Birmingham Royal Ballet & Sinfonia Evening of Music & Dance 2016

[Jan McNulty]

The Evening of Music and Dance at Symphony Hall is an annual treat from the Birmingham Royal Ballet and Sinfonia.

 

Birmingham's Symphony Hall is a glorious venue for the event, the concert hall is very beautiful.  It's great to see the orchestra (with extra players drafted in for the evening) taking centre stage too.  The dancers perform in, what looks to be a ridiculously small space, in front of the orchestra.  This year's conductor was Dominic Grier and the evening was hosted by David Bintley.  The evening consists of a mixture of orchestral and dance pieces, usually ending with one of the famous pdd.

 

This year's musical pieces were:

 

Joyeuse Marche - Emmanuel Chabrier

 

The Sorcerer's Apprentice - Paul Dukas

 

Adagio of Spartacus & Phrygia - Aram Khachaturian

 

March in B flat major Op.99 - Sergei Prokofiev orchestrated by Simon Wills

 

Henry V Suite - William Walton

 

Finale from Symphony No 3 - Pyotr ilyich Tchaikovsky

 

I enjoyed all the musical pieces but can't really comment on them as I am not a hugely musical person.

 

David Bintley is an erudite and amusing host, with lots of interesting anecdotes about the different pieces.  Unfortunately this year the sound was very muffled where we were sitting but other friends could hear perfectly.  I particularly liked the anecdote about the student on one of the biers in Juliet's tomb, who fell asleep and woke up mid performance...

 

And so to the danced items...

 

The first piece was the winter pas de trois from David Bintley's The Seasons (Verdi).  This has got really fast, intricate footwork and it was sparklingly danced by Ruth Brill, Yaoqian Shang and Tzu-Chao Chou.  

 

Next up was the Elmhurst School for Dance dancing a piece called Preludes to a selection of Elgar's Enigma Variations.  It was an absolute delight and, as usual, brought the house down.  The programme note said the piece was performed by students from years 6:1 and 6:2 so no names but some lovely looking dancers and everyone danced to a very high standard.

 

Then Momoko Hirata and Joe Caley performed Spring from The Seasons; a beautiful piece that was originally choreographed for Nao and Chi at a gala.  Momoko and Joe were glorious.

 

After the interval, the first piece we were treated to was the sublime duet from The Dream by Sir Frederick Ashton.  It was danced by Nao Sakuma and William Bracewell (replacing the injured Chi Cao).  What can I say, it WAS sublime.  William has grown so much in stature as a performer and he just had total command of the stage as Oberon.  (He will be a feast for the eyes in the full production).  Nao, as we all know, is wonder woman and was an utter delight.  She and William looked fabulous together, especially as they cannot have had much rehearsal time.

 

Highlight followed highlight and next we saw Iain Mackay and Jenna Roberts in the balcony pdd from Romeo and Juliet.  Even on a blank stage totally out of context they brought a depth of meaning to this piece that was so beautiful I was moved to tears.

 

And so to the exciting finish ... Yaoquian Shang and Mathias Dingman raised the rafters with a spectacular rendition of the Le Corsaire pdd.  They really were totally on fire.  It amazes me that these dancers can pull of a spectacular showstopper in such a tiny space ... and they really filled that space.  It was a rip-roaring end to a gorgeous evening.

 

I can't wait for next year now!

Edited February 9, 2016 by Janet McNulty
edited to correct a name

[alison]

Darn - is Chi badly enough injured that he won't be dancing next week?

[Jan McNulty]

I saw one of the other dancers after the performance and he said Chi is aiming to be back for his performance next week.  

 

It is, of course, in the lap of the gods (but I've got everything crossed too).

[Don Q Fan]

Sounds fabulous Janet, I should try to get there one of these days.  I particularly like the sound of the pdds from Dream and Le Corsaire!  Now I can't wait to see The Dream next weekend!  fingers x'd fro Chi too!

[RMM1]

Thanks Janet, it is a shame I couldn't be there. For the sake of future indexing the conductor was Dominic Grier (not Greer)

[Jan McNulty]

Thanks RMM1.  I've corrected the name in my post.

[Odyssey]

Janet, thanks for posting this detailed overview of what was indeed a veritable feast of an evening. (It  was raining cats and dogs outside and I'm so glad I made the effort to get there). David Bintley should write a book of ballet anecdotes  - he certainly kept us entertained and I would like to know the name of the ballet student who fell asleep - he is probably a principal dancer now so can't be named His comments about Nureyev's choreography were quite naughty, but wickedly funny.

The programme for this concert is always well put together and very accessible ,so ideal to take a friend with perhaps a fairly passing interest on dance with the aim to hook them. What I don't understand is why the classical pieces aren't introduced in the illuminating way in which the dance pieces are. If you didn't have a programme you could have found yourself completely in the dark with a piece like the Walton Suite.

The Sinfonia is a wonderful orchestra and BRB are so fortunate to have them.

I agree with Janet about the small space - in previous years I have sat in the front stalls and marvelled at the controlled way in which the dancers manage the space. Some highlights for me included the wonderful port de bras of Tzu-Chao Chou in the Winter pas de trois, the fluidity of The Dream pas de deux as danced by Nao Sakuma and William Bracewell - I had recently watched a video recording of a masterclass run by Sibley and Dowell and could appreciate the shaping and attention to detail which infused these dancers approach to the choreography. Iain Mackay and Jenna Roberts did indeed transcend that empty stage and danced beautifully. Then the show stopping dancing of Yaoquian Shang and Mathias Dingman which really did get the audience going and sent us home very happy indeed.

David Bintley commented how pleased he was by the increasing support for this annual event - there were still quite a few empty seats in the grand tier despite the price of the tickets being a wonderful bargain for a Saturday night.