Sadly, the company will miss Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Sheffield and York this year, even though it has danced to packed houses in some of those cities on previous tours. Nor does it plan to visit Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland. Nottingham is the nearest venue for us, and Durham for the Scots and Northumbrians.
It is important to note that Ballet Black is more than a touring company. It has a Junior School with classes in West and East London and an associates programme. One of the teachers is Cassa Pancho, and I am proud to say that I once attended her class at the Barbican. I could barely keep up as I was by far the oldest member, but I learnt a lot from her. Ballet Black also offers online classes and makes some great films.
Through these and other activities, Ballet Black makes a valuable contribution to the cultural and social life of this country.
I had come to see Michaela DePrince whom I had already mentioned several times in this blog. She had been born in Sierra Leone, the country of my late spouse and my former ward who is the nearest I have to a daughter. I was amply rewarded for my journey because DePrince danced magnificently. But so did the other dancers some of whom are now principals or soloists in the Dutch National Ballet and other great companies.
That visit to Amsterdam was the start of many good things. I met members of the company, parents and other relations of those members and fellow fans of the company from the Netherlands and elsewhere. I made friends with many of them. Yvonne Charlton visited Powerhouse Ballet. She gave us some great classes in Liverpool, Leeds and Manchester and taught us some of her choreography. In the miserable days of lockdown, Maria Chugai raised our spirits with two wonderful online classes and her appearance at "The Stage Door".
On my visits to the Dutch National Ballet, I got to know the Netherlands, its cities and its people. I learned about its history, its traditions and its view of the world. Even though it has sounds that do not exist in our language, Dutch is actually a first cousin to English. Had it not been for brexit which ended free movement it is more than likely that I would be living there now.
The Dutch National Ballet's Junior Company has been so successful that other companies, including the Birmingham Royal Ballet, have followed its example. Earlier this year I attended the launch of BRB2 and met its Artistic Coordinator Kit Holder at Elmhurst Ballet School (see An "Evening with Ashton" and the Launch of an English Junior Company30 Jan 2023). I was in the audience when it visited Nottingham on 28 April 2023 and was very impressed (see BRB2 in Nottingham29 April 2023). I am looking forward to its next tour which will take in Poole, Canterbury and Northampton in May 2024 (see BRB2: First 2024 Tour Venues Announced 26 July 2023 Birmingham Royal Ballet website).
The idea of a junior company as a bridge between vocational school and corps de ballet is an excellent one. I shall continue to support Ernst Meisner and Kit Holder in their endeavours in any way I can.
Ailey 2 (Enemy in the Figure, Freedom Series, The Hunt and Revelations)Alhambra Theatre, Bradford 18 Oct2023 19:30
Aikey II is to Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre what NDT2 is to the Nederlands Dans Theater. According to its website, Ailey 2 is "universally renowned for merging the spirit and energy of the country’s best early-career dance talent with the passion and creative vision of today’s most outstanding and emerging choreographers." By inference, it consists of some of the best early-career dance talent in the United States.
The company has just completed a tour of England and Inverness. I caught it at the Bradford Alhambra on 18 Oct 2023 where it performed four of its works:
The choice of works and the order in which they were presented were a reverse retrospective of the development of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre and Ailey II. Although William Forsyth is an American he made his reputation in Germany. His works have been performed by companies all over the world including the Royal Ballet but it was through performances by Continental companies that I learned about his work. Ailey II's artistic director Francesca Harper danced with the Frankfurt Ballet while Forsyth was the Director. Robert Battle is the current Artistic Director of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre and Alvin Ailey was, of course, the companies' founder.
Another way of looking at the programme was that it started with a work or at least a style that is familiar to European audiences as it is in the repertoire of many of the world's leading companies, continued with a work in the same tradition but by an American choreographer, followed with one that was quintessentially American and finished with pure African-American music and dance. Visually my abiding memory of Freedom Series is of the illuminated white globes carried by the audience. Aurally it is of the juxtaposition of voice against the electronic score. Excitement mounted with the beat of Les Tambours de Bronx. The show climaxed with Revelations bringing African-American spirituals that were familiar but sung and danced with a rawness and energy that was anything but.
Revelations was my favourite piece of the evening. There were remarkable performances by everyone in the cast but I was particularly impressed by Spencer Everett in I Wanna Be Ready and Corinth Moultrie, Patrick Gamble and Alfred L Jordan II. Interestingly, I heard some of the same music two weeks later in Mthuthuzeli November's Nina By Whatever Means where it was interpreted subtly differently by a South African choreographer and a Brazilian lead dancer.
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre and Ailey II are more than just performance companies. There is a vocational school in New York and classes for the general public, I was pleased to read in the programme notes that there is a scheme for the school and companies to train promising British students known as Ailey Project UK. Apparently, the first batch of British students is already in the USA. The programme also states that the project has been promoted by Marcus Willis who danced with Alvin Ailey and is now the Artistic Director of Phoenix. I met Marcus several times when he was with Ballet Cymru and was very impressed.
The last tour of the UK by Ailey II was in 2011 though we have seen the main company several times since them. I hope that we do not have to wait another decade to see those super-talented young artists again,
Nearly 10 years ago I was in Amsterdam for the first performance of the Dutch National Ballet's Junior Company (see The Junior Company of the Dutch National Ballet - Stadsshouwburg Amsterdam 24 Nov 201325 Nov 2013). I had come to see Michaela De Prince about whom I had heard a lot. She did not disappoint me, but she was not the only artist who impressed me. The other members of the cast were super talented too. Several are now principals in the Dutch National Ballet and other companies.
The Junior Company has greatly strengthened the Dutch National Company by attracting some of the world's best young dancers, Because of its success I urged British companies to set up their own junior companies. The Central School of Ballet set up Ballet Central to tour the South, Ballet West had a company that toured Scotland and Northern Ballet had Manchester City Ballet which gave several excellent performances in the Dancehouse. But that was not quite the same as the Dutch National Ballet's Junior Company as none of those student companies was associated with an established company.
The company is now on tour. According to the programme, their debut was in Northampton on Tuesday 25 April 2023. Nottingham is their second stop. Their next will be Peterborough on 3 and 4 May, London on 13 and 14 June and finally Wolverhampton on 24 June. When I visited Elmhurst someone told me that Northampton would be the best place to see them because they would have a live orchestra. Had it been possible I would have been there. Sadly, barristers tour at least as much as ballet dancers and I had a breakfast meeting in Colwyn Bay at 09:00 the day after their Northampton show. Even without an orchestra, BRB2 were impressive. I would have trekked down the M1 to see them again tonight had Powerhouse Ballet's company class not been scheduled for this afternoon in Salford. I will try to catch them again at the Linbury or elsewhere on the tour.
The format of last night's show was very similar to the Dutch National Ballet Junior Company's. Except for Majisimo which was the finale the show consisted of solos, duets and pas de deux. The first part consisted of four very well-known works plus Carlos Acosta's bolt-on of Descombey's Dying Swan to Fokine's which he called Dying Swans. The second part of the show consisted of seven less familiar works. Two of the works that I saw yesterday were also in the Dutch National Ballet's opening performance, namely the pas de deux from Act II of Swan Lake and Diana and Actaeon.
The show opened with an empty stage except for a travelling barre and other touring paraphernalia. One by one the artists walked on stage. They limbered up as if preparing for class. Two of them, Kaden and Kempsey-Fagg, peeled away and approached that front. A backdrop fell to hide the other dancers and they performed Rhapsody just as Collier had taught them at Elmhurst. They had impressed me even in the master class. Yesterday they were polished and confident and executed the piece with flair. There could not have been a better start to the show.
The backdrop was lifted to reveal the company again. This time Olivia Chang Clarke appeared in a romantic tutu and Eric Pinto-Cata in a kilt to dance the pas de deux from La Sylphide. Their piece turned out to be the high point of my evening. That may have been partly because I love Bournonville's ballet very much and know it well but credit must also go to the dancers. Pinto-Cata was the perfect James with his powerful tours en l'air and Chang Clarke was a delightful sylph, playful and flirtatious. I almost wept at the thought of what Madge's shawl would do to her.
Maɨlȅne Katoch and Mason King followed with the pas de deux from Act II of Swan Lake. Interestingly, Katoch had written on her web page that her dream would be Odette-Odile because she finds it interesting to be able to interpret an ethereal and delicate swan and then a mischievous swan. It must have pleased her to have been given a taste of her dream role so early in her career. I am sure it will not be long before she performs the whole role. King partnered her gallantly. Not hard to envisage him as a principal in the not-too-distant future.
I had seen Javier Torres perform Descombey's Dying Swan at Northern Ballet's 45th anniversary in 2015 and had admired the work greatly (see Sapphire 15 March 2015). I would have enjoyed watching it again in its original form and I am sure that Jack Easton would have danced it magnificently. I would have enjoyed Fokine's Dying Swan even more for the reason I gave in to Sapphire. I am sure that Regan Hutsell would have danced it exquisitely. Combining the two works and their music to create a solo did not work for me. I had to switch between the two alternately as though I was watching two separate ballets at the same time. That way I appreciated Easton and Hutsell's considerable virtuosity.
Diana and Actaeon had been the highlight of my evening in Amsterdam because De Prince and Sho Yamada displayed exceptional virtuosity. The ballerina enters the stage to Pugni's punchy music practically jumping on pointe. I had described De Prince as "quite simply the most exciting dancer I have seen for quite a while" and she will always be my Diana just as Antoinette Sibley will always be my Titania. Beatrice Parma's interpretation was softer, more delicate, more Ashtonesque perhaps? Enrique Bejarano Vidal was spectacular.
Part 2 opened to a blue background with several dancers seated around tables. There is a suburb of Buenos Aires near the cemetery where Eva Peron is buried called La Recoleta which is famous for its cafes. As the second piece was Gustavo Mollajoli's A Buenos Aires to Astor Piazzolla's music I was transported there.
However, the second part began with Ben Stevenson's apocalyptic End of Time danced hauntingly by Lucy Waine and Kempsey-Fagg to Rachmaninov's Cello Sonata in G Minor. Stevenson started his career with the precursor of the Birmingham Royal Ballet and he did great things in Houston including sheltering Li Cunxin according to Mao's Last Dancer.
Kaden and Easton were the first couple to leave the table to dance A Buenos Aires. They were followed by Hutsell's spirited Je ne regret rien tIt io Ben van Cauwenbergh's interpretation of Edith Piaf's famous song. She was followed by Vidal's Les Bourgeois also by van Cauwenbergh. He tottered around the stage clutching a bottle executing unusual jumps and turns to Jacques Brel's music prompting loads of laughs from the audience. As bouré is another word for "drunk" in French I quipped on Twitter that he gave a whole new meaning to pas de bourrée. It is however very difficult to clown successfully in ballet and those who can carry it off are abundantly talented.
I enjoyed Acosta's Carmen much more than his Dying Swans. Chang Clarke reminded me a little of Zizi Jeanmaire who will always be my Carmen though I had seen her only on film. Wearing her hair loose she danced the pas de deux with Cata passionately. it was one of my favourite pieces from Part 2. My other favourite from Part 2 was Will Tuckett's Nisi Dominus danced by Lucy Waine to Montiverdi's Vespers. Sacred music does not often fit well with ballet for many reasons but Tuckett's choreography seemed to work well with the score.
The evening finished with Kaden, Vidal, Katoch and King together with Rachele Pizzillo, Ryan Felix and Ava May Llewellyn in Jorge Garcia's Majissimo to Massenet's music. The piece focused on each of the artists to demonstrate his or her skills and strengths. It was a good way to round off a very successful evening.
Carlos Acosta and Kit Holder, BRB2's artistic coordinator, are to be congratulated. The company could not have made a better start. One of the strengths of the Dutch Junior Company is that they draw heavily on their heritage as well as their talented up-and-coming choreographers. There is always a van Manen and van Dantzig in their repertoire as well as new works by Ernst Meisner and Milena Siderova. The Birmingham Royal Ballet also has a rich heritage. In future, I would like to see a little more Ashton and maybe some MacMillan, Peter Wright and Bintley as well as perhaps pieces by Holder himself and other young choreographers.
Now that two of Europe's leading ballet companies have junior companies it is likely that a friendly rivalry between the two will spur them both to even greater achievements. But I also hope there will be more than rivalry. I would love to see what BRB2's artists would make of In the Future orNo Time Before Time. TheDutch National Ballet's Junior Company remains my first love. I will continue to support it in any way I can. But I can now take pride in an excellent English junior company. I shall follow, encourage and support it too.
Artists from Cuba have contributed not only to their own national companies but also to leading companies of other nations. Probably the best known of those is Carlos Acosta. He is now the artistic director of the Birmingham Royal Ballet. Previously he was a principal dancer with the Royal Ballet. A glimpse at his website shows that Acosta is more than a dancer and choreographer. He is an entrepreneur, novelist and indeed impresario.
In 2016 Acosta established Acosta Danza which he has described as "Some of the finest Cuban dancers I have ever had the pleasure of working with." The company is touring the United Kingdom and my friend and I caught up with it at the Hull New Theatre on Friday. We were treated to the following:
These were very different works that showed off the versatility of the company.
Liberto was a duet created by Raúl Reinoso to the music of Pepe Gavilondo. The programme contains the following note:
"The story of a cimarron, invites us to reflect on the faces of slavery, from ancient times to the present day. The meeting of the fugitive with the woman, beyond the beginning of a love story, is a moment of reflection and retelling, the possible discovery of the path to the utopian kingdom of total freedom."
I think cimarron must be the Spanish word for "Maroon" who were fugitive slaves. They formed colonies in the Caribbean and some found their way to Freetown in Sierra Leone where I first learnt their story. The ballet featured a couple. I am not sure of the identity of the man because the company did not publish a cast list. I asked for one in a Q & A that followed the show but the company's interpreter did not seem to know what I was talking about or why I needed one. I think Reinoso danced the male role and believe the woman was Zeleidy Crespo but I cannot be sure. I remember a giant net from which the man struggled to escape. The designs were by Alisa Peláez. The lighting was by Yaron Abulafia.
Like a football match, Hybrid was a combination of two halves. Quite literally because there was a point when the cast lined up for a curtain call, accepted the applause and then slowly started dancing again. The inspiration for the work appears to have been the legend of Sisyphus:
“O my soul, do not aspire to immortal life, but exhaust the limits of the possible.
(The Myth of Sisyphus). According to the programme, the piece was about a "universe where the real and the unreal blur their limits to reach our chimaeras." It continued:
"An approach to sensitive realities and imaginaries of a nation and its people, told from the strength of its culture and dance. An island that unveils its mysteries on a path that goes from darkness to light"
The whole company or at least a large part of it seemed to be in the work. The music was by Jenny Peña and Randy Araujo, the choreography by Norge Cedeño and Thais Suárez, the designs by Celia Ledón and the lighting by Yaron Abulafia.
This was not to everyone's taste because the audience thinned out a little after the interval.
As the music was entitled Cuban landscape with rumba by Leo Brouwer and Cuban Landscape by Stefan Levin and the ballet was danced against a backdrop of growing crops, I understood Paysage, Soudain, La Nuit to be an appreciation of the Cuban countryside and those who worked in it. This was another work in which the whole company participated. The choreographer was Pontus Lidberg. Costumes were by Karen Young. The lighting was by Patrik Bogårdh.
The most spectacular work was Impronta. It was a solo by Crespo which she performed to the music of José V. Gavilondo. The show started with a mass of blue. It was not clear whether that was a prop or a group of dancers. It turned out to be a long flowing dress worn by the dancer. A tall, elegant and exceptionally supple woman, Crespo had bent her body almost to the floor so that her face appeared through the dress. In the Q&A, Crespo explained that the dress represented the sea. In answer to a question from my friend, she said that the dance had been influenced largely by African rhythms. The programme added:
"Catalan choreographer María Rovira created this solo in wich contemporary dance merges with Afro-Cuban folk dances."
Several audience members stood to applaud Crespo's performance at the end. Others whooped with delight. The reaction was well merited because it was impressive.
My favourite ballet was De Punto a Cabo. I surmise that the title must refer to a seaside walk that is opposite Havana. The backdrop was of a busy city separated by a stretch of water and a sea wall. Alexis Fernández's choreography to José White and Omar Sosa's music reminded me of the view of Manhattan in the last scene of Liam Scarlett's Age of Anxiety (see Bernstein Centenary 18 March 2018). The piece generated much the same energy and awe. The website states in Spanish that the choreographer sought to transpose into dance his impressions of contemporary Cuba, a land of diversity and contrasts. He made that point by combining ballet with contemporary dance. There were some spectacular fouettés from Penélope Morejón as well as contemporary expressions to African and Cuban rhythms.
In the Q&A we learnt that the morning company class alternates between ballet and contemporary. Each of the dancers was asked which style they preferred. None expressed a preference except Morejón who seemed to glow as she talked about ballet. There were the usual easily anticipated questions from the floor about the creative process, influences and how they liked the British weather. The best intervention came from a lady from Bridlington who had to dash for a train. She probably spoke for all of us in expressing gratitude for the pleasure the company had brought after a 2-year pandemic.
This was the first time I had attended the Hull New Theatre and my first impressions are good. It is located on Kingston Square where there was plenty of free street parking. There is a restaurant and bar which offered inter alia burgers and scampi and chips. It was not exactly gourmet food and slightly over-priced for what it was but it was very convenient. The auditorium seemed well ventilated. The seats were comfortable with enough legroom at least for me.
Acosta Danza is nearing the end of its UK tour. They are at the Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury tonight and at the Theatre Royal in Plymouth at the end of the week.
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My very first post to Terpsichore was a review of The Nutcracker by Ballet West Company. I was so impressed that I had to write it down. I had been blogging for years on the law and had even found an excuse to squeeze in a review of a show by Northern Ballet on the ground that choreography is an intellectual asset protected by copyright. The only way to do justice to Ballet West's performance at Pitlochry was to publish my review somewhere. As I did not then know any other dance blogger I decided to start my own ballet blog
Not least the most impressive aspect of that 2013 performance was that it was largely a student show, Ballet West states on its website:
"As part of your studies, you will be part of the Ballet West company which gives you the experience of working with professional dancers and choreographers to perform classical ballet repertoire and new works in genuine performance contexts throughout your time at Ballet West."
Now all ballet schools stage shows but the unique feature of Ballet West's training is that they take their show on a strenuous tour of Scotland. Between 25 Jan and 16 Feb 2020 they will perform Swan Lakeno less than 12 times in 8 cities and towns including Edinburgh, Glasgow and Dundee, Some of their venues such as the Glasgow Armadillo and the Stirling Macrobert Arts Centre are fair size auditoriums which they manage to fill.
Bearing in mind that all major classical companies in the UK except the Royal Ballet tour the country regularly and some of them such as Ballet Theatre UK and Ballet Cymru can cover enormous distances between performances, this must be the best possible training for professional life. In fact, Ballet West notes:
"Previous students always consider the experience of these performances as the most useful in securing work and preparing them for life as a professional dancer."
The only other school that sends its students on tour is the Central School of Ballet. They visit even more venues but they start in March and finish in July.
Although Ballet West is a small school located a long way from Londo, it achieves a lot, One of the last British students to make it to the final the Grand Prix de Lausanne was a Ballet West alumna (see Natasha Watson in Lausanne15 Nov 2014). She also did well in the Genée a few months earlier. So, too, have a number of other students. The school holds outreach classes in the vicinity for students of all ages. Possibly Ballet West's most impressive achievement is the training they give to their associates. Some of those students are very young. Many travel long distances to attend classes and rehearsals. They have a limited time to prepare for a show. But the standard of performance is very high indeed.
If I had a son or daughter of the appropriate age with an interest in and aptitude for ballet, I would certainly not discourage him or her from considering Ballet West very seriously.
The Russian State Ballet of Siberia La Fille mal gardée15 Feb 2019 Liverpool Empire Krasnoyarsk is a city in Siberia with a population of just over a million on approximately the same latitude as Dundee. According to Google Maps, it is 4,559 miles away and takes over 14½ hours to reach by air or 5 days by surface transportation.
An opera house with a resident ballet company opened in that city in 1978. The company's founder members included graduates of the Vaganova Ballet Academy and the Moscow State Academy of Choreography. Krasnoyarsk has produced some fine dancers over the years despite its remoteness and modest population. They include Anna Ol of the Dutch National Ballet and Viktoria Tereshkina of the Mariinsky. Many of those dancers trained or began their training in the city and some such as Ol danced with the Krasnoyarsk opera house company.
Every year artists from the Krasnoyarsk opera house ballet tour the United Kingdom as The Russian State Ballet of Siberia (see Anna Lidster Promoting Krasnoyarsk: How the Russian State Ballet of Siberia has won British hearts3 March 2013 The Siberian Times). I am not sure why they chose that name. It may be that they think that the name of their city might be a bit of a mouthful for British tongues or it may be because they recruit a few extra dancers for the tour such as Francesco Bruni and Francisco Gimenez. However, it is clear from comparing the Russian State Ballet of Siberia's programme with the Krasnoyarsk opera house's website that the two companies are substantially the same.
The tourists have a punishing schedule. They opened at St David's Hall in Cardiff with The Snow Maiden on 19 Dec 2018 and they will finish in Oxford on 16 March 2019 with Swan Lake. By the end of their tour, they will have performed 6 full-length ballets in 24 venues in every one of our constituent nations except Northern Ireland. On Friday they reached Liverpool which is where I saw them for the first time.
I was attracted to Liverpool by the show rather than by the company. They were to dance La Fille mal gardéewith music by Hertel rather than Lanchbery and choreography by Gorsky rather than Ashton. La Fille mal gardée is in one sense the oldest ballet in the modern repertoire having first been performed at the Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux less than a fortnight before the storming of the Bastille but the version that we know was premiered in 1960.
To my great surprise and joy, Friday's performance was not at all inferior to the Ashton-Lanchbery-Lancaster version. I would go so far as to say that I left the Empire somewhat more elated than when I left the Lowry in October after seeing BRB's latest production which had somehow expanded into three acts. The story was very much the same. The only significant difference is that Colas gets into Simone's house disguised as a notairerather than hidden under a bundle of wheat sheaves.
There were a few other differences. Instead of churning butter half-heartedly, a distracted Lise collected a couple of eggs from the henhouse while her mother gathered a basketful. Nobody dressed as poultry though there were computer generated animations of pigs and other animals crossing the backcloth which earned a few laughs from the audience. There was a sort of ribbon dance but it did not end up as a love knot and Simone performed a clog dance though not the one we know. Alain was not swept into the sky by the storm clutching his umbrella. Nor was he made to resemble a carthorse.
But there were elements that do not occur in the Ashton version such as a full-blown classical pas de deux complete with entrée, male and female solos and coda. Lise dons a classical tutu which could not possibly have been in the Dauberval version. In the Russian version, Lise dances at least as many fouettés as Odile in Swan Lake or Kitri in Don Quixote. As in Ashton's version, Simone was danced by a man. In this case Pavel Kirchev, a Bulgarian guest artist who dances with the Varna ballet. He reminded me quite a lot of Stanley Holden.Elena Svinko was a delightful Lise, coquettish and feisty. She had teeth and she used them on poor Alain (Ilia Kaprov) biting his fingers and ear and stamping on his foot as he tried to express affection. Marcello Pelizzoni, who trained in Moscow and dances with the Krasnoyarsk ballet, was Colas. He has impressive elevation, power and grace and I delighted in his virtuosity.
Considering the time they must have spent on the road and the need to pack and repack almost every day I was pleasantly surprised that the sets and costumes seemed so fresh and that the cast had so much energy. I shall try to catch their Swan Lake when they come to Halifax or Sheffield.
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Not long now before Ballet West's tour of Scotland. Once again they are dancing The Nutcracker. They danced that ballet at Pitlochry the first time I ever saw them. My review of their performance is my very first post. I am very grateful to Ballet West for allowing me to attend class with their undergraduates earlier this year (see Visiting Taynuilt4 May 2018).
As usual they will begin their tour in Oban on 26 Jan 2019. They will proceed to Stirling on 2 Feb, Dundee on 5 Feb, Livingston on 7 Feb, Glasgow on 9 Feb, Greenock on 15 Feb and Edinburgh on 22 Feb. Dundee is a new venue. They will perform at the Gardyne Theatre which is a new auditorium on the campus of Dundee and Angus College along the way to Broughty Ferry. I know it well.
I think that is where I shall see the show because it is not far from my alma mater (see Thoughts on St Andrew's Day 1 Dec 2016). The performance in Dundee takes place on a Tuesday. With any luck I can resume my old place at the barre in the beginners' class at the St Andrews Dance Club some 50 years after I learned my first plié. According to the Club's Facebook page, that class meets in the town hall at 14:00 on Wednesdays.
In Thoughts on St Andrew's Day, I quoted Andrew Laing's atmospheric first verse of his Almae Matres. That poem never fails to cheer me up when I miss Scotland. Dundee also has a bard in William Topaz McGonogall. You may be amused by one of his poems:
"Oh, Bonnie Dundee! I will sing in thy praise
A few but true simple lays,
Regarding some of your beauties of the present day
And virtually speaking, there’s none can them gainsay;
There’s no other town I know of with you can compare
For spinning mills and lasses fair,
And for stately buildings there’s none can excel The beautiful Albert Institute or the Queen’s Hotel."
Both of those buildings remain though the Albert Institute is now known as "The McManus".
I digress. Wherever you see the show it will delight you. Especially the Mother Ginger divertissement.
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 201427 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."
Phoenix Dance Theatre Windrush – Movement of the People, Quarry Hill, 15 Dec 2017, 15:30
On 22 June 1948 the MV Empire Windrush, a former German troopship, sailed into Tilbury docks with just under 500 passengers from Jamaica. Those travellers came to London to fill a temporary labour shortage as the United Kingdom recovered from the Second World War. The voyage symbolizes a movement of peoples of enormous economic, cultural and political significance both for those taking and for the communities in which they settled. Other travellers came to the UK from other Caribbean islands and other parts of the Commonwealth. There were also similar movements from the Caribbean to Canada, from the rural south of the USA to the industrial north, from the overseas possessions of other European powers to France, the Netherlands, Portugal and many other countries.
To mark the 70th anniversary of the voyage of the Empire Windrush, Sharon Watson is creating a new dance piece entitled Windrush: Movement of the Peoplewhich will be premiered at West Yorkshire Playhouse on 7 Feb 2018. I was lucky enough to see a preview of the work on 28 Sept 2017 (see Phoenix - A Double Celebration14 Oct 2017). Last Friday at a sharing of work in Phoenix's studios I was shown some more. It was not an easy watch and I did not expect it to be. As I noted in October the first part of the work was harrowing enough as it showed the separation of families". As we know what happened after those travellers arrived - Notting Hill, Smethwick and Enoch Powell - I expected the second part to be emotionally harrowing. But I did not expect it to hit me as hard as it did. Tears welled up to the words "You called and we came". The artists who had been so full of exuberance in the first act appeared almost ghost like as they experienced the greyness and cold of post-war Britain.
At least some of those tears were generated by memories of my late spouse who came from Sierra Leone. My father in law, an Anglican minister. and my mother in law. a nurse, had come to this country about the time of the voyage of the Windrush. My spouse was brought up by aunties and cousins in Freetown and remembers a land of abundance, sunshine and love. In 1955 my father and mother in law sent for their child. At first the voyage was delightful but as the ship entered the Western Approaches everything became dark and cold. Not even the sight of my father and mother in law at Liverpool docks comforted the child. Eventually the child adapted to life in the United Kingdom, read law and was called to the Bar which is how we met. We had a marriage that lasted nearly 27 years which was strong enough to withstand racism, all the travails of practice and even my gender dysphoria. Only motor neuron disease broke us up in 2010.
Sharon Watson's genius was to say something to me but at the sharing of work I realized that I was not the only one with memories to share and perhaps tears to shed. The daughter of the captain of the Windrush was at the sharing. So, too, was one of the passengers, a magnificent gentleman who must have been in or close to his 90s who rose ramrod straight to acknowledge his welcome. Sharon Watson's family were in the audience as were others who had made their home in Leeds and contributed so much to the city.
Even though the work is still not quite finished, Windrush is already a success. After opening in Leeds it will tour the country visiting Keswick, Cheltenham, Doncaster, Leicester, London and Newcastle as well as a quick crossing to Aachen for the Schrittmacher Festival. I left details of this work with the Dutch National Ballet when I visited them on Sunday. Aachen is only 125 miles from Amsterdam and there is a motorway and fast train all the way. A trip to the show and back is doable without an overnight stay. I would certainly urge them as well as my compatriots in the rest of Britain to see this mighty work
I have already mentioned Chantry Dance Company's tour of the UK in The Sandman Tour27 Jan 2017 and Chantry Dance goes North14 March 2017. In preparation for this tour, Paul Chantry and Rae Piper will talk about contemporary dance at the following theatres:
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.
Standard YouTube Licence Ballet Central, Mixed Programme, Stanley and Audrey Burton Theatre 28 April 2017 Ballet Central has aways been good and, having met Christopher Marney at several Ballet Black and London Ballet Circle events, seen him speak, and, most importantly, watched him work I expected great things from his first season as the company's artistic director. I had been dazzled by Marney's dancing as Count Lilac in Sir Matthew Burne's Sleeping Beauty. I have been awed by his choreography, particularly War Letters which he created for Ballet Black. On Friday I discovered his prowess as an artistic director. All I can say without gushing hyperbole is that Friday's mixed bill greatly exceeded my highest expectations.
We were presented with a varied programme arranged in three parts:
the triumphant return of Solor in the first act of La Bayadḕre;
Christopher Bruce's fascinating Mya; and
Michael Pink and Christopher Gable's spine-chilling Dracula.
After another interval, the programme ended with a major part of Sir Matthew Bourne's Highland Fling, awitty but slightly disturbing reworking of La Sylphide.
Lee's ballroom scene was a beautifully crafted classical piece though with original reinterpretation of some of Prokofiev's most popular music. It is very dramatic and very clever. In that regard, very like Marney. It was very different from the work that appears on Lee's YouTube channel and website which
"..... pushes the boundaries of classical ballet, by fusing world-class ballerinas with more modern art forms such as break dancing and beat boxing, providing a world of professional bespoke entertainment for any event."
Cira Beautiful Misfitsfeaturing one of my very favourite dancers from Ballet Black and Confluxwith a beatbox Swan Lake are examples. Commissioning Lee to revisit Shakespeare and Prokofiev where Lavrovsky, Cranko and MacMillan already walk tall and create a 20-minute work to open the show was an imaginative and risky but, as it turned out, spectacularly rewarding step. I long to see the rest of the story. I wonder how Lee would rework the bedroom scene when Romeo or the conflict of emotions when Juliet learns that her husband has dispatched Tybalt. I do hope someone commissions that talented choreographer to finish the ballet.
Lee had the perfect Juliet in Amy McEntee. She seemed born for that role. An actor and storyteller at least as much as a dancer. she enchanted us with her knowing glance to Romeo and galvanized us with her expression of horror as Romeo squared up to her brother. Central has trained a disproportionately large number of my favourite dancers and choreographers, including Marney himself. I think we saw several future stars on Friday one of whom is definitely McEntee.
Dzierzon's Sleepless was a complete contrast. Beginning with a huddle of dancers in subdues lighting the work exploded into vigorous movement. Dzierzon had 10 dancers in that work - 9 on stage and one at the piano. My seat was at the far right hand of the second row next to the pianist and though I tried to concentrate on the stage I could not help my gaze returning to the composer and pianist Phil Feeney. His score was vibrant and exciting as indeed was his playing of it. But those on stage were great too. Representing the spray can wielding shadows of my youth who transformed every carriage of the New York subway, those kids darted around the stage one scribbling letters on the shirts of the others. A real frisson of subversion.
Yet another change of mood with Liam Scarlett's elegant Indigo Children to the music of Philip Glass. A work created for Ballet Black - Beautiful Ballet Black, as I like to call the company - it was lovingly re-staged by Cira Robinson and Damien Johnson. McEntee shone in this work too as did Craig McFarlane who had been her Romeo.
Although I have only seen two complete performances of La Bayadḕre I love that ballet. I have even tried to dance little bits of it. Last Autumn I saw the Dutch National Ballet's performance of Makarova's version with the magnificent Sasha Mukhamedov in the title role. I had expected Ballet Central to perform the entry into the kingdom of the shades which is probably the best-known scene from the ballet. Instead, Marney chose the triumphant return of Solor to Golkonda which was an opportunity to show off the corps as well as Kanon Kihara and Jaume Ruiz who danced the principal roles. A word of commendation to Dante Baylor who designed the costumes. I loved those outfits: trousers and turbans for the men and pantaloons and scarves for the women.
On Friday I had complained that we had been deprived of Marney when I wrote All that was missing from this Evening's Performance was a Ballet by Marney ......In fact, I had not read the programme carefully and, in any case, I should have recognized his mark. It was a masterly restaging of a much-loved work. May we have some more of that beautiful arrangement, please?
Christopher Bruce's Mya turned out to be my favourite work of the evening. Three dancers clad head to foot in tightly fitting, somewhat shapeless, almost colourless gowns moving to Arvo Pärt'sSpiegel im Spiegel(literally mirror in the mirror). But what could it mean? The costumes reminded me of the chrysalis of a butterfly and there was a touching moment when the limbs of one of the dancers began to emerge from the constraint. An analogy with the human condition? The composer is Estonian whose nation has emerged like a butterfly from the Soviet thrall. Doesn't matter. The music is haunting. The choreography compelling. The performance enthralling.
Central was founded by Christopher Gable who was the artistic director of Northern Ballet when I returned to Manchester. As a Mancunian in exile, I had read about Northern Ballet (then known as Northern Dance Theatre) in the dancing press but had never actually seen any of its performances. I thought I would miss Covent Garden, Sadler's Wells, the Coliseum, the Place ....... I did not do so at all, They continued to exist 200 miles away, of course, but on my doorstep was a wonderful company treating us to a succession of delicious works in that golden age of Northern Ballet. We were reminded of that golden age by Pink and Gable's Dracula. Not an easy watch but an enthralling one as Harker is first seduced then savaged by vampires. Yet another star in the making, Matthew Morrell, dominated the stage. Tall and menacing he induced teal fright, however, many times I reminded myself that this was only theatre.
The last work of the evening was act 2 of Sir Matthew Bourne's "romantic wee ballet" a Highland Fling. "Romantic" indeed with a woman hobbling about the stage her costume drenched in blood. Well, stage blood of course. It was Sir Matthew's take on La Sylphide which is one of the oldest ballets in the modern repertoire. I have often said that it ought to be our national ballet as it is set in Scotland. Bourne kept Løvenskiold's score but gave it a new twist portraying James as a drunken Glaswegian in a Highland glade cavorting with winged and kilted sylphs. I'm not sure what happened to Effie or Madge but Sir Matthew arms James with a pair of garden shears instead of a poisoned scarf with which he does even more damage. The sight of the wounded sylph was the second tummy turning moment of the evening, Dracula being the first.The sylphs get their own back on James after mourning their murdered sister for he sprouts a pair of wings in the last scene.
Marney chose this piece well. I have not always been a fan of Sir Matthew Bourne but I loved this work. I can well understand why Scottish Ballet currently performs Highland Fling but not the 1836 original. Much of the appeal of this work lies the designs as well as Bourne's quirky humour. Lez Brotherston, who had designed Scottish Ballet's, appears to have inspired Baylor who designed Ballet Central's production.
Sir Matthew staged that work himself. An enormous compliment to Marney but one he well deserves. Bourne would not be where he is today without an uncanny knack of recognizing talent when he sees it. He saw it in Adam Davies who danced James and Brittanie Dillion, his sylph. I don't know where they come from but they looked pretty Scottish, in fact totally Glaswegian to me. Especially the sylph with the suitcase wandering sheepishly hand in hand with James. So much to see in this work.
Ballet Central is making only one other appearance in the North on this tour. In Whitehaven on 13 May 2017 which I can't make because I am in Move It at The Dancehouse in Manchester. However, I am determined to see this year's mixed bill again. Even though I shall have to travel I just gotta see those fine young artists again.
Author Kenneth Allen Source Wikipedia Creative Commons Licence
Christopher Marney, Hannah Bateman, Kenneth Tindall, Rachael Gillespie, Dominic North, Sarah Kundi, Paul Chantry and many more of my favourite dancers and choreographers trained at Central School of Ballet. One of the reasons why that school has produced so many fine dancers and dance makers is that it provides its students with an opportunity to learn every aspect of performance through its touring company Ballet Central. According to Christopher Hampson, Central graduates can normally be spotted in the studio within a few minutes because of their professionalism and understanding of how theatre works. Sir Matthew Bourne describes them as "a valuable asset to any company".
Ballet Central consists of the school's final year students: Angela Centomini, Sophie Cottrill, Tara Cox, Augusta De Marchis, Brittanie Dillon, Eleanor Ferguson, Sophie Hull, Emily Hulme, Kanon Kihara, Iori Matsuura, Amy McEntee, Moeno Oba, Rowan Parker, Charlotte Peers, Ciara Sampson, Eloise Shepherd Taylor, Reiko Tan, Saskia Twiss, Henrietta Wolf, Emma Zeppetella, Megumi Zushi, Ruaridh Bisset, Eric Caterer-Cave, Adam Davies, James Dunn, Álvaro Feliz Olmedo, Yusuke Kuroda, Cameron Lee-Allen, Liam Lindsay, Jonathan MacDonald, Craig McFarlane, Matthew Morrell, Stephen Murray, Jaume Ruiz Xifra and Rahién Testa. Their artistic director is Christopher Marney, their musical director is Philip Feeney and their rehearsal coach is Carole Gable (see Staff Biographies on Central's website).
As part of their degree course, those students will travel some 10,000 miles around the country from Penzance in the South West to Ayr in Scotland performing in towns and cities along the way to a total audience of 5,000. Their 2017 schedule was published yesterday and one of their venues is the Stanley and Audrey Burton Theatre at Northern Ballet and Phoenix Dance Theatre's studios in Leeds. They will visit us on 28 April 2017 at 19:30. Save for a visit to Whitehaven on 13 May that will be the only chance to see them in the North.
This year the company will perform part of Sir Matthew Bourne's Highland Fling.Indigo Children by Liam Scarlett, a new version of the ballroom scene from Romeo and Juliet by Jenna Lee, a scene from Dracula by Michael Pink, a specially created work by Christopher Bruce and excerpts from Petipa’s La Bayadere and The Nutcracker. I hope to see them on the 28 April and will review their performance shortly afterwards.
Standard YouTube Licence Our good friends Ballet West are starting their tour of Scotland in Stirling tonight, We want them to know that we are thinking of them. Some dancers say "toi, toi, toi" at times like this. Others "chookas". Whatever works for them we wish it for them and send them all our love.
The company is giving three shows at the Macrobert Centre on the Stirling Unversity campus. One tonight at 19:30 and two tomorrow at 14:30 and 19:30 respectively. If you live in central Scotland, hurry, for there are not too many tickets left. The Macrobert Centre is a good venue offering free parking and a reasonably priced bar and restaurant.
Ballet West then move on to Helensburgh, Tower Digital Arts Centre 27 Jan, Paisley, Paisley Town Hall 28 Jan, Oban, Corran Halls 9 Feb, Glasgow, SECC 11 Feb, Greenock, Beacon Arts Centre 12 Feb, Livingston, Howden Park Centre 16 Feb and finish up triumphantly at Edinburgh, EICC on 18 Feb 2017.
I saw the company's 2014 Swan Lake in Pitlochry and very good it was too (see Swan Loch - Ballet West's Swan Lake, Pitlochry 1 March 20143 March 2014). Most of the dancers are students this is the first opportunity to see some of the names to watch in the future. Isaac Peter Bowry who danced the male lead in Ballet Theatre UK's Romeo and Julietin Wakefield on 14 July 2017 was von Rothbart in Pitlochry on 1 March. Genée medallist Natasha Watson the only British dancer of her year to make the finals of Lausanne was in last year's show. Sarah Mortimer, who delighted me when she was at Ballet Theatre UK, trained at Ballet SWest some years earlier.
Ballet West have just celebrated their silver jubilee (see Congratulations to Ballet West - here's to the next 25 Years23 Nov 2016). They may be on the edge of a small village in Argyll but they have turned out some very good dancers over the years.
