Live Streaming of Beaujean's Raymonda

May 8, 2022, 2:59 pm

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Dutch National Ballet Raymonda Livestream 8 May 2022

Had I not broken my femur in warmup exercises for our Waltz of the Flowers workshop on 19 March 2022 I would have been in the auditorium of the Dutch National Balet and Opera on 6 April 2022 to watch Anna Tsygankova, Costa Allen and Artur Shesterikov dance Raymonda, Abd al-Rahman and Jean de Brienne respectively. Watching today's live streaming on a Chromebook was a very poor second best. But it was enough for me to see that Rachel Beaujean's production of Raymonda is a very significant work indeed. I can understand why it is described as the jewel of the Dutch National Ballet's 60th-anniversary celebrations.

In "Raymonda" from Moscow on 29 Oct 2019, I summarized the story as follows:

"Raymonda is betrothed to Jean de Brienne who visits her in Castle Doris just before he is due to go on crusade. After he has left she falls asleep and dreams of an eastern prince called Abderakhman who declares his love for her. She wakes up in a cold sweat and finds that it was all a nightmare. In the second Act, however, the real Abderakhman appears and offers to carry her away. She politely turns him down but Abderakhman will not take "no" for an answer. He and his followers try to adduct her but are interrupted by de Brienne. They fight each other with swords and de Brienne kills his rival. In the last Act, Raymonda weds de Brienne and they all enjoy a long Hungarian divertissement."

Beaujean has changed that story but not as much as Tamara Rojo who has set her ballet in the Crimean war of the mid-19th century (see Raymonda An epic journey of love and courage on the English National Ballet website). In Beaujean's version, Abd al-Rahman is a friend of Raymonda's grandfather and she falls in love with him. There is a sword fight between Jean and al-Rahman when Jean finds out that the latter has won Raymonda's affections but Raymonda stops the fight before anyone is killed. Jean slopes off and Raymonda marries al-Rahman in Hungary.

In my review of the Bolshoi's performance, I mentioned that Raymonda had been created for Pierina Legnani who pioneered the 32 fouettés in the seduction scene in Swan Lake. It is not surprising that there is some very demanding choreography for the leading lady. In today's streaming, Raymonda was danced by Maia Makhateli with grace but also breathtaking virtuosity. I was particularly impressed by a sequence in the second act where, after several fouettés, she was gathered up by Young Gyu Choi, performed what looked like a grand battement and was immediately flung into a fish dive.

Sadly the company did not publish a downloadable cast list and I was not quick enough to write down the names of artists and roles as they flashed across the screen at the beginning and end. I have already commended Makhateli. She was ably supported by Young Gyu Choi who danced Abd al-Rahman and Semyon Velichko. I recognized several of the other principals and soloists but I can not remember their roles except Sandor who was danced by Jozef Varga. Everyone danced well. All are to be congratulated.

Although much of Petipa's choreography seems to have been preserved there were some obvious additions. My guess is that the dance by al-Rahman's retainers in the second act had more in common with Jerome Robbins than Petipa was created for this production. If so, I make no complaints about it because it worked.

Even on a small screen Kaplan's sets and costumes shone through. I had been impressed by his work on The Great Gatsby but the designs for Raymonda were on an altogether different order of lavishness.

One of the compensations for watching this live streaming was that a camera was placed at the back of the orchestra pit. It enabled viewers to watch the conductor from the musician's angle and the audience beyond for a few moments during the overture to the third act. That is a view that an audience would never see in a theatre or indeed in most screenings. It felt briefly like being inside the performance.

Watching live streaming has left me with conflicting emotions. On the one hand, I now know what I missed which saddens me. On the other hand, it is better than not seeing any of the show at all which cheers me. I don't think this emotional conflict can be resolved until I see the show on stage. With any luck, I will get another chance in the next few years.

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One of KNT's Best Shows Ever

May 22, 2022, 3:15 pm

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Friends' Meeting House, Manchester

Photo RuthAS Licence CC BY 4.0 Source Wikimedia Commons

KNT Showcase of Dance Friends Meeting House, Manchester 19:30 21 May 2022

Yesterday's Showcase of Dance was KNT's first show since the pandemic and, in many ways, it was one of its best. Showtime is important to dance education because dance is part of theatre. Everything we learn in class is in preparation for performance. It is therefore important that everyone is offered a chance to perform even though not everyone wants to accept it.

KNT is run by Karen Sant, one of the most enterprising but also one of the most pleasant young women I have ever had the good fortune to know. Over the last 13 years, she and her teachers have offered adults and kids evening and weekend classes in ballet, contemporary, jazz and tap in central Manchester. For most of those years, they gave those classes in the studios of Northern Ballet School on Oxford Road. When access to the studios was prevented by the pandemic Karen transferred the classes online. When it became possible to hold classes in the open air, Karen moved them to Castlefield. When it became possible to teach indoors again Karen tried a number of venues including eventually the Quaker Meeting House.

Karen's students followed her through those changes of venue. That says a lot for both Karen and her students. Students followed her because she is an excellent teacher and her classes are fun. But dance is not easy and requires a lot of personal commitment. Dance students are good at supporting each other and from such support, friendships form. That is particularly true of rehearsals, choreographic workshops and days of dance when we have a shared project and rely on each other for the project's success as well as our own. I have made a lot of friends at KNT over the years. One of the delights of the evening was seeing many of them in the show.

Part of the reason for yesterday's success was the venue which the compère likened to a school assembly hall. In fact, it was a place of worship which would have been used as such this morning and nearly every other Sunday. Quaker worship can take many forms which, incidentally, could include dance. While I did not detect religiosity yesterday I did see enthusiasm (derived from ἐνθουσιασμός or "inspired by God") and plenty of devotion. But the main advantage of yesterday's venue was its intimacy. The audience was very close to the dancers which I particularly appreciated as I would normally have been one of them.

Every class performed a short piece last night, The teachers skilfully choreographed each piece to display their students' skills to their best advantage and I was most impressed with their capabilities. In the beginners' ballet for example one of the few men in the show supported a woman in a movement that gave the impression of a duet. The tap class danced to music from Slumdog Millionaire. The compere performed in that piece changing from a three-piece suit to his costume before the audience. When he asked how he had done I found myself shouting "very well". My friends and classmates from my pre-intermediate class filled me with pride. However, my favourite piece of the evening was the advanced ballet class's interpretation of music that Karen has chosen for her wedding.

Yesterday coincided with Karen's birthday. At the reverence, she was presented with a cake, flowers, a massive card and presents to a more or less tuneful rendering of "Happy Birthday". It was a wonderful evening that I would not have missed for the world.

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Candoco at the Lowry

June 11, 2022, 4:01 am

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Candoco Dance Company Set and Reset/Reset and Last Shelter The Lowry, 11 May 2022 19:30

The Candoco Dance Company is one that I have long wanted to see because it has received much critical acclaim. A quotation from The Observer that appears on its website describes it as "the company for which choreographers reserve their wildest and often most inventive work." I got my chance to see it on 11 May 2022 when it visited The Lowry to perform Set and Reset/Reset and Last Shelter in the Quays auditorium.

According to its history page, the company developed out of inclusive workshops at London’s Aspire Centre for Spinal Injury. It was the first live performance that I saw after my injury on 19 March 2022 when I was temporarily struggling on crutches. I marvelled at the virtuosity of Markéta Stránská who used hers to power across the stage with the speed of a cheetah and the grace of a gazelle while I found it an effort to trudge to The Quays from the car park.

The company treated us to two works: a reconstruction by Abigail Yager of Trisha Brown's Set and Reset/Reset and Jeanine Durning's Last Shelter. Set and Reset/Reset was immediately appealing with a catchy score and plenty of action. The humming chatter that David Nixon called "the best sound in the work" erupted around the auditorium as the lights came on. Last Shelter was a very different work starting off slowly and punctuated with dancers' soliloquies including one from Stránská in what I guess must have been Czech. There was less chatter and more thought as the public left the theatre at the end of the performance. Although it took longer for me to get my teeth into Last Shelter and I probably need to see it again at least once to appreciate it properly, I enjoyed both works.

The name "Candoco" appears to combine "can do" with "co" as an abbreviation for company. It seems to affirm that disability and injury need not mean an end to creativity. When Candoco started in the 1990s such affirmation needed to be trumpeted. Since then, other companies including the national classical dance companies of Wales and Scotland have staged works for disabled and non-disabled dancers (see An Explosion of Joy 23 Sept 2014 and No Mean City - Accessible Dance and Ballet 26 April 2015). While continuing to showcase the work of dancers with disabilities as well as those without out, it is increasingly celebrated for its innovation and ingenuity.

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Croeso i Ŵyl Dream

July 9, 2022, 2:10 am

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Ballet Cymru Dream Theatr Clwyd 28 May 2022 19:30 and Lichfield Cathedral 8 July 2022 19:30

The words "Croeso i Ŵyl Dream" were projected onto the wall of Lichfield cathedral last night. They mean "Welcome to the Dream Festival". An announcer introduced Darius James and Amy Doughty's Dream as part of the Lichfield Festival's Shakespeare celebration.

The more one studies A Midsummer Night's Dream the more one finds layers of meaning. Sometimes it takes a derivative work to reveal those hidden layers. At first sight, Shakespeare's comedy contains multiple unconnected plots but in fact,. the quarrel between Titania and Oberon, the lovers in the woods, the mechanicals' play and indeed Pyramus and Thisbe are connected. They show the border between reality and the magical, or, if you prefer, the imagination, to be a shadowy one. The choreographers revealed that interconnection in many ways from the casting of Isobel Holland and Robbie Moorcroft as Hermia's mum and dad as well as Titania and Oberon to their ingenious use of Frank Moon's score and Chris Illingworth's lighting and projections.

James and Doughty are not the first choreographers to transpose A Midsummer Night's Dream to dance. Frederick Ashton, Jean-Christophe Maillot, David Nixon and Arthur Pita have all created work that had been inspired by the play, However, James and Doughty are perhaps the first to tell the full story of the play in all its complexity. They seem to have revisited Shakespeare's text and created a libretto that summarizes every essential. As Mendelsohn's score would have limited their opportunity to do that they commissioned a new score from Moon. They did very much the same in Cinderella and that is perhaps their unique contribution to choreography.

Their summary was not a dry and slavish transposition. They inserted their own humour like the puppy dog pose to represent Helena's infatuation and the space suit and balloon to indicate the man in the moon, Indeed, just as the fitting of the slipper is the funniest part of James and Doughty's Cinderella, the performance of Pyramus and Thisbe stole the show. A mop turned into a lion's mane, a dustbin lid transformed into a breastplate and a collage of cereal packets representing bricks on a wall were hilarious. touches.

Although several of my favourite artists in Ballet Cymru seem to have left Ballet Cymru the company retains plenty of talent left. Moorcroft and Holland performed their roles as king and queen of the fairies regally and as Hermia's parents tenderly. The super-talented Beth Meadway brought Helena to life in a way that I have never seen before. I shall be reminded of Meadway whenever I see the play again regardless of medium. Sanea Singh was an excellent Puck, Kotone Sugiyama an adorable Hermia, and Jacob Hornsey a memorable Bottom. Caitlin Jones created a new character Lysandia imaginatively, I also congratulate Jacob Myers, Samuel Banks and Jethro Paine for their performances as Moth, Cobweb and Mustard Seed, particularly for their mocking adulation of Bottom while he was still a donkey.

Shows often grow as they tour the country and I think that has happened with Dream. It was already a good show when I saw it in Mold on 29 May but it was even better yesterday. Darius James told me that it will be performed in Leeds in the Autumn and that he will give Powerhouse Ballet a workshop based on the ballet. I look forward to both very much indeed.

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Like Water for Chocolate

July 23, 2022, 3:24 am

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The Royal Ballet Lije Water for ChocolateThe Royal Opera House, 8 June 2022, 19:30

I saw Like Water for Chocolate on 8 June 2022. It was my first trip back to Covent Garden since Onegin on 18 Jan 2020 (see The Royal Ballet's "Onegin" 8 March 2022). I set out my first impressions on BalletcoForum immediately after I had seen it and in slightly more detail on Facebook a few hours later. It can be seen from those remarks that I thoroughly enjoyed the show.

The ballet was inspired by Laura Esquivel's novel Como agua para chocolate which has also been made into a film. The title is curious to English ears probably because few of us make chocolate from scratch. It refers to emotions that are about to boil over like a pan on the stove. The reason why emotions run high is that Tita, a young woman, is prevented from marrying her lover, Pedro, by a custom that requires the youngest daughter to care for her mother for so long as she lives. Her misery increases when her mother persuades Pedro to marry Tita's elder sister and Pedro agrees to do simply to be nearer Tita. For those who have not yet seen the ballet, read the book or watched the film, the story is here,

In the YouTube video Insights: Lije Water for Chocolate - Beginnings and Origins, the choreographer Christopher Wheeldon explained how he came to create the ballet. The film was one of the videos that he watched at his lodgings in New York shortly after he had landed before he had time to make friends. To him, it was a lovely film. Later he read the novel which he also enjoyed. The notion of creating a ballet based on the novel took root in his mind at that time.

In the video, Judith Mackrell says that every chapter begins with one of Tita's recipes. Gastronomy is important to Esquivel who recounted how she prepared meals for Wheeldon at her home. It is through making delicious meals that Tita expresses her feelings. That is difficult to replicate on stage which is why the ballet is inspired by the book and not a literal transposition. In the video, Esquivel compares the art of the chef to that of the choreographer. The chef has to select and arrange ingredients just as the choreographer has to select and arrange the elements of the ballet. That analogy is appealing. One way of appreciating the ballet is to treat it as an analogue to the perfect meal

One of the most important ingredients of that ballet is music. The composer was Joby Talbot who wrote the score for The Winter's Tale, Alice'sAdventures in Wonderland and Chroma. The conductor who interpreted Talbot's music is Alondra de la Parra. She is Mexican and on the day that I saw the ballet she unfurled a massive Mexican flag at the reverence. She was musical consultant to the company as well as conductor. She discussed her contribution to the ballet in an interview with Kevin O'Hare. Mexico is a large and diverse country which de la Parra compared to a planet. Each region had its own musical traditions and even its own instruments some of which were demonstrated in Insights: Like Water for Chocolate - Music and Design.

Other important ingredients are the sets and costumes. Wheeldon's designer was Bob Crowley who had worked with Wheeldon on The Winter's Tale and Alice'sAdventures in Wonderland. The set and costume designers who assisted Crowley appear in the Music and Design video. Esquivel was closely involved in the designs. Apparently, she is a collector of textiles and there is a charming recollection by Lynette Mauro, the costume designer, of Edquivel's delight as Mauro draped one of her favourite materials around a dancer. I could see occasional similarities with The Winter's Tale in the designs for Like Water for Chocolate such as a tree as the central feature of one of the scenes.

There are some ballets that I forget the next morning and others that I can remember in every detail from 50 or 60 years ago. The performance on 8 June 2022 is one of the latter. It was memorable in every respect. Yasmine Naghdi was Tita and Cesar Corrales was her Pedro. Their final dance as their surroundings were consumed by fire was the high point of the ballet and I will remember it for the rest of my life. The other great female role was Mama Elena danced by Fumi Kaneko, Hers is perhaps the most difficult role in the work because she is Tita's oppressor but she was also oppressed. One of the most poignant moments of the show which is rehearsed in the video is the murder of her lover. There were splendid performances by Claire Calvert as Rosaura, Meaghan Grace Hinkis as Gertrudis and Williams Bracewell as Dr John Brown. I could continue. All who took part in the show excelled. All are to be congratulated/

In the Beginnings and Origins, Wheeldon advised the audience to arrive a little bit earlier than usual to read the programme advice. That is good advice but it is not enough. It is not even possible for the thousands around the world who will only see it in the cinema. The best advice I can give for those who want to appreciate the ballet fully is to watch the three Insight videos which will take three hours to run. Also, if possible, to read the book and watch the film which I plan to do next. In a small way, I hope this article will help.

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Further Reflections on "Like Water for Chocolate"

July 26, 2022, 12:56 pm

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Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=327749

In Like Water for Chocolate, I noted that Christopher Wheeldon had advised his audience to come early and read the programme. I added that that was good advice but not nearly enough. Those coming to see Like Water for Chocolate should watch Judith Mackrell's Insight videos: Insights: Like Water For Chocolate — Beginnings and Origins, Insights: Like Water for Chocolate – Music and Design and Insights: Like Water for Chocolate – Towards Opening Night. As a counsel of perfection, I advised readers to read the novel and see the film, At that stage, I had done neither but now I have done both greatly enhancing my appreciation of the ballet.

Although the story spans several generations from the death of Tita's father at the shock of learning of his wife's infidelity to the wedding of her niece Esperanza to the doctor's son, Alex, most of the action takes place during the Mexican civil war between 1910 and 1920 near the city of Piedras Negras on the US border. The book is divided into 12 chapters, one for each month of the year. The months do not seem to bear any particular relationship to the narrative. Each one starts with a list of ingredients some of which are quite gargantuan, Most are for food but one is for matches. Some of the chapters contain instructions but the novel is no cookbook. I should be amazed if the author expects her readers to make dishes out of those ingredients.

The ballet is much kinder to Mama Elena than the book. The scene where Tita reads her mother's correspondence shows the murder of her African American lover. In the novel, there is nothing sympathetic about her at all. Offering Rosaura to Pedro is an act of pure malevolence which wrecked the lives of two daughters, one son-in-law and possibly one grandson. She thrashed Tita for supposedly lacing the wedding cake with an emetic. She tried to commit Tita to a psychiatric hospital which would necessarily have deprived her of the services of the daughter whose happiness was supposed to be sacrificed for care. She showed the worst kind of hypocrisy in the second haunting by accusing her daughter of immorality when she had given birth to Gertrudis out of wedlock. Tita banished the ghost by reminding Mama Elens of her hypocrisy. Her last words to the ghost were words of hate,

Laura Esquivel's portrayal of Pedro is hardly kinder. He is reprimanded for his folly in accepting the hand of a woman he did not love in order to be closer to her sister in the first chapter. He neglected his bride for months after her wedding night on the pretext that Tita's cake had made her ill. At several times in the story, he had the chance to carry Tita away much as Gertrudis had been carried away by her revolutionary captain but he missed every opportunity. He was resentful of the doctor for his interest in Tita even though the latter had saved his skin literally after a carousel that dislodged an oil lamp. He was moody, spoilt and not very bright. Tita was right to send him packing several times.

My favourite sister is Gertrudis who escaped her mother's thrall by dashing naked to her revolutionary liberator. In the revolution she becomes a general bringing her soldiers to the ranch. In celebrations at the ranch, she displays an ability to dance that neither of her parents possessed. There is a discussion as to how she inherited such skills. When she gave birth to a dark-skinned child Tita rescued her reputation by revealing her parenthood.

While reflecting on the story I remembered that many of Tita's contemporaries in this and many other countries missed the opportunity to marry. That was not because of family tradition but because so many men had perished in the First World War. Muriel Spark mentioned the generation of unmarried women in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. That was the fate of one of my aunts who was born at about the same time as Tita. Like Tiita she was an excellent cook and needlewoman. She stayed at my grandmother's home in Heaton Moor until my grandmother died in 1953. When the family home was sold she had to work as a housekeeper in Wilmslow until her death some 40 years ago, I was not aware of a Pedro in her life but how would I have known?

In one of my tweets, I said the book was hilarious. I was very properly pulled up by mg friend Marion Pettit who pointed out all those ruined lives. But there were some extremely funny passages in the story. As I read the book last night I chuckled at the thought of all those guests puking in the stream after eating Tita's wedding cake. Or the thought of Gertrudis's sergeant trying to make sense of a pudding recipe, Every tragedian leavens his story with humour.

I read Esquivel's novel in a single sitting. I could not put it down It is a long time since I last read a novel so quickly. I rarely have the time for that. Even more rarely do I invest so much time in researching a ballet. I did so this time because the work is so good. The public will get a chance to see the ballet on-screen on 23 Jan2023. That leaves plenty of time to read the book, see the film and watch Judith Mackrell's Insight vieos. Their enjoyment will be greatly enhanced if they do.

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The van Manen Festival, Programme IV

July 31, 2022, 4:32 am

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Dutch National Ballet and Guests Hans van Manen Festival IV National Opera and Ballet auditorium 29 June 2022 20:15

I would argue that Hans van Manen is the greatest living choreographer and one of the greatest of all time. I have been a fan ever since I first saw his work some 50 years or so ago. In that time he has made over 150 ballets and I have seen a fair number of them. His works are performed regularly by the world's leading ballet companies including those of the United Kingdom.

Earlier this month van Manen celebrated his 90th birthday. To mark the occasion, the Dutch National Ballet ended its 2021-2022 season with a special Hans van Manen Festival. Between 8 and 29 June 2022, the Dutch National Ballet and companies from Austria and Germany performed 19 of van Manen's works arranged in four separate programmes.

I attended the fourth of those programmes on 29 June 2022 which consisted of Four Schumann Pieces, In the Future, Variations for Two Couples, Solo and Concertante. I chose that programme for three reasons. It was an opportunity to see the latest recruits to the Junior Company which I had followed closely since 2013. They were to perform In the Future which I had previously seen at their 5th-anniversary celebration at the Stadsschouwburg on 15 April 2018, the 2018 gala and in London on 5 July 2019. Secondly, one of the works was to be performed by the Vienna State Ballet and another by the Stuttgart Ballet which had been Cranko's company. These are companies that rarely visit this country and it was a chance to see them. Finally, the fourth programme included Concertante which is the work by van Manen that I know best.

Van Manen had created Four Schumann Piecesfor the Royal Ballet. It was first performed at Covent Garden on 31 Jan 1975 with Sir Anthony Dowell in the leading role. The music is Robert Schumann's String quartet in A opus 41 no. 3. The ballet revolves around the leading male and there is some YouTube footage of Dowell in that role. It was part of a mixed bill which I attended. I can't remember much about it but it would have been one of the reasons why I began to admire van Manen. According to the programme notes, the male lead was later performed by Rudolf Nureyev, Hans Ebelaar, Wayne Eagling and Matthew Golding each of whom interpreted it in a different way. The company that performed the piece on 29 June was the Vienna State Ballet. Davide Dato was the lead male He was supported by Hyo-Jung Kang and Arne Vandervelde, Liudmila Konovalova and Francesco Costa, Elena Bottaro and Igor Milos, Sonia Dvořák and Géraud Wielick and Aleksandra Liashenko and Andrey Teterin. The company danced Four Schumann Pieces for the first time in the Vienna Volksoper on 4 June 2022. For them, it was a brand new piece which they danced with appealing energy and freshness.

In the Future was created for the Scarpino Ballet Rotterdam in 1986, a company that is even older than the Dutch National Ballet. The piece was inspired by music that the Scottish composer David Byrne had written as a soundtrack for Fritz Lang's film Metropolis the previous year. As striking as the music are the set, costume and lighting designs of Keso Dekker Each dancer wears a garment that is green at the front and red at the back. The dancers pulsate to the music as if they were beams of light. It is a perfect piece for the Junior Company which is now a completely different cohort from the one I saw in Amsterdam in 2018 and London in 2019. The members who danced on 29 June were Luca Abdel-Nour, Koko Bamford, Lily Carbone, Mila Caviglia, Sven de Wilde, Lauren Hunter, Nicola Jones, Gabriel Rajah, Guillermo Torrijos, Louisella Vogt and Koyo Yamamoto. They were as impressive as their predecessors and I look forward to watching them develop as a troupe and blossom as artists of the Dutch National Ballet and other leading companies.

Variations for Two Couples is one of van Manen's latest works. It was created for Anna Tsygankova, Matthew Golding, Igone de Jongh and Jozef Varga and first performed on 15 Feb 2012. It is a very short piece that packs in music by Benjamin Britten, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Stefan Kovács Tickmayer and Astor Piazzolla. The programme states that for van Manen it was all about the personalities of the dancers that he wished to draw out. Varga danced the role that van Manen had created for him on 29 June. but instead of Tsygankova, Golding and de Jongh he was joined by Riho Sakamoto, Young Gyu Choi and Jessica Xuan. Van Manen intended this to be a very understated ballet. He said, "everything is 'low down'– even the dancers’ lifts." That is echoed by Dekker's costumes and backdrop. The result is a work of refinement and elegance.

There was an interval after Variations for Two Couples. On returning to my seat I noticed that van Manen was sitting in my row. Several of his fans were talking to him and one gave him a hug. He stood up to allow me to pass and for a moment I felt impelled to introduce myself and shake his hand. However, the curtain was about to rise and I let the moment slip. The very next day my friend Gita Mistry button-holed him in the lobby of the National Opera and Ballet auditorium as we gathered for the Gala. She introduced me to him and I had the opportunity to tell him how much I had enjoyed his work over the last 50 years. However, Gita went one better and actually took a selfie of herself with the great man. In her interview with Judith Mackrell, Laura Esquivel compared the art of the chef with that of the choreographer (see Like Water for Chocolate 23 July 2022). Gita offered to cook for van Manen and as she is an artist in spice he would enjoy one of the best meals of his life were he ever to take her up on the offer.

Solo danced by Henrik Erikson, Alessandro Giaquinto and Matteo Miccini of the Stuttgart Ballet won the loudest and most sustained applause of the evening. It is a very short piece set to Bach's Violin Partita. Keeping up with the music requires great virtuosity and equal stamina. It was danced with energy, flair and fluidity. - an altogether brilliant display.

The first time I sawConcertanteit was performed by Northern Ballet. I wrote in Terpsichore:

"What can one say about a masterpiece? Especially when there is a YouTube video of the great man himself discussing his ballet. According to the clip van Manen staged the work for the Nederlands Dans Theater junior company (Dans Theater 2). He spoke very highly of the Leeds dancers (Bateman, Batley, Leebolt, Contadini, Lori Gilchrist, Nicola Gervasi, Prudames and Isaac Lee-Baker) as well he might for they were good."

The video to which I referred was an interview with van Manen in Leeds on 6 June 2013. I have seen performances of the work by other companies since then and it never ceases to impress me. Floor Eimers said that Concedrtante brings out the best in her and that seems also to be the case with other dancers. There is something compelling in Frank Martin's music, Kekko's designs and of course the choreography, This was the last work of the van Manen season and it was danced with verve by Nina Tonoli, Timothy van Poucke, Jingjing Mao, Martin ten Kortenaar, Lore Zonderman, Jan Spunda, Khayla Fitzpatrick and Conor Walmsley.

The evening had begun under the baton of Matthew Rowe, a compatriot and (I believe) an old boy of St Paul's School. It ended under that baton of Northern Ballet's Director of Music, Jonathan Lo. As he was led onto the stage the applause was deafening. I felt very proud of him as well as Matthew Rowe. But the loudest cheers and most vigorous clapping were reserved for van Manen himself. They were in appreciation of the works that we had seen that night but also for his lifetime's achievement.

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The Dutch National Ballet's Sixtieth Anniversary Gala

August 9, 2022, 12:36 am

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Dutch National Ballet Sixtieth Anniversary Gala National Opera and Ballet Auditorium Amsterdam 30 June 2020 19:30

One of the high points of my year is the Dutch National Ballet's annual gala. It consists of extracts from some of the company's work during the previous year and ends with a reception in which the dancers and musicians mingle with the audience. In previous years it has taken place in early September but this year it was on 30 June, It is always a special occasion but this year's gala was particularly important because it was the company's 60th anniversary. It also celebrated Hans van Manen's 90th birthday and the company's emergence from covid restrictions. To underscore the significance of the occasion, the event was attended by King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands.

As usual, the evening began with the Grand Défilé, a parade of artists from the youngest students of the Dutch National Ballet Academy in their smartest leotards to the principal ballerinas in dazzling white classical tutus accompanied by the premiers danseurs nobles to the strains of Aurora's wedding from The Sleeping Beauty. That was a tune that I often played in 2020 and 2021 in the hope that the pandemic would one day come to an end and the world's theatres would reopen. This visit was my first trip to the Netherlands since the 17 Nov 2019 when I saw The Best of Balanchine at the Zuiderstrbdtheater in The Hague.

The Grand Défilé was followed by Hans van Manen's Solo, a spectacular piece to the music of Johann Sebastian Bach's Violin Partita which had come pretty close to stealing the show the previous evening. Henrik Erikson of the Stuttgart Ballet who had entertained us the night before thrilled us once more. This time, he was joined on stage by Fabio Adorisio and Christian Pforr. Once again the applause was tumultuous.

At this point, the company's artistic director Ted Brandson usually walks on stage to welcome the crowd in Dutch and English. This year it was a little different for he spoke only in Dutch. Presently a screen appeared and this film was run. Now I have never learnt any Dutch - I regret to say that there are not many opportunities to learn that language in this country except for diplomats and a few academics - but I do speak German and my ears caught something that sounded like "Ritter" which means knight in that language. Dutch is a language that English speakers with a good knowledge of German can actually get the drift because it is close to both languages. The ceremony was nothing like a British investiture at which Her Majesty or nowadays Prince Charles dubs the candidate with a sword. A decoration was presented by the Deputy Mayor of Amsterdam. But it was clearly a very high honour at least equal to any of our knighthoods in the arts as the company's news release makes clear. I met Brandsen after the show and congratulated him on his knighthood. I asked him whether we had to call him "Sir Ted" from now on. Brandsen thought that perhaps we should but I have to say that his view was not shared by any of my Dutch friends.

The preeminence of Dutch ballet rests largely on the work of three outstanding choreographers, Hans van Manen, Rudi van Dantzig and Toer van Schayk. The company actually refers to them as the three Vans on the History page of its website. Van Schayk is a distinguished sculptor, painter and stage designer as well as a choreographer and many of the sets for the Dutch National Ballet's productions were designed by him.

The next work on the programme was De Chimaera van LA, an extract from van Schayk's ballet Het mythische voorwendsel which means "the mythical pretext". According to the programme notes, the title of the ballet was inspired by a quotation from Salvador Dali who said, "the subject of art is a pretext." The music for the piece was by Bela Bartok but van Schayk created just about everything else. He choreographed the work and designed the set, costumes and lighting. It was performed by Anna Tsygankova and Giorgi Potskhishvili. I know Tsygankova very well having seen her for the first time as Cinderella at the Coliseum in 2014 but Potskhishvili was new to me. He is clearly a rising star having entered the Junior Company as recently as 2020. Their ballet master, incidentally, was Caroline Sayo Iura who danced in the first performance of the ballet.

The French composer Erik Satie inspired Sir Frederick Ashton to create Monotones and Hans van Manen Trois Gnossiennes. Van Manen's work was the next in the programme. It is a duet but one in which the pianist and piano have a role at least to the extent that they are on castors and moved around the stage. Having never heard the word "Gnossiennes " outside the context of this music I looked it up and found that it had been coined by Satie and that he had never explained what it means. The word is reminiscent of the Greek word γνῶσις and as the music has a sacerdotal quality I offer "The Three Initiates". The dancers were Anna Ol and James Stout and the pianist Olga Khoziainova.

Had he lived Wojciech Kilar would also have been 90 this year. One of his most exciting works is Toccata which Krzysztof Pastor, Director of the Polish National Ballet and former dancer and choreographer with the Dutch National Ballet, used to create a fast-moving ballet. It was performed by Chinara Alizade, Jaeeun Jung,Ryota Kitai, Paweł Koncewoj and Patryk Walczak of the Polish National Ballet. Toccata was the next work of the evening.

The Staatsballett Berlin presented the following ballet It had commissioned David Dawson (the Dutch National Ballet's Associate Artist) to create Voices during the lockdown. According to the programme notes the piece reflects that time. Dawson is reported to have said:

“The difficult times caused by the pandemic have given us an opportunity to reflect and progress, and help us to see the world again in its truth. I believe this is when change can really happen. VOICES aims to visualise the awakening of a new era where we can create the world we want to live in. A new place for humanity to have the chance to be the best it can be as we all learn more about our infinite capacity and potential.”

This piece is quite different from any of his previous works. It was performed on stage by Polina Semionova and Alejandro Virelles.

One of van Manen's best known works is 5 Tangos to the music of Astor Piazzolla. Perhaps the most thrilling part of that ballet is Voyamos a Diablo. This is a male solo which requires a dancer of considerable strength and equal grace. Artur Shesterikov danced that role with characteristic flair.

The contribution to the evening from Van Dantzig's repertoire was Voorbij Gegaan. The title has never been translated but I think it means "Gone By". Van Dantzig created it for Alexandra Radius and Han Ebbelaar as they approached the peak of their careers. A lyrical piece to a piano composition by Chopin it was danced delightfully by Qian Liu and Semyon Velichko.

One of my favourite moments of the evening was Joel a short solo by Remi Wӧrtmeyer that he had created for himself to the music of Jacques Offenbach. It was a humorous piece but also one that required strength, stamina and enormous skill. The company has recently announced Wörtmeyer's retirement, In his valedictory, Brandsen said:

"Remi’s positive energy, fabulous technique and engaging personality onstage and off have made him one of the most beloved dancers in our company. I will miss Remi and his dancing enormously and I wish him lots of success with his new artistic adventures.”

I shall also miss him and I add my best wishes.

My other favourite piece was Riho Sakamoto'sMy One and Only from Balanchine's Who Cares. I interviewed her when she joined the Junior Company and have marvelled at her meteoric rise. This is a solo that charms her audience. The applause loved her and exploded in applause.

I had seen van Manen's Variations for Two Couples the previous night and discussed it in my review of that performance. Jozef Varga, who has also announced his retirement, had appeared in the first performance of that ballet. He was joined by Tsygankova who had also been in the first show, The other dancers were Jessica Xuan and Constantine Allen. This performance is likely to have been Varga's last with the company. He will also be missed and I wish him well.

The last piece before the interval was Grand Pas Classiqueby Viktor Gsovsky. It is not performed very often if at all in the United Kingdom and the only time that I had seen it before was as part of the Dutch National Ballet's Christmas Gala which was live streamed on 19 Dec 2021. The work is spectacular even on screen but it is even better on stage. The dancers were Jakob Feyferlik who had performed the work in the Christmas Gala and Olga Smirnova.

There was an interval after Grand Pas Classique. After we had returned to our seats, Matthew Rowe, the Director of Music, rose and addressed the King and Queen of the Netherlands. He said that the Dutch Ballet Orchestra had commissioned some music from the Dutch composer, Jacob ter Veldhuis, as a 60th anniversary present for the company. Mr Ter Veldhuis was in the audience and a spotlight picked him out immediately after the conductor's announcement. The piece that Mr ter Veldhuis had written was entitled Luce Divina inspired by Dante's Divine Comedy on which he had already written an oratorio. The orchestra then played the commissioned work.

Although Rowe conducted the orchestra for most of the evening, he handed the baton to Jonathan Lo for De Chimaera van L.A and the finale. Lo is the Director of Music of Northern Ballet and I have also seen him at Covent Garden. Lo was with Brandsen when I congratulated him on his honour and Brandsen kindly introduced me to Lo. I expressed my delight that through Lo there was now a personal link between Leeds and Amsterdam. I was even happier when Lo told me that Northern's new Director, Federico Bonelli, had also attended the gala which means that there is now a direct link with my local company at the highest level.

Every year an award is presented by Alexandra Radius to the year's most outstanding dancer. This year it was won by Salome Leverashvili. She came to my attention when she and Timothy van Poucke published a vlog which I featured in Missing Amsterdam on 17 Feb 2017. Those talented young artists have risen through the company's ranks very quickly. Van Poucke won the Radius prize as early as 2018. Leverashvili accepted her prize with a short but witty speech in English which may well have won her even more fans.

A part of any gala to which the audience particularly looks forward is the Junior Company's piece. This year the Junior Company danced the last part ofIn the Future. I discussed the piece in detail in my review of the previous night's performance. The Junior Company did not disappoint their fans. They were as exciting and vivacious as always. Yet another triumph for their artistic coordinator, Ernst Meisner. The programme did not name them individually but I have done so in my review of the previous night's show.

The evening's finale was part of the last act of Raymonda. Rachel Beaujean's new production was perhaps the main achievement of this anniversary year. I had intended to see it in Amsterdam on 6 April but was prevented from attending by injury. Nevertheless, I saw it on screen on 8 May 2022 (see Live Streaming of Beaujean's Raymonda 8 May 2022). The extracts that were danced at the gala included the Pas Hongrois and the Pas Classique Hongrois. Floor Eimers and Jan Spunda led the Pas Hongrois and they were joined by Emma Mardegan and Luca Abdel-Nour, Khayla Fitzpatrick and Rafael Valdez, Wendeline Wijkstra and Nathan Brhane, Arianna Maldini and Alejandro Zwartendijk, Luiza Bertho and Dustin True, Hannah de Klein and Sander Baaij, Lore Zonderman and Conor Walmsley, Kira Hilli and Leo Hepler. Maia Makhateli and Young Gyu Choi accompanied by Connie Vowles and Edo Wijnen, Yuanyuan Zhang and Sho Yamada, Nina Tonoli and Davi Ramos, Salome Leverashvili and Martin ten Kortenaar, Chloë Réveillon and Joseph Massarelli, Maria Chugai and Timothy van Poucke, Elisabeth Tonev and Sem Sjouke and Jingjing Mao and Daniel Robert Silva performed the Pas Classique Hongrois. Chloë Réveillon the variation and Edo Wijnen, Sho Yamada, Martin ten Kortenaar and Timothy van Poucke the male variation.

After the performance, the audience spilt out onto the lobby and terraces for the reception. The reception welds the company and its audience into a family which does not happen with most other companies. It is one of the reasons why I love the Dutch National Ballet. Of course, I have a lot of respect for the world's other great companies and I am a member of many of their Friends' schemes and support them in every way I can. But, with the exceptions of Scottish Ballet, Ballet Cymru and, very recently, Northern Ballet, I do not feel as close to them as I do to the Dutch National Ballet. It was at the reception that I met van Manen. My brief handshake enabled me to express my admiration and gratitude for his lifetime's work. I doubt if I could have done that in any other way.

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Well!

September 24, 2022, 11:00 pm

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Scottish Ballet Coppelia Theatre Royal, Glasgow 25 May 2022 19:30

Scottish Ballet has specialized in reinterpreting the classical repertoire ever since Peter Darrell's Beauty and the Beast. Sometimes it has been spectacularly successful, as with David Dawson's Swan Lake or Matthew Bourne's Highland Fling. Others such as Krzysztof Pastor's Romeo and Juliet less so. Despite excellent performances by Rishan Benjamin as Swanhilda and Thomas Edwards as Dr Coppelius which saved my evening, I regret to say that Morgann Runacre-Temple and Jessica Wright's Coppelia did not work for me.

Coppelia is not a story that needs to be reworked. It is basically Pygmalion which has fascinated human beings since classical times. Ted Brandsen has set it in modern dress but kept the story intact in his Coppelia. As my readers will gather from the synopsis, Runacre-Temple and Wright have transplanted Dr Coppelius to Silicon Valley. Instead of an eccentric old codger with a workshop full of automatons, Coppelisu is the founder and CEO of the sinister startup NuLife.

The conventional Coppeliawould not have retained its popularity for more than 150 years had it focused on Dr Coppelis's experiments. Audiences like the lovely mazurkas of the first act, the humour of the village girls' overtures to Dr Coppelius's doll. Swanhilda's increasing exasperation with Franz as he flirts with the doll, the mugging where Dr Coppelius loses his house keys, the break-in by Swanhilda and her girlfriends to the workshop, the girls' nervousness, the cacophony when Swnhilda sets off the toys as she makes her escape, the charming dance of the hours of the last act and of course a delightful pas de deux at the end.

There is none of that in Runacre-Temple and Wright's work. It was essentially about Coppelius and his interview with pant-suited investigative journalist Swanhilda, A voice-over asks Coppelius how he deals with his critics. "Do I have any?" asked another voice which made me smile as I was already thinking about this review. There were lots of lights and screen images, a percussive score with the occasional echo of Delibes and snatches of dialogue such as "This table does not exist." Everything was packed into a single 80-minute act. Altogether. I found it heavy going.

Now I have to say out of fairness that most of the audience seemed to love the show. There was a standing ovation which was the first I have ever seen in Scotland. But it was not a simultaneous rising as I had seen in Leeds the previous week but a phased one like the opening night of Akram Khan's Giselle or at the Lowry after Sir Matthew Bourne's Romeo and Juliet. In a phased standing ovation unlike a spontaneous one, audience members rise to their feet because others have done so and they feel they should or maybe they just want to see the stage at the curtain call,

Now I want to end my review on a positive note because I have followed Scottish Ballet ever since they were in Bristol and I love them to bits. This was the first time I had seen them live since lockdown and I had been looking forward to the show for weeks. For me, the evening was saved by Benjamin and Edwards. Particularly Benjamin. This was the first time I had noticed her. She is still listed simply as an "artist". I am not sure when she joined the company but I think her future is bright. She reminds me a lot of Michaela DePrince. She commands the stage in much the same way.

There were good performances from Evan Loudon who danced Franz and Amy McEntee, Xolisweh Richards. Roseanna Leney, Noa Barry, Urara Takata, Grace Horler, Melissa Parsons, Aisling Brangan, Hannah Cubitt, Nicholas Vavrecka,, Rimbaud Patron, James Garrington, Harvey Evans, Andrea Azzari., Ben Thomas, Ishan Mahabir-Stokes. Joel Wright and Jamie Reid as lab technicians. Franz was not quite the same role as in the conventional Coppelia. Reed was also the cameraman.

As I said above I don't think it is necessary to update Coppelia because the challenge of artificial intelligence has existed since 1870 if not from the ancient Greeks. However, if Scottish Ballet wants to modernize that gorgeous work it need look no further than one of its own board members.

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The London Ballet Circle talks to Bonelli

September 28, 2022, 5:11 am

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Author KumikoSan Licence CC BY-SA 4.0 Source Wikimedia Commons

Leanne Benjamin will interview Federico Bonelli for the London Ballet Circle at 19:00 tonight and members of the public can watch them over Zoom If you are not already a member of the Circle you can learn how to book a place on the call in Conversation with Federico Bonelli ...... (via Zoom).`

I shall join the call for the reasons I set out in Northern Ballet's New Director on 2 Feb 2022. I have been one of his fans for many years. He is now Artistic Director of Northern Ballet which I have followed ever since its formation and have supported financially and in other ways ever since I returned to the North in 1985. Bonelli has only been in post since May but he seems to have worked some kind of magic with the company. The performances of Made in Leeds: Three Short Ballets at the Leeds Playhouse on 14 and 17 Sept 2022 were the best I had seen from the company since Christopher Gable danced with Moira Shearer in Gillian Lynne's A Simple Man, Both casts danced with a flair and engagement that I had never seen before.

The three short ballets were Mthuthuzeli November's Wailers, Stina Quagebeur's Nostalgia and Dickson Mbi's Ma Vie Live. They were very different but nonetheless complementary works. Wailers is set in rural Africa against a background that appeared to be parched earth to a score created by November. Like his other works, Wailers successfully merges classical steps with African dance and rhythms. Nostalgia features two couples both clad in red and an ensemble in brown. The music is by Jeremy Birchall. Ma Vie reminded me of both Kenneth Tindall's Casanova and Nixon's Wuthering Heights. It had the most elaborate sets, costumes and lighting. It finished with a rumbustious reverence where each of the dancers demonstrated his or her virtuosity,

There was a well-deserved standing ovation on both nights. Indeed, Gita and I who were sitting one row back from the stage led the one on the 14, I enjoyed all three works but particularly the first. Possibly that is because I have seen November's work before and understand it better. He is one of the senior artists of Ballet Black. I first noticed him in 2015 when he toured with Ballet Central (see Dazzled 2 May 2015. He is an impressive dancer who showed his talents for choreography almost as soon as he joined the company

On Monday Northern Ballet announced that it had appointed David Collins as its new Executive Director. Collins comes from Opera North, another important regional touring company. I wish him every success in his new role.

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Mack and Mair and Adams too at the Liverpool Empire

November 11, 2022, 6:23 pm

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English National Ballet Swan LakeLiverpool Empire 1 Oct 2022 19:30

On the last day of its season at the Liverpool Empire, English National Ballet cast Brooklyn Mack as Siegfried and Natasha Mair as Odette-Odile. it was the first time those artists had performed those roles with English National Ballet though Wikipedia states that Mack had danced Siegfried with the Washinton Ballet and Mair's website states that she had danced Odette-Odile in Moscow and Turkey.

It is always interesting to watch a dancer perform one of the great classical roles for the first time, particularly at the Empire whose audiences can be loud and demonstrative. I am glad to say that the crowd loved them. Several gave them a standing ovation. In the lift of the multistorey next to Lime Street station, a lady purred "Didn't you just love them" eliciting ascent and contentment.

Mack is an American. He trained at the Kirov Academy in Washington D C. He danced with Joffrey Ballet, Orlando Ballet, the Washington Ballet and American Ballet Theatre before joining English National Ballet in 2015. He is listed as a guest artist on the company's website rather than as a principal or soloist. He is exciting to watch as the early clip shows; muscular, athletic and tightly self-controlled.. He was particularly impressive in the solo part of the pas de deux of the seduction scene of the third act.

Mair is from Vienna. That is where she trained and began her career. A clue as to what may have drawn her to England is that her favourite role is Lise in Ashton's La Fille mal gardée. it is not hard to imagine her excelling in that role from her monologue in Natascha Mair: our new Principal dancer | English National Ballet. The roles of Odette and Odile are quite different and not all ballerinas can carry off both with ease. Mair is one who can. Delicate and vulnerable in the white acts and hard as nails in the black, she is as accomplished an actor as she is a dancer.

Mack and Mair danced in Derek Deane's production of Swan Lake which has been in the company's repertoire for quite some time. I have seen it several times and know it well. It has several features that I love like the prologue where Odette is turned into a swan and the Neapolitan dance which Wayne Sleep and Jennifer Penney made their own. It provides plenty of opportunities for virtuosity in such roles as the pas de trois in act 1, the petits cygnes in the second and the divertissements in the third. Actually, one artist other than Mack and Mair who did stand out in the show and that was Precious Adams. She worked hard in Liverpool as a lead swan in acts II and IV and princess in act III, She was recently interviewed in The Guardian under the headline: Precious Adams on balancing ballet and computer science: ‘you don’t want to be 45 with zero credentials’

This was the first live performance by English National Ballet that I had seen since the 70th anniversary gala on 18 Jan 2020 just before the pandemic. It was reassuring to see it back on tour apparently in good shape. It will soon get a new artistic director (see English National Ballet announces Aaron Watkin as new artistic director The Guardian 24 Aug 2022), If the Semperoper Ballett's class and rehearsal of David Dawson's Romeo and Juliet are any kind of indicator, ENB will be in very good hands.

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Ballet Cymru at its Best

November 13, 2022, 2:22 am

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Ballet Cymru DreamStanley and Audrey Burton Theatre, Leeds 19L30

Yesterday I saw Ballet Cymru's Dream for the third time and I think it was their best performance of that ballet yet. There were two reasons for that. The first is that the performers and audiences are more familiar with the work. They know what makes us laugh (and cry) and members of the audience who have seen it before know what to look out for. As I said in Croeso i Ŵyl Dream on 9 July 2019:

"Shows often grow as they tour the country and I think that has happened with Dream. It was already a good show when I saw it in Mold on 29 May but it was even better yesterday."

The second reason is that the ballet was performed in a theatre in Northern Ballet and Phoenix's studios that those companies use for their own shows before an audience that knows and appreciates dance.

The Stanley and Audrey Burton's lighting and projection equipment enabled the company to make full use of James and Doughty's projection and Charles Illingworth's lighting designs. The company has always made ingenious use of those projections to create a sense of space. For example, their Romeo and Juliet is set not in 15th-century Verona but in contemporary Newport. The scene of the rumble between the Capulets and Montagues is instantly recognizable as the pedestrian walkway under the approach road to the bridge over the Usk. Well, despite the Greek music in the mechanicals' play, I felt transported not to an Athenian wood or even Warwickshire or South Wales but to New South Wales where Cobwebs or rather their makers are to be feared. The giveaway was the image of Sydney Harbour Bridge which I once walked across not to mention the gum trees and pyrotechnics in another scene. A reminder that Ballet Cymru has a strong link with Australia as well as Wales in Amy Doughty and Robbie Moorcroft.

Every dancer excelled last night and it would be wrong to single any out for special praise. It was hard not to adore Kotone Sugiyama who danced a feisty Hermia. Especially as she wiped her hands after knocking Demetrius (Jacob Hornsey) cold. Hornsey must also be commended for his performance as Bottom. Also, I loved Sanea Singh as Puck. An interesting contrast to Ballet Black's Isabela Coracey who also dances Puck in Arthur Pita's Dream within a Dream. Llongyfarchiadau calonnog to Caitlin Jones whom I think I remember from Swan Lake in Glasgow and Greenock the last full-length ballet that I saw live on stage before lockdown. She has created the role of Lysandia and made it her own. Moorcroft who dances Oberon and Helena's dad is always a pleasure to watch as is Isobel Holland his Titania. A special cheer for Beth Meadway and not just because she is one of our own. Her main character was Helena but she was also Wall and any artist who can bring to life a structure of cereal boxes has a very rare gift indeed. Her little dance at the curtain call for Pyramus and Thisbe was greeted with thunderous applause.

The company's patron, Cerys Matthews, once described Ballet Cymru as "the pride of Newport and the pride of Wales." But not just of Wales. They have performed three very different works, Child's Christmas, Giselle and now Dream in Leeds. I think it is safe to say that we have taken them to our hearts. And Yorkshire folk are not known for wearing their hearts on their sleeves.

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A Celebration of Dance: Wilis and More

November 21, 2022, 2:54 am

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Dance Studio Leeds, Powerhouse Ballet, Part of Giselle 19 Nov 2022, 15:00 Chroma Q Theatre, Leeds

By some fluke, I once accomplished a chassé, pas de bourrée, pirouettes single or double and pirouette dedans without everything going wrong. The delight on my teacher's countenance was a picture to behold. I saw exactly the same expression on Saturday after Powerhouse Ballet had danced the scene from act II of Giselle where Zulma and Moyna summon the wilis from their hidden forest graves to attend Myrtha.

The reason for my teacher's delight is that the cast danced very well. So well that I felt impelled to rise to my feet in standing ovation. Our teacher, Jane Tucker, had taught us the choreography during a day-long workshop in July and rehearsed us almost every weekend since. She had a cast with different levels of skill and experience and she adapted Coralli and Perrot's choreography in a way that enabled each and every one of them to shine. Christie Barnes excelled as Myrtha as did Lauren Savage and Esther Wilson as Moyna and Zulma. They were supported by a polished corps consisting of Fiona Cheng, Jayne Johnston, Helen Peacock. Sue Pritchard, Helena Tarren, Lois Watters, Anne Williams and Bo Zhang.

During our rehearsals, we discovered the talents of many of our members. Christie Barnes not only danced Myrtha but also directed several of our rehearsals including one that was effectively a second workshop at York St John University. We also discovered that she is an accomplished photographer and filmmaker as she chronicled our progress. Lauren Savage proved to be an excellent teacher leading one of our company classes and several warm-ups. We found costuming and make-up skills and lots of practical tips such as the best place to park on a busy Saturday from different members.

Those discoveries have advanced one of the objectives of Powerhouse Ballet which is to provide opportunities for members to develop their theatre skills. That is why I invited Katherine Wong to lead our company class in Bolton last October`. I have also asked Alicia Jolley to give a class in North Wales in the New Year, Holly Middleton to help rehearse future productions and drama student, Fiona Cheng, to teach us how to act.

Our 8-minute extract from Giselle was just one of many pieces performed at Dance Studio Leeds's Celebration of Dance on Saturday. The show was staged to raise funds for Martin House children's hospice in Boston Spa. At a health and safety briefing just before the show, the studio's director, Katie Geddes, announced that she had raised a very healthy profit for the charity, Readers will be happy to learn that this publication contributed to that sum as one of the show's sponsors.

Because I wanted to assist our cast in any way I could I only saw the second half of the show. However, everything that I did see was excellent. Every style of dance was on display from Egyptian folkloric bellydance to West Side Story. I enjoyed them all, particularly belly dancer Ya Habibi who entered the stalls inviting the audience to join her on stage, West Side Story and Afro Fusion's Rise 'N' Shine. Some of the pieces that I would like to have seen but couldn't because they were in the first part were Indian classical dances. Happily, at our last rehearsal, I asked the director to give us an exhibition class and some background information on the art form early in the new year.

Powerhouse Ballet hit a number of headwinds even before lockdown of which the biggest was scepticism. When Covid 19 closed the studios and theatres I wondered how we could possibly survive. Relief came from an unexpected source. Maria Chugai, a soloist of the Dutch National Ballet and the best Myrtha I have ever seen in over 60 years of balletgoing, offered us an online class in April 2020 which was a spectacular success. The success of that class encouraged me to invite other performers such as Krystal Lowe, Beth Meadway and Shannon Lilly as well as Jane Tucker, Annemarie Donoghue, Fiona Noonan and other teachers from our region to be online ballet mistresses.

Powerhouse Ballet is now on a roll. We have found a new venue at Ballet Contours near Manchester city centre where we shall hold this Saturday's company class. We welcome dancers from Hull to Hollyhead. If you can get to East Ordsall Lane by 15:00 do come and join us. We have invited Heather Boulton, the director of the studio, to give us our first company class at that venue. I visited the studio a few weeks ago and was most impressed. It is fully equipped with a well sprung floor. Above all, Heather is an excellent teacher.

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The Royal Ballet's Mayerling on Stage and Screen

December 5, 2022, 8:14 am

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Crown Prince Rudolf

The Royal Ballet Mayerling Royal Opera House, 29 Nov 2022 19:30

Schloß Mayerling is now a Carmelite convent. In 1889 it was a royal hunting lodge where Rudolf, the 30-year-old Crown Prince of the Austro-Hungarian empire, and Mary Vetsera, an impressionable 17-year-old, killed themselves. Details of their deaths were suppressed for many years but the truth eventually emerged. In 1978 Sir Kenneth MacMillan created a ballet on the story to the music of Franz Liszt with designs by Nicholas Georgiadis. I saw the work in the cinema in October and on stage at the Royal Opera House on 29 Nov 2022.

While not exactly a barrel of laughs it is one of MacMillan's most frequently performed ballets. It is not hard to see why. It has exciting choreography, enchanting music, elaborate sets and lavish costumes. For many years the Royal Ballet was the only company to stage Mayerling. There are now several others in the United States, Germany and Scotland. Scottish Ballet's was based on Sir Kenneth's choreography and staged with his widow's cooperation. I missed it because I was recovering from a hip injury when it was on tour.

The performance that I saw last Tuesday evening was one of my best nights at the ballet in a lifetime of theatre-going. That was despite last-minute cast changes resulting from an injury to Steven McRae. Having seen Ryoichi Hirano on screen I had been looking forward to a very different interpretation from McRea. I also wanted to see Kristin McNally as Sissi, Anne Rose O'Sullivan as Rudolf's long-suffering wife and Bradfordian Thomas Whitehead as Colonel Bay Middleton. Having said that I was not in the least disappointed by those who took their place.

The role that MacMillan created for Prince Rudolf is pretty close to the historical character. An exceptionally privileged individual who could literally get away with murder (or at least manslaughter) but also a very trapped one. A figure readily deserving contempt but also sympathy and compassion. Hirano stimulated all those emotions in me. Contempt as he humiliated his bride in a brothel or threatened women with his pistol but compassion as he drank himself crazy minutes before he blew his brains out. The role requires outstanding virtuosity. It requires a rare talent to carry all that off but that is exactly what Hirano did.

There are four important female roles in Mayerling:

Mary, Baroness Vetsora who agreed to die with him
Mitzi who most certainly would not
Rudolf's wife, Princess Stephanie of Belgium, and
his mother, Empress Sissi.

Akane Takada brought Mary to life with her sweetness and delicacy. Perhaps more than brought her to life because the real Mary was little more than a child when she met Rudolf. Leticia Dias was a streetwise Mitzi, picking herself up and carrying on even after a police raid. Yuhui Choe danced Stephanie. Her indignation was palpable as she was dragged to a brothel. Itziar Mendizabal danced the Empress exactly as I would have imagined her,

The Hapsburgs who had ruled Austria since the 13th century were approaching their end by the late 19th century. Like contemporary Britain, they faced challenges from nationalists represented in the ballet by the 4 Hungarian officers, Luca Acri, Benjamin Ella, Joseph Sissons and David Yudes. There was more than a little sleaze as represented by the sex workers. A flawed royal family had their extra-marital support in such characters as Sisi's lover Colonel Middleton danced by Nicol Edmonds.

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Ballet Black at 20

December 8, 2022, 1:04 pm

≫ Next: Ballet Cymru in Bangor - Finishing a Great Week of Ballet

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Ballet Black Say it Loud and Black Sun York Theatre Royal 11 Oct 2022 Lowry Salford 1 Dec 2022 20:00

I once attended an interview in which Cassa Pancho was asked about the early days of Ballet Black. She had created the company's first ballet but did not think that she would ever make another. Happily, that has not turned out to be the case. She and the dancers have given us Say It Loud, a glorious celebration of the company and its achievements over the last 20 years. It is the first part of a double bill that has been touring the country since March.

In her programme note, Cassa Pancho divides the work into chapters as though it were a book, The first chapter consisted of voces populorum. One that sticks in my memory is "Shouldn't all ballet should be like this". But there were more negative ones about the company's name, the ethnicity of its members and why it doesn't;t do more about knife crime. My favourite chapter was Mthuthuzeli November.'s "Welcome to London" which he danced with panache. That city may be expensive, congested, overpowering and for some even threatening but it's the company's home. There was a change of mood with Lord Kitchener's "If you're brown". But it was followed by hope: "We love ballet because ballet loves us back".

The second ballet, Gregory Maqoma's "Black Sun", was very different. Only to be expected, perhaps, because, as Ebony Thomas explained, one of the strengths of Ballet Black is that "no two ballets are the same."Black Sun was more than ballet. Indeed, it was more than theatre. It was akin to an act of worship. The climax of the piece started with drumming, followed by incantations from November and then cries, soft at first, then louder, from Isabela Coracy. It was a moving experience.

I became a fan of Ballet Black even before I saw them on stage. I was captivated by Sarah Kundi and Jade-Hale Christofi in Dépouillement. When I actually saw the company for the first time at the Bernie Grant Centre in Tottenham in 2013 I was enchanted. I am still under their spell nearly 10 years later. Every year Ballet Black seems to get better and better. In my estimation, this was their best season yet. I only wish I could have seen Mthuthuzeli dance Welcome to London in Stratford or the Barbican because I think the response of a London audience would have been ecstatic.

Every year that I have watched Ballet Black, Cira Robinson has been in the company. She is one of my all time favourite ballerinas. I admire her work very much. Sadly Ballet Black's season at the Lowry will have been Cira Robinson's last with the company. However, she is not leaving ballet and, even better, she is not leaving this country. She has taken up an appointment as Artistic Director of Yorkshire Ballet Seminars (see Yorkshire Ballet Seminars Facebook page 1 July 2022). I congratulate her and wish her every success.

The last time I saw Ballet Black on stage was just before the pandemic, They have recruited four very promising young dancers since then: Alexander Fedayiro, Taraja Hudson. Helga Paris-Morales and Rosanna Lindsey. I saw some of them at the Lowry and was very impressed. I wish them well.

Ballet Black will begin a new tour starting at the Barbican from 8 to 12 March 2022. It will be a double bill entitled "Ballet Black Pioneers". It will consist of Will Tuckett’s Then Or Now and Mthuthuzeli November’s By Whatever Means. I am very much looking forward to it.

For a review of Ballet Black's 2022 season at the Barbican, see Joanna Goodman's 20 years of Ballet Black - double bill at the Barbican and currently on tour 4 April 2022,

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Ballet Cymru in Bangor - Finishing a Great Week of Ballet

December 9, 2022, 11:08 pm

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Ballet Cymru A Child's Christmas and Terms and Conditions Pontio Centre, 2 Dec 2022 19:30

Last week I was lucky enough to see the Royal Ballet in Mayerling at the Royal Opera House on Tuesday, Ballet Black in Say it Loud and Black Sunat the Lowry on Thursday and Ballet Cymru in A Child's Christmas and Terms and Conditions at the Bryn Terkyl auditorium in Bangor on Friday. These were very different productions by very different companies in very different locations but each of those shows was outstanding in its own way.

Ballet Cymru created A Child's Christmas in Wales as part of a Dylan Thomas double bill in 2018. I saw that show several times and actually learnt some of the choreography in a workshop that Powerhouse Ballet hosted for Ballet Cymru (see More than a Bit Differently: Ballet Cymru's Workshop and the Launch of the Powerhouse Ballet Circle 28 Nov 2022). When I reviewed it in Ballet Cymru's Dylan Thomas Programme: The Company's Best Work Ever on 13 Dec 2018 I described it as the company's best work ever. I an still of that opinion even though the company has staged new productions of Giselle and Midsummer Night's Dream which I like very much in the meantime.

I noticed a few changes in the show since 2018. A different group of children seem to have been asked about their experience and expectations of Christmas or, in the case of one child, Eid. There seem to have been a new set of projections. Also, there is an almost entirely new cast. Robbie Moorcroft, Beth Meadway and Isobel Holland are the only dancers who performed in the 2018 show. One thing that has not changed is the mellifluous voice of Cerys Matthews, The laughter in her voice as she mimics the dialogue of kids fantasizing as to how they would deal with a hippopotamus in their street never fails to induce giggles. I used to associate Dylan Thomas with Richard Burton, Now I associate him with Matthews.

Ballet Cymru paired A Child's Christmas with Terms and Conditions, new work by Marcus Jarrell Willis. Marcus is an American who spent 8 years with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. As one who makes a living from drafting and construing terms and conditions, I was bemused by the title. I could not envisage how contract terms could possibly be spun into a 40-minute ballet. The answer is that these terms and conditions are about the negotiations that humans enter when experiencing love. Several aspects of love were explored, Each topic was introduced by the projection of a typewriter typing words on a screen punctuated occasionally by a voiceover. I will have to see the piece at least one more time in order to understand it properly but it seemed to work.

Before the main show, we were treated to a performance of Snow Day by pupils of Llanllyfni Primary School who had taken part in the Duets programme. This is an initiative by the Arts Council of Wales, the Paul Hamlyn Foundation and regional community dance organizations to introduce dance to schoolchildren in inner city and rural communities throughout Wales. It is important work. At the very least it should generate an informed audience for the performing arts, For a few highly talented children it may be the first step of a career in the theatre.

I have seen Ballet Cymru four times this year, They have performed in very different venues: a medieval cathedral, a university arts centre, a municipal theatre and the studios of two major dance companies. Audiences in those venues will have had different experiences of dance but there was no difference in the warmth of the reception. The company has had a good year and it can look forward to the future with confidence.

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Dawson

December 11, 2022, 11:35 pm

≫ Next: Powerhouse Ballet Looks Forward

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Dutch National Ballet Dawson 11 Dec2022 14:00 Music Theatre, Amsterdam

Although David Dawson is one of the United Kingdom's leading choreographers, balletgoers usually have to travel to see his work because he is Associate Artist with the Dutch National Ballet and Resident Choreographer with the Semeroper Ballett in Dresden. His surname is the name of a double bill of two of his works that the Dutch National Ballet is currently performing in Amsterdam. It consists of Legacy Variations, a new piece that the programme describes as "a love letter to the company that has been his home for 27 years" and The Four Seasons which was first performed in 2021.

Legacy Variations is danced by James Stout, Edo Wijnen and Joseph Massarelli. In an interview for the programme, Dawson explains why he cast them:

"I’ve worked with them since the day each of them joined the company, and since then we’ve discovered a way of working together that’s unique. In this new ballet, we reflect on our journey together, on what we’ve learnt and where we’ve arrived.”

He describes them as unique dancers: James as "very elegant and stoic, yet sensitive in his dancing" embodying a purity which is both strong and vulnerable at the same time; Edo as having "the quicksilver qualities of mercury" that "shines so brightly and moves in the most profoundly coordinated and musical way" and Joey as having "an abundant energy that appears endless" whose dancing is "incredibly organic, earthy in tone, with a deeply felt understanding of his own strength." The music for this piece is by Alex Baranowski, the sets were designed by John Otto and the costumes by Yumiko Takeshima.

I enjoyed Legacy Variations very much indeed. It exhibits the two qualities of its creator that I most admire. His adherence to the classical tradition in which he was trained and made his career as a dancer combined with a willingness to innovate. Although I had seen several of his work before I recognized those qualities for the first time when I saw his Sawn Lake for Scottish Ballet in Liverpool (see Empire Blanc: Dawson's Swan Lake 4 June 2016). This is a work that I long to see again and I would have seen its revival in 2020 had it not been for the lockdown. Legacy Variations reminded me why I am a Dawson fan. It is a very short work. For me, it was over almost as soon as it started. I could have watched it all afternoon. Having said that it must have required prodigious strength, stamina and concentration from Stout, Wijnen and Massarelli though they made it look effortless and aetherial.

TheFour Seasons is a longer work based on Max Richter’s arrangement of the well-known work by Vivaldi. This is a work for 16 dancers: Jingjing Mao, Jakob Feyferlik, Yuanyuan Zhang, Martin ten Kortenaar, Jessica Xuan, Sho Yamada, Mila Nicolussi Caviglia, Connie Vowles, Arianna Maldini, Luiza Bertho, Inés Marroquin, Conor Walmsley, Jan Spunda, Daniel Montero Real, Davi Ramos and Rémy Catalan. I have followed the careers of many of those dancers from the day they joined the Junior Company and it gives me enormous pleasure to see them in major roles. I am particularly proud of my compatriot Conor Walmley who comes from the same county as Kevin O'Hare, Xander and Demelza Parish and a less well-known but abundantly talented favourite, Beth Meadway. I was thrilled to learn that one of Powerhouse Ballet's guest ballet mistresses once taught Walmsley (and also me despite the gigantic chasm of age and talent between us).

This is another ballet that displays Dawson's classicism and innovation in abundance. The music, particularly Isabelle van Keulen's violin playing, was enchanting. Equally captivating were Eno Henze's simple geometric shapes representing the seasons - a green triangle for Spring, a red rectangle for Summer and a golden circle at the end and so on - that subtly changed position and lighting throughout the show. These were complemented by Takeshima's costume designs. Again, I could have watched it for hours. The artists were rewarded with thunderous applause and a standing ovation.

This has been an annus mirabilis with such highlights as Like Water for Chocolate and Mayerling from the Royal Ballet, the Van Manen festival from HNB and Mthuthuzeli November's Wailers for Northern, but I wrote on this blog's Facebook page that I had an inkling that Dawson would be special. I was not wrong.

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Powerhouse Ballet Looks Forward

December 27, 2022, 2:40 am

≫ Next: The Birmingham Nutcracker

≪ Previous: Dawson

Powerhouse Ballet in Class

This year has been Powerhouse Ballet's best ever. We gave our second and third public performances to packed houses at the Chroma Q Theatre in Leeds on 19 Nov 2022. I reviewed the show in A Celebration of Dance: Wilis and More on 21 Nov 2022. We held full-day workshops on The Nutcracker in March and Giselle in July. We returned to the Northwest with company classes in Bolton and Salford in September and November. We have offered training and rehearsing opportunities for four of our members with teaching skills, namely Katherine Wong, Lauren Savage, Christie Barnes and Alicia Jolley.

We are now on a roll and will build on that success immediately with a special online-only Post-Christmas company class with Beth Meadway between 14:00 and 15:30 on 28 Dec 2022. Beth is one of Ballet Cymru's lead dancers. I reviewed her performance as Helena and the Wall in Dream in Ballet Cymru at its Best on 13 Nov 2022 and in A Child's Christnas in Wales and Terms and Conditions in Ballet Cymru in Bangor - Finishing a Great Week of Ballet on 19 Dec 2022. Anyone can attend Beth's class from anywhere in the world. There will be no charge. All you need is a computer with an internet connection, a leotard or other danceweaer, ballet shoes and a little bit of space at home or elsewhere. It is not every day that you get a chance to dance with an up and coming ballet star from the comfort of your home. If you want to attend, register here.

Our first class in the studio of the New Year will be given by Northern Ballet Academy's Annemarie Donoghue at Dance Studio Leeds from 13:00 to 14:30 on 28 Jan 2023. In February we hope to give our first class in Wales. Alicia Jolley who danced in Aria has kindly agreed to give that class. The date, time and venue have yet to be agreed but it will probably take place in Mold on the afternoon of Saturday, 25 Feb 2023. In response to popular demand I have asked Fiona Noonan to deliver our March class and she has accepted in principle. Her class is likely to take place on 25 March 2023 either at Dance Studio Leeds or Huddersfield University.

Karen Lester-Sant of KNT Danceworks has kindly invited Powerhouse Ballet to dance in KNT's next show in Manchester. We are looking forward to this opportunity immensely. We shall start rehearsals as soon as we know the date. We already have the piece that we presented in Leeds on 19 Nov 2022 but it is possible that we may have a new work by then. Jane Tucker who directed and choreographed the Dance of the Wilis has offered us a workshop on another scene from Giselle early in the New Year. I shall leave the choice of scene to Jane but we have discussed some of the possibilities. These include the Retour des Vendageurs in act 1 as there is a big role for the ensemble. As soon as Jane gives me a date, I shall announce the workshop on Eventbrite.

One of the objectives of Powerhouse Ballet is to provide opportunities for members to develop their skills in all aspects of theatre. We have already made use of our members' teaching skills but other members also have skills that could be useful to the company. Fiona Cheng, for instance, is a drama student at Leeds Conservatory. I have seen her act in one of the Conservatory productions and was very impressed. The betrayal scene at the end of act 1 of Giselle requires considerable dramatic skills from Giselle and the other characters Drama is not formally taught in many dance schools and perhaps it should. I have therefore invited Fiona to propose an acting workshop for us. Other possible workshops include exhibition classes in Kathak and Welsh folk dancing with its spectacular grasshopper step.

As we are a company and not a school we will never charge our dancers for attending our classes and workshops. However, we shall be introducing a Friends scheme for those who wish to support the company and participate in some of its activities but not dance in its shows. A year's subscription will be around £25 a year and it will be possible for members to switch from "Friend" to "Dancer" and vice versa within the course of the year.

As this will be one of my last posts for this year, I should like to wish all my readers a happy and prosperous New Year.

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The Birmingham Nutcracker

January 7, 2023, 1:17 am

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Nutcracker 22 Homepage sizzle from Birmingham Royal Ballet on Vimeo.

Birmingham Royal Ballet The Nutcracker Royal Albert Hall, 31 Dec 2022 16:00

When I was young the London Festival Ballet converted the Royal Festival Hall into a theatre and staged The Nutcracker during the Christmas holidays. Because of the venue, those performances were less formal than those at Covent Garden, or Sadler's Wells. Probably they were also significantly less expensive because there were always lots of families at those shows. I was introduced to ballet at one of those performances as were many other young people. The Birmingham Royal Ballet continues that tradition by turning the Royal Albert Hall (London's other great concert hall) into a theatre and staging The Nutcracker there between Christmas and New Year's Eve.

Although the story, choreography, casts and costumes appear to be the same, a performance of The Nutcracker in the Royal Albert Hall is an altogether different experience from a performance of the same ballet at the Hippodrome. For a start, there is a narrator. The story is told by Simon Callow who is described as the "voice of Drosselmeyer". The performing space is large. The orchestra occupies a balcony above the stage. Scene changes such as the expanding Christmas tree are achieved by lighting and projection

The ballet is essentially about a young girl's dream. Clara (as she is called in this country) is given a nutcracker in the shape of a prince by Drosselmeyer, one of the guests at her parents' Christmas party. In her dream, the nutcracker comes to life and leads a detachment of toy soldiers against a pack of rodents. The rodents are about to gain the upper hand but Clara saves the day by thumping their king. As a reward, she is transported to a magical land where she is entertained by Spanish, Arabian and Chinese dancers representing chocolate, coffee and tea, cossacks, mirlitons, flowers and finally the Sugar Plum fairy and her cavalier. That is significantly different from the Russian version where the girl (known as Marie) becomes the Sugar Plum (see the "About the Performance" page on the Bolshoi's website).

One of the strengths of the Russian version is that audiences see the lead ballerina from the start. In the Birmingham and most other Western versions, she enters at the very end. Her pas de deux with her cavalier is little more than a divertissement, That always strikes me as a shame when Sugar Plum is danced by a principal. That is so different from Odette,Giselle, Aurora or any of the other great classical roles where audiences get to know the lead ballerina

I attended the 16:00 performance on New Year's eve which had a stellar cast. Céline Gittens was the Sugar Plum. Brandon Lawrence was her cavalier. Reina Fuchigami was Clara. Jonathan Payn was Drosselmeyer. Gittens is my favourite ballerina with that company, As I said in my review of her performance as Juliet, she has a quality that reminds me of her compatriot Lynn Seymour. Lawrence supported her gallantly as her cavalier.

Perhaps because it was the last performance of the year and they were looking forward to New Year's eve parties the artists seemed to dance with added energy and flair. I particularly liked the Spanish dance performed by Rosanna Ely, Louis Andreasen and Oscar Kempsey-Fagg. I also enjoyed the Snowflakes scene in the first act and the Waltz of the Flowers in the second. That is because I had performed those dancers, albeit after a fashion. Martin Dutton of the Hammond taught me the first snowflake's role at a KNT workshop in Manchester. I have also attended several of Jane Tucker's workshops on Waltz of the Flowers for KNT and Powerhouse Ballet. I learned more about The Nutcracker from those workshops than I had previously gained in a lifetime of watching it from the stalls.

There were some fun gimmicks on the set. Clara's brother was given a rat on wheels for Christmas. After that same brother had trashed the nutcracker Drosselmeyer was able to fix it remotely. I should have mentioned earlier that Drosselmeyer's store with his name in gothic writing appeared at the beginning.

A good ballet needs a good orchestra and this company has one of the best. Peter Murphy conducted them on New Year's eve to loud applause from both cast and audience.

Every major company in the UK has its version of The Nutcracker. I have seen them all at one time and another. We all have our favourites. This version is mine.

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Northern's Nutcracker

January 11, 2023, 3:14 am

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Northern Ballet The Nutcracker 5 Jan 2023 19:00 The Grand Theatre, Leeds

I saw The Nutcrackerone and a half times this year. The first time was on 28 Dec when Leeds was gridlocked with a match at Elland Road and an event at the First Direct Arena. The multistorey where I usually park was full and I had to leave my car at Woodhouse Lane which is a stiff walk to The Grand. The ushers let my companion and me into the auditorium halfway through the first act. As I could not fairly review a show that I had not seen from the start I returned on 5 Jan to see the same cast.

David Nixon's production of The Nutcracker is one of his best ballets. It is one of my favourite works in Northern Ballet's repertoire. Unlike his Swan Lake, he has left the story intact other than changing the name of the Stahkbaum family to Edwards. He has resisted the temptation to embellish it as Grigorovich, Bourne or even Sir Peter Wright did. He simply tells the tale of a young girl's dream after receiving an unusual gift from her eccentric uncle.

As Nixon's ballet focuses on the dream, Clara is the leading female role. There is a Sugar Plum but her pas de deux is simply the last of the divertissements. On my visits, Clara was danced by Rachael Gillespie. According to the programme notes, this was Gillespie's third season as Clara and she is perfect in that role. Even though she has been with the company since 2007 she does not look a day over 14 when dancing this character. She seems to live that role. The joy on her face when she receives her gift is truly childlike. So too is her dismay when her meddlesome little brother trashes the gift. Her performance was not just polished. It was inspired.

Sugar Plum was danced by Saeka Shirai. She joined the company recently and this was my first opportunity to watch her. She impressed me with her solo and I shall certainly look out for her in future. She was partnered by Jonathan Hanks whom I know rather better. He also danced "James" who is described in the cast list as "Louise [that is to say, Clara's sister's] friend."

Drosselmeyer was danced by a youthful Joseph Taylor and Sean Bates as Clara's dad seemed barely older than his daughter. Even younger was Clara's grandfather who was danced by Wesley Branch. Prior to the pandemic, some of those roles could have been filled by the likes of Javier Torres or Hironao Takahashi but they have all gone.

Fussing and fumbling and slightly dotty, Dominique Larose was a very convincing grandma in the first act. She came back in the second as the sexy, sultry and very supple beauty in the Arabian dance. Another artist who carried off successfully two very different roles was George Liang who doubled as the Mouse King and one of the Chinese dancers.

Save for the Christmas party and the battle between the toy soldiers and mice the ballet consists largely of divertissements. There are the automatons' dance and snowflakes in the first act and the Spanish, Arabian, Chinese, Cossacks, French, Waltz of the Flowers and the pas de deux in the second. I enjoyed them all, especially snowflakes and Sugar Plum's solo which Martin Dutton taught me and Waltz of the Flowers which Jane Tucker taught me at workshops held by KNT and Powerhouse Ballet. I learned more about The Nutcracker from those workshops than I had previously gained from a lifetime of theatre-going and I cannot recommend them too highly. The only comment that I would make about the others is that I admired Antoni Cañellas Artigues's virtuosity but the castanets suggest a duet or possibly a larger group.

As always the mice were very cute and the children very naughty. I was pleasantly surprised to see the girls charging across the stage with the boys in this production rather than sweetly tending to their dolls. In the past, the children have been rehearsed by Cara O'Shea. I could not find her in the programme this year but the children were as well-trained as ever. I have attended several of Cara's classes and she is a very gifted teacher. I would not be surprised to learn that she had trained the kids.

One improvement to the show that Federico Bonelli may wish to consider is to replace the backdrop to the the opening scene. It is supposed to be a book-lined wall but it ripples in the air which is risible, However, this is only a minor grumble. Overall it was still a good show.

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