Scottish Ballet Autumn Season

Scottish Ballet is committed to helping develop new choreographers and offers regular opportunities for dancers who wish to grow their choreographic skills. Christopher Hampson, Scottish Ballet’s Artistic Director, has worked closely with Laplane over the past few years, nurturing her remarkable natural choreographic talent and giving her platforms to show her work.

Sophie Laplane’s Oxymore was showcased at the Edinburgh International Festival in 2013 as part of Scottish Ballet’s Dance Odysseys, was included in Scottish Ballet’s Up Close tour in 2014 and most recently was performed at the TEDx Glasgow event. Laplane created Sink In for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2014 and will debut a new work on Friday at the Independent:BALLET event as part of the Cottier Dance Project.

Maze has developed from being part of the Royal Ballet’s Draft Works programme for emerging choreographers and this will be Laplane’s first work to be performed in a large scale theatre. 

It will appear as part of Scottish Ballet’s exciting Autumn Season alongside Elsa Canasta by Javier de Frutos and Motion of Displacement, a world premiere from Bryan Arias.

“Sophie has been consistently developing her choreographic style and is ready for the next step. Ensuring that new work is developed for Scottish Ballet’s repertoire is essential to our growth and I’m delighted that we’re able to showcase a choreographer from within the Company alongside emerging choreographer, Bryan Arias and a master in his field, Javier de Frutos.”

Scottish Ballet Artistic Director and Acting Chief Executive Christopher Hampson

“I am so excited that my new work Maze is being included in Scottish Ballet’s Autumn Season. It is amazing news and I am just really thankful to Scottish Ballet for the opportunity to showcase my work.”

            Scottish Ballet dancer Sophie Laplane

Elsa Canasta, Motion of Displacement and Maze will be performed at the Theatre Royal in Glasgow, Festival Theatre in Edinburgh, Eden Court in Inverness and His Majesty’s Theatre in Aberdeen in September and October 2015.

Blog Roll of Fame 2014: The Choreographers

Continuing my commentary on the past year of theatre (now with added dance), I move into more contentious territory. Now and again, the question emerges: what is dance?

And everybody disagrees with the definition. I can imagine my definition of choreography is going to annoy somebody.

I am wondering whether choreography ought to refer only to artists who work with a movement ensemble. I ponder this merely to remind everyone that I studied Greek once upon a time, and am making a smart-ass connection between the choregoi and modern dance.

Impressed? 

Credit: Brian Hartley

Let's dive in easy: Natasha Gilmore is hot, and her entry in The Commonwealth Games' jamboree was a splendid example of her specific skills. She works in the sweet spot between community engagement and contemporary dance - which are usually about as sympathetic to each other as Nigel Farage and... anyone on the left, politically. 

She's been working on this fusion for a while - both through her association with the Maryhill Integration Network and Barrowland Ballet (the latter name being a nice mash-up of the legendary venue where people went for 'the dancing' and the high art associations of the dance they do on tip-toes). She got some funding action for the Fringe, too, with the smart and sassy Tiger shows.

Louise Ahl
Since she turned up in Glasgow, Louise has been dynamic,

pursuing an integration of sharp humour, mystical tensions, postmodern allusion and an exploration of art's relationship to education, self and criticism. She is a regular down the Arches, comes up with the unexpected until it is expected to be unexpected...

Whether she defines herself as a choreographer is probably complicated: her ideas come from multiple disciplines and her eclecticism reflects the healthy edge of performance art. Sitting on the edge of many genres, she leaps between them with finesse and a sense of fun. Check out her concept for the NICE institute.

Christopher Hampson
Although I am not that excited about the revival of Nutcracker - I find Peter Darrell's choreography has not aged well, and harks back to a period of rather effete British ballet - I am very excited about a new version of Swan Lake in 2015. He also got Christopher Bruce's Ten Poems into the company's repertoire, and has seriously sorted out the precision of the corps de ballet. 

Music Theatre Magic Moments

As a prelude to this week's Cryptic production These Delicate Things, I am mulling over some magical musical moments. In our conversation about his show, Josh Armstrong was sceptical about my claims that 'post-visual theatre is the next vital wave of performance' and polite enough not to punch me for confusing musical theatre (jazz hand, jukebox selections, maudlin sentimentality and hands-in-the-air triumphalism) and music theatre (carrying a message through the relationship between music and... theatre, and no jazz hands). So here are a few moments from the past year that exemplify how music can carry the meaning in a theatrical context.

Al Seed moves against the jazz (Oog @ The Arches)
Although I have mentioned Guy Veale's soundscape before, the particular moment when he drops Jean Goldkette and his Orchestra (1920s jazz action) into the mix is a devastating juxtaposition of the music's sensual optimism and AL Seed's character's desperate situation. Crackling and distant, Goldkette may sing of love but within Seed's survivalist drama, it becomes a harbinger of decay and despair.

David Pollock and Sita Pieraccini get busy (Make a Hoo @ The Arches)
Sita Pieraccini mostly abandoned words for this physical drama, but Pollock's score gave the work a tight, oppress focus. By framing her movements within an oppressive mesh of urban sound.

Ballet in Real Time (Still It Remains @ Tramway)

credit: Andrew Ross

It is no great surprise that an evening with Scottish Ballet would feature music as an essential part of the proceedings, but James Cousins' choreography had an almost unfashionably intimate relationship with the Kronos Quartet's Mugam Beyati Shiraz. An all female quartet are relocated from the stage into an imaginary and desolate and arid plain through the Quartet's evocation of the Middle East - yet are saved from a mere orientalist fantasy through the stringent strings and movements. 

Magic Moments... Made for Sharing

Here is my weekly list of five really cool things that I saw, heard or thought while I was about being a critic. Plus two rubbish ones, just from life, really.

The pas de deux between Mina and her husband (Dracula @Tramway). 

Another good bit(e)

Mark Bruce is big on the 'pas de deux equals people having sex' equation, and never more so than when Mina and Jonathan have their honeymoon night together. Capturing both characters' tentative intimacy, while establishing their sense of alienation even in the act of love, it encouraged the dancers to stretch themselves (literally and metaphorically) to present a sensual, hesitant union.  When the other characters came back on stage, it felt like they had barged into the bedroom. 

Guy Veale's soundscape (OOG @ The Arches).
Despite its reputation as a venue for alternative performance, The Arches is a tough space to work: the rumbling of trains overhead can be distracting. Veale's soundscape for Al Seed's exercise in physical precision was both tough enough to conquer the rumbles, and porous enough to incorporate them into the overall atmosphere. Switching between My Bloody Valentine, ambient (and probably illbient) numbers and a jaunty spot of old time jazz, Veale lent Seed's post-apocalyptic soldier an immersive, daunting dark atmosphere.

Putin's Photograph on the wall (Leviathan @ Glasgow Film Theatre).
A Russian take on The Book of Job was never likely to be a chuckle-fest, but the subtle pointers to the corruption of the ruling elite through Leviathan made it as much political satire as theodicy. In a key scene, when the corrupt mayor is confronted by the over-sexed lawyer (no-one is innocent in this film), a framed portrait of an anemic looking Putin is just above their heads throughout the scene, making it clear that evil is one thing that does work in trickle-down economic theory.

Victor Zarallo and Sophie Martin (Scottish Ballet Up Close @ Tramway).
At the risk of being another critic whom Sophie Martin has to arrange a restraining order, the brief pas de deux Jealousy by James Cousins in SB's mixed mixed bill was another reminder of how she is becoming one of the most exciting dancers in Scotland, meshing contemporary energy with classical technique. Bathed in red light, and teetering between the erotic and the despairing, Cousin's choreography gave both dancers a showcase that insists on ballet's ability to explore emotional extremes without compromising on its rigorous physicality.

The Words on the Body (Autumn Nerve Dance @ Old Hairdressers).
Paul  Michael Henry is always good for a bit of butoh inspired action, but Prof Lavery (academics - if you tell me, I'll steal it) pointed out a layer to this dance. Henry's use of projected cut-ups covered his body, emphasising the failure of words to express whatever Henry's movements were trying to manifest - but their disappearance left Henry's body bare and vulnerable. Not just some funky moves, Autumn Nerve Dance posed a question about how words might shape our identities, even if they are merely reflections on the surface of our bodies...

And here's the rubbish...

That Bloke In Front of Me (Autechre @ The Art School).
When he turned round and said in a loud voice that 'this was the most abstract thing ever made,' I wondered whether his comment on Autechre's electronic lesson in history (I'll get to it) was profound or just a stupid bit of showing off that revealed an ignorance of, say conceptual art  or Xenakis' compositions. I was pondering what he meant when he followed this up with 'and there is only one sound going on at a time', which was audibly wrong. 

Him wearing a comedy sanitary towel fancy dress on Halloween (Total Fucking Nightmare Walk Home @ Sauchiehall Street). 

The internet proves this is not an
isolated activity. Thanks, internet.

While it was a bold move to challenge the hegemony of the 'sexy' halloween fashions (I was more conservative and went for 'sexy William Burroughs), the man who was wearing a big bloody tampon wasn't committed enough to the feminist subtext to really pull it off. Actually, given that halloween is supposed to be about monsters (even 'sexy nurse' had a bit of blood on her - either because she was being top beat combo Nurse with Wound ((c) Lorna Irvine) or she'd cut herself on her nasal accent), wearing a towel suggests an innate fear of menstruation. 

There is, of course, another joke about where these towels are usually found, and what this makes him, but I think that's going into misogynistic territory. 

Scottish ballet's Romeo and Juliet

Ballet Job News

Since the arrival of Christopher Hampson at Scottish Ballet in 2012, the national company has been heading out in new directions, while holding onto the best of its past. I might never be convinced that going back to the repertoire that was current before Ashley Page's tenure (it was all rather twee and predictable), but Hampson has kept Page's adventurous ethos as he tightened up the precision of the corps.

But today's release is not here to celebrate the body of the company, but a trio of individuals.

Release begins...

Eve Mutso, who most recently performed the role of the Witch in Artistic Director Christopher Hampson’s spellbinding creation of Hansel & Gretel and who took the lead as Blanche in the award winning A Streetcar Named Desire, has been promoted to Principal. Eve was nominated for Best Female Dancer at the Critics’ Circle National Dance Awards in 2012 in response to her performance in Streetcar. Plus she was in The List Hot 100, and that is probably what got her the promotion. 


Luciana Ravizzi, who features in Scottish Ballet’s Autumn Season 2014 poster, has been promoted to Soloist following her performances as the Mother and the Witch in Hansel & Gretel, whilst fellow dancer Constance Devernay has been promoted from Artist to Soloist for her captivating performance as the gregarious Gretel.



Christopher Hampson, Artistic Director at Scottish Ballet, said: “These promotions are greatly deserved. Since joining the company in 2012, I have seen significant progress in all three dancers both in terms of their performances and in their understanding of their roles and how they communicate with our audiences.



“Ballet is about far more than simply being a talented dancer. It is the ability to tell a story through movement, to evoke a range of emotions and to challenge people’s perceptions or beliefs. Eve, Luciana and Constance have demonstrated a maturity in their abilities to bring to life widely differing roles, which truly engage with audiences across all ages.”



Eve, Luciana and Constance will all be performing in the upcoming production of Krzysztof Pastor’s critically acclaimed Romeo & Juliet, which opens at The Kings Theatre in Glasgow on Saturday 19 April 2014.

SKY arts...awards. Ballet and Opera

I am naturally suspicious of the Sky Arts Awards: it's something to do with TV, which I don't like (the fundamental difference between live performance and representation on a screen is that the latter fails to create a shared experience, except in virtual, anonymous terms and denies the immediacy of a critical moment). It is supported by a network that hasn't exactly shown itself to be honest and proud. The two Scottish winners have more credibility than the awards body, suggesting that the association of the artists does more for the TV network than it does for the winners - although there is a subtle interplay there. The winners get exposure, the network gets credibility and...

Enough of the doubts for the moment. It's wonderful that two of the three Scottish National Companies have won awards. A Streetcar Named Desire from Scottish Ballet got the Dance Prize: Ghost Patrol won the Opera for Scottish Opera (with Music Theatre Wales). That's the second award for Streetcar this year.

In both cases, the works are not typical of their media. Ghost Patrol was a short opera, something that SO have been working on for the past few years (their 5:15 programme was made up of new quickies). SO are slightly obsessed with getting younger audiences - they have a special price for anyone under 26 - and getting an audience in and out in an hour is a strong strategy. Meanwhile, Streetcar had both a director and a choreographer. This isn't uncommon in contemporary dance, but reflects Scottish Ballet's interest in new approaches.

On the surface, this looks like a vindication of the policies of both companies. They get in new artists - composer of Ghost Patrol MacRae is a child of the 1970s, Streetcar choreographer Annabelle Lopez Ochoa had not worked with a ballet company before - and give them access to the support a large company can give. Streetcar was especially intriguing: despite having a pas de deux, which was possibly the most brutal use of elegance seen on stage on 2012, it owed much more to contemporary approaches,and placed SB's discipline at the service of an almost dance theatre style.

It's also a vindication of the smaller companies who have supported artists before they arrive at the National Companies. The awards might seem to celebrate large names (their popular music section is, unsurprisingly, a joke, having Plan B on the list, a good five years after he was vaguely interesting), but the two Scottish companies gave a platform to voices not usually heard on this scale.

I am still suspicious of Sky Arts - the development of a modern canon is too important to be left to a media organisation that has not been a force for good in the UK's political media. But it would be ungracious not to celebrate the success of MacRae and Louise Welsh (who wrote the libretto), Eve Mutso and Tama Barry (who danced Blanche and Stanley), Nancy Meckler (who directed Streetcar) and Lopez Ochoa.

Or maybe Sky are just cuddling up to Scotland before independence?

Highland Fling, Market Gallery, 85a

The opposite of funny isn't serious: the best comedy is often serious, and some of the things I laugh at on Failbook are life-threateningly intense. The real opposite of funny is the press release, in which even jesters and vaudeville slapstick acts impress upon their readers how important they are. So it's hats off to The Market Gallery for their press release for Kim Noble's Solo Exhibition.  Here's an extract. "Kim Noble, who's no stranger to the common cold, will be holding a solo exhibition in Glasgow featuring several works, which could be deemed 'o.k'.  He is an award winning comedy performance and video artist, whose work crosses theatre, TV, comedy and art.  On route from London to Glasgow he will be stopping at the Gretna Green Services on the M74 to bury £100 in the ground, so if anyone wants anything then contact him directly at info@mrkimnoble.com.  Some other stuff should go here about some interesting recent projects." Then there's something about a siege in 1204, and the promise of a video. Mind you, I got him confused with Ross Noble who is a comedy and, therefore, not very funny. Market Gallery, Glasgow 15th March - 12th April 2012 Compulsive behaviour is, of course, not funny. But it can be entertaining, if Matthew Bourne does the choreography and is wryly updating La Sylphide to contemporary Glasgow. Bourne hasn't neglected Glasgow sinnce he got his OBE - his Gothic remix of Sleeping Beauty turned up a few months ago - and Scottish Ballet have become the first company, apart from Bourne's own, to get the license to Highland Fling. Highland Fling came out in 1994 - possibly the last good year to set a ballet in a nightclub and still be part of the zeitgeist  - and the arrival of Christopher Hampson at SB marks a new phase in the company's journey from also-rans to major force. It's a long way from their old Christmas classic The Snowman to Highland Fling. Hampson - an old sparring partner of Bourne - has managed to persuade the award winning choreographer to let SB have the piece, although he has never "leased" any of his full length numbers before.

SCOTTISH BALLET presents

Matthew Bourne’s HIGHLAND FLING

Sponsored by Adam & Company

Directed and choreographed by Matthew Bourne

Music La Sylphide by Herman Severin Løvenskjold,

performed live by the Scottish Ballet Orchestra

Designs: Lez Brotherston

Lighting: Paule Constable

Theatre Royal GLASGOW 27 April – 4 May 2013

Eden Court Theatre INVERNESS 9 – 11 May 2013

His Majesty’s Theatre ABERDEEN 16 – 18 May 2013

Festival Theatre EDINBURGH 22 - 25 May 2013

While I am out on the edge, here's a shout out for Chernozem. 85a - Vile Arts' favourites and likely to be on the radio hour soon enough, are showing their dystopian film at the GFT. Since last time they displayed the movie, it was part of a wild promenade performance, featuring nasty machines that ate audience members and a cheeky tour of The Glue Factory's hidden spaces, they couldn't just have a quiet showing. They are having a big party at The Flying Duck as part of the fun. 

Too much information - overloaded - here's the press release. 

85A Collective presents:

C  H  E  R  N  O  Z  E  M

(‘Black Earth’)

 MARCH   29th  2013

Glasgow art collective 85A are set to unleash a cinematic barrage with the premiere of ‘CHERNOZEM’ - an industrial horror film - kicking off with a dystopian masquerade party at The Flying Duck, then rocketing the audience towards the GFT in a riotous parade - all to be followed by a total rinse-out back at the ‘Duck with special guests Golden Teacher. An unmissable night!   

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!! BOOM!!!

TICKETS AVAILABLE FROM 1^st MARCH 2013   

CHERNOZEM

Film Premiere (2013,1hr 15mins. B/W)

GFT

Glasgow

29^th March 2013

23:00

Tickets £6

Available 1st March www.85A.org.uk

Limited availability

  

Burrowing through the dark vein of German Expressionism and Soviet propaganda films comes the premiere of CHERNOZEM (‘Black Earth’). Written and directed by Judd Brucke and produced by the Glasgow based multi-disciplinary art collective 85A, this is a horror tale of a man with a factory for a head that struggles for survival in a post-apocalyptic world.

Paying aesthetical homage to Weimar-era cinema and industrial documentaries, this is thematically a classic chase-movie wrapped in the cloak of the Kunstmärchen. Shot entirely on VHS and filmed in the hidden, crumbling shadows of a bygone era, CHERNOZEM not only serves as a sideways document to Glasgow's fading industrial past, but strips Hi-def. films right down to the bone, stoking the fires of deracinating, thunderous filmmaking!

85A's RENEGADE MASKERRADE

The Flying Duck, Glasgow

29^th March 2013

20:00 - 04:00

CHERNOZEM based, masked costume party, with performances, a live set from Sister Deadfoot, and midnight beats from 85A dj's + very special guests: Golden Teacher.

Part I: RENEGADE MASKERRADE

Pre-screening party with 'Sister Deadfoot' (Footstomping hillbilly-bop) followed by an astonishing showcase of hyper-costumes, freekish masks, blazing soundsuits and bitchin' style!

20:00 - 22:45

Tickets £3

Available 1st March 85A.org.uk, The Flying Duck and The Art School Bar

Teetering on the edge of civilization, beneath the tidal flows of technology, led by a gang of costumed outcasts, geishas and gichts in the blackened folds of our metropolis, bursts...

'85A's RENEGADE MASKERRADE', where the engine oil liquor flows like wormwood from the skies and your dreams are full of bare-footed voodoo sex.

This mad subterranean bar in the hidden depths of the near-future, enveloped by flotsam, jetsam and incubuses of the night, is only eclipsed by the ravishing, sand-strewn fashions of these exotic denizens as they lose themselves in the pulsing lights and glide uninhibited along the alluring catwalk into the frenzy of the Mask Pit!

Later at the witching hour back at The Flying Duck…

Part II: CHERNOZEM AFTER PARTY

>With 'Golden Teacher' (Hypno-psych voodoo groove) and the bombastic

big, big beats of the legendary 85A dj's.

00:30 - 04:00

/// FREE ///

To complete the triptych of CHERNOZEM's mighty premiere, bear witness to our special guests in the form of the hypnotically divine Golden Teacher, enthralling the masked crowds with their polyrhythmic palpitating sounds.

Then 85A dj's will be dropping the most mental bush-burning beats this side of zef! (“Loud enough to knock you down!!”)

Secret Codes Beneath the Nutcracker's Cover

Nutcrackers are Christmas ballet fare, and Scottish Ballet has had one in its repertoire for decades. Ashley Page's version, which replaced an earlier, more sentimental version, has become one of the triumphs from his time as artistic director: as in his Sleeping Beauty, the contemporary ballet skills of the company are used without losing touch with the original ballet's classicism.

This year's revival comes on the back of Page's replacement as artistic director by Christopher Hampson, and the lively energy of the corps de ballet is, delightfully complemented by a more precise geometry. Although many of the previous Christmas shows have been undermined by some ragged group work, there is a new sense of line and order in the corps.

Lev Ivanov's original choreography to Tchaikovsky's magical score ensured, however, that the centre-piece of the performance will always be the grand pas de deux. If Page allows the narrative to slide into an almost Freudian journey through the heroine's subconscious - and there is a sense that this Nutcracker teeters on the edge of adolescent maturity - the final dance between the Prince and Marie blends the sensual and spectacular. Even the nervous, excited energy of Marie's earlier dances with Drosselmyer - mad professor and designer of the titular toy - gives way to a passionate bonding with her Prince.

Much of the power of Page's choreography comes from his willingness to both refer to earlier, classical versions and integrate a wry, post-modern wit. Yet his Nutcracker plays less with the possible meanings of the story than follows the lead of Tchaikovsky's score. Shifting the scene from the family Christmas party into the fantastic world of the Nutcracker Prince and his mortal enemies, the movement captures the sudden new depth of the orchestration. Leaving behind the chaotic world of her parents - the party has undertows of infidelity and drunken misadventures - Maria is cast into the vigorous war between the Prince's hussars and the Mice. Using Tchaikovsky's darker passages to colour the conflict, Page makes this brief battle brutal enough to off-set the potential sentimentality of the subsequent Snowflakes scene. This balance makes the second act, which emphasises the charming over the dramatic, a welcome relief.

If Page's Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella are Christmas shows with more bite - in the latter, the Ugly Sisters end up properly punished - The Nutcracker is the one where Page manages most effectively the expectations of a Christmas audience. Lightly alluding to Marie's burgeoning maturity, Page avoids being too obvious. Only the appearance of Tchaikovsky's face at the window, and the surreal appearance of Drosselmeyer in a watch, are blunt suggestions of a subtext. Very subtly, Marie is transformed from awkward, lonely child to elegant young woman. Even the Prince's journey, from wooden mannequin to romantic lead, is nuanced.

Yet The Nutcracker is, above all, a celebration of pure dance. Only through the renewed precision of the corps de ballet and the strength of the leads - Sophie Martin embodies Marie's journey, and Adam Blythe is a solid partner as her Prince - can the lightweight variations of the second act be successful. Unless the company radically changes in the next years, this Nutcracker is a strong showcase for their talents, a fine mesh of ability and choreographic intention, and will hopefully remain in the repetoire.

Scottish Ballet (More from the Conference)

I'd be an idiot if I predicted whether the appointment of Christopher Hampson as artistic director is going to be a good thing for Scottish Ballet: the press conference follows the expected format, and both Hampson and chief executive Cindy Sughrue merely sketched out possible future directions. The exclusive on Bourne's Highland Fling is hot news, the projected Hansel and Gretel, and Me ticks the outreach box, Sughrue acknowledges the importance of the company as a "cultural ambassador of a country with a unique and exciting identity." But whether Hampson intends to build on Ashley Page's decision to move the company towards contemporary ballet, or retreat into a more classical programme is a question that only time, and more adventurous critics, can tell.

I'd be a liar if I claimed to know who the new choreographers Hampson has invited to "engage" with SB are, but this is the most exciting announcement. Like many critics, I am addicted to new work - although I am pleased to hear that another Kenneth MacMillan piece is being added to the repertoire. But the three woman, and one man, who are being invited have, at least, recognisable pedigrees.


Helen Pickett - "renowned for her energetic, yet poetic creations" is an ex-dancer with Forsythe's Ballet Frankfurt. A quick flick through her past choreography suggests an artist interested in the connection between dance and spirituality, but not without warmth and humour. Since SB already have a Forsythe in their repertoire, her engagement in Summer 2013 continues the trend of picking up on new European dance.

Crystal Pite, straight out of Vancouver, associate choreographer with The Nederlands Dance Theatre (cool points here - NDT are probably the top contemporary ballet company IMHO) and boss of Kidd-Pivot, who are multidisciplinary - has a reputation for bringing the hip-hop to the ball, and has been winning awards all over the place.

Having adapted Forsythe's fluid movement to her own post-modern eclecticism, her work has been described as fascinated with the epic, integrating lighting to the choreography and smart and sharp. She fits well in the European contemporary strand of SB's repertoire.

James Cousins has had a work commissioned: he won Matthew Bourne's New Adventures Choreographer Award, so I can make a reasonable guess at where his work might be coming from - accessible, immediate, intelligent and witty. Since he is only 22, I can admire his youthful talent and envy his success in one thought.

That choice links up with Highland Spring and the way Ashley Page looked to England for influence (he got The Place's darling Richard Alston to do his first narrative ballet). Kristen McNally also comes up from London - she is a soloist with Royal Ballet - and has used the music of Kanye West as inspiration.

Being both idiot and liar, I'll risk stating that all of these choices are... interesting. They don't give many clues about a future direction - the last two choreographers have made too little work to be part of any clearly defined movement, although they match Scottish Ballet's previous interest in finding new talent and looking to England... Pickett and Pite make sense as contemporary ballet choreographers who push the boundaries but don't go full-tilt Dance Theatre.

Yeah, I think I see... Scottish Ballet are still into contemporary ballet, but restraining their experimentation within certain boundaries. They aren't going to suddenly let Iona Kewney have a shot, or shock audience with a burst of Bausch business. But I am feeling safe that they won't be resurrecting The Snowman, or getting too traditional...

Scottish Ballet announce (Vile pretends to be a newshound)

Thanks to my rather conservative instincts - if I become aware of a particular artistic director or choreographer, and then begin to appreciate their distinctive style, I don't like it if they move to new projects - I approached the introduction of Scottish Ballet's new artistic director with caution. Having appreciated Ashley Page's reign, which rescued the company from my memories of some rather twee work in the 1980s, I was concerned that a new director might decide to consolidate rather than expand the repertoire.

Usually I wait a few months before having an opinion about anything new. I am diving in today because I am quite excited about at least one of the future productions mentioned by Hampson in today's press conference.

So, for once, here's me acting liek a reporter... Scottish Ballet have got an exclusive license to performa Matthew Bourne's Highland Fling. Based on the classical ballet La Sylphide. Since it is set in Glasgow - and Bourne made a work up here last year, under the auspices of The Theatre Royal -  it seems only fair that Scottish Ballet get to be the first company, apart from Bourne's own, to have a shot at presenting it.

It also fits well into SB's identity - it is influenced by classical ballet, but gets into all sorts of sexy, psychedelic antics. At their best, SB have given "contemporary ballet" a presence and meaning, stripping away those secondary characteristics - the tutus, the romantic stories - while using the technique and discipline. Page's choreography often had a sardonic edge to the elegance: Highland Fling suggests that Hampson is respecting that path.

Hampson himself came across as aware of the company's dual role, both as ambassadors of Scottish dance to the world, and encouraging dance in Scotland. His project towards a version of Hansel and Gretel is going to collaborate with schools, colleges, Louise Welsh and the Forestry Commission - no lack of ambition there - and he promises that a wave of new choreographers will be coming soon to make new work but...

That's five o'clock. Time to post

Street Car!

After the concern surrounding Ashley Page's departure, and the disappointing reception of his full length Alice, Scottish Ballet's A Streetcar Named Desire was an encouraging step forward. Choreographer Anna Lopez Ochoa's first narrative ballet  is as celebratory and uplifting as a story based on sexual violence and insanity can get.

Apart from a few ill-judged moments - Stanley does not really need to shout "Stella" to express his frustrated emotions at the climx of the first act, and the subsequent pas de deux eroticises male brutality - Streetcar is a theatrically thrilling fusion of ballet and movement more familiar from American and Europe modern dance. 

The contrast between Blanche's fluttering, balletic steps and the earthier stomps of the New Orleans characters makes explicit the gap between her dreams of gentility and her impoverished present: the presence of a dramaturg, Nancy Mekler, seems to have ensured that every aspect of the performance, from set to props to costume to choreography, is unified to emphasise Blanche's journey from hopeful ingenue to delusional victim.

Using a relatively limited dance vocabulary, Ochoa's vision of Streetcar struggles to capture the bleak intensity of Tennessee William's original: Tamar Barry is a striking Stanley, but lacks the brutal edge of Brando's screen portrayal. And despite Ochoa's much repeated mantra that "dance lacks a past tense" - for this reason, her version does not have the final reveal of Blanche's husband's suicide, but tells the story chronologically - the flashback to Blanche's prostitute past suggests that a more allusive and abstract ballet can strike more precisely at the heart of the story's preoccupation with faded glamour and hypocrisy.

Yet Streetcar provides lavish spectacle: the pas de deux between

Stanley and Stella is a stunning technical display - perhaps diluting the savagery of their coupling for a sensuous elegance. Driven by an approachable score from Peter Salem, which is equal parts jazz and minimalist orchestration, the busy streets of New Orleans, and the more sedate atmosphere of Blanche's youthful idyll, are given robust energy. And the second act, which rushes from a montage of Blanche's attempted romance, through a recollection of her past towards the inevitable arrival of the men in white coats, races the narrative along without losing coherence or the thematic integrity.

With Sophie Martin (Stella) and Eve Mutsuo (Blanche) putting their technique at the service of characterisation, and Ochoa using ballet as a foundation for spectacle and emotive choreography, Scottish Ballet escape the trap of relying too heavily on the source script, and insist that narrative dance need not be plot heavy and predictable.




Scottish Ballet presents 

A Streetcar Named Desire

Festival Theatre, Edinburgh

Wed 18 – Sat 21 Mar 2015

Evenings 18-21 Mar - 7.30pm
Matinee 21 Mar – 2pm

Box office 0131 529 6000 (bkg fee)
Free pre-show talks at 6.30pm on Thu 19 Mar with Artistic Staff and Fri 20 Mar with Music staff. Call box office to reserve tickets.
Free post-show discussion immediately following the performance on Fri 20 Mar.


Sadler's Wells, London
Tue 31 Mar – Thu 2 Apr 2015 - 7.30pm

Free pre-show talk at 6.30pm on Thu 26 April. Call box office to reserve tickets.

Tickets from £12-£40. Discounts available - please contact box office.
Box office 0844 412 4300 (bkg fee)






USA


Harris Theater, Chicago

Thu 7 – Sat 9 May 2015 – 7.30pm

Tobin Center, San Antonio

Tue 12 May 2015 – 7.30pm

Brown Theater, Houston

Fri 15 May 2015 – 7.30pm

Byham Theater, Pittsburgh
Tue 19 May 2015 – 7.30pm

Spoleto Festival
College of Charleston Sottile Theatre, Charleston
Fri 22 - Sun 24 May 2015

Kennedy Center, Washington DC
Thu 28 – Sat 30 May 2015
Evenings 28-30 May – 7.30pm
Matinee 30 May – 1.30pm