Dutch National Ballet Ballet connects dancers in lockdown 21 April 2020 YouTube
This is the first new ballet that I have reviewed since lockdown. It is on screen rather than a stage but it is fresh, relevant and eloquent. It expresses the anxiety, frustration, isolation and tedium that each of us suffers whether artist or audience member during these miserable times.
Ballet in Lockdown is a very short work to the music of a Rotterdam band called Di-rect. The track is "Hold on" which Di-rect recorded about ten years ago. It is certainly appropriate now. As it is on YouTubeI shall let my readers discover it for themselves. All I will say is that the film begins with solitary dancers in their homes wearing expressions that are the epitome of gloom. One by one they begin to bourée, to stretch, to turn, to lean or press against their walls as though in adjoining rooms. Icons of the individual dancers are assembled in gallery view. The very last frame of the dancers erect, facing the camera, their arms outstretched, their hands held high expresses hope and promise. An assurance that this plague will one day end, If we only hold on, I was moved by this piece. I have played it several times. Each time I have noticed something new. It is a gem that deserves preservation. I would love to see its transposition to a stage if that can be done.
This work was created by Milena Siderova who has an impressive portfolio of work. I had previously seen and admired Full Moon which she had created for Bert Engelen when he was in the Junior Company and Withdrawn for the company's New Movesin 2017, Full Moon was about those nights when it is hard to sleep where the bedclothes seem to have minds of their own, In that piece, Engelen struggled with his pillow to the music of Prokofiev's Dance of the Knights. Withdrawn was more reflective. In my review I wrote:
"The finale was Milena Siderova's Withdrawn. Siderova had created Full Moon for Bart Engelen who is now with the Norwegian Ballet........... I expected much from her next work and I think that we got it. Withdrawn was a work for 10 dancers to the music of Emilie Satt's Butterfly. It appears to have been inspired by a passage from Carol Becker's essay Thinking in Place, Art, Action and Cultural Protection of a dystopian future in which human social interaction is replaced by the interaction of electronic devices. Each of the dancers carried a torch which I guess was reminiscent of the screen of a mobile phone. They seemed to wander in a sort of limber rather like the lost souls in surgical gowns in Tran-Phat's In Limbo that launched the show."
A work from her repertoire that I have never seen but would very much like to is The Spider which she crested in 2011. Her observation of the animal's movements and behaviour is knife-sharp. Their translation into dance is the best I have seen Petipa's Puss in Boots and White Cat duet in the last act of The Sleeping Beauty.
I wish more companies could attempt something like this. Video streams of past performances are all very well but they lack something. In another article, I compared it recently to encountering a stuffed animal in a museum. Better than nothing I suppose but there is no life to it.
I enjoyed Peter and the Wolf so much when I saw it in Shrewsbury on 18 May 2019 that I booked to see it again in London on 25 June 2019. Sadly, that performance clashed with the transmission of Nothern Ballet's Victoria which I believe to have been the first time that Northern Ballet had streamed its output to cinemas. Although I always prefer stage to screen, the big advantage of HDTV is that offers close-ups of the artists, their costumes and the sets. Having seen the show in Leeds and Leicester several curiosities on my part could have been satisfied.
Returning to Peter and the Wolf, it appeared at the end of a triple bill with Jessica Lang'sLyric Pieces and Didy Veldman's Sense of Time. The title of the show was [Un]leashed and I wondered why. I considered whether it was something to do with the wolf. It would explain the letters in square brackets for the animal had been leashed in the sense that it was lassoed by Peter and led off to the zoo. The nearest I got to an explanation in the programme notes was in the welcome from David Bintley. He wrote that "[Un]leashed epitomises Birmingham Royal Ballet's enthusiasm for and commitment to new work." I have to say that it had never previously occurred to me that the Birmingham Royal Ballet's artists had been constrained in any way. With Brill, Holder and Day to name just three, the BRB has always struck me as a prodigiously creative company.
Lyric Pieces is the second of Lang's pieces that I have seen. In 2016 she contributed Wink based on Shakespeare's 43rd sonnet to commemorate the 400th anniversary of his death (see Birmingham Royal Ballet brings Shakespeare to York18 May 2016). The piece consists of 10 dances set to selected short solo piano compositions by Edward Grieg. With titles like Elves Dance, Peasants Song, Norwegian Melody and March of the Trolls they are clearly connected with Norwegian folklore.The dancers' space is defined or in some cases marked by expandable or contractable black kraft paper. They constructed fan-like props for themselves. I enjoyed all of the pieces, particularly Phantom, a duet by Celine Gittens and Brandon Lawrence, and March of the Trolls by Maureya Lebowitz, Yvette Knight, Yijing Zhang, James Barton and Max Maslen.
Didy Veldman's Sense of Time explores our relationship with time. Possibly because busses, trains and aeroplanes run to timetables the central feature of this piece is a pile of suitcases some of which fall away. Others are removed to reveal cosy boltholes through which artists climb. The piece is not just about the dominance of time. It is also about time as a resource and how we sometimes squander it. In one scene the dancers appear to squint at mobile phones. The score was composed by Gabriel Prokofiev who also created the music for Shobana Jeyasingh's La Bayadere - The Ninth Life. There is a sort of connection with Peter and the Wolf as Gabriel Prokofiev is Sergei Prokofiev's grandson. The music combines the sort of melodies the grandfather could have written with strident electronic sounds. Gittens, Lawrence, Zhang and Knight were in Sense of Time together with Tyrone Singleton,Delia Matthews, Gabriel Anderson,Edivaldo Souza da Silva, Yaogiang Shang, Lachlan Monaghan, Beatrice Parma and Aitor Galende.
Even though I liked Lyric Pieces and Sense of Time very much, the highlight for me was Peter and the Wolf. The cast was the same as it had been in Shrewsbury except that Brooke Ray was able to dance the duck. Laura Day danced Peter as charmingly as she did in Theatre Severn, Matthias Dingman the wold, Tzu-Chao Chou the bird, Samara Downs the cat, James Barton the grandfather and Tori Forsyth-Hacken, Alys Shee and Eilis Small the hunters. As I forecast in my review of their performance in Shrewsbury, the audience at Sadler's Wells loved Peter and the Wolf. I don't think that they danced any better in London than they did in Shrewsbury but a London audience somehow lifts a show. I think that is because a show is a sort of conversation. An audience that sees a lot of dance appreciates a good show and responds accordingly. That, in turn, is picked up by the cast who shine even more. It was a great atmosphere and it was lovely to see the choreographer acknowledging our applause at the reverence.
Peter and the Wolf have more performances in Plymouth in October and children will be introduced to that ballet with a special hour-long, interactive show, called First Steps: Peter and the Wolf. I hope that they will bring it to the Lowry or some other Northern theatre one day. Sadly, we have to wait until March to see them again but as they will bring us their Swan Lake it will be worth the wait. Two shows that I shall try to catch in Birmingham will be Giselle and The Nutcracker. I also recommend The Nutcracker in the Albert Hall.
Between tomorrow and Saturday, the Birmingham Royal Ballet will make the first of its two annual visits to The Lowry. We always look forward to it. Like snowdrops and crocuses, it is a harbinger of Spring. The advancement of the clocks (one hour's less sleep that we never grumble about) and slightly warmer days, Pennine lambs, Easter eggs are and the first trips to the seaside are just weeks away. So welcome dear BRB to our region.
This week the company will perform David Bintley's Cinderellawhich he created in 2010. Like Hampson and Wheeldon but unlike Nixon or James, Bintley uses Prokofiev's score. The production won the best classical choreography award of the Critics' Circle National Dance Awards in 2011.
The company will present four shows at 19:30 each day it is here as well as matinees on Thursday and Saturday. On Friday there will be a pre-performance talk at 18:30 on Friday. Sadly, the company is competing for my patronage with Beautiful Ballet Black at the Barbican and Sergei Polunin's Dancerso I will only get one chance to see Cinderella on this visit. I shall see the Wednesday evening performance in which Jenna Roberts will dance the title role, William Bracewell the price, Marion Tait the stepmother and Samara Downs and Laura Purkis her daughters. Sadly I shall miss Delia Matthews, Tyrone Singleton, Celine Gittens and Ruth Brill this time as I shall be in the Barbican on Saturday when they are on stage but I wish them toi, toi and chookas and hope they all enjoy their stay in my native city.
This is one of the highlights of the year for balletomanes in the North of England. Tey are assured of a very warm welcome.
Not literally, perhaps, because we didn't have the manpower for a street brawl or time for the Mercutio v Tybalt or Tybalt v Romeo showdowns but we did have a go at modified versions of the Dance of the Knightsand Juliet's solo yesterday. Following the success of KNT's Swan Lake intensive last summer (see KNT's Beginners' Adult Ballet Intensive - Swan Lake: Day 118 Aug 2915, Day 219 Aug 2015 and Day 320 Aug 2015) Karen Sant arranged for Jane Tucker of Northern Ballet to return for two intensive workshops on Romeo and Juliet. Gita and I attended the beginners' intensive yesterday. A more advanced one takes place today.
Yesterday was something of a reunion for there were a lot of familiar faces from the Swan Lake intensive including a contingent from Liverpool who are among the jolliest and pleasantest people I know. I had occasionally seen some of those dancers at KNT's Saturday class but this was the first time since August that we had seen them all and it was good to renew acquaintances. This time we had a small party from Yorkshire which would have been bigger had I mentioned this workshop sooner to my classmates on Jane's Wednesday evening improvers' class in Leeds. Several had expressed interest when I told them about Swan Lake and a few asked for details of this course which was why I published Dance Like A Knight - Romeo and Juliet Intensiveson 24 March 2016, but by that time the course was fully subscribed.
The day began with a warm up session on our pilates mats starting gently with angels' wings and building up to more challenging floor exercises including full sit ups as well as some useful foot exercises. We then had a full 90 minute class which started with the Ichino style cardio exercise which all the teachers in Leeds employ in one form or another. Jane's starts with a walk, develops into a run with an about turn when the class least expects it, skipping facing out, skipping facing in, jumping Jacks, calf stretches and balancing on one foot which I can never accomplish on my right leg and seldom on the left. Class followed the sequence in Leeds with one or two modifications. We even had a go at the Descent into the Kingdom of the Shades from La Bayadère which I would love to master. It looks easy enough from the stalls but I assure you it isn't. Especially not the arabesque penché or the 360 degree pivot in arabesque which I can't do for toffee. Having said that, I don't think I was quite as bad yesterday as I had been in Jane's last class in Leeds but she may well beg to differ.
Between the end of the class and lunch we learned a modified version of the Dance of the Knights. Jane divided us into two groups. As we were stage right I guess we must have been Capulets which is great because it put me on the same side as my heroine, Sarah Kundi, in English National's excellent staging of Nureyev's version of the ballet in November (see Manchester's Favourite Ballet Company29 Nov 2015). The piece started with the chaps, Simon and Tyson, who are both a pleasure to watch, and then we women proudly strode across the stage in our heavy brocades carrying our masques snarling silently at the Montagues who were approaching us. On reaching our destination we did some glissades, chassés, pivot turns and lunges including changing places with the row in front.
Bart Engelen, Full Moon
Photo Michel Schnater (c) 2015 Dutch National Ballet, all rights reserved Reproduced with kind permission of the company
I have seen lots of versions of Romeo and Juliet - Lavrosky's, MacMillan's, Deane's, Pastor's, Nureyev's, Maillot's. James's and Job's since I started this blog - but there is one other ballet which is set to Prokofiev's music that I just couldn't get out of my mind. That was Milena Siderova'sFull Moon which had been danced by Norwegian National Ballet artist Bart Engelen when he was with the Junior Company of the Dutch National Ballet. Here's a photo of Bart and here's what I wrote about his performance:
"Milena Siderova's Full Moon was such fun. The music to Romeo and Juliet boomed across the auditorium but there was no sword fight, crowd scene or bedroom pas de deux. Just Bart Engelen clutching a cushion. Engelen is a beautiful young man. Tall and muscular, blond and slender. He contorted himself into all kinds of shapes as Ed Watson did in the first act of Winter's Tale."This pillow has such a force" explained Siderova in the film. "You can't let it go". I wondered why the company had placed this work immediately after Swan Lake and then it dawned on me. Siegfied saw Odette by moonlight and she was also under a force, namely Siegfried's spell that she could not let go. And why Romeo and Juliet? Well it is a good tune but perhaps the lovers were sent to their fate by a force that they could not let go."
It was very hard to suppress a fit of the giggles as Jane gave us our directions and I had to apply all the powers of concentration to think Capulets and Montagues and keep a straight face. Bart and Madame Siderova you have a lot to answer for.
After lunch we polished that dance before exchanging our brocades for Juliet's chiffon ball gown. Jane set the scene.
"You are 12 years old. This is your first ball. You are so excited you can hardly contain yourself. All eyes are on you. You want everybody to be you."
Now, although I have no personal recollection of what it was like to be a teenage girl I am old enough to remember Hooray Henries and debs. As I went to school in London I even knew some. I remember Henley, Wimbledon and the season, all of which was recorded in Jennifer's Diary. I imagined myself as one of those giddy, giggly girls who used to rain cut flowers on stage from the balcony at Covent Garden.
Juliet's piece is fast and furious and no way could I keep up as I am old enough to have been Juliet's great grandmother. I saw Fonteyn dance Juliet towards the end of her career when she was close to my age but she had been dancing all her life and was an exceptional talent. We started on demi pointe literally shaking with excitement and shot into a temps levé followed by a balancé turn then another temps levé. There were soutenus and chaines. It was a glorious and exhilarating experience for me.
Jane coached Simon and Tyson on Romeo's variation and then gave us all a final run through before our show.
We performed in front of our dear colleague, Yoshie Kimura, and our teacher, Mark Hindle, who were a very discerning if somewhat over generous audience. I think all of us gave it our best shot and we were very, very happy with the day.
Jane gave us a final cool down on our mats plus some tips about hot baths and cold plunges and sent us on our way. Altogether it was a great day. I am very grateful to Jane for giving the course, Karen for organizing it, Mark for assisting Jane, Yoshie for watching and encouraging us and all my companions for their excellent company.
