Chantry Dance's "Alice Wonderland through the Looking Class"

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Chantry Dance Company Alive Wonderland Through the Looking Glass Victoia Theatre, Halifax 3 Oct 2019

I have been following Chantry Dance ever since I attended their workshop at the Drill Hall in Lincoln in May 2014 (see Chantry Dance Company's Sandman and Dream Dance 10 May 2014). It was on the way to that workshop that I made friends with Mel Wong who has an encyclopedic knowledge of dance and been a great source of encouragement.  I had come to watch that workshop and not take part. No sooner had I settled into my seat in the stalls when I was coaxed out by Gail Gordon, the company's dance director, and led to the stage. That was the first time I had danced in public and the moment is recorded on film.

In those days Chantry Dance had only recently been formed.  They explained that they had been commissioned by Chinese calligraphers to translate their work into dance and had been asked repeatedly for the name of their company. The idea of freelance dancers seemed alien to those artists. Paul and Raw asked themselves "why not form a company" and, not long afterwards, Chantry Dance was established.

They were very ambitious and they have grown very quickly. A few months after their workshop I attended an open-air performance of a new ballet by Paul Chantry for Grantham's Gravity Fields science festival called Chasing the Eclipse featuring Dominic North of Sir Matthew Bourne's New Adventures and Rae Piper (see Gravity Fields - Chasing the Eclipse 28 Sept 2014).  A few weeks after Gravity Fields they made their first appearance in Halifax with three superb one-act ballets,  The Happy Prince, Rhapsody in Blue and All I can do is me - the Bob Dulan Ballet (see The Happy Prince in Halifax  24 Nov 2015).

They staged their triple bill at the Square Chapel which is a tiny auditorium.  It was a great show and the audience loved them but their numbers were disappointing. Any other company would have written off Halifax but Chantry Dance persevered and they have now built up a loyal following.  Every summer they tour the venues in advance with a free talk about their autumn show.  They also reach out to local dance schools and groups with their young choreographer programme  When they visited the Victoria - a much bigger theatre than Square Chapel - the place was heaving. There were a few empty seats at the back and sides of the stalls and the management had not opened up the upper levels but there was a definite buzz in the air.

Alice Wonderland through the Looking Glass is a full-length ballet.  In fact, it is their third or fourth.  That is an achievement in itself because not every small company has managed to stage even one full-length work. When I interviewed Kenneth Tindall about Casanova he explained that a full-length ballet is a much more difficult and complex proposition than a one-act piece.  The choreography is by Paul Chantry and Rae Piper. The music was written by Tim Mountain who had provided the score for Chasing the Eclipse.  Jenny Bowmam and Emma Darban designed the costumes.

The story, which was created by Rae Piper, could actually be considered a sequel to the other Alice books.  Piper imagines Alice as an adult working in a teashop trying to establish herself as a writer.  The connection with Lewis Carroll is an old looking class which turns out to be the one in Carroll's story. All Carroll's characters - the Mad Hatter, the Queen of Hearts the Cheshire Cat et al - are in the ballet. The big difference is that they come into our world which they find as mad as Alice found theirs.  The plot of the story is to prevent the Queen from doing mischief in our world.  She is eventually neutralized by being turned into a chess piece.  Alice writes all about it in a novel which is a runaway success.  Her reputation as a writer is made.

Alice was danced by Shannon Parker who has had a long career which has included stints with the San Francisco Ballet, Northern Ballet and the Ballet du Rhin.  The Queen of Hearts was danced by Rae Piper, the Mad Hatter by Paul Chantry, the March Hare by David Beer, the Cheshire Cat by Claire Corruble-Cabot and the Knave of Hearts by Vincent Cabot. The last two dancers had been two of my favourites with Ballet Theatre UK and it was good to see them again.

It was an ambitious undertaking and I think it worked well,  I think I preferred Mountain's score in Chasing the Eclipse to this one.  More than once I got a sense of délȁ vue,  Perhaps a little less percussion and a variation of the instruments and tempo would have made it more perfect. But I liked the story and there were some good performances, particularly by Chantry and Parker.  The very noisy applause that the dancers won at the reverence showed how much the public liked the work.

Before the show, David Beer introduced three short works by local dance groups.  The titles and dancers are not in the programme and they were only mentioned once on stage so I cannot say who they were or name their pieces. One was about Bollywood. They danced to Jai Ho, the theme song from Slumdog Millionaire.  Another was a solo about Anne Frank danced by a young woman of approximately the same age as the diarist.  The last featured different coloured shirts and that is all I can remember about it other than that the choreography was put together well.  From the sound of the cheering, I guess that many members of the audience were in Victoria to see and support the young people.

There is usually a question and answer session after Chantry Dance's shows and this was no exception.  There were questions about pointe shoes and how long it took to create the work.  I wanted to ask a question but I did not attract Rae Piper's attention in time. Probably just as well that I didn't because the remnants of a tropical storm were about to hit Halifax. The audience would have been caught in the deluge had they stayed a moment longer.   I had intended to say hello to Paul and Rae at the stage door but there is no shelter there from the elements.  If they read this review they will know that I was there and liked their show.

The company has come a long way in the time I have known it.   It is now very slick and polished.  There was an air of showmanship in the way that Rae Piper got the whole cast and audience to take part in a massive group selfie and in her speech at the end of the show.  Having toured the country for the last few autumns we can almost certainly look forward to a smart new production next September.

Chantry Dance 2018 Tour

Chantry Dance Company's 'DRACULA - Welcome to D's' (trailer) from Chantry Dance Company on Vimeo.



Four years ago almost to the day Mel Wong and I drove to Lincoln where we took part in Chantry Dance Company's Sandman and Dream Dance.  It was a memorable day for me because it was the first time that I had danced in public and on film and it gave me the chutzpah to put my name down for Northern Ballet Academy's end of year show (see The Time of My Life 26 June 2014). It was also the first time I met Mel.  I remember how our conversation took off like a rocket from the moment she entered my car and continued in that way throughout the day.

In those days the Chantry Dance Company was a very small and a very new operation.  It has grown over the years staging its first full length ballet last year and offering three year diploma courses in ballet and contemporary dance as well as well as associate programmes, workshops, intensives and outreach events through its School of Contemporary and Balletic Arts.  Dominic North, Clemmie Sveaas and Sarah Kundi are now patrons of that school.

Last year, Rae Piper and Paul Chantry of Chantry Dance built up their audience by visiting in advance several of the venues at which they were to perform and giving a talk with demonstrations about an aspect of the show that they were about to dance. I covered their visit to Halifax in More than "Dancing Bananas": Chantry Dance's Demystification of Contemporary Dance 30 June 2017 as well as their show (see The Sandman in Halifax 28 June 2017).

This year Paul Chantry and Rae Piper are creating a new work around Bram Stoker's Dracula.  For some reason or other Dracula attracts choreographers like wasps to a honey pot.  I have seen and reviewed David Nixon's for Northern Ballet (see Dracula 14 Sep 2014) and an extract from Michael Pink and Christoper Gable's which was performed by Ballet Central last year (see Triumphant 1 May 2017). I am also aware of Mark Bruce's Dracula and Ben Stevenson's for Houston Ballet (see the 1987 - 2003 Archive Page on the company's website) and I believe there are many more. It is not a topic that would attract me were I a choreographer as the story gives me the creeps but that is no doubt the creator's intention.  Chantry Dance are performing their new work it in Grantham, Halifax, Worcester, Sale, Stamford, Andover, Lincoln, Horsham and Greenwhich between 21 Sept and 14 Oct 2018.

The company are preparing the ground as they did last year with a talk entitled Day in the Life of a Dancer.   The strap line is "How do they do that" which is a question that Chantry and Piper propose to answer while giving some insight into a dancer's say:

"Learn what it takes to become a dancer, how they maintain fitness, strength and flexibility, and how they rehearse.  Rae and Paul are among the UK’s finest dancers and West End choreographers whose work includes David Walliams’ OLIVIER NOMINATED GANGSTA GRANNY."

They will be at The Waterside in Sale on 27 June and The Victoria in Halifax on 6 July 2018. Tickets are free but must be booked in advance. Chantry and Piper will also visit Stamford, Horsham, Andover and Grantham.

I will mention the talk and the show to anyone who turns up to Powerhouse Ballet's first class at Huddersfield on 26 May 2018.

The Sandman in Halifax

Chantry Dance Company: The Sandman

(c) 2017 Chantry Dance Co: all rights reserved

Chantry Dance Company The Sandman Victoria Theatre, Halifax, 25 Sept 2017 19:30

When I first met Paul Chantry and Rae Piper they were literally a two-person and a dog company that had yet to acquire a dog (see Chantry Dance Company's Sandman and Dream Dance 10 May 2014). Now they are touring the nation with their first full-length ballet having recruited some pretty impressive young dancers on the way (see The Sandman Tour 27 Jan 2017). Those dancers include Isaac Peter Bowry whose career I have followed ever since he was a student at Ballet West (see Ballet West's The Nutcracker 25 Feb 2013) and Rebecca Scanlon who impressed me when I first saw in rehearsal her over two years ago (see Chantry Dance's Vincent - Rarely have I been more excited by a New Ballet 4 Sept 2017).

The ballet was inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's tale Ole Lukøje though I think the libretto was entirely original. It centred around a husband and wife.  The husband was danced by Paul Chantry and his wife by Rae Piper.  The Sandman, Jack Beer, visits them and induces pleasant dreams with his multicoloured umbrella and nightmares with his plain black one.  The ballet consists of a number of dream sequences - some jolly like the brightly coloured bubbled on transparent Pilates balls - and others disturbing with faceless dancers and crawling simonite creatures.  The Sandman's umbrellas seem to represent good and evil. The husband is attracted to the black umbrella which leads him to a tavern where his wife is taken away.  All she can do is revisit her husband as a dream.

Creating a ballet from scratch with an original libretto and an original score as well as some quite elaborate set and costume designs would have been a formidable task for very much bigger companies. I can't say that they got everything right.  I lost the story in several places and Tim Mountain's score did not quite fit the mood at times but I enjoyed it a lot more than say Jonathan Watkin's 1984, Nixon's Beauty and the Beast and Christopher Wheeldon's Winter's Tale that I did not like at first and have since warmed to.  I am sure that the company will iron out the bits that need improvement.  They deserve congratulations for a successful production.

Before The Sandman, the company presented three new works created by young choreographers and performed by dancers from Studio 59.  Chantry Dance is a small touring company but it is a great deal more than that.  They are the missing link between hours of practice at the barre and performing on stage. They provide opportunities through their school, associate programmes and summer school to those with talent and ambition and they provide a sprinkling of stardust for the likes of me with their outreach programme.  A lot of companies offer open classes for the general public.  I have attended one of the best in Leeds for the last 4 years but for Paul and Rae education and outreach are central to everything they do.

The company will be in Sale tonight and then proceeds to Worcester, Greenwich, Stamford, Horsham and Andover (see the 2017 Tour Dates). If you can get to any of those performances you will be very well satisfied.

Demystifying Contemporary Dance

 I have already mentioned Chantry Dance Company's tour of the UK in The Sandman Tour 27 Jan 2017 and Chantry Dance goes North 14 March 2017. In preparation for this tour, Paul Chantry and Rae Piper will talk about contemporary dance at the following theatres:

Date	Time	Venue
27 June 2017	18:00	Guildhall Arts Centre, Grantham
28 June 2017	10:00	Stamford Theatre
29  June 2017	19:00	The Victoria Theatre, Halifax
06 July 2017	19:00	The Lights Andover
19 July 2017	19:00	The Capitol, Horsham
21 July 2017	19:00	The Terry O’Toole Theatre, Lincoln

Each of those talks is free but you have to book in advance.

Paul says:

"The aim of the presentation is to introduce people to contemporary dance, and show that this modern style of dance can be exciting and accessible to everyone. Contemporary dance is often perceived to only be enjoyed by those with dance backgrounds .... however, we will explode this myth and present an entertaining and informative talk designed to give an insight into what can be one of the most beautiful arts forms. There will also be some physical demonstrations included in the presentation."

As I said in Chantry Dance goes North, Chantry Dance is more than just a dance company. It also runs a number of educational and outreach programmes as well as the Chantry School of Contemporary and Balletic Arts in Grantham. I shall be at the Halifax talk and I shall report on it in this blog.

MOVE IT 2017

(c) 2017 Chantry Dance Company
Reproduced with kind permission of the company

Move It, which takes place at the Excel Centre between the 10 and 12 March 2017, is billed as the UK's biggest dance event with "over 24,500 dancers – three days – performances, classes, career advice, celebrities, interviews and shopping!!"

I was there last year and described the day in MOVE IT 2016. My verdict on the day was:

"There are worse ways of spending a Sunday afternoon and I did pick up a free copy of The Stage and Dancing Times with a great article by Gavin McCaig in Talking Point which I read over an overpriced burrito but it was not a cheap afternoon out."

This may sound like damnation by faint praise but it is not really.  There was a lot to see and do.  The trouble was that almost everything I had most wanted to see had already happened by the time I arrived. Also, the open ballet class which was the only one that I felt able to do was fully booked.

Clearly, Friday and Saturday are the best days to come to MOVE IT.  Friday is out for me because it is a working day and even balletomanes have to eat.   I could not make Saturday last year because I was on my way to see the Chelmsford Ballet Company's The Sleeping Beauty. I regret that I won't be there on 11 March this year because that is the day Kenny Tindall's Casanova opens in Leeds.

One of the performances that I missed last year was a piece by Chantry Dance Company and Chantry Dance School.  I am a friend of the company and I like its work. A video of its performance appears in A Good Month for Chantry Dance 26 March 2016.  The company and school will be there again this year. Rae Piper will conduct a contemporary ballet workshop at 15:45 and members of the school and company will also be on the main stage at some time during that day. We wish them chookas, toi, toi, toi and anything else that does not offend theatrical superstition.

One person that I did get to meet at Move IT last year was Christopher Moore who directs Ballet Theatre UK. I am a big fan of his company for two reasons. First, I take my hat off to them for producing two or three full-length ballets every year and taking them to small town and suburban venues the length and breadth of the kingdom.  They provide a first taste of ballet for many people, including a lot of children.  I like to think that at least a few of those kids will find their way onto the stage one day.  The company has just finished Romeo and Juliet which I reviewed in Ballet Theatre UK's Romei and Juliet 15 Jan 2017 and it has already started another tour with a new production of Giselle.  Alice in Wonderland follows Giselle and The Nutcracker will follow Alice. The second reason I like Mr Moore is that he has given work to several graduates of Ballet West and any friend of Ballet West is a friend of mine.

Ballet Theatre UK now has a school and its students were also on stage at MOVE IT last year.  You will find a video of their performance on thefamousbelgian's YouTube channel. Wishing them all the best too.

The Sandman Tour

THE SANDMAN - trailer from Rae Piper on Vimeo.

In The Sandman Cometh - Chantry Dance's New Full Length Ballet 20 Nov 2016 I mentioned the Chantry Dance Company's first full-length ballet. The company has now posted a short trailer to Vimeo which you can see above.  The libretto appears to be based on Hans Christian Anderson's  The Sandman or Ole Lukøje which I discussed in Chantry Dance Company's Sandman and Dream Dance 10 May 2014 when Paul Chantry and Rae Piper danced a one-act version of the story.

With Sir Matthew Bourne's The Red Shoes touring the country (see The Red Shoes Second Time Round 4 Dec 2016) and a new production of The Little Mermaid by David Nixon for Northern Ballet opening on 21 Sep 2017 at Southampton, this is the year for Hans Christian Anderson.

The Sandman will open in Grantham two days later and visit Worcester, Greenwich, Stamford, Horsham and Andover in the next two weeks.

Chantry Dance will also be at Move It in the Excel Centre on Saturday 11 March at 15:45 where Paul Chantty and Rae Piper will teach an advanced contemporary ballet repertoire class based on The Stacked Deck which they performed last year. Theoretically, tickets for the class can be booked through the Ticket Factory website and perhaps you can if you have the patience of Job and time on your hands.

The Sandman Cometh - Chantry Dance's New Full Length Ballet

Rae Piper and Paul Chantry

(c) 2014 Chantry Dane Company: all rights reserved

A tantalizingly short announcement:

"CDC presents a NEW, full length contemporary ballet for a 2017 UK Tour:
THE SANDMAN
Links for ticket bookings coming soon..."

But a redolent one. I first met Paul Chantry, Rae Piper and Gail Gordon of Chantry Dance at the Lincoln Drill Hall on 9 May 2014. It was a very special day for me for several reasons. I made the acquaintance not just of Paul, Rae and Gail but also of Mel Wong. I also danced in public for the first time which gave me the confidence to put my name forward for the Northern Ballet Academy end of term show (see The Time of My Life 28 June 2014). Chantry Dance was running a workshop at the Drill Hall in the morning and a performance of two short one act ballets called The Sandman and Dream Dance in the afternoon. I wrote about the workshop and reviewed the show in Chantry Dance Company's Sandman and Dream Dance on 10 May 2014.

I don't know whether the full length ballet that the company will present next year has anything to do with the work that I saw in Lincoln but, if it does, it will be beautiful. I suspect it may be related for the umbrella and costumes in the above photo look very much like those in the pictures that Mel took two and a half years ago. If so, the ballet will be based on the tale of Ole Lukøie by Hans Christian Andersen which I summarized in my article. My recollection of the ballet is as follows:

"Choreographed by Gail Gordon the Sandman was danced by Paul Chantry who entered in front of the stage in the shadows. He mounted the stage which had a single prop: a hat stand and the sandman's two umbrellas. Paul is a tall, elegant dancer and he circled the stage magisterially with his wide ronds de jambe and battements. From the left entered his subject, Rae Piper, clad in a simple navy print shift. Rae has the most expressive face and she expressed joy under the multicoloured umbrella but with utter dismay to the plain one. Producing from his pocket a medicine bottle Paul sprinkled the sleep inducing drops over Rae's eyes. In the absence of programme notes I cannot recall the score but it was beautiful and Gail Gordon's choreography interpreted in perfectly."

Of course, there will have to be at least a second act and roles for many other characters but Chantry Dance are good at narrative dance as they showed not just in the work they danced in Lincoln but also in the works they danced at Gravity Fields or took on tour (see Gravity Fields - Chasing the Eclipse 28 Sept 2014, The Happy Prince in Halifax 21 Nov 2014 and Duology 29 Sept 2016).

Paul, Rae and Gail are not just simply performers, they are also educators. They ran a Young Choreographers Celebration 2016 Award Winners’ workshop earlier this year which they recorded in this video and they will include curtain raiser performances from young choreographers around the country as part of the Young Choreographers Celebration 2017 in the programme that they will take on tour.

They have not yet published their venues but I hope that they will make at least one stop in the North next year. We were sorry not to see them in our region this year. They were missed.

Ulysses Unbound

Yesterday, scientists from Queen Mary University of London reported evidence of an exoplanet slightly heavier than the earth orbiting our nearest star at a distance that could sustain life. Nature, a publication not given to hyperbole, described the discovery as fulfilling "a longstanding dream of science-fiction writers — a potentially habitable world that is close enough for humans to send their first interstellar spacecraft" (see Alexandra Witze "Earth-sized planet around nearby star is astronomy dream come true" 24 Aug 2016 Nature).

Witze quoted the lead researcher, Guillem Anglada-Escudé: “The search for life starts now.”  What better timing for the premiere next month of Chantry Dance's Ulysses Unbound at Grantham's Gravity Fields science fair, Despite its title, Ulysses Unbound owes nothing to James Joyce:

"The last astronaut has left a dying earth in search of a new home. In a thrilling cascade of stunning characters, costumes and imagery, he witnesses the birth of a new star and finds himself on an alien world, populated by very alien creatures!
This extraordinary ballet combines an exciting original soundtrack with contemporary ballet danced by an exceptional international cast. Through the fascinating choreography the dancers interpret cosmic events, from the evolution of a star to the formation of a deadly black hole."

A few days ago I would have called that plot science fiction but after yesterday's discovery I would suggest that it now has a possible basis in science.

This is not the first work by Chantry Dance that has been inspired  by the heavens. Their contribution to the 2014 festival, Chasing the Eclipse, starring Dominic North and Rae Piper had an astronomical theme. A number of journalists have already speculated that the discovery of this exoplanet could be the discovery of the century. If they are correct it would be appropriate for this year coincides with the 350th anniversary of the annus mirabilis in which Sir Isaac Newton carried out not far from Grantham some of his best work (see About Us on the Gravity Fields website).

Ulysses Unbound was created by Paul Chantry and Rae Piper to an original score by Tim Mountain who wrote the music for Chasing the Eclipse. Rae Piper has also created the designs for Ulysses Unbound.

The work will be performed with The Stacked Deck, another work by Piper and Chantry based on game theory:

"Life is a harsh game - sometimes it’s difficult to win with the hand you’re dealt. But is it actually about howwe play the game?
Inspired by the concept of Game Theory and the theme of equality, ‘The Stacked Deck’ is based on a combative game of cards which four players are all desperate to win. Each time a hand is dealt, the players are given a different scenario to face. How they chose to play their hand will determine the final prize.
Intense, raw and gripping, with the dancers radiating primal physicality, this ballet challenges us to look at how we all play the ‘game’"

The double bill open at the Guildhall Arts Centre on 21 Sept 2016 before going on to Stamford,  Birmingham, Worcester and Woolwich.  Sadly they won't be in the North this year. We have got to do something to tempt them here

Rocketing

It is just over two years since Mel and I attended Chantry Dance's Dream Dance workshop and their performance of Sandman at the Drill Hall at Lincoln but the company seems to get stronger and stronger each time I hear from them. Yesterday they announced that the Council for Dance and Education Training had recognized the Chantry School of Contemporary and Balletic Arts with its certificate of good professional practice. Not bad progress for s school which was launched less than a year ago (see If only I were young again - Chantry School of Contemporary and Balletic Arts 27 July 2015). It says a lot for the prestige of an institution if it can attract to a small town in the East Midlands on a Sunday afternoon some of the biggest names in the performing arts as it did on 17 April 2016 (see What's in a Name 26 April 2016).

With such a meteoric rise it is not surprising that the company's newest work will be on rocketry. The title of the work is Ulysses Unbound. As the company celebrated the 160th anniversary of the birth of Oscar Wilde with the Happy Prince two years ago (see The Happy Prince in Halifax 23 Nov 2014) I had supposed that Ulysses Unbound might have something to do with another Irish literary giant but I couldn't have been more wrong. According to the company's website:

"The last astronaut has left a dying earth in search of a new home. In a thrilling cascade of stunning characters, costumes and imagery, he witnesses the birth of a new star and finds himself on an alien world, populated by very alien creatures!
This extraordinary ballet combines an exciting original soundtrack with contemporary ballet danced by an exceptional international cast. Through the fascinating choreography the dancers interpret cosmic events, from the evolution of a star to the formation of a deadly black hole."

The choreography for this new ballet is by Paul Chantry and Rae Piper to a score by Tim Mountain who wrote the music for Chasing the Eclipse which I reviewed in Gravity Fields - Chasing the Eclipse 28 Sept 2014.

Chasing the Eclipse was launched at the Gravity Fields science festival in 2014 and Ulysses Unbound will be launched during this year's festival at the Guidhall Arts Centre on 21 Sept 2016. It will then go on tour around England stopping at Stamford, Birmingham, Worcester and London. Science and the arts are said to be opposites but they needn't and shouldn't be. One of the reasons why I admire Sharon Watson's TearFall so much is that the piece combines science with s lot of humanity (see my reviews The Phoenix Soars Over London 13 Nov 2016 and Phoenix in Huddersfield 27 Nov 2015). The programme for this year's Gravity Fields festival between 21 and 24 Sept 2016 promises all sorts of interesting talks, performances and other events.

Sadly I have to be in Geneva for a WIPO meeting at  CERN  of all places  between the 22 and 24 Sept 2016 but I do hope to see something of this festival. I also hope that as many of my readers as possible will hop into their cars, board a train or even a plane to see this beautiful little town and this fine company.

Duology

Van Gogh "Sunflowers"

Source Wikipedia

Reproduced under GNU free documentation licence

On 27 Sept 2015 Chantry Dance performed Duology, their double bill at the Square Chapel in Halifax. Gita and I had already seen their rehearsal of Vincent - a stranger to himself when we visited their rehearsal studios earlier in the month and knew what to expect (see Chantry Dance's Vincent - Rarely have I been more excited by a New Ballet 4 Sept 2015). Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, however, was completely new.

I enjoyed both works but I think that the Nachtmusik was the better of the two. Ostensibly it was a tussle between Paul Chantry, Rae Pipler and David Beer for space on a settee that could seat three at a pinch but comfortably only two. Of course as two of the contestants were men competing for the attention of the female it developed into something of a love triangle. It was very cleverly choreographed by Chantry and Piper to Mozart's famous music and executed beautifully by the three.

Vincent which followed after the interval was an opportunity for the company's recruits, Rebecca Scanlon and Sorel de Paula Hanika, as well as some of their associates to shine. They were a credit to the company. I was particularly impressed by the appearance of their ghostly faces from behind a glass screen at the back of the stage. Beer, dressed in black, was a disturbing presence. Did he represent death or madness? Piper and Chantry were powerful and their last duet was particularly moving. The production was impressive even in rehearsal. It was magnificent on Saturday night.

After the show the company stayed on stage to answer questions from the audience. Helen Gavaghan asked whether the choreographers had read much about van Gogh before they started to create the ballet and learned that they had read loads. In particular, they had read the artist's letters to his brother. Someone else asked about the creative process, whether the music came first and how they developed the story.  Gita commented on the enormous progress the company had made since their last visit to Halifax. I asked them about their school (see If only I were young again - Chantry School of Contemporary and Balletic Arts 27 July 2014).

It was a good evening. My only disappointment was that the Square Chapel was nowhere near full. I knew that they had a full house in Grantham and Woolwich and a good turnout in Birmingham. Piper said that we had been a lovely audience and that the company hoped to return to Halifax but I can't help wondering whether they might do better at some other venues such as the Studio in Bradford or even the Stanley and Audrey Burton in Leeds where there is already an audience for contemporary ballet. Halifax is at the very extremity of the Leeds City Region, it is not as easy to reach by public transport as Bradford or Leeds and not everybody has heard of the Square Chapel. I think most of the Square Chapel audience would travel to Leeds to see Chantry Dance again. I do not know how many of the crowd who regularly turn out in mass for Phoenix or Rambert would trek out west however good the show.

Chantry Dance's Vincent - Rarely have I been more excited by a New Ballet

Chantry Dance in Company Class

Photo Gita Mistry

(c) 2015 Gita Mistry, all rights reserved 

The rate at which Chantry Dance Company has grown and developed is remarkable. The story goes that it was started because the Chinese Calligraphy Association and Ministry of Culture could not comprehend the concept of freelancing when they collaborated with Paul Chantry and Rae Piper in the Calligraphy Concert. Now Chantry Dance are about to embark on their second nationwide tour having worked at the Royal Opera House and the Rome Opera Theatre and having established their very own school since the last tour (see If only I were young again - Chantry School of Contemporary and Balletic Arts 27 July 2015).

Yesterday Gita and I visited Chantry Dance at their rehearsal studios in Grantham to watch their company class and a dress rehearsal of their latest ballet Vincent - A Stranger to Himself.  Rarely have I been more excited by a new work and I except none of the works of much bigger and better established companies in saying this. Chantry Dance have some fine young dancers: David Beer and their latest recruits Rebecca Scanlon and Sorrel De Paula Hanika. Last year's Happy Prince was good but Vincent is so much more ambitious Vincent is danced by Chantry and his principal love by Piper. Beer in black represents death, madness and evil. The corps - Scanlon, Hanika and several of the company's associates intervene as ghastly masked spectres, as colours and eventually his inspiration as the bearers of his best known works. The score includes Satie's Gymnopédies which Chantry uses with no less skill than Ashton did in Monotones.

If you have not been to Grantham you really should.  Sir Isaac Newton studied at The King's School and Lady Thatcher was born at the intersection of the inner ring road and the main road to the A1. The town has a fine parish church with a magnificent tower and a chained library. Just down the road from the church is The Beehive pub with a living and no doubt stinging inn sign. Gita and I visited all those places.

Vincent and Eine Kleine Nacht Musik are touring Grantham, Stamford, Birmingham, Worcester, Halifax and London this month. Grantham is already sold out and they got a great preview from London Ballet Circle in respect of their visit to Elmhurst where Scanlon trained.  You can book on-line at any of the venues through Duology - Chantry Dance releases new details of its Autumn tour 21 Aug 2015.

Duology - Chantry Dance releases new details of its Autumn tour

DUOLOGY Tour: 'Vincent - a stranger to himself' rehearsal trailer from Rae Piper on Vimeo.


On 13 May 2015  I mentioned Chantry Dance Company's  Duology, a double bill which they will take on tour  (see Chantry Dance's Autumn Tour 13 May 2015). It will consist of Vincent - a stranger to himself' and Eine Kleine Nachtmusik.  The company has now published more details of the show and released the above video.

As its title suggests Vincent - a stranger to himself is about the life and loves of Vincent Van Gogh. It explores the man behind the self-portrait, his relationships with the women in his life and his art. The work is choreographed by Paul Chantry and Rae Piper and directed by Gail Gordon. Piper has also designed the sets and costumes. In addition to Chantry and Piper the cast will include David Beer, Rebecca Scanlon, Sorrel de Paula Hanika and four young dancers from the company's associates programme.

Starting from Mozart's famous and much loved music Eine Kleine Nachtmusik is said to be designed to invite each member of the audience to create his or her own interpretation of the dance imagery. Instead of being just passive observers he or she will participate actively in the work.  I am intrigued to imagine how this will work but, knowing Chantry and Piper as I do, I am confident that it will work.

Each performance will be followed by questions and answers which will lead no doubt to lively discussion. For those in the auditorium who are new to contemporary dance it should be a good introduction to the art. For those who are already familiar with this genre, their understanding and appreciation should deepen. If I understand the advanced publicity correctly, each evening is likely to be an education rather than just a performance.

The venues for the tour are:

10 Sept - The Guildhall Arts Centre, Grantham 01476 406158
11 Sept - The Arts Centre, Stamford 01780 763203
19 Sept - Elmhurst, Birmingham: 0121 472 6655
24 Sept - Swan Theatre, Worcester 01905 611427
26 Sept - Square Chapel Arts Centre, Halifax 01422 349422
2 Oct - The Tramshed, London 020 8854 1316.

This is a popular company with a growing reputation and following so don't leave it too late to book your seat.

If only I were young again - Chantry School of Contemporary and Balletic Arts

A few days ago I wrote about Serendipity. Chantry Dance Company about which I have written a lot in the past is another example of serendipity. Formed in reaction to a Chinese bureaucrat's unfamiliarity with the concept of freelancing it has become a significant touring company attracting such guest artists as Dominic North whom I last saw in Matthew Bourne's The Car Man (see my review of Chantry Dance's Chasing the Eclipse 26 Sept 2014). The Company has always been engaged in education and indeed it was at one of their workshops that I made their acquaintance in the first place (see Chantry Dance Company's Sandman and Dream Dance 16 May 2015). Now it has put its educational activities on a formal basis by launching the Chantry School of Contemporary and Balletic Arts.

If I were young again with some ability and a vocation for dance (and could not be deterred by Matthew Henley's report that "Most professional dancers ‘earn less than £5k a year’" 24 July 2015 The Stage) this is one school that I would consider very seriously. The reason I would consider it seriously it is that it is run by Rae Piper and Paul Chantry who are young and still on an upward trajectory in their dancing careers. Paul Chantry is also a talented choreographer. The quality of their work has been recognized and rewarded with commissions in Rome, Japan and Covent Garden in the last 9 months alone. The best chance for a young dancer to make a reasonable living out of his or her career would be by taking some tips from Piper and Chantry.

What would give me some hope that I might find work at the end of my course is the curriculum which includes classes in nutrition for the dancer, audition technique and marketing as well as classical and contemporary ballet. modern and contemporary dance and acrobatics. How many other dance schools offer classes in the last skill? The fees at £4,500 a year are not beyond the range of most families and in the few cases where such fees just cannot be raised scholarships and bursaries are available.

If I were the parent of such a young dancer I would encourage him or her to consider the Chantry school because Chantry and Piper are persons of principle. I am not going to embarrass them by repeating their tweets and posts to Facebook but I have noted their posts about such things as literacy and other matters outside dance and strongly approve of them. I love reading about their little dog, about their wonder at their discoveries in Japan and Italy. In Chasing the Eclipse Piper expressed her wonder at the universe with an enormous smile. It is upon her more than any other dancer that I have tried to model myself on the two occasions that I have been inflicted on the paying public. I can imagine her viewing the lakes, mountains and temples and castles of Japan and the ruins and archaeology of ancient Rome with that  same expression of wonder.

The vocational course is just one of the School's activities. There is also an associate programme whose show at Sadler's Wells I reviewed last year (Chantry Dance Associates: Lots of Promise 28 July 2014 ) and a summer school whose award ceremony last year I also attended (see Chantry Dance Summer School 2 Aug 2014). I have already mentioned the workshops in which I have participated and I woukd add that Gita and I are making enquiries with a view to facilitating one in Manchester on a convenient occasion.

This school fills a very obvious need and it deserves to do well. Its programmes have already been successful. I look forward to even more from them as Piper and Chantry develop this activity.

Welcome Home Paul and Rae

Grantham, Home of Chantry Dance - and also the late Lady Thatcher

Photo Thorvaldson
Source Wikipedia

Paul Chantry and Rae Piper get around a fair bit.  Earlier this year they were in Japan and more recently they have been in Italy working on La Dama di Picche at the Rome Opera House with Rae as assistant director and Paul as revival choreographer.  The test as to whether they have been away too long will come when they see their dog, Bracken. If it still runs to them for a cuddle that's fine. But if it barks at them ..........

Quite apart from the fact that Bracken needs his walks Chantry Dance Company have a very busy programme in England. They have an Autumn tour starting on 10 Sept 2015 which will take in Grantham, Stamford, Birmingham, Worcester, Halifax and London which I discussed in Chantry Dance's Autumn Tour 13 May 2015. They will perform Wooderverse (a combination of dance and poetry) for the patients of the Queen's Medical Centre in Nottingham this month and in September.  In August they run their summer school at Dance Pointe in Grantham.  I attended the awards ceremony last year and spoke to several of the students who had enjoyed the course (see Chantry Dance Summer School 2 Aug 2014). They also have their busy associates programme which runs for most of the year.

Chantry Dance are one of only two ballet companies based in the East Midlands - Ballet Theatre UK being the other. They are in Grantham which is famous for being close to the birthplace of Sir Isaac Newton and infamous in some peoples' books (though not entirely in mine) for being the birthplace of our first and so far only female Prime Minister. They seem proud of their town (as well they might be) contributing to its science and arts festival, starting their tours and basing their summer school there. They gave me the confidence to dance in public for which I shall always be grateful (see Chantry Dance Company's Sandman and Dream Dance 10 May 2014).

Chantry Dance Company's Tour

One of my personal ballet highlights of last year was dancing in one of Chantry Dance Company's workshops in Lincoln. the workshop was followed by a performance of Sandman and Dream Dance by Paul Chantry and Rae Piper where I saw just how good that husband and wife team were. I followed them to Grantham for Chasing the Eclipse and Halifax for The Happy Prince on their Autumn tour. I also attended their associates' show at Sadler's Wells, a networking event and one of their summer school presentations. I have also got to know Paul and Rae better through following them on twitter and Facebook. I like what they stand for and I admire their erudition.

The company has just announced its 2015 tour which will take in Grantham, Halifax, London and Worcester and present two new ballets: a work based on the life and loves of Vincent Van Gogh which will pursue the man behind the self-portrait, yearning for affection, balancing genius with madness and Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik. Other than that the associates will have a chance to dance in those shows I know very little about them but as soon  as I have more information I will pass it on.

Chantry Dance has also mentioned new open modern, pre-associate and associate classes in Grantham. The modern classes will be given by Gail Gordon who has choreographed shows in the West End. There will also be an Easter Musical Theatre Workshop in Grantham on 10 Feb 2015. Mel, who attended last year's summer school, tweeted that Gail's jazz class demanding but also a lot of fun.

Finally, this company which is much more than a dance troupe, is recruiting a fund raiser "who is passionate about seeing the type of work [they] do develop, and believes keenly in the company's work and mission." They are looking for "friendly, personable and genuine people who want to be part of our charity's work and become a valued member of the CDC team." If you think that you fit the description send an email with your CV to rae@chantrydancecompany.org explaining:
1) why you are suitable for the post
2) your relevant experience
3) what you find attractive about working with CDC
4) why you wish to see CDC develop further.
I wish all candidates who apply for the post the very best of luck. It sounds a super job for the right person.

Chantry Dance and MurleyDance all in the same day. How good is that!

Assassination of Riccardo

Illustration August Pollak, Wikipedia 

On Friday afternoon I received the following email from Rae Piper, one of the artistic directors of Chantry Dance:

"Apologies for the late notice, but we have just been given 2 tickets for the general dress rehearsal of 'Un Ballo In Maschera' to be held at the Royal Opera House on Monday 15th at 11am-2:30pm. If you would like these tickets, you are very welcome to them - it would be our pleasure to give them to you. Please let me know if you would like them, and I will arrange to get them to you."

I did not need to be asked twice. Opportunities like this don't grow on trees and I know a good thing when I see one.  I accepted with alacrity and then rang one of my friends to see whether she was free to come to London with me.

My friend and I had seen an HDTV transmission of the Met's production from New York at the National Media Museum which we both enjoyed. She also knew Chantry Dance having also seen Paul Chantry and Rae Piper in Halifax a few weeks ago (see "The Happy Prince in Halifax" 21 Nov 2014). We knew they were assisting Lucy Burge with the choreography and that they would also be in the show.

We got up very early yesterday morning and set off for Luton Parkway just after 06:00. Although I live in Yorkshire I do most of my work in London and have tried every way of getting there. Unless you book well in  advance trains are expensive and you have to allow at least 90 minutes to drive from Holmfirth, park and pick up the ticket from one of those irritating ticket machines with a perpetual queue. The number of trains I have missed waiting in the queue at Sheffield station does not bear thinking about. It also costs an arm and a leg to park by the station. I have found the best way is to drive to Luton Parkway (which usually takes no more than 2 and a half hours) where one can park all day for £3 and then take the Thameslink into St Pancras. Had the day gone according to plan we would have reached Luton no later than 09:30 and Covent Garden well before 11:00.

Alas, the day did not go according to plan. We found ourselves in a horrendous snarl-up outside Nottingham which delayed us by 2 hours. The result was that we rolled up at the Opera House late and had to watch the first part of the opera on a monitor. However, we were able to take our seats after the interval and were treated to a brilliant show. There were excellent performances by Joseph Callleja as Riccardo, Dimitri Hvorostovsky as Renato, Ludmyla Monastryska as Amelia and indeed the whole cast. Although their's was a non-singing role it was good to see Paul and Rae on stage. We were particularly pleased to see them because they had not been well the day before and feared that they might miss the rehearsal.  Happily they had recovered enough yesterday morning to soldier on and, like the rest of the cast, they did very well. The music conducted by Daniel Oren was magnificent. Our tickets were in the stalls circle so we were very close to the orchestra.  The sets and costumes were beautiful. It was every bit as good as the Met's production. We congratulate those who have been fortunate enough to get tickets. You are in for a treat, folks.

After the rehearsal I returned to chambers. Tomorrow is our Christmas party which I shall miss because it clashes with the Huddersfield Choral Society's public performance of Handel's Messiah. We therefore held an impromptu party to which I invited friends from the barre as well as the bar. Paul and Rae did not pick up their Christmas card upon which I had written an invitation but Paul Kelly and David Murley of MurleyDance were able to come. Over wine and mince pies it was interesting to discover just how much my world has in common with theirs. As I discovered when I took to the stage the part of my brain which engages when I go into court kicked in to play when I found myself on stage (see "The Time of my Life" 28 June 2014).

I am a great fan of both Chantry Dance and MurleyDance. I owe Chantry Dance a great debt of gratitude for coaxing me on stage (see "Chantry Dance Company's Sandman and Dream Dance" 10 May 2014). Had I not been in Dream Dance I would not have put my name forward for the Northern Ballet Academy end of year show. That was one of the greatest moments of my life and I owe a lot of other people - notably my teachers Annemarie Donoghue, Fiona Noonan and everyone else who has taught me for advancing me to that point - and Mel, Dave Wilson and the folks in Chelmsford for encouraging me to have a go.

The Happy Prince in Halifax

Oscar Wilde, Author of The Happy Price

Photo Wikipedia

Oscar Wilde lived between 1854 and 1900. In 1888 he published a series of children's short stories entitled The Happy Prince and other Tales. To celebrate the 160th anniversary of Wilde's birth Paul Chantry has created a ballet based on The Happy Prince which his company, Chantry Dance Company, has taken (with two other works) on a nationwide tour. Yesterday the company was at The Square Chapel in Halifax. They delivered a heart warming performance that the audience loved and brought me to my feet.

The show opened with Eliza Wade carrying a lantern and a suitcase and calling out for anyone who might be there. She stumbled upon Oscar Wilde danced by David Beer. Wilde makes a paper swallow and thus begins the story. The swallow was brought to life by Rae Piper dressed in a blue. She is an impressive dancer combining power with grace but it is her power of expression that enchants me. It is the quality that I noted the first tine I saw the company in Sandman last May (Chantry Dance Company's Sandman and Dream Dance 10 May 2014) and I saw it again when Piper danced Scura in Chasing the Eclipse on 28 Sept 2014. The swallow delivers precious stones from a bejewelled gilded statue of the city's prince whose spirit sends those gems as gifts to relieve the suffering of the city's poor. Grazziano Bongiovnni danced that role with flair. A handsome young man with elegant movements he was a delight to watch - particularly in his pas de deux with Piper towards the end of the piece.  I had seen them dance that pas de deux at the company's open day in August.  I described in the post how my spine began to tingle in the way that it did when I saw Sibley and Dowell (Chantry Dance - Making Connections 30 Aug 2014). On stage and in costume they are even better.  I don't think that the company has released a video of the performance, but you can see a trailer for the show in my review of Sandman.

The Happy Prince was the first act of the show.  Two shorter works composed the second act: Rhapsody in Blue to Gershwin's well known music and All I can do is be me - the Bob Dylan Ballet to Bob Dylan. These works were also choreographed by Chantry whose repertoire is already long and diverse. While I enjoyed all three works my favourite was Rhapsody in Blue, partly because I love the music and the period but mainly because of the opportunity to see Chantry dance with Piper. I have already mentioned how much I admire her dancing. Well, her husband dances beautifully too. Tall and authoritative he commands a stage. He is thrilling to watch. Together they are magnificent. In this work Chantry danced a man on a train. An actor perhaps for he whipped out a copy of The Stage. Piper, again in blue, was The Lady of Jazz

The Bob Dylan ballet showed off the whole company including two talented young women, Camille Barrié and Rosie Macari. The scene opened with Bongiovanni in a party hat muttering to himself in Italian.  He was joined by Barrié also in a party hat muttering to herself in French. I have studied both languages but couldn't make much sense of either monologue. A few seconds later Macari entered the scene muttering equally incoherently in English. They were joined by Beer and Chantry who seemed to have had a good time at the party. Both were attracted to the same girl and a rivalry ensued to the strains of "All I Really Wanna Do" in which she was literally pulled by each of them. It must have been a challenge to dance.  And there were many other challenges in the choreography including a spectacular jump by both Barrié and Macari into the arms of their partners who hoisted them shoulder high.

The company travel light with costumes and a few props but they don't need more for they have an excellent lighting designer in Owain Davies. The one ballet that did require slightly more, The Happy Prince, showed off Zoe Squire's considerable ingenuity.

I have already mentioned the audience's applause. I am not sure that the cast expected it to be quite so strong because the auditorium is not large but Piper's smile was a delight to behold.  Anyway she was moved to say a few words about the company and its outreach and educational work including its associate programme of which Eliza Wade was a member. I mentioned the range of their work briefly in Chantry Dance - Making Connections and I reviewed the associates' show in Chantry Dance Associates: Lots of Promise 28 July 2014. I have personally benefited from one of their workshops for their dance director, Gail Gordon, coaxed me onto the stage of the Lincoln Drill Hall in May which gave me the confidence to put my name forward for the Northern Ballet Academy's end of term show (see The Time of My Life 28 June 2014). If Chantry Dance can get a Rumpolean elephant like me to come on stage and enjoy herself they can do anything.

Earlier in the day I got a chance to see their company class and a rehearsal for the Dylan ballet. All dancers work hard. I appreciated that when I saw English National Ballet in class in Oxford three weeks ago (Coppelia in Oxford 2 Nov 2014) but I think this troupe works harder than most. I had been to class in Leeds in the morning and had done several of the same exercises. Watching the professionals from a distance of a few feet I noted  how they hold their arms in bras bas and second, how they define space in a forward port de bras, how they find their balance on demi-pointe and arabesque and much, much more. I hope I can remember and incorporate what I learned in my own dancing the next time I go to class.

Halifax was the penultimate stage of the tour. Tonight Chantry Dance are in London. So good was their show that I seriously thought of taking the day off and belting down the motorway to see it one last time. If you are in the capital tonight and can obtain a ticket do yourself a favour and get yourself over to The Lilian Baylis Studio at Sadler's Wells at 19:45. After last night's show Piper told me that the company plans to dance The Happy Prince for children so there may be another chance to see it. But tonight is your last chance to see the whole triple bill including the gorgeous Rhapsody in Blue.