Passion demands time and dedication. The circle is complete for this generation of dancers at Junior Ballet Antwerp. For the last time they stand together on stage, then they scatter to all corners of the world. For two years their skills were perfected. Various national and international teachers, dance coaches and choreographers worked intensively with the group. No clash between modernity and tradition, but with good synergy among themselves. It is a crossroads story, an exploration of all kinds of styles. In Miniaturen II they can demonstrate their achievements with verve to the audience. Artistic director, Alain Honorez, described it in his foreword as a delicious menu with different techniques. Just as in haute cuisine, a broad palette of tastes is covered: sour, sweet, bitter, salty seasoned with a touch of romanticism and humour.
CONCERT CON BRIO part III
Music, Dmitri Shostakovich
Choreography, Yannick Boquin
Staging: Siner Boquin
Choreographer Yannick Boquin can boast many credentials. As a star dancer he danced at Bonn Opera Ballet, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Rome Opera and Ballet Vlaanderen. In the second half of his career he developed into a world-renowned ballet master and teacher at important ballet companies and schools. The graduation group consists of 12 girls and 3 men. To give them every opportunity to shine, Y. Boquin chose the third part of the Concerto in which he focuses on different aspects of dance: precision, musicality, footwork and arm movements, coordination and speed. All elements that are an integral part of classical ballet technique. Two dark silhouettes stand out against the backdrop. When the music starts, the stage is also bathed in light and you see two dancers in a colourful dress on stage. The bodice beautifully encloses their slender upper body, the skirt fans out nicely. It is a coming and going of girls in a fresh colour whirl. They move gracefully, with refined beauty. Their budding femininity immediately creates fireworks to the compelling music of Shostakovich. Towards the end, Akihito Shimogata is given a sparkling solo part with pirouettes and jumps among other things. Spirited and tasteful ensemble work.
Dancers: Josephine Bottger, Rinka Matsuura, Maria Girardin, Ella Matthews, Laura Flügel, Lauren Alving, Soazig Drion, Barbara Scott, Tilly Wightman, Akihito Shimogata
CINDERELLA pas de deux
Music, Sergei Prokofiev
Choreography, Altea Nuñez & Alain Honorez
Tilly Wightman and Akihito Shimogata reprise the light-footed pas de deux from JBA's very first full-length fairy tale ballet 'Cinderella' which caused a stir in February at the Handelsbeurs. No haste and hurry but romanticism and tenderness dominate with pointe work and lifts. Touching in its purity and naïveté.
Dancers: Tilly Wightman and Akihito Shimogata
DEVOTION pas de deux
Music, Job Roggeveen & Caroline Shaw, Benny Goeran Bror Andersson, Bjoern K Ulvaeus, So Percussion
Choreography, Shane Urton
A pas de deux of a very different intensity in terms of mood and dance technique. This leans more towards modern dance. It retains basic technical elements but is much freer. Shane Urton is currently part of Opera Ballet Vlaanderen. By working with various choreographers, styles and artistic insights, he formed his own creative language. Devotion describes the space in which two dancers experience how the echo of values inherent in a classical ballet education slowly fade into the background, to allow other forms of dance. The movements are not smooth, rather short and powerful, sometimes stopping. They have something of robots, sometimes moving separately or two by two. They hook into each other like paperclips. Entanglement from which they free themselves in contortions. An interesting case and discovery of new tastes.
Dancers: Maria Girardin and Lucas Bierlair
DANSES QU'ON CROISE
Music: Johannes Brahms
Choreography: Thierry Malandain
Staging: Maï Vanhout
This choreography dates from 1987 but has lost nothing of its originality and sparkle. The Hungarian dances of Johannes Brahms were originally played as entertainment in ballrooms and dance halls but are now listened to in music temples. Despite this shift, the music retains its original purpose and invites, just as in the past, to have fun together with others.
Thierry Malandain created a coherent repertoire that is deeply connected to ballet where priority is given to the body of a dancer: its power, its virtuosity, its humanity and sensuality. With a great deal of humour, this choreography puts the unique performance of the sextet, both as dancers and as actors, in the spotlight.
Three female and three male dancers sweep you along in an anecdotal, burlesque story, vibrant and lively. The girls look elegant, seductive, top models straight out of Vogue. The three men, two of whom are Don Juans and one a clumsy fool, compete for the attention of the women. The choreography incorporates elements of bravura from Russian folk dances, charleston and tango fragments in an attractive and engaging dance story of attraction and repulsion. The whole thing is spicy and infectious – it instantly makes you happy. One male dancer, Daimu Nakayama, fell out due to injury at the last moment and was replaced by guest dancer Taichi Sakai who trained at record speed. The palette is bittersweet with a generous twist of pepper.
Dancers: Laura Flügel, Rinka Matsuura, Saozig Drion, Akihito Shimogata, Lucas Bierlair, Taichi Sakai
After the interval follows
JOURNEY
Music: Franz Schubert
Choreography: Ilja Louwen, based on the repertoire of Leo Mujic
The Serbian choreographer Leo Mujic enjoys international fame. His repertoire was taught to Dutch ballet master Ilja Louwen through a workshop. There was much personal input from the dancers. Where do artists draw their inspiration from? Group dynamics are paramount. They are dressed in dark green shorts and a translucent top. What has driven and motivated them over the past two years… there has been active, informative and normative influence. Their gestures display the stylized precision of dance in a natural, effortless grace. There is also ingenious floor work to be seen. There is diffuse lighting that makes their arm and leg work stand out even more. The music of Fr. Schubert is full of room for play. This choreographer has a special affinity for the qualities of her dancers and brings them together, sometimes through kinship sometimes through contrast. She approaches poetic abstraction, although geometry has not entirely been said farewell to. The energy of the dancers has a stimulating force.
Dancers: Maria Girardin, Mafalda Preto, Josephine Bottger, Lauren Alving, Ella Matthews, Tilly Wightman, Soazig Drion, Barbara Scott, Rinka Matsuura Nanami Auwerkerken
ALONE / TOGETHER
Music: Federico Albanese
Choreography: Nicolo Fonte
American choreographer Nicolo Fonte created this choreography last year for the full group of JBA dancers. He is guided by the captivating music of Italian composer Federico Albanese. He composes a lot of film music. What they have in common: they see the power of the connection between music and image.
Nicolo Fonte is known for his bold and original vision of dance. During the creative process he reflected on the consequences of the pandemic for young people and in particular for young dancers. This resulted in rhythmic complexity and translates the inner movements of the mind into physical action. The body serves as expression and means of expression. He succeeded in framing and making the uncontrollable reality insightful for the audience in a classicism saturated with warmth and emotion. One dancer in a white outfit moves along the contours of a circle of light on stage. She is surrounded by dancers in a dark blue suit. A link to gender identity? The lapels of the vests swirl around the bodies, giving the whole a tremendous dynamism. Particularly beautiful is when the lighting illuminates the heads and hands in contrast with the blue suit. The whole has something magical, references Japanese visual language. Also when the dancers sit in a circle with in the middle one particularly expressive dancer, Akihito Shimogata, who expresses his emotions. The choreography further contains a fine series of configurations and motifs in a visual and auditory relation. The beautifully chosen music of Federico Albanese stimulates bodily movement. Technically brilliant, refined and breathtaking.
The beautiful costumes are the work of Ria Van Looveren and Jolien Deweerdt.
Lighting design Niels Baten. There is play with forms, with light, shadow and contrasts
Dancers: Laura Flügel, Mafalda Preto, Maria Girardin, Rinka Matsuura, Josephine Bottger, Soazig Drion, Nanami Auwerkerken, Tilly Wightman, Ella Matthews, Lauren Alving, Barbra Scott, Akihito Shimogata, Lucas Bierlair
We do not need lyrical rhetoric, there are enough objective reasons to put the usefulness of this refinement program in the picture. These young all-round dancers are proud, pure, engaged, disciplined and perfectionist and multi-deployable. Every dancer is an asset to a professional company.
There are fantastic things in the pipeline with a new generation of young dancers.
Expected:
JAMES - February 2024, Opera Antwerpen. An ode to Belgian artist James Ensor in a choreography by Mauro de Candia.
FIVE – June 2024, hetpaleis Antwerpen. A review of 5 years of repertoire for Junior Ballet Antwerp and a brand new creation to celebrate this very first anniversary.