BalletWorks 2016

[aileen]

I saw this gala at Chisenhale Dance Space last night. I think that nine dancers were featured including a champion tapper called Spencer Darlaston-Jones. Unfortunately, pointe work had to be abandoned due to the floor and this meant that the Flower Festival pdd was replaced by a modern piece and the Corsaire pdd became a short solo. It's always fun to see professional dancers so close up. The pieces included solos, duets, trios and quartets and, as might be expected, some were more successful than others (IMO). They were largely contemporary in style and some incorporated what I think of as trademark European vocabulary ie fluttery hand movements, twitches and spasms. I think that I liked a couple of duets best: one very short duet for two men called Zweisamkeit, choreographed by dancers Theophilus Vesely and Alexander McGowan, and the other called Zamia choreographed by Edvin Revazov for a man and a woman which was performed last year and included a rather arresting image of the woman being swallowed up by her harem pants.

[Duck]

I saw this tonight and agree, it is fascinating to see the dancers perform from so close up. The pieces that I enjoyed most were Zweisamkeit, Are you as big as me - a funny piece with three male dancers of different height (Theophilus Vesely, Louis Stiens, Alexander McGowan), and Pine (choreographed by Louis Stiens and danced by Agnes Su, Angelina Zuccarini, Alexander McGowan and Robert Robinson), which I found quite hypnotising in its PDD.

I wish the ceiling of the dance studio would have been higher as I think it impacted on Robert Robinson’s jumps in Le Corsaire.

Tickets for the two performances at the Medina Theatre on the Isle of Wight this Friday and Saturday are still available. The programme is mostly different from that performed last year, and at a ticket price of £12 & for a good cause, there is every reason to see this year’s programme.

Robert Robinson explained that he plans to expand BalletWorks to other places in the country in support of local charities. I wish him every luck and success in his endeavour  

 

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edited for typo

Edited July 27, 2016 by Duck

[billboyd]

A most enjoyable varied programme performed by very talented dancers. 

[alison]

Edvin Revazov - is that the dancer who danced Armand in the Bolshoi broadcast of La Dame aux Camelias, or am I confusing him with someone else?

[aileen]

I don't know, alison.

 

Duck, yes, the ceiling was a bit low for high jumps but, on the plus side, the studio was nice and deep. Sometimes I've seen dancers perform on very shallow stages in professional theatres.

 

There was a nice little programme, with photographs, on sale. Personally, I would have liked to have seen a few lines by the choreographers talking about their works, perhaps instead of the chit-chat about the dancers. However, I appreciate that this is yet another thing to organise on top of everything else.