Watch new ballets without stepping out of your house!
Dance fans can enjoy top flight entertainment in the comfort of their own homes during the coming weeks. Northern Ballet has launched a digital season including three original films.
The presentations will be released every fortnight until March 19 on digitaldance. org. All films will be available to stream for free, but viewers are encouraged to pay what they can to help the company on its mission to bring world-class dance to everyone, everywhere.
Audiences will be able to watch Victoria, winner of the South Bank Sky Arts Award for Dance, on-demand from February 19 until March 21. Previously released in cinemas and on BBC Four, this award-winning ballet by Cathy Marston is a glimpse into the life of Queen Victoria whose diaries reveal a story so fascinating that her daughter Beatrice tried to rewrite history.
A premiere inspired by the nation’s enthusiasm for baking banana bread will go online on March 5. Entitled Have Your Cake, it’s a tonguein-cheek short film exploring the playfulness of a group of friends whose bonds of love and togetherness shine bright on the darkest days.
Another premiere is a first for Northern Ballet as it was created entirely remotely. Olivier award-winning Ballet Black artist Mthuthuzeli November makes his choreographic debut with Northern Ballet with What Used To, No Longer Is. This new work explores the evolution of life, the passing of time and the human response to the ever-growing beauty of life, even in the most difficult of times. What Used To, No Longer Is will be shown from March 19.
Inspired by thoughts, feelings and news headlines from lockdown, Kenneth Tindall’s States of Mind is an abstract response to experiences from the events of 2020. Available until February 26 as part of the BBC and Sadler’s Wells’ Dancing Nation, the film of this striking stage work was captured during its première as part of Northern Ballet’s first and only post-lockdown live performances at Leeds Playhouse in October 2020.
Northern Ballet launched its digital dance season on February 5 with the premiere of Northern Lights injecting the beauty and art of ballet into the streets of Leeds. Kenneth Tindall, the company’s artistic director of digital, worked with film-maker Dan Lowenstein on this creation.
Northern Lights, Have Your Cake and What Used
To, No Longer Is will be on the digitaldance.org site permanently for ballet fans to watch.
Kenneth Tindall said: “Northern Ballet has turned a challenging situation into an incredibly creative and inspired time. While we have not been to hold live performances due to COVID-19 restrictions, we have been able to establish a safe way to continue working to create new digital dance and experiment with filming away from the stage. I am especially excited that we commissioned the hugely talented Mthuthuzeli November to work with us for the first time.
“Developing and innovating with our digital offering is integral to the evolution of our artform and I am proud of what the company has delivered.”
This month sees the release of a brand-new album by The Alarm, despite the fact it is still being written and recorded in a creative process that began only recently.
The Alarm’s new LP War has to be completed by February 24 to be serviced around the world at midnight on February 25 to 26 via the world’s digital music suppliers.
To combat production times and to ensure they have the physical product available, the band is advance-releasing the album without music in a special CD-Rom format. Fans can then burn their own copy of the finished record.
The album’s writing and recording creative process only began on January 7 but the band promises that finished tracks will be sent electronically to fans, once the final mix and mastering process is finished.
War is also available to preorder as a hand-cut vinyl LP which will be released to fans on February 25, coincidentally the date of lead vocalist and guitarist Mike Peters’ birthday.
Mike, The Alarm and producer George Williams are now writing and recording the record from scratch using their own isolation studios.
Mike’s wife Jules Jones Peters has been documenting the recording process, creating a very incisive fly-on-thewall vision of The Alarm at work, sharing regular videos online on www.thealarm.com website.
“The record is really starting to take shape”, said Mike.
“The responsive nature of the writing and recording situation has given rise to some radical thinking on how to instantly release the album into the modern world and also across all the major formats – stream, download, CD and LP.”
To release the album on vinyl, a specialist cutting-house has been engaged to hand-cut as many pre-ordered vinyl copies as possible, once the final master has been cut in Los Angeles by the legendary Howie Weinberg. It was Howie who mastered The Alarm’s 2019 album ∑ Sigma, which entered the UK Rock Chart at top spot.
The digital edition of War is being distributed internationally by InGrooves who have already paved the way for this groundbreaking release to appear on all digital service provider platforms on February 26.
As the artwork has been created in advance, each CD/ LP will also have the album title and the band logo painted on to the cover by Mike Peters personally, with the tracklisting left intentionally blank so that fans can write in the song titles themselves, once they have receivedAla the completed work.
“I really want the fans to have access to this album as soon as it’s finished”, added Mike.
“We have set ourselves a very tight deadline, and the music is already being created out in the open for all to see and hear.
“The technology is there so fans who still have access to a CD burner and wish to get involved in the spirit of the project can do so by interacting with the creative process and play their own part in bringing this new Alarm album into the world.”
The Alarm’s War album is available to order/pre-save now exclusively via www. thealarm.com site.