Ballet Central Tour 2015

[Karen]

Has anyone seen this? We are going at the weekend and I am hoping to have my appetite whet!

[Anna C]

Ballet Central? No, not yet. They used to come to our local theatre, but no longer do, which is a shame.

 

However, the Central Pre-Senior Associates will be performing a Character Dance at one of Ballet Central's London dates in the summer, so I shall kill two birds with one stone then, and watch both! :-)

[Jan McNulty]

I saw the performance at the Lowry on Monday evening and I thought it was a cracker!  It really showed the dancers off to great effect.

 

The programme was:

 

Four (Christopher Hampson) for 5 dancers - beautiful classicism.

 

Blue Ball pdd from Cinderella (Christopher Gable) - danced with beautiful emotion.  My friend and I were both moved to tears.

 

Morning and Moonlight (Christopher Bruce) - gorgeous swirling movements enhanced by the costumes.

 

Hopper (Kit Holder) based on works by Edward Hopper.  I loved this quirky piece and it gave the dancers an opportunity to show characterisation,  Not in movement but perhaps intent it reminded me of Gillian Lynne's homage to Lowry (A Simple Man).

 

Pdd from Fille Mal Garde (Gorsky) - sublimely danced - just gorgeous.

 

Code (Sharon Watson) - beautiful fluid choreography.

 

Scenes from a Wedding (Chris Marney) - quirky, fun and a great way to end the evening!

 

I thought the standard of the dancing was very high throughout.

 

As ever it was a joy to see Philip Feeney playing the piano.

[Ian Macmillan]

From today's Links, the British Theatre Guide has this Review:

 

http://www.britishtheatreguide.info/reviews/ballet-central-the-lowry-11651

[Terpsichore]

I saw the show in Leeds on 2 May 2015.  Their visit clashed with the last appearance of Kenneth Tindall as a principal of Northern Ballet in Wuthering Heights at Milton Keynes. Tindall, who trained at Central, is one of my favourite dancers and I was torn.  "You can see Ballet Central any time" urged a friend, "this is the last time you can see Kenny." She added that he would be partnering Julie Charlet as Cathy. The trouble is that one can't see Ballet Central any time because this year's students will scatter to the four winds. Many will go abroad. I have been lucky enough to see Tindall in several performances in the last year or so and I shall be seeing The Architect again next Saturday. I opted for Central to see the stars of the future some of whom may well dance in Tindall's ballets. I think such a fine choreographer as Tindall would understand that.

 

I am glad I chose to stay in Leeds because the theatre was packed.  Northern Ballet has a special connection with Central because the company's artistic director Christopher Gable founded the school.  I spotted several familiar faces from both Northern Ballet and Phoenix Dance Theatre in the audience. Ballet Central acknowledged the connection first by performing Gable's Blue Pas de Deux from his 1993 production of Cinderella to Philip Feeney's gorgeous score. We actually had Feeney at the piano throughout the show. Also, they danced Code by our own Sharon Watson, artistic director of Phoenix.

The evening began with Four by Christopher Hampson. Hampson is another of my favourite choreographers particularly since be became artistic director of Scottish Ballet which I have followed ever since the late 1960s when I was at St Andrews. I am a Friend of that company and it has a special place in my affections. In the programme notes Hampson wrote:

 

"The piano work by Graham Fitkin in bursting with energy and I've been waiting a long while (since my student days) to find the right moment to create it. Finding four dancers at Central that can match the energy and drive of the four hands of the piano meant that I had found the time and the place to create Four."

 

Hampson certainly found the right dancers in Sayaka Ishibashi, Julie Nunes, Ryan Brown, Yoshimasa Ikezawa and Marcus Romanelli, Clad in simple black and purple leotards designed by Richard Gellar the ballet began with solos by each of the men followed by each of the women momentum building up all the time. They all came together as the pace accelerated. It was the best possible start for the show.

The momentum was maintained by Bradley Shelver's Duet from Scenes danced energetically by Londiwe Khoza and Mthuthuzeli November to Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. You can catch a bit of the choreography on the choreographer's showreel. There was a lot of clapping and slapping and even a roar from November. An insert in the programme explained that they were from Cape Dance Company in South Africa on an 8 week residency at Central. These fine young dancers were exciting to watch and I hope that they will find some reason to stay, or at least make frequent visits to, this country.

By contrast the Blue Pas de Deux from Cinderella was flowing and lyrical. Danced beautifully by Kanako Nagayoshi in sparkly blue evening dress and shoes and Ruaidhri Maguire in tails this piece had me close to tears. I remember Gable and miss him so. Northern Ballet now has a new Cinderella by David Nixon which is also beautiful but what wouldn't I give to see Gable's version  again.

The first part of the evening was brought to an end with a great performance of Watson's Code. Ishibashi, Khoza, Brown and November were in that work as well as Diana Patience and Kai Tomiaka. Again, that was thrilling to watch. I am a great fan of Watson and can't see enough of her work.

The second part of the evening was started by Kit Holder's Hopper which, I see, was supported by Central Friends one of whom is Susan Dalgetty Ezra who chairs the London Ballet Circle.  To understand the ballet you need to know that Edward Hopper was an American artist who painted everyday scenes of American life much in the way that his near contemporary L S Lowry did here, albeit in a very different style. I can think of no better introduction to his work than this video by the US National Gallery of Art. In the programme notes Holder wrote:This ballet reminded me very much of Gillian Lynne's A Simple Man which was a study of Lowry. Just as many of the matchstick men came to life in Lynne's work so Hopper's subjects did in Holder's. Brown danced Hopper while Lydia Mackenzie danced Jo who must have been his wife, Josephine Nivison, who was also a painter. Summer Evening was danced by Nunes and Connor Taylor, Conference at Night by Nagayoshi, Maguire and George Kyaing and Chop Suey by Brianna Hicke and Kyomi Ishubashi. This is the second work by Holder that I have seen recently. The first was To Fetch a Pail of Water which was part of Ballet Black's triple bill at The Linbury.

 

The next work was the grand pas de deux from Gorsky's La Fille mal Gardée which is very different from the Ashton version with which we are so familiar. For a start it uses different music: Ludwig Hertel's score instead of Lanchbery's but it is just as delightful to hear. There was plenty of scope to show off Ikezawa's jumping and Sayaka Ishiboshi's charm on pointe. It would be nice to see the Russian version more often and I have encouraged one British company to stage it.

The second part was rounded off with Christopher Bruce's Morning and Moonlight to the music of Benjamin Britten. Folk are very rude about Britten's score for Prince of the Pavilions though I like it well enough for it was chosen by Cranko. In any case Britten's music was just right here. I loved the choreography executed brilliantly by Kyomi Ishibashi, Nagayoshi, Nunes, Maguire, Taylor and Tomika.

The last part of the programme was devoted to Christopher Marney's Scenes from a Wedding.  I expect a lot from Marney and I drive literally all over the country to see his work. It was a lovely, narrative ballet about a man in love. He was danced by Andrei Teodor Iliescu.  He had a lovely girlfriend in Megan Pay clad in red.  He bought her a ring and proposed to her. But she wasn't ready. Neither were Kyomi Isgibashi, Lydia Mackenzie and Nunes whom he approached on the rebound. But one girl was ready though she did not care much for the groom. She was danced by Patience. They weren't right  for each other. They squabbled in bed. She wanted to sleep. He did not. They fought all the way to the church. He had his stag night with Kyaing, Maguire and Tomioka and she her hen night. Just at the last moment the girl in red turns up and they married. There thus is one less case for the Family Court. Feeney provided the music, Gellar the costumes and Ed Railton the lighting.  Witty, lyrical and above all acutely expressive of the music it was Marney at his best. It was a tour de force, the icing on the cake, the very best of a succession of wonderful ballets.  I can't think of enough superlatives.         

Edited July 3, 2015 by terpsichore

[BristolBillyBob]

I thought I'd booked in to see this at the weekend at St James' Theatre in London. Turns out that because I didn't scroll down the page before I clicked 'buy tickets', I wasn't made aware that it was actually two shows, and which one you see depends on which performance you book for. My presumption was that it was the Ballet Central tour performances at the end of the year because, well, it is the end of their year. So now, even though I'm fairly sure my ticket says 'Ballet Central' on it (although I will check), I'm actually booked in for the End Of Year Performance, which is a different thing. And the evening Ballet Central tour performance is completely sold out now. And I've booked coach tickets for me and my friend too.

 

I'm completely crushed that I won't get to see the Ballet Central show, which is one of the highlights of my ballet calendar, as a result. :'(

Edited July 15, 2015 by BristolBillyBob

[Sim]

Oh no, what a shame. I hope you still enjoy the programme you do end up seeing!

[billboyd]

Last night I thoroughly enjoyed the End of Year Performance at St James Theatre. - Pieces from the Ballet Central tour were included in the programme - as well as pieces from BBC Young Dancer final.

The future looks bright!