More than "Dancing Bananas": Chantry Dance's Demystification of Contemporary Dance

Halifax Victoria Theatre

Author: Space Monkey
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Chantry Dance Company  Demystifying Contemporary Dance 29 June 2017, 19:00  Halifax Victoria Theatre

Chantry Dance Company is a family enterprise based in Grantham in the East Midlands which was already famous for its parish church with its chained bible and magnificent spire, its biennial science festival in honour of Sir Isaac Newton the most famous scholar of the town's grammar school who was born and raised nearby, its Beehive pub with its living inn sign and, of course, the grocer's shop in which Baroness Thatcher, our first woman Prime Minister was born. Chantry Dance has recently added to the fame of that handsome market town with their performances and school.

I first came across Chantry Dance just over three years ago when I allowed myself to be dragged onto the stage of the Lincoln Drill Hall by Gail Gordon to take part in a dance workshop called Dream Dance where four of us created and danced a modern ballet to accompany the company's performance of The Sandman (see Chantry Dance Company's Sandman and Dream Dance 10 May 2017). That was the first time I had danced in public and it emboldened me to put my name down for Northern Ballet Academy's  end of term show (see The Time of my Life 28 June 2014) and a number of other shows right down to last May's MoveIt in the Dancehouse on Oxford Road in Manchester (see "Show!" The Video 10 Jun 2017). But for Chantry Dance, it is unlikely that I would I have tried any of that which would have been a pity because I have also found out that performance is essential to dance education.

But I digress.  Chantry Dance has expanded the show it performed in Lincoln in 2014 into a full-length work which it is taking on tour (see The Sandman Tour 27 Jan 2017) including the North (see Chantry Dance goes North 14 March 2017). To prepare audiences for that work the company's directors, Paul Chantry and Rae Piper, are visiting some of the venues in which they will perform with an audio-visual presentation called Demystifying Contemporary Dance  (see Demystifying Contemporary Dance 1 June 2017). I caught them yesterday in Halifax in the bar of the Victoria Theatre.

Having seen hundreds if not thousands of ballet and other dance performances over the last 50 years, having kept this blog since 2013, having attended adult ballet classes for most of that time and having read loads of books and articles on all forms of dance I doubted that there was anything Paul and Rae could tell me in a PowerPoint presentation that I did not already know. I was wrong,  I learned a lot last night.

Rae started her presentation with exploding some myths about contemporary dance such as "It's all about dancing bananas" with a great slide of dancers in banana shaped tutus. She and Paul started with the characteristics of classical ballet (Paul trained at Central and Rae has been dancing since she was 5) and then the history of dance. They illustrated various points with a dance or demonstration.  So, the question "will you marry" me was reflected in a balletic flourish of the arms about the head ending with the right hand pointing to the ring finger.

They proceeded to the divergence from the classics such as The Rite of Spring, Les Noces and L'Après Midi d'un Faune by Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, Isadora Duncan where Rae danced a few steps from one of her routines, Martha Graham, Merce Cunningham and finally to Mats Ek, Wayne McGregor and Sir Matthew Bourne of our own time and a summary of their respective contributions to dance. They listed some of the characteristics of modern dance and Paul appeared in a boiler suit and brush to demonstrate all of those.  The evening ended with a duet from The Sandman which the company will dance on the main stage in September.

There followed a Q & A and a mingling wth the audience which would have continued all night had an official not reminded us with a gentle "Eh Up!" that he had a home to go to even if we didn't. There will be similar presentations next month in Andover, Horsham and Lincoln and if you live in or near any of those places I would advise you to go.

Royal Swedish Ballet

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The company that David Murley saw on 8 April 2017 is the fourth oldest in the world. The Royal Swedish Ballet was founded in 1773 and its ballet masters include some of the greatest names in ballet:

• Filippo Taglioni, the creator of the very first version of La Sylphide and father of Maria Taglioni;
• Michel Fokine, creator of The Dying Swan, Chopiniana, The Firebird, Petrushka, Daphnis and Chloe and Le Spectre de la Rose;
• Anthony Tudor;
• Mary Skeaping; and
• Erik Bruhn.

Despite its importance in the history of dance, we do not see much of this company. It last appeared at Sadler's Wells between the 24 and 27 Sept 2014 and its previous appearance before then was in 1995. 

When it came to London in 2014 it brought Mat's Ek's Romeo and Juliet based on a score by Tchaikovsky rather than Prokofiev.  Sadly, I could not get down to London in time to see it for myself but the following YouTube video suggests that I missed something good.

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The ballet that David saw (extracts of which appear above) was The Dream of Swan Lake but the Royal Swedish Ballet seems to have a pretty good traditional Swan Lake in its repertoire.



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There are, of course, other fine companies in Sweden such as The Culberg Ballet which celebrates the 50th anniversary of its foundation this year and the Gothenburg Opera Dance Company about which I shall try to find out more.

English National Ballet's other Giselle

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While I acknowledge the merit of Akram Khan's Giselle I am very glad that English National Ballet has revived Mary Skeaping's. Skeaping was the preeminent dance historian of her day, particularly on the early and romantic eras of ballet. I remember her recreations of The Return of Springtime and The Loves of Mars and Venus for the Royal Ballet's former outreach company, Ballet for All. Skeaping's Giselle was, as Luke Jennings noted in his review A Giselle to cry for (The Guardian, 14 Jan 2007)  "the product of several years of research." It is regarded as a particularly pure and authentic production of the ballet.

Skeaping created her version in 1971 and the English National Ballet has re staged it several times since. This production has therefore already stood the test of time and I am confident that it will be re-staged many times over the next 45 years and beyond. One reason for my confidence is that it has a strong, dramatic story in which the tension builds up steadily and relentlessly with its own logic, albeit premised on the strange belief system on which the romantic literature of the early 19th century was based. Another is that it retains Adam's hauntingly beautiful score that have been translated into the most beautiful movements with exquisite designs by David Walker and lighting by David Mohr as Patrick Baldwin's photos on the company's website show. It is easy to understand the critical press acclaim quoted on the trailer.

Would Skeaping's Giselle (or Sir Peter Wright's,  Rachel Beaujean and Ricardo Bustamante's or Yuri Grigorovich's for that matter) have stagnated or become a museum piece had it not been "re-imagined" by a leading contemporary choreographer for our times? I don't think so. As the website of the Dutch National Ballet notes:

"Giselle has no sell-by date. It’s timeless, just like the Night Watch’."

 A few sentences earlier the same web page explained the reason for the ballet's timelessness:

"Giselle is one of the most romantic works of the classical repertoire, but also one of the most challenging when it comes to dancers’ dramatic and emotional empathy. Its lively, colourful first act with the moving mad scene, and the ensuing unearthly, pure ‘white’ act, are still danced all over the world today. It is not without reason that Giselle is known as the ‘Hamlet of dance’."

Now just as there have been many versions of Hamlet over the years, new versions of Giselle are to be encouraged, and where they have merit, welcomed. I mentioned Mats Ek's and Dance Theatre of Harlem's Creole Giselle in Akram Khan's Giselle 28 Sept 2016 but I do not think that any of those interesting re-imaginings will ever divert the stream.

Those like me who have seen Akram Khan's Giselle on tour and yearn for Skeaping's have to make our way to London to see it. I shall be watching it with a friend from my adult ballet class in Manchester. It will be performed at the Coliseum between the 11 and 22 Jan 2017 and tickets are available from the box office and online. I shall review it after the 22.

Tell Tale Steps 2

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Stanley and Audrey Burton Theatre, Northern Ballet, Tell Tale Steps 2, 16 June 2016


I really must congratulate the panel and choreographers on last night's Tell Tale Steps 2. As you can see from the above recording, the discussion was focused and instructive and each of the choreographers' offerings was original and interesting.  As readers can see what happened for themselves I shall not describe the content. Merely my thoughts on it.

The panel discussion was chaired well and all the panellists made a valuable contribution.  Though there were no opportunities for asking questions the panel did discuss the one topic I wanted to raise, namely the reinterpretation of existing ballets (see To Boldly Go - Northern Ballet's Sleeping Beauty Tale 16 July 2016). Geraldine Morris who danced with the Royal Ballet between 1963 and 1971 said that ballets evolve constantly and that there wasn't much left of Petipa or even Ivanov by the time she performed Swan Lake. I found that surprising because we all have our favourite bits which in my case are the cygnets, Legnani's 32 fouettés and the divertissements and, in particular, the Neapolitan dance but I defer to her vastly superior knowledge of the subject. Also, having looked up the history of the ballet I find that these were post Petipa. Mary Brennan gave a good example of a ballet that had changed (albeit in a different context) when she spoke about Mats Ek's Giselle the second Act of which is set in a psychiatric hospital (see Giselle - Mats Ek on YouTube).

Something new that I learned about Giselle from Dr Morris is that William Thomas Moncrieff staged a melodrama at the Theatre Royal Sadler's Wells entitled Giselle or The Phantom Night Dancers based on Gauthier's story withing weeks of the ballet's premiere in Paris. A rare example of drama taking its lead from the dance instead of the other way round.

The panel discussion was good in another way. In all the years I have been following Northern Ballet I have hardly exchanged more than 2 sentences with David Nixon. Last night I heard more of substance from him than in all the previous years put together. He spoke about his art and inspiration and, in particular, about his performance of Siegfried where Nixon portrayed the prince as a young man which was something of an innovation. I couldn't help reflecting that that is exactly what David Dawson had done in his Swan Lake for Scottish Ballet which I saw two weeks ago (see Empire Blanche: Dawson's Swan Lake 4 June 2016). I haven't liked everything that Nixon has created. I am not a big fan of his Swan Lake or his Beauty and The Beast but I really warmed to the man last night. Mary Brennan said that she would take his Midsummer Night's Dream together with Mat's Ek's Giselle to her desert island (see Realizing Another Dream 15 Sept 2013). While I am not sure I would go that far. Nixon's Midsummer Night's Dream is certainly one of my favourite works.

I enjoyed all the choreographers' works. They were asked expressly not to offer complete works for the purpose of the lab which is understandable but I do hope that they don't leave their creations in limbo for each of them deserves to be staged.  The most polished and most dramatic of the works was Charlotte Edmonds's which is hardly surprising as she is already a highly respected choreographer. There was drama too in Carlos Pons Guerra's Birds and some brilliant characterisation with the avian head movements. My favourite work was Morgann Runacre-Temple's "New Coat" with some brilliant miming.

Particularly pleasing was to see the work of two of Northern Ballet's most experienced dancers, Tobias Batley and Lucia Solari. This was the first time I had seen Batley's work and I hope it won't be the last. I especially liked his first solo based, I think, on Charles Trenet's Boum Boum but his Lady Godiva was good too.  Solari showed considerable promise too with her ballet based on the life of Lili Elbe, the first trans-woman to undergo a form of gender reassignment surgery. From my perspective this subject matter was a little too close to the bone for as I said when I reviewed Gwyn Emberton's Five Women Wearing the Same Dress in MurleyDance Triple Bill 2 Dec 2013 which also dealt with transsexuality, gender identity disorder is certainly not a bundle of laughs. Also, the condition is nothing like the depiction in The Danish Girl. Having said that there was some excellent choreography in which I think I detected more than a hint of influence from Demis Volpi's Little Monsters.

I was really impressed by the dancers' enthusiasm for the project. Some of the company's most experienced members, such as Martha Leebolt, Hironao Takahashi and Giuloano Cortadini, played leading roles in the various pieces and contributed greatly to  their success.  Last night was an altogether higher plane to last year's effort. Well done all round!