English National Ballet and touring to UK venues

[LinMM]

It’s a shame they are not taking Raymonda up North somewhere ....at least to Manchester if it was originally due to Premiere there! It seems a long time before next December and then it’s right down about as far South as you can go!! 
What about Nottingham? Is there a good enough theatre there which could take a Company like ENB? So at least middle of the Countryish or even Buxton in Derbyshire ....hasn’t that got a good theatre? I do feel for people further North who no longer get to see ENB it seems inspite of the excellent NB. It’s just nice to be able to see another Company without having to travel a hundred plus miles!! 

Edited January 22, 2022 by LinMM

[FionaM]

@LinMMim sure the lack of national touring is purely pandemic related.  I’m hopeful it will resume in time.  

[Jan McNulty]

2 minutes ago, FionaE said:

@LinMMim sure the lack of national touring is purely pandemic related.  I’m hopeful it will resume in time.  

 

The lack of national touring was already evident in that the spring tour was abandoned some years ago.

 

What with BRB for the last few years also abandoning the north in the autumn the north would be a ballet wasteland without Northern Ballet (and thank goodness for them!).

[LinMM]

Actually if the only chance now to see Raymonda is at the Mayflower in Southampton from Wednesday 30th November until Sunday Dec 4th then I can recommend a bit of a W/end trip away! There are hotels near the theatre and you could do a bit of Christmas shopping in Southampton which still has a very good John Lewis! 
It’s even fun doing a day over in the Isle of Wight on the (usually) regular passenger ferry ....all walkable from say the Premier Inn there. 
The theatre itself is not bad at all and much bigger than I was expecting the first time I went. I was only disappointed in that it’s not one of those “ever open” theatres so you can only access it about an hour before performances. 
If you were there by car the New Forest is only 30 mins drive away and there are really lovely Gardens at Exbury. 
So definitely a good w/end trip in it and combined with a trip to ballet to see a feel good Raymonda....defo worth saving for!! 
I need to start now lol!! 

 

 

[Dawnstar]

3 hours ago, LinMM said:

It’s a shame they are not taking Raymonda up North somewhere ....at least to Manchester if it was originally due to Premiere there! It seems a long time before next December and then it’s right down about as far South as you can go!! 
What about Nottingham? Is there a good enough theatre there which could take a Company like ENB? So at least middle of the Countryish or even Buxton in Derbyshire ....hasn’t that got a good theatre? I do feel for people further North who no longer get to see ENB it seems inspite of the excellent NB. It’s just nice to be able to see another Company without having to travel a hundred plus miles!! 

 

Opera North go to Nottingham so I would think ENB could fit in there; it's a pretty big auditorium certainly. Buxton's theatre is lovely (well, both theatres are, they're both Matchem) but a lot smaller so possibly not a large enough seating capacity for ENB's finances.

[Jan McNulty]

Just now, Dawnstar said:

 

Opera North go to Nottingham so I would think ENB could fit in there; it's a pretty big auditorium certainly. Buxton's theatre is lovely (well, both theatres are, they're both Matchem) but a lot smaller so possibly not a large enough seating capacity for ENB's finances.

 

 

I'd rather see the company come to its regular haunts of Liverpool and Manchester!!  I do hope that the company will reinstate the UK spring tours.

 

The stage at Buxton Opera House is absolutely minute and with the most peculiar rake.  I can't see any large scale productions fitting in there.

 

The Theatre Royal is a Matcham conversion not an original.

[LinMM]

Yes perhaps they could alternate Manchester and Liverpool as a North West visit for a 5-7 day trip and then perhaps Newcastle or Durham area for a North East visit for a 5-7 day trip. 
It doesn’t seem that impossible really. 

Edited January 22, 2022 by LinMM

[SheilaC]

1 hour ago, LinMM said:

Yes perhaps they could alternate Manchester and Liverpool as a North West visit for a 5-7 day trip and then perhaps Newcastle or Durham area for a North East visit for a 5-7 day trip. 
It doesn’t seem that impossible really. 

Nice idea, but they haven't been to Newcastle for many years. Sunderland would make a better case than Durham, which only has a tiny stage.  The problem with Sunderland is that it's the one theatre in the NorthEast where Sunderland still go (just about, only 4 performances a year, and BRB dancers, and David Bintley in the recent zoomed interview, take every opportunity to rubbish it.)

Years ago LFB went regularly to Leeds and also did some interesting programmes in Darlington.

Nowadays they don't go anywhere near the North East.

As for Nottingham, it's difficult to get to by train from the NE, and is quite a long way away. Edinburgh would probably be better for us!

[Dawnstar]

1 hour ago, Jan McNulty said:

I'd rather see the company come to its regular haunts of Liverpool and Manchester!!  I do hope that the company will reinstate the UK spring tours.

 

The stage at Buxton Opera House is absolutely minute and with the most peculiar rake.  I can't see any large scale productions fitting in there.

 

The Theatre Royal is a Matcham conversion not an original.

 

I'm sorry. I was just responding to @LinMM's mentions of Nottingham & Buxton. I didn't mean to suggest they shouldn't go to Liverpool or Manchester.

[LinMM]

Yes didn’t think about difficult train journeys it’s always easier going directly North/ South etc than any hint of East West🙄

Even down here in Brighton it is quicker to get to London than to go say East to Hastings or West to Southampton....even though I’ve just been extolling the virtues of  going to the Mayflower!! In the end there are only a couple of trains a day to Southampton and always seem to be probs in the winter. It could probably be quicker for someone to do Manchester to London by train than Brighton to Southampton (which is about 80 miles from Brighton) 

It looks quite near on the map but still takes an hour and three quarters by car. On a good day we’ve done Exbury Gardens to home in 2 hours exactly!! 
Anyway I do hope some ballet either BRB or ENB comes your way before long. I was born in Redcar!! 

[Jan McNulty]

7 hours ago, LinMM said:

Yes perhaps they could alternate Manchester and Liverpool as a North West visit for a 5-7 day trip and then perhaps Newcastle or Durham area for a North East visit for a 5-7 day trip. 
It doesn’t seem that impossible really. 

 

I can't remember ENB going any further north east than Leeds and Bradford during my years as a ballet-watcher.  Why should we north-western ballet-watchers be starved even more than we are already?

 

The Gala in Durham is not large enough for anything more than a midscale-type gig (although it is a lovely, modern theatre) and I would guess the Theatre Royal in Newcastle is also not large enough for the company to stage a full length work - although it is a Matcham original.

[LinMM]

I wasn’t talking about alternate years between North West and North East! 
The ENB never spend more than a week in one place on tour so I was suggesting a week in the North West and a week in the North East (or another place in the North which has a suitable theatre) in the same year!! 

[Jan McNulty]

2 minutes ago, LinMM said:

I wasn’t talking about alternate years between North West and North East! 
The ENB never spend more than a week in one place on tour so I was suggesting a week in the North West and a week in the North East (or another place in the North which has a suitable theatre) in the same year!! 

 

Well we used to get a week in Liverpool AND a week in Manchester.

 

I don't know how big Darlington Hippo is but the onlyother suitable theatre I can think of in NE is Sunderland Empire and that is BRB turf (as designated by ACE).

 

Somewhere like Edinburgh Festival Theatre would be good but there are all sorts of issues with cross-border funding from the respective arts councils.

[LinMM]

What about York I don’t know if that has a big enough theatre? Leeds obviously has. 
I don’t know how long the Spring Tour usually was for ENB but obviously the more places they can get to in the time available then the better!! 
 

[Emeralds]

28 minutes ago, Jan McNulty said:

 

I can't remember ENB going any further north east than Leeds and Bradford during my years as a ballet-watcher.  Why should we north-western ballet-watchers be starved even more than we are already?

 

The Gala in Durham is not large enough for anything more than a midscale-type gig (although it is a lovely, modern theatre) and I would guess the Theatre Royal in Newcastle is also not large enough for the company to stage a full length work - although it is a Matcham original.

I seem to remember ENB once splitting off to allow some dancers to tour one region while the rest of the company did a different set of performances elsewhere. I remember Ksenia Ovsyanick and Junor Souza talking about dancing Giselle and Albrecht on one of these- I wasn’t able to get time off to see it, but would like to have. Wonder if they could do that again. There are so many chamber works they have in the repertory that are lovely and suit small theatres and touring, but would be dwarfed by large spaces such as the Coliseum and Royal Albert Hall. 

[Jan McNulty]

15 minutes ago, LinMM said:

What about York I don’t know if that has a big enough theatre? Leeds obviously has. 
I don’t know how long the Spring Tour usually was for ENB but obviously the more places they can get to in the time available then the better!! 
 

York has 2 small theatres.  Bradford would be a better fit than Leeds but both are NB turf.  ACE seems to prefer having the companies go to different theatres - apart from Southampton where they all go.

[Jan McNulty]

11 minutes ago, Emeralds said:

I seem to remember ENB once splitting off to allow some dancers to tour one region while the rest of the company did a different set of performances elsewhere. I remember Ksenia Ovsyanick and Junor Souza talking about dancing Giselle and Albrecht on one of these- I wasn’t able to get time off to see it, but would like to have. Wonder if they could do that again. There are so many chamber works they have in the repertory that are lovely and suit small theatres and touring, but would be dwarfed by large spaces such as the Coliseum and Royal Albert Hall. 

They did split tours for a couple of years during (I think) Nagy’s directorship.

[Emeralds]

Weren’t there some during Eagling’s time? Maybe it wasn’t actually split but just felt that way. I know Junor wasn’t in the company during Nagy’s leadership. (Was Junor even born then? Lol). 

[Jan McNulty]

Just now, Emeralds said:

Weren’t there some during Eagling’s time? Maybe it wasn’t actually split but just felt that way. I know Junor wasn’t in the company during Nagy’s leadership. (Was Junor even born then? Lol). 

I saw the company in Malvern and Crewe one year.  In Crewe the company was accompanied by a pianist and I remember Lyudmila Semenyaka fouetté-ing so fast in the Don Q pdd that he had trouble keeping up with her!

[alison]

The company used to split into two for the smaller-scale "Tour de Force" tours.  Apart from that, I don't remember anything - although they did tour La Sylphide and a mixed bill of L'Arlesienne, Don Q pdd, Night Creature and something else back in 1985 - I don't know whether that would have taken the whole company, or whether that itself could have been split?  Oh, hang on, I think it may have been Etudes, which I assume would have required more or less the entire company.

[Irmgard]

1 hour ago, Emeralds said:

I seem to remember ENB once splitting off to allow some dancers to tour one region while the rest of the company did a different set of performances elsewhere. I remember Ksenia Ovsyanick and Junor Souza talking about dancing Giselle and Albrecht on one of these- I wasn’t able to get time off to see it, but would like to have. Wonder if they could do that again. There are so many chamber works they have in the repertory that are lovely and suit small theatres and touring, but would be dwarfed by large spaces such as the Coliseum and Royal Albert Hall. 

They only did one performance of "Giselle" and that was at the New Victoria Theatre in Woking at the end of the company's season-long tour of Skeaping's "Giselle" in 2009/2010, not part of splitting  the company into different touring groups which I believe last happened during Derek Deane's directorship.  (Ovsyanick and Souza were fabulous so it was a real shame they only had the one performance!)

[LinMM]

Very pleased for Shiori Kase a lovely classical dancer. 

Just going back to ENB touring possibilities it does seem then they are hampered by certain theatres in the North being sort of “out of bounds” to them. 
Of course it’s great that BRB have guaranteed theatres to go to but if ENB were using at a different time wouldn’t that be okay? Or would there be a problem with maintaining audiences if there was too much ballet.....not that I think there could ever be too much ballet.... but theatres have to think of what will keep the audiences coming in. I suppose if Ballet Companies could liaise more about their up and coming seasons then they  could tour  different ballets entirely so no danger of three lots of Swan Lake in one season etc (as we get here  when any ballet does actually come to Brighton) 

 

Emeralds .......Thankyou for sharing your extensive knowledge of this ballet and it’s music! 
I was sure I’d heard an orchestrated form of the Spanish dance much more recently than I’d seen Raymonda!! So if you are saying this is used in Carlos’s Don Q then that’s definitely most likely when I last heard it! So Thankyou for that! 

Yesterday I met some of my usual Sat ballet class for coffee after class ( still not dancing yet due to stress injury) and I mentioned the grand Battement music to the teacher so he could double check the Composer ....he immediately took his iPod  out of bag and played the piece ...and there it was the Glazunov Spanish dance so another reason it was familiar!! 
Ive been promised we will have it for grand Battement exercise as soon as I go back to class ...hopefully in a couple of weeks time. 
I do love the full orchestrated version though and of course would love to learn the real dance ( or adapted version of!) 

 

 

 

 

[Pas de Quatre]

It is the Arts Council who decide which theatres each company may visit - those who received subsidies of course, not those from overseas.  Agreed, it does sometimes seem as if there is a cycle, without any liaison, so all Swan Lake, or as recently lots of Romeo and Juliet.

Edited January 23, 2022 by Pas de Quatre
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[Jan McNulty]

1 hour ago, LinMM said:

Just going back to ENB touring possibilities it does seem then they are hampered by certain theatres in the North being sort of “out of bounds” to them. 

31 minutes ago, Pas de Quatre said:

It is the Arts Council who decide which theatres each company may visit - those who received subsidies of course, not those from overseas.  Agreed, it does sometimes seem as if there is a cycle, without any liaison, so all Swan Lake, or as recently lots of Romeo and Juliet.

 

 

PdQ is quite correct Linda.  The current touring theatres were determined by ACE quite a few years ago now and are tied in with the grants that the companies receive.

 

If companies choose to go to other theatres they do so at their own (and the theatre's own) risk.

 

If English-based companies want to perform in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland they have to either go "at risk" or apply for cross-border funding (which has been the case since 1994).

 

And let us not forget that Ms Rojo did away with the spring tours because she said that it cost the company money to tour!

 

I would love shorter journeys to see ballet but we are where ACE has put us so unless and until there is a change in the policy we are stuck where we are!

[LinMM]

I liked your post for your info Janet ....didn't know that Companies were tied by their Grants etc to particular theatres.... but really it requires ....😥

[Blossom]

1 hour ago, Pas de Quatre said:

It is the Arts Council who decide which theatres each company may visit - those who received subsidies of course, not those from overseas.  Agreed, it does sometimes seem as if there is a cycle, without any liaison, so all Swan Lake, or as recently lots of Romeo and Juliet.

This is madness. There’s surely a huge opportunity as theatre revives itself after the Covid dearth to replicate the WW2 approach of touring every corner of the country, in turn growing back a greater demand for (high quality) dance with completely new audiences. Essentially the Arts Council is shooting itself in the foot.

[Emeralds]

4 hours ago, Jan McNulty said:

 

PdQ is quite correct Linda.  The current touring theatres were determined by ACE quite a few years ago now and are tied in with the grants that the companies receive.

 

If companies choose to go to other theatres they do so at their own (and the theatre's own) risk.

 

If English-based companies want to perform in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland they have to either go "at risk" or apply for cross-border funding (which has been the case since 1994).

 

And let us not forget that Ms Rojo did away with the spring tours because she said that it cost the company money to tour!

 

I would love shorter journeys to see ballet but we are where ACE has put us so unless and until there is a change in the policy we are stuck where we are!

I do hope the Arts Council and local theatre managements can get together and be more proactive and think outside the box (pardon the cliche) from now on to discuss with companies large, medium and small, to put performances on for cities and regions far away from the London, Birmingham, Edinburgh and Glasgow hubs. Just with regards to dance alone, dancers have short careers, many audiences don’t have the funds or mobility to take long trips to a cultural hub, and with many venues not fully booked up, it seems a no-brainer to put on simple, small scale performances which can be financially viable and even profitable if organised wisely. Theatre spaces not used and seats not filled are a perishable resource gone to waste as money is still required to maintain the building and auditorium. Residents pay their local or income taxes and deserve better- as do artists who are also taxpayers themselves. 

[bridiem]

The clue is in the title. When London Festival Ballet was re-named English National Ballet it was supposed to better reflect its role as a NATIONAL touring company. If its touring is now so limited it doesn't really deserve its name.

[LinMM]

That’s a good point Bridiem

[Emeralds]

I know it’s “antiquated” to think this, but I still prefer the name London Festival Ballet....lol. Possibly because I had a few ballet books with them described thus and their seasons with Nureyev at the Coliseum billed as LFB sounded the height of cool! I was studying in London when the name change was announced and couldn’t help feeling very sad that the unique “Festival” moniker was going to be jettisoned. Even now I still feel like English National Ballet is a new name. That said, so many generations of dancers have identified with ENB/LFB as being a touring company rather than a London company with occasional visits abroad and to a few other cities. I hope the UK touring schedule can be increased soon. I think the programming, timing and theatres need to be picked carefully, but I think it will be great  for the dancers as well as the audiences in those regions. 

[LinMM]

[LinMM]

This is info page from Mayflower Theatre Brochure about Raymonda next Autumn. Not sure why has come out sideways🤔