Don't Expect Petipa

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The last time I saw Northern Ballet's Swan Lake I felt quite deflated. It was my birthday too and I felt as Vlad the Lad must have done after his mum and I beat him at snakes and ladders in the best of three on his birthday. We still had Tchaikovsky's majestic music. The dancing was superb.  But the story and settling were quite different.  I beetled down to London at the first opportunity to see the Royal Ballet's production. It was several years before I ventured back into the Grand for Northern Ballet.

Since then I have seen Grigorovich's production, Christopher Moore's and of course Matthew Bourne's so I am more receptive to the idea that there can be different versions of that great ballet. I am therefore rather gingerly giving Northern's version a second chance.  It is starting in Leeds between the 3 and 12 March before wending its way to Milton Keynes by way of Sheffield and Norwich.

If my feelings about it don't change I still have David Dawson's for Scottish Ballet to look forward to. They are coming to Liverpool on 1 June. Now that will indeed be a treat.

Did I read this correctly?

Roberta Marquez and Steven McRae
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In the January newsletter from Danceworks I read the following section:

"New Classical Ballet classes
Three fantastic new drop-in Ballet classes for 2016 for advanced dancers with extraordinary dance stars: Antonia Franceschi, (Mondays 11.30am from 4th), Zdenek Konvalina, (Tuesdays 10am from 11th), and Roberta Marquez (Wednesdays 10am from 6th)."

Now Roberta Marquez is one of the greatest ballerinas of her generation and which dancer of sufficient aptitude would not give an eye tooth for a class from her? Surely it is a misprint or another Roberta Marquez?

It seems not.  Marquez's class for advanced/professionals takes place between 10:00 and 11:30 on Wednesday at a cost of £8.  If I were good enough to take her class I would camp all night outside 16 Balderton Street to be first in the queue.

Gaza Ballet School

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I am grateful to Alison Winward, one of my fellow students at KNT, for drawing the Gaza ballet school to my attention. "Did you know there's a ballet school in Gaza?" she wrote. "I thought that was just awesome." I agree. In that 141 square mile strip of territory in which nearly 2 million people are crammed and which has been subject to regular bombardment for nearly 70 years, it is comforting to read of this beacon of culture and education.

Ballet classes take place at the premises of the AM Qattan Foundtion, a British charity that promotes the arts and education in Palestine and Lebanon. The school was featured in a report for Reuters by Nidal al-Mughrabi entitled Pirouettes and plenty of pink at Gaza's only ballet school 30 Nov 2915 which was picked up by newspapers around the world including the Daily Mail.

Reports like this remind us that ballet belongs to the world and not just to countries that are predominately white or relatively wealthy. One of the first articles that I published was about a remarkable teacher in Kenya called Mike Wamaya and his work in one of the poorest neighbourhoods of Nairobi (see What can be achieved by a good teacher 3 March 2013). Michaela DePrince, one of the most exciting young dancers in the world, was inspired to dance while she was still a child in Sierra Leone (see Michaela DePrince at TEDx Amsterdam 28 Nov 2014). I have heard that it is her ambition to see a ballet school in Freetown and if it is not hers then it is certainly mine (see A Ballet School for Freetown 20 May 2014).

Please, pretty please, will somebody revive this lovely ballet.

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In Prosit Neues Jahr 2 Jan 2016 and Frohes Neues Jahr 1 Jan 2014 I mentioned Lichine's Graduation Ball. As you can see from the video it is a charming ballet. It was once very popular.  I saw London Festival Ballet perform it in the late 1960s or early 1970s, It was also in the repertoire of the Australian Ballet, Royal Danish Ballet, National Ballet of Cuba and the Ballet of La Scala, Nowadays hardly anybody seems to perform it. Why is that? It is so happy and the music is so lovely.

Admittedly there is not much of a plot. It's a bit like Grease. A girls' school holds a dance and invites the boys in the cadet corps. Both boys and girls are shy at first but they slowly break the ice. They play games and one of the boys takes a fancy to one of the young ladies. So, too, do the students' teachers and they plan to meet after the ball. Unfortunately, they spot the students and the mistress and master lead their miscreant pupils back to their respective establishments.

The music is by Johann Strauss the younger as arranged by Antal Dorati and was first performed in Australia by the Ballet Russe in 1940. Quite remarkable that there was an audience for Strauss when Australia and Austria (then part of Nazi Germany) were at each other's throats.

Graduation Ball would be a lovely ballet for a school or small company.

Prosit Neues Jahr

Musikverein Vienna, Golden Hall

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Television over the New Year used to be decked out with tartan, accordions, Scottish country dancing and Glaswegian comics. That tradition seems to have waned even in Scotland with a new emphasis on fireworks and fun fairs. Probably a good thing as Hogmanay was often accompanied by excessive drinking which must have placed an enormous strain on traffic patrols and the National Health Service. Nowadays the world wakes up for the annual New Year's Day concert from Vienna.

Not everyone enjoys that concert. Writing in The Spectator Norman Lebrecht described the concert as "an annual jellybox of waltzes, polkas, galops, marches and any old tritsch-trash" in "The Nazi origins of the Vienna Phil’s New Year’s Day concert". He described the music as "strictly bar-room, written by members of the Strauss family as social foreplay for the soldiery and serving classes in low taverns."

I am afraid that I do not agree with him.

Great orchestras are allowed to let their hair down once in a while. On Thursday I attended The Hallé's Abba concert where the orchestra including the conductor appeared in big hair wigs and 1970s costumes to act as a backing group for largely inaudible singers attempting to belt out Dancing Queen and Fernando to an audience of swaying sexuagenarians. If I were unkind I could have described the experience as akin to listening to a tribute band in a retirement home, but I won't because it was still good fun and everyone including yours truly had a great time.  The Strauss family are at least the artistic equals to Abba and for my part I greatly prefer them.

Mr Labrecht's main concern lies in the origins of the concert:

"The tradition, however, is decidedly pernicious. This concert came into being as a gift to Nazi criminals, a cover for genocide. The Vienna Philharmonic was quick to sack Jewish and leftist musicians when Hitler came to town. More than a dozen were sent to concentration camps; seven of them perished. The orchestra unanimously endorsed the Anschluss with Germany, exhorted by the conductor Karl Böhm to declare ‘a 100 per cent “yes”’, and proved a willing executioner of cultural cleansing, removing Mahler and other giants from its walls and histories."

He complains of the exclusion and under representation of women and non-white musicians in the orchestra:

"The orchestra has, until recently, excluded women. One of the perverse pleasures of watching the New Year’s Day broadcast is to count how few females are permitted to take part. The orchestra has just seven women members out of a roll call of 130, the lowest in any 21st-century symphony orchestra."

True but that was also a criticism that could be levelled at many British institutions including a well known watering hole in Fleet Street frequented by journalists and out of work barristers for many years. He concludes:

"So long as appearance defeats substance — so long as the world oohs and ahhs at the musical sweetmeats and ignores the dirt in the kitchen, New Year’s Day from Vienna will remain a family favourite, a testament to our human ability to look the other way."

With all respect to Mr Lebrecht, I rather hope it does.

Anschluss was reversed over 70 years ago. There was pretty thorough de-Nazification by the allies who partitioned Austria for a while immediately after the end of the war. Very few if any of the players could have been born during the second world war. Modern Austria is our democratic partner in major international and European institutions including the United Nations which was celebrated by Robert Stolz's UNO March, the first piece in yesterday's programme.

The Vienna Philharmonic is raising money for asylum seekers. Next year's concert is to be conducted by Gustavo Dudamel of the Simon Bolivar Orchestra. Sorry but I want to hear that concert. Indeed, if I could spare the time and money I would rather like to be in Vienna this time next year.

Before reading Mr Lebrecht's article I had intended to write about the ballet sequences which were performed by dancers of the Vienna State Ballet (Wiener Staatsballett). There were only two of them this year - one danced at the Prater race track and the other at the Schönbrunn Palace. Not surprisingly, these are the bits of the TV transmission that I like most. I enjoyed both pieces very much and I wish I could find out the names of the dancers and choreographer in order to congratulate them. I can, however, report that the company is directed by Manuel Legris who was one of the stars of the Paris Opera Ballet, that the company is dancing Ashton's La Fille mal gardée until 20 Jan 2016 and that it has some lovely works in its current repertoire and that some of those performances are streamed live over the internet.

Vienna's connection with the ballet is often overlooked but it was the birthplace of Ludwig Minkus who gave us La Bayadère and Don Quixote (see More Thoughts on Don Quixote 20 Oct 2013). It is also the setting for Lichine's charming Graduation Ball which I really wish someone would revive.

More Gongs

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In Arise Sir Matthew 31 Dec 2015 I congratulated Sir Matthew Bourne and the others who had been honoured in the New Years Honours List for services to dance. In the last paragraph I wrote:

"If I have forgotten to mention anyone else who has been honoured for his or her contributions to dance I apologize profusely and offer my congratulations."

There were in fact two very important omissions: Tamara Rojo, artistic director of the English National Ballet who gets a CBE and the choreographer, Christopher Wheeldon, who gets an OBE, The reason I missed them first time round is that their names appear on a separate Diplomatic Service and Overseas List.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office press release explains that the 72 awards are in "recognition of truly exceptional and outstanding service to Britain overseas."  It describes Tamara Rojo as:

"one of the most outstanding dancers of her generation. After more than a decade of being one of the Royal Ballet’s most spectacular artists, she was appointed as Artistic Director and Principal Dancer of the English National Ballet in 2012. Under her leadership the company has flourished and continues to honour its commitment to touring the UK and overseas. Her belief in the importance of making the arts in general and dance, in particular, accessible to people from all walks of society has led her to contribute to the Arts Council East, Dance UK and the ICA."

It quotes Rojo's reaction:

“I am so honoured and humbled to receive this award. I owe so much to the UK already, it has given me so many opportunities and great fulfilment and happiness in my life, and this honour is a wonderful encouragement to continue to work for the Arts.”

 Wheeldon is described as an "international choreographer of contemporary ballet" and he us recognized "for services to promoting the interests and reputation of British classical and theatrical dance worldwide."

I congratulate Rojo and Wheeldon on their honours and wish them well.

Happy New Year! Christmas is over. Now if you want to work off those Mince Pies .....

KNT Dancworks Manchester: Ailsa Baker, Josh Moss and Karen Sant
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I was 63 when I took up ballet. Save for a few classes when I was an undergraduate at St Andrews in the early 1970s I had no experience of ballet. My first classes were at The Base in Huddersfield. They were not easy because I was the oldest member by several decades but we had a good teacher and I persevered. In September 2013 I joined Northern Ballet's Over 55 class where all the other students were about my age. That was one of the best decisions I ever took in my life. We have an excellent teacher in Annemarie Donoghue and the other students are lovely. Here is what I wrote after my first class with Annemarie: Realizing a Dream 12 Sept 2013.

My classes with Annemarie gave me sufficient confidence to try classes with other teachers. I tried Adam Pudney's class at Pineapple which I enjoyed tremendously (see Pineapple 20 Nov 2013 and Another Slice of Pineapple 12 July 2015). I took classes with Christopher Hinton-Lewis (see It's an Ill Wind - Review of Northern Ballet's Beginner's Class 6 Dec 2013) and Elizabeth Rae and attend regulalry Jane Tucker's class at the Northern Ballet Academy. I have appeared in the Academy's end of term shows (see The Time of My Life 28 June 2014 and My Second Ballet 5 July 2015) which we even took or tour to Morley (see Growing Old Disgracefully in Morley 28 Sept 2015). I ventured south to Sheffield (see More than just Hype - Beginners and Improvers Classes in Sheffield 14 May 2014), across the Pennines (see So Proud of Manchester - KNT Danceworks Complete Beginners Class 29 Aug 2014) and I even found myself dancing in the ballroom of Liverpool Town Hall (see It's not every Class that you can use Lord Canning's Eyes for Spotting 9 Sept 2014).

My favourite dance studio is KNT' in Manchester. Classes take place in the studios of the Northern Ballet School on Oxford Road.  There are some great teachers as you can see in the video and I have yet to meet kinder or more supportive classmates. There are classes in all sorts of dance every day of the week except Sunday (see Adult Dance Class Timetable). Last Summer I attended Jane Tucker's Swan Lake intensive and enjoyed it tremendously (see KNT's Beginners' Adult Ballet Intensive - Swan Lake: Day 1 18 Aug 2015, KNT's Beginners' Adult Ballet Intensive - Swan Lake: Day 2 19 Aug 2015 and KNT's Beginners' Adult Ballet Intensive - Swan Lake: Day 3 20 Aug 2915). KNT are presenting a show on 30 Jan 2016 and I am in it. :-)

Another good class that I have discovered very recently is Katie Geddes's at Dance Studio Leeds (see Dance Studio Leeds Beginners' Ballet Class 23 Oct 2015). Again, there is a great teacher and some lovely people in the class. Katie organized a delightful Christmas party on 4 Dec 2015 and a trip to Northern Ballet's The Nutcracker on 18 Dec 2015 (see Northern Nutcracker 19 Dec 2015). One of the delights of just about any dance class is the opportunity to meet interesting new people in all walks of life and I have made some great friendships through ballet.

So this is how I spend my week.  On Mondays I go to the beginners' class at Dance Studio Leeds between 1945 and 21:15. On Tuesday's I attend Karen Sant's beginners' class at KNT in Manchester from 18:30 to 19:30. On Wednesday I attend Jane Tucker's improvers' class at Northern Ballet between 19:00 and 20:15. That is a particularly challenging but also very worthwhile class because if you aim for the stars you may actually clear the bar. On Thursday's I attend Annemarie Donoghue's over 55 improvers class at Northern Ballet between 11:00 and 12:15 which is also pretty stretching. If I miss a class earlier in the week for any reason I cross the Pennines for Sarah Butler's beginner's class at KNT between 18:30 and 19:30 on Friday. I have also attended the Saturday afternoon mixed ability class between 15:00 and 17:00.

If you live anywhere near Manchester or Leeds those are the classes I recommend. If not, here are some tips to find a class that's right for you. If you live in or near London you are spoilt for choice. Londondance.com lists dance classes in just about every dance style in every part of the metropolis on its Dance Class and Workshops page. I have only attended Adam's class at Pineapple but I have watched some of the classes at Danceworks and can't wait to try some of them.  KNT runs classes at Studio 76 at 76 West Derby Road and Dolphin Dance Studio at Dolphin Dance Studio at 42 Devon Street in Liverpool on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays (see Timetable). Dancexchange runs all sorts of classes in Birmingham. Scottish Ballet runs a wide range of adult ballet classes at the Tramway in Glasgow (see the Get Dancing page on Scottish Ballet's web site). Ballet West offers body conditioning for adults at Taynuilt on Tuesdays and Thursdays (see Ballet West Outreach Timetable 2015/16) as does Ballet Cymru in Newport on Mondays between 18:30 and 19:30 (call Jenny Isaacs 01633 892927 or email jennyisaacs@welshballet.co.uk for further details).

We are busy compiling a database of adult dance classes up and down the country. If we find any gaps we shall do our best to find a teacher and premises to fill them. If you are an RAD or ISTD teacher, carry the appropriate insurance and accreditations and are prepared to teach adults in your area do get in touch.