Cuban-born dancers, Claudia Monja and Juan Carlos Osma perform their debut leading roles as Kitri and Basilio. Photo by Lauge Sorensen

Don Quixote is known to be one of the most lively, big, bold and vibrant ballets, and we should be expecting exciting things from Joburg Ballet who love to snatch every opportunity to show off their virtuoso skills. Don Quixote opens at the Joburg Theatre tonight, 28 August, and runs until 13 September 2015, but with a few surprises in the casting.

Ramiro Samón was quite literally the poster boy in the company’s advertising for their previous production of Don Quixote.

One sad farewell and some happy hellos

Regular Joburg Ballet fans will notice from the casting below that one of their favourite virtuoso dancers is missing from the line-up.

For all those watching his growth over the last few years, Ramiro Samón has been a strong and steady rising star, winning a gold medal at the 2014 South African International Ballet Competition and consistently wowing audiences with his tremendous strength – I mean those cabrioles of his were just ridiculous, see it in the video here!

There was an almost tangible sense about him that he would never settle for less than technical perfection. And perhaps because of that, he’s been offered a wonderful opportunity with a contract in Toulouse and Joburg Ballet has wished him a sad, but very warm farewell for his adventures ahead. Chukkas, Ramiro!

But of course, Joburg Ballet has no shortage of very strong male lead dancers. In fact, for the first time during their previous season of Swan Lake, they had more lead male dancers than lead role openings.

To add to this, the company has also invited two exciting guest artists to join the season. Returning to South Africa, popular guests, Aaron Smyth from Australia and Jonhal Fernández from the National Ballet of Ecuador will alternately perform in the lead roles partnered with Joburg Ballet’s own prima ballerina, Burnise Silvius, who will in turn also have one performance with Joburg Ballet’s Randol Figueredo.

Jonhal Fernández from the National Ballet of Ecuador will be performing as a guest artist with Joburg Ballet’s Burnise Silvius.

From injuries to special moment debuts

While Jonathan Rodrigues – another of Joburg Ballet’s popular lead males – has been recovering following an injury (and fans will be happy to know that he’s now almost 100% recovered), this has opened the opportunity for the tall Cuban dancer, Juan Carlos Osma, to mark his debut as the dashing Basilio. He will partner with fellow Cuban, Claudia Monja, who will headline the opening night in her first ever performance in the role of Kitri.

Principal dancers Shannon Glover and Michael Revie will also perform as the leading Spanish lovers. And among other roles in the production, Mercedes will be danced by Burnise Silvius, Claudia Monja, Nicole Ferreira-Dill and Kirstel Jensen, while the toreador Espada will be danced by Aaron Smyth, Juan Carlos Osma, Jonathan Rodrigues and Michael Revie.

Casting for Joburg Ballet’s Don Quixote 2015:

For the roles of Kitri, Basilio, Mercedes, Espada, Amour and Queen of the Dryads. Casting subject to change.

• Fri 28 Aug 19:30: Monja, Osma, Silvius, Smyth, Acuna, Ferreira-Dill
• Sat 29 Aug 15:00: Silvius, Smyth, Monja, Osma, Dewey, Ferreira-Dill
• Sun 30 Aug 15:00: Glover, Revie, Ferreira-Dill, Rodrigues, Acuna, Monja
• Tue 1 Sep 11:00: Silvius, Figueredo, Jensen, Revie, Gerber, Glover
• Sat 5 Sep 15:00: Monja, Osma, Glover, Revie, Gerber, Ferreira-Dill
• Sun 6 Sep 15:00: Silvius, Smyth, Phetla, Osma, Jensen, Glover
• Fri 11 Sep 19:30: Glover, Revie, Ferreira-Dill, Rodrigues, Dewey, Monja
• Sat 12 Sep 15:00: Silvius, Fernandez, Monja, Osma, Jensen, Monja
• Sun 13 Sep 15:00: Monja, Osma, Glover, Smyth, Acuna, Ferreira-Dill

To whet your appetite for this Spanish feast, here’s a sneak peek video compilation filmed by Lauge Sorensen at this week’s dress rehearsal:

Don Quixote at Joburg Theatre from Lauge Sorensen on Vimeo.

Booking details:

Dates: Friday 28 August – Sunday 13 September 2015.
Venue: Joburg Theatre, Braamfontein, Johannesburg
Tickets: from R100 to R400 via JoburgTheatre.com or 0861 670 670

South African prima ballerina, Burnise Silvius, with Jonathan Rodrigues and dancers from Joburg Ballet in front of the company’s grand new sets designed by Andrew Botha. Photo by Lauge Sorensen

With an impressively large cast of over 80 dancers hailing from Cuba, China, Brazil, the United States and South Africa, Joburg Ballet is readying itself for what it claims is the “largest and grandest” production of Swan Lake South Africa has yet seen, taking place at Joburg Theatre from 17 April to 3 May 2015.

It’s a big claim that’s bound to raise the eyebrows of the competition (St Petersburg Ballet Theatre are performing Swan Lake in Johannesburg and Cape Town in May). But with Joburg Ballet’s knack for always finding innovative ways to surprise and delight, we’re rather keen to see what they’ve got hidden in those wings.

For a start, the ballet company has announced a very peculiar, but creatively enticing decision regarding their casting for the opening night. Each act will see a different leading couple perform the roles of Odette/Odile and the Prince, giving the audience an absolutely unique opportunity to enjoy the performances of the international guests as well as Joburg Ballet’s own principal dancers in sequence in one night.

While this might mess with classical purists’ sense of calm and continuity, the exposure to more dancers with their individual interpretations and style is bound to be an interesting take on a Swan Lake opening night.

Commenting on this decision, Joburg Ballet CEO Dirk Badenhorst said, “We decided to make the opening night of Swan Lake a gala event, partly to celebrate having all of our friends from around the world here dancing with us and partly to showcase everything this collaborative run will offer to the high profile audience – which includes government ministers, ambassadors and other dignitaries from South Africa, China, Cuba and the US – on the first night.”

Cuban prima ballerina Viengsay Valdes with partner José Losada performing a black swan variation at the International Ballet Gala in Johannesburg 2013. Photo by Sarah Weyman

Dancing stars from across the globe

So who are these leading dancers sharing the stage?

From Cuba, you’ll see prima ballerina Viengsay Valdés from the National Ballet of Cuba partnering with US ballet star Brooklyn Mack from The Washington Ballet, who is always a popular crowd-raising guest on the South African stage.

Miss Valdés is also a returning visitor to South Africa and gave an electric performance of the black swan during the International Ballet Gala of 2013. She’s known for her remarkable sense of balance and performed six pirouette turns leading into fouettes! See for yourself in the video below.

From China, the Liaoning Ballet’s prima ballerina, Yu Chuanya, will perform with her partner Ma Ming. And South Africa’s own prima ballerina, Joburg Ballet’s beautiful Burnise Silvius dances with the dapper Brazilian Jonathan Rodrigues. It’s the United Nations on one stage in one night.

Missed opening night? Here’s the casting for the rest of the production for you to take your pick (casting subject to change).

Casting for Joburg Ballet’s Swan Lake 2015

April 2015:

• Friday 17, 19:30: Gala Performance with Joburg Ballet stars and visiting guest stars
• Saturday 18, 15:00: Burnise Silvius (Odette-Odile), Jonathan Rodrigues (Prince)
• Saturday 18, 19:30: Nicole Ferreira-Dill (Odette), Claudia Monja (Odile), Juan Carlos Osma (Prince)
• Sunday 19, 15:00: Dancers from the Liaoning Ballet of China
• Tuesday 21, 11:00: Claudia Monja (Odette-Odile), Juan Carlos Osma (Prince) – Edutainment Performance
• Friday 24, 19:30: Viengsay Valdés (Odette-Odile), Brooklyn Mack (Prince)
• Saturday 25, 15:00: Burnise Silvius (Odette-Odile), Jonathan Rodrigues (Prince)
• Saturday 25, 19:30: Dancers from the Liaoning Ballet of China
• Sunday 26, 11:00: Kirstel Jensen (Odette-Odile), Michael Revie (Prince) – Edutainment Performance
• Sunday 26, 15:00: Viengsay Valdés (Odette-Odile), Brooklyn Mack (Prince)
• Tuesday 28, 11:00: Nicole Ferreira-Dill (Odette-Odile), Juan Carlos Osma (Prince) – Edutainment Performance

May 2015:

• Friday 1, 19:30: Burnise Silvius (Odette-Odile), Jonathan Rodrigues (Prince)
• Saturday 2, 15:00: Kirstel Jensen (Odette-Odile), Michael Revie (Prince)
• Saturday 2, 19:30: Shannon Glover (Odette-Odile), Ramiro Samón (Prince)
• Sunday 3, 15:00: Burnise Silvius (Odette-Odile), Brooklyn Mack (Prince)

Now brace yourself for this, partly because of the poor video quality, but don’t worry, the other ‘partly’ has to do with such astounding dancing that you can easily forgive the amateur footage…

Booking details:

Dates: Friday 17 April – Sunday 3 May 2015.
Venue: Joburg Theatre, Braamfontein, Johannesburg
Tickets: from R100 to R400 via JoburgTheatre.com or 0861 670 670

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.