The phrase “all about us” has an unfortunate association these days with self-centredness, and that is a quality that could not be further from the ethos of this programme, given as part of the Royal Ballet’s Next Generation Festival. “About all of us” would have been more accurate, as the intention was to celebrate every kind of diversity in dance, and a celebration it truly was.
It was a pleasure to see the passionate Joe Powell-Main in action on the Linbury stage, here under the auspices of the National Youth Ballet. During his fourth year of training at the Royal Ballet School, Powell-Main underwent surgery for injury that resulted in complications, and then was involved in a serious car accident that left him disabled. He now uses a wheelchair and crutches, but this has not stopped him from developing a performing arts career, including dancing with Ballet Cymru and with The Royal Ballet as part of Spring Draft Works.
He is a powerful advocate for inclusion in dance, and the piece he choreographed for Next Generation, Strength in Adversity, perfectly reflected its title. He and his six fellow-dancers showed how far one can push through barriers if one is determined and talented.
The Royal Ballet’s outreach and development programmes were showcased by the Primary Steps Programme, in a sweet piece depicting the metamorphosis of a group of caterpillars into butterflies, and by two elements of the Chance to Dance programme, Legacy and Connect. Chance to Dance was initiated as long ago as 1991, and has built a network of partner ballet schools, thus far introducing more than 30,000 young people to ballet.
The Legacy company, comprised of young people from partner schools in Thurrock, performed This is a Dream, based on themes from Ashton’s The Dream. With the youngsters costumed as woodland fairies, they were encouraged to explore their own choreographic ideas to express their enjoyment of dance. I was completely charmed by the smallest young man in the group, who showed nascent signs of artistic interpretive ability and cheekily blew us a kiss as he exited after the group bows.
Last on the programme was Bee the Ballet, based on a book of the same name by Rachel Fuller and Emilia Wharfe, and set to an enchanting score by Fuller. Beautiful illustrations by Wharfe provide backdrops that set each scene, and bringing these artistic elements together with a meaningful, thoroughly engaging story has created a wonderful piece of theatrical art. Bee is a highly intelligent and imaginative child who is misunderstood both at school, where she is not included in playground activities and struggles to concentrate in lessons, and at home, where her parents try to persuade her to focus on her schoolwork and tasks rather than drifting off into her fantasy world, where she plays with fairies and magical creatures.
As she grows up, Bee becomes adept at scientific investigation, and makes a miraculous discovery that could enable all to travel to other parts of the universe and save the Earth. Will others believe in Bee’s insight at last? The story makes an engaging, beautifully choreographed (by Kristen McNally and Carolyn Bolton) ballet, giving the young dancers plenty to do and chances to show off individual skills, including acrobatics, difficult ballet turns and tricks (all are in training) and some lovely artistic qualities. Young Bee was played by a particularly charming (and talented) young lady.
The adults and Older Bee were played by guest professional dancers Shevelle Dynott, Liam Riddick, Hannah Rudd, Jacob Wye and Helga Paris-Morales, whose work as the grown-up Bee was truly beautiful. How inspirational it must have been for young teenagers to perform alongside these respected professionals: if only we could offer this Chance to Dance to every child, the world would be a happier place, I am sure.
