Style Birmingham are giving you the chance to win an evening out at International Dance Festival Birmingham.

The winner will receive a pre-theatre dinner at San Carlo, a pair of tickets to Akram Khan’s Gnosis at Town Hall, followed by an overnight stay at the newly-refurbished Crowne Plaza in Birmingham City Centre.

Gnosis is a new solo evening in which Akram Khan returns to his classical roots.  It’s a story in four parts, told using the most expressive of classical Indian dance forms, Kathak.  With an emphasis on the idea of the ‘knowledge within’, it’s an exploration into the inner and outer battles of characters both human and godly.

For your chance to win, follow this link and answer the question at the bottom of the page.

Good luck!

There are up to 12 free places available for professional dance artists to attend Motionhouse’s latest multimedia show Scattered at Solihull Arts Complex on Tuesday 16 March, 7.30pm. The performance will also be followed by a post-show discussion with the company, which will be open to all audience members.

Scattered combines Motionhouse’s trademark highly physical dance theatre and mesmerizing aerial imagery with film and graphics, to create a unique visual performance event. Performed on a huge curved floor, which disappears skywards upstage, Scattered uses projection technology to create a world in which the dancers move in, on and through the image.

Here’s a video preview for the show:

To book your place, contact Sarah Jassal at Dancescape asap or by Friday 12 March at the latest on sjassal@solihull.gov.uk or 0121 704 6747.

For more information about Motionhouse and Scattered go to www.motionhouse.co.uk.

Matthew Bourne’s acclaimed Swan Lake is coming to Birmingham Hippodrome between Monday 8th and Saturday 13th February.

The production premiered at Sadler’s Wells in 1995 and has since won over 30 international theatre awards and become the longest-running ballet in the West End and Broadway.

Bourne blends dance, humour and spectacle with extravagant, award-winning designs by Lez Brotherston to create a provocative and powerful Swan Lake for our times.

For more information and to book tickets call 0844 338 5000, or 0844 338 7000 for group bookings, or visit the Birmingham Hippodrome website here.

Traces by Les 7 Doigts de la Main (The 7 Fingers) is an urban acrobatics show making its UK tour debut this year, including shows at the Birmingham Hippodrome. It’s got a string of glowing reviews and has featured on the Royal Variety Show, so it looks like it could be a belter.

Traces combines traditional circus skills with basketball, skateboarding, a mix of street and contemporary dance, traditional theatre, humour and audio visual effects set to a soundtrack of hip-hop, rock and roll, blues and classical music.

The five ultra talented performers reveal snippets of their own personal stories throughout the show, drawing the audience in until the dramatic climax leaves them on the edge of their seats, willing them to pull off the seemingly impossible.

There will be only four performances in Birmingham between Monday 15th March and Wednesday 17th March, so get yourself to the Hippodrome website for tickets to avoid missing out.

The three-year programme for Solihull, Warwickshire and Coventry – Boys Dancing  – is well and truly underway for 2010, with performances lined up at Solihull Arts Complex and Warwick Arts Centre.

The project was commissioned under the People Dancing scheme, as part of the West Midlands’ roll-out of the cultural Olympiad for 2012.

Boys Dancing will return to Warwicks Arts Centre on Wednesday 17 March 2010 to showcase young talent from the sub-region. The young men have been working on a piece for the last five months inspired by Mead Gallery’s recent exhibition ‘A Duck, For Mr Darwin‘. Here’s a clip from their debùt performance, Babel:

There’ll be more boys dancing (although not part of the People Dancing programme) on 2 February 2010 with ForceTEN – a showcase of talent from the Solihull area which includes performances from six school groups from Coventry, Solihull and Warwickshire. For tickets call Solihull Arts Complex on 0121 704 6961.

Motionhouse have enjoyed critical acclaim for their recent touring works, Scattered, which after debuting at Warwick Arts Centre, is making a pit-stop in their home region after four months on the road.

The physical theatre company will be performing Scattered at Solihull Arts Complex on 16 March 2010. The show has the ‘wow-factor’ set against at ceiling-high half-pipe which the dancers slide up and down on a visualised background. The show blurb tells us:

Scattered uses projection technology, daring dancing plus aerial harnesses and bungees to create and extraordinary world in which the dancers move seamlessly in, on and through the image.

What’s more, the company will be holding a workshop prior to the performance on 15 March 2010. Two dancers from the company can come to your school or venue and deliver a workshop based on the show. To book your slot on 15 March, contact Hayley Duffield on hduffield@solihull.gov.uk or phone 0121 704 6309.

Tickets for Scattered are £8 per student, and when booking as a group 1 in 10 tickets is free. To book tickets contact Solihull Arts Complex box office on 0121 704 6962.

Has anyone else noticed the steep increase in ballet programmes dominating mainstream television? Stepping up from the usual camera-switched-on broadcast from the Royal Opera house, the BBC and Channel 4 seem to have gone mad for ballet this Christmas – with an exciting line-up of ballet treats to get you salivating at the mouth. Here’s what I’m looking forward to watching this year while chomping mince pies:

• The Spirit of Diaghilev, 7.45pm, Friday 18 December, BBC Four
  

BBC Four recently brought us Margot – a film about the turbulent love life of Margot Fonteyn as well as english National Ballet performing in For Art’s Sake: The story of the Ballet Russes (six days left to watch on iPlayer and next on Saturday at 01.30). Now comes an exciting new series of programmes celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Ballet Russes, featuring a range of new work, performances and choreographer interviews – starting with this week’s celebration of the celebrated choreographer Diaghilev. Another reason to stay in from the cold on a Friday – or watch on iPlayer if you find it clashes with the office Christmas party.

• Ballet Boyz: The Rite of Spring, Wednesday 23 December, 1opm, BBC3

Continuing the BBC’s Ballet Russes centenary celebration award-winning duo Michael Nunn and William Trevitt have been commissioned once more to deliver another ground-breaking documentary – following the production of Stravinsky’s score. The Ballet Boyz performance/documentary Strictly Bolshoi was an unstoppable success in 2007. We’ve been waiting avidly for their latest production. See the tit-bit below to give you an idea of their production style.

• Swan Lake, 8.15pm, Christmas Eve, BBC Four
  

Tchaikovsky’s classic performed by The Kirov, presented by Darcey Bussell. Nuff said.

• Only When I dance, 1.25pm-3pm, Christmas Day – Channel 4

Brazil is the home of Samba but few people know just how many Brazilians are crying out for a ballet education. This film directed by Beadie Finzi focuses on two young Brazilian dancers and their struggle to make it as ballet dancers – battling against poverty and racism alongside the usual tough competition and weight issues. A real portrayal of the ballet world from the South American continent. We don’t care about Christmas lunch – this cannot be missed.

• The Royal Ballet in Cuba, Christmas Day, 9pm, More4

Tamara Rojo with Carlos Acosta in Manon which they performed in Cuba. Photo: Bill Cooper

The Ballet Boyz second commission for UK television. Michael Nunn and William Trevitt track The Royal Ballet’s visit to Cuba earlier this year. This show promises not only to be delightfully entertaining and impeccably edited, but also to give unprecedented insight into both The Royal Ballet and The National Ballet of Cuba. You can catch it again on Saturday 26 December on More4 at 2.30am.

I don’t know about you, but I am always in the stark minority when it comes to fighting over the remote at Christmas – ballet is never the family winner, and I usually end up either traipsing off to watch it somewhere else, or resigning myself to the fact I have to miss out on some of the best ballet tv to watch a re-run of a child’s Christmas film. Why can’t we see some of these great programmes spread out across the whole year? But this year I will at least have a week to watch the programmes at my leisure – the marvels of catch-up! I’m sure you’ll agree it’s a jam-packed schedule of ballet tv this Christmas. Make sure you don’t miss out.

It’s sold out, had rave reviews across the country, and last night we managed to see what everyone is gaggling about. Birmingham Opera Company’s Othello is a stunning example of audience integration into a show which draws on the diversity of dance talent from the region.

Trombones brush up for Act 3. Photo: Pete Aston

The show runs until 19 December and we don’t want to spoil it for new audiences (join our debate about whether online content ruins or enhances viewing here) but since the production restored the Act 3 ballet bringing together a range of dancers in an enormous display we thought we’d review the dance section.

Kashmir Leese has already documented on his blog how he has worked alongside choreographers Ron Howells and Jen Irons on the production. The dance sequence appears after  Othello has raped Desdemona, convinced of her infidelity with Casio by the appearance of the symbolic handkerchief, and the mood is one of impending terror (initiated from the start by the bomb-strapped actors moving with intent through the nervous crowd).

By this time the audience is used to the action taking place around them, but the dance spectacle is spread across the long wall of the Argyle warehouse allowing viewers to sit down and take in the movement. Seven Birmingham-based dance groups take part, dancing alongside each other in circular pockets, including dancers from Chakdeh Punjab Bhangra, Hamstead, Independent Dance, Matthew Bolton College, Smash Bro’z, Allstars and Green Man’s Morris.

The effect is magnificent. Never before have such a diverse collection of dance styles been performed alongside each other to give a mosiac picture of dance from groups across the region. Smash Bro’z stand out with their polished fusion of streetdance styles – set beautifully against Verdi’s ballet score. All dancers are wearing white boiler suits which strips the diverse dance styles down the the bare bones which adds to the overall effect. When you look down the hall, with all dance groups performing their set pop routines next to morris next to hip hop next to bhangra, it is a wonderful presentation of local talent in tunneled vision.

Jen Irons has already commented how bringing the groups together was no easy task – creating a few wrinkles at the first few rehearsals – but the vision and the music has delivered the end product. The sequence ends with all groups joining in a simple routine to bring the audience into the next segment of Othello’s public condemnation of Desdemona up on the balcony with the orchestra flanked by the chorus.

The entire show is one to fill you with pride for Birmingham’s vision and ability to bring talent from all areas together to produce an overwhelming night of novel entertainment. If you can wangle tickets in any way

Dudley Performing Arts bring their winter festival to the region next week for a night of fresh talent from dancers in the Dudley area.

The Winter Dance Festival will be held at Dudley Concert Hall on Tuesday 8 December 2009, at 7pm.

Schools, colleges, youth centres, dance schools and community groups will be performing their own work in a jam-packed evening programme of dance, with more than 26 registered groups and 320 dancers coming together to celebrate the achievements accross the Dudley Borough.

Tickets are £5 and £4 and can be purchased via Dudley Box Office 01384 812812.

If you’re still wondering whether or not it’s OK to start feeling festive, think no more: Christmas officially starts with the opening night of Birmingham Royal Ballet’s The Nutcracker.

Attending the yearly rendition is a tradition every family should fit into their advent calender – dressing in your winter best for a nippy trip to the bustling Hippodrome to be greeted by Birmingham school choirs singing carols cannot fail to fill you with warmth and excitement.

Carol-Anne Millar as Clara; Photo Bill Cooper

Friday night’s performance was another example of how Birmingham’s much-loved ballet company consistently deliver a production which can both delight ballet newcomers and keep young families gripped, while adding new twists and stage antics to please the ballet veterans.

The choreography based on Sir Peter Wright’s production with the company nearly 20 years ago just after it had moved from Sadler’s Wells, is light-footed and peppered with enchanting duets – the crisp movements and large corps de ballet pieces are visual treats which the company dance with effortless precision and ease.

This year’s designs by John Macfarlane are moody in luxe rouges and Victorian styles – giving a darker edge to the story of a magician who takes young Clara from her family Christmas to an unknown world of international sweets and dreamy illusion. The opening scene feels a little dated and drab, but this lack of exuberance is a deliberate precursor to The Transformation scene.

The audience needs to leave the dull reality of the living room and be transported to the Drosselmeyer’s world of imaginary wonder – this is marked famously on stage by the growth of the Christmas tree to 50ft to make Clara appear Borrower-sized – executed superbly by the 50-strong team backstage in a crescendo of objects being magnified. Finally, the fireplace looms as a huge burning furnace and the comedy motorised rats are replaced by human-sized hairy menaces dressed exquisitely in court armour. The transformation is complete, and as the cannonball cracks to the musical climax to audience erupts in excited applause.

The production capitalises on the audience’s hunger for acrobatic tricks and visual pyrotechnics. After the interval, the curtain rises to Clara flying 60ft through the air on the back of a goose, greeted by another wave of applause. Carol-Anne Miller dances Clara with vitality and verve – portraying the child in love as a woman in awe of Dr Drosselmeyer’s creations. The darker side to the story is revealed by Robert Parker as the suave magician, adding a layer of potential love for the girl, who when stripped of her nightgown by the rats reveals the vulnerability of her virgin innocence. This deeper insight into the story injects the production with human detail to turn the Christmas classic into an all-rounded ballet which not only pleases the eye but the mind.

Nao Sakuma as the Sugar Plum Fairy and Chi Cao as the Prince; photo: Steve Hanson

Every little girl will long to be the Sugar Plum Fairy, the grand pas de deux danced to perfection by Nao Sukuma and princely Chi Cao (above). Accompanied by the magical score by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, The Nutcracker is the must-see show of the season and a festive treat for all generations.

The Nutcracker returns to its home theatre, Birmingham Hippodrome, for 22 performances only, from Friday 27 November to Sunday 13 December 2009. To book tickets or to find out more visit Birmingham Royal Ballet’s website or www.birminghamhippodrome.com.