Iconic Classics, Northern Ballet, Leeds Playhouse, review: ballet returns to the North with a real spring in its step
The front wall of Leeds Playhouse is emblazoned with a new, red neon sign that reads: “I get knocked down, but I get up again”. This quote from Chumbawamba’s song Tubthumping could (perhaps should) appear outside every arts venue in our Covid-ravaged country.
Northern Ballet, which began an 11-day residency at the Playhouse on Wednesday night, is certainly living up to that 1997 hit’s spirit of defiance and optimism. Between now and Saturday, the north of England’s classical dance company will present a mixed programme celebrating the choreographic work of its artistic director, David Nixon OBE, and another showcasing set pieces from the contemporary dance rep. Then, from October 28 to 31, they will stage Nixon’s acclaimed interpretation of Dangerous Liaisons.
But they opened their Playhouse season with a selection of pieces from the established ballet repertoire. Ranging from the almost ironically sweet romanticism of August Bournonville’s The Flower Festival to a brief blast of testosterone from Giselle, the Iconic Classics programme was performed with little more than the essential “bare boards and a passion”.
The show began, not with a balletic extract, but with a heartfelt speech by Nixon (who would be our self-declared “MC” for the evening). It had been, he reminded his carefully physically distanced, mask-wearing audience, 221 days since his company had opened its new ballet Geisha; the only performance of the piece the pandemic has, so far, allowed.
What a difference between that opulent production, and this modest (though confident) return to the theatre. Dancers appeared on a naked stage, the superb orchestra arranged behind them.
The bareness of the space contrasted starkly with the performers’ splendid costumes; which included, in the case of a pas de deux from Don Quixote, ballerina Ayami Miyata wearing the same tutu worn by Northern Ballet’s rehearsal director (and Nixon’s wife) Yoko Ichino when she danced the piece with Rudolf Nureyev at The Metropolitan Opera House in New York many moons ago.
The dancing in Don Q, as throughout the programme, measured up impressively to the exacting demands of classical ballet. Nixon had told his dancers, some of whom were standing in for quarantined or injured colleagues at just a few days’ notice, that this show was about “dancing again”, rather than being “the best”.
However, from the dynamism, dexterity and grace of Miyata and Matthew Koon in Don Q to the style and zest of Kyungka Kwak and Lorenzo Trossello in Sleeping Beauty, the show was a testament to the physical and technical excellence of Northern Ballet’s dancers.
The travails of Nixon’s company over the past seven months are typical of the troubles faced by artists throughout the UK and beyond. One can only hope that others can return as boldly.
Until Oct 31. Tickets: 0113 213 7700; northernballet.com
