From left to right: Elizabeth Nienaber, Bradley van Heerden, Kim Vieira, Daniel Szybkowski, Laura Bösenberg, Angela Hansford, Rosamund Ford and Thomas Thorne. Photo by Pat Bromilow-Downing

In the midst of Cape Town City Ballet’s 80 anniversary celebrations, there are now even more celebratory ching-chings to be had as the company recently announced eight promotions within the company. The dancers who have received promotions are Elizabeth Nienaber, Bradley van Heerden, Kim Vieira, Daniel Szybkowski, Laura Bösenberg, Angela Hansford, Rosamund Ford and Thomas Thorne.

Moving up from Principal Dancers to Senior Principal Dancers are Laura Bösenberg, Thomas Thorne and Kim Vieira, while Angela Hansford has been promoted to Principal Dancer, and Daniel Szybkwoski is now a Senior Soloist. Elizabeth Nienaber and Rosamund Ford have both been promoted to Soloists and Bradley van Heerden to Senior Artist.

Congrats lovely dancers!

See these dancers starring in their upcoming mid-year production called Ballet Beautiful, at Artscape Theatre from 4 to 12 July 2014.

Booking Details for Ballet Beautiful:

Dates: Friday 4 July 2014 at 19:30;
Saturday 5 July 2014 at 14:00 and 19:30;
Sunday 6 July 2014 at 15:00;
Friday 11 July 2014 at 19:30;
Saturday 12 July 2014 at 14:00 and 19:30.
Venue: Artscape Theatre, Cape Town
Tickets: from R150 to R175 via Computicket or Artscape Dial-a-Seat on 021 421 7695.

Daniel Szybkowski and Angela Hansford in Robin van Wyk’s new pas de deux ‘The Fragile Balance’. Photo by Pat Bromilow-Downing.

As their 80th anniversary celebrations continue, Cape Town City Ballet are rehearsing for their July ballet season, which includes a mix of classical, neo-classical and contemporary works in a programme called Ballet Beautiful – on at the Artscape Theatre from 4 to 12 July 2014.

The programme looks set to show off the company’s versatility with a challenging classical piece from the beautiful Paquita, to the two new and contemporary ballets by young South African choreographers, Kirsten Isenberg and Yarisha Singh, as well as a new pas de deux by CTCB’s Artistic Director, Robin van Wyk.

Laura Bosenberg and Thomas Thorne in ‘Of Gods and Men’. Photo by Pat Bromilow-Downing

Classical technique and beauty

The incomparable combination of music by Ludwig Minkus and choreography by Marius Petipa makes Paquita – particularly Paquita’s Grand Pas Classique – one of the essential classical works in the repertoire of ballet companies around the world. In Ballet Beautiful, Cape Town City Ballet will perform the much-loved divertissements from the final act.

Contemporary expression and versatility

As for the brand new ballet pieces, Cape Town City Ballet commissioned Isenberg and Singh, both UCT School of Dance graduates, to create new works for the company as part of their policy to foster and support local creative talent.

Kirsten Isenberg’s piece, called Of Gods and Men, is a neo-classical work “depicting the mythological struggle between gods and man, illustrating how their strengths and weaknesses ultimately result in their equality”. In Yarisha Singh’s contemporary style ballet, Serendipity, the piece follows less of a storyline but affords the audience more opportunity to make their own associations and discoveries.

Mark Goldberg & Frieda Mennen in Serendipity. Photo by Pat Bromilow-Downing.

CTCB’s own Robin van Wyk will reveal his newly-choreographed pas de deux called The Fragile Balance, inspired by the poem of the same name by Arokuara (read the poem here) and set to the music of Max Bruch’s famous violin concerto (scroll down for the video of a fabulous live performance – of the music, not the pas de deux).

As an extra treat, one of Cape Town City Ballet’s outreach partners, ZAMA Dance School, will perform Uvuyo (Celebrate) by the renowned South African choreographer Adele Blank as the curtain-raiser performance.

Booking Details:

Dates: Friday 4 July 2014 at 19:30;
Saturday 5 July 2014 at 14:00 and 19:30;
Sunday 6 July 2014 at 15:00;
Friday 11 July 2014 at 19:30;
Saturday 12 July 2014 at 14:00 and 19:30.
Venue: Artscape Theatre, Cape Town
Tickets: from R150 to R175 via Computicket or Artscape Dial-a-Seat on 021 421 7695.

Are you curious about that “famous” violin concerto? I was too and couldn’t help myself with a little YouTube search. This is what I found: enjoy this video of Joshua Bell performing the first movement from Max Bruch’s violin concerto no. 1 in G minor…

See pure white magic on stage with Cape Town City Ballet’s Swan Lake in April 2014. Photo by Pat Bromilow-Downing.

Following an already busy start to their 80th anniversary year, starting with the popular modern ballet Night & Day at Artscape, then the outdoor performances of The Firebird and Les Sylphides at Maynardville, now Cape Town City Ballet prepares for one of the greatest classical ballets of all time, Swan Lake, to be performed at the Artscape Opera House from 5 to 20 April 2014.

Royal Ballet couple make star appearances

In a major scoop for the Cape Town ballet company, their production of Swan Lake will feature two leading dancers from the Royal Ballet in London – Hikaru Kobayashi and Federico Bonelli. The real-life husband and wife team will make their special guest performances in the lead roles on 19 and 20 April, where they will be dancing the famous roles together as a couple for the very first time.

Cape Town City Ballet’s own Laura Bösenberg, partnered by Thomas Thorne as Prince Siegfried, will dance the dual roles of Princess Odette and Princess Odile, which is always a great challenge and achievement for a ballerina considering the tremendous emotional depth, technical strength and stamina required for this challenging role.

See Thomas Thorne partner Laura Bosenberg as she dances the challenging dual roles of the white and black swan. Photo by Pat Bromilow-Downing.

For the other performances, Daniel Szybkowski will partner Angela Hansford (Odette) and Kim Vieira (Odile) and Jesse Milligan will partner Kirstel Jensen (Odette) and Mami Fuji (Odile). See the casting details and dates below.

Cape Town’s great white ballet

First performed in Cape Town in 1971, this Swan Lake marks the CTCB’s 4th restaging of Attilio Labis’s version. It was originally created for the CAPAB Ballet Company by Labis, based on his many performances in productions around the world. Now produced by Prof Elizabeth Triegaardt, honorary executive director of the CTCB, who herself had the honour of dancing the role of Odette/Odile in that first production, while simultaneously, as Ballet Mistress of CAPAB, rehearsing the corps de ballet for 15 years.

Considering the hauntingly beautiful musical masterpiece that Tchaikovsky created for this ballet, audiences will be delighted to know that all but one of the scheduled nine performances of Swan Lake will be accompanied by the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra, which is also celebrating a big anniversary this year – 100 years of orchestral music in Cape Town! The orchestra will be conducted by Graham Scott.

According to the company, early ticket sales indicate that Cape Town City Ballet may have a sell-out success with Swan Lake in April 2014. Photo by Pat Bromilow-Downing.

Those with sensitive hearts will also be happy to know that this particular version of Swan Lake is one of the few that has a satisfyingly happy ending!

Casts in order of appearance:

• Saturday 5 April, 19:30: Laura Bösenberg & Thomas Thorne
• Wednesday 9 April, 19:30: Angela Hansford, Kim Vieira & Daniel Szybkowski
• Saturday 12 April, 14:00: Kirstel Jensen, Mami Fujii & Jesse Milligan
• Saturday 12 April, 19:30: Laura Bösenberg & Thomas Thorne
• Sunday 13 April, 19:30: Angela Hansford, Kim Vieira & Daniel Szybkowski (recorded music)
• Wednesday 16 April, 19:30: Kirstel Jensen, Mami Fujii & Jesse Milligan
• Saturday 19 April, 14:00: Laura Bösenberg & Thomas Thorne
• Saturday 19 April, 19:30: Hikaru Kobayashi & Federico Bonelli (Royal Ballet guests)
• Sunday 20 April, 15:00: Hikaru Kobayashi & Federico Bonelli (Royal Ballet guests)

Booking details:

Dates: 5 to 20 April 2014.
Venue: Atrscape Opera House, Cape Town.
Tickets: From R100 to R320 via Computicket or Artscape Dial-a-Seat on 021 421 7695.

Cape Town City Ballet warm-up class. Photo by Michael Groenewald courtesy of CTCB.

Do you ever have those days where you know there is so much more you can do in ballet class, but your body stubbornly refuses to cooperate? Of course you do, silly question, pushing the body beyond its boundaries is basically the definition of ballet, right?

After all, there is no such thing as too many pirouette turns or too much elevation in jumps – dancers are always striving for more.

Dramatic moment with Elizabeth Nienaber. Photo by Michael Groenewald courtesy of CTCB.

But while relentlessly pushing yourself in ballet can certainly give you results, it can also give you injuries. A better approach is to find a happy balance, where you can identify your weak areas and safely strengthen them out of class, enabling you to work harder and with more control in the class.

This is where cross-training for ballet is so valuable.

So when you’re panting after that first allegro exercise and when your feet should be doing hummingbird beats but start to resemble flopping fish instead, it’s time to add some cardio fitness workouts.

And when you’re fighting to hold (or lift) that arabesque, perhaps it’s time to include some core strength conditioning.

Following the recent cross-training article on BodyMindBallet (Best out-the-class ideas for in-the-class performance), I asked a few South African professional ballet dancers to tell us what type of ballet cross-training they do and what works best for them.

Here are some of their ideas that you can try for yourself.

[Although remember that what works for one dancer doesn’t necessarily work for another, so it’s always best to chat to your ballet teacher and physical therapist before starting any new training schedules.]

Ballet cross-training that works:

Michael Revie from South African Mzansi Ballet stretching during rehearsals. Photo by Jurgen Badenhorst courtesy of SAMB.

Michael Revie, principal dancer at South African Mzansi Ballet says, “when I perform, it is normally for 1 and a half to 2 hours and it is a mix of everything, so training many different ways is very, very important for me.”

Michael does circuit training three times a week, mixing upper body and leg workouts, and he aims to do weight training twice a week too. However, he doesn’t stop there.

“Being a dancer, we move every day in different ways,” says Michael. “I feel if I stick to one type of training, I will be neglecting some parts of my body. I need to be fit to run long distance and do sprints, long jump, high jump, weight lifting, flexibility and strength.”

Thomas Thorne of Cape Town City Ballet (CTCB) takes a similar approach with cross-training.  He says “I don’t believe that just a ballet class is enough to keep strong. Ballet has become more athletic and bodies are more toned, so going to the pilates class or the gym is needed.”

Thomas recommends trying many different forms of exercise and he emphasizes that “male dancers also must be strong to partner a girl and get through a solo”.

Kirstel Jensen and Daniel Szybkowski during rehearsals at Cape Town City Ballet’s studios. Photo by Michael Groenewald courtesy of CTCB.

However, even though the physical demands and cross-training needs are different for ballet men and women, that doesn’t mean gym is only for the boys.

Kirstel Jensen, a CTCB dancer, says that gym makes her stronger too, especially helping with upper body strength and also strengthening her legs for jumping and landing. She says working out at the gym also improves her stamina and “it makes muscles not usually used stronger, which in turn improves my ballet technique”.

But when it comes to increasing core body strength, pilates pops up on almost all dancers’ cross-training schedules. Claire Spector (from Cape Town City Ballet) says pilates helps her build strong core muscles, while it’s good for preventing injuries and for general body conditioning.

Elizabeth Nienaber (CTCB) says she does pilates, yoga and gym, listing several benefits including increasing flexibility, relieving stress and she says it provides a “better understanding of the body/mind connection”.

Angela Hansford during rehearsals. Photo by Michael Groenewald courtsy of CTCB.

Angela Hansford (CTCB) believes that yoga works best for her. In particular Angela says that because she’s tall, she needs a very strong core. “This helps me to move faster and be more coordinated,” she says.

Angela adds that yoga stretches are very beneficial, and “heated yoga is also great because you feel more flexible in the heat and can really push your stretches.”

But if you prefer fresh air to hot, stuffy studios, Daniel Szybkowski (CTCB) says he goes jogging and hiking, which he claims strengthens his ankles and legs and also improves his stamina.

But what about cross-training for injury rehabilitation?

Michael Revie has dealt with his fair share of injuries over his career and has developed his own injury prevention/recovery techniques. But as a starting point he says, “if I have an injury, I wait until the physio says I am allowed to train, then I train the injured area by itself (pilates, swimming, biokinetics). As soon as I feel the strength coming back, I start to lift more and train longer.”

See them in action…

Now that you have some insight into these dancers’ off-stage workouts, why don’t you see for yourself how it translates into their on-stage performance?

You can still catch the Cape Town City Ballet dancers on stage this week with their production of The Sleeping Beauty at Artscape until 18 August (tickets through Computicket here); and you can see Michael Revie and the South African Mzansi Ballet dancers in their upcoming production of Cinderella at the Joburg Theatre in September (book those tickets here).

Jesse Milligan and Tracy Li in Cape Town City Ballet’s recent production of Camille. Photo by Suzette Vorster

To celebrate Women’s Day, Cape Town City Ballet is busy preparing a special ballet performance called Belles of the Ballet, which will be presented at Artscape on 9 August 2013 for one performance only.

Paying tribute to famous female ballet characters with a special focus on women in love, the leading belles of Cape Town City Ballet will bring audiences “the flirtatious Carmen, heartbroken Camille and the daring Delilah”, amongst several other scenes from well-loved ballets.

Prima ballerina Tracy Li will again partner with Jesse Milligan in a pas de deux from their recent production of Camille, while Xola Putye will join Tracy for a glorious pas de deux from Spartacus.

Supported by the company’s cast of male dancers, this event will feature the talents of Cape Town City Ballet’s ballerinas, including Laura Bosenberg, Kim Vieira, Angela Hansford, Jane Fidler, Kirstel Jensen, Rosamund Ford, Elizabeth Nienaber, Mariette Opperman, and Claire Spector.

Programme highlights

Laura Bosenberg as Raymonda. Photo by Pat Bromilow-Downing courtesy of Cape Town City Ballet.

Cape Town’s leading female ballet choreographer, Veronica Paeper, will be honoured with extracts from her critically acclaimed Carmen, Orpheus in the Underworld, Spartacus, and Camille.

The programme will also showcase the work of other renowned South African choreographers such as David Poole, Nigel Lucas, Norman Furber and Robin van Wyk.

Following their recent run in Durban, the audience will be treated to highlights from Robin van Wyk’s Night & Day, the vibrant tribute to popular American songwriter, Cole Porter.

And for those in seek of the classical ballet repertoire, scenes from The Nutcracker, Coppelia and Raymonda will complete a beautiful afternoon at the ballet.

Booking details:

Date: 9 August 2013 at 3pm – Note that there is only one performance.
Venue: Artscape Opera House, Cape Town
Tickets: R50, R90 and R110 through Computicket or Artscape Dial-a-Seat on 021 421 7695.