Salford Pioneers

Author Philip Stevens Licence CC BY-SA 4.0 Deed Source Wikimedia

Jeremy Bentham

Ballet Black Pioneers (Then or Now and Nina: By Whatever Means) The Kowry 1 Nov 2023 20:00

Having missed the start of Then as Now in York on 13 June 2023 as a result of acute traffic congestion in that city (see Ballet Black Takes York By Storm 9 July 2023) I was determined to arrive on time for the start of Ballet Black's Pioneers double bill at the Lowry.  I arrived at the theatre car park for an 8pm curtain rise while The Archers were still on the radio.  Normally, I can park on the second or third floor of the multistorey but this time every floor was full.  I climbed and climbed until I found myself tracked in a queue of cars in front of me and at the back.  There I stayed until just after 20:00 when the queue miraculously started to flow downstairs towards the exit.   

Had I known that the Lowry would be full I would have driven straight to Media City which is a 5-minute walk from the theatre.  Plenty of spaces there and a clue as to what had happened at the theatre car. park There was a  notice addressed to football spectators about parking charges.  The Lowry is about a mile from Manchester United Football Club stadium where parking spaces are either scarce or deare.  Whatever the cause, football spectators strayed into our space on the night that beautiful Ballet Black was in town.  

Perhaps the reason I was able to park so easily in the Media City car park is that many MUFC fans have yet to discover it.  I am told that a "Welcome to Manchester" sign used to be displayed at Maine Road whenever City played United because United fans come from anywhere but Manchester.  I think there may be some truth in that story because I have noticed MUFC shops in Liverpool and Dublin airports but not in Manchester.  If I followed football (which I don't) I would support City over United as I was born in Didsbury, I understand that United were playing Newcastle and that the Magpies won.  "Serve them bloody right," I thought,

My antipathy towards United was more aesthetic than nativist.  I was reminded of Jeremy Bentham's remark in The Rationale of Reward that "the game of pushpin is of equal value with the arts and sciences of music and poetry." Total nonsense, of course, but what can you expect from someone whose glass-cased, mummified remains continue to confront visitors to the University College London nearly two centuries after his death.  I am with John Stuart Mill on this one.  Football is the modern successor to pushpin.  Folk may call it "the beautiful game" but its value does not come close to ballet. 

I arrived in the auditorium at just about the same point in Will Tuckett's Then as Now as it had reached in York when I was admitted there.  It is an extraordinarily beautiful work as can be seen from the video on the BBC iPlayer.  Unfortunately, as I have yet to see the work on stage I can't review it properly.  But readers can get a very good taste of it from the recording which I heartily commend to them.

However, I did see Nina: By Wahtever Means again and that saved the day for me.  This was danced with the same energy as in York and was received equally enthusiastically but as I knew what to expect I focused on the individual performances.  Isabela Coracy's role as Nina is pivotal.  She threw every milligram of her being into that performance.  Once again her repetition of the word "power" with clenched fists was mesmerizing. Her final cry "That's it" unleashed a tsunami of applause.  Nina was my last chance to see Sayaka Ichikawa whose departure I shall miss greatly (see Cassa Pancho's announcement on Instagram on 21 Oct 2023). She danced Nina's piano mistress.  As always she danced with flair.  She is a delightful dancer and Cassa's tribute says it all.   There were great performances by Ebony Thomas as Nina's husband, Helga Paris-Morales as the young Nina and Taraja Hudson.  It was also good to see the piece's choreographer Mthuthuzeli November take a role.

Ballet Black has recruited a lot of new dancers whom I have not yet had the pleasure of meeting.  They include Acaoã de Casto,   Megan Chiu, Bhungane Mehlomakulu, Mikayla Isaacs and Love Katiya. They have added sparkle.  Their company is a great national treasure which has come of age this year.   It will launch a whole new tour called "Heroes" from the Hackney Empire with Mthuthuzeli November's The Waiting Game and a new piece by Sophie Laplane on 22 March 2023.  Not long to wait!

Ballet Black Takes York by Storm

Nina Simone

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Beautiful Ballet Black's 2020 Season

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

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

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

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

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

The Royal Ballet's Elizabeth at the Barbican: Where were her flowers?

The Royal Ballet’s revival of Will Tuckett’s Elizabeth at the Barbican theatre starred Zenaida Yanowsky as Queen Elizabeth I and (her brother) Yury Yanowsky as her five suitors. A strong performance by both dancers was accompanied by Martin Yates’ score, which blended period and modern music performed by cellist Raphael Wallfisch and baritone Julien Van Mellaerts, and Alastair Middleton’s script read and performed by Samantha Bond, Sonya Cullingford and Katie Deacon.

The plot is a biography of Queen Elizabeth I portrayed through scenes of her personal and romantic life. The commentary, which blends contemporary texts and letters, including from the Queen and her suitors, has a refrain that tells us that Elizabeth loved little dogs, chess and dancing, and gives a detailed account of her last few days. The story takes us through five of Elizabeth’s relationships at different times of her life, continually emphasising how her commitment to her role and responsibility as monarch meant she did not feel she could also be a wife. However, it was interesting that despite depicting Elizabeth repeatedly prioritising her role as England’s Virgin Queen over several potential marriage opportunities, the script made only passing reference to the history and politics of the era that must have contributed to this decision. For example, I do not recall mention of the Spanish Armada, which historians have highlighted as her finest hour. To some extent it was ironic to see a strong female leader characterised by her love life, which by her own choice was unfulfilling and unfulfilled. 

Having said that, it was an entertaining piece of theatre, with Zenaida Yanowsky portraying Elizabeth at different stages of her life with strength and sensitivity in scenes that were predominantly descriptive reportage rather than depicting actual events – although there were a few amusing acting cameos too. 

Physically, as other reviews have said, Yanowsky was a fantastic casting, with her pale, delicate colouring perfectly suiting Fay Fullerton’s shimmering costumes, and her long, supple legs accentuating Tuckett’s lyrical choreography. Her performance of the aging queen was particularly strong. Yanowsky is a recently retired principal with The Royal Ballet, and a striking, exquisite dancer. I could see from the front of the stalls that the years have clearly taken a toll on her feet and her presentation of the decline of a beautiful, powerful woman was intensely moving.

Yury Yanowsky’s excellent interpretation of the witty and technically demanding choreography fitted the Elizabethan themes, readings and music perfectly and the unique characteristics of each suitor kept the audience smiling. 

It was the final show of a four-day run at the Barbican theatre and it received a standing ovation, which Zenaida Yanowsky responded to with a short speech paying tribute to Tuckett, as well as the musicians and cast. I saw it with friends from my ballet class, and as amateur dancers we appreciated the demanding nature of the role and were sorry not to see her receive a similar tribute. “Where were her flowers?” asked one friend. I wondered too. 

Exactly my cup of tea

Authior Xavier Snelgrove
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Source Wikipedia

Ballet Black, Nottingham Playhouse, 26 June 2015

Unless I am very much mistaken, the opening bars of Mark Bruce's Second Coming are a quotation from Bizet's Carmen. I was reminded of The Car Man which I saw on Wednesday. I enjoyed that show very much even though New Adventures' style of theatrical dance is not quite my cup of tea (see Motoring 25 June 2015). "Ah" I thought to myself as the ballet began, "this is exactly my cup of tea." Ballet Black are as classical as any company in the world. They are heirs to a tradition to which David Bintley paid homage in The King Dances which I saw on Saturday (see A Special Ballet for a Special Day 23 June 2015). But they are also pioneers and their work is fresh and new. That's why Ballet Black is a national treasure. That's why I love them so.

Ballet Black danced the mixed programme that I saw at The Linbury on Valentine's day (see Ballet Black's Best Performance Yet 17 Feb 2015) but it was quite a different show. The opening ballet was Kit Holder's To Fetch a Pail of Water. In February it was danced by Jacob Wye and Kanika Carr. I wrote that "this was a sweet story ...... of lost innocence." Well yesterday those roles were danced by Damien Johnson and Cira Robinson's who are two of the company's senior artists. They bring gravitas and the darkness to which Holder referred in his programme notes was much easier to notice. This is a text book example of how a change of cast can change a ballet. Now both casts are great and I hope that there will be still be nights when Wye and Carr dance that piece as well as others when we see Johnson and Robinson.

Will Tuckett's Depouillement is one of the most beautiful ballets that any company has in its repertoire. Yesterday it was danced by Alves, Carr, Coracy, Mence, Renfurm and Wye. All of them danced well but my eyes were on Coracy and Renfurm. They were very shrewd hires (see Ballet Black's New Dancers  24 Sept 2013) and they have both blossomed in the company. Coracy was a wonderful Puck in her scout's uniform in Arthur Pita's Dream and Remfurm was an unforgettable Miss Polly. Yesterday they both danced like angels. So did all the others, by the way, but there are sometimes days when individual performers shine and yesterday those two were brilliant.

If my eyes were on Renfurm and Coracy in Depouillement they were on Carr in Bruce's Second Coming. With tiny wings protruding from her costume she danced "the angel" - though not one of the heavenly variety who knows how to make Yorkshire pudding  (see Sapphire 15 March 2015 and Jonathan Watkins if you are looking for one of those). Her role is the linchpin of the work. She entered with the hoop through which she made all the initiates pass at the start and end of the ballet. She produced the dagger which the ruler wielded with such menace. One of Carr's strengths is her face which is so expressive. She can convey any emotion though it is mainly charm and wit. She is the company's great character dancer. As in February the highlight of that piece was Johnson's pas de deux with Robinson to Elgar's Cello Concerto. Its beauty brought tears to my eyes then and I had to struggle to hold them back now. Johnson and Robinson are two wonderful dancers.

I spotted Cassa Pancho, the company's artistic director, in the auditorium just before the second part of the show. "Interesting casting" she said anticipating what I was about to say. "Inspired" I replied and I congratulated her on the show, particularly on Renfurm and Coracy. "But you say that every time" said Pancho. "But then you always produce something special and something new." Although I hate to hurt dancers and choreographers' feelings I am no insincere flatterer. Gita won't let me be such. Slightly stung by the accusation or inference of flattery I was not the first to rise to my feet at the curtain call. Now I am not saying that New Adventures and Inala didn't deserve that compliment from their audiences though I did not join in either but Ballet Black definitely did, and I was there on my feet with the best of them.

Ballet Black Back in Nottingham

I embedded this film of Ballet Black in My Personal Ballet Highlights of 2014 because they are a particularly beautiful company. I have also met some of them and they are delightful people. Last year they came to the Nottingham Playhouse where they were magnificent (see Best Ever - Ballet Black at the Nottingham Playhouse 3 July 2014. They are returning to that theatre on the the 26 June 2015 for one night only.

Ballet Black are bringing two new works to Nottingham as well as one old favourite. The new works are Kit Holder's To Fetch A Pail of Water and Mark Bruce's Second Coming. The old favourite is Will Tuckett's Depouillement. I saw the show at The Linbury in February and loved it (see Ballet Black's Best Performance Yet 17 Feb 2015).

Since that show I have seen Holder's Hopper danced by Ballet Central and I have become quite a fan of that choreographer   Indeed. one of the reasons I am traipsing down to High Wycombe and back tomorrow is to see his Quatrain (see It takes Three to Tango 19 May 2015).

I am not sure when Ballet Black will next be in the North so this may be our only chance to see the triple bill this year. You can access the Playhouse's box office by clicking this link.

The Best Fille Ever

Royal Ballet, La Fille mal gardée, Royal Opera House, 16 April 2015

I first saw La Fille mal gardée in 1970 with Merle Park as Lise, Michael Coleman as Colas, Brian Shaw as Simone, Alexander Grant as Alain and Leslie Edwards as Thomas. I've seen a lot of performances of this ballet since then. But I don't think I have ever seen a better one than last Thursday night's. Vadim Muntagirov danced Colas, Laura Morera Lise, Will Tukett Simone, Paul Kay Alain and Gary Avis Thomas. Ashton would have been delighted with their performance.

Morera was an adorable Lise. Ashton had created that role for Nadia Nerina who retired just before I could afford to take myself to Covent Garden. I saw her only on black and white television of which a few fragments remain on YouTube (see the ribbon dance with David Blair and a rather longer extract from Act II). For me Lise was Merle Park and I have compared every ballerina who has danced that role over the 45 years to her. The highest compliment that I could pay a dancer in that role whenever I reviewed that ballet was that she reminded me of Park. That is what I said about the performance of the lovely Maureya Lebowitz when Birmingham Royal Ballet danced Fille in Nottingham last year (see Fille bien gardée - Nottingham 26 June 2014 27 June 2014). Morera has put her signature on that role.  How charmingly she coaxed her mum into her clogs clicking them gently together. How sweetly she pretended to catch, swat and stamp on an imaginary fly. A disobedient daughter, yes, but such an affectionate one. How could anyone remain angry with her for long?

Muntagirov was the best Colas that I have ever seen. In previous productions he had been overshadowed by Lise which is perhaps as it should be as  Fille is in the title in contrast to the other great ballet about an arranged marriage that went wrong, Romeo and Juliet. Muntagirov transformed that role with his power and grace. He is a magnificent dancer of whom I can never see enough.

Tuckett was a very convincing Simone. Previous dancers in that role had danced it as a pantomime dame but Tuckett was womanly.  At least one person in the audience expressed surprise that Simone was a man on reading the cast list. Kay portrayed the gormless and gulled Alain skilfully. It is a difficult role to dance in the 21st century. Fifty years ago we were less kind to folk with learning difficulties and other disabilities. We laughed at them then but don't any more. Kay won our hearts and our sympathy.

On 9 April Avis tweeted:

Well! Who would have thought that on my birthday at my age I'd be having a solo rehearsal with Wayne McGregor for #ROHwoolf @RoyalOperaHouse
— Gary Avis (@balletboy09) April 9, 2015

I have always liked Avis so I replied

@balletboy09 @RoyalOperaHouse many happy returns from one of your most devoted admirers who hopes to see more of you in the years to come.
— Terpsichore (@jelterps) April 9, 2015

It was such a treat to see him so soon after that exchange.

And yet another treat was to be in a London audience who had seen ballet before and knew when to clap and when to roar. Every single seat in the House was taken. There was a buzz. There was gaiety. There was flair. The crowd was there to watch and live the show. Not simply to be seen by their neighbours in the hope of appearing in the social pages of a county glossy. Such a glorious experience in every way.

Ballet Black's Best Performance Yet

There are nights in the theatre when  magic happens. Several things come together. A receptive audience, The last night of a successful run.  An intimate auditorium. Whether consciously or not the dancers pull out all the stops and give the performances of their lives. That happened last Saturday in The Linbury when Ballet Black danced brilliantly. I have never seen them perform better. Though they always dance well, it is possible that I will never again see them dance as well as they did on Saturday night. As I tweeted after the show:

My mother told me of the time she had seen Pavlova dance in Leeds. I will tell Vlad about @BalletBlack's performance. last night.
— Terpsichore (@jelterps) February 15, 2015

The performance opened with Jacob Wye and Kanika Carr as Jack and Jill in Kit Holder's "To Fetch a Pail of Water". Except there was no pail and no water.  As the choreographer wrote in the programme:

"I am intrigued by why Jack and Jill are said to have gone up the hill - surely not to look for water?"

They fell perhaps but not physically. Coyly dressed as 1950s teenagers - Carr in a tartan skirt like an American co-ed - this was a sweet story (well I thought so though Holder refers to a dark coded meaning in his notes) - of lost innocence. It was an interesting choice of music: Mother McKnight, Nostalgic Oblong and Skyward Bruise Descent by Clark.

The next piece was Depouillement by Will Tuckett. It was a YouTube video of an earlier version of  that work which had attracted me to Ballet Black long before I saw them on the stage (see Ballet Black's Appeal 13 March 2013). The piece I saw on Saturday seemed to be different from the one that I knew from YouTube but no less beautiful. Damien Johnson and Cira Robinson who had danced Depouillement in 2009 are thanked by Tuckett for teaching the work to Jose Alves and Isabella Coracy and Christopher Renfurm and Marie-Astrid Mence. Alves, Coracy and Renfurm were already high in my pantheon of dancers and they have risen even higher in my esteem after Saturday's performance but the it was the performance of Mence that most surprised and delighted me. I suppose I had continued to think of her as Anna in Dogs don't do Ballet but she is a strong and expressive classical dancer. I should not have been so surprised as I had seen her on YouTube but I have every right to be delighted.

After Despouillement there was an interval. "Aren't they wonderful" I said to Joshua Royal whom I had seen with MurleyDance. He agreed. The audience was happy and chattering. David Nixon had taught me to recognize what he called "the best sound in the world" (see the last paragraph of Like meeting an old friend after so many years 4 Jan 2015).

For me the best part of the show was Mark Bruce's Second Coming. This is a complex, mysterious and beautiful work with many layers on meaning that I have not a hope of understanding upon a first viewing. I am sure I will understand it better after I have seen it a few times on tour. My initial impression was that of an initiation ritual of some magical rite perhaps from Brazil, or maybe New Orleans or even Haiti. Carr brandished a hoop through which each of the dancers passed - some, apparently. not altogether willingly. There was a powerful and slightly disturbing dance of a man in a lion's mask In a Q&A in the programme notes Mark Bruce writes:

"I read the Second Coming by William Butler Yeats (1855-1939) and it speaks of a creature with a man's head and a lion's body coming out of the desert."

There was a lovely bit where Damien Johnson bearing a mandolin seemed to be dancing just for me. I was sitting in the first seat in the front row and our eyes seemed to meet though I didn't think that was possible as I couldn't make out faces in the audience on the one occasion I was on the stage (sse The Time of my Life 28 June 2014). Strangely it was for he told me so when the audience met the cast in the bar of the Linbury after the show.

There was a pas de deux to Elgar's Cello Concerto in E Minor which had me reaching or a tissue. Partly it was the memory of Jacqueline du Pré but mainly it was the fluidity and delicacy of Cira Robinson's dancing. She is a wonderful dancer. A true ballerina in the strict sense of the word. I exchanged a few words with her too after the show and she is as gracious off the stage as she is when dancing. There were some spectacular turns and jumps which must have been fun to dance, I suggested.  "Yes, so dramatic and different from everything else we have dome before" came the reply.

The company is taking a break for a few days. The American dancers are going home and I believe that at least some of the English dancers are visiting America. They will be back in Leeds on the 18 and 19 April with Dogs don'r do Ballet where they are now part of our ballet family (see Ballet Black at Home in Leeds 7 Nov 2014). Though they have not yet announced details of their tour on their website they will doubtless take this mixed bill on tour. When they do, be sure to see it.

Further Reading
10 Feb 2015    John Ross, Ballet Black Triple Bill, London, Feb 2015 BalletcoForum
27 Feb 2014  Extra Special - Ballet Black at the Linbury 26 Feb 201