Pride

A Pride of Lions

Author Benh Lieu Song
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The Dancehouse evening class students. Move It!, 22 Oct 2016 The Dancehouse, 19:00

I had promised a good show in Want to see a good show in Manchester this Saturday? 19 Oct 2016 but I never imagined in a million years that a member of my family would help to deliver it. But that is exactly what happened when Danny Henry of Rhythms 2 Dance invited members of the audience to join him on stage and my niece, Shola, responded. She mounted the stage to a massive cheer and picked up the steps and rhythm as though she had rehearsed it for ages. I must be one of the proudest people on the planet. Proud of my teachers and fellow students at KNT and the other dance classes at the Dancehouse, of course, but also proud of Shola.

As in the previous Move It! shows (see Better than Eurovision 24 May 2015 and One of my proudest moments - Dancing in Move It! 31 Jan 2016) the entertainment was provided by the students who attend evening and weekend dance classes at the Dancehouse theatre in Manchester. As I have said several times before, I am one of those students and I would have put myself forward for the show if I could have attended rehearsals. The show that we saw last night was to have been performed on 18 June 2016 but had to be postponed because of emergency repairs to the ceiling of the auditorium (see It could easily have gone pear-shaped ............ 19 June 2016).

Again as in previous shows the evening was compered by Tracey Gibbs of a Taste of Cairo. I have seen Tracey dance and know that she is a fine dancer but I imagine that she is also an excellent teacher for she is a great master of ceremonies. She has the audience eating out of the palm of her hand with her warmth and jokes and general good humour. "You're all here because you know someone in the show, right?" she asked. A mutter of ascent. "A son or daughter, husband, wife, brother or sister?" Applause. Tracey reminded the audience that the dancers give up their evenings and weekends to attend class and that for some of them it would be their first time on stage. She rehearsed us in whooping and clapping for them.

The show commenced with Josh Moss's Wednesday evening repertoire class dancing the Snowflakes Waltz from The Nutcracker. You know. The bit with the female voices singing "La, la, la, la, la". Here's a YouTube video of The Royal Ballet doing it to get the general idea. It was performed beautifully by my friends. Maybe not quite as polished as Meaghan Grace Hinkis as Clara, Ricardo Cervera and the artists of the Royal Ballet in the clip but when all things are considered they did pretty well. The crowd loved them and they gave the evening a flying start.

The lighting changed, A blast of what sounded to me like a didgeridoo. Ring of Fire from the contemporary class performed with energy and expression. I cannot quite remember whether they were Ailsa Baker's students or Carlotta Tocci's but whoever taught them is to be congratulated.

More congratulations to Karen Sant and the pointe class for what must have been a gruelling few minutes. Plenty of  échappés sur les pointes. I know from personal experience that it is bad enough doing that exercise on demi-pointe while facing the barre. It must be murder going all the way in pointe shoes while finding and maintaining one's balance at the same time. There are some seriously talented young women in that class.

Danny appeared next in the Brazilian football team's colours dancing a duet to what I believe to be samba but as I am unfamiliar with the genre I am probably miles off the mark. He and his partner were joined in the next dance by another two dancing to an infectious rhythm.

More ballet next and I recognized members of my Tuesday class including Simon Garner, one of the few gents in our group. They danced well and deserved a standing ovation so I gave them one.

At this point I ran out of paper for note taking so I have probably missed some of the performers for which I apologize. I remember Paint it Black performed with the same energy as Rambert do in Rooster albeit to somewhat different choreography. I also remember more of my ballet class members dancing Shostakovich's Waltz Number 2 well and prompting me to rise to my feet again but I can't for the life of me remember their place in the programme.

We had a short interval after which Tracey introduced the artists for the second half.

One of the highlights of my evening was the entry into the kingdom of the shades from La Bayadere by Josh's repertoire class. I don't know why but that dance always moves me. As I said in La Bayadere Intensive Day 3: No Snakes 17 Aug 2016 I have had a bash at dancing that piece. It looks easy enough - a tendu with arms in 5th inclining slightly towards the audience and then an arabesque but, believe me, it isn't. Watching the dancers emerge in height order is mesmeric. Being one of those dancers requires enormous concentration. Led across the stage by Yoshie Kimura, they were all impressive.

After the show, I spotted Jane Tucker, the inspiring teacher from Northern Ballet Academy who taught me the shades' entry in Manchester as well as so much more about ballet in  her Wednesday evening classes in Leeds over the last year or so. She will be teaching us repertoire from The Nutcracker next Saturday (see A Unique Opportunity to learn a Bit of The Nutcracker 12 Oct 2016) and I made an educated guess that we would be learning the snowflakes' waltz. She assured me that she had not yet decided what to teach us in that intensive. All I know is that it will be fun.

After La Bayadere there was some great tap dancing with the performers in sailor suits. Memories of Gene Kelly and On the Town. 

Then the gorgeous Peacock Dance from Susie Lu's Chinse dancers in their beautiful costumes. "Ooh" whispered Shola. "I'd love to wear one of those dresses, wouldn't you?"

Next, Danny appeared in a West African shirt to an infectious drum beat. The audience started clapping in time. Danny invited folk to join him on stage and a few responded.  "I want to join them" said Shola. She is my goddaughter as well as my niece and I have known her nearly all her life but I never knew that she could dance. Not only can she dance but she can also hold an audience. "Where did she get this from?" I asked myself. When she was a little girl my late spouse and I had taken her to see The Nutcracker by English National Ballet. As she seemed to like that we took her and her little cousin to see the Royal Ballet's Cinderella at Covent Garden. I remember her doing Fiona Noonan's ballercise class on her last visit to Holmfirth a few years ago. After the performance Danny invited her tp take his class. "If only," she replied, "but I am only here for the weekend and I live in London." Right now I am scouring the internet for classes like Danny's in the capital. "We are all good at something," I told her on the drive home, "and you seem to be good at dancing. Talent like your's needs developing."

The evening concluded with Saint-Saens Danse Macabre danced magnificently by the advanced class. They were the piece de resistance, the frosting on the cake, the bees' knees - any epithet for quality you care to dream up. Dressed in maroon they executed complicated and some very difficult steps with precision and poise. Yet another performance that hoisted me to my feet.

When Gita reviews a ballet she likes to make "a man (or woman) of the watch" award. Denis Rodkin and Isaac Lee-Baker have been previous winners. Had she been there I have no doubt she would have given it to Katie. She seemed to be in everything. "Was that 7 dances or 8  that I counted you in?" I asked her in the bar after the show. "Only 6 in the end" she replied. "Only!" That lady is full of energy as well as grace. Proud to know her and to have danced with her. Yet another source of pride.

It could easily have gone pear shaped ...........

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Yesterday the dance classes that meet in the Dancehouse theatre's studios were due to present their summer show in the main auditorium (see Showcase and Move It at the Dancehouse 8 June 2016). Unfortunately a problem arose on Friday which our principal teacher, Karen Sant, explained in her Facebook page:

"As some of you may know, part of the ceiling in the theatre has come down so the auditorium at The Dancehouse is not safe to use. Myself and some very lovely ladies have been ringing places all morning trying to find another theatre that will have us but no one can at such short notice. There was an option to do next week (but I know that some of you aren't available) or postpone it to September (I said we can do another show by September!). I have asked Dave (theatre manager) if we can have a studio showing and he said it's fine as long as 1 - I know I'll be charged full rate for the studio - between £100 - £150 p/h, 2 - only 50 dancers allowed, 3 - 1 guest per dancer, 4 - it's okay with Richard (studio manager). I'm currently waiting for them to speak to each other to get the go ahead but I wanted to keep you in the loop."

She then asked the dancers:  "Would you be up for a studio performance tomorrow?"

Karen took a poll of each of the KNT dance classes which produced the following result:

"Okay so I've had to make a decision. Not everyone has voted but I can't leave it any longer. The majority have voted for studio performance tomorrow and show next week. However I've received lots of messages saying they can't do tomorrow and also lots saying they'd prefer to perfect the dances for September. SO studio performance tomorrow is going ahead! I will get another poll going for you to decide on show next week or show in September but tomorrow is currently the most important thing to deal with so I'm going to concentrate on that."

Not all the pieces could be accommodated in the studio but the class that I usually attend was one of those that could.

I would loved to have taken part in the show but I could not do so for a number of reasons one of which was that it clashed with the Birmingham Royal Ballet's performance in Birmingham of John Cranko's The Taming of the Shrew between 16 and 18 June 2016. Now Cranko is my all time favourite choreographer and The Taming of the Shrew is my very favourite of his works.  I have only managed to see once before in more than thalf a century of serous ballet going. Now wild horses were not going to keep me from seeing that show, especially as Elisha Willis was due to make her farewell appearance in the matinee performance (see Roz Law Birmingham Royal Ballet star Elisha Willis on ditching dancing for stitching 14 June 2016 Birmingham Mail).

The advertised performance was due to start at 19:30 which would have given me just enough time to catch the start of the show if I caught the 17:31 train from Birmingham. However, during the drinks interval in Birmingham I received a text from Karen stating that the studio performance would start at 19:00 and only a few of the pieces would go ahead.

As soon as the reverence was over I sauteed up the stairs, ran towards New Street which is hidden in a department store, dashed down the stairs and made a grand jete through the doors of the train just as they were about to close. We were packed like sardines and it was standing room only to Stafford but I aspire to be a dancer so I wasn't going to worry about that. I repeated my sautes and jetes and running in Manchester and arrived at the Dancehouse a few minutes after the show had started.

According to Karen the pieces that went ahead were as follows:

"Ailsa's pieces:
Beginner Ballet
Advanced Jazz
Josh's pieces:
Intermediate Ballet
Repertoire
Karen's pieces:
Pre Intermediate Ballet
Advanced Ballet"

I arrived just in time for the Dance of the Flowers from The Nutcracker.  All my friends were in lovely white costumes with flowers and they danced the piece so beautifully it nearly made my cry. I could not help but rise to my feet which I very rarely do even for the Royal Ballet at Covent Garden.

The next piece was a duet by my teachers Karen Samt and Mark Hindle. "Are these really my teachers?" I thought. "They are so good."  It should not have come as a surprise because I attend their classes regularly but one rarely sees one's teacher as a performer and when one does it is a revelation. I am told by those who have reached that stage that pas de deux work is very tricky for both partners: the man because he has to apply considerable strength in a controlled fashion, the woman also has to be strong, both have to keep smiling and appear relaxed; and, of course, there has to be perfect confidence between them. There were some difficult bits in the piece that Mark and Karen had chosen including a fish dive. I was so impressed by them and I am so lucky to be taught by them.

The next piece was contemporary to the music of Paint it Black.  The dancers appeared in black leotards, leggings and face masks. They were energetic and exciting.  The audience picked up on the energy and became absorbed in the dance. I've only attempted a couple of contemporary classes and not continued with that genre because I just can't recover gracefully from the floor in anything like the time required, There was some very daunting floor work and some difficult turns. Again, I felt compelled to rise after the performance.

My favourite bit of the whole show was my class.  Their piece included all the exercises that we had learned in class such as temps leves, arabesques and soutenus which were executed with precision and grace.  However, there was one move that we don't learn every day and that was where Simon Garner and Tyson Collins had to lift one of the girls - I think it was Katie but I may be wrong because my eyes were on the boys as I was so amazed by them. The dance finished in a lovely coming together and presentation to the audience. Oh I was so proud of those folks. Earlier in the day I had clapped my hands raw and roared myself hoarse for Elisha Willis. I did the same for my classmates. I couldn't stop myself.

The last class was advanced ballet and that was the most accomplished and polished. There were a lot of jumps and some difficult fast turns.  The dancers wore claret coloured shifts which flowed and rippled with their movements.  Collectively they projected grace and beauty and some individuals displayed considerable virtuosity.  They richly deserved their applause at the end.

I must have missed one of the performances as I arrived just after 19:00 and was told by the reception staff that I had missed the first 10 minutes.   Simon Garner's Facebook page shows several dancers in white shirts and bow ties. It must have been their piece.   I am so sorry to have missed their show,  If it is to be repeated next week or September I look forward to seeing it then.

Of the four shows that I have seen at The Dancehouse I enjoyed this the most. The dancers threw themselves into the show and I think they excelled themselves.  In the bar afterwards several told me they were conscious of that and that they wanted to put on a particularly good show to make up for their disappointment at not performing in the theatre. Also in the bar I learned that it was Katie Daly's birthday and that must go at least part of the way to explaining why she danced so well.   I hope she had a lovely day. I certainly had a great evening.

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....... but instead it was a howling success. 

Akram Khan's Giselle

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All being well I shall be in the audience for the premiere of Akram Khan's Giselle on 27 Sept 2016. This is billed as "a new interpretation" of Giselle which is one of my favourite ballets and the one of the world's most popular. I have not taken too kindly to  most "new interpretations" of Swan Lake which is my other favourite and the other classical ballet that is at least as popular as Giselle so why am I so excited about Akram Khan's Giselle?

One reason for my excitement is that I don't really like the story of Giselle as it stands.   In my Reflections on Giselle 28 Jan 2014 I wrote that the reason I have a problem with Giselle is the story.  Not so much Act I which, as I said in my note, could have come from The Archers but Act II , I continued:

"because Giselle is buried in unconsecrated ground where her spirit joins those of other women who have been seduced and die before their wedding day. They have it in for men and if any man is unfortunate enough to stray across their path as the gamekeeper did they kill him (though having said that I have seen one performance, though I cannot remember which company, where the gamekeeper survives and the curtain falls on his shaking hands with the playboy). That is a pretty unpleasant as well as fantastic story and offends my sensibilities ....."

My strategy for coping with Act II is to put the narrative out of my mind and to treat that part of the work as a purely abstract work like Act II of Balanchine's Jewels.

English National Ballet are not giving anything away about Akram Khan's creation.   They have posted a synopsis page on their website but all it contains are a series of quotations.   There is a film and some photos but they could have come from lots of rehearsals.  We know that Adam's score is to be used but we are told that the score has been adapted and that there will be some additional music by Ben Frost. We also know that Akram Khan is working with Ruth Little, the dramaturg who collaborated with Jonathan Watkins on 1984.

One clue that I do have comes from Simon Garner who dances with me at KNT.   Simon recently exhibited a mixed media work which included some sound effects at London Scottish House in Manchester (see Images of Giselle 20 May 2016). Someone from ENB visited the exhibition and saw the work and sent a message that he had parts of the ballet were not unlike his work.

Akram Khan's Giselle will start in Manchester and will tour Bristol and Southampton before ending in Sadler's Wells in November.  I should add that the company will also dance Mary Skeeping's Giselle at the Coliseum in January.  

One of my proudest moments - Dancing in Move It!

Yoshie Kimura and Jane Lambert

It is nearly 03:12 in the morning but I am not going to sleep until I have written this experience out of my system. Last night I took part in Move It, The Dancehouse's seasonal dance revue performed by students from its many and varied evening classes. I was in KNT's Beginners' Ballet piece which was choreographed by our teacher, Karen Sant. It was not the first time I had danced in public but it was by far the most enjoyable.

Karen had asked us to assemble at The Dancehouse at 15:30. She had told us to wear black leotards with a mesh dress, black tights, pink shoes and our hair in a bun. The last instruction caused me no end of grief because I have never learned how to style my hair. I spent a whole hour in front of three different transatlantic YouTube tutorials entitled "How to make a classic ballet bun" (or words to similar effect) getting precisely nowhere. Happily Gita knew how and she arranged my hair in a very tight bun within minutes.

Just as she had finished I caught my crowd proceeding with a purpose so I followed them. They led me to the auditorium of The Dancehouse Theatre where we all sat down. There were already dancers on stage performing to an infectious drum beat.  After they had finished the compère whom I had mentioned in Better than Eurovision took to the stage. Her introduction was very much as it had been last year but she said something very true about adult dance. Nobody forces us to come to class week after week as may have happened to some of us when we were children. We come because we want to not just to keep fit but because dance is enormously satisfying both emotionally and spiritually. She added that for the teachers seeing that satisfaction on the faces of their pupils is enormously rewarding. I will give an example of what she must have meant below.

The compère then called on the first piece which was Josh Moss's repertoire class (see A Pint for Josh 28 Aug 2015). They were performing the swans' entry from Swan Lake which was a bit of choreography that I happened to know from the Swan Lake intensive that I attended over last summer (see KNT's Beginners' Adult Ballet Intensive - Swan Lake: Day 1 18 Aug 2015, Day 2 19 Aug 2015 and Day 3 20 Aug 2015). It was executed beautifully as was a Rothbart excerpt danced by my classmate from the intensive, Simon Garner, and another gent whose name I do not know.  We saw the whole of the first part of the review and a bit of the second before our cast was called back stage to do our stuff. Gita saw the whole performance so she will review the show. All I will say is that I enjoyed each and every piece and some (including the last ballet piece performed by a cast that included another Swan Lake intensive student, Yoshie Kimura, photographed with me above) enormously.

Not long into the second part of the show we were called back stage.  The Dancehouse is only the second commercial theatre in which I have performed and is quite a bit bigger that the Stanley and Audrey Burton in Leeds. There is a whole labyrinth of passages and anterooms before you get to stage left or stage right. Somehow I arrived at the right place for entry stage right. Our music struck up. The first step was a tendu with the right leg followed by a fondu and lunge. Out of my peripheral vision I caught Tyson, yet another Swan Lake intensive student doing those steps so I knew I was OK. We repeated those en croix. then some lunges left and right working through a plié in second, a soutenu, some balancés right and left, followed by three glissades to the right, a changement, more glisssades and another changement, a run, a temps levé, another run, a turn with the right hand followed by a turn with the left, some sautés, an advance forward, two awkward retirés, a port de bras and then lights followed by a curtsy and a rapid exit to the right. Or something like that! We (or rather I) made a few errors but somehow we got through that rehearsal without mishap.

Karen shepherded all the KNT evening class students to one of studios after the rehearsal where she and the other teachers put each of the casts through our paces. Being very old and rickety I had intended to do a barre with Sophie before the rehearsal but I never made it because of my struggles with my hair.  I did a few pliés in each position with side and back bends, tendus, glisses, ronds de jambe, grands battements and stretches on the upper rail of the barre of my own. I applied some make up and then it was time for our second rehearsal. We were better second time round. Several of us practised some of the steps once or twice again until we got it more or less right.

With all the KNT casts in the studio dancing, snacking, chatting, stretching it was just like a party. Some of us checked our phones. I found tweets and chukkas messages from far and near: Andrea from Basel (via Golcar), Andrew in Sheffield, Marion and Annette in Chelmsford, Mel in Budapest, Nik in New Zealand and Mark Hindle from somewhere on the high seas.  I thank them all.  After our studio rehearsal I spotted Jane Tucker who had taught our intensive. Everyone who had taken that intensive was transformed by it so her presence back stage lifted our morale to new heights. Mine particularly for I had taken her class at Northern Ballet the previous Wednesday and by some fluke I had actually managed to pull off a pirouette more or less correctly. Jane had witnessed it and the expression on her face was a joy to behold. I think she was even more delighted than I had been.

Gradually the studio emptied until there were only two casts left. Our friends from the advanced class toi-toied and chukkased us and we made our way back stage. We could hear the peels of applause for each of the other turns and then it was us. The saying "it'll be alright on the night" has some truth because a performance almost always lifts performers. I am sure we made mistakes - Gita has already mentioned one that I made - but it didn't matter. We danced like we had never danced before and left the stage elated. "We did it!" one us said punching the air once out of the audience's earshot.

Then there were photos and flowers and hugs and kisses. That was when Yoshie arranged for someone to photograph us which she posted to my Facebook page. I'm a bit taller than Yoshie so I tried to plier in first position hence my rather curious expression and pose.  Honestly, I had not been drinking. In a Facebook post before the show Karen had referred to us all as "the KNT family" and that was just how we felt. We got to know each other a little better yesterday. I certainly got to like my classmates and our wonderful teachers, Karen, Josh and Ailsa, even more. We all made our way to the bar and I am sure the celebrations must have carried on for ages.

Performances like yesterday's are very important to students at every level for ballet belongs in the theatre. Without the chance to dance it is just another way of keeping fit.  Nothing wrong with that, perhaps, but it is a bit like reading Shakespeare for an exam. The poetry and music can still emerge but it is strained. I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to everyone who got me to this point - Karen, the Dancehouse, all the teachers at KNT and all the others elsewhere who got me started and have helped me on my way.