SPRING/SUMMER 2022 | ISSUE 30 The magazine from Northern BalletCover: Northern Ballet dancers in Casanova. Photo Emma Kauldhar. Ashley Dixon. Photo Riku Ito. INSIDE Spring/Summer 2022 Issue 30 4 Our spring 2022 season 8 Company class insight 10 Updating our studios 11 Upcoming events 12 The cues behind the Company 13 Leavers and starters 15 Meet our new Orchestra & Concerts Manager 16 In conversation with Ashley Dixon 18 Academy update 19 Learning update 20 What’s on In Conversation With Ashley Dixon Page 16 2As Northern Ballet’s new Artistic Director, it is a pleasure to share this edition of Inside magazine with you. Since joining the Company in spring, it has been wonderful to meet so many of you at our Celebration Dinners and at supporter events in the theatre. I would like to thank you all for giving me such a warm welcome. I would like to congratulate David Nixon on being made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, it is an honour to have the opportunity to build on this legacy and I very much look forward to making my own contribution to Northern Ballet’s future successes. It has been a busy couple of months, and in my short time with the Company so far, a key focus has been auditioning and recruiting new dancers and planning Northern Ballet’s Artistic Direction for the next few years. When I joined, our spring tour was already underway with performances of Casanova and The Great Gatsby. It is Northern Ballet’s combination of strong storytelling and classical technique which really drew me to the Company, and these productions are wonderful examples of the Company at its best. My ambition is to build on these fundamentals of narrative ballet and classical technique which are at the very heart of the Company, and to present a diversity of perspectives and experiences in the stories we tell. I look ahead to our autumn tour with great excitement, and rehearsals are well underway for the première of our new Three Short Ballets 2022 mixed programme which, following the success of our digital work What Used To, No Longer Is, will include our second commission from Oliver Award-winning Mthuthuzeli November. Mthuthuzeli’s piece, Wailers, is inspired by an experience he had at the Western Wall in Jerusalem. For the second piece, we are excited to work with Stina Quagebeur for the first time to create Nostalgia. The final piece in the programme will be a stage adaptation of Dickson Mbi’s spin off film for Casanova, Ma Vie . In addition to sharing this brand new programme, I look forward to reviving much-loved production The Little Mermaid and festive favourite, The Nutcracker . I do hope you can join us for a rehearsal this summer to see these wonderful productions coming to life behind the scenes. I look forward to getting to know more of you over the coming months and hope to see you at a performance soon. If you ever require any assistance, please do get in touch with Jennifer, Zoë, Katy or Richard in the Development team, who will be very happy to help. Best wishes, Federico Bonelli Artistic Director Welcome Katy Lee katy.lee@northernballet.com Richard Cross richard.cross@northernballet.com Jennifer Young jennifer.young@northernballet.com Zoë Walker zoe.walker@northernballet.com Federico Bonelli. Photo Andrej Uspensk. 3OUR SPRING 2022 SEASON It has been a very busy spring for the Company, with performances of Casanova, The Great Gatsby, our children’s ballet Pinocchio, and our Celebration Dinners. We have loved sharing these productions with audiences across the country and it was wonderful to have so many of you join us for a performance. Joseph Taylor and Minju Kang in Casanova. Photo Emma Kauldhar. 4Thank you to everyone who supported our Celebration Dinners and silent auction. We are thrilled to share that over £50,000 was raised after costs to help us continue to push boundaries and break down barriers to dance with our work on stage and screen, in our Academy, and through our outreach projects. ON CASANOVA ‘YET ANOTHER MAGNIFICENT OFFERING FROM NORTHERN BALLET AND ITS COMPANY OF TALENTED DANCERS.’ YORKSHIRE TIMES ‘PURE, UNADULTERATED PLEASURE!’ LEEDS LIVING 'CLASSY, ACCOMPLISHED, INVENTIVE AND FINELY DANCED.' BROADWAY WORLD 'THE ENTIRE COMPANY WAS ABSOLUTELY ON FORM.' EVENING STANDARD ON THE GREAT GATSBY 'NORTHERN BALLET HAS NEVER LOOKED SO GOOD.' THE SCOTSMAN 'NORTHERN BALLET’S “THE GREAT GATSBY” IS AN IMMEDIATE SUCCESS AND A BALLET CLASSIC.' ARTS REVIEWS 'IT WAS SPECTACULAR AND UNFORGETTABLE.' MKFM Helen Bogatch, Aerys Merrill and Julie Nunès in Casanova. Photo Riku Ito. Antoinette Brooks-Daw and Ashley Dixon in The Great Gatsby. Photo Riku Ito. Harris Beattie and Bruno Serraclara in Pinocchio. Photo Drew Forsyth. Celebration Dinner. Photo Emily Nuttall. 5DANCE PASSION We were thrilled to take part in Dance Passion, a celebration of dance on the BBC during February and March. To mark the start of Dance Passion, Dance Race, a new dance film by Corey Baker featuring Northern Ballet dancers Aurora Piccininni and Wesley Branch, was released and saw a number of UK dance artists race across the country. As part of Dance Passion, our new dance film Together We Fall choreographed by Nick Meola with direction by Kenneth Tindall premiered. This beautiful duets stars First Soloist Jonathan Hanks and Junior Soloist Heather Lehan and starts at 45:53 into the programme. Alongside our work on stage, we are delighted to have continued bringing ballet into people’s homes through our digital work. Heather Lehan and Jonathan Hanks in Together We Fall. Photo Amy Kelly. 6MA VIE In May we shared our latest original dance film, Ma Vie, created by renowned Hip Hop choreographer Dickson Mbi. Following the success of our full-length ballet Casanova, Ma Vie brings a new perspective to the story of this infamous lothario and pushes the boundaries of ballet. In autumn, Ma Vie will be adapted for stage as part of our Three Short Ballets 2022 mixed programme. MERLIN SHOWN IN CINEMAS On 24 April, we were delighted to bring Merlin to the silver screen, with audiences watching in cinemas across the UK and Ireland. Merlin, created by Olivier Award- winning choreographer Drew McOnie, was our sixth full-length ballet to be captured for screen. The ballet was filmed at Leeds Grand Theatre in November 2021 in front of a live audience and gave cinema viewers the opportunity to see this magical production up close on the big screen. Minju Kang in Ma Vie. Photo George Liang. Kevin Poeung and Ashley Dixon in Merlin. Photo Emma Kauldhar. 7Christelle, can you tell us a little bit about what happens in Company class? Everything happens in the morning Company class! It all starts there. Class is the most important therapeutic daily routine for a dancer and provides high-level training. It’s the moment when the dancers start to wake up, warm up, and work on their fabulous instrument: their body! Class is a place for them to gain better control of their bodies and to be able to achieve the most harmonious movements and shapes, using the purest academic ballet technique. The dancers work on the control, texture, quality, and musicality of their dance. Like Mrs Balanchine said: “Everything comes from the class”. As professional artists, why is it important for our dancers to take part in a daily class? It is vital for them to have the discipline of attending a daily class to keep improving their technical skills, and to challenge themselves physically and mentally to avoid injuries. A dancer’s body needs a strong and consistent preparation ahead of daily rehearsals and to help achieve seven shows a week at the best level. Class is also the place where they will work on their technique. Mastering their technique allows the dancers to then focus on their artistic interpretation of the choreographic works in rehearsals and performances. What is your role in Company class? The teacher is a facilitator, a guide, and a mentor. My role during class is to feel, to observe and to know what the dancers need every day; to be able to step into the room and feel the emotional temperature of the day! As a teacher, I provide the dancers with the right energy they need, the right personal notes, motivation and support, whilst always pushing and challenging them, so they can push their limits and their technique, and be stronger and more athletic every day. The teacher is an anchor that provides the dancers with more self-esteem, confidence, and understanding of the control and execution of the steps. COMPANY CLASS INSIGHT It has been wonderful to have so many of our Patrons and Benefactors join us to watch Company class on stage across our spring tour. Company class is an important part of our dancers’ daily routine and includes a series of warm-up exercises followed by conditioning routines, accompanied by live music from our Company Pianists. Rehearsal Director Christelle Horna and Dancer Aerys Merrill give us an insight into this vital aspect of our dancers’ training. Sena Kitano, Aerys Merrill and Alessandra Bramante in rehearsal for Termagant. Photo George Liang. Christelle Horna. Photo Justin Slee. 8Does class involve the same exercises every time? The structure, order and logic of a ballet class is very important for me and always the same, but the combination of exercises changes every class. In other words, the overall structure remains the same, but the content changes. The combinations don’t necessarily need to be challenging to remember because, most of the time, what the dancers need during class is to keep focused on excellent execution of the exercises, not just memorising them. Yet, it is also an opportunity to train the brain, to learn combinations faster and to assist with the ability to memorise a lot of choreographic steps during rehearsals, which can approach a variety of styles. The timing of a class can affect the content. For example, a Monday class, after the dancers have had a weekend off, can’t be the same as the Friday one. So there has to be careful and sensitive consideration from the teacher when planning their daily class. Do the dancers have a set position at the barre, or do they change for each class? Oh yes!!! They all have a set position at the barre, a set position at the centre (the part of class after the barre), and the same when the Company are on tour. Some dancers pass years and years in the same spot, others sometimes change, especially when members leave the Company and a spot becomes free, so a rotation can happen. I guess this is part of the dancers’ routine in a way; having a set position at the barre and centre provides them with a comfortable place and space to work. Everything is very methodical in the dancers’ lives! Do exercises always go as planned? No, you must always leave space for change or improvisation. Sometimes it all goes as planned, and sometimes you must have resources to use a plan B or C! This requires the teacher to be highly flexible and able to adapt. Whether it is because of tiredness, or because they start to enjoy working on a specific combination, you might lose track of time during class and must cut or combine exercises. Aerys, how does taking class at Northern Ballet differ from taking class at other ballet companies? The biggest difference is that there are slightly different techniques used at Northern Ballet than I have previously been used to. When you work with different teachers, they usually bring their own take on the art form and what they have to offer. Some of the style is different here than at other places I have been before, but learning new things is how one grows so I enjoy it! The instructions seem to be given very quickly. Do you have a technique for remembering them? The best way I find to remember is to watch the whole picture as the teacher is explaining what to do and mark it with them as they are demonstrating the exercise. Do you wear pointe shoes or ballet flats for class? I wear both. Some days I do the whole class on pointe, and some days I do some of the barre exercises on flat and then put my pointe shoes on for the rest of barre and class. The exercises aren't pointe shoe specific, but they can be done on pointe or on flat. Sometimes though, a teacher will give an option in the exercise for the dancers with pointe shoes on. Do you have a favourite part of class? Yes, I do! I love the jumping exercises; they are my favourite thing to do because I feel powerful and like I'm flying through the air. If you have never experienced a Company class before, we do hope hearing from Christelle and Aerys has inspired you to join us at a theatre this autumn. We are firming up Company class dates for our autumn season, so keep an eye on your inbox for updates! Aerys Merrill. Photo Justin Slee. 9Next >