KNT's Le Corsaire: "It wasn’t called an intensive for nothing"

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KNT Beginners' Ballet Le Corsaire Intensive  Dancehouse Manchsester, 15 April 2017

Wendy McDermott

The workshop at KNT always seems popular and this one day workshop, taught by Jane Tucker, was certainly that. There were around 25 dancers all ready to learn some of the choreography of Le Corsaire. We poured into the Dancehouse Theatre building at around 9.40 am, the majority of us made a beeline for the changing rooms (a.k.a the toilets) and into the studio for 10 am to begin a 30min stretch and warm up followed by a quick break, after which our 90 min ballet class started at the barre.

Now the trouble with writing about class some three weeks after it has passed, is a little unfortunate as I’m struggling to remember the finer points, but what I do recall is that when we moved into centre we paid particular attention to pirouettes, both en dehors and en dedans, which gave us an inkling of what lay ahead for the repertoire classes in the afternoon. After another short break, we began learning Act II’s pas de deux, the male solo part probably made famous by Nureyev (though I must say, after watching other solos of the same I enjoyed Baryshnikov just as much, if not a tad more). Starting downstage left, a keen ear was needed to pick up the count to move into our three grand pas de chat, each one followed by attitude derriere on demi pointe and finishing downstage centre into pirouettes en dehors right and left, balancé de côté, one more pirouette then a pose, which is best described as Usain Bolt’s signature. Finally a step, glissade jeté* (I think!) around the studio with chaînés and final pose to finish. Phew! Just about the majority of this we all worked very hard to learn before our well earned hour long lunch break.

It wasn’t called an intensive for nothing, as the afternoon continued in earnest and for the remainder of the afternoon we were taught two sections of Act III’s pas de trois (pas des odalisques). From glissade assemble, attitude devant derriere, pirouettes from fourth position, and ‘lame ducks’, to temps levé in arabesques and all the other steps in between. As beginners, we may not get the leg height of some or turnout be as strong but we all danced our hearts out that afternoon, and came away feeling invigorated. What’s more, all our hard work was filmed for our final performance which can be viewed above.

KNT's Le Corsaire Workshop and Evening Class Show

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I have been coming to KNT Danceworks's evening classes at the Dancehouse Theatre in Manchester ever since the 28 Aug 2014 (see So Proud of Manchester - KNT Danceworks Complete Beginners Class 29 Aug 2014). I am very glad to have found KNT as it is now very much a home from home. I have met some delightful people there, both teachers and students, and learned a lot over the last three years.

In addition to regular classes in most types of dance on almost every day of the week, KNT holds special events that I particularly enjoy. These are repertoire intensives with Jane Tucker of Northern Ballet and shows for the evening class students in the auditorium of The Dancehouse.

The latest intensive was Le Corsaire which I mentioned in Le Corsaire Intensive on 2 April 2017. It took place on 15 April 2017. I was unable to attend the workshop but I did see most of the end of workshop show which impressed me greatly.  The above video is just one clip from it. I think you will agree that everyone in the film danced well. Their performance is particularly impressive when one considers that they had only one day to learn the choreography.

The next show will take place on 13 May and I will take part in it. I will appear in the Pre-Intermediate Class performance which will be one of several contributions in many dance styles ranging from African to tap. Our instructor, Karen Sant, has created a lovely piece for us. Students in other classes will present shows too. The Chinese dance is a particular favourite of mine. There is a wonderful atmosphere in the theatre both in the auditorium and behind the scenes on show night. We have a splendid compère who is herself a dancer. To get a flavour of the evening, see Pride of 23 Oct 2016 which also contain links to reviews of other performances.

If any of my readers happens to be in Manchester on 13 May with nothing better to do that day, it would be great to see you. The show has yet to be advertised but it usually starts at 19:00 and costs about £5, The Dancehouse is almost next door to Oxford Road station and a few hundred yards from St Peter's Square Metrolink tram stop. There is a multi-storey car park in the same block as The Dancehouse in Chester Street and there is usually plenty of unrestricted street parking in the vicinity after 18:30.

Le Corsaire Intensive

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One of the grandest ballets in the classical cannon but least performed here is Le Corsaire. Originally choreographed by Joseph Mazilier to a score by Adolphe Adam for the Ballet of the Paris Imperial Opera House in 1856 it was extensively revised by Marius Petipa for the Imperial Russian Ballet in St Petersburg. All the versions that are danced today in Russia and elsewhere derive from Petipa's revival. The ballet is in the repertoires of a number of companies including that of the English National Ballet. I saw it in the Palace Theatre on 14 Feb 2014 (see English National Ballet's Le Corsaire - a Valentine's Day Treat 16 Feb 2014).

As you can see from the synopsis on the Bolshoi's website it is a thrilling action-packed story based loosely on Lord Byron's poem. There are some great roles for the leads Conrad and Medora as well as the treacherous Birbanto and Gulnare, the beautiful slave girl. If there was any ballet the repertoire of which I would love to learn it would be this one. And there is an opportunity to do just that on15 April 2017 when Jane Tucker of Northern Ballet Academy will present a full day intensive workshop in the studios of the Dancehouse Theatre on  Oxford Road in Manchester for KNT.

This will be Jane's fifth repertoire intensive. I have attended all the previous ones and I can't recommend them too highly, For an idea of what to expect, see my report of The Nutcracker intensive last October in Sugar Plum for an Hour 30 Oct 2016. The day starts with gentle floor exercises on Pilates mats, gears up with a 90-minute class which is exactly like Jane's Wednesday evening class in Leeds which is, to say the least, challenging. Then wall to wall rehearsals with an hour's break for lunch concluding with a show before our principal, Karen Sant at about 16:00, Now, however fit you may think you are, I guarantee that you will leave the Dancehouse knackered. Knackered but happy because you will have achieved a lot.

The fee for the intensive is £60 and places are filling up like nobody/s business. To book your place call Karen on 07783 103 037, send her an email on info@kntdanceworks.co.uk or contact her through Facebook.

If you are lucky enough to get in I am as jealous as hell because I have to take a raincheck this Easter. I have not seen my family in London for yonks and my grandson manquḗ, Vlad the Lad, is growing like mushrooms on steroids. This Easter we shall be celebrating Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year's Eve, Vlad's birthday, my birthday and mothers' day plus Easter all rolled into one. I can't leave them hanging around on their tod all day while I pretend to be Gulnare on one their precious visits.

Dance in the Gulf

Along with lots of interesting news of its participation in the Patron's Lunch, a parade of its dancers and teachers in London, a pop up event in Birmingham and other activities in Leeds and Ormskirk to celebrate the Queen's 90th birthday, the latest email newsletter from the Royal Academy of Dance links to an article in the Kuwait Times about Teni Matian, an RAD teacher who "helps girls in Kuwait learn to soar".

The reason I take an interest in the region is that I also blog about intellectual property and other legal issues in the Gulf. I am on the lookout for news about dance in the region because dance notations, musical scores, stage backdrops and even some props and costumes can be copyright works and dancers and musicians have the right in countries that are party to the Rome Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organisations to object to the filming, taping or broadcasting of their performances.

A lot of money is going into the arts as states in the Gulf seek to diversify their economies and that has resulted in the construction of new auditoriums for the performing arts. One of the most impressive is the Royal Opera House in Muscat where the English National Ballet performed Le Corsaire between 10 and 12 March 2016. Other companies that are scheduled to visit that venue include the Eifman Ballet and American Ballet Theatre. The Eifman Ballet will dance Anna Karenina (which Mel saw in Budapest last Monday) between 15 and 17 Dec 2016 while ABT will dance Giselle on 6 and 7 April 2017.

While there is a very well established national ballet in Egypt at the splendid Cairo Opera House where I once saw a performance of Act I of The Nutcracker I have not been able to find any professional ballet companies in the Gulf itself. I believe there was once a very good Iranian ballet but that has been forced underground and overseas (see Wikipedia Iranian National Ballet Company). I have not been able to discern a consensus among my Muslim friends as to whether ballet is compatible with Islam (any more than I have been able to detect a similar consensus among my Quaker friends whether it is compatible even with that faith), but ballet certainly seems to be taught to children in many Islamic countries and not just wealthy ones like Kuwait (see Gaza Ballet School 3 Jan 2016). It would be nice to think of some of Teni Martian's pupils making a career in dance.

And talking of Pirouettes .......

English National Ballet's newsletter Ready to Dance arrived earlier today with with a link to Osiel Gouneo's pirouettes in Don Quixote which the newsletter described as "jaw dropping". He will be joining the company as a guest artist this season.

The newsletter also has details of ENB's latest productions: Lest We Forget, Romeo and Juliet  and Le Corsaire, They are bringing Lest We Forget to Manchester on 24 Nov for one night only and also Romeo and Juliet from the 26 to 28. Le Corsaire is coming to Liverpool between 18 and 21 November.  Interestingly, Le Corsaire is also to be staged in Oman, one of the Gulf Cooperation Council states, next year.

The newsletter links to Liam Scarlett's video on No Man's Land and the article What you didn’t know about Nureyev’s Romeo & Juliet in the company's blog.

Finally there are full details on the company's adult ballet classes which seem very similar to Northern Ballet's. Good to know that I shall be able to keep up my ballet if my work takes me permanently to London.

Paris Opera 2015 and 2016 Season

The Palais Garnier, also known as the Opéra Garnier 

Photo Svein-Magne Tunli Source Wikipedia

The Ballet of the Paris Opera is the oldest ballet company in the world.  Although it has had its ups and downs since its foundation in 1689 it is still somehow special. Something that every choreographer, dancer, teacher and student around the world acknowledges tacitly by continuing to use French terminology rather than English or even Russian. Yesterday I received an email from Paris with details of the new season.

There are three works in particular that I should like to see:

• Rudolf Nureyev's La Bayadère;
• Nureyev's Romeo and Juliet; and
• Giselle.

As I have mentioned before La Bayadère is not performed very often in this country (see La Bayadère 31 March 2015. The first time audiences in the West saw the show was when the Kirov brought it to Europe in 1961 and it was on this visit that Nureyev defected to the West. With the score adapted by John Lanchberry, sets by Ezio Frigerio, costumes by Franca Squarciapino and lighting by Vinicio Cheli, the website describes this productions as

"une fête pour les yeux, avec ses morceaux de bravoure et ses grands mouvements d'ensemble."

The production runs at the Opéra Bastille from 17 Nov to 31 Dec 2015.

Romeo and Juliet is another work that Nureyev knew in Russia. He introduced it to the Paris Opera in 1984. The website promises

"Dans les somptueux décors et costumes d'Ezio Frigerio et Mauro Pagano inspirés de la Renaissance italienne, il parvient à rendre le raffinement et la sensualité du drame élisabéthain, mais aussi toute sa cruauté."

This production also runs at the Bastille from the 19 March to 16 April 2016.

Giselle was first performed by the Ballet of the Paris Opera in 1841 so Paris is its home and that is why I want to see it there. This version was adapted from the original choreography of Coralli and Perrot by Patrice Bart (who worked very closely with Nureyev) and Eugene Polyakov. It will be danced at the Palais Garnier (the historic stage of the Paris Opera) from 27 May to 14 June 2016.

Several foreign companies will visit Paris in the new season including the English National Ballet. They will bring their version of Le Corsaire which I saw in Manchester on my birthday last year (see English National Ballet's Le Corsaire - a Valentine's Day Treat 16 Feb 2014). This is the only British company with that ballet in its repertoire and it will be interesting to see how a French audience receives it. If anyone wants to join me in supporting them while they are playing away they will be at the Garnier from 21 to 25 June 2016.

English National Ballet's Le Corsaire - a Valentine's Day Treat

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In the programme, Tamara Rojo noted that Le Corsaire is such an important work that it is strange that no British company has ever owned a production. She added

"The great thing about having a work that no one else has is that you can really make it your own. This is going to be Le Corsaire for the United Kingdom."

The ballet was not entirely unknown to British audiences. The Bolshoi's version was broadcast live in 2012 and I watched it at the National Media Museum in Bradford.

Based on Lord Byron's The Corsair the ballet tells how Conrad, a corsair or privateer in love with Medora, a beautiful Greek woman in Turkish captivity, rescues her from a fate worse than death and takes her back to his den with other beauty including other captives. Conrad's lieutenant, Birbnanto, becomes dissatisfied with the distribution of the booty especially after Conrad promises to give it all to Medora especially after Medora persuades Conrad to liberate the other captives. He makes two attempts to mutiny the second od which results in the recapture of Medora. Conrad comes looking for Medora and rescues her a second time. Sailing away the corsair's barque is caught in the sort of storm that has been battering our coasts for the last few months and sinks. Conrad and Medora (or at least their spirits) survive and they fade away in each other's arms. 

This story provides juicy roles not only for the principals who dance Conrad and Medora but also for Birbanto, Ali (Conrad's sidekick), Lankendem (the governor of the city) and Gulnare, a young slave girl who is left behind in captivity. There is also a great character role for the fat old pasha who can't wait to get his hands on a pretty slave girl.

The production that I saw yesterday was commissioned from Anna-Marie Holmes who had staged the work for the wonderful Boston Ballet which visited us briefly this summer (see "Boston Ballet: 'High as a flag on the Fourth of July!'" 7 July 2013). Homes's production was itself based on a revival of the work by Konstantin Sergeyev, the artistic director of what was then called the Kirov Ballet and is now once more the Mariinsky. The work that Sergeyev revived was choreographed by Marius Petipa to a score by Adam though with contributions from a number of other composers including Delibes and Minkus.

The work had its première in Milton Keynes on 17 Oct 2013 since when it has been staged in Southampton, Oxford, Bristol and London. Manchester is the last stop of its tour although it is going to Spain for a few days in April. The advantage of seeing a show at the end of a tour is that the company will have accumulated a lot of experience so the performance should be very polished.  Le Corsaire had had a very good run in London both from the critics and audiences. I therefore had very high expectations when I braved the elements on Valentine's day.

I was not disappointed. Conrad was danced by Zdenek Konvalina who danced with enormous energy and grace. He was partnered by Fernanda Oliveira as Medora. She was delightful.  Sweet and imploring when begging for the slave girls' freedom in Act II, fierce when cornered by Birbanto indignant when denouncing him to Conrad and very exciting to watch, particularly in the spectacular dances with Conrad and Ali in Act II.   Fabian Reimair projected slyness and malice as Birbanto.  Ken Saruhashi, who danced Lankendem, is an impressive young man with ambitions to dance Siegfried, Albrecht and Basilio, I am sure we shall see a lot of him. Michael Coleman, the fat old pasha (the archetypical dirty old man) had the audience chuckling as he vibrated after acquiring Medora. But the loudest applause on Friday went to Shiori Kase who danced Gulnare and Yonah Acosta who danced Ali.

When I mentioned that the crowd had gone wild for Acosta on BalletcoForum one of the ballet buffs replied:

"Not to take anything away from Yonah Acosta, of course, but ENB's Corsaire audiences have all gone wild for Ali, whoever has been dancing the role!"

I can understand why that would be the case. Ali has some spectacular jumps that would raise a cheer whoever danced that character. But I was impressed by this young man and I am sure we shall all see a lot more of him.

The same is true of Gulnare's role which is danced by an up and coming young dancer. Michaela dePrince (a Sierra Leonean dancer currently with Ernst Meisner's Junior Company whom I just can't see enough of) performed it for the Joburg Ballet when she was just 16 or 17. As with Ali's role the choreography certainly helps for there is a delightful flower dance in the pasha's garden. Shiori Kase danced it beautifully. All the audience could do after that scene was purr.

But there was yet another star and that was Bob Ringwood's designs.  Though overlooked by some, the sets, costumes and lighting can be as important to the success of a ballet as the dancing and the score.  The opening scene of old Istanbul wowed us before a step was danced.  The view of the sea from the pirates' cave took our breath away. The storm (so reminiscent of the news reels last week) made us shiver.  The costumes were sumptuous, particularly the pasha's outfit complete with paunch.  The multicoloured skirts in the opening scene were delicious. They must have been such fun to wear.

I do not know why this ballet has not been performed more often but  now that it is the repertoire I am sure it will become one of English National Ballet staples. Valentine's day happens to be my birthday and I cannot think of a better way of celebrating it.