Argyll’s Ballet West off to crack China
published this on 1:20 pm, Sunday, 27th December, 2009Argyll's Achievers| Community News| Dance| Tourism activities | Comments (rss) | Respond | Ping |
Argyll’s Taynuilt-based Ballet West, defying cliche in basing itself in rural tranquillity, is progressively making a very distinctive mark in the world of ballet training and performance.
It is showing the sort of ambition that can lead Argyll into new territory – literally so, in its own case because, in April and May 2010, the company is to tour China.
The performance for the tour will be Ballet West’s production of The Nutcracker.
The Nutcracker’s script was born from one of the Tales of Hoffman (ETA Hoffman) – The Nutcracker and the Mouse King. The French novelist, Alexandre Dumas wrote a variation of the story. It was the Dumas version that Marius Petipa choreographed as The Nutcracker ballet, with its famous musical score written by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaichovsky at the start of the last decade of the 19th century.
The detail of the script for the ballet differs from the written story but the core of the plot remains the same: a little German girl, Clara, dreams of a Nutcracker Prince and a terrifying battle against the seven-headed Mouse King.
The ballet is popular in China, making it a good choice for this tour by a company already, apparently, the source of considerable interest in that country.
The tour to China is a first for any ballet company from Scotland, a first shared by Ballet West with the national ensemble, Scottish Ballet, which will be on tour in the country at the same time.
The Taynuilt company is flying the flag for the pioneering spirit in Argyll.
The Scottish Ballet tour is a Scottish Government funded initiative, supported by Michael Russell, MSP, before he moved recently from the Culture department to take on Education.
Ballet West are taking a party of 50 to China – dancers (the youngest only 12 years old), set and wardrobe staff, stage management and tour management. And the baby of the party – Isabelle Swietlicka from Taynuilt itself, will take the lead role of Clara in the production.
The school and company’s founder and principal, Gillian Barton, has already done much serious reconnaissance work as the foundation for this adventurous tour.
She was invited to China last year and checked out the realities of what it would take to tour to a series of major citiies there, including Beijing and Shanghai.
While recognising that this tour is a bold and risk-strewn step for the Ballet West company, Gillian Barton says: ‘Life is about taking chances’.
Imagine what Argyll could do if it adopted that attitude across the board. Gillian Barton, no bottler, should be bottled and sold.
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