Birthday Honours For Dance

Dance in the MainstreamWith dance continuing to raise its profile within Westminster, it was a delight to see a huge ten dance names recognised for their outstanding work in dance across a wide variety of contexts in Britain in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list.

Announced on 15 June 2013, some of those awarded an honour in the recognition of dance included the below:

Esteemed dance writer Jeanette Siddall was awarded a CBE for services to dance, recognising her outstanding contribution to the industry beyond her job. Also awarded a CBE was Gailene Stock, Director of the Royal Ballet School, for services to dance.

OBEs were awarded to Lloyd Newson, Founder and Director of physical theatre company DV8, for services to contemporary dance, and also to Cindy Sughrue, Chief Executive of Scottish Ballet for services to dance. Richard Glasstone, choreographer, teacher and author was awarded an MBE for services to classical ballet.

Howard Panter, the co-founder of the Ambassador Theatre Group and Chair of Rambert Dance Company was made a knight in the Honours list for his services to theatre. Panter has been a driving force in the fundraising and building of Rambert Dance Company’s new building on the Southbank which is due to open later this year in September as a very exciting new prospect for dance.

In particular, Dance UK has been working to respond to industry concerns about the numbers of dance professionals compared to sport, theatre and music recognised in the Queen’s and New Year’s Honours lists. As a result, Dance UK has established a voluntary Honours Advisory Committee for the industry, including dance professionals from a cross-section of dance genres. The group meets twice a year and is committed to nominating and championing dance professionals who deserve to be honoured for their services to dance.

Christopher Marney: Dancer, Choreographer, Dance Extraordinaire!

Christopher MarneyChristopher Marney is a man of many talents. Perhaps most well-known for his recent depiction of Count Lilac in Matthew Bourne’s Sleeping Beauty, Marney has worked tirelessly to build his reputation as an esteemed performer, and now sought-after choreographer for professional dance companies.

Leaving aside Marney’s creative endeavours, he has previously danced with companies such as George Piper Dances, Gothenburg Ballet, Michael Clark Company and Bern Ballet, and as part of Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures danced roles in productions such as Dorian Gray, Cinderella and Swan Lake. Choreographically, Marney has also created for companies including Ballet Central, Regensburg Opera House and Ballet Black.

Here Marney takes a moment out of his busy touring schedule to answer a few questions about his exciting role in the world of performing arts!

What were your early years of dancing and training like?

I started dancing because I was interested in acting and musical theatre, and knew from being taken to lots of theatre that it was also important to have a strong dance technique if I wanted to be in musicals. I always knew I wanted to perform, really from the first time I went to the theatre (it was the Queens Theatre in Hornchurch!) but I didn’t know which aspect I was most suited to so I went to Italia Conti at the weekends where I trained in ballet, jazz, singing and acting.

This alongside studying for my LAMDA acting exams and performing with companies like The Chelmsford Ballet Company, I was enabling myself to gain an all-round training, and by the time I reached 16 was able to make a decision about the best route to take. This was ballet, but I still had a strong interest in the ‘performance’ side of dance in particular being a character and storytelling. The natural choice was to go to Central School of Ballet where then Director Christopher Gable stood for exactly those things. He was and remains to be a huge inspiration for my career path and performing choices.

Have you always been interested in choreography? What/who inspired you to first create?

I always had lots of ideas that I thought would make good theatre and told best through dance, but it wasn’t until I moved back from Sweden where I was a dancer at the Gothenburg Ballet, that I began to choreograph. I had been immersed in a company where we were working with some of the best European choreographers, and having experienced a wide range of styles and learning about how choreographers work very differently to each other, I felt ready to put some of my own ideas into practice.

I think I have taken aspects of many people I’ve worked with as an influence to create. I admire the fluidity and ingenuity of Jiri Kylian, the way Mats Ek has intention behind his every move and, of course, the storytelling of Matthew Bourne.

What would you say was your choreographic triumph, or was there a work that put you on the choreography map?

Hotel Follies was a show that I conceived and really got off the ground in 2009, at the Arts Theatre in the West End. It was not only a way of bringing together a mix of ideas I had been developing with great performers I had met along the way, but also a good showcase for my work. The profile of the show and venue it was performed in meant that it was an opportunity to invite directors and industry professionals. This led to commissions for further work on professional companies and schools.

As for a triumph there are a few ballets I am very proud of because either the collaboration with the dancers worked and they completely understood what it was I was getting at or the combination of choices such as the music, my intention and the casting all seemed to come together. There are formulas I like to work by but sometimes you can’t say exactly why it is that you are particularly moved by one piece more than another! Duologue that I created for Ballet Central in 2010 was one of them partly because I was back in the school after ten years of leaving and the inspiration and memories of Christopher Gable were so apparent.

How does choreographing tie in with dancing with New Adventures, or are they completely separate?

They were completely separate until Sleeping Beauty recently, though Matthew has always been very supportive of my career as a choreographer. For Beauty he asked me to be his Associate Choreographer on the piece which linked the two. Because I have a long standing relationship with the company I think he felt confident with me knowing the style and way the shows worked. I provided him with another choreographic eye, created material for the new piece and assisted in teaching and staging the show. In September I will stage one of his first pieces, Spitfire on a company in Scotland which will be a lot of work to mount and teach the piece in about a week! I danced it on tour last year and also performed it on Matthew Bourne’s Christmas on Channel 4, so it is still quite fresh in my mind!

What is your favourite role you have danced?

Similar to my inspiration for choreographing, there are many roles I have loved for different reasons. I have to say the Prince in Bourne’s Swan Lake is the ultimate role for a dancer who wants to act and tell a story. He goes on a huge journey and reaches a tragic ending, bittersweet though ultimately discovering what he was living his life for. It’s a part I first played when I was twenty and have revisited many times since.

Who do you channel when you perform, or is it a different person for each role?

Each role takes a lot of research into existing or fictional characters. You build a library of images, books and DVDs that help to create the character you are playing. Recently I created the role of a Japanese fisherman’s WIFE in a new production by Will Tucket in Japan! Obviously that took some looking into! It was called The Crane Maiden and is a very famous tale in Japanese culture. Taking on a role knowing the audience already relate to this character, plus it being a different sex, I knew I had to do a lot of background work.

What do you like most about choreographing?

The thing I love about choreographing is seeing my idea come to life. I love the challenge of telling a story when there are no words and you have to convey it all physically, and working with and getting the most out of the dancers is particularly rewarding. Seeing the process from the initial first rehearsal to the realisation of it onstage can be nerve-wracking but being able to share your work and message is ultimately fulfilling.

What is the best part about dance?

I think the best part is when it touches someone and a person can be moved or made to feel something by what they are witnessing. It is amazing how that cycle continues to inspire generations.

What’s next for you?

I continually enjoy working with new people because the reason I love this profession is partly the fact that you can keep moving and meeting people, travelling and seeing new places, building up knowledge of the art form which helps sculpt you as a person.

The next half of the year is really busy with experiences just like that. I have performances of Dorian Gray in Tokyo in July, we tour the USA this autumn with Sleeping Beauty as well as opening our Broadway run, and then in December and January I will be choreographing new pieces for Ballet Black and Ballet Central. I’ve also recently moved so am looking forward to spending some time over the summer settling in and being with my family.

Liza Minnelli: The Non-Stopping Show-Stopper

Liza MinelliShowbiz legend Liza Minnelli, famous not only for her singing starlet mother Judy Garland but also in her own right, proved that she is still a show-stopping success at the Royal Festival Hall on London’s Southbank earlier this year. At 66 years old, Minnelli shows no sign of stopping either, continuing to wow her audiences and exude the presence of the ultimate star of the golden age of showbiz. Minnelli is a multi-award winning artist, singer, actress and fabulous dancer, who has proven herself as a starlet who knows her ‘razzle-dazzles’ from her ‘stepping outs’.

Her one off date performance at the Royal Festival Hall earlier in 2013 marked her first performance at the concert venue since 1973. However, in recent years she has graced other iconic London venues such as the Royal Albert Hall and the Coliseum as the headline act. Minnelli’s performance at Festival Hall forms part of the Southbank Centre’s ongoing season The Rest Is Noise – inspired by Alex Ross’s acclaimed musicology book – with the focus for Minnelli’s visit being Berlin In The ’20s & ’30s. As a result, Minnelli’s sparkling set exuded her fantastic talent in its fullest form, including hits from the divine decadence of Weimar-era nightlife such as Maybe This Time and Mein Herr, in addition to her performance of some of the late Bob Fosse’s choreography from her smash hit film production Cabaret.

Forming the full programme, legendary numbers such as Cabaret, But The World Goes ‘Round and New York, New York were originally written for her and included for Minnelli’s privileged audience, with other jazz and Broadway classics added to the mix and producing a show-stopping evening of immeasurable talent and star quality.

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

An intimate evening: Ruthie Henshall and Kerry Ellis

Ruthie Henshall

Musical theatre legend Ruthie Henshall, best known for her starring roles in productions such as Chicago and Les Miserables, is performing as part of the From West End to Broadway programme at Cadogan Hall in an intimate performance in August. In addition to an audience with Ruthie, the star will also be performing alongside her special guest, musical theatre icon and Broadway star Kerry Ellis. Originally training at Laine Theatre Arts, which also presented Ruthie to the musical theatre world, Kerry Ellis then went on to carve herself out a commendable career behind the microphone, particularly as green witch Elphaba in the London cast of Wicked, which she joined in 2006.

At Cadogan Hall however, Ruthie and her band will take the audience on a musical journey through her extraordinary career, from working with Lionel Bart, playing in Chicago on Broadway and starring in many other musical theatre productions, to receiving her Olivier Award. The evening will draw from a broad range of genres, from the Great American Songbook to contemporary scores which are significant to Ruthie now: Don’t Rain On My Parade, I Dreamed A Dream, All That Jazz, Electricity, Nice Work If You Can Get It, Adelaide’s Lament, I’ve Loved These Days, Vincent (Starry Starry Night) and many more of her favourites from iconic stage productions.

This particular show for Ruthie is both new and personal, and her chance to tell her story in her own words as well as performing some of the defining songs of her life, which she has performed onstage and experienced off stage. The evening will be accompanied by Ruthie’s own musicians: Paul Schofield (piano/Music Director), Lewis Andrews (bass/guitar) and Steve Maclachlan (drums). Ruthie’s career has been both extensive and extremely impressive, so this intimate evening is a rare glimpse into the star’s glittering career and personal highlights.

The BBC Performing Arts Fund

BBC Performaing Arts Fund

The BBC Performing Arts Fund has recently awarded £450,000 in grants to the theatrical sector for 2013. The first venture in this direction took place on Friday 7 June, which was the first live show of The Voice UK. This BBC One programme raises income for the BBC Performing Arts Fund through phone votes (a minimum of 10p per call), and whilst the genuine talent of the programme which graces the nation’s television screens could be questioned, it is clear that the contributions of funds from programmes of this type are extremely beneficial for the performing arts.

Since 2003, the revenue generated through phone voting programmes has resulted in over £4million of grants being awarded to emerging individuals and community groups working and performing in areas across the dance, music and theatre sectors. The commercial side of the venture considerably raises the profile of the sometimes understated performing arts sector, giving a larger voice to the belters of the industry, singing them loud and proud.

As a result of this, 2013 has seen the funding spotlight placed solidly on theatre. A total of £450,000 in grants is currently available for use in performing arts in each niche that will further invest in creative talent across the UK, from community centres, to after school clubs, to dance and drama schools, to the West End stage. Both of the Fund’s schemes are now currently open for applications, namely the Theatre Fellowship and Community Theatre.

Theatre Fellowships aims to support individuals through the early stages of their theatre careers, helping them to establish themselves in the professional world through bespoke placements within existing theatre organisations. The Community Theatre scheme aims to support the development of not for profit community theatre groups, allowing them to carry out training, attract new audiences, encourage new members and raise their profile in their communities.

Step LIVE! 2013

Step Into Dance 2013Step into Dance, a partnership between the Jack Petchey Foundation and the Royal Academy of Dance, will be hosting Step LIVE! 2013 on Sunday 14 July, marking the return of the unmissable annual flagship event of Step’s school community dance programme.

Step LIVE! 2013 will transform the foyer of Sadler’s Wells into a hive of activity from 4.30pm, with free events with something for everybody to enjoy including dance battles, pop up dances, videos and films. Whether you are a budding breaker or a popping pro, the afternoon looks set to be bursting with energy and phenomenal dancing. The show on the main stage will follow at 6.30pm, with over 400 talented young dancers from schools in 32 London Boroughs and Essex coming together to celebrate their love of dance in this diverse and inclusive evening.

Step into Dance is the biggest ongoing inclusive dance initiative in London and Essex, with 200 participating State Secondary Schools. With Step LIVE! as Step’s annual flagship celebration of youth dance just one of the many events and workshops Step initiates, it is a celebration of all the Step into Dance team do for young dancers across the capital,

Tickets: £8 (some with restricted view) £10, or £15 with 20% discount for groups (8 or more) in the stalls, making the event perfect for schools who are interested in taking part in the Step into Dance scheme.

School groups of 5+ can book tickets in the second circle for £8 per person. For this offer, please book over the phone or in person (not online). For school groups of over 10 students you will receive one free ticket for the accompanying staff member.

English National Ballet’s 2014 season

ENB Logo

English National Ballet’s Artistic Director Tamara Rojo has announced the company’s 2014 season, which is set to include performances at the Barbican, which is new territory for the company. Previously solely classical, the company under Rojo’s instruction has begun to embrace more new works and modernised thinking in terms of opening ballet up to wider audiences. The Barbican will also fit with the company’s intrinsic tradition of touring and presenting ballet to new and existing audiences too.

This change in tact from the young Director is the force behind her first new commissions for the company, working with award winning British choreographers Akram Khan, Russell Maliphant and Liam Scarlett in order to create new works for ENB as part of a programme of dance inspired by the centenary of WWI. This programme will be performed at the Barbican alongside a reworking of Associate Artist George Williamson’s Firebird.

Exciting news for ballet fans also came in the form of the announcement that Rojo will be performing alongside ballet legend Carlos Acosta in Romeo and Juliet. This will reunite the iconic stars in the classic romantic production that was created for Rojo earlier in her career by choreographer Derek Deane when she first danced with ENB in 1997. Rojo went on to dance the role of Juliet with Scottish Ballet, and last danced Juliet opposite Acosta’s Romeo in 2011 with The Royal Ballet, which included the choreography of the late Sir Kenneth MacMillan.

ENB’s Romeo and Juliet will be performed by a company of 120 dancers and actors at the Royal Albert Hall in June 2014, so it is certain that the upcoming season looks sure to both delight audiences with older works, in particular this epic staging of the classic work by Shakespeare, and sparkle with new commissions.

Rambert’s 87th Birthday

Rambert Dance Company Logo

Rambert Dance Company turned 87 years old on 15 June 2013 as Britain’s oldest dance company. There has been much discussion amongst balletomanes recently about the ethnicity of dancers in British ballet and dance companies and the lack of British dancers, so it is ironic that Rambert’s founder, Marie Rambert, was Polish and originally studied Eurythmics under Emile Jacques-Dalcroze.

Established in 1926, Rambert – as it is now to be known following recent rebranding of the Richard Alston named Rambert Dance Company – is the flagship modern dance company of Britain, employing more dancers and artists than any other dance company in the UK. Rambert appeals widely to audiences all over the world, often dancing the works of iconic choreographers both past and present, such as Wayne McGregor, Siobhan Davies and American modern dance pioneer Merce Cunningham. This gives a certain stature to Rambert’s work as it continues to provide a vast repertoire of works around the world.

Rambert’s first choreographic work in 1926 is said to mark the birth of British ballet under the title A Tragedy of Fashion by Frederick Ashton, who was then one of Rambert’s students. In 1935 Rambert was renamed Ballet Rambert (from the Ballet Club as it was originally known), and this name remained until 1987. Rambert became a touring ballet company for up to 35 weeks a year during the Second World War and frequently performed at Sadler’s Wells. Ballet Rambert then went on to perform several classic including Giselle, Coppelia and the first major British productions of La Sylphide and Don Quixote, rather than creating new works.

In 1952 Rambert travelled to America to see the new developments in dance and study with some of the major choreographers of the time, such as Martha Graham. Following this the company returned to its original ethos and transformed from a medium-scale classical touring company, to smaller ensemble, to contemporary dance company in later years.

Worldwide Wicked

Willemijn VerkaikThe beautiful Willemijn Verkaik is set to will join the cast of Wicked the musical in London this year, bringing her esteemed performance as Elphaba to West End audiences following more than 1,000 appearances as the witch in productions all over the world. The Dutch musical theatre star has played the role in productions of the hit show in Holland, Germany and on Broadway, making her the only actress to have ever performed the role in more than one language. Wicked, and musical theatre in general, looks set to take over the world!

Wicked, which opened in London in 2006 and on Broadway in 2002, has been seen by more than five million people. The production tells the story of the Witches of Oz, and how two young magic students became Glinda the Good and the Wicked Witch of the West before Dorothy flew in. London audiences will now get the opportunity to experience and acknowledge Willemijn’s performance as Elphaba, who will join the cast at the Apollo Victoria theatre six years after she made her Wicked debut abroad.

Verkaik is by no means a one trick pony: she has also appeared in We Will Rock You and Elton John’s Aida, and has made numerous concert appearances across Europe. In 2012, Verkaik made her Broadway debut in Wicked earning her a Broadway.com Audience Award nomination for Best Takeover. Considering Broadway and the West End alone, this transfer greatly widens the audiences of Verkaik’s talent, and ultimately acknowledging her ability to perform the role in three languages opens up a whole new meaning of the word ‘accessible’.

Louise Dearman, who is currently playing the role of Elphaba on the West End stage is the first person to ever play both leading roles, having first played Glinda in 2010, and will play her final performance in the musical in November.

Image courtesy of Wikipedia.

Newsies – A New Musical For The West End

Newsies - The MusicalThe Broadway musical Newsies is said to be hitting the capital’s West End with leaps, kicks and turns in the spring of 2014. As a result of this exciting transfer, the hit show, by Harvey Fierstein, will be scouting for UK dance talent to fill the dancing shoes of the production’s esteemed Broadway dancers.

The producers will be holding open auditions in order to find their cast for the show, which is based on the 1992 Disney film starring Christian Bale, reminding many theatre-lovers of the ‘cattle market’ style auditions conducted for A Chorus Line in which hundreds of enthusiastic performers queued for many hours. Newsies requires just two male dancers, insinuating that these auditions will find them in possibly worse conditions than those for A Chorus Line.

Newsies is currently running at the 1,200 seat Nederlander Theatre on Broadway, and tells the story of the real-life newsboy strike of 1899 as the boys’ leader fights against big-time publishers Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst. The show – it has been reported in the arts press – is aiming to open at either the Piccadilly or the Savoy Theatre next year, following two open auditions on 17 June 2013 at Pineapple Dance Studios in the heart of the West End. The auditions are hoped to produce two trained dancers with excellent ballet technique and dance talent, capable of playing ages between 16 and 22 years old.

The production, also containing acrobatics, tap dancing and a huge amount of energy, won two Tony Awards in 2012, one of which was for Christopher Gattelli’s choreography and the other for Alan Menken and Jack Fieldman’s score. The show was originally intended as a regional production and had a trial run in New Jersey in 2011 which was followed by its transfer to Broadway in 2012 and the nominations for five other Tony Awards.

Images courtesy of Wikipedia.