's Wundrush which are contemporary works that I enjoyed very much indeed.

Despite its name BalletLORENT is not primarily a ballet company though one dancer did bourré on pointe briefly as she tried to distract a grief stricken king.  It is a contemporary dance company based at Dancecity in Newcastle (see Dance in Newcastle 4 Nov 2016).  It has already created two works based on the Grimms Children's and Household Tales, namely Rapunzel and Snow White which explore "how complicated and faulted individuals are relevant to the contemporary world". As the programme adds, "This is not Walt Disney." I had seen Snow White on 30 Sept 2016 and reviewed it in BalletLORENT on 3 Oct 2016.

Carol Ann Duffy's Rumpelstiltskin has parallels with Snow White in that they are both about the rejection of children by their patents.  I didn't like Grimms' tales when my mother tried to read them to me as a child because of the horrible ways that characters met their ends.   I don't think that she liked them either because we never reached Rumpelstiltskin and I looked up the story for the first time only yesterday. I was born just a few years after the second world war when passions were still running high against Germany.  I heard it said more than once that the Grimms showed a cruel streak in the German character. That, of course, was nonsense.  I am glad to say that such things are no longer said, but the stories were still chilling. With the benefit of hindsight, perhaps the most alarming aspect of the tales is the fact that not all children are loved as they should be. Alas, that is always a contemporary reality.

Yesterday's performance focused on the following main characters: the king and queen and later the queen's ghost danced by John Kendall and Virginia Scudeletti, the shepherd, Toby Fitzgibbons, his daughter Natalie Trewinnard and, of course, Rumpelstiltskin danced by Gavin Coward. There were also a  lot of children in the cast. All, professionals and kids, danced energetically and expressively and were applauded vigorously for their efforts. My favourite characters were the sheep who did not have to move with wild abandon.  They appealed to me because they behaved, well, just like sheep.  The choreographer  and maybe the dancers seem to have spent some time watching them on moors and in farmyards because their head movements  in particular were quite lifelike.

The set consisted of a palace and a hill mounted on scaffolding and there were props like straw, gold leaf and bigger and bigger spinning wheels all cleverly designed by Phil Eddolls. There was a lavish use of gold cloth by Michelle Clapton, especially in the queen's costume.  Murray Gold's music fittted the story well. I particularly liked the reel in the wedding celebrations.

The show opened at Sadler's Wells where it received good reviews from the dance critics. Huddersfield was its second stop.  It will move on to The Lowry, Hull, Oxford, Darlington and Aberdeen (see the tour dates page of the company's website).  The audience in Huddersfield seemed to like it very much so it is quite likely that you will too.  If you live anywhere near those towns then watch it - particularly if you have children to treat.

Just as most Adult Ballet Classes are folding up for the Summer, here's one that's opening

Photo Huddersfield University~
Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike 3.0 Unported licence

At a time of the year when many adult ballet classes are winding down for the summer, it is great to hear of one that is opening up. Today and for the next four Thursdays, Fiona Noonan will run an open adult class at Huddersfield University Sports Centre between 11:00 and 12:00.

Fiona is an excellent teacher. She trained at Queensland Ballet Academy in Brisbane which is the ballet school for Li Cunxin's company that made such a memorable impression on critics and audiences when it brought La Sylphide to London in 2015 (see A dream realized: the Queensland Ballet in London 12 Aug 2015). She then danced with a number of companies around the world before settling in the United Kingdom. She, therefore, brings two rare qualities to her teaching. A rigorous pursuit of excellence and an attention to detail which I have noticed in other Australian trained teachers such as Adam Pudney at Pineapple and more than a little stardust from the stage that some of my favourite teachers at Northern Ballet Academy and KNT also scatter.

I have attended Fiona's classes at The Base Studios and Team Hud in Huddersfield and at Hype Studios in Sheffield (see More than just Hype - Beginners and Improvers Classes in Sheffield 14 May 2014).  They are not easy.  She pushes her students to their limits and then some. But that is exactly what a ballet student needs whatever his or her age or natural ability. I have also learned some important lessons from her. "Ballet is a harsh mistress", I once heard her tell a promising young student " and she is wanting and waiting for you to fail."  Like most balletomanes, I had associated dance with tiaras and gravity defying leaps but the reality is graft, sweat, pain and on more than a few occasions physical danger. Something that requires will, determination and resilience even if you are just taking an adult ballet class. Transferable qualities, incidentally, if you are lucky enough to enjoy your job and have no plans to quit just because you have reached pensionable age.

So if you come to her class this morning you had better pack a towel with your leotard or sports kit because you can expect to sweat. If this is your first class you will be allowed to dance barefoot. However, if you plan to stay the course and invest in some shoes there is a dance shop in the Byrom Arcade called "Mr Frog Dancewear".

For those who do not know the campus, the Sports Centre is in a new building called "Student Central" where you will also find the students' shop and cafeteria. It is almost opposite Sainsbury's car park and there are two multi-storey car parks on the other side of Queensway. The Sports Centre is one floor down and you have to report at the front desk. I don't yet know how much Fiona will charge for her classes but it was £5 two years ago. Most other ballet schools in the North charge between £6 and £8. Well worth it for a fair dinkum touch of stardust, mate. Gooday.

Alvin Ailey in Salford

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Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, Mixed Bill, The Lowry, 7 Oct 2016


I went to the Lowry last night to see Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre for a second time. It was a slightly longer programme than the one in Bradford before a considerably larger and even more enthusiastic crowd. I took advantage of the opportunity to get to know the company a little better by attending a rehearsal before the show and a question and answer session afterwards. I enjoyed the evening more than last time.

The programme in Salford consisted of Aszure Barton's Lift, Ronald K. Brown's Four Corners and Cry and Revelations by Alvin Ailey. The piece we saw in the rehearsal was Brown's Four Corners. I entered the auditorium after the Q & A had begun so missed the introductions but I believe I recognized Sarah Daley on the panel from her After the Rain Pas de Deux which had been my personal highlight of the Bradford show.

Lift began and ended with the dancers jumping in unison in the spotlight. It included solos and a very interesting duet as well as group dances, The music by Curtis Macdonald  was percussive and even slightly mesmeric. The lighting by Burke Brown was understated which made it difficult to appreciate Fritz Masten's costumes, This was the first time I had seen work by Barton who is described on the company's website as an "in-demand choreographer" and "a much sought-after dance maker whose choreography ranges from Baryshnikov to Broadway." It was energetic and in some respects exuberant which was a good way to start the show. I would like to see it again, particularly the duet where the female's face seemed to be attached to the male dancer's chest to some very curious music. I thought of asking a question about it in the Q & A but could not think of an appropriate way to frame such a question without sounding like a chump.

Four Corners is described as 11 dancers depicting spiritual seekers amid 4 angels standing on the corners of the earth, holding the 4 winds.  The work was set to music by Carl Hancock Rux, Rahsaan Roland Kirk and Yacoub and is said to have been inspired by the following words from Rux's Lamentations:

"Away they fall
All who stand
At the four corners of the earth
With blades and sheaths
These
Yours is simply this
Command and stand up
Stand
You are beautiful
And lovely
Beautiful and lovely"

I have searched in vein for information about Yacob who is described as a "North African vocalist". His song changed the mood of the ballet quite suddenly. I also seemed to recognize some bars of Hey Jude in the score and there seemed to be some West African influences in the costumes. An eclectic but nonetheless coherent piece.

My favourite work of the evening was Alvin Ailey's Cry which was a solo danced enchantingly by Rachael McLaren. Ailey dedicated this work to "all black women everywhere--especially our mothers."  Having lost in August my own mother in law (who was Sierra Leonean) a few months before her 97th birthday this piece spoke to me in a way that no other work possibly can. A lot of other very dear people came to mind including my late spouse Iyamide and our daughter manquee Dunni who is herself a mother. Set to Alice Coltrane's "Something about John Coltrane," Laura Nyro's "Been on a Train," The Voices of East Harlem "Right on. Be Free" with McLaren in a "long white robe" I was close to tears when the curtain fell.

I was grateful of a few minutes of silence to compose myself before the whole company belted out Ailey's Revelations. The long white robe to which I referred just now were a quotation from the song "I want to be Ready" which was danced by Jamar Roberts. Readers may remember that it was he who danced the After The Rain Pas de Deux so beautifully will Sarah Daley in Bradford. The solo requires enormous strength and control which Roberts possesses in abundance. I want to be Ready is danced immediately before Sinner Man which was danced by Colin Hayward, Jermaine Terry and Solomon Dumas and presumably the juxtaposition between vice and virtue is not coincidental. The piece ending with the audience standing and clapping in time to Rocks My Soul to the Bosom of Abraham.

Someone told us that Alvin Ailey is on the syllabus of this year's "A" level dance course for one of the examination boards. That explains the presence of so many school students. They were a high spirited, giggly screeching bunch who leavened the atmosphere. Some of those students came from Huddersfield and it was good to see two of their teachers, Fiona Noonan and Sean Selby, in the audience.

Cambriophilia

"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 London 1 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.

The company performed three works for us:

• Tuplet by Alexander Ekman whose work includes an alternative Swan Lake which seems to be even more off the wall than David Nixon's (see Up the Swannee 17 March 2016) or even Sir Matthew Bourne's (see Swan Lads - Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake, Bradford Alhambra 4 March 2014 5 March 2014) so if a choreographer must have a go at one of my most cherished ballets he may as well do a proper job;
• A Mighty Wind by Jeroen Verbruggen who also designed the sets as well as choreographed the ballet; and
• Folk by the company's artistic director Caroline Finn.

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 Nutcracker for the Geneva Ballet which I mentioned in Geneva Nutcracker on 25 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.

Happy New Year! Christmas is over. Now if you want to work off those Mince Pies .....

KNT Dancworks Manchester: Ailsa Baker, Josh Moss and Karen Sant
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I was 63 when I took up ballet. Save for a few classes when I was an undergraduate at St Andrews in the early 1970s I had no experience of ballet. My first classes were at The Base in Huddersfield. They were not easy because I was the oldest member by several decades but we had a good teacher and I persevered. In September 2013 I joined Northern Ballet's Over 55 class where all the other students were about my age. That was one of the best decisions I ever took in my life. We have an excellent teacher in Annemarie Donoghue and the other students are lovely. Here is what I wrote after my first class with Annemarie: Realizing a Dream 12 Sept 2013.

My classes with Annemarie gave me sufficient confidence to try classes with other teachers. I tried Adam Pudney's class at Pineapple which I enjoyed tremendously (see Pineapple 20 Nov 2013 and Another Slice of Pineapple 12 July 2015). I took classes with Christopher Hinton-Lewis (see It's an Ill Wind - Review of Northern Ballet's Beginner's Class 6 Dec 2013) and Elizabeth Rae and attend regulalry Jane Tucker's class at the Northern Ballet Academy. I have appeared in the Academy's end of term shows (see The Time of My Life 28 June 2014 and My Second Ballet 5 July 2015) which we even took or tour to Morley (see Growing Old Disgracefully in Morley 28 Sept 2015). I ventured south to Sheffield (see More than just Hype - Beginners and Improvers Classes in Sheffield 14 May 2014), across the Pennines (see So Proud of Manchester - KNT Danceworks Complete Beginners Class 29 Aug 2014) and I even found myself dancing in the ballroom of Liverpool Town Hall (see It's not every Class that you can use Lord Canning's Eyes for Spotting 9 Sept 2014).

My favourite dance studio is KNT' in Manchester. Classes take place in the studios of the Northern Ballet School on Oxford Road.  There are some great teachers as you can see in the video and I have yet to meet kinder or more supportive classmates. There are classes in all sorts of dance every day of the week except Sunday (see Adult Dance Class Timetable). Last Summer I attended Jane Tucker's Swan Lake intensive and enjoyed it tremendously (see KNT's Beginners' Adult Ballet Intensive - Swan Lake: Day 1 18 Aug 2015, KNT's Beginners' Adult Ballet Intensive - Swan Lake: Day 2 19 Aug 2015 and KNT's Beginners' Adult Ballet Intensive - Swan Lake: Day 3 20 Aug 2915). KNT are presenting a show on 30 Jan 2016 and I am in it. :-)

Another good class that I have discovered very recently is Katie Geddes's at Dance Studio Leeds (see Dance Studio Leeds Beginners' Ballet Class 23 Oct 2015). Again, there is a great teacher and some lovely people in the class. Katie organized a delightful Christmas party on 4 Dec 2015 and a trip to Northern Ballet's The Nutcracker on 18 Dec 2015 (see Northern Nutcracker 19 Dec 2015). One of the delights of just about any dance class is the opportunity to meet interesting new people in all walks of life and I have made some great friendships through ballet.

So this is how I spend my week.  On Mondays I go to the beginners' class at Dance Studio Leeds between 1945 and 21:15. On Tuesday's I attend Karen Sant's beginners' class at KNT in Manchester from 18:30 to 19:30. On Wednesday I attend Jane Tucker's improvers' class at Northern Ballet between 19:00 and 20:15. That is a particularly challenging but also very worthwhile class because if you aim for the stars you may actually clear the bar. On Thursday's I attend Annemarie Donoghue's over 55 improvers class at Northern Ballet between 11:00 and 12:15 which is also pretty stretching. If I miss a class earlier in the week for any reason I cross the Pennines for Sarah Butler's beginner's class at KNT between 18:30 and 19:30 on Friday. I have also attended the Saturday afternoon mixed ability class between 15:00 and 17:00.

If you live anywhere near Manchester or Leeds those are the classes I recommend. If not, here are some tips to find a class that's right for you. If you live in or near London you are spoilt for choice. Londondance.com lists dance classes in just about every dance style in every part of the metropolis on its Dance Class and Workshops page. I have only attended Adam's class at Pineapple but I have watched some of the classes at Danceworks and can't wait to try some of them.  KNT runs classes at Studio 76 at 76 West Derby Road and Dolphin Dance Studio at Dolphin Dance Studio at 42 Devon Street in Liverpool on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays (see Timetable). Dancexchange runs all sorts of classes in Birmingham. Scottish Ballet runs a wide range of adult ballet classes at the Tramway in Glasgow (see the Get Dancing page on Scottish Ballet's web site). Ballet West offers body conditioning for adults at Taynuilt on Tuesdays and Thursdays (see Ballet West Outreach Timetable 2015/16) as does Ballet Cymru in Newport on Mondays between 18:30 and 19:30 (call Jenny Isaacs 01633 892927 or email jennyisaacs@welshballet.co.uk for further details).

We are busy compiling a database of adult dance classes up and down the country. If we find any gaps we shall do our best to find a teacher and premises to fill them. If you are an RAD or ISTD teacher, carry the appropriate insurance and accreditations and are prepared to teach adults in your area do get in touch.

Lady of the Camellias Streamed from Moscow

Nigrum Sol BT    Standard YouTube Licence

Bolshoi Ballet, The Lady of the Camellias, HDTV transmission for Moscow, 6 Dec 2015

We don't see enough of John Neumeier's work in this country which is a shame because it is dramatic and beautiful. I saw a bit of it live on stage this year in two galas.  In March Alexandr Trusch and Lucia Solari danced the final pas de deux from his production of The Nutcracker in Leeds at Northern Ballet's Sapphire gala. In September I saw Marijn Rademaker and Igone de Jongh dance an excerpt from the Dutch National Ballet's production of La Dame aux Camelias (see A chance to see more of Neumeier's work: Dutch National Ballet's La Dame aux Camelias 18 March 2015) at the opening gala of the Amsterdam ballet season (see The best evening I have ever spent at the ballet 13 Sept 2015).

Yesterday afternoon I saw the whole of that ballet (albeit in two dimensions) streamed live from Moscow to the Huddersfield Odeon. I like other British ballet goers have been brought up on Ashton's Marguerite and Armand which he created for Fonteyn and Nureyev and is also based on the Dumas novel. Neumeier's ballet created 15 years later for the great Brazilian ballerina Marcia Haydée to Chopin's music is at least as beautiful and perhaps even more dramatic.

The synopsis for those who missed the transmission is here. Marguerite was danced magnificently by Svetlana Zakharova who was Giselle in October (see The Bolshoi does the Business - Giselle streamed from Moscow 12 Oct 2015) and Armand by Edvin Revazov. The production had been facilitated by Kevin Haigen of the Hamburg Ballet who represented Neumeier in Moscow. The excellent Katerina Novikova interviewed him during one of the intervals as well as Anna Tikhomirova who danced Manon Lescaut in the other. She was interviewed in costume which was gorgeous as Ms Novikova observed. The designs were Jürgen Rose's originals.

The ballet was beautiful but emotionally draining to watch as I tweeted at the end of the second interval

Awed by.@BolshoiOfficial's performance of The Lady of the Camellias. Very beautiful but also emotionally draining.

— Terpsichore (@jelterps) December 6, 2015

I long to see this whole ballet on stage. I could kick myself for missing it in Amsterdam earlier this year when I had the chance. Too much loyalty to Ashton I guess.

Phoenix in Huddersfield

Phoenix Dance Theatre, Mixed Bill, Lawrence Batley Teatre, Huddersfield, 27 Nov 2015

When I reviewed Phoenix's triple bill at The Linbury in The Phoenix Soars Over London on 13 Nov 2015 I promised to focus on Itzik Galili's Until.With/ Out.Enough and Caroline Finn's Bloom as soon as I had seen them in Huddersfield. I made that romise because I was so impressed with Sharon Watson's TearFall that I ran out of space and time to write about anything else. I am unable to keep that promise in its entirety because the first two works in last night's show were not Galili's piece bbut Christopher Bruce's Shift and Shadows. 

Not that I'm complaining for I am a great admirer of Bruce's work as you can see from my reviews of Rambert's Rooster (see Cock a Doodle Doo - Rambert's Rooster 27 Oct 2015 and Rooster ................ :-) 4 Oct 2014) and Scottish Ballet's Ten Poems (see Bruce Again 6 Oct 2015). Nevertheless it did occur to me to ask the reason for the substitution in a question and answer session with the cast in the Syngenta cellar at the end of the show. I didn't get a chance to ask that question because there were so many others who wanted to quiz the company but it was answered by Tracy Tinker, the tour director, who explained that the company had to dance Galili's piece in London because it had been a joint commission with the Royal Opera House.

The substitution prompted me to buy a new programme at the first interval and I remarked to a lady selling Phoenix merchandise in the foyer that this was a completely new programme. It wasn't entirely new. The other two works, TearFall and Bloom were the same as in the Linbury. 

As on the 12 Nov 2015 I enjoyed TearFall tremendously and appreciated it a little bit more for seeing it twice. It was clear from the Q & A that that piece went down well with the audience. Prentice Whitlow explained his interpretation of the work in response to a question from the floor. One point that I had missed before was that men and women think of tears in an entirely different way and the piece explored that.  Whitlow had introduced the piece with a short monologue and recordings of his voice and someone's (possibly his) weeping recurred at several points of the show.

Finn's Bloom was another work that I got to understand better the second time round though I am still not sure that I have got to the bottom of it.  Perhaps if I describe it you will see why.  It began with a group of dancers on the left hand side of the stage cooing and clucking around a table.  Suddenly one of them screams and Sam Vaherlehto wearing a clown's tragedy mask appears round a microphone. He shifts and shuffles apparently with embarrassment as his audience applauds and looks on. There is a duet - or more properly a dance dialogue - with Whitlow. One of the women in a tutu like skirt dances a solo to a rhyme that seemed to mock medicine. In another scene Vaherlehto gathers the dancers who were stretched on the ground like corpses and assembles them into a pile. The dancer in the tutu makes her way to the centre and lies down about them.  Towards the end Vaherlehto, stripped to his underpants, danced to a song with the chorus "I'm a creep. I'm a wierdo. What the hell am I doing here." Starting with the title Bloom I wondered whether the dancers might be plants or flowers and that the man in the mask was the gardener. I was dying to ask whether or not I was on the right track but sadly didn't get a chance to find out.

Even if it was about flowers Bloom did have disturbing undertones such as the thin line between reality and hallucination, Bruce's Shadows also seemed to be about aberrations of the mind as it started with furniture throwing. I was not the only one to see a connection with depression. The lady sitting next to me in the Q & A was a therapist and she alluded to it in formulating her question.

Shift, however was quite different. I had seen the same dancers dance that work at The Sapphire gala in March and I think they were better second time round. More polished somehow. Dressed in forties costumes with the women in head scarves Gracie Fields style they seemed to represent a production line. I was reminded very much of the munitions workers in Liam Scrlett's No Man's Land which I had seen in Manchester two days earlier (see Lest We Forget 25 Nov 2015). However, Bruce's workers seemed to have a lot more fun that Scareltt's canaries.

The Q & A session was my first chance to see all the dancers together and hear them speak. I had already met Whitlow a few days earlier, I have been following several of the others on twitter and I knew Marie-Astrid Mence from Ballet Black. They are an impressive bunch of artists. Watson explained her selection process which is uber competitive. They were asked how they took up dance. Two of the men explained that they took up dance because their sisters were taking lessons. The others gave various reasons. They were asked by the therapist how they relaxed and we learned from Vaherlehto that they look (or at least he looks) to another art. Photography in his case someone added.  I hope to run a feature on Mence and Whitlow in Terpsichore soon.

This has been a pretty good month for dance and the two shows by Phoenix were among the highlights. Although rooted in Leeds it really is a world class company with dancers from around the world.  I am very proud of them.

Au Revoir but not Adieu

Embedded pursuant to YouTube's standard licence

I was very tempted to attend the Royal Ballet's mixed programme to see Carlos Acosta's last performance on the main stage of Covent Garden on Thursday night for I was offered a ticket for the grand circle for only £100. The reason I was tempted was that I knew that I would see a little piece of balletic history. But then I would have missed Phoenix Dance Theatre at the Royal Opera House and I knew that that would be good too. Torn though I was I opted for Phoenix (see The Phoenix Soars over London 13 Nov 2015) as they are from Leeds. I see them nearly every time I attend an adult ballet class. Some of these classes even take place in their studios.

One of the reasons why I chose to watch Phoenix in the Linbury was that I knew the mixed bill would be filmed and that I would get a chance to see that film at the Huddersfield Odeon on Sunday, That is what I did. The Royal Opera House HDTV transmissions have just about got it right now. The show was introduced by Fiona Bruce who is an experienced TV presenter. Darcey Bussell interviewed Carlos Acosta and Kevin O'Hare and contributed anecdotes from her experience as a principal dancer. The programme consisted of four ballets: Liam Scarlett's Viscera. Jerome Robbins's Afternoon of a Faun, Tchaikowsky Pas de Deux by Balanchine and Carlos Acosta's Carmen. It was a thrilling programme showing the Royal Ballet at its best.

Ever since I heard Laura Morera's talk to the London Ballet Circle I have wanted to see Viscera (see Laura Morera 25 Aug 2015). Although the work was commissioned by Miami City Ballet it is associated with Morera in this country.  In the cinema transmission Morera was accompanied by Ryoichi Hirano and Marianela Nuñez.  Viscera is a spectacular ballet in three movements. It reminds me very much of David Dawson's Empire Noir which I saw in Amsterdam as part of the Dutch National Ballet's Cool Britannia programme earlier in the year  (see Going Dutch 29 June 2015) in that everything except the second movement is done on the double. There were spectacular turns and jumps by in the first and last movements and a delicious duet in the middle with the most delicate lifts and holds. The ballet was set to Lowell Liebermann's First Piano Concerto. You can get a taste of Liebermann's work from this concert performance of the third movement on this YouTube video.

Viscera was followed by an interval which showed an interview of Carlos Acosta by Darcey Bussell over tea. Acosta spoke about his career in England: how he entered ballet largely on his father's insistence, his short time with the English National Ballet where he actually contemplated giving up dance, his audition with the Royal Ballet, his career with the company and the two works that he created for it. Bussell shone as Acosta's interviewer. She coaxed the story from Acosta adding her own reminiscences here and there. This is what she does well.

The next act consisted of Afternoon of a Faun and the Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux.  These are two short works by two of America's best known choreographers.  Robbins's Afternoon  shares the music and title of Nijinsky's L'Après-midi but, as can be seen from archive film of the Nijinsky's work and a video of the Ballett am Rhein's performance of Robbin's, the narratives are quite different.  I am not sure which work I prefer. The Robbins probably makes more sense as it is set in a dance studio with the audience acting as a mirror on the fourth wall. Nobody is dressed in an animal costume or moves like a faun. However, Nijinksky's work for Diaghilev has the rich backcloth by Leon Bakst. Afternoon was danced by Vadim Muntagirov and Sarah Lamb. This was the first time I had seen them together and they teamed up well. Balanchine created the Pas de Deux from music that Tchaikovsky wrote originally for Swan Lake. It is a gorgeous work with male and female solos and a thrilling coda. It was danced magnificently by Steven McRae and Iana Salenko.

There followed quite a long interval when I went in search of a hot dog to avoid the tweets and trailers which is the one part of the Royal Opera House's transmission that I wish the House would drop. Towards the end there was a short interview of O'Hare by Bussell in which they discussed World Ballet Day, the career of Carlos Acosta and his latest work Carmen.  Then the curtain rose on the last Act which was Carlos Acosta's Carmen.

Acosta is not the first choreographer to transpose Prosper Mérimée's novella and Bizet's score into ballet. Roland Petit created a version for himself and Zizi Jeanmaire in 1949. So, too, did Alberto Alonso for the Bolshoi and the National Ballet of Cuba with Maya Plisetskaya in the lead  (see Wikipedia's Carmen Suite (Ballet)). Neither of those works has stuck and I am not sure why.  It seems that a full length opera does not translate easily into a one act ballet. Whether Acosta's work fares any better than his compatriot's or Roland Petit's remains to be seen. If it does not, it will not be for want of trying. Acosta threw just about everything bar the kitchen sink into the mix - voice, flamenco, contemporary and a new character called Fate danced by Matthew Golding. Surprisingly, Acosta found no role for Michaela which might have been an interesting one for a ballerina. I have mixed feelings about the work but it was certainly exciting. Acosta danced Don José, Nuñez was Carmen and Federico Bonelli Escamillo. Fiona Kimm sang the fortune teller's role.

Whatever the strengths of the work the audience loved it. As you can see from the above video there was a flower throw. O'Hare made a speech. The whole cast appeared on stage, It must have been one of those memorable evenings that the Royal Opera House does so well. I stayed in the auditorium for as long as the video of the applause continued long after everyone else had left with the ushers glancing pointedly at their watches. I felt that was the least I could do for Acosta who has given me and many others so much pleasure over his long career.

Dancing through the Summer

Saturday's end of year show brought term to an end at Northern Ballet Academy but as their website says

"just because the sun comes out (fingers crossed!) doesn't mean we have to stop dancing!"

Jane Tucker will be giving  classes to improvers on 4 and 11 Aug beginners on the 6 and 13 at Northern Ballet's studios in Leeds.

The same teacher is also teaching intensive workshops on Swan Lake and Giselle for beginners and advanced students at KNT Danceworks on the 19 and 22 Aug respectively.  I mentioned those courses in KNT Danceworks Adult Summer Intensives 7 May 2015. I shall attend Jane's beginners' classes at Northern Ballet and her Swan Lake intensive on the 19 August and will let you know how I get on.

In the meantime I shall attend at least two of KNT Danceworks ballet classes for beginners or complete beginners each week. These take place in Northern Ballet School's studios on Oxford Road in Manchester between 18:00 and 19:30 every weekday.  I have attended classes by Ailsa Baker, Karen Sant, Josh Moss and Sarah Butler and they are all good. I reviewed Ailsa's class in So Proud of Manchester - KNT Danceworks Complete Beginners Class on 29 Aug 2015. You can also see Gita's view in  Coming Back to Ballet  on 12 March 2015. She wrote:

"Ailsa is another good teacher and clearly very popular. I counted 50 students in her beginners’ class. She let me dance in socks - much easier than dancing barefoot . She was very friendly but still commanded everybody’s attention. She made us work very hard in the stretching and strength building exercises. There seemed to be a wide range of ability and experience from professionals to newbies. Ailsa was very encouraging. Because the class was large the vibe was magic and very chatty. Like all the other classes we started with barre exercises and stretches and then proceeded to port de bras and jumps. It was great fun."

As you can see from the abive flash mob video, KNT teach more than ballet. Gita and I have taken a contemporary class with them (see My First Contemporary Dance Class 27 Feb 2015. You will find the complete timetable here.

KNT also give classes in Liverpool.  I attended their taster classes in Liverpool town hall last September (see It's not every Class that you can use Lord Canning's Eyes for Spotting 9 Sept 2014. Details are posted on KNT Liverpool's Facebook page.

If you can't get to Manchester easily I can recommend Fiona Noonan's classes at Hype Dance in Sheffield (see More than just Hype - Beginners and Improvers Classes in Sheffield 14 May 2014) and the University of Huddersfield (see Team Hud Adult Ballet Class 22 Jan 2014). You will find Hype's timetable here and Tram Hud (that is to say, the University's) here.

Of course, if you live in or near London you are spoilt for choice.  Here is a directory of dance classes kept by londondance.com. It seems that every possible taste and style is catered for. So far, I have attended only one class in London - Adam Pudney's at Pineapple in November 2013. Joanna takes Amber Doyle's classes at Pineapple regularly and speaks very highly of them on Facebook and twitter.  I have not yet attended a class at Danceworks but I have watched Christina Mittelmaier's and Denzil Bailey's and was very impressed. Danceworks are now running classes for the over 50s (see Over 50s Ballet Classes at Danceworks 30 May 2015).  A particularly good deal for the summer is Danceworks 5 day membership pass for £10 which is available from 1 July to 6 Sept.

Finally an appeal. If anyone whether teacher, student or dance school wants to write about their classes please add your comments below or contact me through twitter or Facebook.

Post Script Joanna has tweeted from Tokyo

@jelterps I love @AmberdoyleAmber general #ballet Saturday/Sunday mornings & Adam Pudney Tuesday evening elementary #ballet @pineappledance

— Joanna Goodman (@JoannaMG22) July 7, 2015

I look forward to trying one of Amber's classes.

My Home and Bintley's

I arrived home from London in the early hours of the morning, I had gone to London specifically to hear David Bintley. He spoke to the London Ballet Circle yesterday evening. I would have wanted to hear him had he been born in Tierra del Fuego or Stewart Island as I admire his work so much but, as it happens, he comes from Honley in the Holme Valley which is almost the next village from mine.

We have a rich musical tradition in this part of Yorkshire with silver bands, brass bands, choirs, the annual contemporary music festival and above all The Choral. Here they are singing Hallelujah from  Handel's Messiah. At one time every pub in every village held a sing at Harvest time. Sings usually ended with a rousing chorus of Pratty Flowers which us sometimes called the Holmfirth anthem. Though sings are rarely held nowadays you can see from the film there are still folk who remember the words of that song.

Ever since I first learned that Bintley came from this area I had imagined that he would be influenced by that tradition so I asked him.  I can't tell you what he said because I have been asked not to do so but a summary of his talk will be available in due course on the London Ballet Circle website.  As the Circle says on its Facebook page: "We had a lovely, very interesting and informative evening with David Bintley!" The Ballet Circle thanked everybody for coming but I would not have missed that talk for the world.

Lots of other good talks and visits are planned as you can see from the Events page of the Circle's website. I am coming down again to hear Ernst Meisner whom I featured at the end of last year and Li Conxin, artistic director of the Queensland Ballet. Membership of the London Ballet Circle costs only £12 a year and it helps to support young dancers and students. This year we are sending a dancer from London to Amsterdam to attend a workshop with the Dutch National Ballet. So it is very worthwhile becoming a member.

David Bintley

In their programmes and on their website Birmingham Royal Ballet wrote: 

"Huddersfield is not as famous in the world of classical dance as St Petersburg, Paris or London, but it was the birthplace of David Bintley - one of the most consistent and significant forces in British ballet."

Actually Bintley was born not in Huddersfield itself but in Honley near Huddersfield which is a place in its own right as anyone from these parts (estate agents in particular) will tell you.

Also, Huddesfield is not such a terpsichorean desert as Birmingham Royal Ballet would lead you to believe. Bintley was not the first great dancer to come from the Huddersfield area. Brian Shaw for whom Ashton created some of his most famous roles did so too. Nor, I hope, will Bintley be the last for there is a lot of dance going on in Huddersfield both for adults (see Team Hud Adult Ballet Class 22 June 2014 and The Base Studios, Huddersfield 2 March 2013) and children. I know of at least two very talented little girls in the next village to Honley one of whom has already performed at The Grand in Northern Ballet's Ondine and Gatsby.

Anyway, chums, the reason I mention Bintley is that he is speaking to the London Ballet Circle at the Civil Service Club, 13-15 Gt Scotland Yard, London SW1 at 19:30 this evening. I am going down to London today specially to hear him. If you are a member of the Circle his talk will set you back £5.  If you are not a member you will be charged £8. Any profits go to a scholarship fund to support promising young dancers. Both Xander Parish and his sister Demelza have benefited from that fund. From now on any spare cash I may have will go to that fund rather than to individuals.  I would much rather my bounty went to outstanding young dancers like the Parishes than have companies like Northern Ballet, Ballet Black or Chantry Dance perform before unfilled but paid for seats however compelling the reason for such absences.

I shan't blog about tonight's meeting because I have been asked not to do so. If you want to know what Bintley has to say you will just have to turn up.