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Barbara Loots
SALT is the inaugural season of Cape Ballet Africa. The comapy aims to reimagine how ballet in Africa can reflect change. With SALT, onstage at the Baxter Theatre for a limited run, Cape Ballet Africa has definitely announced their arrival on the ballet scene with daring flair and exquisite vision.
The newly formed ballet company, Cape Ballet Africa, aspires to “inspire a new generation to appreciate an art form that demands much of the human spirit, yet gives much back to the human spirit; to foster a broad appreciation and following within our African diaspora where ballet is not home-grown”, shares Artistic Director, Debbie Turner.
Turner chose SALT as the theme for the inaugural season, symbolising new beggings, as "salt is essential for life, an intrinsic part of each of our beings, a preservative; a healing, cleansing, invigorating mineral; a sacred covenant.”
With that unifying vision in mind, SALT sets the scene for the realisation of Cape Ballet Africa's transformative ballet ideal. The progression of the programme, in tone and movement, is impressive. It takes the audience on a journey from the classical to an edgy and modern ballet offering: The classical component, both in style and costume design, starts off soft and becomes gradually louder and more daring in movement and design.
REVERIE
Choreographer: Kirsten Isenberg
Composer: Sergey Rachmaninoff (Piano Concerto No 2 in C Minor Op. 18)
Costume Design: Debbie Turner with Kirsten Isenberg
What can be more traditional than the pairing of Rachmaninoff and ballet! Isenberg draws on all that is beautiful in that union in creating REVERIE as an expression of elegance and whimsy. The dancers move effortlessly in the representation of a reflective, dreamlike state, showcasing beautiful lines and soft movements. REVERIE draws on the sentimentality for the traditional romantic form of ballet. Through moody transitions, it embraces the classical while making these elements feel fresh, infusing it with a neo-classical and contemporary ballet perspective. REVERIE is an artistic expression of a transitional phase revealed through an abstract story line. It is an exquisite piece that shows off the impressive level of trust that has already developed amongst the dancers of this young company.
CHAPTER TWO
Choreographer: Mthuthuzeli November
Composer: Peter Johnson
Costume Design: Debbie Turner
This piece is described as a “kinetic sculptural work” set to “a pulsating and percussive score”. It is a celebration of bodies in motion, and reflects a ritualistic and modern tone. It starts off with almost ‘boxy’ movements and gradually morphs into a sense of combative fluidity. It has a strong masculine energy that pulses throughout. The soundscape made me think of a Highlands call to battle, with the dancers giving off a clan-like unity. Amid the captivating tension there is a moment of innocent flirtation, a sense of calm in the eye of the storm which offers a brief respite to the otherwise high intensity showcase before the battle-like intensity of the piece breaks through again. The dancers take you by surprise as they all but stare the audience down before the climax of the entrancing CHAPTER TWO that gives a beautiful sense of chaos through movement.
CONCERTO PAS DE DEUX
Choreographer: Sir Kenneth MacMillan
Composer: Dmitri Shostakovich (Piano Concerto No 2)
Original Costume Design: Jürgen Rose, later by Lady Deborah MacMillan (Costumes on loan by kind permission of Kevin O’Hare and The Royal Ballet)
Original Lighting Design: John B. Read
Danced by Camille Bracher & guest artist from Ballett Zürich, Brandon Lawrence
This iconic piece is elegant to its core. It is a beautiful, deceptively simplistic exercise in restraint and technique. It is a real ballet treat to have this piece (performed with the kind permission of The Kenneth MacMillan Estate) as part of the SALT showcase and performed by two dancers who have both danced for Royal Ballet companies for ten years.
SMOKE
Choreographer: Michelle Reid
Composer: Jonah Parzen-Johnson, Dave Brubeck remix by Fridolf, The
Temptations
Licensed through SAMRO
Costume Design: Debbie Turner
SMOKE is red hot ballet! It starts off with sultry jazzy tones, but soon turns into all things rhythm as the piece amps up the energy to “Papa Was A Rollin' Stone". It is at its core a true ode to rhythm and the interpretative energy that it can inspire through ballet as an art form. It shakes off the shackles tradition and gives free reign to dance-expression. SMOKE is proof that the future of ballet is exciting and always evolving. SMOKE is absolutely sensational!
Cape Ballet Africa's SALT is an absolute must for anyone who loves dance and artistic expression of the highest calibre. It runs at the Baxter Theatre for a very limited season until 28 September 2024, with tickets available for booking online through Webtickets.
Set Design by Michael Mitchell
Lighting Design by Patrick Curtis.Brandon Lawrence is a soloist with Ballett Zürich and has been a Governor at Elmhurst Ballet School since 2021.The Cape Ballet Africa Company of dancers are: Camille Bracher, Gabriel Ravenscroft, Gemma Trehearn, Jan Kotze, Joshua Williams, Julia O’Keeffe, Kayla Schultze, Kingsley Beukes, Mia Coomber, Nicolas Laubscher, Nina Simpson and Quinton Jacobs.