Ballet buffs from as far as Germany will be flying in to join local fans celebrate Cape Town City Ballet’s 80th birthday with the presentation of Spring & Fall, a triple bill by Hamburg Ballet director John Neumeier this month. DEBBIE HATHWAY finds out more.
WITH less than a month to the much-anticipated Spring & Fall opening at the Artscape Theatre Opera House on September 26, Cape Town City Ballet (CTCB) dancers are getting to grips with the style that makes Hamburg Ballet director John Neumeier one of the most esteemed lyrical and dramatic choreographers in the world.
Determined by Neumeier himself, the season comprises three works: his Le Sacre masterpiece, Vaslav, and Spring & Fall. “John’s decision to give us Spring & Fall is a huge honour, because it’s a really tough ballet to do. It completes a wonderfully balanced programme,” says CTCB artistic executive Keith Mackintosh, who together with Neumeier’s long-time South African colleague Victor Hughes, has spent almost three years planning this commemorative event.
“I’m trying to make it a musical occasion as well, because it features such great music that’s rarely played,” says Mackintosh. The Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by London’s Tim Murray, will perform Igor Stravinsky’s Le Sacre du Printemps and Dvorák’s Serenade for Strings in E major.
Stravinsky’s work is seldom performed due to the complexities of the score and the size of the orchestra required; 60 members will play instead of the usual 47 for this season. “It’s a first for South Africa,” says Mackintosh. “Tim has led this piece before and he recently conducted Wayne McGregor’s new work for the Royal Ballet in Russia. He’s had good dance experience and I’m thrilled about that.”
Pieter Rooi on solo piano will play the Vaslav score by Johann Sebastian Bach.
Neumeier plans his seasons to deliver a fulfilling evening for theatre audiences, showcasing complex work designed for large companies. To that end, ad hoc dancers and students from the UCT School of Dance have been invited to participate. They include Canadian Thomas Dobronyi, a graduate from the John Neumeier Ballet School in Hamburg, and the Italian, Germano Trovato, who Keith Mackintosh taught during master classes in Sicily in May.
Hughes is now well into rehearsals for Vaslav and Le Sacre, following a brief handover with colleague Ann Drower, who was tasked with teaching Spring & Fall in just two weeks early last month. He says he’s pleased with the company’s progress.
A sprightly 75, Hughes deftly demonstrates a series of movements for Le Sacre, stressing the need to “pay attention to the accents; that’s where it’s interesting”. Like Spring & Fall, the piece’s dramatic edge is developed from tension in the music.
“You must be something like a machine with the movements. Everything is placed,” he tells the attentive cast, before introducing another rapid-fire sequence by alphabetic script (each key movement is allocated a letter, which makes it easier to call when teaching new sections that incorporate the same steps in a different order).
It’s an unusual technique, highlighting the importance of intellectual capacity for a professional dancer. All too often, audiences focus on the technical and aesthetic qualities of a dancer without acknowledging the brain power required to learn new choreography quickly and under pressure, convert it to muscle memory and deliver it brilliantly, preferably with emotion and expression.
Johannesburg-born Hughes is a former UCT Ballet Company and CAPAB Ballet dancer who joined Neumeier’s company in Frankfurt in 1970, and transferred with him as soloist and ballet master when Neumeier was nominated to the Hamburg Ballet as ballet director in 1973. Now retired, Hughes continues to mount Neumeier’s work around the world, presents seminars, and lectures on ballet history at the John Neumeier Ballet School.
Drower, meanwhile, is on Neumeier’s teaching staff, tasked with training the six- to 10-year-olds and 17- to 19-year-old graduates who must learn repertory for potential performance. “They may have to jump in to corps de ballet work or appear in more modern pieces, such as the new Tatiana– even if they’re just walking across stage, it means something. It’s very important for their profession,” she says.
Drower’s career began at the Royal Ballet School, ultimately taking her to Hamburg Ballet as soloist in 1976. She’s remained there ever since. “That was the pièce de résistance,” she says. “I’m drawn to Hamburg Ballet by so many different ballets that John does. His work is timeless and he gives us so much. He doesn’t just choreograph, he does his own costumes, lighting, stage design, everything... It’s incredible to be part of that.”
Made for nine men and seven women, Spring & Fall is “not easy”. Quality of movement is very important, the men have to be very athletic, and they all have to concentrate on counting correctly to co-ordinate the many sequences in canon. “Particularly with John’s pieces, because they’re so finely choreographed, the dancers have to be really together; they have to breathe with each other in certain parts,” says Drower.
Sybil Shearer, an early Neumeier mentor, writes that, “Although he preserves the basic tenets of dance, where movement speaks in relation to music, Neumeier is not limited to standard concepts of tradition, classic danse d’école steps and gestures, or the usual avant-garde multimedia. He choreographs in his own movement style, but with classically trained dancers who can also act, who can embody meaning and emotional impact in a lyrical manner.”
Audiences will see that first-hand when Hamburg Ballet stars Silvia Azzoni and Alexander Riabko appear with CTCB in Spring & Fall as well as Vaslav. “The more guests CTCB brings in the better. I’ve seen the dancers improve over the fortnight, because they’re doing something that’s developing them,” says Drower.
l Spring & Fall is on September 26, 27 and 30 at 7.30pm with matinees on the Saturday at 2pm and September 28 at 3pm. Tickets are R100 to R280. Call 021 421 7695.