Ann Maguire Gala 2017, Leeds 03/09/2017

[Jan McNulty]

What a truly lovely evening. More later.

[Tony Newcombe]

Janet, it most certainly was. If I have to mention one dancer, it has to be Ben Ella. Coming in at late notice to dance the final piece of the evening La Corsaire with Akane Takada. I thought he was sensational. It has been a long struggle for him due to injuries at the beginning of his career but in the last year or so he has had the opportunity to show us what a wonderful dancer he can be

[sunrise81]

Oh it was fantastic!!! The final piece from Le Corsaire was brilliant. My daughter gasped when he leapt through the air! 

[Jan McNulty]

The programme:

 

Overture

Introduction by Wayne Sleep

Concerto pdd - Mayara Magri and Ryoichi Hirano

New work by Kristen McNally - Kristen McNally and Bradley Waller

Swan Lake Act ll pdd - Fumi Kaneko and Nicol Edmonds

Quizàs by Will Tucket - Laura Morera and Ricardo Cervera

Aeternum pdd - Claire Calvert and Reece Clarke

Voices of Spring - Yuhui Choe and Alexander Campbell

 

Introduction by Wayne Sleep

Musical Medley from West Side Story and Les Miserables - Leeds Youth Opera

Clair de Lune by Alastair Marriott - Edward Watson

Within the Golden Hour pdd - Beatriz Stix-Brunell and Alexander Campbell

Asphodel Meadows pdd - Laura Morera and Ryoichi Hirano

1984 duet - Dreda 'Blow and Giuliano Contadini

Czardas - Steven McRae accompanied by  Vasko Vassilev

Meditation from Thais pdd - Itziar Mendizabal and Nicol Edmonds

Wayne Sleep introduced Emma-Jane Maguire to the audience and she made a very moving speech about her Mum

Le Corsaire pdd - Akane Takada and Benjamin Ella

 

Accompanied by the Manchester Camerata conducted by Paul Murphy

 

As I said in my opening post it was a lovely evening.  I thought it was a really well balanced programme with a mixture of gala war horses and new work.  Emma_Jane Maguire has done a wonderful job in getting this gala set up - huge kudos to her.  I enjoyed all the pieces and thought they were all danced very well.  The orchestra was utterly magnificent!  I had a brief word with Paul Murphy and he said that the orchestra does not usually accompany ballet and had only previously done so for two Carlos Acosta shows at the Lowry.  Well I sincerely hope they continue to accompany ballet!

 

OK and because I am very biased my personal highlights were Yuhui and Alex in Voices of Spring, Edward Watson in Clair de Lune and Dreda and Giuliano in 1984.

 

I agree with Tony's comment about Benjamin Ella.

 

I hope this gala has made the Ann Maguire Arts Education Fund a heck of a lot of money and I do hope that Emma-Jane Maguire will bring the gala back to Leeds in the coming years.

[shygirlsmum]

It was superb...... We only found out about it when Marguerite Porter mentioned it on the final day of YBSS and I'm so glad that she did! such a privilege for my daughter so see so many of the amazing teachers from YBSS perform. 

I must confess that I don't know many dancers but I loved all the performances especially Steven McRae's tap and the couple who performed in Grey.  

Its funny really as I have never danced and before my daughter became serious about ballet it wasn't really something I was interested in, but now I love it, watching a live performance makes me so emotional, I wish I could go more often.

[_emeralds]

I made a trip to Leeds to see this and what an evening!!

I enjoyed all the pieces really, it was particularly lovely to see the young performers as the next generation coming up and benefiting from the Ann Maguire foundation.

Wayne Sleep was a charming host, and Emma Maguire's speech was really touching.

I have to mention Laura Morera - every time I see her dance she captivates me. She embodies the music, plays with it then spits it out...she's supple and eloquent. Her upper back! Really beautiful!

Clair de Lune was stunning - Edward Watson created so much drama simply by raising his arm to 5th.

Of course the Czardas tap / violin explosion was amazing and delighted my Hungarian other half.

It was lovely to see Thais and Voices of Spring as I'd never seen them before, I'm not a big Ashton fan, but I had always been very charmed by these pieces on Youtube and they didn't disappoint.

Oh and 1984 - fabulous dancers!! Amazing dance-acting, you really felt the audience actually stopped breathing out of utter concentration during this piece, it was so captivating.

Loved Akane Takada and Benjamin Ella in Le Corsaire too!