Revil Yon, Tusile Tenza and Milwhynne Williams perform in an excerpt from Robin van Wyk’s Italian Affair. Photo by Jacques Conradie.

Cape Town City Ballet are mixing up the festive mood with their lively and fun-filled performances of Belles & Beaux from Friday 20 December to Sunday 22 December 2013 at the Artscape Theatre in Cape Town.

In a selection of favourite scenes from across various well-loved ballets, the ballet company will show off their ballerinas and danseurs in this sparkling holiday season show.

Some of the highlights include (and see the photo gallery below for a sneak peak):

• Excerpts from Robin van Wyk’s 2011 hit ballet The Italian Affair.
• Two of Cape Town audiences’ favourite dancers Mervyn Williams and Johnny Bovang will display their comic skills in The Waltz from the one act ballet, Graduation Ball, choreographed by Russian choreographer David Lachine.
• Scenes from the second act of Veronica Paeper’s Spartacus will be included in the programme, set to the emotive music by Aram Khachaturian.
• From the classical repertoire dance lovers will be treated to scenes from Diane & Acteon, La Bayedere and Scheherazade, amongst others.
• The Competition is a new piece specially choreographed for the male dancers of the company to show off their expertise. This has been created by Mervyn Williams, who has been with Cape Town City Ballet for 27 years – first as a dancer, now as a character dancer, coordinator of the costume wardrobe and involved with CTCB’s outreach programmes.
• Another showcase for the male dancers will be The Trepak from The Nutcracker, by David Poole.
• The programme will end with delightful and humorous scenes from the third act of Orpheus in the Underworld, the ballet by Veronica Paeper. Set in Pluto’s Night Club, the Mafia and Caliope strut their stuff, while a bevy of Cape Town City Ballet’s gorgeous girls will end the programme with the Can Can.

Belles & Beaux Booking details:

Dates: 18 – 22 December 2013
Venue: Artscape Theatre, Cape Town
Tickets: from R125 to R220 and children (6 to 16 years) at R50 through Computicket.

Beautifully convincing corps de ballet, but sometimes uninspired solos. Photo by Sarah Weyman.

Despite being the second largest theatre (in terms of seats) on the St Petersburg Ballet Theatre’s international tour – which includes 50 cities so far in 2013 – the Teatro at Johannesburg’s Montecasino doesn’t have a particularly large stage, made even smaller by the ballet company’s beautifully elaborate sets. Add the corps de ballet of 24 swans and there is little space left for the principals and soloists.

However, we don’t think any stage on the planet could restrain prima ballerina Irina Kolesnikova. Her stage presence is so dramatic and magnetic that everything else fades into unimportance as she glides onto the scene.

Irina Kolesnikova as Odette in Act II. Photo courtesy of SPBT.

And ‘glide’ she does. As the anguished Odette, her movements are feathery soft and smooth, and her portrayal was so touching and absorbing that my little heart actually ached in empathy of her pain.

As Odile, however, her wicked deception was fierce and electric (as were her fouettés). When her evil con was revealed and she laughingly threw Siegfried’s love on the floor, I caught myself whispering under my breath what the rest of the audience was surely thinking too: “Bitch”.

In fact, the split-personality contrast of Irina’s dual roles had the ballet newbies next to us confused and amazed, asking “did she really dance both white and black swans?”; followed by their excited wide-eyed realisation: “oh my god, so she has to dance and act!”

Yes, that’s how prima ballerinas roll.

But not everyone in the St Petersburg Ballet Theatre (SPBT) cast manages to get that right – although you’ll probably only notice this when Irina is off stage, because you’re not really watching anyone else when she’s on.

Letting the flock down

The strongest contrast to Irina’s masterful performance was probably her principal partner, Dmitri Akulinin performing Siegfried. A little like Neo in The Matrix, he seems to only ever have one expression. Whether he’s happy, sad, angry or triumphant, it’s the same wooden look.

Swan Lake final fight scene with Dmitri Akulinin and Von Rothbart. Photo courtesy of SPBT.

In his favour though, Dmitri does have strength and his pas de deux partnering was perfectly seamless, just don’t expect dramatic solos. Unfortunately the same can be said for most of the male soloists, who lacked personality, precision and punch. Particularly the jester (Erkin Rakhmatulaev) and tutor (Dmitri Shevtsov) appeared a little too rehearsed, occasionally anticipating the others’ gestures too soon, effectively stealing any sense of spontaneity.

The notable exception here would be Rothbart performed by Dimchik Saikeev, who was powerfully menacing, further enhanced by his excellent costume changes and eerie red-eyed make-up. But even Rothbart and Odette’s presence couldn’t save the final fight scene from Siegfried’s unconvincing triumph. “Oh. Look. Um. I think I tore off Rothbart’s wing.”

Four little swans in perfect timing. Photo by Sarah Weyman.

Flying in formation

Acting skills aside though, when it comes to drama, SPBT still delivers plenty with their grand sets, bejewelled costumes and then there’s the corps de ballet of mesmerising swans, so perfectly in time and in sync, moving together as if by Russian magic.

The four little swans were particularly brilliant with their strong and fast footwork and their tick-tock, up-down, left-right movements. See more photos from their rehearsals below.

Though the stage did, at times, seem a tad small for SPBT’s big production, Montecasino’s impressive Teatro is perhaps still the most appropriate venue for Swan Lake, with seats rising all the way up to the clouds. And with Tchaikovsky’s haunting melodies delivered by the Johannesburg Festival Orchestra, it made for a rich and dreamy ballet experience.

If you haven’t done so yet, I’d suggest you make quick about booking those tickets (here), as 75% of the seats were already sold prior to opening night. It may be a while before you get to see such a grand performance of Swan Lake in South Africa by such a ballet company in high demand around the world.

Also, find out all the fascinating behind-the-scenes facts in this Swan Lake ballet infographic.

Have you seen this ballet yet? What were your thoughts? Whether you agree or disagree, tell us in the comments below.

The best of the Swan Lake rehearsal photos…

Click on the first photo to open the gallery.

If you missed it, read the full story here: Highlights from the International Ballet Gala Part 1, and what they didn’t tell you about Alicia Alonso.

With an impressive combination of international and local ballet talent, the ballet gala had three programmes across their five performances, giving audiences an enticing look into ballet repertoire not often seen in South Africa, such as Balanchine’s Stars and Stripes and Agrippina Vaganova’s Diana and Actaeon.

Gala photo gallery

Whether you saw one programme, all three, or none, here’s a frame by frame recap of some of the memorable moments.

Click on a photo to open the gallery…

Set to over 20 of Elvis’ greatest hits, Sean Bovim has Cape Town audiences all shook up with his latest ballet creation. It’s only on at the Artscape Theatre until 7 April 2013, so get your tickets and read more about it here.

Action Satisfaction

While seeing all these blue suede (and shiny pointe) shoes, I’m certainly feeling blue that I couldn’t be in Cape Town to see the dance action first-hand, but at least we get to enjoy it in freeze-frame…

Click on an image to open the gallery.

Five minutes on stage will change their lives forever…

To find out more about the movie, the dancers and their dreams, read the story here.

Click on a picture to open the gallery.

Click on a picture to open the gallery.