theTALENT2015 tour
a) Tell us how you met Alexander Whitley and what you like about The Murmuring:
William Trevitt: We knew Alex as a dancer initially but noticed that he had begun choreographing and was creating more and more performances. We asked him to come in and spend a day in the studio with our dancers, just to see what might happen and to get an idea of his creative process. Everyone got on very well and his ideas really interested us and so we asked him to make a piece of dance for the company. The Murmuring is a finely crafted work with fascinating details and wonderful opportunities for the dancers to push themselves. It involves the company becoming a single entity and moving as one organism which is perfect for our group of dancers.
b) And how you and Christopher Wheeldon have re-worked Mesmerics for the company:
Michael Nunn: Mesmerics was originally created for one woman and two men and has been through several reinventions before this one, but this version is the first time it has been danced by an all male cast. Much of the choreography has remained intact, but there are some sequences that didn’t make sense for the men to dance; sequences that only worked when danced by a woman in pointe shoes for example. Chris allowed the dancers to develop their own solutions to these problems and then he developed their ideas to create the version you will see theTALENT performing.
d) Tell us about some of the theatres you’ll be visiting.
Michael Nunn: We have some great venues on this tour including some old favourites like the Everyman Theatre in Cheltenham and the Swan Theatre in High Wycombe, along with some theatres which are newer to us. The Mercury in Colchester was so much fun last year that we’re delighted to be going back for three nights and the Civic Theatre in Darlington had such an enthusiastic audience, we can’t wait to visit again! We’re hitting Blackpool in May which is new to BalletBoyz (even though Billly and I performed there with The Royal Ballet nearly 20 years ago!) along with polygonal venues the Reading Hexagon and Yeovil Octagon and our first visit to the Theatre Royal, Brighton.
f) What do you like about touring and BalletBoyz audiences?
William Trevitt: Everywhere we go we find that the audiences we play to respond in very different ways, sometimes quiet and attentive, sometimes boisterous and fun, but it is always good to find that we have people in the audience who are seeing dance for the very first time with us. We seem to gather new fans wherever we go, people are still really in awe of what these dancers can achieve and they love the way they perform and the variety of the work in our shows.
h) What’s a typical audience member for a BalletBoyz show?
Michael Nunn: There is no typical audience member for us. They are older and younger, women and men (who are not just there because they’ve been dragged there!). They range from dance lovers who might go and see every dance show there is to people trying dance for the first time and of course we love the idea of our show being the introduction to dance for so many people.
i) After the spring tour, what are the next moves for BalletBoyz?
William Trevitt: We are working on a new production for 2016 as well as planning a film version and a tour of our full length work Young Men. Our last repertoire of Serpent and Fallen will be on BBC Four later in the year, direct from the Roundhouse in London and Sky Arts are scheduled to show our “Kama Sutra the Ballet” in the summer. Busy busy busy!
BalletBoyz perform at Darlington Civic Theatre on Tuesday 26 May. Tickets* are priced £21, £19 and for under 16s £11
To book contact the Box Office on 01325 486 555 or visit www.darlingtoncivic.co.uk *All ticket prices include a £1 restoration levy