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 Birmingham Royal Ballet Principals |
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Dominic Antonucci | |||
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Bintley's ballets have given him many chances to show how good a dance-actor he is and he has been admirable in a variety of roles in Arthur (Parts 1 and 2) and was suitably villainous as Mortimer in Edward II and as Aristaeus in The Orpheus Suite. Again in the more serious vein, he was fine as Gabriel Oak and in Dante Sonata but he knows how to play comedy and was very funny as Petruchio (Shakespeare Suite), as M. Cochon in Beauty and the Beast and as the Floreador in Nutcracker Sweeties.
{BRB dancers}
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Asta Bazeviciute | |||
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She is tallish, blonde (this season, previously she was a brunette) and elegant, with lovely arms and a fine technique. She was able to show her excellent classical qualities in The Nutcracker and Concert Fantasy and her sense of comedy as Swanilda and in Western Symphony. Last season she was excellent as Giselle and as Terpsichore in Apollo.
She has learnt how to dance Ashton and was suitably tempestuous as the Gypsy Girl in The Two Pigeons and ethereal as Lady Mary in Enigma Variations. As if to give us a lesson on what a Principal dancer can do with a small role, she managed to make Rosalind in Romeo and Juliet a real three-dimensional character. Her standing in the company is indicated by the fact that David Bintley chose her to create the role of Belle in Beauty and the Beast.
{BRB dancers}
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Chi Cao | |||
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David Bintley has made use of his pure classical style in the Spring pas de deux in The Seasons, which gave him a chance to show what he could do with a created role that brought out all his best qualities. Another, even more prominent created role was the lead in Concert Fantasy. Those last two were danced with Nao Sakuma, whom he often partners to the great enjoyment of audiences since the two of them dance beautifully together. Make a special effort to see them in the leading roles in Romeo and Juliet where they can be exceptionally moving. His other main partner is Ambra Vallo. Usually they dance together in the longer, more story-oriented ballets, such as Two Pigeons and Fille, where they make a delightful pairing.
{BRB dancers}
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Tiit Helimets | |||
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He is a very big man, tall, broad and good-looking with a nice jump and excellent turns. He is a superb partner and knows how to make the ballerina look good. Because of this, he seems to be the male dancer who, when there are injuries, steps in at short notice. As a result he has partnered nearly all BRB's ballerinas. Perhaps due to his Russian training, he can be seen at his best in the more classical roles. For example, he is very impressive as Albrecht in Giselle where he shows great musicality and technique while in the second act being all too believable as a the grieving suitor. He is also a fine Siegfried and dances a splendid and moving Romeo.
Since joining BRB he has broadened his range to include more modern ballets such as In the Upper Room, Sanctum and Powder, as well as the Bintley ballets. He was a great Lancelot, excellent as "Sick with Love" in Carmina burana and fine as the Beast in Beauty and the Beast. His stature and bearing make him a natural to play the part of a God and he was superb as Apollo both in Balanchine’s ballet and in The Orpheus Suite ( a role he created) and as Krishna ( another created role ). Maybe surprisingly he has turned out to be an excellent Ashton dancer. This has allowed him to show both a lighter side to his dancing, (e.g. as the lead in Two Pigeons) and a more virtuoso side (e.g. in Voices of Spring).
{BRB dancers}
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Iain Mackay | |||
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He is tall and dark and is developing into a fine dance-actor with a very strong stage presence. This has been shown particularly in many of the Bintley ballets when cast as Mordred in Arthur Part 2, the young Arthur in Arthur Part 1, Troy in Far from the Madding Crowd and "Sick with Love" in the revival of Carmina burana. In other modern works, he was excellent in the cast of In the Upper Room, as the older Krishna, in the first movement of Western Symphony and especially as the third sailor in Fancy Free.
Last season a knee injury kept him off stage until the new year and when he returned the company was careful not to over-use him. But this season he seems back to full fitness and is dancing and performing better than ever before. Especially outstanding were his performances as Aristaeus (a role created on him ) and the title role in The Orpheus Suite.
{Principals}
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Robert Parker | |||
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He seems very much at home in David Bintley's ballets and the choreographer has used him to create many major roles. Especially notable were Hamlet in the Shakespeare Suite, the young Arthur and Mordred, the Beast in Beauty and the Beast and the title role in The Orpheus Suite. Many would regard the Hamlet solo almost as a definition of his style and it certainly shows what great energy and drive he possesses. But that is only one aspect of his talent and he has developed a slightly different, more muted style when dancing the classics. This has led to great success with his interpretations of Florimund and Albrecht and has established a fine partnership with Nao Sakuma. In a total contrast he was able to be funny, likeable and touching as Will Mossop in Hobson's Choice. His Gabriel Oak in Far from the Madding Crowd was very moving, proving yet again that he is one of the best dance-actors of the day.
Because he is a strong dancer who can perform with great attack coupled with considerable charm, some of his best roles are in the modern classics; roles such as Romeo, Apollo, Gaveston, Edward, Colas and the young man in The Two Pigeons. He can dominate the stage as the Angel in The Protecting Veil, the Messenger of Death in Song of the Earth and in the leading male part in Five Tangos. Anyone who has seen him as the sailor in Nutcracker Sweeties or as the pas de deux sailor in Fancy Free or as the hoofer in Slaughter on Tenth Avenue or, best of all, as Will Mossop will know that he can be just as good in comedy as in more serious ballets.
{Principals}
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Rachel Peppin | |||
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She is a natural Ashton dancer, just superb as Titania in The Dream, the girl in Two Pigeons and Dorabella. Perhaps it is an English ancestry that makes her look like a typically English dancer. To some extent she has been restricted to the more classical part of the repertory although one wonders why since she looked very much at home in such modern ballets as In the Upper Room, Sanctum and Nutcracker Sweeties. In Fancy Free, as the pas de deux girl, she lit up the stage and was so captivating that one would have liked the rest of the ballet to have been about her and her sailor. As Juliet she showed that, given the chance, she can be a fine dramatic dancer.
It seems likely that the 2004-5 season will be her last. This will disappoint her many admirers but evidently she feels it best to leave while she can still do justice to her favourite roles and who can deny the common sense of that.
{Principals}
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Sergiu Pobereznic | |||
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His dark good looks are a great advantage in romantic roles as well as gaining him many female admirers. Apart from that he is in fact a fine classical stylist with an excellent jump (and very soft landings) so that he excels in the traditional repertory and in modern classics. He is also a secure and helpful partner and creates a real rapport with his ballerina. As a top-class dance/actor, he has impressed particularly as Romeo, Albrecht, Franz and Siegfried as well as Troy in Far From the Madding Crowd. He appears to have a particular affinity for the Ashton repertory in roles such as Colas, Oberon and in Scenes de ballet and Symphonic Variations, where his light, fast footwork is shown at its best. But he is quite capable of shining in more modern ballets such as Carmina burana, In the Upper Room and Tombeaux.
Unfortunately he has had various injuries over the years and these restrict the number of performances he gives. However, his beautifully light style and dramatic abilities make those performances he does give very memorable
{Principals}
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Michael Revie | |||
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He joined BRB as a Principal in January 2002 and since then has danced such varied roles as Romeo, Mercutio and Will Mossop. He has also danced Boiling Rage in Carmina burana and the lead in Sanctum. He was superb as one of the sailors in Fancy Free and in The Sons of Horus. Probably his best performances since he joined BRB have been as the Raven in Beauty and the Beast where he has had a great success in the role he created.
Earlier this season, when through injury and illness, BRB was short of male dancers he proved to be a real trouper, dancing the sailor in Nutcracker Sweeties at every performance and Hamlet at many performances.
{Principals}
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Nao Sakuma | |||
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She has been quite superb in the major classical roles (very moving and breaking many hearts as Odette and Giselle, dancing beautifully as Aurora, vivaciously as Swanilda and elegantly as the Sugar Plum Fairy). The same can be said of her performances in the modern repertory, such as one of the muses in Apollo, Guinevere in Arthur (Parts 1 and 2), the leading girl in the Spring section of The Seasons and Concert Fantasy (the last two being roles created for her by David Bintley). In all of these, she showed us what she can do as a very pure classical dancer. But who could have guessed what a spitfire she would turn out to be as the gypsy in Two Pigeons. Or, on swapping roles to dance as the Young Girl, that she would turn out to be one of the very best ever. Or that she could be so wonderful as Lise, mischievous at one moment, lovable at the next. Or that she could look so much at home in In the Upper Room. Or that her acting skills would give us such a totally heart-breaking Juliet. In other words her range encompasses the whole of BRB's repertory and, whatever the role, she gives top grade performances.
{Principals}
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Molly Smolen | |||
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She is a very strong dancer with a diamond-hard technique and a commanding stage personality. This means she was superb as Odile, Myrtha and as Morgan le Fey, in both parts of Arthur. She is a fine Ashton dancer and the sheer variety of her Ashton roles shows what a wide range she has. She was especially impressive in the Five Brahms Waltzes and Voices of Spring; her dancing as Lise was impeccable and she pulled all the stops out as the gypsy girl in Two Pigeons.
In Swan Lake, Giselle and in all the ballerina roles in The Nutcracker, she showed us how well she can do the classics. She gave, also, a very individual and beautifully danced interpretation of Juliet and, in complete contrast, a quite gentle Maggie in Hobson's Choice. But she has been excellent, too, in the modern ballets such as Powder, In the Upper Room, the Autumn section of The Seasons, Concert Fantasy and as Isis in Sons of Horus. And in Beauty and the Beast many felt she was the Belle who reached out of the darkness and told the story with the greatest clarity. In all of her roles, great and small, she dances always with energy and commitment and, because she is a very intelligent artist and a superb dance-actress, her audiences can be sure of seeing thoughtful and powerful performances.
{Principals}
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Ambra Vallo | |||
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Over the past three years, she has proved beyond doubt in her performances as Giselle, Aurora and Odette-Odile that she is in the first rank as a classical ballerina. But she has impressed, also, in the more modern and abstract works in the repertory. She is outstanding as Bathsheba (Far from the Madding Crowd) and as Isabella (Edward II). She is a natural Juliet and Giselle but was just as excellent, in a different way, as Swanilda and as the tipsy Titania in Shakespeare Suite, displaying a fine sense of comedy.
The Ashton roles suit her very well and she brings out every nuance of the character of the girl in Two Pigeons and is very moving as the doomed girl in Paradise Garden. Her Lise is funny and lovable. As the Wild Girl in the first cast of Beauty and the Beast she stole the show and, in the same ballet, she was very touching as Belle and equally so as Euridice in The Orpheus Suite.
{Principals}
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Elisha Willis | |||
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Already she has danced many leading roles and has been impressive in all of them. None more so than as Giselle, when, at short notice, she found herself dancing in successive weeks with two different Albrechts, neither of whom was the one she had rehearsed mostly with. In her debut as the Sugar Plum Fairy last December she danced with complete authority and in the grand manner needed for that role.
In the Ashton works, she was an exciting Gypsy Girl in The Two Pigeons and a delightful Dorabella. For Bintley she was an excellent Belle in Beauty and the Beast and she created the role of Eurydice in The Orpheus Suite.
{Principals}
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