For the second year, the girls and I returned to the Peacock Theatre in London to see the young and talented dancers from the English National Ballet School perform for the tiniest aspiring ballerinas. Now in its sixth year, the My First Ballet series features a classical ballet, specially shortened, adapted, and cleverly narrated to suit children as young as three.
Marina Minguez as the Fairy Godmother (c) Photography by ASH
Maria Isabel Trabalon Sanjuan and Jeong Eun Park as the Stepsisters (c) Photography by ASH
Although arguably the music of Cinderella, a Prokofiev classic, is a little less memorable than Sleeping Beauty (last year's lovely production), the rags to riches tale is firmly fixed in the fairytale canon and lent itself very well to this adaptation. The narrator, now older, takes us on a journey back in time to a story from her youth and we meet the young Cinderella through the older Queen's eyes. This year's story had a real element of humour and the stepsisters, full of character, stole the show.
One of the best elements of the My First Ballet productions are the interweaving of narration and dance. Carefully and intentionally, the dancers illustrate that many of the ballet moves that we might usually miss with the whirl of limbs and chiffon have specific meanings. These are deliberately emphasised throughout and outlined in the well designed programme. Miniature audience members are invited to spot certain gestures and specific moves throughout the ballet. At crucial junctures time is slowed so we don't miss a crucial exchange. I'm always learning something new alongside my little women and enjoy these productions just as much as they do.
& Mar Bonet Sans as Cinderella (c) Photography by ASH
This
unique collaboration between English National Ballet and English
National Ballet School is always particularly exciting for Culturebaby as we are lucky enough to be able to attend ENB's Junior ballet school. These brilliant dancers therefore demonstrate in a connected and tangible way what is possible for the very youngest of students.
The classes, run by highly trained professionals and
featuring a real pianist, come highly recommended. No auditions are necessary but the quality of teaching is excellent. We are heading over to Chelsea tomorrow to take part in the annual performance for the Juniors, which last year was hugely impressive. It's a class worth travelling to.
ENB has worked with Widgit to produce resources that can be easily used by the young but also by those with learning difficulties or disabilities. The My First Ballet: Cinderella Symbol Resources are designed for use before, during and after performances. You can download these here at the links below. Some of these flashcards in particular are brilliantly useful and I'll be producing a set for the girls soon:
Another great accompaniment to the performance is James Mayhew's beautifully illustrated picture book Ella Bella and Cinderella. It is part of the ingenious series where the little ballerina Ella is transported, with the aid of a magical musical box, into a series of ballets; supporting the characters and saving the plot.
Although the ENB school dancers have finished their run for the year, performances continue over the summer at two locations. For further details and booking information see the website at www.ballet.org.uk/myfirstballet
The Peacock, London 18 – 23 July 2017 Box Office: 020 7863 8000 Tickets: £10 - £25
Manchester Opera House
26 –30 July 2017 Box Office: 0844 871 3018 Tickets: £11.50 - £29.40
Disclaimer: We received press tickets for the purposes of review from English National Ballet. All views are, as always, our own. Photographs are courtesy of ENB and the specified photographers - with thanks.
We love Sadlers Wells, with their creativity, brilliant performances and mission to inspire young people and involve families in their programming. Last year a friend attended their Miro-inspired Family Weekend. This year Culturebaby and I were delighted to be able to spend a big girl afternoon together at the simply exquisite production of Snow White from balletLorent and re-told by Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy. Whilst some productions for children are technicolor and twee, this evocative production was refreshingly un-Disney. The colours were melow and the storyline was haunting and at times dark. This ballet by the award-winning BalletLorent was not for the feint hearted. There were tears in the loos from some quarters but Culturebaby never fails to surprise me with her capacity for challenging themes and she was hugely impressed by this interpretation - closer to the Grimm than the Disney - with a mother (not stepmother) who grew jealous of her daughter and a woodcutter groom not a prince. The former was food for thought that all mothers should protect and celebrate the beauty and youth of their innocent offspring and never unwittingly fall into jealousy or a desire to live through them. The latter was thoroughly welcome - a fairy tale encouraging women not to look for the rich and vain in their future mate - but the strong, courageous and good. Carol Ann Duffy captures this angle well when she says:
"I didn't expect to fall for the story of Snow White. Like so many of the Brothers Grimm fairytales, I felt that I vaguely knew a version of the story, and was most familiar with Disney's 1937 interpretation. It was only through my research that I found out that in the first published version it was Snow White's actual mother - not her stepmother - who was so jealous of her offspring's beauty that it drove her to want to murder the daughter that she had so wished for. I was hooked; it suddenly became such an important story to tell. So many of us live with a complicated and unhappy relationship with our reflection in the mirror, and this fairytale warns us of the dangers of self-criticism, brilliantly looking at the cost of our beautifying and anti-ageing efforts."
BalletLorent's mission to create high quality dance for all ages is
commendable. In this touring production, they have offered the
opportunity for 12 children aged six to nine years to rehearse and
perform with them. These lucky children receive professional training and an
opportunity to perform as part of the troupe. We were hugely impressed
by their contibution and, like many productions which
feature children, to an audience aspiring to follow in their footsteps
their roles offer a tangible next step for other aspiring miniature
dancers. By opening up productions so effectively for
families both in the audience and in the production itself, as Amy Reid,
a teacher in a participating school notes: "It's great to be planting
that seed now instead of later on. They are little enough for this to
make a difference."
Sadlers Wells supplemented this fabulous ballet with a wider programme of creative and themed activities, available free before the production. Children were invited to explore costumes, make a magic mirror or crown, write on a wall of dreams and discover hidden leaves and objects through crayon rubbing on a giant mat. Of the many productions we have seen in recent years, this is one of those that has remained with both me and my daughter and is still talked about months on. The whole experience was welcoming and evocative. The costumes and props were simple in hue but stunning in design - Snow White's wedding dress fills the entire stage. The family weekend at Sadlers Wells comes round annually. We await their next instalment with baited breath...
"If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be very intelligent, read them more fairy tales." Albert Einstein
"The fairytale is in a perpetual state of becoming and alternation. To keep to one version or one translation alone is to put a robin readbreast in a cage." Philip Pullman
Disclaimer: We received review tickets in exchange for an honest review of the production. As always, all opinions are all entirely my own. Photographs of the performance itself are courtesy of Sadlers Wells and photographer Ian West
On Good Friday the Culturebabies and I headed over to the Peacock Theatre to see the latest in English National Ballet School's inspired series of child-friendly ballets. My First Ballet, now in its 5th year, features a shortened version of the full ballet, with additional narration, intended to introduce the youngest of children to the classics. We'd been really excited to see Swan Lake last year but, due to a fire in Holborn, the London leg had been cancelled. So with a year's worth of anticipation, the girls donned their tutus and we made a great day of it.
This unique collaboration between English National Ballet and English National Ballet School was particularly exciting for four year old Culturebaby as we are lucky enough to be able to attend one of the ENB's Junior ballet classes (currently in Chelsea, Richmond and Putney). These fabulous classes, run by highly trained professionals and featuring a real pianist, are also part of the ENBS so this term Culturebaby has been studying the Sleeping Beauty to tie in with what the older students are performing. It's amazing for a four year old to feel like they are part of a much bigger endeavour and see what their hard work could achieve. My First Ballet isn't danced by ENB professionals, it is created by English National Ballet’s Associate Artist George Williamson and performed by second year students from English National Ballet School. This means there is the odd wobble, but what an inspiration for a mini-ballerina starting out!
The production has so many elements that are perfect to capture the imagination of even the youngest child (two year old Culturetot was just as captivated as the older children). The costumes are stunning and the tutus, so important to little people, are spectacular - with just the right level of sticky-outiness for any toddler to covet every one. The set was also beautifully designed. There's no dumbing down here; this is no pantomime. Whilst there is humour, the young audience is treated with a significant level of trust and respect. Whilst the ballet is shortened and a narrator is added, this served to bring out the best in the performance and highlight elements even adults might not normally notice. Cleverly, the narrator is Aurora herself, looking back over the fairy tale of her youth. I was particularly impressed by the way that the narration pointed out the unique sign-language of the ballet (perhaps lost on many of us). Move by move, certain signs were highlighted as part of the tale, introducing the youngest viewer to the lexicon of the dance.
Culturebaby is rather old-school in her tastes. Whilst other children are single-minded in their devotion to Frozen, she prefers the older classic tales and Sleeping Beauty is amongst her favourites. It is such a simple story to follow and is so well known, that it works extremely well as a child-friendly ballet. Though it has a princess and an adventure, it fortunately features strong female characters in the roles of the fairies, and a malevolent character who must be overcome in the form of the evil fairy Carabosse (not Disney's Maleficent of course). There's even cameo appearances from Little Red Riding Hood, the wolf and Puss in Boots. The Peacock Theatre is large enough for the ballet to feel authentic and a real treat. The only downside was that the ENB school's budget doesn't seem to extend to a live orchestra - the music is recorded (but still of high quality).
The material that the ENB has produced to accompany the production was also great (the programme contained the story as well as a version using symbols, games and ballet positions to learn. Their website also includes some great resources including these fantastic free printable ballet position flash cards.
We also prepared in advance with some selected reading. In particular I'd recommend James Mayhew's Ella Bella and Sleeping Beauty, which is part of a series about a little ballerina who, aided by a magical musical box, becomes part of the ballets she is dancing; aiding the heros and heroines of the pieces and helping to save the day. The brilliance of these books, other than their gorgeous illustrations and the fact that they feature a kindred soul for our little ballerinas, is that they also stick to the non-Disneyfied plot of the original ballet. I'd also recommend Usborne's Ballet Stories for Bedtime, containing a selection of well known and less well known ballet tales.
We've also found that one of the best ways to prepare for a ballet (so evident with our trips to see ENB's exquisite Nutcracker with the girls at Christmas) is to play the full ballets in the background at home. They are easy on the ear, full of distinctive tunes and the children seem to absorb the scores without realising it - evident in the theatre as they hum along.
I'd thoroughly recommend My First Ballet for children as young as two and suspect we will be going for a good few years as they serve as such effective introductions to so many aspects of each classic production. It's also great news that they tour round the country and are accessible to tiny ballerinas nationwide. Dates and further information can be found here.
Disclaimer: We received out tickets in exchange for a review. As always all views are very much our own. All photographs of the ballet are featured courtesy of the English National Ballet School.
If it were possible to pinpoint the single most influential and enduring cultural moment in Culturebaby's life to date, without doubt I'd look to our trip to see the English National Ballet's gloriously Edwardian and throroughly spellbinding production of Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker last January. I've waited until now to write it up, partly because I was fascinated to chart how far Culturebaby's devotion extended and partly because, with advent on the horizon, now is the time for us to be booking for our little sugar plums.
This production is the perfect first introduction to ballet for a child. Short, fast moving, easily intelligible and gloriously visual, the Nutcracker is thoroughly gripping throughout. The music is distinctive and memorable; the costumes the stuff of childhood dreams. The whole experience is the epitome of Christmas enchantment. If, like mine, your child is in love with their ballet slippers, I can't think of a better Christmas present. When the plastic paraphenalia of each short-lived fad is long gone, I have no doubt that this is an experience that will remain tightly woven into the fabric of her childhood memories; more valuable than toys, and with the potential to be renewed annually. Unique in many ways, the Nutcracker of course provides an additional inspiration with its host of talented children and their personification of a goal less distant for little ones than the beating of a white swan's wings...
Nutcracker Image Courtesy of ENB
Nutcracker Image Courtesy of ENB
The Nutcracker was the first ballet I saw as a child and I still remember it, but it wasn't by the ENB and I wasn't three. I was initially hesitant, unsure whether this was too soon. Would she sit still? Would she be able to concentrate? Would it be too frightening? I needn't have worried. By no means an unusual toddler, and as prone to fidgetting as any, she sat utterly entranced throughout the entire production, and not only that; she lived it daily for the following six months. Every day she requested to listen to the full ballet as she played, and on many an occasion she watched the Kirov's production on DVD and copied the steps. She created again and again the land of sweets with materials as diverse as playdoh, confectionaries and crayon. She saw the theme everywhere from the art of Hunderwasser to the decoration of a cupcake. Our old wooden nutcracker and a stuffed toy mouse were constant companions. We looked for every possible version of the story available.
Nutcracker Image Courtesy of ENB
I have no doubt that the combination of a wonderful, Christmassy tale, with some of the most ingenious music ever composed have fuelled her adoration, but seeing such a brilliantly visual and exquisitely designed and imagined re-telling by the ENB have allowed her to relive the experience again and again.
Nutcracker Image Courtesy of ENB
Nutcracker Image Courtesy of ENB
Nutcracker Image Courtesy of ENB
Given the extent of Culturebaby's fascination, I thought we'd share some great follow on activities and reads along the theme of the Nutcracker that are all very simple to do at home.
Make your own land of sweets
There are so many ways to bring alive every child's wildest dreams - to reside in that most scrumptious of worlds. The Culturegrandparents know this aspiration/headache well. My ten year old birthday cake request was indeed for a replica of my favourite illustration from a childhood copy of the classic. Re-living history they purchased a range of appropriate items and began with a liquorice allsorts-man and his car...
We also had a number of great sessions with a batch of playdoh, creating cake-like structures and brightly coloured characters.
2. Find inspiration in art - It seemed that everywhere we looked there were potential scenes from the land of sweets ready to explore. Some of Culturebaby's earliest figurative drawings featured our eponymous hero and his nemesis. She also took rather a liking to drawing fields and fields of lollypops.
In particular she adored a project we did to replicate one of the colourful artist Hunderwasser's iconic images. I will write this up in more detail soon, but this project was extremely simple. Using collages of circles of varying sizes and a range of colours and textures we made a series of very effective artworks. Immediately Culturebaby related these to the land of sweets of her own continued imagination.
3. Imaginative and dress-up play - Such a perennial and essential element of
childhood. Happily Culturegrandma located an old wooden nutcracker, and
Ikea provided a rat. Slightly bewildering a choice for a mass produced
stuffed toy aside, we were entirely delighted to adopt our own mouse
king. Culturebaby still sleeps with him in close proximity.
4. Dancing the ballet - The Culturebabies love their ballet classes, and Culturebaby is lucky enough to be able to attend an English National Ballet Juniors class weekly, but soooo much dancing can be done at home. Juggling scarves are a great and versatile prop, as are ribbons and wands. The soundtrack of the Nutcracker is so distinctive that it is easy for even the youngest child to follow the story as the ballet plays in the background. The girls also love studying the Kirov's production on DVD and attempting to replicate steps. If nothing else, it is exceptionally cute to observe.
5. Create a Christmas-themed sensory basket
These baskets or trays are a really big hit in our household and I create different ones each season. Last year's Christmas basket featured a small Christmas tree with miniature
decorations; wooden and felt snowflakes,
stars, reindeer, bells, and other items to collect, match and sort; themed clips for fine motor skill practice and characters to bring alive as they play
tiny musical instruments, receive presents and help to decorate. We also had a series of DIY themed shape and colour sorting toys.
6. Reading together - There are some fabulous versions of the Nutcracker out there specifically for young children. As a child I had a stunningly illustrated copy, most probably now out of print (which Culturebaby still adores) and I want to get my hands on Maurice Sendak's picture book, but these aside, I have five excellent recommendations that are perfect for pre-schoolers.
Firstly, a trio from Usborne. As readers know, I'm a huge fan of this publisher. Their series of young reading books which introduce classic stories from nursery rhymes to Greek myths feature in Culturebaby's bedtime selections every day. Cleverly, they have produced a staged approach to their best-loved tales for developing readers who still want to read the same classic story, but in more depth as they grow. Using the same illustrator, they have built on their gorgeous short picture book adaptation by Emma Helborough and illustrated by Anna Luraschi, which is also available as a fantastic sound book version with clips from some of the best known pieces, to produce a more complex and in depth version for older children and early readers. At present, the two girls can both enjoy the simpler version together, and Culturebaby is very taken with the 'big girl' version. Usborne has also produced a beautiful volume of Ballet Stories for Bedtime. Containing fewer (but still plenty of) illustrations and reasonably in depth text, this compendium covers not only the Nutcracker but also six other classic ballets, including some lesser-known stories to discover.
As we are devotees of the ingenious books of James Mayhew (author of the Katie series of art books) we were delighted to discover that one of the five Ella Bella books featured The Nutcracker. Ella Bella is a little ballerina who is lucky enough to regularly experience the enchantment of her ballet teacher's magical musical box. When she discovers herself alone with this box of delights, she is transported into the story and each time she helps to save the day for the characters. Aiding Clara and her prince as they seek to escape from the clutches of the mouse king, Ella Bella is transported through snow to the land of sweets and the ultimate Christmas party.
Finally, this year we have been sent a new, beautifully engineered pop-up edition of the Nutcracker story from Walker Books, illustrated by Niroot Puttapipat. For children of all ages, and indeed any adult, this simply told version of the classic story is gorgeously illustrated with characters in silhouette set against stunning skies and with splashes of coloured decoration. There is a final, exquisitely crafted, pop-up scene of the land of sweets. These theatrical images throughout the edition were inspired by the sets from the original 1892 production performed in St Petersburg. The descriptions are also simply beautiful. In this land snowflakes taste of rosebuds and raspberries, peppermint and honey; oceans are flecked with gold and "lollipops grew in the flowerbeds, lemonade flowed from the fountains, and a sherbet path twisted off into marshmallow mountains." The descriptions are sumptuous, lyrical and spellbinding. I know that Culturebaby will fall in love with it when she opens it in her literary advent calendar.
Disclaimer: We were sent a copy of the new Nutcracker from Walker Books for review purposes, and we were given two seats to the brilliant 2014 production of the Nutcracker. All other materials are our own.
