Press Release: Birmingham Royal Ballet presents two ballets fuelled by power & politics

[Jan McNulty]

BIRMINGHAM ROYAL BALLET PRESENTS TWO BALLETS FUELLED BY POWER AND POLITICS   Fire & Fury features David Bintley's The King Dances and Juanjo Arqués's Ignite aa  Sadler's Wells: 30 - 31 October 2018   This October, Birmingham Royal Ballet bring a dramatic mixed bill to Sadler's Wells with two ballets that evoke the politics and power of the past to explore the present, performed by the company’s world-class dancers to live music from the Royal Ballet Sinfonia.    In The King Dances Director David Bintley casts a modern eye back to the very beginnings of ballet. Inspired by ballet’s very first steps, an all-male ensemble displays a unique kind of virtuosity in this powerful and compelling piece. The King Dances was the subject of the BBC documentary 'The King Who Invented Dance', presented by David Bintley, and received a National Dance Award in 2015.    The programme is completed by Ignite, from award-winning choreographer Juanjo Arqués, which received its world premiere in Birmingham earlier this month.   Juanjo Arqués’s inspiration for Ignite comes from Willian Turner’s famous painting ‘The Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons’. When describing the painting, Arques commented: “The centre of the work is the fire, but what also got my attention is the reflections on the water, the colours and also the crowd watching the fire with a feeling of awe; it’s a spectacle of fear but, at the same time, beauty. That was the starting point, and then everything else has evolved with my artistic team.”   Ignite features an exciting new score from Kate Whitley (co-founder of The Multi-Story Orchestra). Kate, who is composing for dance for the first time, commented: “It has been a really rewarding collaborative process which began with Juanjo explaining his initial ideas for the piece, and then me sharing the music as it developed. It has been a great opportunity to really understand each other’s ways of working, which is always what I enjoy most about collaboration across different disciplines.”   Describing the steps she has taken to turn a painting into music, Kate continued: “The piece doesn’t take a literal approach to translating the painting into music and dance, but is inspired by the colours and shapes in the original image. We created a structure of three parts – Fire, Reflection, and Burn – and talked about the themes and meanings in the painting to inspire each section.”   A painting depicting the Houses of Parliament on fire has some obvious political connotations, but can audiences expect to see these in the finished piece? Juanjo explained: “I like to connect my works to our society today, and I see this painting in relation to now. We are living in a society where politically we are very unstable; almost a society that needs to be redefined. I don’t want to make a political statement; I’m just reflecting what I think the painting is saying. Perhaps the audience will see Ignite in their own way and translate this historical political situation to today.”    Ignite is the second Ballet Now commission - Birmingham Royal Ballet's pioneering talent development programme which brings together choreographers, composers and designers to create ten new ballets over five years.    See this thrilling new ballet, alongside The King Dances, at Sadler's Wells on Tuesday 30 October as part of Birmingham Royal Ballet’s Fire & Fury mixed programme.  The King Dances Choreography: David Bintley Music: Stephen Montague Designs: Katrina Lindsay Lighting: Peter Mumford Ignite Choreography: Juanjo Arqués Music: Kate Whitley Designs: Tatyana Van Walsum Lighting: Bert Dalhuysen Dramaturg: Fabienne Vegt   Listings information: Sadler’s Wells, London Rosebery Avenue, London, EC1R 4TN; 020 7863 8000 sadlerswells.com Tuesday 30 – Wednesday 31 October NOTES TO EDITORS:

Ignite Ignite is a co-production between Birmingham Royal Ballet and Dutch National Opera and Ballet.    Ballet Now is generously supported by Oak Foundation’s Special Interest Programme, which provided major funding for the project. Ballet Now is also supported by the Foyle Foundation, Anthony Coombs and The Keith Coombs Trust, The Big Give 2017, The John Feeney Charitable Trust, The Leche Trust, The John S Cohen Foundation, The H Steven and PE Wood Charitable Trust, The W and M Morris Charitable Trust, the estate of Judith and John Percival, Birmingham Royal Ballet’s New Work Syndicate 2017 and Director’s Appeal 2017.   Ignite is supported (2018) by PRS Foundation’s Open Fund for Organisations and the RVW Trust.   Ignite was a nominee of the FEDORA – VAN CLEEF & ARPELS Prize for Ballet 2018 which is co-funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union.   Ballet Now Ballet Now presents Birmingham Royal Ballet with the unique opportunity to support emerging choreographic talent, international artists and attract a new diverse audience of over 15,000 people per year. In order to fund the programme across the five year period, The Oak Foundation have committed £1.1 million, alongside further donations from Foyle Foundation, Anthony Coombs and The Keith Coombs Trust, The Big Give 2017, The John Feeney Charitable Trust, The Leche Trust, The John S Cohen Foundation, The H Steven and PE Wood Charitable Trust, The W and M Morris Charitable Trust, the estate of Judith and John Percival, Birmingham Royal Ballet’s New Work Syndicate 2017 and Director’s Appeal 2017.   Birmingham Royal Ballet  Based at Birmingham Hippodrome since 1990, Birmingham Royal Ballet is the United Kingdom’s leading classical ballet touring company performing a range of traditional, classical and heritage ballets as well as ground-breaking new works with the aim of encouraging choreographers of the future. In the 2016/17 season, Birmingham Royal Ballet toured to 13 different venues, including 9 weeks at its home venue Birmingham Hippodrome, and performed 8 different productions to over 185,000 people.  The company’s Director is the award-winning David Bintley, CBE, Interim Chief Executive is Caroline Miller, OBE and Music Director is Koen Kessels. Birmingham Royal Ballet performs at Birmingham Hippodrome for approximately ten weeks of the year and the remainder of the year tours throughout the United Kingdom and overseas.    The Royal Ballet Sinfonia is Britain's busiest ballet orchestra, playing for Birmingham Royal Ballet's wide-ranging programme in the UK and abroad. The Sinfonia also plays frequently for The Royal Ballet and many of the world's other leading ballet companies, including regular performances with; The Royal Ballet, Paris Opéra Ballet, New York City Ballet, Australian Ballet, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, the Kirov, Norwegian Ballet, Atlanta Ballet, San Francisco Ballet and La Scala Ballet.

 

[alison]

Cannot believe all the tickets for the matinee are £25!  That's twice the bottom price for the evening performances.

[Bruce Wall]

12 hours ago, alison said:

Cannot believe all the tickets for the matinee are £25!  That's twice the bottom price for the evening performances.

 

Yes, Alison ... but it is, I suppose, 'dynamic'!!!  'Tis a new world order.  

 

 

[Bluebird]

14 hours ago, alison said:

Cannot believe all the tickets for the matinee are £25!  That's twice the bottom price for the evening performances.

 

The seats which cost less than £25 are all situated in the Second Circle.  For the Wednesday matinée performance, they've closed the Second Circle. 

 

For evening performances, the cheapest seat elsewhere (back of First Circle and back of Stalls) is £25.  Other evening tickets in the Stalls and First Circle cost £35 or £45. Maybe they feel that by bringing down the price of the more expensive seats to £25, more people will be tempted to come to the matinée performance?

Edited October 19, 2018 by Bluebird

[bridiem]

Clearly, it's not just the ROH that wants to reduce the frequency of attendance of (some) regulars.

[alison]

2 hours ago, Bruce Wall said:

 

Yes, Alison ... but it is, I suppose, 'dynamic'!!!  'Tis a new world order.  

 

But, Bruce, it's far from dynamic.  Or democratic, for that matter.  And since it's on a Wednesday I doubt I'd be able to make it down to tkts in Leicester Square beforehand.

[Bruce Wall]

1 hour ago, bridiem said:

Clearly, it's not just the ROH that wants to reduce the frequency of attendance of (some) regulars.

 

'Tis the new way I fear .... Soon we won't be commenting on it as it will - as ever - just become expected ... until, of course, the next change occurs.  I have - for sometime now - become increasingly grateful for being born when I was.  We lot have the privilege of 'remembering when' .... and having built an appreciation for the balletic arts (this being BcoF) when such was still truly affordable - e.g., doable for the common man.  VERY grateful indeed.  

[bridiem]

3 minutes ago, Bruce Wall said:

 

'Tis the new way I fear .... Soon we won't be commenting on it as it will - as ever - just become expected ... until, of course, the next change occurs.  I have - for sometime now - become increasingly grateful for being born when I was.  We lot have the privilege of 'remembering when' .... and having built an appreciation for the balletic arts (this being BcoF) when such was still truly affordable - e.g., doable for the common man.  VERY grateful indeed.  

 

Yes; but also concerned. Where are the regulars of the future going to come from??

[Bruce Wall]

34 minutes ago, bridiem said:

 

Yes; but also concerned. Where are the regulars of the future going to come from??

 

I'm coming to the conclusion, Bridiem, that those concerns are for the current market researchers to worry about ... if in fact they do.  We - well, I at any rate - will not be about ... and they seem not terribly concerned to reach out in the present time in terms of our future concerns.  I send them all my very best wishes.  

 

[LinMM]

The way things are generally going will there be anybody here to go to the ballet by 2100!! ( sorry about the pessimism)