Salford Pioneers

Author Philip Stevens Licence CC BY-SA 4.0 Deed Source Wikimedia

Jeremy Bentham

Ballet Black Pioneers (Then or Now and Nina: By Whatever Means) The Kowry 1 Nov 2023 20:00

Having missed the start of Then as Now in York on 13 June 2023 as a result of acute traffic congestion in that city (see Ballet Black Takes York By Storm 9 July 2023) I was determined to arrive on time for the start of Ballet Black's Pioneers double bill at the Lowry.  I arrived at the theatre car park for an 8pm curtain rise while The Archers were still on the radio.  Normally, I can park on the second or third floor of the multistorey but this time every floor was full.  I climbed and climbed until I found myself tracked in a queue of cars in front of me and at the back.  There I stayed until just after 20:00 when the queue miraculously started to flow downstairs towards the exit.   

Had I known that the Lowry would be full I would have driven straight to Media City which is a 5-minute walk from the theatre.  Plenty of spaces there and a clue as to what had happened at the theatre car. park There was a  notice addressed to football spectators about parking charges.  The Lowry is about a mile from Manchester United Football Club stadium where parking spaces are either scarce or deare.  Whatever the cause, football spectators strayed into our space on the night that beautiful Ballet Black was in town.  

Perhaps the reason I was able to park so easily in the Media City car park is that many MUFC fans have yet to discover it.  I am told that a "Welcome to Manchester" sign used to be displayed at Maine Road whenever City played United because United fans come from anywhere but Manchester.  I think there may be some truth in that story because I have noticed MUFC shops in Liverpool and Dublin airports but not in Manchester.  If I followed football (which I don't) I would support City over United as I was born in Didsbury, I understand that United were playing Newcastle and that the Magpies won.  "Serve them bloody right," I thought,

My antipathy towards United was more aesthetic than nativist.  I was reminded of Jeremy Bentham's remark in The Rationale of Reward that "the game of pushpin is of equal value with the arts and sciences of music and poetry." Total nonsense, of course, but what can you expect from someone whose glass-cased, mummified remains continue to confront visitors to the University College London nearly two centuries after his death.  I am with John Stuart Mill on this one.  Football is the modern successor to pushpin.  Folk may call it "the beautiful game" but its value does not come close to ballet. 

I arrived in the auditorium at just about the same point in Will Tuckett's Then as Now as it had reached in York when I was admitted there.  It is an extraordinarily beautiful work as can be seen from the video on the BBC iPlayer.  Unfortunately, as I have yet to see the work on stage I can't review it properly.  But readers can get a very good taste of it from the recording which I heartily commend to them.

However, I did see Nina: By Wahtever Means again and that saved the day for me.  This was danced with the same energy as in York and was received equally enthusiastically but as I knew what to expect I focused on the individual performances.  Isabela Coracy's role as Nina is pivotal.  She threw every milligram of her being into that performance.  Once again her repetition of the word "power" with clenched fists was mesmerizing. Her final cry "That's it" unleashed a tsunami of applause.  Nina was my last chance to see Sayaka Ichikawa whose departure I shall miss greatly (see Cassa Pancho's announcement on Instagram on 21 Oct 2023). She danced Nina's piano mistress.  As always she danced with flair.  She is a delightful dancer and Cassa's tribute says it all.   There were great performances by Ebony Thomas as Nina's husband, Helga Paris-Morales as the young Nina and Taraja Hudson.  It was also good to see the piece's choreographer Mthuthuzeli November take a role.

Ballet Black has recruited a lot of new dancers whom I have not yet had the pleasure of meeting.  They include Acaoã de Casto,   Megan Chiu, Bhungane Mehlomakulu, Mikayla Isaacs and Love Katiya. They have added sparkle.  Their company is a great national treasure which has come of age this year.   It will launch a whole new tour called "Heroes" from the Hackney Empire with Mthuthuzeli November's The Waiting Game and a new piece by Sophie Laplane on 22 March 2023.  Not long to wait!

Ballet Black at 20

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Ballet Black Say it Loud and Black Sun York Theatre Royal 11 Oct 2022 Lowry Salford 1 Dec 2022 20:00

I once attended an interview in which Cassa Pancho was asked about the early days of Ballet Black.  She had created the company's first ballet but did not think that she would ever make another. Happily, that has not turned out to be the case.  She and the dancers have given us Say It Loud, a glorious celebration of the company and its achievements over the last 20 years.  It is the first part of a double bill that has been touring the country since March.

In her programme note, Cassa Pancho divides the work into chapters as though it were a book, The first chapter consisted of voces populorum.  One that sticks in my memory is "Shouldn't all ballet should be like this". But there were more negative ones about the company's name, the ethnicity of its members and why it doesn't;t do more about knife crime.  My favourite chapter was Mthuthuzeli November.'s "Welcome to London" which he danced with panache.  That city may be expensive, congested, overpowering and for some even threatening but it's the company's home.  There was a change of mood with Lord Kitchener's "If you're brown".  But it was followed by hope: "We love ballet because ballet loves us back".

The second ballet, Gregory Maqoma's "Black Sun", was very different.   Only to be expected, perhaps, because, as Ebony Thomas explained, one of the strengths of Ballet Black is that "no two ballets are the same." Black Sun was more than ballet.  Indeed, it was more than theatre.  It was akin to an act of worship.   The climax of the piece started with drumming, followed by incantations from November and then cries, soft at first, then louder, from Isabela Coracy.   It was a moving experience.

I became a fan of Ballet Black even before I saw them on stage.   I was captivated by Sarah Kundi and Jade-Hale Christofi in Dépouillement. When I actually saw the company for the first time at the Bernie Grant Centre in Tottenham in 2013 I was enchanted. I am still under their spell nearly 10 years later. Every year Ballet Black seems to get better and better.   In my estimation, this was their best season yet.   I only wish I could have seen Mthuthuzeli dance Welcome to London in Stratford or the Barbican because I think the response of a London audience would have been ecstatic.

Every year that I have watched Ballet Black, Cira Robinson has been in the company.  She is one of my all time favourite ballerinas.   I admire her work very much.   Sadly Ballet Black's season at the Lowry will have been Cira Robinson's last with the company.   However, she is not leaving ballet and, even better, she is not leaving this country.  She has taken up an appointment as Artistic Director of Yorkshire Ballet Seminars (see Yorkshire Ballet Seminars Facebook page 1 July 2022).  I congratulate her and wish her every success.

The last time I saw Ballet Black on stage was just before the pandemic,  They have recruited four very promising young dancers since then:  Alexander Fedayiro, Taraja Hudson. Helga Paris-Morales and Rosanna Lindsey.  I saw some of them at the Lowry and was very impressed.   I wish them well.

Ballet Black will begin a new tour starting at the Barbican from 8 to 12 March 2022.   It will be a double bill entitled "Ballet Black Pioneers".  It will consist of Will Tuckett’s Then Or Now and Mthuthuzeli November’s By Whatever Means.   I am very much looking forward to it.

For a review of Ballet Black's 2022 season at the Barbican, see Joanna Goodman's 20 years of Ballet Black - double bill at the Barbican and currently on tour 4 April 2022,

Birmingham Royal Ballet's Don Quixote at the Lowry

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Birmingham Royal Ballet Don Quixote The Lowry 4 March 2022 19:30

I have seen a lot of shows in Greater Manchester in my time from pantomimes to grand opera. I cannot recall one with greater flair than last night's Don Quixote at the Lowry. Never have I been part of a more appreciative audience.  Standing ovations are rare in this country, particularly outside London. Yesterday, a large part of the audience (including yours truly) rose to our feet at the end of the show.

I have followed the Birmingham Royal Ballet for many years.  Indeed long before it moved to Birmingham. Never have I seen it dance as well as it did last night.  Yesterday was the first time that I had seen the company since Carlos Acosta became its director.  He seems to have galvanized it.

When I saw the Royal Ballet's Don Quixote at Covent Garden I wrote:

"Seldom have I enjoyed a performance at the Royal Opera House more than last Saturday's matinee of Don Quixote" (see Campbell and Magri in Royal Ballet's Don Quixote 2 April 2019).

I think I enjoyed last night's show even more.

For those who do not know the ballet, there is a brief synopsis in Wikipedia. The work is known for its spectacular jumps and fouettés requiring considerable virtuosity not only of those who dance Basilio and Kitri but also Espada, the matador, Mercedes, the street dancer, the Queen of the Dryads and the gipsy and fandango dancers. There are also great character roles for Sancho Panza, Gamache and, of course, Don Quixote himself.

I had been looking forward to seeing Lachlan Monaghan as Don Basilio as advertised on the company's website.   He had been my guest at The Stage Door. As I said in my interview, I admire his choreography and photography as well as his dancing.  Yesterday he was cast as Espada which he danced with panache.  Basilio was danced by Mathias Dingman another of my favourite artists.  He impressed us with his virtuosity and amused us with his touches of humour.  Miki Mizutani was a perfect Kitri. Coquettish when interacting with Gamache and her father.  Spectacular in her solos and pas de deux.  I was impressed by Eilis Small as Mercedes and Lucy Waine as Queen of the Dryads.  It is always a delight to see Tzu-Chao Chou who danced Amour.  Casting Laura Day as Don Quixote's hapless squire was inspirational. I have never seen or even imagined the role being performed by a woman. She carried it off brilliantly. I must also commend Rory Mackay for his performance of Gamache and Jonathan Payn for the title role.   Everyone in the cast delighted and impressed us and I congratulate them all.

One of the strengths of yesterday's performance was the designs and special effects.  I was particularly impressed with the sails of the windmills which morphed into limbs and claws before our eyes. I am not sure whether credit for that scene belongs to Tim Hatley who designed the sets and costumes or Nina Dunn the video designer.  It was spectacular.

The Symphonia conducted by Peter Murphy excelled themselves as much as the dancers.  Before the performance, they played the Ukrainian national anthem.  There has always been a large Ukrainian community in the North as is evidenced by the many Ukrainian clubs and churches to be seen.  Playing that anthem was an apposite reminder of those links.

The first two performances of this short season had to be cancelled because of injuries and illness.  There will be more performances at the Lowry this afternoon and evening.  The tour continues to Sunderland, Plymouth and at Sadler's Wells. If you can reach any of those theatres you should see this show.

An Exceptional Weekend

Through following the Dutch National Ballet I made the acquaintance of the Dutch teacher and choreographer Yvonne Charlton.  Yvonne is married to an Englishman and visits this country frequently. On one of those visits, she gave Powerhouse Ballet a great repertoire class (see Our Best Day Yet  24 Sept 2018).  Our ballet mistress, Beverley Willsmer, who is not exactly known for lavish praise, rated her class as the best ever. Before I had even left Z-Studios I was overwhelmed with requests to bring her back as soon as possible.

Yvonne emerged from international arrivals at Ringway airport at 08:20 last Saturday    My former ward and her little boy, Vladimir, who had met Yvonne at the National Ballet gala in Amsterdam last September, came with me to meet her.  As she would have got up while wilis were still about in order to drive the 32 miles from her home to Amsterdam airport, the first thing we did after she arrived was to entertain her to a full English breakfast at John Lewis's at Cheadle Royal.

Yvonne's first engagement was company class at the Dancehouse at 13:30. As we had some time before that class I gave her a tour of my dear, native city.  I started with the castra of Mancunium at Castlefield from which our city derives its name.  I showed her the Lowry and some of the paintings in the permanent exhibition.  We looked out for a video of Gillian Lynne's ballet A Simple Man with Moira Shearer and Christopher Gable but the assistant at the souvenir shop could not be sure that the DVD would work on continental apparatus.

We arrived at the Dancehouse just in time for class and what a class it was.  It was certainly the most taxing that I have ever known and it seemed to challenge even our best dancers. "No! No! No! That's not how you do a port de bras," she said to one of our stars, forcing her head to well below her knees.  And Yvonne was not afraid of correcting our ballet mistress the very next day. Even the pliés were a challenge for they finished with a relevé and then a weight shift.  Frappés on demi nearly did for me but the real killer was a type of rond de jambe that required a 90-degree sweep from a demi plié.  Her centre exercises were no easier than her barre.  She set us a rolling pirouette exercise starting with a tiré, a pas de bourré and then single, double or dynamo turns.

As I was 70 a few weeks ago I had told one of my favourite teachers who regards "easy" as a 4 letter word that I was slowing down. Having survived Yvonne's class I know I can survive anything.  I told my esteemed instructor that I shall be back at the barre whenever I can get to Leeds by19:00 on a Wednesday evening.  Indeed, I am really going to work at that lady's classes.

After class, I invited my classmates to the Revolution by Oxford Road viaduct for a libation.  Almost everyone came and we were joined presently by Karen Sant and Mark Hindle of KNT.  For a birthday present Mark gave me this beautiful bouquet of flowers.  I curtseyed and tried to remove a single flower for Mark just as I had seen Sibley do for Dowell and Fonteyn for Nureyev in my youth.  That would have been a cue for Mark to raise the bloom to his nose and savour the perfume but I am not sure that modern principals do that any more.  I have certainly not seen it at Northern Ballet and I am not sure even about Covent Garden. In Holland, it is unnecessary because the boys seem to get flowers too.

After drinks, I drove Yvonne to her hotel near Huddersfield where we threw a little party.  Several good friends from Powerhouse Ballet were able to attend as you can see from the photo to the right.

The very next morning we assembled at the Dance Circle Leeds for a 5-hour workshop with Yvonne.  I arranged for Alena Panasenka, one of Northern Ballet's accompanists to play for us.  I also invited Fiona Noonan to learn any ballet that Yvonne might teach us and coach us in it until we are word perfect.

Our warm-up class after a late night was even more punishing than Saturday class but we set to work with a will. Yvonne taught us a delightful dance to the music of Morning Mood from Grieg's Peer Gynt.  We have been invited to perform this piece at Dance Studio Leeds's gala to raise money for St Gemma's Hospice on 12 Oct 2019.

Anyone who wants to audition for this piece should stay for our first rehearsal at Dance Studio Leeds on 23 March 2019.   The Eventbrite card will appear shortly.

Danza Contemporánea de Cuba

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In Double Latin  7 Jan 2017 I mentioned the forthcoming tour of the UK by Danza Contemporánea de Cuba. While writing Beautiful Ballet Black 14 Jan 2017 I remembered that Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, who choreographed A Streetcar Named Desire for Scottish Ballet and Little Red Riding Hood for Ballet Black, will also contribute Reversible to the Cuban tour.

The above trailer gives us a taste of what to expect from in the programme. There is a bit more detail including comments from each of the choreographers and two of the dancers in The Spirit of the Cubans | Danza Contemporánea de Cuba UK Tour 2017.

The tour starts at Royal Concert Hall Nottingham on 14 and 15 Feb and moves on to the Lowry 17 and 18 Feb, Theatre Royal Newcastle 21 and 22 Feb, Barbican 23 Feb, Millennium Stadium 28 Feb and 1 March, Theatre Royal Plymouth 3 and 4 March, Brighton Dome 7 and 8 March, Eden Court, Inverness 10 March, Festival Theatre Edinburgh 14 and 15 March and Marlowe Theatre Canterbury 17 and 18 March.

Red Hot Rambert

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Rambert, Flight, Frames and A Linha Curva, The Lowry, 29 Sept 2016

One might not guess it from its repertoire or extraordinarily talented and versatile young dancers but Rambert is our oldest and in many ways our most illustrious dance company. Founded in 1926 the company has done at least as much to develop an audience for dance in the UK as any other company. The short film Unlocking The Passion expresses eloquently the qualities that make Rambert so special. This year marks the company's 90th anniversary.

I first came across the company in 1955 when my parents first moved to London. The company, which was then known as Ballet Rambert, used to perform in the open air theatre on Streatham Common. I have been a fan ever since. Now that I have returned to the North I get to see them only when they visit the Lowry which happens about once a year.

I saw them on Thursday, the 29 Sept 2016.  Perhaps because it is their 90th anniversary this year's offering seemed special.  The company danced Flight by Malgorzata Dzierzon, Frames by Alexander Whitley and Itzik Galili's A Linha Curva. These were three very different but very impressive works in their various ways.

According to Rambert's website the theme of Flight is migration:

"A moving set and multimedia projections create an ever-shifting backdrop as the dancers dramatise the mix of hope and fear that make up the migrant experience of leaving one home to search for another."

Coincidentally, the flight of migrant workers was central to Akram Khan's Giselle  which English National Ballet danced at the Palace a mile or so away (see Akram Khan's Giselle 28 Sept 2016). Set to the music of Somei Satoh and Kate Whitley the work opened with a single female dancer with her back to the audience performing an elegiac solo. She was soon joined by a single male and then a couple who emerged behind what appeared to be a wall. More couples joined them. The walls glistened and changed colour and design. Those on stage left rotated each pushed by a single dancer which seemed to reveal a room revealing brief scenes from the life of a couple, family or other group. There is an interesting interview with the choreographer in The Guardian entitled Free movement: how Rambert’s dance crosses borders 9 Sept 2016. Apparently, Dzierzon finished Flight on the day of the Brexit vote and she reminds us that Dame Marie Rambert was herself a migrant from Poland.

My favourite work of the evening was Frames. It began with the dancers dropping metal rods on the floor. with a mighty crash.  "Another reminder of Akram Khan's Giselle!" I inwardly groaned. But unlike the sticks carried by the wilis those rods were not for zapping people but for making things. All kinds of things from fences to travelling barres. Indeed the plie, tendu and port de bras was my favourite use for those rods which were eventually joined with string and hauled up to form a gigantic light fitting.  The piece was set to a score by Daniel Bjarnason. The ingenious designs were by Revital Cohen and Tuur Van Balen and the very clever lighting by Lee Curran. There is a short interview with Whitley on Dance Tabs (see Interview – Alexander Whitley, Choreographer and Director 2 March 2015).

Rambert's party piece on Thursday was A Linha Curva. The stage consisted of percussionists in a box above the dancers. The work began with chants by male dancers in gigantic, reflective metallic collars which was answered by calls and screeches from the women. The stage exploded into a carnival of movement fuelled by the relentless beat of the musicians.  The effect was quite hypnotic and the performers' vitality and vivacity were infectious. The website promised:

"the cumulative effect has audiences on their feet and cheering (once they’ve got their breath back)"

and that did indeed happen in Salford. Indeed, I was one of those who stood for the company at the end.

Altogether this was a great show which presents Rambert at its best.  We in the North forget that there is a lot more to Rambert than a contemporary dance touring company (see Join in with Rambert on the company's website). It runs workshops, masterclasses and other events throughout the country as well as regular classes in London for adult dancers including Mercury Movers for dancers of my vintage who meet on Saturdays. If ever I have to move back to London full time for work I should be tempted to join them.

The Leeds CAT End of Term Show

I mentioned the Centres for Advanced Training in Dance ("CAT") in The Lowry CAT on 27 May 2016. As I said in that post there is also a CAT in Leeds where advanced training is offered to  by the Northern School of Contemporary Dance and Northern Ballet. As a Friend of the Academy of Northern Ballet I have been invited to the end of year show for 2016 this afternoon which I look forward to seeing very much.

The show will take place in the Stanley and Audrey Burton Theatre at 15:00 and 19:30. In previous years the over 55 ballet class and other classes have performed in that show and I took part in those performances (see The Time of My Life 28 June 2014 and My Second Ballet 5 July 2015). Timetabling arrangements at Northern Ballet have prevented our rehearsing to take part in this year's show.

Not a lot of details have been given about this afternoon's show but as the CAT programme aims to attract and develop the talents of some of the best young dancers from Leeds and surrounding districts it should be a very good show indeed.