Can the Sugar Plum Fairy save the festive season?
English National Ballet’s Tamara Rojo on her hopes for this year’s ‘Nutcracker’. By Marianka Swain
November should have seen English National Ballet back on stage at Sadler’s Wells for their much-anticipated Reunion show. Then came the second lockdown. It was “a shock and a big disappointment” to artistic director Tamara Rojo. “I’m a complete optimist, so I was really convinced the show was going to happen,” she says when we talk on a Friday evening over the telephone. But the 46-yearold feared the worst when rumours started to spread the day before Boris Johnson’s official announcement. “We understand the lockdown needs to happen. But it did hurt, after we put in so much work and effort.”
That work included commissioning and rehearsing five world premieres, from prestigious choreographers Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Yuri Possokhov, Arielle Smith, Russell Maliphant and Stina Quagebeur, to play in one socially distanced show over three nights starting on November 19.
“We put a lot of time and investment into making our building safe for rehearsals, creating bubbles within the company, working with the venue. No one likes to see that go to waste,” says Rojo.
But now, instead of f sharing it with a physical audience, the e ENB is showing films of the five pieces online (which was, actually, the original idea before lockdown restrictions trictions eased in the summer).
Rojo does believe they hey can create content “of equal value” ue” online, and that ballet is well-suited ted to streaming “because it’s t’s so interesting visually”, but she admits she is disappointed inted that there won’t be a “gathering hering together in one space – that emotional, physical and nd soul connection”.
It’s not all doom and d gloom, however. ENB is still ploughing ahead with a production ion of The Nutcracker, which it hopes to stage this Christmas at the London Coliseum.
“English National Ballet has done more than any other company to establish [the ballet] in n the UK. We’ve done one every year since 1950 – we don’t want to break that hat tradition.”
The plan is to present ent a specially condensed version – Nutcracker Delights – which will feature favourite scenes, plus an animated ated film that tells the story. “If you come for the first time, you’ll still know what’s going on and get a proper oper Nutcracker experience,” she says. .
Doing a 75-minute show means no need for an interval – complicated to arrange with safety measures – and this is “the length we thought a child could sit through”. In fact, notes Rojo, though The Nutcracker is always popular with families, “this might be the most family-friendly Nutcracker ever.”
The production was scheduled for December 10 to January 3, but Rojo is now looking at December 17 as a viable start date. That, she says, is the latest they could begin the run “and still break even. We won’t make a profit, because of reduced audience capacity. But there will be a point of no return, if lockdown isn’t lifted, where we’d make a big loss – and we can’t justify that financially, when we’re planning how to survive.”
Rojo is also returning to her own project, an adaptation of Marius Petipa’s 1898 ballet Raymonda. Inspired by Florence Nightingale and set in the Crimean War, it was meant to tour from October, celebrating the 200th anniversary of the birth of the founder of modern nursing. But, notes Rojo, it will probably be even more resonant when it does premiere, since “we so appreciate the healthcare workers who’ve protected us”.
Thanks to ENB’S new 93,000 sq ft, state-of-the-art headquarters near Canary Wharf in east London, the whole company can be accommodated for rehearsals – carefully bubbled into seven different studios.
“It’s organisational choreography,” quips Rojo. “We would never have managed in our old home. But because we can’t cross bubbles, we can’t completely connect – I’ve been waving to people through the window. As a touring company, we travel together and share so many experiences beyond performances, so we’re especially tight-knit. I miss the camaraderie.”
None of this would be possible, of course, without two government
‘It’s our responsibility to support the professionals who depend on us’
initiatives: a £3 million grant from the Culture Recovery Fund, and the furlough scheme. “We furloughed 85 per cent of our workforce during the first lockdown,” says Rojo. “Without [governmen [government support] we wouldn’t be able to keep the artists and talent we’ve built over d decades, or do online work”.
ENB’S dig digital initiatives were hugely popular dur during Lockdown 1, with ballet classes by R Rojo herself, taught from her kitchen, rec receiving four million views online, and films of archive performan performances viewed one million times. “W “We’d never reach so many people w with a live show,” she observes observes.
That success s inspired the launch this mon month of a video-on-demand platform platform, ENB at Home, with shows such as A Akram Khan’s 2018 producti production of Giselle and his 2015 show Dust Dus available to rent via Ballet on Dema Demand, and classes – including yoga an and fitness – via Balletactive.
Onlin Online work won’t be “the centre o of our activity, since we’re still com committed to live performance, but it’s given giv us a new perspective,” says Rojo. “D “Digital shouldn’t be ignored or just used as a marketing device. Our vision is bri bringing ballet to the widest possible aud audience, and this is the most democratic medium.”
It costs £ £4.95 to rent a film of a show for three da days; Balletactive costs £9.99 per month ( (or £100 for an annual plan). Does Rojo th think people will pay? “Some aren’t accus accustomed to paying, but our prices are re really very little. This is an experiment experiment: if it’s successful, it could be part of our l long-term business model.”
Rojo is particularly proud about the new commissions, the five works which were to make up Reunion, because it meant hiring freelancers. “It’s our responsibility to support the wider network of professionals who depend on us.”
The big question mark going forward is when they can tour again. That means not just making one theatre Covid safe, but dealing with the regulations of numerous different towns or countries.
Rojo reveals that about 90 per cent of their tours have been postponed, rather than cancelled, demonstrating “faith in our brand, and the demand internationally. We still have tours planned for summer 2021 in the Far East, which we hope to honour.”
Could our Government be doing more? Rojo, a member of the Cultural Renewal Taskforce, says there’s a good flow of information from the sector to politicians. “They’ve never had a better understanding of what the arts need. Planning is difficult for everyone, because the situation is so volatile.”
But, in order to encourage investors, she believes the Government should underwrite insurance and prolong VAT cuts for at least two years, because, she says, “that’s how long it will be until the sector is back to normal”. She also wants an expansion of theatre tax relief, which currently does not cover things like digital performances.
The arts sector has “shown how willing we are to adapt, and think quickly and creatively”, adds Rojo. If the Government can follow suit, we might yet see the Sugar Plum Fairy this Christmas.
English National Ballet performs Nutcracker Delights at the London Coliseum Dec 17-Jan 3; ballet.org.uk/ nutcracker-delights. To find out more about ENB at Home visit ondemand. ballet.org.uk and active.ballet.org.uk