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News and features index



News items
What's happening at BRB

Features

 Video: Bluebird studio rehearsals
12 February 2010
 Video: Early Aladdin studio rehearsals
04 February 2010
 20 year celebrations
15 January 2010
 2010 SW tour introductory notes
13 January 2010
 2010 N/E tour introductory notes
13 January 2010
 Carol-Anne Millar
04 December 2009
 The Sugar Plum Fairies part two
02 December 2009
 The Sugar Plum Fairies part one
27 November 2009
 Video: Nutcracker Act I studio rehearsal
06 November 2009
 Video: Cyrano studio rehearsals
29 October 2009
 Dual controls
01 October 2009
 We can be heroes
11 September 2009
 Christopher Rodgers-Wilson
10 September 2009
 E=mc² Costume designs
07 September 2009
 Robert Parker
04 September 2009
 Video: David Bintley's E=mc² diary
20 August 2009
 Quantum Leaps introductory notes
06 August 2009
 Video: Carl Davis on the score for Cyrano
06 August 2009
 Cyrano Act I set designs and plot preview
30 July 2009
 Video: Nutcracker studio rehearsals
29 July 2009
 Video: Nutcracker technical preparations
23 July 2009
 Video: David Bintley and Robert Parker on Cyrano's nose
19 June 2009
 Two Pigeons behind-the-scenes feature on BBC Radio WM
18 June 2009
 Video: Dame Antoinette Sibley and Sir Anthony Dowell taking rehearsals
08 June 2009
 Video: The Two Pigeons rehearsal
03 June 2009
 The Two Pigeons introductory notes
01 June 2009
 Mozartiana introductory notes
01 June 2009
 The Dream introductory notes
02 June 2009
 Sir Fred and Mr B.
29 May 2009
 David Bintley on the 2009-10 season
11 May 2009
 Garry Stewart video interview
01 May 2009
 Galanteries Introductory notes
30 April 2009
 The Dance House introductory notes
03 April 2009
 Elite Syncopations: a history
01 April 2009
 Cyrano character guides
13 March 2009
 Sylvia Pizzicato rehearsal
09 March 2009
 The fruits of a friendship
06 March 2009
 Kangaroo Rat rehearsal video
24 February 2009
 China 2009 tour blog
19 February 2009
 David Bintley's Sylvia diary
17 February 2009
 Chi Cao video interview part two
13 February 2009
 Enigma Variations Troyte rehearsal video
13 February 2009
 Chi Cao video interview
27 January 2009
 Gaylene Cummerfield
06 December 2008
 David Bintley on 2008's Claras
14 November 2008
 Welcome to the jungle
22 October 2008
 David Bintley on the story of Sylvia
22 October 2009
 David Bintley on his Sylvia reworking
22 October 2008
 Robert Parker on Enigma Variations
22 October 2008
 Wolfgang Stollwitzer interview
05 October 2008
 The Beasts within
04 October 2008
 Lei Zhao
06 September 2008
 Kristen McGarrity
06 September 2008
 Behind the scenes: Department for Learning
18 August 2008
 New faces look back
14 July 2008
 Birmingham Royal Ballet on Classic FM
08 July 2008
 Notes on Petrushka (full version)
04 July 2008
 The history of Le Baiser de la fée
04 July 2008
 Notes on Card Game
04 July 2008
 Jonathan Payn on BBC Radio York, Spring 2008
18 June 2008
 Ambra Vallo on Giselle
13 June 2008
 Desmond Kelly
06 June 2008
 The Fairy's Kiss
13 May 2008
 The history of Card Game
10 May 2008
 Petrushka
09 May 2008
 Stravinsky: the real deal
03 May 2008
 Your personal profile
22 April 2008
 Behind-the-scenes: wardrobe
02 April 2008
 South-West tour notes
20 March 2008
 2008-09 season
20 March 2008
 North-East tour notes
19 March 2008
 Anniek Soobroy
10 March 2008
 Céline Gittens
07 March 2008
 Colin Towns Mask Orchestra
14 February 2008
 The light fantastic
12 February 2008
 Dominic Antonucci
11 February 2008
 Japan 2008 desktop wallpaper
11 January 2008
 Behind the scenes: Diana Childs
07 December 2007
 Fantasy and Reality
01 December 2007
 An Entertainment of Genius
01 December 2007
 Beauty and the Beast
19 November 2007
 Stravinsky autumn 2008
19 September 2007
 Angela Paul
09 October 2007
 All that jazz
08 October 2007
 Cardiff2008
05 October 2007
 Enjoy Strictly dancing?
03 October 2007
 New arrivals 2007
24 September 2007
 Tyrone Singleton
21 September 2007
 Edward II
10 August 2007
 Strictly dancing
10 August 2007
 Take Five costume rehearsals
22 June 2007
 Mary Goodhew: the making of a dancer
12 June 2007
 Michael O'Hare
01 June 2007
 200708 Season
28 March 2007
 Carl Davis interview
07 February 2007
 Pas de deux - Stravinsky and Balanchine
29 January 2007
 Ballet Hoo! aftershow interviews
07 October 2006
 The Acrobat and the Ringmaster
20 April 2006
 Transaction Charges
14 July 2006

 
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2010 N/E tour introductory notes



An introduction to the three ballets being performed on the North/East leg of Birmingham Royal Ballet's spring tour: Allergi diversi, Grosse Fuge and The Centre and its Opposite.



Birmingham Royal Ballet this year celebrates its 20th anniversary, having moved to the Midlands from London in 1990. Before then, the Company was known as Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet. When SWRB came to celebrate their own 40th anniversary in 1987, among the highlights was Allegri diversi, a new piece by David Bintley, who would go on to become Director of Birmingham Royal Ballet some years later.

In programme notes from the very first of these regional tours in 2002, John Percival noted of the score to the non-narrative piece that 'The two Rossini pieces which Bintley used were never meant by their composer for dancing, but their rich melodies, pace and orchestral colour make them enchantingly suitable. If anything, they resemble the style the composer used in his operas, and Bintley matched the singing quality of the music, also its form, with movement that builds brilliantly on the use of just a few contrasted steps, shaped smoothly together into a harmonious whole.'

He went on to conclude that: 'Today's cast do not have the advantage of the original ensemble, who had the roles made specifically for their talents, but they are going into a joyous work, full of happy invention, and it will be surprising if they do not respond accordingly.'

The second ballet being performed on the North/East tour does indeed see the original cast performing the roles, having been created on Birmingham Royal Ballet in 2009. Entitled The Centre and its Opposite, and choreographed by Australian Dance Theatre's Artistic Director Garry Stewart, it is perhaps the most challenging.

Taking energy from its score, the piece attempts to invert the focal point of the performance space: rather than the artists taking turns to come forward and dance for the audience, they are simultaneously pitted against one another, vying for attention from different parts of the stage.

David Bintley recently described Stewart's piece as being 'probably the most extreme piece that we have ever done'. However he also points out that it was influenced by the Birmingham Royal Ballet dancers on whom it was created, and so like the other pieces in the programme it still has its roots in classical ballet. The score however is very much of a contemporary nature, its thrilling industrial edge having wowed audiences on last year's tour of the South West and as part of the Company's autumn programme Quantum Leaps.

The music for Grosse Fuge, meanwhile, was deemed by the dancers who performed it to be not contemporary enough when it made its debut in 1978. Created on Netherlands Dance Theatre, who were more at home with scores from the latter half of the 20th century, the choreographer's choice of music by Beethoven was at first deemed an unpopular one.

The choreographer in question was Hans van Manen, and despite the protestations of his cast, the period of work including Grosse Fuge is considered the time during which his full maturity as a choreographer was revealed. Also turning-in starkly effective costume designs the piece sees the men stripped to the waist with belted black trouser skirts that swirl and swish to highlight the aggression of their steps, while the women's vulnerability is brought out in simple flesh-coloured leotards set off by hair pinned elaborately in a tiara motif.

Van Manen, who also created Twilight, the battle-of-the-sexes highlight from 2008's tour of the North East, presents here a more delicate and sensual interplay between four couples. Birmingham Royal Ballet have enjoyed a long relationship with the choreographer, and these performances mark the first opportunity to see the Company perform Grosse Fuge for over a decade.

Over the three pieces in this bill, Birmingham Royal Ballet offers a taste of what makes the Company so strong at the moment, as well as a unique chance to see ballet that you will not see anywhere else. As Director David Bintley recently commented: 'What have we won awards for? Not the full-length story ballets that everybody does, but the shorter, more adventurous works, that's where the critical acclaim comes.'

Click here to book when tickets go on sale, and share in what all the fuss is about.

ENDS

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2010 N/E tour introductory notes

An introduction to the three ballets being performed on the North/East leg of Birmingham Royal Ballet's spring tour: Allergi diversi, Grosse Fuge and The Centre and its Opposite.



Birmingham Royal Ballet this year celebrates its 20th anniversary, having moved to the Midlands from London in 1990. Before then, the Company was known as Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet. When SWRB came to celebrate their own 40th anniversary in 1987, among the highlights was Allegri diversi, a new piece by David Bintley, who would go on to become Director of Birmingham Royal Ballet some years later.

In programme notes from the very first of these regional tours in 2002, John Percival noted of the score to the non-narrative piece that 'The two Rossini pieces which Bintley used were never meant by their composer for dancing, but their rich melodies, pace and orchestral colour make them enchantingly suitable. If anything, they resemble the style the composer used in his operas, and Bintley matched the singing quality of the music, also its form, with movement that builds brilliantly on the use of just a few contrasted steps, shaped smoothly together into a harmonious whole.'

He went on to conclude that: 'Today's cast do not have the advantage of the original ensemble, who had the roles made specifically for their talents, but they are going into a joyous work, full of happy invention, and it will be surprising if they do not respond accordingly.'

The second ballet being performed on the North/East tour does indeed see the original cast performing the roles, having been created on Birmingham Royal Ballet in 2009. Entitled The Centre and its Opposite, and choreographed by Australian Dance Theatre's Artistic Director Garry Stewart, it is perhaps the most challenging.

Taking energy from its score, the piece attempts to invert the focal point of the performance space: rather than the artists taking turns to come forward and dance for the audience, they are simultaneously pitted against one another, vying for attention from different parts of the stage.

David Bintley recently described Stewart's piece as being 'probably the most extreme piece that we have ever done'. However he also points out that it was influenced by the Birmingham Royal Ballet dancers on whom it was created, and so like the other pieces in the programme it still has its roots in classical ballet. The score however is very much of a contemporary nature, its thrilling industrial edge having wowed audiences on last year's tour of the South West and as part of the Company's autumn programme Quantum Leaps.

The music for Grosse Fuge, meanwhile, was deemed by the dancers who performed it to be not contemporary enough when it made its debut in 1978. Created on Netherlands Dance Theatre, who were more at home with scores from the latter half of the 20th century, the choreographer's choice of music by Beethoven was at first deemed an unpopular one.

The choreographer in question was Hans van Manen, and despite the protestations of his cast, the period of work including Grosse Fuge is considered the time during which his full maturity as a choreographer was revealed. Also turning-in starkly effective costume designs the piece sees the men stripped to the waist with belted black trouser skirts that swirl and swish to highlight the aggression of their steps, while the women's vulnerability is brought out in simple flesh-coloured leotards set off by hair pinned elaborately in a tiara motif.

Van Manen, who also created Twilight, the battle-of-the-sexes highlight from 2008's tour of the North East, presents here a more delicate and sensual interplay between four couples. Birmingham Royal Ballet have enjoyed a long relationship with the choreographer, and these performances mark the first opportunity to see the Company perform Grosse Fuge for over a decade.

Over the three pieces in this bill, Birmingham Royal Ballet offers a taste of what makes the Company so strong at the moment, as well as a unique chance to see ballet that you will not see anywhere else. As Director David Bintley recently commented: 'What have we won awards for? Not the full-length story ballets that everybody does, but the shorter, more adventurous works, that's where the critical acclaim comes.'

Click here to book when tickets go on sale, and share in what all the fuss is about.

ENDS