Powerhouse Ballet on a Roll

The Cast of Elysian Moments at ChromaQ Theatre, Leeds 23 Nov 2024

 

Last year was Powerhouse Ballet's best ever.  We danced an extract from La Sylphide at KNT Danceworks' 15th-anniversary gala in July and contributed Emily Joy Smith Elysian Moments to Dance Studio Leeds's Celebration of Dance at ChromaQ Theatre in Leeds in November.  

We have now performed nine times in public, twice at the Manchester Dancehouse, 6 times at ChromaQ and once at York St John University.  We have held workshops on The Waltz of the Flowers with Jane Tucker,  The Fairy Variations with  Beth Meadway, Alex Hallas's Concerto Jenkins and Morning from Grieg's Peer Gynt with Yvonne Charlton,  We have hosted Ballet Cymru's workshops on Dylan Thomas and Giselle.  We have held company classes almost every month since we started including during the lockdown when we welcomed Maria Chugai, Shannon Lilly and Krystal Lowe as guest ballet mistresses.

Our next step is to hold our own show which will probably be a mixed bill or a complete act of one of the romantic ballets we have learned.   We shall probably need to do this in conjunction with one or more partners which could be a dance studio or even another small company.   That will require a lot of planning and corporate reorganization.   Right now the company is a group of friends who enjoy dancing but we shall put it on a more formal basis in the course of the year.   I am exploring the possibility of charitable status for the company and converting Terpsichore into a private limited company.

Up to now, the company has relied entirely on sponsorship.  That source of funding will not dry up but we need to supplement it with a Friends scheme whereby we shall invite the company's members and well-wishers around the country to make a modest annual contribution.  We shall also need to monetize some of our services which will include smartening the appearance of this blog, publishing a regular print version, reviving Stage Door and charging for workshops and some of our other activities.

In the longer term, we shall seek grant funding and commercial sponsorship.  I have already made contact with Arts Council England and the Arts Council of Wales.  While it is impractical to expect funding from that quarter in the medium term it is never too early to prepare the ground.   I have also put out feelers to organizations that already fund the arts to find out what we must do to qualify for their patronage.

Dancers need to train regularly with each other which is why every company in the world holds regular company classes.  However, our membership is spread over an area that stretches from Hull to Holyhead.  It is very difficult for members who have demanding professional and domestic commitments to travel long distances.  When I have tried to hold classes in outlying areas in venues like Bolton or Myndd Isa the response has been disappointing.   Obviously, the solution is to hold regular monthly classes in Leeds and Chester as well as in Manchester but these will have to rely on non-sponsorship funding.  If we get that right there is no reason why Powerhouse Ballet branded activities cannot take place anywhere in the UK or beyond and not just Manchester and Leeds.

Powerhouse Ballet's Reawakening

Standard YouTube Licence

The last two years have been tough for everyone in the arts but they have been particularly hard for adult ballet students who long to perform in public.  For Powerhouse Ballet which was founded just under 4 years ago, the lockdown was almost fatal.  We had been riding high with our very successful workshop with Yorkshire choreographer Alex Hallas and were looking forward to learning the snowflakes scene from The Nutcracker when everything was put on hold.

I feared that it would be the end of Powerhouse Ballet and probably all the other amateur companies in the United Kingdom because we could no longer meet for class.  But help came quite unexpectedly from Amsterdam when Maria Chugai of the Dutch National Ballet offered us an online class.  That class was very successful and showed that it was possible to train over Zoom.  I engaged all our regular teachers as well as Shannon Lilly, Beth Meadway and Krystal Lowe to give online classes.  When restrictions were relaxed in 2020 we held classes in studios in Birmingham and Leeds.   Though it was expensive and hard we never missed a monthly company class and, most importantly, we stayed together.

Now that the country is emerging from lockdown Powerhouse Ballet can rebuild.  My immediate aim is to stage a mixed bill which will include Terence Etheridge's Aria, Yvonne Charlton's Morning, Waltz of the Flowers and Snowflakes from The Nutcracker and part of the wilis' choreography from Act II of Giselle. Much of the preparation for this will be at a summer school in North Wales.  In the longer term, we plan to set up an associates class and I have engaged the assistance of someone with considerable experience in that area to advise me.

That leaves the tricky matters of funding and governance.  Over the last two years, it was easier for me to sponsor the company's activities and I will continue to do so but our plans will require more than I can afford.  In the medium term, we will need to reintroduce a subscription, seek grants and sponsorship.  Publications like this blog, the Stage Door and classes outside the North of England could generate revenue for Powerhouse Ballet.   Eventually, we shall seek charitable status for which we shall need trustees, a business manager and a full-time artistic director.

Returning to the present, if you want to meet us with a view to joining us, register for our company class at Dance Studio Leeds on 26 Feb 2022 from 15:30 until 17:00.   

Citrus Arts Savage Hart

Standard YouTube Licence

Citrus Arts Savage Hart 22 July 2017, 19:00 Oakwell Hall, Birstall 

To stage an open air performance of a show combining aerial displays and dance in the grounds of an Elizabethan manor house using the building as a backdrop was an ambitious project and risky one given the uncertainties of the British climate. Most of yesterday was delightful in Yorkshire in contrast to the previous two days, but at 19:00, just as the artists in Citrus Arts's Savage Hart were mounting the stage a dark cloud appeared and refused to shift for the whole performance. To its credit, the cloud retained most of its moisture until the last few minutes of the show but then the heavens opened and the monsoon began.

Nobody moved throughout the performance despite the constant dripping even when those drips turned into drizzle. That says all you need to know about the quality of the show. The audience was charmed.  Our attention did not stray once until the performers took their bow.

The story was very simple. A bullet headed baron (Zeph Gould) was in the habit of hunting deer and sticking their heads above his mantelpiece much to the chagrin of his wife, Marianne, danced by Krystal Lowe. The spirits of those deer, danced by Luke Bradshaw (the stag), Hannah Darby (the doe) and Charlotte Dawson (the buck), revolted against this slaughter of their species and haunted tne baron. In that scene, the British weather actually assisted the artists because the flashing of the lights in Oakwell Hall combined with spooky music and a breeze that made the bare flames flicker under a threatening sky actually made my nerves tingle and my flesh creep. The haunting seemed to have worked for the baron and his wife donned deer heads in the last scene and danced with the spirits while moss, twigs and wild flowers enveloped the stage.

The show is not new as you can see from the video above. It was first staged for the theatre and it toured Wales to big audiences and critical acclaim as I mentioned in my preview, Juicy, yesterday. The video suggests that there was a choir in the theatre. There were no singers yesterday but there was a live band consisting of Simon McCorry and James Minas Blight. I liked the music although I could only see one of the musicians from my position on the path a few yards to the left of the stage.

My only regret is that I did not get a chance to express my appreciation of the show to the performers in person. I particularly wanted to say hello to Krystal whom I have followed ever since I first saw her in Romeo a Juliet at Kendal over 4 years ago (see They're not from Chigwell - they're from a small Welsh Town called Newport 14 May 2013). I was so pleased to see her in the cast list that I blurted out "Krystal Lowe is dancing tonight" and "Toi toi Krystal" on Facebook which drew an immediate "like" from Anna Pujol, another fine dancer who deserves to go far, and the chair of the London Ballet Circle who is at least as much a fan of Krystal as I am.

Incidentally, yesterday was not the first time that I had seen Krystal in an open air show. She danced with Ballet Cymru and Gloucestershire Dance in Mark Brew's Stuck in the Mud through the streets and on the beach of Llandudno which I reviewed in An Explosion of Joy 21 Sept 2014. That review contains a very precious photo of her dancing with Mandev Sokhi, another very special dancer whom I was lucky enough to meet a few days before he died.

Just like the storm at the end of the first act of La Fille mal gardée everyone including the Creative Scene and Oakwell Halls officials scattered in the rain. I couldn't find a stage door or anyone who could take a message to the artists so this blog post will have to do. Well done Citrus Arts. I knew you were good from your work with Ballet Cymru but I now see what you can achieve on your own. I will follow your website and attend more of your shows whenever I get the chance. I hope the weather did not spoil your visit, that you had (or will have) a comfortable and speedy journey back to Wales and that we may welcome you back very soon.

Juicy

Reproduction licensed by US government
Source Wikipedia

In two of their most successful productions, The Light Princess and Cinderella, Ballet Cymru have collaborated with Citrus Arts. They are another Welsh company that contribute circus skills to dance and other performing arts. Right now they are in my neighbourhood - Oakwell Hall to be precise - where they are performing Savage Hart in the walled garden.

The show is staged by an organization called "Creative Scene" which describes itself as the Arts Council England Creative People and Places project for West Yorkshire. You can find out more about them from a report by Professor Steve Swindells of Huddersfield University. According to Creative Scene's website, Savage Hart is about some deer that have watched over the dining hall of a cruel man of his times and are now putting their antlers together to form a plan.

According to the blurb

"aerial artistry, ballet and circus combine to create this bewitching tale of a 19th century aristocrat, haunted by the ghosts of his past."

The production has been nominated for "Best Dance Production at the Wales Theatre Awards" which says a lot.

I learned of this show quite by chance from Krystal Lowe who announced it briefly on social media. Krystal is already one of my very favourite dancers and her career seems to be blossoming in akk directions. As well as dancing for Ballet Cymru, she teaches at the University of South Wales and is now branching into choreography. I believe she also teaches ballet to adults on Monday evenings.  I have been badgering my clerk for months to fix a hearing at the Patent Ofice or the Cardiff Business and Property Court on a Monday so that I can attend Krystal's class.

I don't know whether Krystal is dancing tonight but, if she is, it will be the icing on the cake. The week started out well with a brilliant class from Karen, gathered momentum with another great one from Fiona and coincided with my 1,000th post to Terpsichore. What better way to end a week than watching one of my favourite dancers!

The Light Princess - a Special Ballet for a Special Company

Copyright 2017 Ballet Cymru: all rights reserved
Reproduced with kind permission of the company

BalletCymru The Light Princess, Riverfront Theatre, Newport 20 May 2017, 19:30

In 2015 Ballet Cymru's Cinderella was my ballet of the year and its Tir was the runner-up (see Highlights of 2015 29 Dec 2015. Last year Gwenllian Davies was my young female dancer of the year for her magnificent performance as Juliet on 5 Nov 2016 (see The Terpsichore Titles: Outstanding Young Dancers of 2016 28 Dec 2016 and A Romeo and Juliet for our Times  7 Nov 2016). Quite remarkable, I think you will agree, for a small company in a city with a slightly smaller population than Huddersfield some 140 miles from London.

Yesterday I tried to put my finger on what made Ballet Cymru special and this is what I concluded.

First, the company is lucky to have as artistic directors Darius James and Amy Doughty who are two of the finest choreographers on the British stage. Their ballets with expansive upper body movements and sudden spins, whether chaînés, fouettés or pirouettes, are thrilling to watch. James and Doughty create their work in collaboration their dancers with the result that every movement showcases the artist's personality as well as the vision of the choreographers. Each of those artists is young at peak strength and energy, When James unfurls them, as he does at the end of company class, they are a wonder to behold (see Ballet Cymru at Home 5 Oct 2015).

Secondly, this company is unmistakably Welsh. Its dancers may come from all parts of the world and it visits nearly every part of the United Kingdon on tour but its credentials are entirely cymric.  The company's name, after all, is "Ballet Cymru" - never "Ballet Wales", the literal translation. There are Welsh characters even in Romeo a Juliet and Cinderella: Juliet's confidante in Romeo a Juliet is Cerys, Cinderella's half-witted step brother is named Cas and her step sister is called Seren. The backdrops projected onto the screen are created digitally from scenes of Wakes ranging from the subway under the arterial road near the Riverfront Theatre in Romeo a Juliet to Lake Bala in The Light Princess. More importantly, the company commissions scores from outstanding Welsh composers like Jack White who wrote the music for Cinderella and Stuck in the Mud and Catrin Finch who contributed Celtic Concerto as well as The Light Princess to the company's repertoire. I am most grateful to Ballet Cymru for introducing me to those composers.  I am now a fan of both.

Thirdly, James and Doughty make clever use of technology. I have already mentioned the projected backdrops which are designed for the theatres around this island which might struggle with conventional scenery. Yesterday, there were gently floating images as the overture concentrated our thoughts on weightlessness. We saw circus hoops courtesy, no doubt, of Citrus Arts who had previously worked with Ballet Cymru on Cinderella.  For those who had not read the programme or my preview, the synopsis in two languages flashed onto the gauze with occasional directions to the audience such as "hiss". Did you know that the Welsh for "hiss" is "his"?

Like The Sleeping Beauty, George McDonald's story begins with a christening for a princess to which three of her relations had not been invited. Like Carabosse those relations were witches but, instead of sending the royal household to sleep for 100 years (a fate that Exeunt's Anna Winter might regard as lenient (see Exeunt's Ballet Reviews - Mayerling and Casanova 12 May 2017) they made her weightless with the result that she had to be tethered with ropes. The king and queen consulted Kopy-Keck and Hum-Drum, Chinese experts in spells as to what might be done but they offered conflicting and equally useless advice. At a water carnival on Lake Bala, the princess discovered that she could acquire weight under water. She nearly floated away again when a visiting prince dived into the lake to rescue her for which gallantry he received no thanks at all from the princess. Realizing that their spell did not work in water the witches tried to drain the lake. They were foiled when the prince offered his body to plug the drain. The prince's willingness to sacrifice himself for the love of the princess broke the spell. A cartwheeling king and equally ecstatic queen allow the princess to marry her rescuer. All, no doubt, lived happily ever after.

Anna Pujol, who had delighted the Millennium Centre as Little Red Riding Hood before Christmas (see Ballet Cymru's "Sleeping Beauty Moment" 5 Dec 2016), danced the princess. She showed formidable strength and artistic versatility with her floorwork representing her swimming and her adeptness with hoops. Her prince, Andrea Maria Battagia, partnered her gallantly. I loved Robbie Moorcroft's performance as king (particularly his cartwheels) and was impressed by Beth Meadway, a recent recruit to the company, as queen. I was also impressed by another recruit, Miles Carrott, who complemented Miguel Fernnades and Natalie Debono as the vindictive, serpentine witches. Gwenllian Davies was one of the experts and the magnificent Krystal Lowe (anything but humdrum) was the other.  Davies showed that she can dance character roles as convincingly as she can dance Juliet. Daniel Morrison danced the butler and Ann Wall the nurse with their usual flair. Each of those roles offered the dancers a chance to shine and shine they did.

Something that made last night particularly special was the appearance of Catrin Finch in the orchestra pit. This was not the first time that the company had performed with live musicians.  The last time I saw them they shared the stage with the entire National Orchestra of Wales, but it was the first time that I had seen them with their own ensemble and the result was magic. Sadly, the musicians cannot follow the company everywhere so the performances at Bury St Edmunds, Llanelli, Milford Haven, Stevenage and Newcastle under Lyme will make do with recorded music.

Those performances will still be worth seeing.  This is the best ballet that I have seen from this company ever and it is the best new ballet that I have seen so far this year from any company.

A Romeo and Juliet for our Times

Ballet Cymru, Romeo a Juliet, Riverfront Theatre, Newport, 5 Nov 2016, 19:30


Never has the story of Romeo and Juliet been more relevant to our times. Powerful aristocratic families may no longer brawl in Verona but, as Krzysztof Pastor showed in his version of Romeo and Juliet for Scottish Ballet, other forces have taken their place (see Scottish Ballet's Timeless Romeo and Juliet 18 May 2014). In Pastor's ballet the protagonists wore red shirts and black shirts and his message was reinforced by documentary footage from recent Italian history which was projected onto the backdrop. We see similar divisions in the bitter election campaign on the other side of the Atlantic  and, indeed, in our own country since the EU referendum. Shakespeare teaches us that hate kills. A lot of people die in his story - not just Romeo and Juliet but also Tybalt, Mercutio and Paris. However, there is also hope in Shakespeare's tale for the feuding families eventually come to their senses.

It is one thing for a theatrical work to be relevant to our times but quite another to transpose it to our times. It is sometimes said that ballet (like the other performing arts) needs to "get with it" (as folk used to say in the 1960s) if it is not to wither on the vine. It was the subject of the discussion between David Nixon and Luke Jennings on Front Row a few weeks ago which I mentioned in Of Bikes and Busses 25 Oct 2016. Pastor's colleague at the Dutch National Ballet, David Dawson, successfully brought  Swan Lake up to date for Scottish Ballet (see Empire Blanche: Dawson's Swan Lake 4 June 2016). It seems that Ted Brandsen may have pulled it off with Coppelia (see A Coppelia Makeover  5 Nov 2016). Other choreographers have been less successful. I fear that Akram Khan did not quite manage it with Giselle nor Nixon with Swan Lake I think Darius James and Amy Doughty succeeded in Romeo a Juliet.

Over the last few years, James and Doughty have produced one fine work after another - Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella and Tir to name just three. They have a company of dancers who in my view stand comparison with any similarly sized troupe in the world. They have rightly been nominated for the National Dance Awards for the second time year running, Why they do not get even more critical attention and indeed acclaim beats me. I may be a humble blogger but I have seen a lot of ballets in my time and in my book James and Doughty and their company are among the brightest stars in the balletic firmament just now.

I had seen Ballet Cymru's Romeo a Juliet in the Brewery Arts Centre in Kendal in 2013 and loved it (see They're not from Chigwell - they're from a small Welsh Town called Newport 14 May 2013). On Saturday I saw the same ballet in the company's hometown and loved it even more. The show was presented in the Riverfront Arts Centre, a modern complex of galleries, studios and auditoriums on the banks of the Usk. The larger of the auditoriums seats 482 persons and has a big stage for dance. It was there that the show took place.

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. Of course, Juliet is nothing without her Romeo. Andrea Battagia partnered Davies exquisitely.  Also young he has already achieved much in his career. He brought that experience and authority to the performance. He commands a stage in a way that few other dancers of his age can equal.

Another reason for the success of the ballet was Lydia Arnoux. She danced Cerys or Juliet's best friend. Because I am accused of double standards in not criticizing this innovation as "change for change's sake", I should explain that James and Doughty have set their ballet in modern Britain (indeed Newport) in which teenagers' nurses no longer exist but best friends do. Cerys more than makes up for the absence of the nurse. She introduces a new dynamic into the show. I had seen Arnoux in Kendal but she was even moredelightful on Saturday night.

Anther excellent young dancer whom Ballet Cymru has recruited as an apprentice just over a month ago is Ann Wall. As a member of the London Ballet Circle, I am proud to see that we have supported her. She danced Lady Capulet which is a demanding role for any dancer but particularly a very young one. She has to balance conflicting emotions of love and duty and acquire instantly the weight of years. She succeeded admirably.  In that role she was partnered deftly by Robbie Moorcroft as Lord Capulet. Moorcroft, another of the company's most experienced dancers and well liked by audiences, was impressive. He was magisterial in restraining Tybalt and rebuking Romeo after Romeo had gatecrashed the Capulets' party but tyrannical in his anger when confronted by a defiant daughter.

It was her father's blow that triggered the chain of events that led to the death of the lovers and Paris. Paris, danced by Mark Griffiths, yet another recent recruit by the company. Paris, an apparently decent man with seemingly sincere affection for Juliet, suffers not just her rejection but also death after lingering in the crypt for just a little bit too long. I have always had sympathy for him as I have for Hilarion in Giselle. He has even less cause to die.

The same cannot always be called for the headstrong Tybalt whom I have always regarded as a bit of a thug. Dylan Waddell portrayed him as a loyal brother zealous in defence of his sister's honour. Waddell, whom I had previously seen in MurleyDance, us a strong but sensitive dancer and a fine actor. Miguel Fernandes was a great choice for Mercutio. Another exciting dancer tp watch. So, too, was Anna Pujol, a convincing Benvolio.

One dancer I was particularly glad to see on stage was Krystal Lowe. She first impressed me in Kendal and my admiration for her work has increased with every performance. Her appearance in Tir at Sadler's Wellls last year a few weeks after the loss of Mandev Sokhi  was one of the most moving I have ever seen. She was the Friar on Saturday, a pivotal role but not the extended one created by Jean-Christophe Maillot for his version. Lowe was as magnificent as ever. If I had flowers I would gladly have tossed them on stage for her. On Saturday she performed as a guest artist. I understand that she is now at the University of South Wales and teaching Ballet Cymru's adult ballet class. I am sure all my readers join me in wishing her well in this latest stage of her career.

I said above that this was a Romeo and Juliet for our times. James and Doughty achieved this with only minimal changes to the libretto and only an abridgement of Prokofiev's score. The dancers wore modern dress and images of Newport flashed on stage. For instance, an image of the passage under the bridge across the Usk (which lies just yards away from the Riverfront) appeared in the riot scenes. The flashing light of a police vehicle appeared just at the point where the duke would arrive in other productions. Instead of swords the boys carried shillelaghs and knives. Nothing to suggest Verona.

Romeo a Juliet is James and Doughty's best work yet, It shows how a small company of young dancers with modest resources can stage a full-length ballet brilliantly.  It would not surprise me in the least if Ballet Cymru were nominated for a National Dance Award next year on the strength of this production.

So head over the water - on the transporter - to visit Ballet Cymru - in their home city

On 3 Oct 2015 the London Ballet Circle will visit Ballet Cymru at its studios in Newport. Audrey Allen writes in the Circle's newsletter:

"As the company is small in size it is possible to meet and talk to everyone in a friendly and informal setting, and those who went last year commented on the warm hospitality they received."

I have already had the pleasure of meeting Darius James and Marc Brew but it is dancers who make a company and Ballet Cyrmru has some lovely dancers. Last year at Stuck in the Mud in Llandudno I came very close to two of my favourites, Krystal Lowe and Mandev Sokhi (see An Explosion of Joy 21 Sept 2014). So maybe this year I will actually get to shake their hands.

Ballet Cymru reminds me a lot of Scottish Theatre Ballet when it first moved to Glasgow from Bristol. It is still a small company but it already has the confidence to stage full length classics like Romeo and Juliet and Cinderella and interpret them in an original way (see They're not from Chigwell - they're from a small Welsh Town called Newport 14 May 2013 and Ballet Cymru's Cinderella 15 June 2015). It is very conscious of being a national ballet company. For instance, it has commissioned two scores from the young Welsh composer Jack White, its programmes and website are bilingual and it has introduced characters with Welsh names into Romeo and (or rather "a") Juliet and Cinderella.

The London Ballet Circle is one of the company's funders.  It contributes the Stanley Hawkins bursary which enables a student to attend the company's advanced ballet summer school. The company also receives support from the Arts Council of Wales, its local authority, the Garfield Weston Foundation and other trusts and foundations as well as donations from the public. One of the reasons for the London Ballet Circle's visit is to raise funds and members of the Circle and their guests are invited to contribute £12.50 each.

If you are coming from London you should aim to catch the 09:45 from Paddington. If you live in the North or Midlands there will be space in my car for at least one passenger. I can take either the M6 and M5 if I have a passenger from the North West or the M1, M42 and M5 if I have a passenger for Sheffield or Nottingham. Just let Audrey know you are coming and send your cheque for £12.50 to her at 8 Goldsmith Road, London, N11 3JP (tel: 020 8361 2872, Email: audrey8allen@gmail.com). The main party have to catch their train back to the Smoke at 16:39 but we can leave whenever we like and there is much to see in Newport.

First and foremost there is Caerleon with its Roman archaeological site, museum, fortress and baths. When I was learning Latin I had to translate an unseen about a man who threw a stone at a dog which had walked on his mud tiles as they were drying in the sun. I seem to remember that he missed. In the text book there was a photo of the canine footprint and the indentation made by the stone. The Romans didn't waste the tile. They installed it in the Caerleon baths and if you get to Caerleon you can actually see it.

There is also the Riverfront Theatre where Ballet Cymru will perform TIR, Celtic Concerto and a new ballet by Marc Brew on 6 Nov 2015.  The music for TIR will be provided by Cerys Matthews who is one of the company's patrons. She has such a lovely voice that it would almost be worth learning Welsh to understand her song. It is certainly worth a trip to Newport to hear her live.



I find myself going to Newport quite often for work. The Intellectual Property Office moved to Concept House in parkland on the outskirts of the city nearly 25 years ago. I argue such matters as entitlement actions (disputes over who owns or is entitled to apply for a patent) or oppositions and invalidity applications (disputes over the registration of trade marks) before tribunals known as hearing officers. At a recent conference on intellectual property law that I attended which was organized by the Intellectual Property Office I found that several senior officials were quite unaware that Newport had a national ballet company. I will try to bring those great institutions closer together.

Now, what's the transporter mentioned in the Jay Z  spoof?  It is actually a bridge across the Usk. It is called the transporter because goods and passengers are carried across the river in a module that is hauled by an electric motor. There are similar ones in Middlesbrough and Warringtom.  These structures seem to have their own friends' groups rather like ballet companies. I find it strange that anyone can become passionate about an obsolete mode of transport but maybe the friends of those bridges would say the same about my passion for ballet.

KNT's Beginners' Adult Ballet Intensive - Swan Lake: Day 2

Author Marek Szczepanek
Source Wikipedia
Creative Commons Licence

This is only day 2 of the intensive but already I have learned a lot. A lot of choreography, of course: the cygnets' pas de quatre, the Hungarian dance, Siegfried's solo and the entry of the swans. I have also received some jolly good practical tips such as take a hot bath followed by a cold shower after strenuous physical exercise. I have learned a lot about myself and what I can still do at my age. But most of all I have learned a whole new respect for the dancer.

I have been exhausted by only two days of classes and rehearsals but members of a company have to do that sort of thing all the time and then dance in a matinee or evening performance or on some days both. To do that day in day out requires stamina, strength and determination. It is true that they are all much younger than me, that dancing is their vocation and that they have trained for it over many years but it is still gruelling stuff and I take my hat off to them.

Today I got to know some of students on this course a little better. Several of them had read this blog and we discussed some of the articles in it. I also got into conversation with Mark Hindle, one of the teachers at KNT, over lunch. We found out that we share a passion for Ballet Black and Ballet Cymru and are both fans of Sayaka Wright-Ichikawa and Krystal Lowe.

Tomorrow we are consolidating and refining what we have learned in order to give a performance at 15:45. Karen has very kindly allowed Gita to watch us so that she can review our show for Terpsichore. On Sunday night I was a bag of nerves quite convinced that I wouldn't make it through the first day. Well I have survived the first two days already and I think that tomorrow will be the best bit.

One of the reasons I didn't throw in the towel on Monday is that I was bucked up by an email from my clerk. The Chambers and Partners guides are to lawyers and law firms what the Michelin red guides are to restaurateurs. Just before I was due to go into class I learned that I was in it. Ballet takes a large part of the credit for that.  Five years ago I was devastated by the loss of my spouse to motor neuron disease and had more or less lost the will to live. About a month or so after my spouse's death I noticed a postcard on my gym noticeboard offering ballercise classes by a lady who had danced with Queensland Ballet. I took those classes and found that I enjoyed them. They made me exercise and gave me discipline. Ballercise led to ballet and eventually Northern Ballet's Over 55 class in Leeds. I made a lot of new acquaintances in that class and many more through the London Ballet Circle, Chelmsford Ballet, BalletcoForum and elsewhere.

On Thursday Jane Tucker will teach an advanced workshop based on Giselle.  Michelle, a member of my Over 55 class and one of the most prolific contributors to BalletcoForum, will be taking part. If it is only half as good as Swan Lake she is in for a treat.

Ballet Cymru returns to Lincoln

Swans in Lincoln

Author Rept0nlx

Source Wikipedia

Ballet Cymru will be 30 next year and they have a lot to celebrate (see Our History on the company's website). They have some lovely dancers who have created some great ballets several of which I have reviewed in this blog (see  They're not from Chigwell - they're from a small Welsh Town called Newport 14 May 2013, Diolch yn Fawr - Ballet Cymru's Beauty and the Beast 24 June 2014 and An Explosion of Joy 21 Sept 2014, see also Mel Wong's review of Beauty and the Beast 24 June 2014). They have also created a number of ballets that I have not yet seen and would very much like to see such as TIR with music by Cerys Matthews. Under Milk Wood and How Green was my Valley.

On Sunday the company is returning to Lincoln - almost as far to the East from Wales as it is possible to get without leaving Great Britain - to dance Cinderella at the Lincoln Performing Arts Centre. The advance publicity for this show is irresistible which no doubt explains why there are hardly any seats left. The music is by Jack White who composed the score for Stuck in the Mud. The choreography is by Darius James and Amy Doughty and there is the most compelling picture of Krystal Lowe racing under the moon on the home page of the Centre's website.

I have a soft spot for Lincoln for it is where I first met Chantry Dance (see Chantry Dance Company's Sandman and Dream Dance 10 May 2014). It is a beautiful city where they do a lot of dance including an impressive bachelors' degree course at Lincoln University. It should be a great evening.

An Explosion of Joy

Stuck in the Mud, Llandudno 20 Sept 2014

(c) 2014 Jane Elizabeth Lambert

If a dancer contracts an illness or suffers an injury that confines him to a wheelchair then it is the end of his career is it not. Not necessarily. Yesterday I saw a dancer in pointe shoes - I think it was Suzie Birchwood but if I am mistaken I apologize - as beautiful and graceful as any, approach a stage in a wheelchair. She was lifted onto the stage and danced. She thrilled us - not as one who had overcome a disability - but as a dancer. She delighted us with her port de bras, her battements, her pointe work but most of all with her expression of joy.

The ballet that I saw was Stuck in the Mud, a collaboration between Ballet Cymru, Gloucestershire Dance and other organizations.  It was performed in Llandudno as part of the Llawn Festival not in a theatre but in the railway station, the town square and beside the sea. Choreographed by Marc Brew this was one of the most joyful works that I have seen all year. I previewed the work in "Stuck in the Mud" doesn't mean you're stuck" 25 June 2014 embedding into my post extracts of a performance at Blackfriars Priory.

The show opened on a temporary stage in the station concourse. First Ballet Cymru's dancers mounted the stage: Lydia Arnaux. Annette Antal. Andrea Battagia, Nicholas Cappelle, Krystal Lowe, Daniel Morrison, Robbie Moorcroft and Mandev Sokhi whom I had last seen at Lincoln in June in Beauty and The Beast. They danced to the music that you can hear in the YouTube trailer which was composed by Jack White. This is the first time that I had noted White's work and I have spent much of the morning working through the clips on the Quick Player panel to his website. White has posted some photos of the performance of Stuck in the Mud in Swansea to his website ("Stuck in the Swansea Mud" 13 July 2014). You can see a picture of the opening scene in the bottom panel. This was a classical sequence with the women in pointe shoes. The dancer whom I believe to be Birchwood entered during that scene.  You can see her sitting by a pillar in White's photo. I have already remarked that she danced with with skill, with grace and with feeling.

There was a change of mood and music. In the space between stage and audience there entered a group of dancers some of whom were quite young. The programme does not identify them but the website mentions collaboration with TAN Dance, Hijinx Theatre and Dawns i Bawb so I guess they must be members of one or more of those organizations. Each of the dancers had a label such as "idiot", "freak" and "bossy". They shuffled about the space rather like Lowry's matchstick men peering at their own and their neighbours' labels disconsolately. Then they peeled off the labels, screwed them up and threw them in the air in an explosion of joy and danced exuberantly.

We were shepherded out of the station by stewards bearing enormous coloured flags and conducted to a square with a statute of a march hair a few hundred yards away. This square had two features - a statue of the March Hair from Alice in  Wonderland and a tree which reminded me of the one in the second act of the Royal Ballet's The Winters Tale except that this was a real tree. First there was a vigorous duet by Lowe and Sokhi which you can see in the photo above. Sokhi had impressed me as the Beast in Lincoln and I have been a fan of Lowe ever since I saw her dance as one of the Montagues in Romeo a Juliet in Kendal last year. Then the community dancers performed under the tree bedecked with what appeared to be Wellington boots and other curious fruit again and that again reminded me of Wheeldon's choreography.

I don't know what happened next as I lost the lady with the pink flag for a few minutes as I was distracted by Lowe and Sokhi. I think we were supposed to be in two groups. I went in the direction where I had last seen my group but couldn't find them. Then I heard a French horn and followed its sound to a beach where I saw Lowe slowly roll up over the pebbles gently unravelling an enormous length of material.

The last scene was a Victorian band stand before which a temporary surface had been laid and it was there that a wonderful integration of the cast occurred. There were dancers in wheel chairs and dancers on foot. There were the professionals and the rest.  They came together in a wonderful swirl of movement.  What delighted me was that every jete and turn of the able bodied dancers was answered by an equivalent movement from those in wheel chairs. All the dancers impressed me but I have to say a special word for Alice Sheppard who was magnificent. She amazed me with her virtuosity. If I had to pick a star of the show she would have been it.

After the show I managed to catch Marc Brew for a a few minutes  He told me about his company and its dancers, how he works with disabled and able bodied and gets them both to do wonderful things. He listed his other work including his recent commissions. Brew told me that he was based in the Tramway in Glasgow near Scottish Ballet. He spoke about his collaboration with companies in Scotland, particularly Scottish Dance Theatre in Dundee and also with the great percussionist Evelyn Glennie. I asked about his future work and he said that his next big production would be in May. I must say that I like Marc Brew. I like his work. I like his approachability - his willingness to talk to a complete stranger on a beach - but most of all I like his willingness to make dance accessible for all. I may not be disabled but I am old, I am fat, I am bereft of talent yet I love to dance as much as any ballerina.

Stuck in the Mud was not the only dance I saw yesterday in Llandudno. While writing up my notes of my interview with Marc Brew I noticed a lady and gentleman with a walking stick in Victorian dress with glitter balls for heads proceed along the prom. A few minutes later three women in 1940s bathing dresses and bare feet marched towards the band stand the leader with a whistle sounding out the time "bleep - bleep - bleep, bleep, bleep" reminding me of my CCF days in the 1960s.  I followed them and saw them dance a couple of routines to wartime music. All the time they were in bare feet and I really felt for them. It wasn't warm yesterday and the metalled surface of the prom was not exactly a dance floor.

Llandudno was in festive mood yesterday. I saw a lion in union jack colours accompanied by another in the colours of the Scottish saltire. I mentioned the March Hair. A statue of Alice was outside the railway station and the Mad Hatter was by the prom. The Llawn Festival continues today and there will be two more performances of Stuck in the Mud this morning and afternoon. After Llandudno the show will be staged in Cardiff. Do go and see it, It is well worth seeing.

PS Here is a short video of the performance

Stuck in the mud from John Whittle on Vimeo.

For grown ups who haven't lost touch with their childhoods - Ballet Cymru's Beauty & The Beast

 Photo: Janire Najeera

A little bit of Welsh indulgence

On Sunday 22nd June I embarked on a last minute trip to Lincoln with Jane to see the beautiful Ballet Cymru perform their take on the 'Beauty & The Beast' fable. The company themselves are based just 45 minutes away from my hometown of Bridgend, in a new home set in an unassuming building in an industrial estate in Newport, Gwent. 

Yes, this Newport:

(I can't believe that Ballet Cymru didn't get a mention in this little ditty!)

Anyway, to say that I am proud of this small touring classical ballet company with exceptionally high standards goes without saying! Although currently lacking any Welsh dancers, Artistic Director Darius James is a Newport boy born and bred, and for this evocative production a new score was commissioned from Cardiff University graduate David Westcott. So, despite being far away from my hometown in a modern Performing Arts Centre in the city of Lincoln I still got to see the the pinnacle of Welsh ballet! Ballet Cymru are very much an ensemble, from my brief communications with Assistant Artistic Director Amy Doughty and from observing the dancers and technical staff you get the feeling that they are all collaborating and sharing their skills and talents to make their company a success. They have real heart and soul, and this was no better shown than in their performance.

On with the show...
With the opening strains of Westcott's haunting score cascading through our ears the curtains opened to the full dance company on stage, introducing us to and inviting us in to watch their interpretation of Jean Cocteau’sublime La Belle et la Bête. And invite us in they did! The combination of James' and Doughty's swooping choreography and the rustic screen projections and crisp lighting design gave an intimate feel to the performance, as if we were watching a travelling show of unique, esoteric beings who appear briefly overnight only to disappear the next morning. And all of this was magically pulled together by the bewitching, elegant and dramatic Ballet Cymru dancers.

We're all familiar with the tale, and Cocteau's 'Beauty' is filled with themes of friendship, family, romance and redemption. I believe that Ballet Cymru really managed to convey these themes and ideas within their piece. Nicolas Capelle gave a truly heart-breaking performance as Beauty's father, who upon learning of his son's (Andrea Battaggia) selfishness and greed embarked on a desperate journey to the Beast's castle. At times his desperation made me feel that this journey was more of a suicide mission, as if he couldn't face the shame of returning home empty-handed to a family, who without the presence of a matriarch placed high demands and expectations upon him. After battling through the bewitched Castle (brilliantly brought to life by members of the company) he sights a single red rose and with that remembers his youngest daughter and his promise to her, effectively bringing him back to life. It wasn't the last time that Ballet Cymru's Beauty would have this effect on the men in her life, either.

A cacophony of noise announced the arrival of the Beast onto the stage, and it was a Beast unlike any I had ever seen before. Brilliantly brought to life by Mandev Sokhi (who managed to convey a sense of pathos despite his alien form), this creature was literally skin and bone. I applaud Ballet Cymru for creating a truly physically repellent character that was at times reminiscent of Max Shreck's Count Orlok and Harrison Birtwistle's Minotaur. Sokhi's Beast carried a great burden, shaking, stumbling and contorting his way across the stage during the introductory scenes before re-coiling into an insectoid like form when faced with the purity and honesty of Lydia Arnoux's Beauty. As a fellow dancer I couldn't help but admire Sokhi's stamina and dance talent when, after his unveiling as a handsome prince, he bounded into a serious of bravura steps and pas de deux. This was no mean feat after bending over double for 75% of the production, especially when partnering the petite Arnoux.

Unfortunately, although I was incredibly 'taken' with Capelle, Sokhi and the exceptional Krystal Lowe (who as well as dancing the 'clever sister' role made good use of her strength, fluidity and footwork as part of the Beast's living castle) I wasn't quite as enamoured of Arnoux's Beauty as I needed to be. I like spacious dancers who extend and reach through movement, and Arnoux's petite frame meant that at times the gorgeous choreography was a bit lost on her. And her childlike appearance also brought to mind a sullen Shirley Temple, which made the subsequent romantic duets with a very dashing Daniel Morrison as Avenant a little uncomfortable to watch. I suppose I would also say that I was a little disappointed by the generic casting of a blonde, petite, cherubic dancer as Beauty. I was craving something a little less obvious than that, and at times I found myself imagining what Lowe would be like as Beauty instead. There's no doubt that Arnoux is a very talented dancer and actress, however, and her stage presence and dramatic ability more than made up for her lack of stature amongst some of the ensemble pieces with her taller peers. I look forward to seeing her perform other roles, her lightness and quick feet would make her an ideal Puck if Ballet Cymru would re-cast their version of '...Dream'!

Photographer: Sian Trenberth

Arnoux & Sokhi in rehearsals 

So without giving any more of the ending away, although I'm sure readers will guess that they all lived happily ever after, it just leaves me to say rhydw'yn hoffi Ballet Cymru! I'd also like to give a special mention to Robbie Moorcroft, who brought a sense of vivaciousness and genuine friendship to his performance as friend and companion to Beauty's siblings (he was also kind enough to indulge in a little chat with me after the show!).

Train with the company
Although Ballet Cymru's website (www.welshballet.co.uk) is still under development they are currently taking bookings for their 2014 Summer School via the contact details on the holding page. I'm sure many of my fellow dancers will take advantage of the opportunity to spend a week with this marvelous company! The company are also carrying out an ambitious programme of outreach work within the local community in South Wales, and again contact details for this are displayed on the website.

They're not from Chigwell - they're from a small Welsh Town called Newport

Except that Newport is not all that small and it has a very good ballet company called Ballet Cymru. I blogged about the company in "Ballet Cymru: 'Romeo a Juliet'" and on Saturday 11 May 2013 I actually got to see them at the Brewery Arts Centre in Kendal.

Now Kendal really is a small town but its arts centre is impressive. Not only does it have a fair size auditorium for dance and drama but it also has space for pictures, cinema, a pretty good restaurant and several bars. Last Saturday there was a reggae concert and two first run films as well as the Welsh Ballet. My friend had an excellent sea food and I a meat platter before the show for £9.99 each. On the walls outside the auditorium I admired some interesting art work that appeared to have been made from rubbish washed up on a beach. Incidentally, the Brewery is only one of a number of attractions in this town. Earlier in the day we glimpsed the Quaker Tapesty and enjoyed some of the delicious drinking chocolate at the Famous 1657 Chocolate House. And there is so much more in this delightful town.

But we had come to see ballet and in particular Darius James and Amy Doughty's version of Romeo & Juliet. Now I knew Kenneth MacMillan's very well and had actually seen Lynn Seymour dance Juliet. It is a big ballet for a big company. I knew from the promotional video that Ballet Cymru would use the Prokofiev score and I wondered how on earth a small touring company without an orchestra on a tiny stage could possibly do justice to it.

The answer is that they did pretty well.  There used a backdrop and projector for the scene changes: stained glass for Friar Laurence's cell and flickering candles for Juliet's funeral.   Minimal props that had to include a double bed and catafalque. Contemporary clothes instead of Italian renaissance costumes. I liked Tybault's Welsh dragon tattoo that could have been lifted from the Jay-Z spoof. The music was recorded but it sounded almost as though it was live. According to the programme it was provided by Sinfonia Cymru conducted by Richard Laing.

However, it was the dancers who made the evening and they were delightful. It is probably unfair to singe any of them out but Emily Pimm Edwards as Juliet, Lydia Arnoux as Cerys (Juliet's girl friend instead of a nurse), Krystal Lowe as one of the Montagues and Daisuke Miura impressed me very much indeed. Edwards for her dramatic as well as balletic skill, Arnoux for her adorable, flirtatious girlishness, Lowe for her street wise swagger and Miura for his athleticism. I think I saw several stars in the making on Saturday night.

There was some interesting touches to the choreography. The use of a clog dance - not a sweet mother and daughter one as in Fille - but a more sinister emphasis of stamping feet by the Montagues. I have also mentioned the substitution of Cerys for the nurse which gave scope for Arnoux.  And finally the tragic pas de deux of Romeo and the lifeless Juliet.   Shortly after the performance I tweeted that I preferred James and Doughty's choreography to MacMillan. On reflection I would rather not compare the Royal Ballet's work with the Welsh because they are so different  but I certainly liked the Welsh version as much as the Royal's and I would really like to see more of James's choreography.   I have seen a lot of ballet over the last 40 years or so.   I rarely get as excited about a company as I did on Saturday.

The company spent only one night in Kendal. The next day they were off to Ayr. Then back to the Lake District.  Later this week they are on their way to Hertfordshire.  It must be an exhausting tour.  If Ballet Cymru come anywhere near you they are well worth seeing,