Jan McNulty

Shame it's not David Bintley's for BRB!

Gail, I've responded. Thanks

All I can find is the facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Natalia-Kremen-Ballet-School/213478738721914

BIRMINGHAM ROYAL BALLET’S 2012 SUMMER SEASON at BIRMINGHAM HIPPODROME David Bintley’s production of Far From the Madding Crowd A mixed bill Summer Celebration Venue and booking information: Birmingham Hippodrome: Tickets: 0844 338 5000 www.birminghamhippodrome.com Birmingham Royal Ballet is delighted to return to the Birmingham Hippodrome stage from 20 – 30 June. The Company will perform its summer season in its home town with two programmes; David Bintley’s captivating production of Far From the Madding Crowd, and a mixed bill Summer Celebration. FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD20 – 23 JUNE Far From the Madding Crowd, created by David Bintley, Company Director and award-winning creator of the Company’s huge Christmas hit Cinderella, enjoyed its world premiere in 1996 performed by Birmingham Royal Ballet at the Birmingham Hippodrome. Now sixteen years later it is once again being performed at the Company’s home theatre. Passions run out of control in this balletic adaption of Thomas Hardy's famous novel. It is an enrapturing story of lust, deceit and murder, with one woman at the centre of it all. Bathsheba Everdene sends ripples through the lives of three men as they compete for her love. The dependable farm-hand Gabriel Oak, the dignified but obsessive William Boldwood and the dashing but deceitful Sergeant Francis Troy, all vie with each other for the heart of the woman they love... Bathsheba's complex relationship with all three leads one to death, one to madness and the other to true love. Adorned in stunningly detailed period costumes and sets by designer Hayden Griffin, and with an evocative score by Paul Reade, composer of the Company's Hobson's Choice, Far from the Madding Crowd makes a very welcome return to the stage. If you are a fan of the worlds of Gone with the Wind, Cranford or The Forsyte Saga, this is a ballet for you. SUMMER CELEBRATION 27 - 30 JUNE (The Grand Tour / Faster / The Dream) A sizzling taste of Shakespeare, Noel Coward and Olympic dreams round off the Company’s 2011/12 season at Birmingham Hippodrome. All aboard for the roaring 20s with The Grand Tour! Setting out for Europe, our heroine, a doughty American spinster, can't believe her luck when she embarks on her cruise and finds herself in the company of a feast of famous faces. However, it turns out that Noël Coward, Gertrude Stein and George Bernard Shaw, to name but a few, aren't necessarily the friendliest of shipmates. Add stowaways and a rather handsome Chief Steward into the mix and things might get a little... complicated. Choreographer of many films and hit Broadway shows, Joe Layton's The Grand Tour is a genuinely funny take on the eccentric celebrities that populated England's stages, screens and newspapers in the 1920s. Accompanied by unique orchestral renditions of Noël Coward songs, the critically-acclaimed The Grand Tour makes a long-overdue return to the stage. Faster is a brand new ballet inspired by the Olympic motto ‘Faster, Higher, Stronger’, and comes from the award-winning team behind E=mc². After winning the last ever South Bank Show Dance award in 2010 with E=mc², Company Director David Bintley embarks on a second collaboration with renowned Australian composer Matthew Hindson. This ballet of speed, power and athleticism will be a fitting creation for the lead-up to London 2012. Rounding off the Summer Celebration triple bill is The Dream. The course of true love never did run smooth... certainly not if a group of mischievous fairies have anything to do with it! In Frederick Ashton's The Dream, having argued with beautiful Titania, Oberon, king of the fairies, seeks a suitable revenge. He orders the fairy Puck to transform a dopey local peasant into a donkey and cause Titania to fall in love with it. This he does, but things soon get out of hand - over-use of the love potion pits friend against friend and hilariously embroils four poor mortals in the fairies' games. Felix Mendelsson's tuneful and instantly recognisable music to A Midsummer Night's Dream becomes the basis for Ashton's elfin comedy, as he shows his mastery of dance, theatre and humour, weaving and unravelling an other-worldly web of mischief. PERFORMANCE DIARY FOR THE 2012 BIRMINGHAM SUMMER SEASON FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD Birmingham Hippodrome: Wednesday 20 – Saturday 23 June Daily at 7.30pm plus matinees at 2pm on Thursday and 2.30pm on Saturday SUMMER CELEBRATION (THE GRAND TOUR/ FASTER/ THE DREAM) Birmingham Hippodrome: Wednesday 27 – Saturday 30 June Daily at 7.30pm plus matinees at 2pm on Thursday and 2.30pm on Saturday Venue and booking information: Birmingham Hippodrome: Tickets: 0844 338 5000 www.birminghamhippodrome.com

Northern Ballet and Dep Arts pairing continues The first Dep Arts season of contemporary dance at Northern Ballet concludes this month with a performance from London-based Company Pair Dance. Formed in 2006 by choreographer Harriet Macauley and sound design artist Richard Leonard, this exciting company has performed nationally and internationally as far afield as New York; Canada; Turkey and Spain, where they won the Masdanza International Dance Contest in 2010. Harriet's choreographic works are created with original sound scores written, arranged and produced by Richard. Her work explores the relationship between movement and sound with performers working on the brink of their limits both mentally and physically. Performing their fast-paced new work Duality, they use digital media and illusion to bring dance and technology together to interact and exist simultaneously. The performance will be the final part of the spring season of contemporary dance from Dep Arts in collaboration with Northern Ballet. After a highly successful season that has brought Joss Arnott Dance, James Wilton Dance, Rosie Kay Dance Company and now Pair Dance to Leeds, the relationship continues to go from strength to strength with an exciting autumn season soon to be announced. Information about performances and details on how to book can be found at theatreleeds.com or by phoning 0113 220 8008. ENDS Notes to editors The Stanley & Audrey Burton Theatre is situated in the award-winning home of Northern Ballet and Phoenix Dance Theatre, on Quarry Hill in central Leeds. The theatre seats up to 230 people and offers a unique and intimate environment in which to see live dance, as well as a range of live music, comedy and theatre. Dep Arts are one of the UK's leading contemporary dance & live arts producers, working with more than 20 dance companies across the country and internationally. The spring 2012 programme will act as a pilot season of work with the aim to develop the partnership further, programming an autumn and spring season of work each year. Dance Listings 23 May Dep Arts in association with Northern Ballet present Pair Dance Duality Performance 7.30pm Tickets £10 & Concessions £8 Groups 8+ £8 per ticket plus 1 free in every 10 bought. 13 July Phoenix Youth Platform Performance 7.30pm Tickets £6 & Concessions £3.50

I've just had my paper brochure, with details of performance times, and am very sad to see the lack of matinees. Even the SFB 1600 starts are no good on a Sunday if travelling from Liverpool - it would still entail an overnight stay.

Oh - was that a football match?

I do get an uplift from those you mentioned - of the sobbing variety! I also got a holiday idea from Mayerling - a friend and I went to Vienna! I also think I've stated on numerous occasions that Onegin is the work through which I discovered ballet and which is still my favourite.

I'm on the waiting list. I hadn't realised about the copyright issue John, I've only looked at sites pointed to by the owners (NB and BRB).

I like the way Rambert preserve some of their heritage and introduce new choreographers too. I suspect with this programme LJ is saying "same old same old". I don't think Itzak Galili is particularly admired by the press in this country but the audiences (including me) seem to like his stuff. Aileen, I was in to contemporary dance before I discovered ballet and have found, over the years, a lot of the choreography to be pleasant but disposable. There again, I guess I could say the same about ballet. Rambert are always worth seeing because of the wonderful dancers in the company and usually with the mixed programmes they show there is something to enjoy even if you don't like the whole evening. I'm starting to ramble a bit but to me there is a similarity between LJ's review and the "whither ballet" thread.

Gail R posted details of an offer in ticket trade but it may not suit you.

I'll let you off then!

Ian - see my thoughts on the whither ballet thread. You expressed them so much more eloquently than me!

Jane you have taken the words right out of my mouth!! I want to be uplifted when I come out of a ballet (or dance) performance. As you say so eloquently, it could be because I have been reduced to uncontrollable sobbing (eg Two Pigeons) or because I have laughed so much (eg Northern Ballet's Midsummer NIght's Dream) or because I have been made to think (eg FADT). For me it doesn't have to be a story ballet or abstract - I enjoy both. It doesn't have to be a particular style although I love watching Ashton. I love to see new works (even if I don't like them) and I love to see new dancers getting a chance in established ballets. I think most of the general public want something different from the professional reviewers. In my opinion professional reviewers tend to see performances through different eyes to the rest of us but then they have to be objective they can't just watch and enjoy like the rest of us.

I finally managed to see a production by DV8 last night at the Lowry. I wasn't really sure what to expect. Can we talk about this is about racism and the narrative is taken from statements by individual people who have suffered and from newspaper articles. The movement is repetitive and hypnotic; I can't believe the sustained energy of the performers who talk and dance at the same time. This is a hard-hitting, thought provoking and intense production. I can't say that I came out on a high but I can't stop thinking about it. I would highly recommend it.

Anyone with Twitter accounts should be aware that they could be subject to hacking attacks. The hacked accounts send direct messages to followers that mention bad/nasty rumours and give you a log in page. If this happens, do not open the message. If you are hacked the advice seems to be to change your password, log out and back in again. Good luck!

Accrington Stanley!

Here's a link to a shot documentary that has been made about FADT: http://www.badkamra.co.uk/2012/05/17/fallen-angels-lowry-theatre-14th-may-2012/

Sue - thanks for posting. I loved reading your thoughts. It was great seeing you and B up in Buxton and I would echo your sentiments that I hope BRB return to Buxton.

Alison, just to confirm you only see a list of topics if you are not logged in.

Cornwall is such a beautiful county and I didn't really need the excuse of the BRB Midscale Tour being in Truro to visit! The Midscale South West Tour 2012 comprised Take Five, White Swan adagio, excerpt from Two Pigeons gypsy encampment, Concerto pdd and The Grand Tour. We saw three wonderful performances of Take Five, including the one I described that was part of Robert Parker's final performance (http://www.balletcoforum.com/index.php?/topic/929-thank-you-and-good-luck-to-robert-parker/). The bite-sized ballet could have looked awkward given that the three excerpts were danced completely out of context. It was admirable, therefore, that all the casts we saw were able to convey something of the roles. I must say that Celine Gittens and Tyrone Singleton were breath-taking in the White Swan adagio. Celine was every inch the frightened, tortured swan princess with her beautiful arms and hands and elegance of line. Tyrone Singleton is simply born to dance the Prince. Together they were dynamite and I really hope that we get to see them perform the full Swan Lake together in the Autumn (if they do - beg, steal or borrow a ticket!). The Two Pigeons excerpt was danced by all three casts we saw with panache and enthusiasm. The pdd from Concerto is very beautiful and we saw three gorgeous performaces. Callie Roberts and Tom Rogers were divine together. I really didn't know what to make of The Grand Tour. I watched Friday evening's performance with open-mouthed disbelief. By the end of Saturday evening's performance I was really enjoying it and I'm very much looking forward to seeing it again! It's very stylised and full of famous characters. It is set on a cruise-liner in the late 1920s and the costumes are to die for. The "story" is centred around an American tourist who is looked down upon by the celebrities on the cruise. She helps a couple of stowaways and, in turn, she is looked after by the Chief Steward. There's some nice choreography for the stewards and the stowaways and a very touching duet for the tourist and the chief steward. There are vignettes for the celebrities who include Noel Coward, Douglas Fairbans, Gertrude Lawrence and Theda Bara. It is one of those demi-caractere ballets at which Birmingham Royal Ballet excels and the dancers all performed with panache. Both the always wonderful Victoria Marr and youngster Jade Heuson were fabulous as the American Tourist. I particularly liked Callie Roberts as Theda Bara and Samara Downs as Gertrude Lawrence. Matthew Lawrence excelled as Noel Coward and Robert Parker was a dashing Douglas Fairbanks. I personally would have started the evening with The Grand Tour and ended with Take Five but all round it was a very enjoyable programme and we enjoyed three terrific performances.

The Autumn 2012 Season at Sadler’s Wells The Autumn 2012 season is on sale from Monday 21 May 2012 To view the Autumn 2012 season brochure visit: http://www.sadlerswells.com/autumn2012 The Autumn 2012 season at Sadler’s Wells in detail: James Cousins New Adventures Choreographer Award: Showcase WORLD PREMIERE Friday 7 September Tickets: £12 Selected from hundreds, James Cousins is the winner of the inaugural New Adventures Choreographer Award (NACA). The evening features three world premieres. Cousins’ There We Have Been is a duet which takes inspiration from the climax of the 1957 novel, Jealousy by Alain Robbe-Grillet and Everything and Nothing is a dynamic collaboration between James Cousins, lighting designer Lee Curran and set designer Colin Falconer. The piece is performed to an original score fusing electronic and classical sound worlds by composer Seymour Milton. NACA runner-up Tom Jackson Greaves premieres Vanity Fowl which observes one man’s journey from grace to disgrace. With a pioneering score by Peter Lyons, this intimate solo is performed by the choreographer himself. British Youth Opera PEACOCK THEATRE The Bartered Bride / A Night at the Chinese Opera Saturday 8 - Saturday 15 September Tickets: £12 - £40 British Youth Opera celebrates its 25th anniversary with two new productions in association with Southbank Sinfonia. Smetana’s comic masterpiece, inspired by folk tales from his native Bohemia, tells of The Bartered Bride whose arranged marriage is thwarted by her true love’s cunning. A Night at the Chinese Opera is a colourful depiction of China in the time of Kublai Khan, Marco Polo and the ‘Orphan of Zhao’, whose tragic tale of military invasion and personal vendetta is mirrored by Judith Weir’s theatrically turbocharged comic-opera-within-an-opera. Free pre-show talks: Tuesday 11, Friday 14, Saturday 15 at 5.45pm, Wednesday 12 September at 6.15pm Kassys LILIAN BAYLIS STUDIO Cadavre Exquis UK PREMIERE Thursday 13 & Friday 14 September Tickets: £15 A Cadavre Exquis is a poem written by several poets, without knowing what the others have written. The first writer composes a line of poetry on a piece of paper. Then he or she folds the paper so that only the last word is visible. The second writer continues, guided by that last word. The third writer follows and so on. For this performance, four theatre companies have come together to create a live Cadavre Exquis on stage. Each creates a 15 minute section that starts with the last image of the previous part, without knowing what has taken place previously. This innovative international project is being led by Kassys theatre company (Holland), Nature Theater of Oklahoma (US), Tim Crouch (UK) and Nicole Beutler (Germany / Holland). Free post-show talk for ticket holders: Friday 14 September San Francisco Ballet Three Mixed Bills Friday 14 - Sunday 23 September Tickets: £12 - £45 San Francisco Ballet has a worldwide reputation for its vast and rich repertory, performed by some of the finest ballet dancers today. This autumn, the company arrives in London to present three programmes over two weeks, performing some of its most popular works of recent years. Programme A features Edwaard Liang’s abstract ballet Symphonic Dances, set to Rachmaninov’s last composition, George Balanchine’s work for Mozart’s chamber piece, Divertimento No.15 and Christopher Wheeldon’s uplifting Number Nine. Programme B brings together Wheeldon’s atmospheric 2010 work Ghosts, Ashley Page’s highly physical Guide to Strange Places set to music by John Adams and a triptych ballet Trio, choreographed by San Francisco Ballet artistic director Helgi Tomasson and set to Tchaikovsky’s glorious Souvenir de Florence. Programme C is comprised of Mark Morris’ Beaux, Yuri Possokhov’s interpretation of Prokofiev’s Classical Symphony, Possokhov’s multimedia dance theatre work RAkU, based on the burning of Kyoto’s Golden Pavilion in 1950; and Christopher Wheeldon’s ethereal Within the Golden Hour, set to music by Ezio Bosso and Vivaldi. ZooNation Dance Company PEACOCK THEATRE Some Like it Hip Hop Thursday 20 September - Saturday 13 October Tickets: £12 - £38 ZooNation’s Some Like It Hip Hop was one of the most successful new shows to hit the West End last year, wowing audiences and prompting widespread critical praise, five star reviews and standing ovations with its infectious “wit, heart and magnificent energy” (The Independent). Following in the footsteps of the company’s 2006 smash hit Into the Hoods, Some Like It Hip Hop unites sensational dancing with a clever and engrossing storyline. The show returns to the Peacock Theatre for a limited run ahead of its first UK tour, having been nominated for multiple awards including two Olivier Awards and a South Bank Sky Arts Award. With a nod to Billy Wilder’s film and Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, it tells a comical tale of love, mistaken identity, cross-dressing and revolution; all played out in ZooNation’s trademark style of hip hop, comedy and physical theatre. Directed by Kate Prince, Some Like It Hip Hop features original music by Josh Cohen and DJ Walde. “Zany and zippy, hilarious and heart warming. A WINNER” The Times A ZooNation and Sadler’s Wells Co-production Sasha Waltz & Guests Continu UK PREMIERE Friday 28 - Sunday 30 September Tickets: £12 - £38 Based in Berlin, Sasha Waltz & Guests is known for its innovative choreographic musical theatre performances. Since being founded in 1993 it has collaborated with more than 250 artists and ensembles, from 25 countries on nearly 20 productions. The company presents the UK premiere of Sasha Waltz’s Continu, a full length dance performance partly inspired by her work on two major museum-based projects: the artistic inaugurations for David Chipperfield’s Neues Museum in Berlin, and Zaha Hadid’s MAXXI in Rome. Developed with 24 dancers, Continu is set to a contemporary classical score, featuring Arcana, written in 1927 by French avant-gardecomposer Edgar Varèse. Featuring costume design by Bernd Skodzig, scenography by regular collaborators Thomas Schenk and Pia Maier Schriever and lighting by Martin Hauk Continu is also set to music by Iannis Xenakis and Claude Vivier. A Sadler’s Wells Co-production Akram Khan Company DESH Tuesday 2 - Tuesday 9 October Tickets: £12 - £36 Sadler’s Wells Associate Artist Akram Khan’s latest work made its world premiere in 2011 to unanimous critical praise. The Olivier Award-winning DESH is a full length contemporary solo and his most personal work to date. Meaning “homeland” in Bengali, DESH draws on multiple tales of land, nation and resistance, all converging in the body and voice of one man trying to find his balance in an unstable world. Moving between Britain and Bangladesh, Khan weaves threads of memory, experience and myth into a surreal world of surprising connection. A collaboration of extraordinary proportions, Khan joined forces with visual artist Tim Yip (production designer for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), award-winning lighting designer Michael Hulls, writer and poet Karthika Nair, Olivier Award-winning composer Jocelyn Pook and slam poet PolarBear to create “the most urgent, beautiful and confident work of his career” (The Guardian). Captioned performance by Stage Text: Wednesday 3 October A Sadler’s Wells Co-production Supported by American Express Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet Mixed Bill UK PREMIERE Thursday 11 - Saturday 13 October Tickets: £12 - £27 New York based company Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet makes its highly anticipated UK debut, presenting three UK premieres at Sadler’s Wells. Led by artistic director Benoit-Swan Pouffer, the company is known for its “impressive articulation and intensity” (New York Times) in works created by some of the world’s most highly regarded dance makers. Its programme includes Hofesh Shechter’s Violet Kid, which examines man’s struggle for harmony within a complex and often horrifying universe. Performed by all 16 dancers, the piece is set to an original score by Shechter using recorded audio text performed by the choreographer. Alexander Ekman’s Tuplet is also featured. This work for six dancers is set to a score created in collaboration with the dancers’ own rhythmic impulses, using their bodies as percussion, alongside an electronic score composed by Mikael Karlsson. Former star of Sadler’s Wells’ Debut initiative, Canadian choreographer Crystal Pite’s Grace Engine concludes the bill. Rambert Dance Company Featuring Labyrinth of Love Tuesday 16 - Saturday 20 October Tickets: £12 - £38 Returning to Sadler’s Wells this October is one of Britain’s leading dance companies Rambert Dance Company. Irish choreographer Marguerite Donlon makes her Rambert debut with Labyrinth of Love. Both heartbreaking and humorous, it is set to a commissioned score by one of America’s most performed living composers, Michael Daugherty. With designs by renowned visual artist Mat Collishaw and theatre designer Conor Murphy, Labyrinth of Love is accompanied on stage by a soprano. Continuing Rambert’s relationship with Merce Cunningham’s legacy, Sounddance makes its UK revival premiere alongside Roses by Paul Taylor, another American dance master. Richard Alston’s sharp and witty creation, Dutiful Ducks, completes the programme. Live music is provided by the Rambert orchestra. Free pre-show talk (BSL): Wednesday 17 October 6.30pm BSL-Interpreted Show: Wednesday 17 October Free pre-show music talk: Friday 19 October 6.30pm Jonzi D LILIAN BAYLIS STUDIO Lyrikal Fearta - Redux Thursday 18 - Saturday 20 October & Thursday 25 - Saturday 27 October WORLD PREMIERE Tickets: £15 Sadler’s Wells Associate Artist Jonzi D returns to his creative roots to perform his Lyrikal Fearta. For many years Jonzi D has been known as the face leading the international festival of hip hop dance that is Breakin’ Convention. Jonzi is now launching out on his own again, returning to the stage after ten years as a creator of sharp, relevant and poetic dance theatre with two programmes of works made up of past productions and new creations. Programme A features vintage Jonzi; Guilty, Shoota, Safe, Aeroplane Man and Silence the Bitchin’. Programme B includes a specially commissioned new work; representing Jonzi's ‘choreopoetic’ response to his world today. Working with a small team of performers and a live band, both programmes have poetry, movement, politics and wit. “The name Jonzi D shouts respect in circles of hip hop dance theatre” The Independent Age Guidance: 12+ Free post-show talk for ticket holders: Friday 19 & Friday 26 October A Sadler’s Wells Production body:language talks LILIAN BAYLIS STUDIO Monday 22 October Jonzi D and Soweto Kinch Monday 12 November Sue Buckmaster Monday 3 December Hofesh Shechter Tickets: £6 body:language returns with a fourth series of talks in the Lilian Baylis Studio about the body in dance and live performance, philosophy, science, medicine, anthropology and the arts. The talks are chaired by Guy Cools and feature Sadler’s Wells Associate Artists Jonzi D and Hofesh Shechter, as well as Sue Buckmaster, Artistic Director of Theatre-Rites, and jazz musician Soweto Kinch. Birmingham Royal Ballet Opposites Attract & Autumn Celebration! Tuesday 23 - Saturday 27 October Tickets: £10 - £40 Birmingham Royal Ballet present two programmes this Autumn. Opposites Attract features three modern ballets.Co-commissioned by Birmingham Royal Ballet and International Dance Festival Birmingham 2012, Lyric Pieces is American choreographer Jessica Lang’s first ballet for a major European company, set to music by Norwegian Romantic Edvard Grieg. Take Five is director David Bintley’s personal tribute to jazz icon Dave Brubeck. Completing the bill is one of Hans van Manen’s most famous works, Grösse Fuge. Autumn Celebration! brings together Shakespeare, Noel Coward and an Olympic theme. The Grand Tour by Broadway show choreographer Joe Layton is an amusing take on the celebrities of the 1920s. Faster, a ballet inspired by the Olympic motto, ‘Faster, Higher, Stronger’ from David Bintley and composer Matthew Hindson, focuses on speed, power and athleticism. Finally, The Dream is Frederick Ashton’s elfin comedy based on A Midsummer Night’s Dream performed to Mendelssohn’s instantly recognisable score. Russell Maliphant Company The Rodin Project Monday 29 - Wednesday 31 October Tickets: £12 - £27 Inspired by the works of the great French sculptor Auguste Rodin, award-winning choreographer Russell Maliphant’s latest work made its UK premiere at Sadler’s Wells as part of British Dance Edition earlier this year to critical acclaim. After a successful European tour, The Rodin Project returns for three nights, giving audiences a second chance to see this visually arresting piece set to Alexander Zekke’s entrancing score. The Rodin Project also features lighting design by Sadler’s Wells Associate Artist Michael Hulls, set design by Es Devlin and Bronia Housman, and costumes by Stevie Stewart. “The dancers hang, slide, tumble and contort themselves, while the choreography shapes a language of delight from a vocabulary of torment” Evening Standard Contains some nudity Pre-show Director’s Conversation (live subtitling): Tuesday 30 October 6.15pm - 7pm £4, £3 conc A Sadler’s Wells/Russell Maliphant Production Philippe Decouflé Company DCA Panorama UK PREMIERE Friday 2 - Sunday 4 November Tickets: £12 - £38 The imagination of Philippe Decouflé has been delighting audiences for nearly 30 years. A choreographer, dancer, mime artist and director, his latest piece, Panorama, draws on his company’s extensive repertoire, dating back to 1983 with Vague Café. This is no ordinary retrospective; a new production has emerged in which Decouflé and company ‘re-write’ their past glories with generous helpings of humour and astonishingly full throttled performances by seven dancers, taking in elements from eight of their earlier works. Among them is Codex (1986) and its army of strange flipper-equipped microbes, Triton (1998), which plays with every dance and circus cliché imaginable, Shazam (1998), with its kaleidoscope of frames, surfaces and mirrors and 2006’s Sombrero, mixing video and Chinese shadows to Claude Ponti’s texts. “A man who knows how to use the power of illusion to make life tip into dream and beauty” Le Monde Rosas En Atendant / Cesena UK PREMIERE Monday 5 - Friday 9 November Tickets: £12 - £27 Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker and her company Rosas return to Sadler’s Wells with two of their most recent works, En Atendant and Cesena. Cesena is a celebration of dawn, while En Atendant captures the merging of twilight into night. Performed by eight dancers, three musicians and one singer, En Atendant is set to the Ars Subtilior - a complex form of 14th century medieval polyphony featuring dissonance and contrast. For Cesena the company worked closely with Björn Schmelzer and his graindelavoix music ensemble. The stage, with set by Ann Veronica Janssen, is shared by 19 dancers and singers, all of whom both sing and dance, exploring the limits of their abilities. “De Keersmaeker’s artistry and intelligence can’t be overstated” Evening Standard ]Pre-show Director’s Conversation (live subtitling): Tuesday 6 November 6pm - 6.45pm £4, £3 conc Toni Jodar LILIAN BAYLIS STUDIO Modern Dance Speaks! UK PREMIERE Wednesday 7 & Thursday 8 November Tickets: £10 Toni Jodar explains the history of dance through the medium of dance itself using a combination of performance and storytelling. Audiences are shown the evolution of the art form from classical through to contemporary as Jodar explains the different genres and forms that the body uses to express itself in movement. He also reveals the influence and legacy of each generation on the artists that have followed. Designed to raise awareness about dance, this humorous work was first presented a decade ago and has appeared in a wide range of venues, including schools, museums, theatres and universities. This performance is a reflection of Jodar’s philosophy that dance can, and should, be open to everyone. Jasmin Vardimon Company FREEDOM Monday 12 & Tuesday 13 November Tickets: £12 - £27 Following sell-out performances at Sadler's Wells of 7734 and Yesterday, award-winning choreographer and Sadler’s Wells Associate Artist Jasmin Vardimon returns with the London premiere of her new work, FREEDOM. Exploring notions of what keeps our imagination free; this full-length dance theatre production promises breathtaking physicality with brutally visceral characterisation. Powered by Vardimon's beguiling theatricality and provocative daring, FREEDOM is performed by a company of international dancers. Uniting the creative team behind her previous productions, FREEDOM layers intricate visuals and animation with live action and inventive set designs. “Vardimon is a powerful voice in Physical Theatre, and the daring movements she creates leave scars on the memory” The Guardian Age Guidance: 14+ Free post-show talk for ticket holders: Monday 12 November A Sadler’s Wells Co-commission Alias Sideways Rain UK PREMIERE Thursday 15 & Friday 16 November Tickets: £12 - £22 Alias is an award-winning contemporary dance company based in Geneva led by choreographer and director Guilherme Botelho. Since its inception, Alias has produced more than 20 new works and performed in Europe, Africa, Asia and North and South America to critical acclaim. Sideways Rain is a metaphor for the primal energy running through all living things. Performed by 16 dancers, they walk, run, fall, rise, stop and then start again, depicting the evolution of man and the human urge to constantly change and move forwards. Set to a chillingly hypnotic score by Mexican artist Fernando Corona (best known as Murcof), Sideways Rain is a powerful visual examination of human nature. Contains some nudity Batsheva Ensemble UK PREMIERE Deca Dance Monday 19 - Wednesday 21 November Tickets: £12 - £32 Batsheva Ensemble is the younger branch of Israeli contemporary dance group, Batsheva Dance Company. Led by artistic director Ohad Naharin, they have been described as “acrobats of God” (San Francisco Chronicle) who “dance like demons” (New York Times). The Ensemble, who work independently of Batsheva Dance Company, is made up of performers selected annually by Naharin from a pool of around 300 dancers, many of whom are recent graduates from the most prestigious dance schools in the world, from Juilliard to the Paris Conservatory. For their first appearance in the UK, Batsheva Ensemble perform Deca Dance, a work which brings together the most memorable and best-loved segments of Naharin’s creations from the last 20 years. Set to an eclectic mix of music from Vivaldi to The Beach Boys, the piece is constantly updated and so offers a fresh look at the work created by Batsheva every time it is performed. Part of a Dance Consortium Tour A full tour schedule can be found at www.danceconsortium.com Free post-show talk for ticket holders: Monday 19 November Paco Peña Flamenco Dance Company Quimeras Friday 23 November - Saturday 1 December Tickets: £12 - £38 Legendary guitarist, composer, dramatist and producer Paco Peña presents his 2010 work Quimeras, directed by Southbank Centre artistic director Jude Kelly. Exploring the lure of travel and the dream of a better life, Quimeras tells the story of a group of migrants who have come to Spain from Africa in search of work. Over a career spanning more than four decades, Peña has expanded the possibilities of flamenco and changed perceptions of the art form by mining the richness of its traditions while continuing to be inspired by contemporary culture. With Quimeras, he draws on his own experience of living in Andalusia, a gateway to Europe for many North African immigrants. The result is a marriage of both traditional Spanish and African music and dance, creating a spectacle of virtuosic performances and intimate storytelling. “The dance – by turns flamenco and high energy African movement – is superb” Daily Telegraph Birmingham Repertory Theatre PEACOCK THEATRE The Snowman Wednesday 28 November 2012 - Sunday 6 January 2013 Tickets: £12 - £32 Family Ticket: £95 (4 tickets inc at least 1 child) When a young boy’s snowman comes to life on Christmas Eve, the two set off on a night-time quest for adventure. On their travels they meet dancing penguins, reindeer and naturally, Father Christmas. Watch spellbound as the Snowman flies through the night sky, before escaping the clutches of the evil Jack Frost to return home for Christmas morning. The stage show based on Raymond Briggs’ classic book and the subsequent film has become a much-loved festive tradition at the Peacock Theatre, and returns for a record-breaking 15th year. Featuring Howard Blake’s Walking In the Air, performed by a live orchestra, choreographed by Robert North and directed by Bill Alexander, this is the perfect Christmas treat for all the family with its wonderful mix of storytelling, spectacle and magic. “Sheer theatrical magic. Go see The Snowman and melt” The Times Suitable for all ages Audio-described performance: Saturday 15 December 2.30pm ZooNation Dance Company ZooNation 10th Anniversary Sunday 2 December Tickets: £12 - £22 ZooNation Dance Company celebrates its tenth anniversary at Sadler’s Wells this December. The evening includes extracts from ZooNation’s award-winning West End show Into the Hoods and its critically acclaimed smash-hit Some Like It Hip Hop, performances from ZYC (ZooNation Youth Company) and by the ZAD students (ZooNation Academy of Dance), plus special guests. With over 200 hip hop dancers on stage, the foyers will be packed with DJs, freestyle circles and ten years of ZooNation in photography. Sadler’s Wells Resident Company ZooNation is internationally renowned for its resonant and inventive hip hop dance theatre. It also runs the ZooNation Academy of Dance for young people and a bespoke agency, connecting hip hop dancers to the commercial sector. New Adventures Matthew Bourne’s Sleeping Beauty Tuesday 4 December 2012 - Saturday 26 January 2013 Tickets: £12 - £60 Family Ticket: £140 (4 tickets inc at least 1 child, not available for certain performances) New Adventures’ 25th year of celebration culminates with the world premiere of Matthew Bourne’s latest re-imagining of a ballet classic. Sleeping Beauty sees him return to the music of Tchaikovsky to complete the trio of ballet masterworks that started in 1992 with Nutcracker!, continuing in 1995 with the international smash hit, Swan Lake. This timeless fairy tale about a young girl cursed to sleep for 100 years, was turned into a legendary ballet in 1890. Bourne’s production introduces Aurora at her Christening that same year, when fairies and vampires fed the gothic imagination, before the story moves through the ages to the modern day; a world more mysterious and wonderful than any fairy story! Featuring designs by Olivier Award-winners Lez Brotherston (set and costumes), Paule Constable (lighting) and sound design by Paul Groothuis in specially recorded surround sound. Matthew Bourne’s haunting new production is a gothic romance for all ages; a supernatural love story across the decades, that even the passage of time cannot hinder. Matthew Bourne is an Associate Artist of Sadler’s Wells and New Adventures is a Resident Company. Some scenes may not be suitable for young children Talk with Matthew Bourne (BSL): Sunday 9 December 5.15pm - 6pm £4, £3 conc Audio-described performance: Saturday 12 January 2.30pm Travelling Light & Bristol Old Vic LILIAN BAYLIS STUDIO BOING! Thursday 20 - Monday 31 December Tickets: £7 - £12 In collaboration with Champloo Dance Company, Travelling Light and Bristol Old Vic have created an energetic and enchanting piece of children’s dance theatre combining comedy, acrobatics and breakdance. Set on Christmas Eve, BOING! captures the delirious excitement of waiting for Santa to arrive on the most magical night of the year. BOING! is directed by children’s theatre specialist Sally Cookson and choreographed and performed by Champloo founders Wilkie Branson and Joel Daniel. “Utterly dazzling. Rumbustious, exhilarating dance theatre” The Guardian Age Guidance: 3+

There is a free three-day multi-venue cultural event happening in Leeds this weekend, starting tomorrow (18th May). Northern Ballet have posted details and a couple of videos on the company website: http://northernballet.com/index.php?q=overworlds-underworlds I can't go but it would be great to hear the thoughts of anyone who is able to attend.

Thanks Marg and Nana for posting your thoughts. It was lovely seeing you yesterday Marg. Well, where do I begin? Buxton Opera House is the most lovely of theatres; designed by Frank Matcham, it was his rehearsal for the Coliseum in London. It's got a bigger stage than some of the midscale venues but it has a fearsome rake. The NE midscale tour comprised the new Lyric Pieces, Clog dance/Lily of Laguna from Hobson's, Bethena Concert Waltz from Elite, Don Q PDD and Pineapple Poll. I have truly fallen in love with Lyric Pieces - it is so gentle and lyrical with gorgeous flowing choreography. The various paper concertinas enhance the action too. We saw both casts over the three performances and they were both brilliant. Mathias Dingman really stood out and I was very taken with Yvette Knight's serenity. We had two wonderful casts for Hobson's - Laetitia lo Sardo/James Barton and Ambra Vallo/Oliver Till. Both pairs were supberb and managed to convince us of their characters despite the excerpt being out of context. Bethena Concert Waltz was well danced by the three casts we saw. All three casts for the Don Q GPDD were excellent and all three brought something different to this bravura piece. On Tuesday evening Ambra Valla and Tzu-Chao Chou had a delicious and warm rapport - I could feel a silly grin spreading across my face the whole time. We had pyrotechnics aplenty from Maureya Lebowitz and Mathias Dingman on Wednesday afternoon. On Wednesday evening Nao Sakuma and William Bracewell fizzed and sparkled and William danced with a breath-taking elegance of line that was gorgeous to watch. All three performances of Pineapple Poll were wonderful fun to watch. Iain Mackay was HILARIOUS as the Captain with the always wonderful Ambra Vallo as his Poll. Youngster Benjamin Soerel had been thrown in at the deepend earlier in the tour and was just a joy to watch. His Polls were Maureya Lebowita and the divine Angela Paul. We came out on a high from all three performances. One of the nice things about this tour has been seeing some of the more junior members of the company grabbing their chances with both hands and giving us terrific performances. The future of BRB is looking good! Edited to add a couple of words and make more sense!

A documentary featuring Northern Ballet is to be broadcast on BBC2 on Saturday 26 May at 8.15pm. ‘Arts Troubleshooter’ is a two-part series which sees arts expert Michael Lynch at two unique English arts organisations facing serious challenges. The first programme in the series follows Michael’s work with Northern Ballet in Leeds. Northern Ballet was founded in Manchester in 1969, the first national ballet company to be located in the regions, and has been based in Leeds since 1996. In that time it has grown to become one of the UK’s best loved companies and an important international cultural ambassador. It is renowned for creating new work and touring this throughout the UK and overseas reaching audiences who might otherwise not have access to world-class ballet. In October 2010 after a wait of many years Northern Ballet and Phoenix Dance Theatre moved into their new centre for dance at Quarry Hill in central Leeds. The building is the biggest centre of its type outside London and is the first to house both a ballet and a contemporary company of national standing. Under the leadership of Chief Executive Mark Skipper and Artistic Director David Nixon OBE the Company continues to go from strength-to-strength. It has become one of the most important ballet companies in the UK – winning widespread critical acclaim, generating new audiences (during our autumn 2011 tour 35% of our audiences were first-time Northern Ballet attenders), and garnering numerous accolades. ‘Arts Troubleshooter’ was filmed during the course of 2011, both on tour and at Northern Ballet’s home in Leeds. It focuses on the Company’s efforts to address one of the immediate effects of the funding cuts: the potential loss of 10 dancers from the 40 strong Company . On the threat of losing dancers David Nixon said: ‘Our dancers are at the heart of what we do. We are a small company with a big mission – we create more new work and tour more widely than any of the other ballet companies in the UK. To do this, and maintain the high standards for which we’re known, we need a full complement of 40 dancers.’ Northern Ballet’s initial response to the news was to develop the Buy Back a Dancer campaign, approaching major trusts and foundations. This was met with a positive response and quickly raised £150k from donors. With Michael Lynch on board the Company continued to hone and improve Buy Back a Dancer and an additional campaign – Sponsor a Dancer – was created. This is a public-facing campaign that is more hands-on in its activity and gives audiences the opportunity to get closer to the dancers. The news of funding cuts in March 2011 cast a black cloud over what would otherwise be one on Northern Ballet’s most successful years to-date. The Company’s purpose-built home went on to win awards at the Civic Building of the Year and Leeds Architecture Awards as well as the Best Arts Project in the National Lottery Awards. Two new productions were created and premièred – Cleopatra and Beauty & the Beast – which generated unprecedented ticket sales and widespread audience and critical acclaim. In addition to Michael Lynch’s support in launching Sponsor a Dancer, Northern Ballet’s fundraising team secured funding for the Company’s next new production in 2013 – The Great Gatsby which will premiere in Leeds on 2 March– and a further new production for Christmas 2013. They also generated support for touring which means that Northern Ballet has not cut any of its regular tour dates in 2012. The Sponsor a Dancer campaign has raised around £80,000 since its launch in October 2011, and has gone towards securing our full Company of 40 dancers for this year. Chief Executive, Mark Skipper, said: ‘Northern Ballet has always received less government funding than any of the other major ballet companies in the UK, regardless of the level and range of work we do. Consequently, our fundraising and marketing targets are routinely high. With the cuts in government funding the pressure has been on us to further increase box office sales in a time of reduced spending, and to generate higher levels of sponsorship on top of those we had already planned. ‘We’re not a Company that takes bad news lying down: we’ve worked extremely hard in the face of the cuts and the results have been worth the effort. We have been heartened and delighted at the levels of support and generosity people have shown, from all sectors. Particularly, we have found that Trusts and Foundations have been much more open to supporting a range of activities which in the past they might not have been able to including dancers salaries, touring costs and new work. ‘However, our concern is that this is not a sustainable situation. Although we have doubled our fundraising income through our own activity, which was a government objective for arts companies such as Northern Ballet, and have raised more than £1.2m towards our fundraising target of £1.8m for 2012/2015, we do not believe that private donations can replace public subsidy of the arts. The past year has certainly been tough, but the real challenge lies ahead.’