BRB Midscale - North East 2013

[Jan McNulty]

I was able to catch the final three performances in Buxton at the start of this week.

 

This year Grand Tour was the opener.  I admire the commitment of the dancers in giving us wonderful performances but this work really is very slight.  Both Victoria Marr and Jade Heuson were wonderful as the American Tourist.  The duet with the Chief Steward is both touching and romantic and Tom Rogers and Steven Monteith were terrific.  Laura Jane Gibson and Lewis Turner were also superb as the Italian stowaways.

 

The bite-sized section comprised the adagion from Act 2 of Giselle, Foxtrot, Popular Song and Tango from Facade and the Nocturne from The Dream.

 

We saw 3 different pairings for Giselle - Natasha Oughtred/Chi Cao, Nao Sakuma/Jamie Bond and Elisha Willis/Joe Caley.  All three were terrific on the bizarrely raked stage and it certainly bodes very well for the full performances in June.  The Facade excerpts were great fun.  The Dream excerpt is one of my most favourite pieces and I was fortunate indeed to see Chi Cao partner both Natasha Oughtred and Nao Sakuma.  Those 2 performances were the highspot of my week!

 

The performance ended with Take 5.  I just love this David Bintley work that uses Dave Brubeck's music.  We saw three terrific performances which again must have been very hard to give with the very strange rake on the stage!  Tyrone Singleton and Celine Gittens are utterly fabulous in the duet.  I must mention newbie Lachlan Monaghan who has got beatitully deft feet and looked wonderful in this work.  It's a real crowd pleaser guaranteed to send you out on a high!

 

I've said it before and I'll say it again - roll on midscale next year!