BALLETBOYZ FOCUSES ON MALE DANCERS' DIVERSE TALENTS AND PERSONALITIES
Alberta Ballet is bringing the allmale contemporary dance troupe, BalletBoyz, to Alberta with North American tour stops in Calgary (Feb. 16 to 18) and Edmonton. The London-based company founded by Michael Nunn and William Trevitt, two dancers of the Royal Ballet pedigree, is comprised of 10 male dance artists from diverse dance backgrounds with each of the individual performers packing an athletic punch to their movement.
Postmedia caught up with BalletBoyz dancer Matthew Sandiford, who was a featured performer in the London 2012 Olympic closing ceremony, to find out more about what audiences can expect. From what I’ve previewed on YouTube of the company, its safe to say local dance fans can anticipate a dynamic and eclectic evening of dance.
Q What is it like to be in a company of all-male dancers?
A It was strange at first to be among all men, but it is funny how quickly it became normal and comfortable. You tend to forget that it’s just 10 guys.
One of the great ways the artistic directors select the dancers is that they tend to pick 10 very different dancers with completely different backgrounds. … We’ve all had different kinds of journeys to the stage. That’s one of the main strengths the company has to offer. The artistic directors always talk about wanting to show us as dancers but also as people. They want to show our different personalities. And they also want to show our abilities to work as an ensemble.
Q What can you do as company of all-male dancers that you may not see a more conventional ballet company perform?
A I think it is tricky to say that we chuck ourselves into things more because I’ve seen allfemale companies that are just as adventurous when it comes to exploring things. But I do think we chuck ourselves into it.
I come from a contemporary background where the roles of male and female are shared, whereas in classical ballet, the males are primarily partnering the females. I suppose there is a strength and power to our work. But I think because each of us are so different, we are able to bring an array of qualities to our performances.
(Audiences will see BalletBoyz perform two distinctive works. Rabbit, a piece by Swedish choreographer and filmmaker Pontus Lidberg, with some of the dancers wearing big furry rabbit heads. Fiction, a work by Venezuelan dancemaker Javier de Frutos, imagines the choreographer’s death and what that aftermath might look like.)
Q What do you enjoy about performing each of these works?
A For Rabbits, Pontus came in with a story in mind. He didn’t necessarily translate all of it to us (laughs) but he came in with specific steps he wanted and walked us through a journey as we learned those steps. We made our own story from picking up those steps.
His piece is very organic with long lines and fluid transitions. I find that to be a lovely opening to the show.
Contrasting that completely is Javier. He works more like a choreographic director. He likes to give us tasks and he creates the work in response to the different ideas he chucks at us. He chops that up and picks it apart and put sit back together and changes the order.
The exciting thing about that is how it stays so fresh every night.