Ballet fans can rejoice as The Lowry leave you spoilt for choice, with Pomp and Circumstances (a triple bill consisting of three short ballets Serenade/Enigma Variations/‘Still Life’ at the Penguin Café) and Sylvia – two Birmingham Royal Ballet programmes running from 31 March – 4 April.

BRB dancer, James Barton gives us his five reasons to see Pomp and Circumstances and Sylvia.

1. The Music – From Tchaikovsky (Serenade) to Elgar (Enigma Variations), from Delibes (Sylvia) to Simon Jeffes score for David Bintley’s ‘Still Life at the Penguin Café you will be moved by the music; if you come for the music alone you will have a thoroughly enjoyable evening! Tchaikovsky wrote of his Delibes’ score, that his own music for Swan Lake was ‘poor stuff’ in comparison.

2.  Humour – David Bintley’s talent for creating comic performances in dance can be seen with a Morris-dancing flea, a ballroom-dancing ram, a sleepy rat and wooly monkey in the witty and poignant ‘Still Life at the Penguin Café. Comedy pirates and house guests light up the stage in Sylvia.

3.  Topicality – ‘Still Life’ at the Penguin Café was first choreographed by David Bintley in 1988 for the Royal Ballet and looks at the subject of extinct and endangered species – a topic very much in our thoughts today. The Southern Cape Zebra provides the emotional core of ‘Still Life’. Sylvia teaches us all about a lesson in love as the leading characters are reconciled in love with the help of Eros, the God of Love.

4.  The Cast – 60 dancers of the Birmingham Royal Ballet dance to the music exquisitely supplied by Birmingham Royal Ballet’s orchestra, the Royal Ballet Sinfonia. The Company’s dancers are from all over the world including the UK, China, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, America, Canada, Spain, France, Chile and Russia.

5. The Set – New designs by Sue Blane can be seen for Company Director’s David Bintley’s new version of his full-length narrative ballet Sylvia. Three contrasting designs will delight you during the triple bill, from effective lighting in Serenade to beautiful autumnal-coloured designs for Enigma Variations by Julia Trevelyan Oman.

For further information, visit the Lowry or BRB websites.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 25th, 2009 at 10:07 am and is filed under Features, Interviews, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.