Attending My First Friends' Rehearsal

 

Royal Ballet Romeo and Juliet (Rehearsal) Royal Ballet & Opera, 4 March 2025, 12:30

I have been a Friend of the Royal Ballet & Opera off and on for nearly 60 years, but I had never attended a Friends' rehearsal before 4 Mar 2025.  That is because I have spent most of my life outside London, and Friends' rehearsals tend to take place on weekdays during working hours.  

On 23 Feb 2025, I was invited to give a talk to the students at  King's College at 18:30 on 4 Mar 2025.  As this was an evening event, I felt justified in taking the afternoon off in lieu.  I checked the Friends' page of the Royal Ballet & Opera's website.  There seemed to be a few spare seats scattered about the auditorium, but the website would not let me book any of them.   I called the box office and was told that the rehearsal was sold out, but a few returns might come back on sale.  That proved to be the case and I secured the very last standing room only place at the very top of the auditorium.   

The view of the stage from that eyrie was surprisingly good. I have always enjoyed good eyesight, and I could recognize some of the more distinctive dancers and follow their movements, though obviously not their expressions. Had I been casting the show, I would have selected Francesca Hayward and Cesar Corrales for the title roles.  It was they whom we got. Of all the principals in the Royal Ballet, they are the ones who most closely look the part.   I remember Christopher Gable and Lynn Seymour in those roles when I first took an interest in ballet.  Though I have never seen a better Romeo than Gable or indeed a better Juliet than Seymour, several other dancers have come close.  Hayward and Corrales are among the closest.

The rest of the cast was also impressive.  Christopher Saunders was an imperious Lord Capulet full of gravitas and swagger.   Also full of swagger was  Benet Gartside as Tybalt.   Even though everyone in the audience knew the outcome, Tybalt's sword fights with Mercutio (Daichi Ikarashi) and Romeo were gripping.  Mercutio's death throes as he stumbled around the stage, mistaking his sword for a lute or mandolin, were poignant. The role of the nurse is often overlooked in many productions, but it is important.  It is she who shares Juliet's excitement at her first grown-up ball.  She delivers Juliet's note to Romeo and is mobbed by the Montagues for her pains.  She accompanies Juliet to Friar Lawrence.  She tries to defend Juliet from a bigamous marriage.   Kristen McNally discharged that role perfectly.

It had been some years since I had last seen the Royal Ballet's Romeo and Juliet, and one of the features that I remember from previous times was a gorgeous backcloth by Nicholas Georgiadis that reminded me of the work of Leon Bakst. I was looking out for that backcloth, but couldn't spot it.  That made me wonder whether Georgiadis had redesigned the set or whether I had imagined that backcloth. 

As always, the orchestra was magnificent.   The conductor on this occasion was Koen Kessels.  

I was unable to return to London to see a live performance of Romeo and Juliet at Covent Garden, but I did see a recording of the live broadcast on 23 March 2025 at the Leeds Showcase.  That was another polished production with a different cast.  Fumi Kaneko was Juliet, Vadim Muntagirov was Romeo, Benet Gartside was Lord Capulet, Ryoichi Hirano was Tybalt, Francisco Serrano was Mercutio, Thomas Whitehead doubled as Friar Lawrence and Lord Montague and Olivia Cowley was the nurse.  Kessels also conducted the orchestra.

As I said in Swan Lake at the Leeds Showcase on 30 May 2024, a screening is not the same as a live performance (probably because there is no interaction between artists and audience) but there are compensations.  We could follow Juliet's emotions through the expressions on Kaneko's face.  It was clear from her interview that she understands Juliet very well.  It was also good to hear Lady MacMillan.  The Friends' rehearsal combined with the film was the next best thing to seeing the ballet live on stage. 

Visiting Friends - Ballet Black at Home

The View from outside the Feathers

Author Geoffrey Skelsey
Licence Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International
Source Wikipedia

The day before I left for Amsterdam while the Beast form the East was still stalking its lair I visited Ballet Black for a rehearsal of extracts from Arthur Pita's  A Dream Within a Midsummer Night’s Dream and Cathy Marston's The Suit which the company will present at the Barbican between 15 and 17 March 2018. Every performance of that show is now sold out but the company will take it on tour to Newbury, Hatfield, Bristol, Nottingham, Inverness, Dundee and Exeter in Spring and no doubt Leeds and other venues in the North in the Autumn (see the Performances page of Ballet Black's website).

Pita's Dream is already a favourite with audiences and critics. I raved about it in 2014 when I saw it no less than 4 times in London, Southport, Nottingham and Leeds (see Extra Special - Ballet Black at the Linbury 26 Feb 2014  27 Feb 2014 and the links to other reviews and articles). The Suit also promises much with music by Philip Feeney and designs by Jane Heather.  As I don't want to spoil the anticipation of either ballet, all I will say at this stage is that Cira Robinson delighted me again as a regal Titania and Isabela Coracy as a playful Puck, Marston's work is dramatic and I was reminded of Jane Eyre and Rochester in the duet and the demons from Marston's work for Northern Ballet in the extract that was performed for us.

The rehearsal took place in Ballet Black's new studios at The Feathers Association in Lisson Grove. That's not a part of London that I know well and as Hull Trains delivered me to King's Cross with a couple of hours to spare I explored the neighbourhood.  It is largely residential with few places to eat though I managed to find a cafe a few hundred yards from the studios that served some excellent Moroccan specialities for a very reasonable price. The Feathers is positioned on a bridge above the railway tracks leading to Marylebone station from which the above photo must have been taken.

The visit was a special event for Friends of the company.  If you are not already a Friend, Thandie Newton, the company's patron, lists some of the benefits of membership:

"Internationally recognised for its vital message of giving black and Asian dancers the professional opportunities they merit based solely on their talent and dedication, Ballet Black continues to amaze. As a Friend, you will be making a valuable contribution to the sustainability of this small yet hugely significant company and will support its ongoing commitment to aspiring dancers and to its ever increasing and loyal audience. In return, Ballet Black will welcome you behind the scenes to watch Company rehearsals under the exceptional eye of Artistic Director, Cassa Pancho as well as with acclaimed guest choreographers. You will receive quarterly newsletters to keep you up-to-date about news, events and performances so you will never miss out."

After the show, the company invited us for tea and biscuits in their office where the dancers joined us. It was very pleasant to see them all again.  The only one I did not already know was Ebony Thomas who had impressed me in Leeds in November and I took the opportunity to introduce myself to him.

I am confident that this year's tour will be Ballet Black's most successful yet.  I shall watch the show on Friday 16 after which there will be a post show talk.   The next day there will be an open rehearsal and workshop as part of the Barbican OpenFest.  According to the blurb:

"Cassa Pancho (Artistic Director of Ballet Black) will conduct a Ballet Class for all ages on the Barbican Freestage, prior to Ballet Black's open rehearsal and performance on Saturday evening in the Barbican Theatre. This workshop is free and open to all, no prior experience necessary."

I can hardly wait.

The Rehearsal

Ballet is intended for the theatre. No matter how untalented a student you may be, unless you dance before the paying public in a theatre you miss something important. The occasions that I have danced in the Stanley and Audrey Burton Theatre (see The Time of My Life 28 June 2014 and My Second Ballet  5 July 2015), The Dancehouse (see One of my proudest moments - Dancing in Move It! 31 Jan 2016) and Morley Town Hall (see Growing Old Disgracefully in Morley 28 Sept 2015) have truly been high points of my life and, lest the cynical suggest that I ought to get out more, I have been blessed, through my career, marriage and education, with a very full, happy, challenging and fulfilling life.

This week I am preparing for Move It at the Dancehouse in Manchester on 13 May at 19:00. I know it clashes with the Eurovision song contest but, believe me, our show will be so much better (see  Better than Eurovision 24 May 2015). If anybody thinks that in this first contest after Brexit any jury in Europe will give the British entry any points at all, irrespective of its artistic quality. must already reside n Cloud Cuckoo Land. Unless you happen to have a ticket for Ballet Central's how in Whitehaven (see Triumphant  1 May 2017), the Birmingham Royal Ballet in York or Poole (see Doing the Splits 8 May 2017), Northern Ballet's Casanova at the Wells (see Casanova Second Time Round 7 May 2017) or the Royal Ballet's Mayerling 13 May 2017) you won't find better entertainment this Saturday.

Yesterday was the day of our technical rehearsal. I had a very busy week with and yesterday was particularly hectic with my IP clinic in Barnsley (see How can I protect my Business Idea? 7  May 2017), proofs to correct, my draft decision in a domain name dispute to review on top of the usual pressing paperwork. I also had to make a detour to Planet Dance at Batley to pick up the mesh dress that I shall be wearing for Saturday's show.

Traffic was very heavy in Princes Street last night delaying my tram for over 20 minutes as a result of which I arrived at class between pliés and tendus. Nevertheless, we had a good class with the usual barre and centre exercises.  At the end of the class, Karen. our teacher and choreographer led us to the theatre, We had only a 15-minute slot on stage so we had one run through from the top. I won't even hint at what it is but Karen has included something quite spectacular in our piece.  At the suggestion of the stage manager, we also practised entering the stage and finding our place in darkness. As we were somewhat less than perfect Karen brought us back to the studio for some further work in the studio. We staggered onto Oxford Road well after 21:00 and I finally rolled up at my Pennine fastness tired but happy just before Radio 4's Book at Bedtime.

Virtual Reality in Ballet

HTC's marketing director wearing his company's equipment

Author: Maurizio Pesce
Creative Commons Licence
Source Wikipedia

The Dutch National Ballet presented Night Fall with considerable publicity at the end of last month (see Dutch National Ballet presents the first virtual reality ballet in the word on the company's website). I was very excited and watched it on YouTube and my mobile phone (see Looking forward to the Gala and trying to get the Night Fall Video to work 31 Aug 2016). I could see from YouTube that it was a beautiful ballet in which some of my favourite dancers had been cast but the sensation of being on stage with the dancers completely eluded me. I tweeted something to that effect and the company replied with the suggestion that I should visit the VR Cinema while in Amsterdam which I did (see Three Days in Amsterdam 12 Sept 2016).

There I could see what the film was supposed to do though the film did not achieve its task because it was blurred and no amount of adjustment with the focus wheel could improve the picture.  More guidance on how the technology is supposed to work is to be found in Dutch National Ballet's video How to create a ballet in virtual reality.

The film was discussed on the BalletcoForum website (see Dutch National Ballet Presents First Virtual Reality Ballet In The World where reaction was less than favourable, Trog wrote:

"Perhaps this is a peek into the future? I for one, hope that it isn't."

zxDaveM added:

"oh my (very) giddiest of giddy aunts! Not for me either"

Janet McNulty agreed:

"Definitely not one for me ... retreats to a darkened room and lies down to recover from the thought!"

Melody was no more flattering and observed:

"Somehow when something like this turned up, it's sort of inevitable that it'd be the Dutch National Ballet"

John Mallinson wrote about virtual orchestras and a Bjork installation at Somerset House.

As a Friend of the Dutch National Ballet I leap to its defence to say that this was an experiment. I congratulate the company for its boldness and innovation. It may not have worked for everyone - indeed it did not really work for me - but that does not mean that it should not have been tried. Secondly, in answer to Melody's observation about my beloved Het I should add that HNB is not the only company to be experimenting with this technology.  At the end of last year our own Royal Ballet published The Nutcracker in 360 degrees which has received 121,333 hits and the comments on the Royal Opera House's page have been favourable. One DaveM described it as "fun" and another commentator called Timmie wrote:

"Thank you. As a ballet lover and a gadget lover I love it! How about some 3-D ballet…"

I think the reason why the Royal Ballet's video worked so well is that it was not ballet as such  There were scenes from The Nutcracker, a class and rehearsal and a focus on one of the dancers but it was more documentary than ballet. Night Fall  was ballet and ballet is designed to be seen in the theatre and not from the stage. In so far as I experienced VR at all when I saw the film in Amsterdam I felt that I was getting in the way, That feeling was reinforced by the violinist's stare at the end of his piece. It was as if he was saying "What on earth are you doing on our stage? Kindly get back to your seat at once."

However, there are occasions when one does need to feel as though one is on stage and one occurred to me only last night when I attended Sara Horner's class at Dance Studio Leeds. Sara was rehearsing the class for a show which will take place at the Carriageworks Theatre in Leeds next month. She asked us to film her on our mobiles and then she filmed us on hers. Spacing and positioning is an issue that is still to be resolved. VR would have been a great tool had it been available to her and we can see something of its potential in the shots of the class in the Royal Ballet's film.

There are other applications too such as dance education.I have never really mastered pirouettes to the enormous exasperation and acute despair of all my teachers. I think a VR shot of how it is supposed to be done followed by one of how I don't do it would assist me tremendously. Marketing is another application and the number of hits that the Royal Ballet film has received shows its effectiveness there.

So I think HNB (like the Royal Ballet) has to be congratulated and encouraged and I hope that everyone involved in this project takes the technology further,

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.

Wuthering Heights

Top Withens, the inspiration for Wuthering Heights

Photo Wikipedia

Northern Ballet, Wuthering Heights, The Lyceum, Sheffield, 18 March 2015

On Saturday Northern Ballet acknowledged its northernness by performing Jonathan Watkins's A Northern Trilogy (see Sapphire 15 March 2015). It did so again last night at the Lyceum in Sheffield with David Nixon's Wuthering Heights. I've seen quite a lot of Northern Ballet lately: two performances of Romeo and Juliet on 7 and 12 March 2015 (see Northern Ballet's Romeo and Juliet - different but in a good way 8 March 2015 and Leebolt's Juliet 13 March 2015), the Sapphire gala on 14 March 2015 and a rehearsal and performance of Wuthering Heights yesterday.  I enjoyed all those performances but the one that I appreciated most was last night's Wuthering Heights.

That is probably because I attended the rehearsal and a discussion in The Crucible bar afterwards. I have only read Emily Brontë's novel once and that was decades ago. While I acknowledge its greatness this sort of work is not my favourite literary genre.  I read the book purely out of homage to its author and deference to its reputation and not because I wanted to. I found it very hard going and was glad to reach the end.  I much prefer her sister's work, particularly Shirley and Villette not to mention the work of other contemporary authors.  Because Wuthering Heights was not my favourite novel I was not tempted to see the ballet on the previous times it had been performed. I have to confess that I put off buying a ticket until after I had seen the rehearsal and it was entirely on the strength of the rehearsal that I decided to stay for the evening. Had I come to last night's performance without seeing the rehearsal and attending the discussion I would have been unprepared and might not have understood the choreography and enjoyed the evening as much as I did.

The ballet's synopsis is not quite as I remember the novel and not as I had expected it to be.  I had feared that it would start with Cathy's tapping at Lockwood's window and that it turn out to be somewhat other worldly and creepy like Giselle.  I was pleasantly surprised to find it was nothing like that. There was a momentary projection of Cathy's image in the first scene but that was no more spooky than the flickering image of Odile in Act III of Swan Lake. No. The ballet is a lot more subtle than that. It is very much about relationships - between Cathy and Heathcliff and Edgar; Cathy and Heathcliff and Hindley; Heathcliff and Cathy; and Isabella and Heathcliff and Hindley. It is also set in two timelines - the childhood of Cathy, Heathcliff and Hindley and their adulthood - with plenty of flashbacks. As a result Nixon has created a young Cathy and an adult Cathy and a young Heathcliff and an adult Heathcliff.  There are scenes when the young Cathy danced with adult Cathy and the young Heathcliff with the older Heathcliff. The ballet ends with the adult Heathcliff kneeling in the falling snow beneath a single spotlight with the young Heathcliff and Cathy playing around him. It was very arresting.

There are, of course, other major roles for Hindley, Edgar Linton, his sister Isabella and Ellen Dean.

In the rehearsal young Heathcliff was danced by Kevin Poeung, adult Heathcliff by Isaac Lee-Baker, young Cathy by Rachael Gillespie, adult Cathy by Dreda Blow, Hindley by Mlindi Kulashe, Edgar by Nicola Gervasi, Isabella by Jessica Morgan and Ellen by Victoria Sibson.  From where I was sitting in the middle of row R of the stalls it appeared that we got Jeremy Curnier as young Heathcliff, Tobias Batley as adult Heathcliff, Rachael Gillespie again as young Cathy, Martha Leebolt as adult Cathy, Hironao Takehashi as Edgar and Hannah Bateman as Isabella in the evening performance and that was confirmed in the cast list.  But the cast list said that Jeremy Curnier was also Hindley which can't be right and that "Samantha Moore" was dancing Ellen. I have never heard of a Samantha Moore but I do know Pippa.  Clad in a mop cap and 19th century garb I could not recognize her positively but the role required a strong character dancer which Moore proved herself to be par excellence when she danced the nurse in Romeo and Juliet a few days earlier. I can't think who else it might have been*.

Yesterday I enjoyed watching Gillespie twice.  I have raved about her many times already and probably embarrassed her to distraction for which I apologize profusely but she is one of three graces of British ballet who delight me in a very special way (see Not too sure about Fairies but I certainly believe in Rachael Gillespie 21 Dec 2014). The others are Ruth Brill of the Birmingham Royal Ballet and Sarah Kundi of English National Ballet. I don't know what it is about those artists. None of them is yet a principal though I am sure that is only a matter of time but when one of them dances I float.  Sibley had that effect on me 40 years ago though surprisingly not so much Fonteyn. Among male dancers Xander Parish delights me in a very similar way as does Damien Johnson of Ballet Black.

Yesterday evening I saw three of my other favourites, Batley, Leebolt and Bateman and they all danced magnificently. So, too, did Takahashi who in my humble opinion expressed considerable nobility as Edgar. In the discussion in The Crucible Janet McNulty who must know the ballet very well described him as "a wimp" and that was the consensus but that was not how Takehashi's danced him. It was difficult to get into the ballet in the rehearsal because there were occasional stops and starts and corrections but I am sure I shall be delighted by Lee-Baker and Blow when I see them. Sibson was an impressive Ellen in the rehearsal as was Moore or whoever danced Ellen in the evening.

The evening performance moved a lady in the centre of the front row who looked very like Janet McNulty to rise to her feet and she was joined by her companion. "Good old Janet", I thought. "The dancers deserve it" and I stood up too. I don't know who else did but I am sure there would have been some more.

So yesterday's pleasure was quite serendipitous. In case you are wondering why I decided to stay in Sheffield when I had many other commitments it was a combination of attractions. First, there was Claude-Michel Schönberg's score for which Nixon created spectacular lifts and jumps. Some of those lifts were quite innovative and I guess very uncomfortable for the ballerinas. Both Cathy and Isabella were grabbed by the throats and bundled like laundry in pas de deux with Heathcliff. Returning to the score I found it enchanting from the opening oboes. Next there was the choreography that I have already described. Blow and Lee-Baker had been magnificent and I was eager to see what Batley and Leebolt would make of it. Then there were Ali Allen's sets and David Grill's lighting. I have lived in the Pennines for 30 years among the royds, below enormous skies and know the sudden and sometimes dramatic changes of colour of heath and sky. Rarely have I seen such faithful re-creation of nature on the stage.

I did not think I would like this ballet but I did and I am now quite hooked on it. I am not sure I can get to see it while it is still in Sheffield but I will certainly follow it on tour.

Finally, I would like to commend Joanne Clayton of the Friends of Northern Ballet for arranging the discussion after the show. As I was at the box office I missed the introductions of the speakers. One was a gentleman and the other a lady. They certainly know the novel well and also the choreography. They alerted me to details that I had missed in the rehearsal. I looked out for those details and understood their significance in the evening. We need more events like that in the North. There are plenty in London organized by the London Ballet Circle, Danceworks, the London Jewish Cultural Centre and others. I had contemplated organizing some myself but had been deterred by the fear that nobody would turn up as we have a different culture in the North and a much smaller audience for ballet. Joanne Clayton's success has made me think again.

*Someone who knows a lot more about Northern Ballet than me has just sent me a DM to confirm that Samantha Moore is Pippa Moore and that there is some history.