A Fille that owes Nothing to Ashton or Lanchbery

Krasnoyarsk State Opera House

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Source Wikipedia Krasnojarsk

The Russian State Ballet of Siberia La Fille mal gardée 15 Feb 2019 Liverpool Empire

Krasnoyarsk is a city in Siberia with a population of just over a million on approximately the same latitude as Dundee. According to Google Maps, it is 4,559 miles away and takes over 14½ hours to reach by air or 5 days by surface transportation.

An opera house with a resident ballet company opened in that city in 1978.  The company's founder members included graduates of the Vaganova Ballet Academy and the Moscow State Academy of Choreography.  Krasnoyarsk has produced some fine dancers over the years despite its remoteness and modest population. They include Anna Ol of the Dutch National Ballet and Viktoria Tereshkina of the Mariinsky.  Many of those dancers trained or began their training in the city and some such as Ol danced with the Krasnoyarsk opera house company.

Every year artists from the Krasnoyarsk opera house ballet tour the United Kingdom as The Russian State Ballet of Siberia (see Anna Lidster Promoting Krasnoyarsk: How the Russian State Ballet of Siberia has won British hearts 3 March 2013 The Siberian Times). I am not sure why they chose that name. It may be that they think that the name of their city might be a bit of a mouthful for British tongues or it may be because they recruit a few extra dancers for the tour such as Francesco Bruni and Francisco Gimenez. However, it is clear from comparing the Russian State Ballet of Siberia's programme with the Krasnoyarsk opera house's website that the two companies are substantially the same.

The tourists have a punishing schedule.  They opened at St David's Hall in Cardiff with The Snow Maiden on 19 Dec 2018 and they will finish in Oxford on 16 March 2019 with Swan Lake. By the end of their tour, they will have performed 6 full-length ballets in 24 venues in every one of our constituent nations except Northern Ireland.  On Friday they reached Liverpool which is where I saw them for the first time.

I was attracted to Liverpool by the show rather than by the company.  They were to dance La Fille mal gardée with music by Hertel rather than Lanchbery and choreography by Gorsky rather than Ashton. La Fille mal gardée is in one sense the oldest ballet in the modern repertoire having first been performed at the Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux less than a fortnight before the storming of the Bastille but the version that we know was premiered in 1960.

To my great surprise and joy, Friday's performance was not at all inferior to the Ashton-Lanchbery-Lancaster version. I would go so far as to say that I left the Empire somewhat more elated than when I left the Lowry in October after seeing BRB's latest production which had somehow expanded into three acts. The story was very much the same. The only significant difference is that Colas gets into Simone's house disguised as a notaire rather than hidden under a bundle of wheat sheaves.

There were a few other differences.  Instead of churning butter half-heartedly, a distracted Lise collected a couple of eggs from the henhouse while her mother gathered a basketful.  Nobody dressed as poultry though there were computer generated animations of pigs and other animals crossing the backcloth which earned a few laughs from the audience. There was a sort of ribbon dance but it did not end up as a love knot and Simone performed a clog dance though not the one we know.  Alain was not swept into the sky by the storm clutching his umbrella.  Nor was he made to resemble a carthorse.

But there were elements that do not occur in the Ashton version such as a full-blown classical pas de deux complete with entrée, male and female solos and coda.  Lise dons a classical tutu which could not possibly have been in the Dauberval version. In the Russian version, Lise dances at least as many fouettés as Odile in Swan Lake or Kitri in Don Quixote.

As in Ashton's version, Simone was danced by a man.  In this case Pavel Kirchev, a Bulgarian guest artist who dances with the Varna ballet.  He reminded me quite a lot of Stanley Holden. Elena Svinko was a delightful Lise, coquettish and feisty.  She had teeth and she used them on poor Alain (Ilia Kaprov) biting his fingers and ear and stamping on his foot as he tried to express affection.  Marcello Pelizzoni, who trained in Moscow and dances with the Krasnoyarsk ballet, was Colas. He has impressive elevation, power and grace and I delighted in his virtuosity.

Considering the time they must have spent on the road and the need to pack and repack almost every day I was pleasantly surprised that the sets and costumes seemed so fresh and that the cast had so much energy.  I shall try to catch their Swan Lake when they come to Halifax or Sheffield.

...... and they sounded great

The Album Notes for the recording of Richard Bonynge's Giselle

(c) 2016 Gita Mistry, all rights reserved

On Sunday I mentioned my collection of student LPs which I have just discovered (see Look what I've found! 10 April 2016). After as we had seen the Bolshoi's Don Quixote at the National Media Museum Gita and I returned to her home to try out the records on her sound system.

It took a minute or so to adjust the system for these antique recordings but sure enough the overture and morning sounds of the opening scene of Lanchberry's orchestration of Herold's fee emerged loud and strong. There was some hissing and static but quality of the sound was extraordinary. Better that I was able to produce on my portable record player which had been my 21st birthday present from my parents.

As we had done Jane Tucker's intensive a few days earlier Gita placed Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet on the turntable. When the Dance of the Knights came on we counted the beats to the girls' entrance. We were tempted to stride across the room and start our glissades but movement might have destabilized the system. Instead we rehearsed the steps in our minds and metaphorically flew with Juliet when the orchestra played her variation.

After Romeo and Juliet we played side 1 of Swan Lake and then side 1 of The Nutcracker. We could have listened to them all night had we not had jobs to do in the morning.

The Royal Ballet's New Season

Royal Opera House

The Royal Opera House announced its 2016-2017 season yesterday and released a video of a discussion between Kasper Holten and Kevin O'Hare about their respective companies' offerings. So far as ballet is concerned the season starts well with La Fille mal gardée and ends well with three glorious works by Ashton. There are also one or two treasures in between like Jewels but it also includes one not very welcime surprise.

I am talking, of course, about the revival of Anastasia which I saw in 1971 and which I have never been tempted to see again. According to the performance database there have been two productions. The first by Sir Kenneth MacMillan ran between 22 July 1971 and 1 Dec 1993 and the second, produced by his widow, between 2 May 1996 and 12 May 2004. The work is about Anna Anderson who claimed to be the Archduchess Anastasia a member of the Romanov family who had ruled Russia until the revolution.  We now know from DNA tests that Anderson was an imposter and that the grand duchess almost certainly died with the rest of her family at Ekaterinberg but that was not known for certain in 1967 when Sir Kenneth created the first version of the ballet.

It is a very long time since I saw the work but I distinctly remember some film and some very dissonant music. Nowadays that would be commonplace. We would probably call it multimedia. In the pre-digital 1970s it was unusual. I saw it when I was in my early twenties when I would have been my most receptive to new ideas. If I didn't take to it then I am quite unlikely to take to it now. I gave Nixon's Swan Lake a second chance last month and found that the judgment that I had formed in 2004 had not changed (see Up the Swannee 17 March 2016). One of the threads of an internet forum to which I subscribe and occasionally contribute was "What is your LEAST favourite ballet?" to which I wrote that it was a dead heat between Northern Ballet's Swan Lake and Beauty and the Beast and Anastasia. Beauty and the Beast is also about to be revived.  If I say that Jonathan Watkins's 1984 which I have seen twice is not too far behind you will understand that 2016 will not have been a very good year in that regard.

However, that is all a matter of taste and my taste may not be your taste. Each of the ballets on my "least favourite" list has its aficionados some of whom are surprised and even a little hurt to find someone with a contrary view. Anastasia has not exactly been big box office over the last 50 years but that may change as it is to be streamed to cinemas on 2 Nov 2016.  I shall not be traipsing down to London to see it and I will have to be at a very loose end even to take the bus to the Huddersfield Odeon.

One ballet that is definitely worth a trek to London is The Sleeping Beauty. This is one of my favourite ballets but one that I was surprised to find on quite a lot of subscribers' least favourite list. I have already seen a very creditable performance by the Chelmsford Ballet (see A Real Beauty: Chelmsford Ballet's The Sleeping Beauty 25 March 2016) and I am about to watch Sir Peter Wright's production for the Hungarian Ballet in Budapest (see The Hungarian National Ballet's Sleeping Beauty 24 Feb 2016). Funny isn't it that ballets like buses seem to come along in threes. I can see why some folk don't like it. It is a bit long and the story of the disappearance of a whole kingdom is even more unbelievable than girls morphing into swans or wilis but, hey ho, the music is lovely and divertissements like the bluebird pas de deux are among the most enchanting in dance.

Even more worthy of an awayday to the Smoke will be Balanchine's Jewels which will be running this time next year. Balanchine is one of my favourite choreographers and Jewels along with Serenade are among my favourite works. I missed Jewels when the Dutch National Ballet did it last season and also in the cinema when it was streamed from Moscow as I was travelling up from High Wycombe after seeing the Royal New Zealand Ballet's Giselle. Wild horses won't keep me from Covent Garden this time.

Having enjoyed Wayne McGregor's Chroma when performed by the Dutch National Ballet as part of its Cool Britannia triple bill last year (see Going Dutch 29 June 2015) I am looking forward to the Wayne McGregor triple bill (Chroma / New Wayne McGregor / Carbon Life) in November. I am also looking forward to new works by McGrego's protégés, Charlotte Edmonds and Robert Binet in the Clore Studio. I have already been introduced to their works by the Dutch National Ballet Junior Company (see The Dutch National Ballet Junior Company's best Performance yet 8 Feb 2015 and Ballet Bubbles 16 Feb 2016). If these young choreographers are good enough for Ernst Meisner and his outstanding young dancers then they are good enough for me.

The Christmas show this year will be The Nutcracker again. This is in honour of Sir Peter Wright's 80th birthday. It will be just as I like it with a real Clara Stahlbaum (not Edwards) somewhere in Mittleeuropa and not on the banks of the Thames, no balloons, no rodents hanging on into Act II, a Columbine and Harlequin, a Sugar Plum Fairy and her cavalier and all the usual divertissements. As reassuring as turkey with all the trimmings, Christmas pud and mince pies.

Woolf Works, another McGregor ballet, is to be revived. I missed it first time round largely because I find Virginia Woolf's Orlando a bit too close to the bone. Those who have read the book and know me will understand why. But the ballet has been received enthusiastically and the video of McGregor's rehearsal with Edward Watson indicates why. So maybe I shall give it a try this time round.

Another triple bill by David Dawson, Christopher Wheeldon and Crystal Pite (The Human Seasons / Aftethe Rain / New Crystal Pite) comes next, followed by MacMillan's Mayerling, a new work by Liam Scarlett as well as Forsythe, Balanchine and Wheeldon (The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude / Tarantella / Strapless / New Liam Scarlet) and finally the piece de resistance,  The Dream / Symphonic Variations / Marguerite and Armand).

A lot of new work this season together with some old favourites. Something for everyone and quite enough to keep me happy. Happily the Dutch National Ballet will be dancing La Bayadere in November which is just about the same time as Anastasia so I have a lot to relish and little to dread.

Laura Morera

I extended my stay in London after seeing La Bayadère for another day to see Susan Johnson interview Ricardo Cervera and Laura Morera. I had to endure the miserable weather in London and drive nearly 200 miles through the night but it was worth it because Morera's performance on on 16 April 2015 was exquisite (see The Best Fille Ever 18 April 2015). Fille is pretty well my favourite ballet and I have seen a lot of performances over the years but that evening was special and I wanted to tell her that myself.

I can say nothing about the discussion last night because the London Ballet Circle embargoes reporting of its proceedings, but I can direct you to a photograph of Cervera, Morera and Johnson on the Circle's Facebook page.  Morera has had a splendid career with the Royal Ballet which is summarized on her page on the Royal Opera House's website:

"She trained at The Royal Ballet School and graduated into the Company in 1995, promoted to First Artist in 1998, Soloist in 1999, First Soloist in 2002 and Principal in 2007. Her repertory includes Manon and Lescaut's Mistress (Manon), Tatiana (Onegin), Mitzi Caspar and Marie Larisch (Mayerling), Lise (La Fille mal gardée), Gamzatti (La Bayadère), Sugar Plum Fairy (The Nutcracker), Giselle and Myrtha (Giselle), Effie (La Sylphide), Titania (The Dream), the Queen of Hearts (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland), Paulina (The Winter's Tale) and Principal roles in Song of The Earth, Rhapsody and Viscera."

The same web page embeds a YouTube video on the staging of Manon in which Cervera as well as Morera discuss the ballet and its characters.

Meetings like the one last night provide a rare opportunity for interaction between a dancer and his or her audience. We can express our appreciation on the night by clapping, cheering, rising to our feet and even throwing flowers but that is not the same as saying "your dancing touched my soul".  Do dancers need to know that? I don't know but I do know that I feel compelled to say that sometimes.

I hope Peregrine likes his carrots

In Act I of the Royal Ballet's version of La Fille mal gardée the wealthy farmer Thomas produces a pony and trap for Lise and her mother. The pony is called Peregrine and in the interval it was given a basket of carrots and apples by Darcey Bussell.  Bussell told us that it has a fan club on twitter. That was something that I really didn't know and I wouldn't have found out had I not attended the HDTV transmission of La Fille mal gardée at the Huddersfield Odeon yesterday.

It wasn't the only nugget of information that I picked up. My ears pricked up when Lesley Collier told Bussell that Sir Frederick Ashton was a sort of ballerina. I can't remember exactly what she said because I was startled but I remember she referred to something in his eyes and I couldn't help thinking "how true." As it happens I actually saw Sir Frederick dance a female role - one of the ugly sisters in Cinderella with Sir Robert Helpmann - but I wasn't thinking of that. I remembered the story about his seeing Anna Pavlova in Lima as a boy. It was the event that fired his interest in ballet.  Insights like that together with the voice over with Natalia Osipova where she mentioned how she was learning how to carry her arms in the English style (something to which Collier also referred in her interview with Bussell) are some of the advantages of HDTV.

Another is the detail that cinema audiences see. Let me give you just one example.   I must have seen a dozen performances of Fille on the stage over the years including two in the last 9 months but I had never noticed the significance of the scarves until last night. At the beginning of Act II Simone picks two scarves out of a chest of drawers. Her daughter chooses the pink one at first but her mother wants to wear that and she gives her a yellow one.  During Act II Simone pops out to collect Thomas, Alain and the notary so that they can seal the marriage contract. Colas, however, has managed to sneak in to the parlour and is hiding below some sheaves of corn. He emerges and the lovers dance a pas de deux in which they exchange scarves. Colas was wearing a pink one and Simone finds Lise wearing a pink scarf and not the yellow one when she returns from her errand. It is her first intimation that something has been going on. That and the corn sheaves all over the floor rather than in the neat pile in which she had left them.

So I learned a lot of new things about Ashton's ballet in the Huddersfield Odeon that I would never have discovered in the best seats of the stalls in the Opera House itself.  In the past I have compared the Royal Opera House's transmissions very unfavourably with Pathé Live's transmissions from Moscow. The House's transmissions are definitely getting better. They would be better still if they could hire the admirable Katerina Novikova.  I love Bussell but I want to remember her as a ballerina not as a TV celebrity. That's why I can never bring myself to watch Strictly. The House should also lose the tweets though I have to say that I smiled when someone said that he would never touch KFC again after seeing the hens in the ballet.

So what of the performance itself? Steven McRae was a splendid Colas. He is a great dancer with enormous charm and humour. I've never met the man but if I did I know I would take to him. I'm much less sure about Osipova. She is also a great dancer. Her jumps are magnificent. But there are some ballets where you don't need virtuosity and Ashton's Fille is one of them. You need a sweet dancer like Laura Morera who opened the season (see The Best Fille Ever 18 April 2015) or Maureya Lebowitz whom I saw in Nottingham last year (see Fille bien gardée - Nottingham 26 June 2014 27 June 2014). "Is this what Ashton intended?" I thought to myself as I watched the closing scene of Act II as Lise in her wedding dress leaps jubilantly round the stage. I feel really terrible expressing even the mildest reserve about Osipova. She is, as I said above, a great dancer and in some roles such as Tatiana in Cranko's Onegin she is perfect. I know she tried last night. Though she is not a natural Lise she is still a delight to watch.

As for the other dancers, I liked Philip Mosley's Simone very much. He is a fine character dancer. Paul Kay was good as Alain too as was Christopher Saunders as his father. I congratulate Michael Stojko as the cock and each of the hens. Meaghan Grace Hinkis told us how hot and uncomfortable it is to dance in the hen suit. "It's a real workout" she added. They only have a mesh aperture in the mask for vision and that headpiece can easily be dislodged. I liked all Lise's friends. But my favourite character artist yesterday was Gary Avis as the notaire. Not so much because of his dancing (though he is always good) but for his portrayal of a country solicitor. He must have some connection with the law because he reminds me of so many of those who have instructed me over the years.

Altogether, it was a lovely evening and it has tempted me back to the Huddersfield retail park for the encore on Sunday.

Fille is to us what Napoli is to the Danes - but other countries love Fille too

La Fille mal gardée is to us what Napoli is to the Danes. Napoli. is their national ballet by their most famous choreographer even though it is set in Southern Italy.  Fille is English even though it is set in Normandy. How could it be otherwise with choreography by Ashton, music by Lanchberry and sets by Osbert Lancaster?

But wait. It is also very French as Brigitte Lefèvre explains in the clip above.   The very first production was in Bordeaux on the eve of the storming of the Bastille.  On the anniversary of that insurrection this year the Ballet of the Paris Opera are dancing Ashton's ballet at the Palais Garnier. If this film is anything to go by they can reclaim it for themselves. Quelle joie! Quelle delice. Here are the details if you want to see it.

But Fille is also Russian.  Ashton drew heavily on the experience of Tamara Karsavina who had danced the ballet in St Petersburg.  And now the compliment has been returned for Ashton's version was danced last year at the Mikhailovsky Theatre in St Petersburg.

And the Americans love Fille too for it is in American Ballet Theatre's repertoire.

The Best Fille Ever

Royal Ballet, La Fille mal gardée, Royal Opera House, 16 April 2015

I first saw La Fille mal gardée in 1970 with Merle Park as Lise, Michael Coleman as Colas, Brian Shaw as Simone, Alexander Grant as Alain and Leslie Edwards as Thomas. I've seen a lot of performances of this ballet since then. But I don't think I have ever seen a better one than last Thursday night's. Vadim Muntagirov danced Colas, Laura Morera Lise, Will Tukett Simone, Paul Kay Alain and Gary Avis Thomas. Ashton would have been delighted with their performance.

Morera was an adorable Lise. Ashton had created that role for Nadia Nerina who retired just before I could afford to take myself to Covent Garden. I saw her only on black and white television of which a few fragments remain on YouTube (see the ribbon dance with David Blair and a rather longer extract from Act II). For me Lise was Merle Park and I have compared every ballerina who has danced that role over the 45 years to her. The highest compliment that I could pay a dancer in that role whenever I reviewed that ballet was that she reminded me of Park. That is what I said about the performance of the lovely Maureya Lebowitz when Birmingham Royal Ballet danced Fille in Nottingham last year (see Fille bien gardée - Nottingham 26 June 2014 27 June 2014). Morera has put her signature on that role.  How charmingly she coaxed her mum into her clogs clicking them gently together. How sweetly she pretended to catch, swat and stamp on an imaginary fly. A disobedient daughter, yes, but such an affectionate one. How could anyone remain angry with her for long?

Muntagirov was the best Colas that I have ever seen. In previous productions he had been overshadowed by Lise which is perhaps as it should be as  Fille is in the title in contrast to the other great ballet about an arranged marriage that went wrong, Romeo and Juliet. Muntagirov transformed that role with his power and grace. He is a magnificent dancer of whom I can never see enough.

Tuckett was a very convincing Simone. Previous dancers in that role had danced it as a pantomime dame but Tuckett was womanly.  At least one person in the audience expressed surprise that Simone was a man on reading the cast list. Kay portrayed the gormless and gulled Alain skilfully. It is a difficult role to dance in the 21st century. Fifty years ago we were less kind to folk with learning difficulties and other disabilities. We laughed at them then but don't any more. Kay won our hearts and our sympathy.

On 9 April Avis tweeted:

Well! Who would have thought that on my birthday at my age I'd be having a solo rehearsal with Wayne McGregor for #ROHwoolf @RoyalOperaHouse
— Gary Avis (@balletboy09) April 9, 2015

I have always liked Avis so I replied

@balletboy09 @RoyalOperaHouse many happy returns from one of your most devoted admirers who hopes to see more of you in the years to come.
— Terpsichore (@jelterps) April 9, 2015

It was such a treat to see him so soon after that exchange.

And yet another treat was to be in a London audience who had seen ballet before and knew when to clap and when to roar. Every single seat in the House was taken. There was a buzz. There was gaiety. There was flair. The crowd was there to watch and live the show. Not simply to be seen by their neighbours in the hope of appearing in the social pages of a county glossy. Such a glorious experience in every way.

Looking Forward to 2015 - My Choices

Marie Taglioni in La Sylphide

Photo Wikipedia

Yesterday I listed my 11 favourite ballets of this year but what about next year?  Who knows!  But here are some likely candidates.

La Sylphide is not a ballet that we see very often in this country which is strange because it is set in Scotland. It is much less creepy that Giselle though it does have a witch and sylphs. The costumes are gorgeous: colourful tartan for the men and flowing white romantic tutus for the women. Løvenskjold's score is not quite as well known as Adam's but it is not bad. This year we shall have a taster when principals and soloists of the Royal Danish Ballet visit the Peacock on the 9 and 10 Jan 2015 and then the real McCoy in August when the Queensland Ballet come to the Coliseum.

The visit of the Queensland Ballet excites me for another reason. My dear ballet teacher Fiona Noonan, who put me on my feet with ballercise and then coaxed me into ballet just over 2 years ago, trained in Brisbane. She demands the best from her students and we strive to give it to her though I fear I do not always succeed. The name of the company's ballet school - the Queensland Dance School of Excellence - typifies its aspiration. Judging by this trailer for for the 2015 season we are in for quite a treat.


The company will dance at the Coliseum from 4 to 8 Aug 2015 and I have a ticket for the last night.

Last year the Dutch National Ballet Junior Company danced a short season at The Linbury. I reviewed their performance in And can they fly! The Dutch National Ballet Junior Company at Covent Garden 30 June 2014. They are returning to London with 7 new dancers in the first week of June as part of the Springboard season (see my interview with Ernst Meisner on the Junior Company 3 Dec 2015). I will see the show in Amsterdam on 6 Feb 2015 and will report back to you. A week after the Junior Company visits the Linbury the main company will present Wayne McGregor's Chroma and new works by David Dawson and Christopher Wheeldon as part of its Cool Britannia triple bill. It does seem a bit ironic crossing the North Sea to see some of the best of British choreography but there it is.

The one show of the Royal Ballet that I am not going to miss come hell or high water will be Ashton's La Fille mal gardée.  This is the oldest ballet in the modern repertory though Ashton's version is a complete reworking and very different from  the original work. It is my favourite ballet and I have seen many famous ballerinas dance the leading role. My all time favourite was Merle Park but I think Roberta Marquez, Laura Morera, Marianela Nuñez, Yuhui Choe and Natalia Osipova will all dance Lise well. I also this Carlos Acosta will make a superb Colas.

Another treat at Covent Garden will be Ballet Black's triple bill which will revive Will Tuckett's Depouillement. This was the work that led me to Ballet Black. Here is the pas de deux danced by Jade Hale Christofi and Sarah Kundi.

 

Christofi and Kundi have both moved on so the pas de deux will be danced by other dancers. When she visited Leeds in November I asked Cassa Pancho who will dance those roles in February. She seemed about to answer my question and then hesitated. "It's a surprise" she smiled. She has lots of good dancers to choose from. My choice would be Damien Johnson and Cira Robinson or Christopher Renfurm and Kanika Carr but any of the dancers of Ballet Black could do it well.  There will also be new works by Kit Holder and Mark Bruce.  I have tickets for the 14 February which happens to be my birthday.  I can't think of a better way of celebrating it than watching this company - can you?

So far I have discussed ballets that will be performed in London but there is some good stuff in Leeds too. Between 4 and 12 March Northern Ballet will dance Jean-Christophe Maillot's Romeo and Juliet at The Grand.  Ballet Black will dance their delightful children's ballet Dogs Don't Do Ballet at the Stanley and Audrey Burton Theatre on the 18 and 19 April (see Woof 12 Oct 2014). Northern Ballet will also dance David Nixon's Wuthering Heights in Sheffield. between 18 and 21 Match 2015.

In Scotland there is Peter Darrell's The Nutcracker for Scottish Ballet which I shall see in Edinburgh on Saturday and Ballet West's Romeo and Juliet which I will catch wherever I can. From Wales Ballet Cymru promise a new Cinderella and two new works called Celtic Concerto and Tir. Finally, in Essex there will be a new Carnival of the Animals by Christopher Marney for the wonderful Chelmsford Ballet Company of which I am proud to be a non-dancing associate member. One of the reasons I admire Marney is that his style reminds me of  John Cranko. It just so happens that the company will also be dancing Cranko's Pineapple Poll with the new Marney. They will perfrom at the Chelmsford Civic Theatre between the 18 and 21 March. Last year every performance of The Nutcracker was sold out so don't leave it too late to buy a ticket. I wouldn't miss that show for the world,

Fat Chance - Rained Off!

Right now I should have been reviewing Hype Dance Company's contribution to Chance to Dance. It would have been my chance to reciprocate the support that Mel showed me and my classmates at Northern Ballet Academy when we performed in the end of year show three weeks ago (see "The Time of My Life" 28 June 2014 and Mel's generous review "The Dance DID go on - Northern Ballet Academy Show 2014" 29 June 2014). It would have been a great show and I can say that with some conviction because I took part in the rehearsals for both Fiona Noonan's Sugar Plum Fairy and Lucy's Stay with Me. Fiona and Lucy and their students, Andrew, Blessing, Mel, Rose, Verity, and all the others whose names I can't recall just now worked so hard for the show.

The show was called off because the weather in Sheffield yesterday was like the storm scene in La Fille mal gardée - only worse.  The dancers were understandably disappointed. Andrew tweeted

A bit peeved not have taken part in @ctdsheffield today but very nice to enjoy lunch and blether with @nipclaw. Thankyou for the invite x
— Melony Klein (@MelonyKlein) July 19, 2014

Mel added

@strawbini @MelonyKlein It's so crappy! Weeks of rehearsals for nothing :/ Performing it in a studio in Hype just won't be the same
— MelSkydancer (@MelMAOW) July 19, 2014

And it was a real cri de coeur because she plans to start her advanced training in London soon:

@strawbini @MelonyKlein And it was my last @ctdsheffield event since I'm leaving in September :/
— MelSkydancer (@MelMAOW) July 19, 2014

The organizers, who must be just as disappointed, have promised to do what they can:

@nipclaw @finoonan04 thanks Jane we will regroup and work out what we can do next - I will be sending a letter to all groups soon - Mark
— Chance to Dance (@ctdsheffield) July 19, 2014

I make no criticism of their decision to cancel the festival. There were probably public liability, health and safety or other considerations that left them with little choice. I did criticize them on twitter a few minutes ago for not making contingency plans for the weather because thunder storms in summer are by no means unusual in North West Europe - that's part of the plot of the oldest ballet in the modern repertoire for goodness sake - but, on reflection, that criticism was unkind and I withdraw it.  I have the advantage of hindsight which is always 20/20. But I do think that the organizers of Chance to Dance and other outdoor dance festivals can learn from yesterday by making wet weather contingency plans of some kind and I hope that they do.

If there is another chance to dance this year and Mel can't take part then I shall take her place if the choreographer and other dancers will have me.