Summer 2004
A spellbinding combination of the greatest moments in musical
movie history and world-class ballet
Ballet West has a long established reputation of touring
professional quality ballet. Recent productions of “Swan
Lake” and “The Nutcracker” have received
rave reviews and played to packed houses in city venues across
Scotland.
In recent years, the company has diversified into musical
theatre and last summer toured for three weeks with a production
of “Fame-the Musical”. Again, the response of
audiences throughout Scotland was rapturous. In the Summer
of 2004 the company toured with “Upstage”, a show
that brought together all the talents that Ballet West has
to offer; technically excellent classical ballet, exhilarating
jazz dance and beautiful singing.
The ballets were
new works “Los Jeugos de la Chicos” by Kenn
Burke and “I palpiti” by London-based choreographer,
Frank Freeman.
“Los Jeugos de la Chicos” is performed to extracts
from “The Comedians” by Dimitry Kabalevsky (1904-1987).
Kabalevsky wrote the piece in 1938 for the play “The
Inventor and the Comedians” by M. Daniel, inspired by
the success enjoyed by Prokovief’s “Peter and
the Wolf” three years earlier. Kenn Burke adapted the
work for the students at Ballet West to create a delightful
study into the games that children play.
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“I Palpiti” is an evocative and
beautiful piece performed to Paganini’s Variations for
Violin and orchestra on theme by Rossini from “Il Tante
Palpiti”, an aria from his opera Thycredi. The choreographer,
Frank Freeman, was trained at the Royal Ballet School and
danced with the Royal Ballet Company and English National
Ballet. After he retired from dancing, he retrained as a teacher
and went on to become a major examiner for the Royal Academy
of Dance, teacher and choreographer, working in all of the
major ballet schools at home and abroad. He has had a long
association with Ballet West when asked about his inspiration
for this piece, Frank explained “When Gillian Barton
invited me to choreograph a ballet for her company, I immediately
wanted to write something for the dancers to this music. Having
taught and worked for the company as guest teacher for several
years, I was well aware of their special technical and artistic
qualities. I knew I would be able to show their wonderful
classicism to best effect by choreographing to Paganini’s
virtuoso piece for violin and orchestra”.
The second half
of the evening, “Soundtrack”, paid homage to the
highlights of dance in the movies. Taking in songs and dances
from films as diverse as “Mary Poppins”, “Grease”
and “Moulin Rouge”. This part of the evening gave
the young dancers of the company the opportunity to let down
their hair and show off their jazz dance technique and beautiful
singing voices. “Soundtrack” is directed by Jordi
Guitart, an experienced West End performer, and Nick
Fogarty, a well-known singer, songwriter and vocal coach.
The Ballet West company gives students at the Ballet West
school an opportunity to work with leading professionals in
producing performances of professional quality. They are introduced
to touring to major theatres and performing in front of large
audiences. This is an invaluable aspect of the training offered
at Ballet West and the company work continues to be a unique
selling point for students interested in joining the school.
“Ballet West … dancing with panache
and professionalism” - Perthshire Advertiser
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