Lord of the Flies - Kent Auditions for Boys

An exciting dance opportunity has arisen with Matthew Bourne's New Adventures‏‏‏  production of Lord of the Flies.

Lord Of The Flies will be with The Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury in September and is looking for up to 30 boys to take part.

The show will give local boys the chance to work with extraordinary dancers, choreographers and designers and to be part of this thrilling retelling of William Golding’s unsettling and revealing story. It's an opportunity open to boys at all levels. including those who have never danced before.

The action is transferred from deserted island to deserted theatre, where a group of schoolboys find themselves abandoned. With no adults around they start to create their own rules and to build their own civilisation. As time passes, the rituals become more disturbing as dark superstitions take hold. Order finally breaks down and blood is spilt as Ralph, Piggy, Jack and the boys grapple with the ‘beast within’ and the story builds to its thrilling climax.

Matthew Bourne has created some of the most iconic dance theatre pieces in the last 20 years, including Edward Scissorhands, Play Without Words, Dorian Gray, Sleeping Beauty and, perhaps the most famous, his Swan Lake with all male swans. Re:Bourne, the charitable arm of New Adventures is invested in giving opportunities for young men to discover and be inspired by dance and this production will provide that.

The audition process will be co-ordinated by two Dance Ambassadors, James Middleton and Chloe Challis. They were recruited earlier this year and have taken part in a week-long bootcamp with New Adventures, including a masterclass with Matthew Bourne, in order to learn the choreography for the production and meet the professional cast.

James and Chloe will be running free scheduled workshops at schools and dance schools for boys aged 10-22. These will be running through May and June.

They will also be delivering drop in sessions at The Marlowe on a Thursday evening from 5pm-7pm on:

29 May
5 June
12 June
26 June

These extra drop in sessions will be for boys who are interested in auditioning to be part of the production. Contact James or Chloe via email.

james_middleton@hotmail.co.uk
chloechallisdance@hotmail.co.uk

A fairy tale beauty, re-awakened: Matthew Bourne's Sleeping Beauty

An age old tale of magic and wonder, retold darkly and sensually - Disney this ain't! Matthew Bourne's Gothic Romance re-imagining of Sleeping Beauty won my heart.

Sumptuous was the word repeatedly popping into my head: sets, costumes and of course, the incredible score by Tchaikovsky, beautifully interpreted. Add to that the divine dancing, with Matthew's trademark capacity to interchange genres: contemporary ballet gave way to flashes of Paso Doble and balletic Argentine Tango in the palace of the bad vamps; devilish costumes in traditional Flamenco red and black intensified the passion and impending aggression. If the trailer doesn't make you wish you'd been there, I don't know what will:
 

Depending on if you believe the official Twitter or the official website, Tom Jackson Greaves or Adam Maskell (my money is on him for last night, at the Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury - but I was in the Upper Circle, so I could be wrong!), is the most charismatic of baddies as Caradoc, son of Carabosse (also played by him), in this most moving vampire love story since Buffy met Angel.

The decision to show Aurora first as a playful baby by way of animated puppetry was inspired; her transformation into a coquettish 16 year old - a captivating Hannah Vassallo - continued the playfulness; charming to all, innocent yet knowing.

There were audible gasps from the audience when good fairy Count Lilac 'turned' Aurora's young lover - for how else would he survive to awake her with a kiss? Those of us who'd seen the Imagine documentary of course, just nodded sagely. "Be careful, though, with those racquets!"

All ended as it should (after an awakening, subtle, but maybe a little too adult for under 11s) happily ever after, with every aspect of the whole production simply stunning. If you get the chance to see Sleeping Beauty or any of Matthew Bourne's New Adventures there's no decision to be made, just do it.

Follow Matthew on Twitter @New_Adventures and keep up to date on the website. News already there is that Swan Lake returns in the winter!

Showtime: Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake

South Bank Sky Arts Awards - Tuesday

The South Bank Sky Arts Awards are upon us on Tuesday, having found a new home – note the ‘Sky’ slipped in there – but still with Master Melvyn at the helm. (Sky Arts channel, 9pm).

Nominated in the Dance category are: Abstract ballet Asphodel Meadows by Liam Scarlett; Hofesh Shechter’s Political Mother; Akram Khan’s Gnosis

And in Pop, the nominees are: Plan B for The Defamation of Strickland Banks; Foals for Total Life Forever; Tinie Tempah for Disc-overy.

I’m no expert in the arts but I thought I’d take a moment to chat about someone from the world of dance who crept into my consciousness last year and whose work I wish I could see more of: Matthew Bourne.

Matthew made an impression on me during the first UK series of So You Think You Can Dance last year, when the last five boys had the chance to showcase their skills via his stunning interpretation of Swan Lake. Considering there was only one natural ballet dancer among them it became one of my favourite routines from the whole series.

Then of course, I found that snippet where he praised Tom Chambers – would you believe, even now, there are still those who can’t admit that Tom can dance and seem to think SCD Series 6 was won by the wrong person! Crazy, isn’t it? How can you argue though, with someone of Matthew’s calibre?

Matthew, as you see, isn’t nominated in this year’s South Bank Awards; I expect they’re saving him up for a lifetime achievement award! As ‘probably the world’s most successful choreographer’, he’d get my vote!

Snippets: Dancing With The Stars, Strictly Come Dancing, Matthew Bourne

Trav's Thoughts are in, they're down to their final four! Here are the results and vids! Kyle brought it to the floor again, brilliant, and Derek's choreography in the hands/feet of Jennifer is awesome, those one-legged spins are gorgeous!

Business Secretary Vince Cable is to partner Erin Boag in the Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special - and as a social ballroom dancer performing an American Smooth and a Foxtrot, the only common denominator with Our Ann will be politics! It's also apparently been confirmed that Fern Britton is taking part, but no news on who she or John Barrowman will be partnered with, though Kristina Rihanoff has said she has met her partner!

Arlene thinks we still miss her on Strictly - sorry, not with comments like "salsa ... like cold soup" and "feet treading treacle" “She started off like a flying bedspread and at the end Anton was mopping the floor with her.” How is that constructive criticism? Give me Alesha looking for the positives, any day of the week. Arlene, you're best in So You Think You Can Dance, where you do give constructive criticism and praise where it's due, where you're dealing with proper dancers. The last audition for that, by the way, is in London on Sunday - see the website for full details.

A brilliant interview with choreographer Matthew Bourne - he's a huge Strictly Come Dancing fan who agrees with me! About everything - what Strictly is, Arlene, Tom Chambers, Ann - I love you, Matthew! Apart from the boys on SYTYCD last year doing a snapshot of Matthew's Swan Lake, I've not seen a full production - that will definitely be rectified in the new year!