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!

News from Ballet Black

 

In Ballet Black Takes York By Storm I recalled some of the great shows that Ballet Black had performed and added that none has impressed me more than their performance of Nina: By Whatever Means at York Theatre Royal on 23 June 2023. It will therefore come as no surprise that the ballet's choreographer Mthuthuzeli November and its leading lady Isabela Coracy are in the running for Black British Theatre Awards. More details about the Awards and how audiences can participate in the process are available on the BBTA Nominations Form.  The closing date for nominations is 1 Aug 2023.

Another bit of good news is that Ballet Black has recruited 4 new dancers.   I have no information about them other than that they come from Brazil, India, South Africa and the USA and that Ballet Black has appealed for accommodation for them.   When I do know who they are I shall ask the press spokesperson for their photos and bios and I shall write up about them here.

The accommodation that the company seeks is: "short term (a few months while they get settled) or for the length of a season (September to July). I thought the best place to start would be with our own mailing list! Are you able to help? If so, please could you get in touch with some details: 

• location (it needs to be in London, accessible for travelling to work in Marylebone each day)
• type of space: room, flat, house
• rent and any other charges
• are pets allowed? One dancer has two lovely cats!."

Talking of pets, Vlad the Lad (now a very self-assured young man excelling at sports, music and school work) loved Dogs Don't Do Ballet (see Woof  12 Oct 2014).  That show sparked in him a love of theatre which will stay with him forever.   I am sure that the work also inspired crowds of other children across the United Kingdom to appreciate dance and in some cases even study it.   I do hope the company will revive the ballet one day for another generation of children.  Of course, it will be hard to recast Madame Kanikova with her dancing, smiling eyes, the adorable Anna, her Obamaesque dad, Miss Polly with her hip flask and of course the star of the show, Bif the red setter.  Having said that, Chris Marney would find plenty of talent in Ballet Black's current membership.  They might interpret the roles quite differently,

Anyone with suitable accommodation that could be let to a dancer should contact Cassa Pancho and not me through the contact page of the company's website.

Ballet Black Takes York by Storm

Nina Simone

Author Gerrit de Bruin Licence CC BY-SA 4.0 Source 
amazingnina.com Courtesy o Re-Emerging Films

 

Ballet Black Then or Now and Nina: By-Whatever Means 23 June 2023 19:30 York Theatre Royal

I have followed Ballet Black for several years and have seen some great ballets by them including Chris Marney's War Letters, Arthur Pita's A Dream Within a Midsummer Night’s Dream. Cathy Marston's The Suit and Christopher Hampson's Storyville.  Every one of those works was impressive but none has impressed me more than their performance of Nina: By Whatever Means at York Theatre Royal on 23 June 2023.

Nina was created by Mthuthuzeli November.  Having seen his ingoma for Ballet Black and Wailers for Northern Ballet I came with high expectations.  Often that leads to disappointment because high hopes are rarely equalled but on this occasion, they were greatly exceeded.  November is one of Ballet Black's Senior Artists. He first came to my notice on 2 May 2015 when he appeared with Londiwe Khoza on Ballet Centrak's tour (see Dazzled 3 May 2015).  I have been following him ever since.  I particularly enjoyed his performance as the wolf in Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s Red Riding Hood as did my friend. Joanna Goodman, who also reviewed the show (see Sexy Wolf Stole the Show! 5 March 2017).

In Little Red Riding Hood November showed he was an actor as well as a virtuoso, but that is by no means an end to his talents.  He is a composer contributing the score as well as the choreography to Wailers.   He also created some of the music for Nina and designed its sets.  In the Q&A that followed the performance, we learned that the idea for a ballet on the life of Nina Simone had been his. Dramaturge and librettist can also be added to his catalogue of accomplishments.

The ballet started with the young Simone as a child in rural North Carolina. It followed her training as a classical musician in New York and the debut of her career as a nightclub singer.  Simone suffered mental distress at various stages of her life which Alves called her "demons" in posthumous correspondence in the programme notes.  Those dark periods were represented in the ballet too.   

Simone was much more than an outstanding artist.  She was one of the drivers of political and social change that I witnessed first-hand as a graduate student in Los Angeles in the early 1970s.   That was the climax of the civil rights movement but there were also protests against the Vietnam War, the Watergate scandal and the beginnings of the women's movement.    In a maelstrom of change, Simone stood firm and tall.   

In casting Isabela Coracy as Simone, November practically brought Simone back to life,   A scene that haunts me is of Coarcy with her clenched fist in the air as the dancers swirl around her to chants of "power".  That is how I remember Simone in real life.  

The audience exploded in applause.   We Brits are not the most demonstrative - particularly not those of us who live in Yorkshire.  At the reverence, every single member of the audience rose to their feet.   I was hoarse from cheering and my hands throbbed with clapping.   I think we all felt that we had seen something special that night,

Nina was the second part of a double bill that night.  The first was Will Tikett's Then or Now.  I shall not attempt to review it because I missed the start owing to acute congestion on the way into York city centre. What I saw of Then as Now I liked a lot    Happily there will be another chance to see the double bill in the Autumn as the company will dance again in Watford. Norwich, Durham and the Lowry.   

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,

The London Ballet Circle talks to Bonelli

Author KumikoSan  Licence  CC BY-SA 4.0  Source Wikimedia Commons

Leanne Benjamin will interview Federico Bonelli for the London Ballet Circle at 19:00 tonight and members of the public can watch them over Zoom  If you are not already a member of the Circle you can learn how to book a place on the call in Conversation with Federico Bonelli ...... (via Zoom).`

I shall join the call for the reasons I set out in Northern Ballet's New Director on 2 Feb 2022.  I have been one of his fans for many years.  He is now Artistic Director of Northern Ballet which I have followed ever since its formation and have supported financially and in other ways ever since I returned to the North in 1985.  Bonelli has only been in post since May but he seems to have worked some kind of magic with the company.   The performances of Made in Leeds: Three Short Ballets at the Leeds Playhouse on 14 and 17 Sept 2022 were the best I had seen from the company since Christopher Gable danced with Moira Shearer in Gillian Lynne's A Simple Man,  Both casts danced with a flair and engagement that I had never seen before.

The three short ballets were Mthuthuzeli November's Wailers, Stina Quagebeur's Nostalgia and Dickson Mbi's Ma Vie Live.  They were very different but nonetheless complementary works.  Wailers is set in rural Africa against a background that appeared to be parched earth to a score created by November.  Like his other works, Wailers successfully merges classical steps with African dance and rhythms. Nostalgia features two couples both clad in red and an ensemble in brown.  The music is by Jeremy Birchall.  Ma Vie reminded me of both Kenneth Tindall's Casanova and Nixon's Wuthering Heights.  It had the most elaborate sets, costumes and lighting.  It finished with a rumbustious reverence where each of the dancers demonstrated his or her virtuosity,

There was a well-deserved standing ovation on both nights.   Indeed, Gita and I who were sitting one row back from the stage led the one on the 14,  I enjoyed all three works but particularly the first. Possibly that is because I have seen November's work before and understand it better.   He is one of the senior artists of Ballet Black.  I first noticed him in 2015 when he toured with Ballet Central (see Dazzled  2 May 2015. He is an impressive dancer who showed his talents for choreography almost as soon as he joined the company

On Monday Northern Ballet announced that it had appointed David Collins as its new Executive Director. Collins comes from Opera North, another important regional touring company.  I wish him every success in his new role.  

Ballet Black's Best Programme Ever

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Ballet Black (Triple Bill (Pendulum, Click! Ingoma) Stanley and Audrey Burton Theatre, Leeds 16 Nov 2019 19:30

I suppose that a company that has danced at Glastonbury is pretty well made. There is not much that a blogger or even a critic can say that could be of much consequence.  It does not, however, hurt to repeat what I said to Cassa Pancho, the company's founder and artistic director, as I was leaving the auditorium.  This year's triple bill is the company's best programme ever.

Last Saturday's programme was the same as the one that I had described as "stunning" in March.  As I described the three works in some detail in my review pf that performance it is unnecessary for me to do so again.  However, there was one important difference between the show in March and Saturday's.  The Stanley and Audrey Burton Theatre is very much smaller and more intimate than The Barbican.  There is no gap or barrier between the front row and stage. When the seats are removed the theatre becomes a rehearsal studio. The audience is very close to the dancers. Having twice danced on the Stanley and Audrey Burton's stage, I can say that the dancers are very aware of the audience's proximity.

Mthuthzeli November took advantage of that intimacy in leading the audience to the coalface as his dancers slowly approached stage left with the house lights still lit.  As those house lights dimmed the beams of light from the lamps on the miners' helmets focused on the audience.  Trapped!  The danger, the darkness, the monotony, the pain of the mine was palpable.  Heightened, of course, by the cruelty of apartheid on the surface as well as under the ground.   Ingoma is an impressive work. November had already captured our hearts as the rakish wolf spinning his tail in Annabelle Lopez Ochoa's Little Red Riding Hood.  He has now captured our minds with his choreography.  Nobody will be surprised that he has been commissioned to create a new baller for the company's next season at The Barbican (see Beautiful Ballet Black's 2020 Season 8 Nov 2019).

Seeing Martin Lawrence's Pendulum for a second time, I noticed similarities and parallels with Ingoma, particularly with the score which resembled a heartbeat.  It was opened by two of the company's strong young dancers, Ebony Thomas and Marie Astrid Mence.  Mence spent a year with Phoenix Dance Theatre where she became an audience favourite. We still miss her.  Their pace and the complexity of their movements increase as the heartbeats quicken.  It is an almost mesmeric experience.

Click! by Scottish Ballet's Sophie Laplane is just pure joy.  Each of the dancers in different brightly coloured suits performs solos or duets to Snapping Fingers and other snappy music carefully arranged by Kenny Inglis.  All the company's dancers except Alexander Fadayiro were in the piece.  Cira Robinson, magnificent in red, Isabela Coracey resplendent in yellow et cetera et cetera.  In many ways, this work displays the essence of Ballet Black,  its exuberance, its energy and its diversity.

In my preview of the new season, I mentioned the recruitment of Fadayiro, his training and career with New Adventures. On Saturday I saw him for the first time. He appeared only in Ingoma as one of the miners and it was possible to see him properly only at the reverence but he performed well.  He appears to be very strong and cuts an impressive figure on stage. I look forward to seeing more of him in future.

I was very lucky to get a ticket for Saturday's show. I was #13 on the waiting list and held out very little hope of seeing the company again this year.   Their performances in Stratford and Leeds were sold out weeks ago.  That may be because of their appearance at Glastonbury - though I have to say that Saturday's crowd did not strike me as the sort of folk who go to Glasto - or it may be because they gave fewer performances this evening.  Either way, it is good to see that they have developed a very loyal following not just in London and with one ethnic group but among the whole population and across the nation.

Beautiful Ballet Black's 2020 Season

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Beautiful Ballet Black has been so successful that it sold every seat in the house for its performances at Stratford and Leeds.  I am on the waiting list at the Stan and Audrey but at #13 I am not holding out much hope of getting one for their show next week. 

I shouldn't grumble because I saw their wonderful performance of The Suit at Sadler's Wells on 30 Oct and the triple bill at The Barbican in March which I described as "stunning".  Moreover, I have just received an email which I believe to have been sent to all Friends of Ballet Black alerting me to the sale of tickets for the launch of the company's new season at The Barbican between the 26 and 29 March 2020. Two new ballets will be presented by the company's Mthuthuzeli November and the Royal Ballet's Will Tuckett.  November created Ingoma which is one of the works on the current tour while Tuckett has contributed Depouillement which attracted me to Ballet Black in the first place.

I also note from the email that Ballet Black has acquired a new dancer, namely Alexander Fadayiro.  I am not sure whether I have had the opportunity to see him dance.  I do not remember him in The Suit but I could well be mistaken.  However, I see that he has danced with New Adventures and that he trained at the Central School of Ballet.

If you love Ballet Black as much as I do I would strongly recommend its Friends Circle.  The subscription is only £40 a year which is about the cost of an extra theatre ticket.  Friends are invited to rehearsals and often have an opportunity to discuss the work with the artists after the show.  I cannot attend many of those events as they take place in London but it is a practical way to support the company, acknowledge its work in the past and promote its values and aspirations.

Finally, there is the merchandise page.  I bought the "I ❤ Ballet Black" tee-shirt the first time I saw the company at the Bernie Grant Centre in Tottenham in 2013 and I have worn it proudly everywhere there are balletomanes from Taynuilt in Argyll to Trecate in Piedmont.  I have made it my business to make folk aware of the beauty in many senses and at many levels of Ballet Black.

Stunning - Ballet Black's Triple Bill

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Ballet Black, Triple Bill (Pendulum, Click! Ingoma) Barbican Theatre, 17 March 2019 15:00

I see a lot of dance every year and one of my highlights every year is Ballet Black.  I usually see them in London (whenever I can get a ticket because they perform to packed houses) and again when they go on tour.  I have come to expect a lot from them and they have never failed to meet my expectations.

Their matinee at the Barbican last Sunday was stunning.  I mean that quite literally and I was not the only one.  Neither the family to my left nor the one to my right could get up after the performance.  We just sat still coming to terms with what we had seen on stage.  When we found the strength to move I clambered up the stairs and slumped into the first unoccupied chair.  There I stayed for a couple of hours until I was forced to sprint to the Circle Line to avoid being marooned in London.

I had brought my Chromebook with me with a view to reviewing the triple bill while it was still fresh in my mind but when I tried to write it I found it was just too soon.  The words would not flow.  However, I did make notes. I wrote that Mthuthzeli November's Ingoma was the most impressive new work that I had seen in a while. It is a work of considerable substance. It is all the more remarkable in that it was created by one so young.

According to the programme, Ingoma means "prayer" in Xhosa. In this case the Lord's Prayer though I had guessed that before I read the note. The performance began with the house lights burning.  Two miners came on stage carrying their equipment. They were joined shortly by the rest of the cast dressed identically irrespective of gender.  November mentioned two strikes in his programme note: one in the 1940s that had been suppressed brutally by the authorities and a more recent one at Marikana in post-apartheid South Africa which was also put down violently.  While I think there was more to the ballet than that there was a scene where Ebony Thomas seemed to fall to a rat-tat-tat that reminded me of automatic gunfire.

For me, the most moving part was the women's dance in the last phase of the piece.  It was danced with considerable energy by the company's four female members dressed identically in light blue smocks and head ties.  Having lived through the 1984-1985 miners strike 7 miles from Barnsley I can attest how it was the women who kept the coalfield communities intact - and indeed still do even though the mines are long gone. Having been married to an African for 27 years I was reminded of my sisters in law, strong, fierce women. Just as in the choreography.  It took a lot of courage to be a miner and perhaps, even more, to be married to one. There were always threats of accidents. pneumoconiosis and poverty even when the men were not on strike.  All of that fierceness and passion came through in that dance.

The piece was greeted enthusiastically even in London which never had mining and has now lost its heavy industry.  I think ti will strike a chord when it goes on tour.  It may have been set in South Africa but it will speak to folk here in a way that few other works can.  This is not the first time Ballet Black has moved me. It did so the first time I saw Chris Marney's War Letters at the Bernie Grant Centre and it did again last year with Cathy Marston's Suit.  But I don't think the impact of those ballets was anything like as great or as longlasting as Ingoma.

Because he had created and staged Ingoma we did not see much of November this year. That was a shame because he has the habit of stealing shows as he did with Little Red Riding Hood (see Ballet Black Triumphant 7 March 2017). I have been following him since 2015 when he was with Ballet Central (see Dazzled 3 May 2016).  He appeared in Pendulum, the first ballet of the evening, with Sayaka Ichikawa. With music by Steve Reich this was a revival of a work that Martin Lawrence had created for the company in 2009. The work starts in silence and then a gentle heartbeat cuts in.  It gathers pace until it becomes compelling.  This is a thrilling work amplified by those dancers' vigour.

The middle work was Click! by Scottish Ballet's Sophie Lapllane whom I have long admired. It shows her sense of fun. Jose Alves, Isabela Coracy, Marie Astrid Mence, Cira Robinson and Ebony Thomas are in primary colours. The piece opens with some dialogue:

"Eddie consulted his therapist because he could not stop clicking his fingers,
The therapist asked Eddie why he thought he was clicking his fingers,
'To keep the tigers away' he replied.
'But Eddie there are no tigers here within 6,000 miles of here.'
'I know' he replied, 'It works pretty good.'"

Ballet Black can make us laugh just as easily as it can make us cry,  This was our chance to laugh before Ingoma.

A sixth star of Click! was David Plater, the company's lighting designer.  I have never mentioned him before and I should have done because he is a genius.  Nowhere did his genius shine more brightly than in Click!  I love that piece and can't wait to see it again.

The company will tour Cambridge, Northampton and Bristol next month before venturing to Cambridge, Derby and Birmingham in May and Edinburgh in June (see Upcoming Performances on its website). It has not announced a date just yet but it usually comes to Leeds in November.   I shall see the company at least a couple more times this year.  This will be a season we shall long remember.

Ballet Black's Standing Ovation at the Nottingham Playhouse

Anish Kapoor's Sky Mirror outside Nottingham Playhouse

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Ballet Black  Double Bill (The Suit and A Dream within a Midsummer Night's Dream) 16 May 2018 19:30 Nottingham Playhouse

Ballet Black received a well deserved standing ovation last night.  Such appreciation is commonplace in many parts of the world but not in this country - at least not outside political party conferences.  There were whoops and cheers from the audience as well as claps.  Ballet Black are obviously doing something right.

Yesterday's performance was very polished.  As I said in my review of the company's performance  at the Barbican, I had been worried that Damian Johnson might be irreplaceable but José Alves has performed the male lead roles in both The Suit and A Dream within A Midsummer Night's Dream admirably.  Like Johnson he dances with authority but he does so in his own way and just as impressively.

I particularly admired his performance as Philemon in The Suit.  Returning home to pick up his briefcase he finds his wife in bed with Simon. His countenance is like a book. First the disbelief.  "Is this actually happening?" The the shock as he collapses to the floor. The surge of anger that leads to the cruel humiliation of Matilda.  The role of Philemon was created for Alves and it is hard to imagine anyone else dancing it as well.

The wife was danced by Cira Robinson who is truly a ballerina in the traditional sense  and I think this is her finest role.  It would be impertinent of me to compliment her on her virtuosity or her dramatic skills for, as I say, she is a ballerina.  What do I mean by that?  The best way of putting it is that in most performances the artists portray their character but a truly fine artist - a ballerina - can become that character.  And so it was last night as Tilly was pushed beyond endurance.  My body shook as that beautiful woman in a simple blue dress convulsed and then hung still. Tears were welling up uncontrollably even though I knew she would snap back smiling and full or life for the curtsy just seconds away.

Seeing The Suit for a second time I noticed some interesting touches that I had missed before like dancers representing mirrors, wash basins or items of furniture.  By focusing on details such as old lady crossing the street and bumping into passers by, Marston seemed to conjure a crowd.  Mthuthuzeli November danced Simon, the owner of the suit. The rest of the company danced the chorus, commuters and passers by.

The Suit was a chilling but compelling work that left our emotions raw.  Pita's Dream applied the balm.  Yesterday must have been the sixth or maybe seventh time that I had seen that work and it never fails to charm me.   I always find something new.   Whereas The Suit focuses on Philemon and Tilly, everyone has an important role in Dream.  Robinson was Titania, of course, and Alves became Obron. Isabela Coracy amused us as Puck in her scouts uniform and green beard liberally scattering her glitter and dragging dancers by their legs around the stage. Sayaka Ichikawa and Marie-Astrid Mence charmed us as Helena and Hermia. Their Demetrius and Lysander were November and Ebony Thomas. Grunting and swaggering small wonder the girls preferred each other. November also played the one role that Shakespeare never envisaged, namely Salvador Dali in the quest for his missing moustache.

Ballet Black are about to visit Scotland where I took my first ballet class and was introduced to what is now Scottish Ballet.  One of their venues is Dundee Repertory Theatre which is just 12 miles from St Andrews where there is a Dance Club of over 100 members that I helped to found nearly 50 years ago (see St Andrews University Dance Club's 50th Anniversary Gala 5 May 2018). Should any of those students still be in town on 6 June 2018 I strongly recommend their crossing the Tay to see this show.

Fifty years after that first class at St Andrews, I attended class with the undergraduates of Ballet West (see Visiting Taynuilt 4 May 2018). A few days before my visit Scottish Ballet held a workshop at Taynuilt when they visited Oban to dance Highland Fling. Taynuilt is quite a trek from any of the venues where Ballet Black are to perform but I do hope that at least a few of the excellent young men and women I met last month can make it to Dundee, Inverness or Glasgow.

My next opportunity to see Ballet Black will be on 19 Nov when they will return to The Lowry.  They can expect a very warm welcome there

Excellence - Ballet Black's Double Bill

Ballet Black  The Suit and A Dream within Midsummer Night's Dream Barbican Centre 16 March 2018, 20:00

After seeing extracts of Cathy Marston's The Suit and Arthur Pita's A Dream within Midsummer Night's Dream at Ballet Black's rehearsal studios on 25 Feb 2018, I wrote that I was confident that this year's tour would be Ballet Black's most successful yet (see Visiting Friends - Ballet Black at Home  7 March 2018).  And so it has proved.  I don't think I have ever seen them dance better. I don't think I have ever seen their audience more thrilled.

I was led to Ballet Black by Sarah Kundi whom I admired greatly when she danced in Leeds. When she left Ballet Black I was desolate. How could the company be the same without her?  But it did and became even better (see Ballet Black is still special 7 Nov 2013).  A few years later it lost another of my favourite dancers, Kanika Carr with her beautifully expressive face and laughing eyes. Again, I felt bereft but the company recruited beautiful new dancers and was stronger still.  And then Damian Johnson, my male dancer of the year for 2017, returned to the United States. How could Ballet Black ever recover from his departure? For a moment I feared they couldn't (see Ballet Black post Johnson - Still a good performance but something was missing 19 Nov 2017).  But it has for last night's performance was outstanding.  Walking back to my hotel I realized that Ballet Black is like a living thing, greater than the sum of its parts and capable of regenerating itself even after it loses an important member.

Cathy Marston's The Suit is based on Can Themba's short story which was made into a powerful film in 2016 and stage play, Briefly it is about a husband who punishes his wife's infidelity by treating her lover's suit as though it were a living guest placing it at the table for meals and taking it outside for walks. The wife can endure only so much of this humiliation before she hangs herself on her lover's tie. Set in apartheid South Africa her oppression is compounded by the repression of the state. The austerity under which even highly educated Africans were obliged to live was represented by skeletal furniture and a percussive score.  Particularly effective was the crumbling wall of sound that accompanied the mind shattering discovery of a stranger in the marital bed.

The wife, Matilda or Tilly, was danced by Cira Robinson.   Perhaps her finest performance in any ballet and certainly the most dramatic.  José Alves was Philemon her husband.  Another stunning performance. Simon, the lover, the owner of the suit was Mthuthuzeli November.  The rest of the company danced neighbours in Sophiatown.   In the programme they are described as a "chorus".  The use of a chorus is a technique that I noticed in Jane Eyre, the other Marston ballet that I have seen recently.  The choreographer will no doubt correct me if I am wrong, but I think it is the balletic equivalent to Greek drama. I find it very effective.

After that stage suicide - not the first I have seen in the last few months (Las Hermanas in Northern Ballet's MacMillan Celebration and English National Ballet's Le Jeune Homme et la Mort in Tamara Rojo at Last! Le Jeune Homme et la Mort and La Sylphide) we needed a bit of cheer and Arthur Pita provided it with A Dream within A Midsummer Night's Dream.  This was the fifth time that I have seen that ballet and I love it.  I love Isabela Coracy's playful Puck in boy scout uniform, Titania's infatuation with Bottom (November), the delicious girlishness of Hermia and Helena (Marie Astrid Mence and Sayaka Ichikawa) and Oberon's grunting with his butterfly net. Alves danced Oberon beautifully, with gravitas tempered with levity.  I love the music and although I am still not sure how Salvador Dali fits into the story I love him and his moustache too.  In this staging of the work November glides in with a Dali dead.  I love the music, particularly the Yma  Suma and the stately Handel with the girls in classical tutus at the beginning and the end.

I had originally planned to see the double bill tonight and had a ticket for the centre stalls but on learning of the talk I asked the theatre to exchange it for whatever it had for yesterday so that I could attend the discussion.  Actually I did very well for I was in the centre of row B of the gallery commanding a great view of the stage with the most vocal and appreciative section of the crowd.  I am so glad that I stayed for the talk because Cira Robinson was magnificent.  She spoke about her art with passion.  I have always admired her. Yesterday my respect increased 200%. But there was another treat. Arthur Pita was in the audience and he spoke how Shakespeare had inspired his Dream and his love for every piece of the score.

Finally, on the way out to Silk Street I spotted some of the dancers. If they read this review they would have known how much I loved last night's performance. But yesterday I could tell them in person and that was so much more satisfying.

Tom Thorne in Truro

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In Thinking Big out West 11 Jan 2017 I introduced readers to Laura Bosenberg who is Senior Principal Dancer at the Cape Town City Ballet (see Meet the Company on the company's website). My article embedded a clip of a remarkable duet between Rosenberg and Tom Thorne.  If you scroll down the Meet the Company page you will see that Thorne is also a Senior Principal with the Cape Town City Ballet.

I mentioned Rosenberg because she will dance Princess Aurora this weekend in Duchy Ballet's production of The Sleeping Beauty at the Hall for Cornwall in Truro.  What I did not appreciate until earlier this morning is that Duchy Ballet will host Thorne as well as Rosenberg. I learned that news from a picture of the two of them on Duchy Ballet's Facebook page which links to a feature in Cornwall Life.

There is not a lot of information about Thorne on the Cape Town City Ballet's website though it mentions that he trained at Central School of Ballet so I did a lot of furious Googling. I found this rather amusing clip of his pushing a journalist through floor exercises in Ballet Basics with Thomas Thorne and this preview of the Cape Town City Ballet's production of The Sleeping Beauty with took place in Cape Town last September (see Artsvark Presser Cape Town City Ballet presents The Sleeping Beauty.

The Cape Town City Ballet proudly displays a roundel on its home page bearing the words "The South African National Ballet". That country has given the world John Cranko, Dame Monica Mason, Nadia Nerina and Phyllis Spira to name a few and it is still sending us promising young dancers such as Mthuthuzeli November and Mlindi Khulashe. I do not believe that Thorne and Bosenberg are dancing anywhere else in the UK on this trip. To my mind the most interesting place in the UK for ballet goers this weekend will not be Birmingham, Glasgow, Leeds, Newport or even London but Glasgow.

Red Riding Hood Workshop at the Barbican with Annabelle Lopez-Ochoa and Ballet Black

Red Riding Hood Workshop

(c) 2017 David Murley: all rights reserved
Reproduced with kind permission of the author

Ballet Black, Red Riding Hood Workshop, Barbican Pit Theatre, 25 Feb 2017

David Murley

On Saturday the 25th February 2017, Ballet Black held a workshop, or Weekend Labs referred to by the Barbican. Aside from my own excitement of getting to dance some of Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s steps, there was the unexpected, the unseen. What was going to happen? How many people were going to turn up? Were only students going to be present? Was it going to be a positive and encouraging environment? Etc. Despite graduating from college 15 years ago, all of these thoughts still run through my mind. 

Red Riding Hood Workshop

(c) 2017 David Murley: all rights reserved
Reproduced with kind permission of the author

The morning started off with ballet class by the incomparable Damien Johnson, a senior artist with Ballet Black. The group who turned up for 9h30 on an overcast Saturday morning was an intimate one comprised of six. We were three women and three men. Essentially perfect. Johnson did not waste any time and put us all through our paces, offering positive corrections and beautiful enchaînements to execute. Lopez Ochoa arrived smiling during pirouettes exercise in the centre. Although we were only six, you could feel the concentration level in the studio magnify and thicken. With an intensified level of concentration, the rest of centre flew by and before we knew it we were put into male/female couples to learn some of Lopez Ochoa’s choreography from her creation Red Riding Hood for Ballet Black’s newest Triple Bill Premiere at the Barbican commencing on the 2nd March 2017. 

We had the opportunity to learn snippets from three different scenes from Lopez Ochoa’s creation. The first scene was when the Wolf meets Red Riding Hood. The second was the Wolf’s solo and some partner work with one of the lady wolves. Lastly, was a brief outtake when Red Riding Hood goes to visit Grandma. What all of us took away from the workshop is the Wolf has some serious moves! Fluid, stylish, sensual, rhythmic and hypnotic the Wolf winds, twists and jêtés his way from one of the stage to the other causing the other characters to swoon and faint upon first gaze. Not to mention, oozing his way around Red Riding Hood effortlessly tempting her. Unsurprisingly, the Wolf wins, and Red Riding Hood is well on the pathway to growing up. 

Throughout the course of the workshop, Lopez Ochoa was engaging, positive, uplifting and encouraging. Lopez Ochoa interacted with all six of us and spent quality time giving us what would appear to be a semi-private lesson. Invaluable. We received lots of attention. Despite having left school years ago, I learned so much, which is undoubtedly awesome, hands down inspiring and humbling. The atmosphere was professional, and all involved in the workshop had a cohesive energy. For me, it felt like we were specially selected from somewhere beyond our control and comprehension. We were all of similar mind set and similar approach. The Weekend Lab flowed with ease. Honestly, the six of us lucked out numbers wise. Another two couples would have easily changed the dynamic. 

In my opinion, the six of us were an interesting, knowledge thirsty, personable and undoubtedly artistic group of individuals. Two of us were professional dancers, having already graduated. However, I was at one end of the spectrum having completed my training 15 odd years ago, and she graduated from Central School of Ballet last year. We had two dancers still in training. One was in full-time training at Central School of Ballet and the other was in the midst of her Textile and Biology A-levels and studying dance at DuPont School of Dance in Leicester. The remaining two workshop participants were non-dancers. One the midst of her studies at The Royal College of Art currently focusing on sculpting and the other remaining gentleman who dances at the weekend for his own pleasure. Everyone gave their best that day, and danced to the fullest of their abilities, and no doubt like myself, learned something too. Aside from us Weekend Lab participants being receptive to the experiences that lie before us that day, the welcoming attitude, professionalism and preparation from Annabelle Lopez Ochoa and Ballet Black dancers Damien Johnson and Mthuthuzeli November tremendously helped the day unfold to be what was a delightful, fun-filled and an educational success. 

I, personally, would love to see Ballet Black hold another Weekend Lab/workshop. If they do, I highly recommend you attend and savour the experience. They are a company to be valued and cherished.

I never tire of Dogs Don't Do Ballet

Ballet Black's Dogs Don't Do Ballet seemed so fresh and new yesterday that I was convinced that there must be some new choreography (see As Fresh as Ever: Ballet Black's Dogs Don't Do Ballet in Sale 7 May 2016).

"No new choreography tweeted" Cassa Pancho.

"That's amazing" I thought, I tweeted back

Ah right. Then it is an even better work than I thought because I am still discovering new things about it. https://t.co/GipPZUPa1C

— Terpsichore (@jelterps) May 7, 2016

Cassa replied:

@jelterps but there is a lot of detail that you might miss with only one viewing

— Ballet Black (@BalletBlack) May 7, 2016

She was right, of course. Even though I hadn't intended seeing it twice in the same weekend I returned for a second viewing (fifth all told) at 11:00 today.

I was able to sit much closer to the stage today so I caught some of those details.

There was the toy dalmatian which Bif handed to Anna just before the storm when she dreamt about a real one and in the morning a real one - or as close to real as ballet can conjure - appeared.

I took a closer look at the poster on the wall of Anna's room. "Kanikova" it read and if I am not mistaken it was Kanika Carr dancing with Jacob Wye in the video.

I noticed the intricate choreography of the ballet class with the boys pirouetting while the girls did chaînés.

Though I loved Marie-Astrid's Anna, Sayaka is such a good actor that she brought whole new dimensions to the role. I particularly loved the kiss that Tutu snatched. Her expression changed from delight to embarrassment as it did for him. Tutu and Sayaka are so well matched.

So now Ballet Black's tour to Sale is over and the dancers may be on their way home. It was good to see them here and I look forward to their return next month with their triple bill.

Finally, it was Isabela Corcy's birthday today. I left her a card on behalf of Team Terpsichore - everyone who had ever contributed to Terpsichore namely David, Gita, Joanna, Mel and me. I have been one of her fans ever since I saw her dance the pas de deux from Diana and Actaeon on YouTube, a role that requires enormous grace as well as strength. I am sure that all my readers will join me in wishing her many happy returns of the day.

As Fresh as Ever: Ballet Black's Dogs Don't Do Ballet in Sale

Waterside Arts Centre

Photo Nev1

Source Wikipedia

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Ballet Black, Dogs Don't Do Ballet, Waterside Arts Centre, Sale, 7 May 2016

I was charmed by Christopher Marney's Dogs Don't Do Ballet ever since I saw its first performance in Harlow on 11 Oct 2014 (see Woof 12 Oct 2014). I enjoyed it again when  I saw it twice in Leeds last year (see Not Just a Children's Ballet 19 April 2015 and Le chien mal gardé 21 April 2015), I wondered whether I would still like it as much as I crossed the Pennines on the way to the theatre.

The answer was an emphatic "yes". It was as fresh as ever. I am not sure whether that is because of new choreography or because I noticed things that I had missed before. It may be because of cast changes since I had last seen the show. Sayaka Ichikawa was a delightful Anna and Mthuthuzeli November brought his panache and style to the ballet. While I liked Marie-Astrid Mence and Christopher Renfurm well enough it is always good to see another interpretation.

Loosely based on Anna Kemp's children's story, the ballet is about a ballet mad little girl called Anna and her pet dog Bif danced by Cira Robinson. Anyone who has ever kept a dog will be amazed by Robinson's performance because she has every canine mannerism down to a tee.  Anna takes her dog to ballet class kept by the slightly ridiculous Miss Polly. Bif wants to join in the class and after a few faltering steps at the barre proves to be rather good at it. Her mistress encourages that interest and during the night a storm breaks out. As it is whining and shaking Anna comforts the dog and they both watch a scene from The Nutcracker. They fall asleep and Bif dreams of dancing a pas de deux with a handsome dalmatian. The next day the children meet in the park with their dogs where they come across their teacher fast asleep with a hip flask by her side. There is a hilarious scene where they make fun of her. Miss Polly wakes up suddenly by the dogs licking her face, In the last scene Anna's father produces two tickets to the ballet. The dog wants to come but. of course, dogs are not allowed.  Nevertheless Bif gets into the auditorium somehow which is just as well for when Madame Kanikova jams her head in a French horn Bif is ready to jump on stage and dance the principal role.

It may be my imagination but I think there has been some new choreography to show Bif's progress at ballet. When the children do the centre exercises in front of the mirror she shows that she can perform the adagio quite as well as any of them. The audience is treated to two delightful duets between Bif and the dalmatian and Bif with the male principal.

If it was Marney's intention to inspire it worked.  As I left the theatre one small child asked her mother when she could start ballet.  Alarmingly another, who could not be aged more than 7, was on pointe in trainers. Several other kids were practising port de bras.  

As a Mancunian it was good to see one of my favourite companies in my native city. Well, almost, for I was born in Didsbury just the other side of the Mersey. They are dancing again at the Waterside Arts Centre tomorrow at 11:00 and 14:00 and if you can get to see them you should. They are also coming back to our metropolis on the 19 June to dance their triple bill which David Murley reviewed at The Lowry.

Ballet in Sub-Saharan Africa

Lagos

Author: Benji Robertson
Source Wikipedia
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In 13 Prominent Ballet Dancers and Choreographers Born in Southern Africa 3 May 2009 Ross Dix-Peek wrote:

"Most people would not dare to proffer southern Africa as an example of a prolific breeding ground of ballet dancers and choreographers, but, that she is. South Africa, and what was then Rhodesia, has for many decades now been a veritable nursery for ballet dancers, and her progeny have, after receiving expert local tutelage , often ventured abroad, performing for the Royal Ballet and other stellar ballet companies, some accruing universal acclaim. Listed below are thirteen southern African-born men and women who have distinguished themselves in the ballet fraternity, most notably abroad."

Dix-Peek listed some of the greatest names in dance: John Cranko, Monica Mason, Nadia Nerina and Merle Park. They were, of course, white dancers who made their careers in the United Kingdom and other advanced countries.

One of the most remarkable features of the art form has been its resilience to political change. It might easily have suffered from its association with the ancien regime in Russia and disappeared without trace but instead it was adopted by the Soviets and received considerable support from them. Later it survived the fall of the Soviet Union and continues to prosper in the current political and economic climate.

A similar transition seems to have occurred in Southern Africa. There was an audience for ballet in the apartheid period and it might have been feared that ballet would have been tainted by association with that system but that does not appear to have happened. South Africans of all races have trained in the art though many continue to make their careers in Europe and North America.

There are however signs that a market for dance is developing in Sub-Saharan Africa. Yesterday the BBC posted the video"Ballet: 'Every dancer should have this background'" 29 April 2016 about ballet in Nigeria to its website. The film featured Sarah Boulos, Chairperson of the Society for Performing Arts in Nigeria ("SPAN"), which describes itself as "a registered NGO offering unprecedented opportunities in dance, music, theatre and visual arts to Nigeria's talented citizens."  A Google search of ballet in Nigeria revealed this YouTube video of children having fun and correspondence between a number of young Nigerian women who sought ballet training and a US website (see Career Development Plan - Ballet in Nigeria on Ballet Dancers Guide.com).

Elsewhere I have written about Mike Wamaya's class in one of the toughest neighbourhoods of Nairobi (see What can be achieved by a good teacher 3 March 2013) which I followed up last year with Back to Africa 7 Jan 2015 and Revisiting Kenya with Obama 25 July 2015. One development that I should very much like to see would be a ballet school in Freetown (see A Ballet School for Freetown 20 May 2014) as it is the capital of the country where Michaela DePrince was born (see Michaela DePrince at TEDx Amsterdam 28 Nov 2014) and also a country with which I have many connections.

Though these developments are encouraging there is still a long way to go. Lagos has had a 5,000 seater National Arts Theatre for the last 40 years but I struggle to find evidence of any kind of performance there, much less a ballet one. With any luck that may change as Africa celebrates the achievements of dancers like DePrince and Mthuthuzeli November who are making a name for themselves abroad.

Ballet Black return to Leeds

Millennium Square, Leeds

Author Mtaylor848

Source Wikipedia

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Ballet Black, Mixed Bill, Stanley and Audrey Burton Theatre, Leeds 20 Nov 2015

Ballet Black always do well in Leeds for the reasons I stated in Ballet Black at Home in Leeds 7 Nov 2014. Last night was no exception. They returned with Sayaka Ichikawa, one of their most respected and best loved senior artists after a year's absence, and two outstanding young dancers, Mthuthuzeli November and Joshua Harriette. In a company the size of Ballet Black they are a substantial addition. Judging by their performance yesterday, a good one.

The programme that Ballet Black brought back to Leeds was the same as the one that they had launched at the Linbury (see Ballet Black's Best Performance Yet 17 Feb 2015) and performed in Nottingham (see Exactly My Cup of Tea 27 June 2015). This season in Leeds is likely to be their last performance of those works in the United Kingdom for some time though they are dancing them in Germany on 26 Nov 2015. When we see them again at the Barbican on 18 and 19 March 2016 they will have a new programme of works by Christopher Hampson, Christopher Marney and Arthur Pita.

The evening opened with To Fetch a Pail of Water? by Kit Holder danced by Kanika Carr and Jacob Wye. This is a work that can be sweet and innocent or dark and slightly menacing depending entirely on the cast. Yesterday it was danced sweetly by Carr and Wye. The near capacity crowd loved it as did I. Because I changed my ticket from Saturday to Friday at the last minute in order to see Northern Ballet's Wuthering Heights in Bradford I was seated towards the top of the auditorium. That turned out to be an advantage because I caught detail such as the rustling of clothes that I had missed in London and Nottingham when I was close to the stage. The significance of the question mark clicked at last. It is a shame that I won't see the work for a while now that I understand it a little bit better.

Depouillement was our first opportunity to welcome back Ichikawa who was as delightful as ever and see November and Harriette for the first time. Actually I had seen November in May when Ballet Central visited the Stanley and Audrey Burton Theatre and he had impressed me then (see Dazzled 3 May 2015). He did so again last night from his very first jump. This is a fine work by Will Tuckett and it was danced exquisitely by Damien Johnson, Cira Robinson and Isabela Coracey as well as by Ichikawa, Harriette and November.

Even though I have read and re-read Yeats's short poem since I first saw Mark Bruce's Second Coming in February and have now seen it three times I am still no nearer to understanding it. I think the work has more to do with voodoo and animism than the poem. There are two ritual stabbings with a dagger by the ruler danced by Johnson. The dancers are forced to pass through a hoop - literally kicked through by Carr in one case. In her angel costume with tiny wings Carr can do creepy as well as sweet when she so wishes.  The hoop seems to be the boundary between reality and some fantasy work. On the other side there is some gorgeous dancing to Shostakovich and and a delightful duet by Johnson and Robinson. Yeats writes of

"A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Wind shadows of the indignant desert birds."

In the ballet the shape has a lion's head and the body of a man and that's the creepiest bit if all. Maybe the ballet is not meant to be understood any more than the poem or even the book of Revelation from which it was inspired. Perhaps we should just relish the beautiful dancing, choreography, the haunting music and Dorothee Brodruck's rich designs.

The stage darkened and the auditorium erupted with applause. Not just polite ballet applause with the occasional "bravo" or "brava" but ululations and stamping. From the back of the theatre it was deafening. I feared for a moment that the seating would collapse from the vibrations. Leeds loves Ballet Black as Sharon Watson acknowledged in the Q & A that followed the performance when she thanked the company for performing in our city. What I did not realize until that Q & A was that Cassa Pancho had drawn inspiration from our own Phoenix Dance Theatre. Ballet Black and Phoenix have much in common. Yet another reason why Leeds loves Ballet Black.