Another Award - Terpsichore is now one of the Top 35 Ballet Blogs

I have just received the following lovely email:

Hi Jane Lambert,
Congratulations! I am pleased to inform you that your blog has been included in our Top 35 Ballet Blogs which can be found on our website.
My team has been in constant search for the best top dance blogs and during my own exploration I stumbled upon your site. Your blog contains a lot of interesting blog posts, I especially enjoyed the article about "Windrush" at the Peacock - "More than just art. It was an education."
I hope you will enjoy being included in the list, and the extra promotion this creates for your blog.
We have also created a special badge for you that you can post on your blog:
I would like to answer any questions you may have, or hear your feedback about the list. Please feel free to send me a message.
Keep up the good work!
Sincerely,
Lisa Kok,
Junior Project Manager
cupondedescuento.com.co

I am particularly pleased that Lisa has singled out my review of Sharon Watson's masterpiece for commendation.  It is another opportunity for me to congratulate Sharon and her beautiful dancers, Christella Litras, Eleanor Bull and everyone involved in that work.

There's a reason why Phoenix was my contemporary company of the year

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Phoenix Dance Theatre, Mixed Programme, West Yorkshire Playhouse, 8 Feb 2017, 19:30

In Terpsichore Titles: Contemporary Company of 2016 31 Dec 2016 I chose Phoenix Dance Theatre as my contemporary dance company of the year. I wrote:

"I've seen a lot of contemporary dance this year: the National Dance Company of Wales and BalletLorent in Huddersfield (see Cambriophilia 19 March 2016 and BalletLorent 3 Oct 2016), Rambert at the Lowry (see Red Hot Rambert 1 Oct 2016) the Royal Ballet's Wayne McGregor triple bill at Covent Garden (see McGregor Triple Bill 18 Nov 2016) and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre and Nederlands Dans Theater 2 at the Bradford Alhambra (see Prickling - NDT2 in Bradford 1 May 2016 and Alvin Ailey in Bradford 29 Sept 2016) and the Lowry (see NDT2 at the Lowry 24 April 2016 and Alvin Ailey in Salford 8 Oct 2016). But for me, 2016 was the year of Phoenix."

There were three reasons for my choice:  its massive contribution to the culture of Leeds over the last 36 years, its creative genius which generates ever more impressive new work and its outreach work for young people everywhere but especially in Leeds and the North East.

Those three strands came together on the opening night of Phoenix's new tour which begins its 2017 season with performances in Leeds, Durham, Oldham and Edinburgh (see "What's On" on the company's website). The evening began with Calyx. a new work by Sandrine Monin demonstrating Phoenix's creative genius and propensity to create ever more impressive new work, Douglas Thorpe's Beast, a work from Phoenix's recent past and NightLife at the Flamingo, one of its earliest works, celebrating the company's past, present and future.

"Calyx" is a botanical term meaning "the sepals of a flower, typically forming a whorl that encloses the petals and forms a protective layer around a flower in bud." The calyces, in this case, were a number of boxes each containing a dancer representing a flower. And the flowers? Well, they allude to Baudelaire's anthology, Fleurs du mal which inspired both choreographer and composer, Roberto Busconi. I had seen a preview of Calyx in the studio before Christmas (see Calyx 8 Dec 2016).  In the last paragraph of that article I wrote:

"Even in a rehearsal studio Calyx was quite enthralling. In a theatre it will be breathtaking."

And so it was. Emma James's costumes instantly put me in mind of the illustration of the front cover of the first edition of the book which I reproduced in my write-up of the preview. Luke Haywood's lighting enhanced the sense of foreboding. The dancers were the same as in the preview: Sam Vaherlehto. Carmen Vazquez-Marfil, Prentice Whitlow and Natalie Alleston. Not an easy work to digest but compelling to watch and hauntingly beautiful.

Thorpe's Beast was first staged in 2009, not long after Sharon Warson became the company's artistic director. In a contemporaneous video, Sharon described it as her first challenge. She acknowledged the work's robustness, its rawness, its quality yet still struggled with it wondering how, if at all, it fitted into Phoenix's repertoire. But the company did accept the work and it has strengthened them.  The work is about the rage that bubbles below each of us. Very topical with Trump and Brexit. A disturbing work. Uncontrolled hysterical laughter from Vasquez-Marfil. Wild explosions of movement from other dancers, Alleston, Monin, Vaherlehto, Prentice and Carlos J Martinez, the artist I had introduced as "Carlos" in my preview of Calyx. The score, a medley of work by Ben Frost, Matt Davignon, Aes Dana, Jaydev Mistry and Tam Tam, was skilfully selected and arranged. Once again, Haywood's lighting was in the old sense (that is to say not in the Hackneyed sense that it is used nowadays) awesome.

Th human spirit can only take so much beast and mal in one evening and NightLife at the Flamingo came as a blessed relief.  This was first staged in 1983 and shows the company at its very best. It opens with a single dancer to Gershwin's Summertime. Dressed as a waiter he opens the bar. Other dancers follow. The women in floral dresses or full-multicoloured skirts which must have been such fun to wear, Each of them performs a solo or party piece - one of the men pretending to be drunk helped to his feet by a waiter - cartwheeling and somersaulting girls. A party on stage, at one point, quite literally as the cast fanned into the stalls inviting audience members to join them on stage. The performers were drawn from three generations of Phoenix. Every member of the present company. Its veterans: Hughie Davies, Seline Derrick, Donald Edwards, David Hughes and Edward Lynch. And last but not least, kids from the Phoenix Youth Academy, stars of the future. A euphoric piece finishing in flowers for Sharon and ecstatic applause. One of my best evenings in the theatre. Ever.

I left the theatre floating 4 feet in the air. Mainly because it was such a good show. But partly because it is from the region in which I live. Phoenix started in Leeds. It is anchored in Leeds. Its dancers come from across the world. It is receptive to influences from everywhere. But it has never forgotten its origins. That's a source of pride.

The New Season at Covent Garden

Royal Opera House

Author Russ London

Source Wikipedia

Creative Commons Licence

The Royal Opera House's new dance season has been on the House's website since 15 April and it has already attracted some 71 comments, not all of them positive though I can't see why. The Royal Ballet is special and I wish I had the time and resources to see everything though if I did I would never be able to see anything else.  There are some who would ask "Why would you want to see anything else when the Royal Ballet is the gold standard, at least in Britain?" My view is that one needs a bit of variety in life. Fish and chips and chicken tikka masala as well as haute cuisine. In ballet terms, that means small regional as well as national flagship companies. So I have to be selective and here are my choices.

This Autumn I am tempted by Viscera, Afternoon of a Faun, Tchaikovsky pas de deux and Carmen particularly Viscera after hearing Laura Morera at the London Ballet Circle last week (see Laura Morera 25 Aug 2015). Of course, I am also looking forward to Carlos Acosta's Carmen. There have been lots of attempts to translate Bizet into ballet but they have not generally stuck with the public. Maybe  this production will be different.

One ballet that I really love is Ashton's Monotones and that is to be performed with Two Pigeons in November and early December. The Nutcracker returns at Christmas and the Royal Ballet's production is particularly good. There are so many Nutcrackers at that time of the year that it is easy to get Nutcracker fatigue. However this one is magical not least because the House with its Christmas decorations offers such n enchanting setting. It is the show to which I shall take my grandson manqué for his first experience of Covent Garden.

I did not do justice to The Winter's Tale first time round because I was shattered by the drive (see Royal Ballet "The Winter's Tale" 14 April 2014) and I only got to appreciate it in the cinema (see The Winter's Tale - Time to eat my Hat 29 April 2014) and on telly last Christmas. I think I shall appreciate it far more when I see it on stage again.

The last show on my "must go" list is the new Wayne McGregor, The Invitation  and Within the Golden Hour in Spring.  Another Wheeldon and one, of course, MacMillan.

Most of the productions are contributed by the Royal Ballet but there will be visits to the Linbury by our own Phoenix Dance Theatre which I would not miss for the world, the Royal New Zealand Ballet and a number of other interesting companies. This year the Linbury will close for a while which will mean that Ballet Black will have to find somewhere else to launch their new season which is a shame because they always shine in that auditorium. The Dutch National Ballet Junior Company will also have to find another venue if they come to this country this year. I am trying to persuade them to perform at the Stanley and Audrey Burton Theatre and if they came to Leeds Gita and I would spoil them to bits. But I guess there are many other factors that they have to consider.

Expressions

Roundhay Park

Author Chemical Engineer

Source Wikipedia

Expressions, Stanley and Audrey Burton Theatre, 15 July 2015

Expressions is described as "a sharing which brings together inclusive dance groups from the North of England, giving talented dancers with disabilities the chance to showcase their skills to an audience on a professional stage." I have seen inclusive dance before in Llandudno (see An Explosion of Joy 23 Sept 2014) and Glasgow (see No Mean City - Accessible Dance and Ballet 26 April 2015) and had enjoyed the performances very much.  Yesterday's show by 7 dance groups was free but I would gladly have paid to watch it.

The first pieces was by Me2, a dance group for individuals both with and without disabilities between the ages of 11 and 25. It is based in Leeds and meets every Friday during term time between 18:30 and 20:00. Me2 danced Respond which was described as "a new contemporary dance work that highlights [the dancers'] strong sense of group and their ability to be aware and to respond to each other creatively." The group entered pushing one of their number in a chair. Though they stayed together each danced to the music in his or her own way. One young person caught my eye. Just as the group entered the stage a friend from another group wished her luck. She appealed to the crowd to clap her and we all did. She had an infectious smile and she danced exuberantly. At the end of the show she bowed (as did the others) energetically. They all know that they had been a hit but she did particularly.

Mind the Step are a group of  adult dance artists with a range of learning and physical disabilities. They meet every week for an hour long weekly class at Yorkshire Dance. Last year they made a film of their activities called Mind the Step at Yorkshire Dance which has been uploaded to YouTube. I recognized several of the dancers from last night in the film. Last night they danced "Warmth and Togetherness" for us, a work that had been choreographed by Zoe Parker, Louise MacDowell and the dancers themselves. There seemed to be a fair degree of improvisation in this work which gave it some freshness. The dancers performed solos, duets and group works some of which required strength and skill.

Phoenix Dance Theatre has always impressed me for its performances. Yesterday it impressed me even more for its work with its Illuminate Dance group. These are young people aged between 6 and 18 with additional needs. Phoenix offers classes for those kids in three 10 week terms. Last night the group performed Expand which explored the concepts of expansion and contraction. The performers, all of whom danced in Phoenix t-shirts, did their teachers proud. The crowd loved them as did I.

I learned at Llandudno that a wheelchair can be used very effectively in dance. Although I have yet to see him perform on stage I have seen films such as Remember When in which the well known dancer and choreographer Marc Brew shows what can be done with the conveyance. In Motion is Northern Ballet's programme for wheelchair users aged 8 to 19. RAISED is a company of adult dancers with and without disabilities that includes wheelchair users. The Northern Ballet group performed Freedom which had been choreographed by Leanne Kirkham and Sam Carruthers. Both Leanne and Sam keep blogs on their work. The young dancers showed skill in manipulating their vehicles and artistry in their interpretation of the music. RAISED danced Assieme in which the dancers (some with wheelchairs and others without) interacted and collaborated with each other. Zoe Parker who had choreographed Warmth and Togetherness for Mind the Step was one of the choreographers of Assieme. Rachel Fullegar who danced in the piece was the other named choreographer.

The second act consisted of two fairly long pieces. The first was A Moving Stillness by Ability which I mentioned in Northern Ballet's Ability Programme on 15 June 2015. The second was Parked which was danced by Flex Dance which describes itself "as an emerging professional dance company of artists with a learning disability". Both pieces were impressive in that they required considerable skill, stamina, technique and artistry.

A Moving Stillness was inspired by a visit to Leeds Art Gallery. Each dancer developed a phrase in response to a work in the collection. I have recently performed in a work that lasted just over 3 and a half minutes for which the Improvers class of Northern Ballet's Over 55 class (all of whom are able bodied) required nearly 2 months of rehearsals of 30 minutes each. This was a much longer work that required at least as much skill. It was slick and polished and deserved the loud applause that it received.

The last work was centred on a park bench and revolved around the lives and stories of the 3 men and 1 woman on stage. It began with the shout "Story Time" and the dancers bounced on stage with a placard welcoming us to a story. Each story needed a hero but which of them was it to be? There was a romance between the woman and one of the men and there followed a Giselle like plucking of the petals of a flower with the other dancers brandishing heart signs with the words "She loves him" on one side and "She loves him not" on the other. Each of those placards, sign and other props was kept in boxes on the stage and that prompted another theme: "A place for everything and everything in its place". Yet another theme was the changing seasons to which one of the dancers cried plaintively that he didn't like change.  And in winter everything had gone. But not quite everything for he received a letter which seemed to bring good news for away he went.  This last work was a lovely piece but also a difficult one which would have been a challenge for any dancer. Flex Dance were more than equal to that challenge.

Yesterday was as enjoyable an evening as many that I have spent in theatres watching performances by leading dance companies. It is a reminder that dance is for everyone and not just the few who make it through White Lodge, the Upper School and the major ballet companies. It made me very proud to be a Friend of Northern Ballet and the Northern Ballet Academy.

Post Script
Northern Ballet has provided some lovely pictures of Ability's contribution to the evening which Gita has uploaded to Expressions - Some Pictures,

Wonderful Phoenix

Phoenix Dance may be a small company but it is at the forefront of contemporary dance in the UK  It has strong dancers who confidently deliver.  I was therefore delighted to be one of a number of guest who had been invited to see Until.With/Out.Enough which is to form part of a mixed bill to be danced at the Linbury between the 11 and 15 November 2015 and as part of the company's 35th year Birthday celebrations  to be delivered in 2016. The performance took place in Leeds last Friday in a studio in the building that Phoenix Dance shares with Northern Ballet.

  

Sharon Watson, the company's artistic director, introduced the piece to us.  She explained that it had been created by Itzik Galili. in 1997. It is about the importance of the experience of the moment.  She described it as a "work in progress" which will be more polished by the time it is performed in London. I have to say I that it is not clear where further polishing is needed for the work was very well done and exciting. The piece came through to me as being about struggles of relationships and experiences we encounter in life; how they fit in to others around us; how we interact with them; and how we cope or don't cope with those relationships and experiences,

The space was owned  as the dancers burst on stage to the music of  Henryk Gorecki and they maintained that momentum throughout the show. It was a dramatic piece. It was like a vortex.  The emotions expressed by the dancers rippled through the audience who almost participated in the show.. Exciting stuff.  There were solos, duets and group dances. Each flowed into the other in sync. .Some of those duets were between males who showed great tenderness to each other. It was a tight performance and the audience loved it.  The applause was deafening and very well deserved..

I had the pleasure of almost being face to face with the dancers as they performed this breathtaking piece. I had never been that close to a dancer in a performance before.  I really felt their presence as they performed their movements. I could hear the dancers breathe and pant.

After the performance I spoke to Sharon Watson and other members of the company about how the show was put together.. Although the work was created by Galili, Sharon and Caroline Finn must also share the credit. They added layers and nuances to the work, Galili visited the company and outlined his choreography. He was represented by Elizabeteh Gilbat who worked with the company's choreographers and dancers. The whole process took about 4 weeks. It was interesting to compare that process with the one discussed in the Narrative Dance in Ballet talk on 20 June 2015 (see Jane Lambert My Thoughts on Saturday Afternoon's Panel Discussion at Northern Ballet 21 June 2015).

I look forward to seeing this and Phoenix Dance's other works when they visit the Royal Opera House in November.

The Creative Industries Road Show comes to Leeds

Leeds Grand Theatre

Photo Mtaylor848 

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The Creative Industries Federation describes itself as

"the first fully independent body bringing together the public and private sector, across all parts of the country, from the largest multinational to the smallest start-up, from television to computer games, from music to design, from architecture to visual arts".  

For the purpose of recruiting members the Federation recognizes the following as creative industries advertising, architecture, computer gaming, crafts, design, creative education, fashion, film, IT and software, museums, galleries and libraries, music, performing arts, publishing, radio, TV, video and photography and visual arts. English National Ballet is among the Founder Supporter Companies and Organizations as is the Royal Opera House and Tamara Rojo appears on the Federation's launch video.

The Federation is running a series of road shows around the UK "in which leading figures from the arts, creative industries and commercial education will come together to forge new links and map the challenges the sector faces in their area.".  The first of these took place in Manchester on 27 April 2015 and the second in Birmingham on 20 May 2015. On Monday, 1 June 2014, it was Leeds's turn and the caravan gathered in the Howard Assembly Room, a large auditorium leading off the bar of the dress circle in the Grand Theatre,

The event came to my attention because one of the Federation's promises is to "defend intellectual property rights in an ever more digital future." Defending intellectual property rights and indeed attacking them sometimes is what I do for a living but I would probably have given the road show a miss had I not noticed two names on the panel. One of those was Sally Joynson who is CEO of Screen Yorkshire. The other was Sharon Watson, the artistic director of Phoenix Dance Theatre.

The event was chaired by John Kampfner, CEO of the Federation and Anamaria Willis CEO of CidaCo. The first part of the evening was a monologue by Anya Hindmarsh on how she got to be where she is now. All very worthy but it is not as if we had not heard countless similar stories from other entrepreneurs from way back when. The next talk was Tom Riordan, CEO of Leeds City Council which was equally worthy. The main part of the evening for me was the panel discussion in which Sally and Sharon were billed to take part. Also on the panel were Jamie Sefton, Managing Director of Game Republic Ian Thompson, of Thompson Brand Partners, Dominic Gray of Opera North and Anya Hindmarsh.

The advertised topic of the panel discussion was

"'Uniting the Northern Powerhouse' - Following the emergence of the Great North concept how can growth and success be leveraged across the M62 corridor for the benefit of us all?"

Kampfner posed the combustible (for Leeds) question "Is the Northern Powerhouse all about Manchester and if it is does it matter?" and he asked Sharon to respond. Sharon played that ball with a very straight bat. She replied that Phoenix Dance and Northern Ballet had always regarded the North as a powerhouse so there was nothing new there. Actually that was about as much as she or anyone said on the subject because one of the first questions from the floor came from a teacher who complained that children in Yorkshire were just not taking art and design courses in sufficient numbers and that she was looking to the panellists to put that right. For the rest of the evening the panel concentrated on why that should be, whether it was because parents wanted their offspring to get "a real job" whatever that might mean and whether there was too much an emphasis in this country on STEM. As we could do better in maths and science according to recent PISA tables I was rather worried where that discussion might be leading but apart from a few calls to turn STEM into STEAM there was no serious attack on existing educational priorities.

As there had been a lot of Manchester bashing at the LEP Summit in 2011, the Leeds International Economic Conference last year and even at Northern Ballet's breakfast meeting in September 2013 I was really heartened by Dominic Gray. He urged Leeds not to compare itself to Manchester because the two cities are different.  He recalled the success of the Tour de France last year when images of our beautiful countryside were transmitted round the world. Leeds's strength lay in its hinterland, he seemed to suggest which was like music to my ears.

After the talk there was networking in the bar at which attendees had to buy their own drinks in the best Yorkshire tradition. I met a number of interesting people from different arts and creative sectors including Sharon Watson.  I am a great admirer of her company and her work and had met her very briefly on a couple of other occasions. We swapped a couple of stories about the importance of dance and I told her about my faltering efforts to learn her dance form (see My First Contemporary Dance Class 27 Feb 2015).

If anyone wants to join the Creative Industries Federation here is some further information. Subscriptions do not come cheap. Businesses with turnovers of £200 million or above are charged £15,000 plus VAT while businesses that provide support to the creative industries (such as barristers' chambers) would be charged £6,000. Even individuals aged 25 or under are charged £40.  Having said that, there are discounts for those who join in June and further discounts for those who join after attending the Leeds road show. The creative sector does need a forum and collective voice but few of the people I know in dance have that kind of spare cash.

Tenacity

President Johnson signing the Civil Rights Act in the presence of Dr Martin
Luther King

Photo Wikipedia

On 2 July 1964 President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act which outlawed discrimination based on race, colour, religion, sex, or national origin, ended unequal application of voter registration requirements and racial segregation in schools, employment, hotels, restaurants, public transport and other facilities that served the general public in the United States. That statute prompted similar legislation in other countries including our own. To mark the 50th anniversary of that enactment Phoenix Dance Theatre presented Tenacity, an evening of dance, film and song, at the Stanley and Audrey Burton Theatre in Leeds.

The Stanley and Audrey Burton Theatre is a specially constructed dance venue which forms part of the Quarry Hill studios that Phoenix shares with Northern Ballet. I have been coming to that theatre regularly for several years. I have seen many shows there and have even danced in one (see The Time of my Life 28 July 2013), but Wednesday evening was the first time that I had ever seen Phoenix perform there. It will certainly not be my last. Having experienced contemporary dance very late in life - I had my first lesson only on the 8 of this month (see "It's not every Class that you can use Lord Canning's Eyes for Spotting" 9 Sept 2014) - I have the zeal of the convert and really want to see and do more.

The performance opened with a short sequence of film to a sound track of breaking waves. According to the programme, the title of the film was Honour and it was made by Quays Culture but when I googled  "honour", "film" and "Quays Culture" the result was somewhat different although it was clearly connected with Phoenix and its artistic director, Sharon Watson. The film was followed by Tila and Tavelah Robinson who entered the stage from each side of the auditorium singing John Newton's hymn Amazing Grace  without any accompaniment.  Then Sharon mounted the stage to make a short speech. She spoke about the importance of the Civil Rights Act and how far the world had come in the last 50 years with the ending of apartheid and other victories; but also how much still needed to be done when she reeled off the wars and repression that still exist.

The first dance piece was 1976  by Alesandra Seutin. It was by far the most moving. Tanya Richam-Odoi and Seline Derrick danced two young school girls from Soweto. In 1976 schoolchildren from that township protested against curriculum changes that forced them to study in Afrikaans. Their protest was met with extreme violence including the use of live ammunition to disperse the protesters and many lost their lives. The dancers represent two of those kids - chirpy and ragging each other - and then one of them is hit by a bullet and she falls to the floor. Her friend tried to revive her but it's too late. She carried her in her arms to the strains of the Twenty Third Psalm. That image has haunted me all week and I can't get it out of my system.

The next piece was actually a video of Jane Dudley teaching Sheron Wray Harmonica Breakdown or the misery dance which Dudley had choreographed for herself to the music of Sonny Terry in 1938. Dudley had danced with Martha Graham and later moved to London where she met Wray. The session was filmed by Darshan Singh Bhuller and is available on YouTube. Rather than have me rabbiting on you can view it for yourselves. Part 1 is here and Part II here. Terry's music is still buzzing about my mind as is the image of Wray.

Gary Lambert's Longevity followed. No music just the words of Martin Luther King addressing the civil rights march in Washington in 1983 which this dance commemorated. Two powerful male dancers Gee Goodison and Andile Sotiya dressed in white shirts, ties and  trousers symbolized the epic march from all parts of the United States to the Lincoln memorial. I remember listening to the speech on the BBC home service when I was 14 years old and wanting to share Dr King's dream in my lifetime.

The world did move on to the extent that there is now an African-American President of the USA. He wrote The Audacity of Hope which inspired Warren Adams's The Audacious One. Choreographed to Mozart's music this work involved the whole company. The set was very simple.  Just chairs which could represent seats in a legislature or indeed a lecture room. But there was competition for those chairs reflected in the faces of the dancers.

The show runs until today when there will be a symposium on Dance and Civil Rights at the Stanley and Audrey Burton Theatre. I can't encourage you to go there because it is already a sell out but I can urge you to see the company as it tours the country for it is very good.

The trouble with evening classes .....

Every Wednesday between 19:30 and 20:30 I do a ballercise class at Phoenix Squash & Fitness Club in Honley, near Huddersfield.   It's a great class with a great teacher, Fiona Noonan, who also teaches my adult ballet class at the The Base Studios.   But there is a problem.   By the time the class ends I don't feel like cooking a full meal let alone eating it.   But I don't want to eat too much before it starts.   So what should I do.   Here are some suggestions from Maegan Woodin whom I introduced last week ("Learning Ballet as an Adult: Maegan Woodin's Top Tips" 27 Feb 2013).