Classical ballet in grand style, Joburg Ballet’s La Bayadère is on at Joburg Theatre from 12 to 28 September 2014. Photo courtesy Joburg Ballet.

Known as one of the greatest 19th century ballets, La Bayadère (or ‘the temple dancer’ in English) is set in the royal India of the past where the exotic story of love, betrayal, vengeance and justice unfolds. Marking a first for Joburg Ballet, La Bayadère premieres at the Joburg Theatre from 12 September through to 28 September 2014.

Large cast assembled from South Africa and Cuba

Enter the ethereal plane of the Kingdom of the Shades. Photo by Lauge Sorensen

To stage such a big ballet as La Bayadère requires opulent stage sets and a large cast of dancers, particularly for choreographer Marius Petipa’s iconic Kingdom of the Shades scenes where columns of shades (spirits) descend with their synchronous arabesque sequence.

To achieve the grand scale, the company has assembled a large cast including Joburg Ballet’s own principal dancers, soloists and corps de ballet, a guest artist from the National Ballet of Cuba, dancers from the Joburg Ballet Academy, Joburg Ballet Cuban School, additional freelance dancers and extras, as well as two veteran ballet personalities for the mime roles.

In celebrating 5 years of the South Africa-Cuba ballet partnership begun by CEO Dirk Badenhorst in 2009, Joburg Ballet has cast National Ballet of Cuba guest artist Luis David Valle Ponce in the lead male role for certain performances (see full casting below).

Valle Ponce will share the role of the warrior Solor with Ramiro Samón, Juan Carlos Osma and Jonathan Rodrigues. As for the temple dancer Nikiya, the bayadère will be danced by Joburg Ballet’s prima ballerina Burnise Silvius as well as Shannon Glover, Nicole Ferreira-Dill and Lindé Wessels. The rival love interest of Princess Gamzatti will be performed by Claudia Monja, Angela Revie, Sanmarie Kreuzhuber-Hagler and Dayana Hardy Acuna.

Shannon Glover and Luis David Valle Ponce as Nikiya and her warrior love Solor. Photo by Lauge Sorensen

One of the ballet’s spectacular male showpieces, the Bronze Idol, will be shared by Luis David Valle Ponce, Javier Monier, Jonathan Rodrigues, Ramiro Samón and Randol Figueredo, while the two major mime roles – the Rajah and the High Brahmin – will be portrayed by the highly experienced Manuel Noram and Nigel Hannah.

Admitting to the huge undertaking that is La Bayadère, artistic director Iain MacDonald says he’s proud of the dedication and passion of the team, adding that “a classic like La Bayadère is a supreme challenge for any ballet company and our audiences can look forward to a major new addition to our repertoire, beautifully danced by the whole company.”

Casting for La Bayadère:

Casting details (subject to change) are as follows for the roles of Nikiya, Solor, Gamzatti and the Bronze Idol:

• Friday 12 September at 7:30pm: Silvius, Samón, Monja, Valle Ponce
• Saturday 13 September at 3pm: Glover, Valle Ponce, A. Revie, Monier
• Saturday 13 September at 7:30pm: Ferreira-Dill, Osma, Monja, Rodrigues
• Sunday 14 September at 11am: Wessels, Rodrigues, Kreuzhuber-Hagler, Samón
• Sunday 14 September at 3pm: Glover, Valle Ponce, A. Revie, Figueredo
• Tuesday 16 September at 11am: Glover, Valle Ponce, A. Revie, Samón
• Sunday 21 September at 11am: Ferreira-Dill, Osma, Monja, Rodrigues
• Sunday 21 September at 3pm: Silvius, Samón, Acuna, Figueredo
• Wednesday 24 September at 7:30pm: Wessels, Rodrigues, Kreuzhuber-Hagler, Samón
• Friday 26 September at 7:30pm: Silvius, Samón, Monja, Rodrigues
• Saturday 27 September at 3pm: Ferreira-Dill, Osma, Kreuzhuber-Hagler, Valle Ponce
• Sunday 28 September at 3pm: Silvius, Samón, Acuna, Monier

Booking details:

Dates: Fri 12 Sep 7:30pm (½ Price Night); Sat 13 Sep 3pm & 7:30pm; Sun 14 Sep 11am & 3pm; Tue 16 Sep 11am (School Performance); Sun 21 Sep 11am & 3pm; Wed 24 Sep 7:30pm; Fri 26 Sep 7:30pm; Sat 27 Sep 3pm; Sun 28 Sep 3pm.
Venue: Joburg Theatre, Braamfontein, Johannesburg
Tickets: from R100 to R400 via JoburgTheatre.com or 0861 670 670

Special booking offer – Ballet Combo: 20% off all performances except ½ Price Nights if booking for both La Bayadère and The Nutcracker Re-Imagined at the same time. (When booking online, add the code joburg ballet into the coupon field and click on the green plus button to activate the discount to your purchase.)

Winning the gold medal for her contemporary performance at the recent South African International Ballet Competition, Yuanyuan Zhang now performs her piece with partner Anpu Yuan to Joburg audiences. Photo by Pat Bromilow-Downing.

The double gold medallist awarded at last week’s South African International Ballet Competition, Chinese ballerina Yuanyuan Zhang, will perform with partner Anpu Yuan for just two performances in Johannesburg this week.

Joined by exceptional dancers from South Korea (the Korean Youth Ballet Stars), Cuba (from the National Ballet of Cuba), along with other competition winners and upcoming South African stars (including Johannesburg’s very strong Art of Motion dancers), you can see these dancers perform at the Young Ballet Stars of the World gala events on Tuesday 25 February and Wednesday 26 February at 8pm at the Lyric Theatre, Gold Reef City.

Booking details:

Dates: Tuesday 25 February 2014 at 8pm; Wednesday 26 February 2014 at 8pm.
Venue: Lyric Theatre at Gold Reef City, Johannesburg
Tickets: R120, R250 or R360 via Computicket.com.

See the Korean Youth Ballet Stars perform in Cape and Johannesburg in February 2014.

As the first major ballet gala event of 2014, the Young Ballet Stars of The World production is said to be possibly the largest gathering of young international ballet dancers ever seen in one South African event. Following immediately after the South African International Ballet Competition (SAIBC) in Cape Town – and including the competition’s medal winners alongside international guests – the Young Ballet Stars of The World assemble for gala performances in Cape Town on 23 February at Artscape and then Johannesburg on 25 and 26 February 2014 at the Lyric Theatre, Gold Reef City.

South Africa’s ballet entrepreneur, Dirk Badenhorst, has invited the Korean Youth Ballet Stars, dancers from the National Ballet School of Cuba, the Youth America Grand Prix in New York as well as dancers from the United States, Switzerland, China, Brazil and Japan, who will join local South African stars to mark the highlight of the 2014 South African International Ballet Competition.

The ‘young’ part of the title Young Ballet Stars of The World relates to the fact that the four gala performances aim to showcase “the brilliance of young stars on the verge of greatness, giving SA audiences a rare glimpse into the future of international ballet in a glittering array of ballet highlights” (according to their press release).

“The ballet world has recently seen an explosion of phenomenal talent from young dancers in their teens and early twenties and the galas in South Africa offer a unique preview of greatness before these dancers take the world by storm,” says Dirk Badenhorst, CEO of the SAIBC.

Booking details – Cape Town

Dates: Sunday, 23 February 2014 at 3pm and 7:30pm.
Venue: Artscape Theatre Centre, Cape Town
Tickets: R200 or R300 via Computicket.com.

Booking details – Johannesburg

Dates: Tuesday, 25 February 2014 at 8pm; Wednesday, 26 February 2014 at 8pm.
Venue: Lyric Theatre at Gold Reef City, Johannesburg
Tickets: R120, R250 or R360 via Computicket.com.

As the name suggests, the school is affiliated to Joburg Ballet and yes, they teach the Cuban method of ballet, which is the same method that taught Royal Ballet star Carlos Acosta to dance like this… Yoh!

The Joburg Ballet Cuban School is developing into a centre of excellence for aspiring dancers. The ballet company’s professional dancers and teachers work with the pupils, teaching valuable skills and knowledge in classical ballet as well as offering them exposure to other careers in the performing arts such as lighting design, arts management and costume design.

Allowing access to the same type of training that Cubans receive in Havana, the Joburg Ballet Cuban School works to secure a continuing path of improvement as Cuban teachers (and dancers) visit and share their knowledge here in South Africa. This all with the aim that maybe one day these young Joburg kids can do insanely impressive pirouettes like Viengsay Valdés seen in this Black Swan video clip.

Audition details:

• Boys aged from 6 years to 10 years and girls aged from 6 years to 9 years are invited to audition for a place in this prestigious school.
• Please note that space is limited.
• No previous ballet training or experience is required.
• There is no charge for the audition.

Joburg Ballet Cuban School pupils pose after a lesson with Dr Ramona de Saa and Elena Cangas from Havana.

Audition date: 28 January 2014 at 4pm.

Venue: Joburg Ballet studios, Hoofd Street, Braamfontein, Johannesburg.

Application enquiries: Contact Fiona Brown on 011 877 6910 or fiona@joburgballet.com for application forms and further information.

Closing date for applications: 27 January 2014

Did you know?

The ballet world owes a debt of gratitude to Mr Fidel Castro for encouraging ballet legend Madame Alicia Alonso to form the National Ballet School of Cuba, which developed the unique ballet training method now known as the ‘Cuban Method’.

The same method that brought us fouettes like these (yes, we just can’t help ourselves, here’s the National Ballet of Cuba’s Viengsay Valdés again, this time in Diana and Actaeon)…

Sadaise Arencibia and Arian Molina in a scene from Swan Lake. Photo courtesy of The National Ballet of Cuba

Covering east, west, north and south, the International Ballet Gala taking place in Johannesburg from 28 to 30 June brings us ballet stars from around the globe, including gold medallists and acclaimed dancers from far-flung regions such as Russia, South Korea, the USA and of course Cuba.

Alicia Alonso in 1955.

I say “of course” because this ballet production is Dirk Badenhorst’s way of saluting Madame Alicia Alonso, considered to be Cuba’s prima ballerina assoluta – an honorary title rather than an active rank considering that she is now in her nineties. Madame Alonso still directs the National Ballet of Cuba that she founded in 1948 and found an admirer in South African ballet entrepreneur Dirk Badenhorst ever since he began his close association with Cuban ballet in 2008.

Take a peek at who’s coming:

Dancers appearing in the galas are:

• Mariinsky Ballet, St Petersburg: Kimin Kim
• National Ballet of Cuba: Anette Delgado, Dani Hernández, Sadaise Arencibia, Arián Molina, Viengsay Valdes, José Losada
• Dutch National Ballet: Wen Ting Guan
• Dresden Ballet & Hungarian National Ballet: István Simon
• Columbia Classical Ballet, USA: Tamako Miyazaki
• The Washington Ballet: Maki Inuki, Brooklyn Mack
• English National Ballet: Aaron Smyth
• South African Mzansi Ballet: Burnise Silvius, Michael Revie, Shannon Glover, Jonathan Rodrigues, Luis de Castro, Randol Figueredo, Javier Monier, Ramiro Samón
• South Korea: Ga Yeon Jung

Brooklyn Mack from The Washington Ballet danced as Basilio in SA Mzansi Ballet’s 2013 production of Don Quixote.
Photo courtesy of South African Mzansi Ballet

What to expect:

The two gala programmes in the 5-performance only season include showpieces from Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker, La Bayadére, Le Corsaire, Giselle, Don Quixote, Romeo and Juliet and more.

Of special interest to South African audiences will be the first ever performances in this country of the Balcony Pas de Deux from John Cranko’s version of Romeo and Juliet.  One of the great choreographers of the 20th century, SA-born John Cranko led the Stuttgart Ballet to international fame before his tragically early death at the age of 46 in 1973.

Get your tickets:

Dates: Friday 28 June at 8pm
Saturday 29 June at 3pm and 8pm
Sunday 30 June at 2pm and 6pm
Venue: The Teatro at Montecasino, Johannesburg
Tickets: From R90 to R400 from Computicket