Bend it like Cinders - My Take on Cinderella

I saw the evening performance of Cinderella by the Dutch National Ballet's at the Coliseum on 11 July 2015 and loved it. I am aware that not everyone did but I can't see why because for me it was magical.  The dancers were as light as chiffon ribbons. The sets and lighting were ingenious. The costumes were gorgeous. Anna Tsygankova was my idea of Cinderella and Matthew Golding was the perfect prince.

I have been shown some of the criticism of the Dutch production on BalletcoForum and I actually overheard a conversation in which someone boasted of having walked out of the theatre at the first interval because she had better things to do like watch television. What a waste if true! And what nonsense! As for the milder criticism on BalletcoForum I do not see how anyone could have been bored by stars like Golding or Tsygankova and I cannot understand comments that the performance was vulgar or that it was not like Ashton's.

I have not seen quite so many versions of Cinderella as Jane (see the first paragraph of her review of Wheeldon's Cinderella 13 July 2015) and in particular I have not seen Ashton's but I do not believe that all new versions of Cinderella have to be like Ashton's to be great.  If all new work in ballet were compared to the those in the past, where would innovation and creativity lie?  Where would be the opportunities for choreographers to explore classic themes with their dancers and add value to them?  I have seen Nixon's for Northern Ballet and Matthew Bourne's as well as Wheeldon's and I enjoyed all three.   All were different but all were good in their own way.  I have yet to see Ballet Cymru's version and I learned that Christopher Hampson is working one for Scottish Ballet at the panel discussion on 20 June 2015. I hope to see that too.

Perhaps the reason for my heresy is that I do not consider myself to be a "balletomane" though I do love ballet as I love all the performing arts. I think the word balletomane must have been coined by Arnold Haskell in his book Balletomania : the story of an obsession which was published in 1934. Now how can anyone take pride in an obsession? I would be worried if I believed that I was succumbing to any sort of mania,

The story of Cinderella has a special resonance for me as it does for many British Asians. We are, of course, brought up on the Western version of the story at primary school and on television like everybody else but we also have our own ancient equivalent of the story which is derived from Sanskrit verse. In our version Cinderella is called Shakuntala. Here is a summary that I found in Indian Cinderella - History for Kids. There are also too many Indian women and indeed women in this country of Indian and Pakistani heritage who are real Cinderellas in that they are brought up in the shadow of their brothers and after marriage their husbands and are thereby denied the opportunity in their own right. That is not to say that all arranged marriages are like that. Most develop into very beautiful relationships but I would hate to be married off in my early teens or told that that I could not have a say in choosing my marriage partner as was of the old tradition years ago. 

I digress into Indian culture because earlier in the day I attended the matinee of Bend It Like Beckham at the Phoenix Theatre. Now that is another type of Cinderella story if you care to think of it.

Introducing Mel

I'm not sure that Mel needs an introduction, Her first two posts for Tepsichore - "Kenneth Tindall - The Architect of Ballet"  21 June 2014 and "For grown ups who haven't lost touch with their childhoods - Ballet Cymru's Beauty & The Beast" 24 June 2014 - have been extraordinarily popular. That's not just because she can write well. It is because she is a dancer and knows what she is talking about.

Mel came to my notice when she was in Channel 4's Big Ballet. As I said in my review "No Excuses! If the Dancers in Big Ballet can do it so can I" 21 Feb 2014 I did not watch the series because I don't like reality TV but I did watch the film of the performance on Channel 4's website and was impressed. She signed up to BalletcoForum of which I was already a member shortly after the show and we swapped a few pleasantries now and again.  We started to correspond because she appealed for a dance teacher on BalletcoForum and I happened to know a good one.  In the course of correspondence Mel told me something of her career in dance and shared links to some videos of her on YouTube.

We actually met for the first time in May when I gave her a lift to Lincoln to see Chantry Dance (see "Chantry Dance Company's Sandman and Dream Dance" 10 May 2014). On the way down to Lincoln we got on like a house on fire. Ballet is a lifetime passion for me but it is not for everyone so I have to be careful who I share it with. No such problems with Mel. It was so good to meet someone who was as enthusiastic about dance as I was. That trip to Lincoln was a first for me for we ended up dancing on stage. There was no audience for our performance but Gail Gordon of Chantry Dance filmed us on her iPad,

The teacher that I had recommended applied for and got the job and she invited me to take her class in Sheffield. Mel took that class too and I saw her dance. She dances quite differently from most women. She is strong and really soars in her sautés and jetés.  She's not called Skydancer for nothing. She's got just about as far as she can taking class in the evenings and now wants to take professional training while she still can. She has appealed for funding through gofundme and she has already made quite a good start.

Some styles of dancing have been atrophied by tradition until they are reduced to a few dedicated practitioners. Ballet is a long way from that fate so long as it evolves but there are purists who like to keep things just the way they are. One of the ways in which it has to evolve to avoid atrophy is to recognize that women do not have to be petite and princess-like. In the real world they come in all shapes and sizes and do all sorts of jobs from architects to zoo keepers some of which require enormous physical strength and endurance. As we saw in the Olympics and other sport women brandishing bats and boxing gloves can be just as beautiful to watch as ballerinas. Mel may never look right as Lise or Giselle but she is just right for the roles that just need the right choreographer. Maybe Mel will even be that choreographer.