Peter Frost
In a union which typifies the new reality of economic pressure on the arts as well as calls for broadening of artistic horizons, members of Gauteng’s State Theatre Ballet and the Cape Town City Ballet (CTCB) will join forces on Saturday night at the Nico Opera House for the first time.
Dancers from both companies will perform a triple bill; two works by renowned Singaporean choreographer, the late Choo- San Gho, and a comic piece by CTCB’s own boss, Veronica Paeper.
The State (formerly Pact Ballet) and City Ballet (formerly Capab), both hit by cutbacks in funding of the classical art- forms, have traditionally been entirely separate under the old apartheid structuring of the arts councils. Since de- regularisation, however, there have been rumours of the creation of a national ballet company, and while these rumours have proved unfounded – and largely unpopular among artists – certain benefits would be clear.
Foremost among those are financial considerations; corporate funding of a national rather than a regional company would be easier to acquire and the government ballet grant – split now – would be utilised for a single large company.
The other, more important consideration would be artistic growth. The company would call on a number of national choreographers, rather than the regional stranglehold experienced today, and dancers, fighting for fewer places in the national company, would be motivated to work harder.
The downside is obvious. Large scale redundancy – possibly involving orchestras too – and relocation, less ballet per se on the various regional stages, and untold arguments on who would head such a ballet company, where it would be based and what its touring map would look like. All this will be on the minds of both Paeper and the State’s Dawn Weller when their dancers take to the stage on Saturday night, ultimately a toe-in-the-water affair.
Politics aside, the programme sends a message of progressiveness to the public. Unknown Territory (1986) was choreographer Goh’s last and most enigmatic work (for the Washington Ballet), capturing the subtleties of ritual courtship in a style which many saw as substantially different in the mid-Eighties. Initially gentle movement builds to climax, then falls off again into afterglow, working hand in hand with Jim Jacobsen’s evocative soundtrack.
Configurations (1981) might be the best of the evening. Created for Mikhail Baryshnikov to a Samuel Barber piano concerto, it is one of the most demanding pieces for a male lead in ballet. It blends classical with the choreographer’s own unique vocabulary: sharp, inventive, weird.
Both works will be staged by Janek Schergen, US-based producer of the Goh repertory. Casting was still to be announced at time of going to press. The new piece by Paeper, A Work in Progress to Tchaikovsky, is a gentle send-up of the classical art form, danced by 20 dancers.
For the Cape Town performances, the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra is conducted by David Tidboald and the piano soloist for the Barber piano concerto is Andrew Warburton. Tidboald and Warburton join forces with the New Arts Philharmonic Orchestra for the State Theatre performances.
The gala on Saturday night (September 19) will be a major fundraising event for the Cape Town City Ballet. Following the performance, which starts at 7.30pm, 600 members of the audience will join the two ballet companies for dinner in the Chandelier Foyer of the Nico Opera House. Bookings on (021) 21-7695 or at Computicket.