It's more than 10 years since Michael Nunn and William Trevitt sensationally left the Royal Ballet – and the Ballet Boyz, as the pair became known, are Boyz no more. Now in their early forties, Nunn and Trevitt are passing their experience on to the fledgling dancers who make up their cheekily named new troupe, The Talent.
In a drab studio backstage at Sadler's Wells, where Nunn and Trevitt are associate artists, Adam, Anthony, Ed, Jesús, Kai, Leon, Matt, Miguel and Taylor are absorbed in a rehearsal. These nine men, aged 20 to 25, recruited from open auditions, are the “second generation” of Ballet Boyz, as Trevitt puts it. Star choreographers Russell Maliphant, Paul Roberts and newcomer Jarek Cemerek have been commissioned to create new dances for them. The style is contemporary, the pace is fast and the live dance is spliced with behind-the-scenes video footage to give audiences an inkling of what makes young men choose the precarious life of a professional dancer.
The nine are an intriguing mix. Some trained at schools like Laban, Elmhurst and Rambert, while another started out as a gymnast, and one has no formal training at all. One of them, Matthew Rees, says that if he hadn't joined the Ballet Boyz, he would have joined the Royal Marines. All appreciate their good fortune to be working with Nunn and Trevitt, and they repay the opportunity with hard work and commitment.
via Ballet Boyz: the next generation – meet The Talent | Theatre
Graham Spicer is a writer, director and photographer in Milan, blogging (under the name ‘Gramilano') about dance, opera, music and photography for people “who are a bit like me and like some of the things I like”. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy.
His scribblings have appeared in various publications from Woman's Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the ‘Danza in Italia' column for Dancing Times magazine.
