Powerhouse Ballet's Reawakening

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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.   

Windrush: Movement of the People

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Phoenix Dance Theatre  Mixed Programme (Maybe Yes Maybe, Maybe No Maybe, Shadows and Windrush: Movement of the People)  West Yorkshire Playhouse, 7 Feb 2018


Yesterday Phoenix Dance Theatre opened its Spring tour at West Yorkshire Playhouse with a triple bill consisting of Aletta Collins's Maybe Yes Maybe, Maybe No Maybe, Christopher Bruce's Shadows and Sharon Watson's Windrush: Movement of the People.  All three are important works. At any other time performances of the first two works would have received a lot of attention.  But yesterday the focus was on the last which was performed in full for the first time.

Having seen previews of Windrush at A Celebration of Female Choreographers and Windrush Studio Sharing, there was never any doubt in my mind that the work would be a great success.  So it was with the audience on its feet cheering until its members' voices were hoarse and clapping till their palms were sore.  They - we - were applauding a beautifully crafted and performed work of art, of course, but also something more.  A movement of people, a melding of cultures, a response to enormous adversity, hardship and in many instances even violence, a story of individuals and families, an epic in which everyone in the auditorium - indeed everyone in these islands - has participated in one way or another.  We celebrated not just those who boarded the Empire Windrush 70 years ago - one of whom was in the audience - but also everyone who has followed them since. "This was my mother's story" said Sharon Watson after the show. So it was but it was a story of many others and one that resonates with all.

The work divides into four scenes.  It opens in Jamaica full of light and colour and movement. The women in gorgeous costumes. Young men tumbling over each other to read a newspaper. The women are more restrained - subdued, even, as some of them will be left behind - but even they are excited by the adventure. The passengers board the ship still full of hope and energy.

The next scene is the most poignant. A voice calls out.  "You called and we came". The stage was much less bright. The dancers hardly moved. The voice continued about the skills, the energy, the quick minds of those who came and how so many of those talents were squandered in post-war Britain. Matrons reduced to sisters, sisters to nurses and nurses to chambermaids.  Women with masked faces hang out washing each with a letter spelling out the infamous words "NO DOGS" et cetera.  An arrangement of the national anthem is sung live on stage except instead of "Queen" it is "God save the Dream."

The Dream is saved for in the third scene sweethearts reunite in England. They find homes, lay down carpets and purchase settees - and radiograms.  The parents play their LPs but their mini-skirted children will have none of that. Off goes Jim Reeves and on comes 10ft Ganja Plant.  Again there is movement and energy on stage.

The final scene is a church with stained glass lighting, a pastor and his choir.  It's a service but this service is almost a party. The cast invite those in the front seats onto the stage. The audience claps rhythmically and euphorically then rises to its feet as one.  A triumph indeed!

There are so many people to congratulate for this triumph.  Sharon Watson, of course for her choreography, Christella Litras for her score, Eleanor Bull for her designs and Phoenix's beautiful dancers.  I spoke to several of them afterwards.  The show was special for them too.  Something they will remember for the rest of their lives. And for the audience?  I can only speak for myself but it was the best show that I have ever seen in Leeds.

Maybe Yes Maybe, Maybe No Maybe and Shadows need to be reviewed separately and I will review them soon.  They were fine works that were performed well and a paragraph or two about them tagged onto a review of Windrush will not begin to do them justice. Phoenix will perform the mixed bill at Leeds until the 10 Feb. Then it will go to Keswick, Cheltenham, Doncaster, Leicester, Aachen, London, Birmingham and Newcastle.  If you live anywhere near those places you really must go.

Phoenix in Huddersfield

Phoenix Dance Theatre, Mixed Bill, Lawrence Batley Teatre, Huddersfield, 27 Nov 2015

When I reviewed Phoenix's triple bill at The Linbury in The Phoenix Soars Over London on 13 Nov 2015 I promised to focus on Itzik Galili's Until.With/ Out.Enough and Caroline Finn's Bloom as soon as I had seen them in Huddersfield. I made that romise because I was so impressed with Sharon Watson's TearFall that I ran out of space and time to write about anything else. I am unable to keep that promise in its entirety because the first two works in last night's show were not Galili's piece bbut Christopher Bruce's Shift and Shadows. 

Not that I'm complaining for I am a great admirer of Bruce's work as you can see from my reviews of Rambert's Rooster (see Cock a Doodle Doo - Rambert's Rooster 27 Oct 2015 and Rooster ................ :-) 4 Oct 2014) and Scottish Ballet's Ten Poems (see Bruce Again 6 Oct 2015). Nevertheless it did occur to me to ask the reason for the substitution in a question and answer session with the cast in the Syngenta cellar at the end of the show. I didn't get a chance to ask that question because there were so many others who wanted to quiz the company but it was answered by Tracy Tinker, the tour director, who explained that the company had to dance Galili's piece in London because it had been a joint commission with the Royal Opera House.

The substitution prompted me to buy a new programme at the first interval and I remarked to a lady selling Phoenix merchandise in the foyer that this was a completely new programme. It wasn't entirely new. The other two works, TearFall and Bloom were the same as in the Linbury. 

As on the 12 Nov 2015 I enjoyed TearFall tremendously and appreciated it a little bit more for seeing it twice. It was clear from the Q & A that that piece went down well with the audience. Prentice Whitlow explained his interpretation of the work in response to a question from the floor. One point that I had missed before was that men and women think of tears in an entirely different way and the piece explored that.  Whitlow had introduced the piece with a short monologue and recordings of his voice and someone's (possibly his) weeping recurred at several points of the show.

Finn's Bloom was another work that I got to understand better the second time round though I am still not sure that I have got to the bottom of it.  Perhaps if I describe it you will see why.  It began with a group of dancers on the left hand side of the stage cooing and clucking around a table.  Suddenly one of them screams and Sam Vaherlehto wearing a clown's tragedy mask appears round a microphone. He shifts and shuffles apparently with embarrassment as his audience applauds and looks on. There is a duet - or more properly a dance dialogue - with Whitlow. One of the women in a tutu like skirt dances a solo to a rhyme that seemed to mock medicine. In another scene Vaherlehto gathers the dancers who were stretched on the ground like corpses and assembles them into a pile. The dancer in the tutu makes her way to the centre and lies down about them.  Towards the end Vaherlehto, stripped to his underpants, danced to a song with the chorus "I'm a creep. I'm a wierdo. What the hell am I doing here." Starting with the title Bloom I wondered whether the dancers might be plants or flowers and that the man in the mask was the gardener. I was dying to ask whether or not I was on the right track but sadly didn't get a chance to find out.

Even if it was about flowers Bloom did have disturbing undertones such as the thin line between reality and hallucination, Bruce's Shadows also seemed to be about aberrations of the mind as it started with furniture throwing. I was not the only one to see a connection with depression. The lady sitting next to me in the Q & A was a therapist and she alluded to it in formulating her question.

Shift, however was quite different. I had seen the same dancers dance that work at The Sapphire gala in March and I think they were better second time round. More polished somehow. Dressed in forties costumes with the women in head scarves Gracie Fields style they seemed to represent a production line. I was reminded very much of the munitions workers in Liam Scrlett's No Man's Land which I had seen in Manchester two days earlier (see Lest We Forget 25 Nov 2015). However, Bruce's workers seemed to have a lot more fun that Scareltt's canaries.

The Q & A session was my first chance to see all the dancers together and hear them speak. I had already met Whitlow a few days earlier, I have been following several of the others on twitter and I knew Marie-Astrid Mence from Ballet Black. They are an impressive bunch of artists. Watson explained her selection process which is uber competitive. They were asked how they took up dance. Two of the men explained that they took up dance because their sisters were taking lessons. The others gave various reasons. They were asked by the therapist how they relaxed and we learned from Vaherlehto that they look (or at least he looks) to another art. Photography in his case someone added.  I hope to run a feature on Mence and Whitlow in Terpsichore soon.

This has been a pretty good month for dance and the two shows by Phoenix were among the highlights. Although rooted in Leeds it really is a world class company with dancers from around the world.  I am very proud of them.

Exactly my cup of tea

Authior Xavier Snelgrove
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Ballet Black, Nottingham Playhouse, 26 June 2015

Unless I am very much mistaken, the opening bars of Mark Bruce's Second Coming are a quotation from Bizet's Carmen. I was reminded of The Car Man which I saw on Wednesday. I enjoyed that show very much even though New Adventures' style of theatrical dance is not quite my cup of tea (see Motoring 25 June 2015). "Ah" I thought to myself as the ballet began, "this is exactly my cup of tea." Ballet Black are as classical as any company in the world. They are heirs to a tradition to which David Bintley paid homage in The King Dances which I saw on Saturday (see A Special Ballet for a Special Day 23 June 2015). But they are also pioneers and their work is fresh and new. That's why Ballet Black is a national treasure. That's why I love them so.

Ballet Black danced the mixed programme that I saw at The Linbury on Valentine's day (see Ballet Black's Best Performance Yet 17 Feb 2015) but it was quite a different show. The opening ballet was Kit Holder's To Fetch a Pail of Water. In February it was danced by Jacob Wye and Kanika Carr. I wrote that "this was a sweet story ...... of lost innocence." Well yesterday those roles were danced by Damien Johnson and Cira Robinson's who are two of the company's senior artists. They bring gravitas and the darkness to which Holder referred in his programme notes was much easier to notice. This is a text book example of how a change of cast can change a ballet. Now both casts are great and I hope that there will be still be nights when Wye and Carr dance that piece as well as others when we see Johnson and Robinson.

Will Tuckett's Depouillement is one of the most beautiful ballets that any company has in its repertoire. Yesterday it was danced by Alves, Carr, Coracy, Mence, Renfurm and Wye. All of them danced well but my eyes were on Coracy and Renfurm. They were very shrewd hires (see Ballet Black's New Dancers  24 Sept 2013) and they have both blossomed in the company. Coracy was a wonderful Puck in her scout's uniform in Arthur Pita's Dream and Remfurm was an unforgettable Miss Polly. Yesterday they both danced like angels. So did all the others, by the way, but there are sometimes days when individual performers shine and yesterday those two were brilliant.

If my eyes were on Renfurm and Coracy in Depouillement they were on Carr in Bruce's Second Coming. With tiny wings protruding from her costume she danced "the angel" - though not one of the heavenly variety who knows how to make Yorkshire pudding  (see Sapphire 15 March 2015 and Jonathan Watkins if you are looking for one of those). Her role is the linchpin of the work. She entered with the hoop through which she made all the initiates pass at the start and end of the ballet. She produced the dagger which the ruler wielded with such menace. One of Carr's strengths is her face which is so expressive. She can convey any emotion though it is mainly charm and wit. She is the company's great character dancer. As in February the highlight of that piece was Johnson's pas de deux with Robinson to Elgar's Cello Concerto. Its beauty brought tears to my eyes then and I had to struggle to hold them back now. Johnson and Robinson are two wonderful dancers.

I spotted Cassa Pancho, the company's artistic director, in the auditorium just before the second part of the show. "Interesting casting" she said anticipating what I was about to say. "Inspired" I replied and I congratulated her on the show, particularly on Renfurm and Coracy. "But you say that every time" said Pancho. "But then you always produce something special and something new." Although I hate to hurt dancers and choreographers' feelings I am no insincere flatterer. Gita won't let me be such. Slightly stung by the accusation or inference of flattery I was not the first to rise to my feet at the curtain call. Now I am not saying that New Adventures and Inala didn't deserve that compliment from their audiences though I did not join in either but Ballet Black definitely did, and I was there on my feet with the best of them.

Kenneth Tindall

The latest newsletter for the Friends of Northern Ballet contained glorious news of the Sapphire Gala of the 14 March in which Sarah Lamb of the Royal Ballet and Xander Parish of the Mariinsky Ballet and many of the world's greatest stars will perform. But it also contained a headline that made me root for a tissue - just for a second - before I also raised a smile. The headline was "Kenneth Tindall is retiring" and that was the bit that made me sad for he is one of my favourite dancers but my sadness was tempered with the words "award-winning Kenneth is moving on to a career as a Freelance Choreographer after gaining recognition for his work with Northern Ballet and other artists."

I have written a lot about Tindall in this blog.  Watching The Architect last year was one of My Personal Ballet Highlights of 2014 28 Dec 2014. Mel Wong and I reviewed that work in Kenneth Tindall - The Architect of Ballet 21 June 2014 and A Wonderful Evening - Northern Ballet's Mixed Bill 21 June 2014 23 June 2014 and we both supported Stephen Lally's film of the work (see They Made It 20 June 2014),  Wong also wrote an interesting feature on Tindall entitled Kenneth Tindall’s Brave New World 3 Sept 2014 in her own publication. There will be another chance to see The Architect as part of the Mixed Programme at The Stanley and Audrey Burton Theatre in Leeds between 6 to 9 May 2015 and The Linbury Studio Theatre in London between 12 and 14 May 2015.

The Architect is the third of Tindall's ballets that I have enjoyed.  I mentioned his Bitter Earth briefly in my post on the Yorkshire Ballet Summer School gala at Sadler's Wells (see More Things I do for my Art - Autumn Gala of Dance and Song 30 Sept 2013) and I reviewed Luminous Jun-cture in Angelic - Northern Ballet's Mixed Bill 9 June 2013.

According to the Friends' newsletter Tindall's last appearance with Northern Ballet will be as Heathcliffe in Wuthering Heights at Milton Keynes  on 2 May 2015. No doubt the M1 will no doubt have to carry particularly heavy traffic from the North that day.

That will not be the last time that Tindall will be mentioned in this blog. He has an international following which was brought home to me when I visited Amsterdam earlier this month (see The Dutch National Ballet Junior Company's best Performance yet 8 Feb 2015). His name came up whenever I mentioned Northern Ballet or Leeds at the party after the show.  Perhaps not so surprising for a choreographer who has already won a fistful of awards and nominations. He is still a young man and his career - though meteoric - has only just begun. I look forward to great things.

Further Reading
Paul Szabo   INTERVIEW: Kenneth Tindall - Designing The Architect 12 June 2014 The Gay UK

My T-Shirt says it all

Yesterday I bought tickets for the 14:00 performance of Dogs don't do Ballet  in Harlow on the 11 Oct 2014 and Ballet Black's Mixed Bill in Leeds on the 6 Nov 2014. I have already seen the Mixed Bill in London, Southport and Nottingham and I love it - particularly Christopher Marney's Two of a Kind in which I see new layers every time - and this may be my last opportunity to see it for some time. Dogs don't do Ballet, also by Marney, is new. I've read Anna Kemp's book to my grandson manqué and neither he nor I can wait to see it on stage.

To celebrate the new production Ballet Black are running a photo competition. Members of the public are invited to send a photo of their dog (or cat, or hamster, or any pet!) doing ballet to Ballet Black! Woof! The winner will receive two tickets to the "Dogs Don't Do Ballet" performance of their choice, a signed "Dogs Don't Do Ballet" poster and a backstage visit to meet the cast.

I don't have a dog or other pet so I can't enter but I am going to the show anyway and have already met several members of the company briefly, They were as gracious off the stage (even though they must have been tired) as they are graceful on it.

Ballet Black has already posted pictures of some dogs and at least one cat to their Facebook page. The closing date for entries is 9 Oct 014.

Tindall's Architect - How to Get a Piece of the Action - Literally!

Last month our beloved Northern Ballet danced at the Linbury Studio Theatre to packed houses and favourable reviews. It was by no means their first season in London but it was their first at Covent Garden and their success filled all of us woad-painted, ferret-tending, coal-in-the-bath-storing Borealians with pride. There were regrettably attempts to puncture that pride by one who should have known better who dismissed  one of our wonderful choreographers as one of "dozens of others who have done a few pieces, successful or otherwise". But, never mind. A week or two later my pride was more than restored when Christopher Marney listed Martha Leebolt and other Northern Ballet dancers among his favourites.

One of the most popular works at the Linbury was Kenneth Tindall's Luminous Junc•ture.  That is an impressive work that I saw and reviewed last June (see Angelic - Northern Ballet's Mixed Bill 9 June 2013).  In less than a fortnight Northern Ballet are bringing the programme that they danced so successfully in London back to Leeds but, instead of Luminous Junc•ture, Tindall has created a new ballet called The Architect.

According to Northern Ballet's website this ballet was inspired by Genesis. The score is  Zinc by Zoe Keating Remix, ...Og Lengra by Olafur Arnalds, Aria by Balanescu Quartet, Til Enda by Olafur Arnalds and Architect of the mind by Kerry Muzzey. The sets and costumes are by Christopher Giles. If you visit that page you will see a gorgeous drawing of two of the costumes by Giles and a dramatic photo by Darren Goldsmith of Benjamin Mitchell and Giuliano Contadini in a scene from that ballet.

I am, of course, looking forward to seeing this work very much indeed but ballets being transitory it will be over all too quickly. However, there is a chance of preserving this work on film for I have just seen a post on by Hannah Bateman on Kickstarter appealing for funding for the filming of the work by Stephen Lally. Most of the money for the project has been raised but Lally and his team still need to raise another £3,000 by private subscription in the next 12 days and they are already well on their way there. If you want to contribute you can offer anything from £1 upwards and there are incentives like signed posters and advanced viewing of the picture if you do.

Tindall isn't just one of "dozens of others who have done a few pieces, successful or otherwise". He is good. I have seen Bitter Earth as well as Luminous Junc•ture and I look forward to more.

Tempestuous Choice - Amsterdam or Leeds?

As I mentioned in "Amsterdam or London?" earlier today the Dutch National Ballet are dancing "The Tempest" between the 18 and 29 June. Having seen Pastor's Romeo and Juliet two weeks ago I would love to see it but I come only travel to the Netherlands on a weekend. I have tickets for Northern Ballet's Mixed Bill on the 21 June 2014 which includes van Manen's Concertante as well as a new work by Kenneth Tindall and on the 29 there is Northern Ballet Academy's Tenth Anniversary Gala. Also, and don't laugh too loud, I am dancing myself on the 28 June in Northern Ballet Academy's end of term show in the same theatre as the Mixed Bill and the Gala.

Northern Ballet danced Concertante last year and I loved it (see "Angelic - Northern Ballet's Mixed Bill" 9 June 2013). Since then I have twice seen the wonderful dancers of the Dutch National Ballet Junior Company dance Kwintet and I have even seen the great choreographer take a bow at the Stadsshouwburg with my very own eyes (see "And can they fly! The Dutch National Ballet Junior Company at Covent Garden" 30 May 2014 and "The Junior Company of the Dutch National Ballet - Stadsshouwburg Amsterdam 24 Nov 2013" 25 Nov 2013). I very much want to see it again.

The last performance of The Tempest in Amsterdam coincides with Northern Ballet Academy's Tenth Anniversary Gala. I am a pupil at that Academy as well as one of its Friends (see "Realizing a Dream" 12 Sept 2013) and I became a Friend after seeing its great teachers at work at the Northern Ballet Open Day on the 16 Feb 2014. Like every other company's ballet school our Academy trains the very best of the best for the stage but it also reaches out to old ladies like me (and from time to time the occasional sprightly gentleman) as well as students whose movement and expression are challenged in many other ways. It is a great institution and I would urge everyone to consider supporting it as a Friend.

The gala on the 29 June sounds fun:

• a "decadent" afternoon tea (what can they be putting in the tea or adding to the butties?)
• a gala performance by the CAT students (if you want to know what "CAT stands for ask the Academy and not me); and finally
• a drinks reception.

Quite a lot for £50 I think you will agree.

And the 28 June is my big day.  Vlad the Lad and his mum and dad are travelling up from London to see me. Having been thrilled by the magnificent Michaela DePrince on Thursday and being besotted by Ballet Black's wonderful dancers I am afraid my darling girl is in for something of an anticlimax when she sees me on stage. But never mind! We shall be dancing to some lovely music by Shostakovich (the soundtrack from the Soviet film the Return of Maxim). It is something I never dreamed would ever happen to me. To dance on the same stage where I have seen Martha Leebolt, Tobias Batley, Sarah Kundi, Cira Robinson ......

However, I will be back in Amsterdam for Swan Lake in September and Jewels and Cool Britannia next year. If I can only navigate my way to the Friends page on the Dutch National Ballet site I will gladly subscribe 50 euros to become their Friend too.