All about English National Ballet’s Digital Season: 23 Nov – 21 Dec

English National Ballet has announced the world premiere dates for its digital season, a series of five original dance films that will be made available to rent via Ballet on Demand, part of the company's new video platform, ENB at Home.

23 November: Take Five Blues

Opening the digital season on 23 November is Take Five Blues choreographed by English National Ballet's own Associate Artist, Stina Quagebeur. Inspired by Nigel Kennedy's take on Bach's Vivace and Paul Desmond's jazz standard, Take Five, Quagebeur's piece sees eight dancers play with unexpected rhythms and melodies, feeding off each other's energy in a high spirited film, created in collaboration with filmmaker Shaun James Grant, that pushes past classical ballet's boundaries into new dream-like territories.

30 November: Senseless Kindness

On 30 November the second film in the series will be released, Senseless Kindness, by world-renowned choreographer Yuri Possokhov, who works with a UK company for the first time. Senseless Kindness is based on Vasily Grossman's great novel, Life and Fate, about a Russian family caught in the Second World War and is set to Shostakovich's Piano Trio No1 recorded by musicians from English National Ballet Philharmonic. Filmmaker Thomas James collaborates to create this poetic, elegant film, using bold lighting and a stark, textured black and white approach.

7 December: Laid in Earth

The earth and the underworld intertwine and overlap in Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui's “torn apart” quartet, Laid in Earth, which will be released on 7 December. Interpreted for the screen in director Thomas James' ethereal film, a surreal blending of fluid choreography and an eerie other-worldly aesthetic. Laid in Earth is set to Purcell's famous aria from Dido and Aeneas – arranged by Gavin Sutherland, recorded by musicians from English National Ballet Philharmonic and sung by mezzo-soprano Flora McIntosh, as well as new electronic music by composer and multi-instrumentalist Olga Wojciechowska, a long-time collaborator of Cherkaoui's.

14 December: Echoes

Russell Maliphant creates ever-shifting choreography and uses light as an integral partner in the creative process, as seen in Echoes, which will be released 14 December. Collaborating with video artist Panagiotis Tomaras, with commissioned sound design by Dana Fouras, costumes by Stevie Stewart, and brought to the screen by award-winning filmmakers Michael Nunn and William Trevitt, the result is mesmerising.

21 December: Jolly Folly

The final film in the digital season is Jolly Folly, which will be released on 21 December. Choreographer Arielle Smith has worked with filmmaker Amy Becker-Burnett to create this old Hollywood movie musical inspired dance film. Full of charm and nostalgia, and driven by the Klazz Brothers' Latin-infused covers of Tchaikovsky, Strauss and Mozart, Jolly Folly is fast-paced, surprising and full of uncontainable energy.

English National Ballet's Artistic Director, Tamara Rojo, said,

This is the first time English National Ballet has embarked on a digital project of this scale and it has been amazing to see everyone pull together with such dedication and resolve, to embrace a new process of creation and collaboration. The result is five very diverse and beautiful films that are testament to the resilience and ingenuity of the arts, even in such challenging times.

Each short film is available to rent for 72hrs with an accompanying mini-documentary that gives an insight into the creative energy of each new work. All five films in English National Ballet's Digital Season were filmed in the theatre-sized space of the Holloway Production Studio, under COVID-19 guidance.

Release Dates for English National Ballet's Digital Season:

23 November: Take Five Blues
30 November: Senseless Kindness
7 December: Laid in Earth
14 December: Echoes
21 December: Jolly Folly

72hr rentals for £3.49 (includes access to film and short accompanying documentary)
https://ondemand.ballet.org.uk

Biographies

Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui

Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui defies easy description: choreographer, opera director, dancer, composer, artistic director of the Royal Ballet of Flanders as well as of Eastman, his contemporary dance company, and associate artist at Sadler's Wells, London. Cherkaoui may just as easily be found in the Louvre museum choreographing a music video for Beyoncé and Jay-Z (the MTV Music Video Awards-nominated Apeshit) as at the Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich, directing a radical version of Jean-Philippe Rameau's baroque opus Les Indes galantes. Then again, he could be working in the Shaolin Temple in Song Shan, Henan, alongside a battalion of kung fu warrior
monks and sculptor Antony Gormley (Sutra). Or creating movement magic at Tokyo's Bunkamura Theatre by transmuting Naoki Urasawa and Takashi Nagasaki's award-winning manga series into a kinetic, high-octane play (Pluto).

Awards and honours include two Olivier Awards (Babel(words), co-choreographed with Damien
Jalet, and Puz/zle); a Fred & Adele Astaire Award (Joe Wright's Anna Karenina); a Tony Award nomination (Jagged Little Pill); three Tanz Awards; the Kairos Prize; an honorary doctorate from the University of Antwerp; the Europe Prize Theatrical Realities; and the title of “Commandeur dans l'ordre des Arts et des Lettres” from the French Government. Cherkaoui's affinity for ballet has led to some of his most enduring and high-profile works: In Memoriam, Mea Culpa, and Memento Mori for the Ballet of Monte-Carlo; Loin for the Grand Théâtre de Genève; Boléro for the Paris Opera Ballet with Damien Jalet and Marina Abramović; Mermaid for Carlos Acosta; and
Qutb for Natalia Osipova.

Russell Maliphant

Russell Maliphant trained at The Royal Ballet School and graduated into Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet before choosing to explore a diverse range of movement vocabularies through independent dance. He worked with DV8 Physical Theatre, Michael Clark & Co, Rosemary Butcher and Laurie Booth before starting to create his own works. Between 1991–1994 Maliphant also studied anatomy, physiology and biomechanics, and qualified as a practitioner of the Rolf Method of Structural Integration (or Rolfing) in 1994. He maintained a small private practice for 20 years and these studies inform both his teaching and choreographic work, along
with a diverse range of body practices and techniques. From 1994 Maliphant collaborated closely with lighting designer Michael Hulls, evolving a language where movement and light are intimately connected and the meeting point becomes a new language in itself.

He formed Russell Maliphant Company in 1996 and also worked with renowned companies and artists including Sylvie Guillem, Robert Lepage, Isaac Julian, Balletboyz, English National Ballet, Ballet de Lyon and Munich Ballet. Awards include 2 Oliviers, 3 Southbank Show/Sky Arts Awards, 4 Critics' Circle National Dance Awards and an honorary doctorate of arts from Plymouth University. Russell Maliphant became an Associate Artist of Sadler's Wells in 2005.

Yuri Possokhov

Yuri Possokhov danced for ten years with the Bolshoi Ballet, performing leading roles in almost all of the company's classical and contemporary ballets. While performing, Possokhov studied choreography and the teaching of ballet at Moscow's State College of Theatrical Arts. In 1992 Possokhov joined the Royal Danish Ballet as a principal dancer and performed many leading roles in their diverse repertoire. After having been invited to join San Francisco Ballet by Artistic Director Helgi Tomasson, Possokhov spent the following 12 years as a principal with the company, performing most leading roles during repertory seasons and world tours. During this period, he began his work as a choreographer.

After retiring from dancing in 2006, he joined the Artistic Staff at San Francisco Ballet as the company's Choreographer in Residence. Since then, he has continued creating new works for the company's repertory seasons and dances principal character roles. Possokhov actively works with companies worldwide on new ballet commissions, and he is a frequent guest with companies such as the Bolshoi Ballet, Chicago's Joffrey Ballet and Atlanta Ballet. In 2006, he was invited by the Bolshoi to create a full-length Cinderella, and has since returned to stage new full-length works including Hero of Our Time and Nureyev, both of which premiered to critical
acclaim. Further choreographic highlights include Magrittomania, Damned, Study in Motion, Reflections, Firebird, Fusion, Diving into the Lilacs, Classical Symphony, RAkU, Francesca da Rimini, Rite of Spring, Gabrielle Chanel, Swimmer, Nutcracker, Don Quixote, and Anna Karenina.

Stina Quagebeur

Born in Belgium, Stina Quagebeur had started dancing and choreographing by the time she was seven. At the age of 11 she came to England to study at the Royal Ballet School where she won several prizes with her pieces at the annual Choreographic competition. She continued her training at the English National Ballet School and subsequently joined the company at 18. Stina continued to choreograph in the company and was asked to create short pieces for various projects.

In 2014 Stina created Vera, which was selected to be performed in New York at the Alvin Ailey Citigroup Theatre for the Breaking Glass Project, and was later performed in 2018 in ENB's Lest We Forget triple bill at Sadler's Wells. In 2019 Stina created Nora for ENB's She Persisted Triple Bill, which was nominated for Best Classical Choreography at the Critic's Circle National Dance Awards, where she also won the Emerging Artist Award. Stina created the role of Myrtha in
Akram Khan's Giselle and was promoted to First Artist in 2016. She was named English National Ballet's Associate Choreographer in 2019. Further creative highlights include choreographing for Lauren Cuthbertson at The Joyce Theatre, New York, choreographing for Sam Brown's opera production of La Clemenza Di Tito, directing and choreographing the short film Design Perspectives, and creating educational outreach works Unsilenced which and Perfect Disorder.

Arielle Smith

Arielle Smith was born in Havana, Cuba, and raised in Camden, London, UK. She trained at the Hammond School, Chester and went on to complete a BA HONS degree at Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance. During her training, Arielle performed as a dancer many times with the National Youth Ballet of Great Britain where her first choreographic work was staged at the young age of 14. Arielle went on to choreograph works for the company for several seasons by the invitation of Jill Tookey and Mikah Smillie. She also performed in works by Estella Merlos and Mark Baldwin for Rambert Company.

Upon graduation, Arielle went straight into choreographing professionally and was commissioned to choreograph in a collaborative project between Rambert and The London Symphony Orchestra. She created a work called Cradle, which was performed at The Barbican. Arielle has just completed two years working alongside Matthew Bourne as his Young Associate Choreographer for New Adventures' production of Romeo and Juliet. This went on a national tour of the country and she had the pleasure of working with six 16-19-year-olds in the 14 venues on the tour alongside Paul Smethurst and Etta Murfitt. Other choreographic highlights include
Athena, Particle Fever, Storm, and Lots.Of.Varied.Expectations. Arielle is a proud Trustee at New Adventures and a Contemporary Solos tutor at Rambert School.

Gramilano( Editor )

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.