What: SALT – presented by Cape Ballet Africa

Choreographers: Kirsten Isenberg, Mthuthuzeli November and Michelle Reid
When: September 21-28, 2024
Where: The Pam Golding Theatre at The Baxter
Bookings: Webtickets.
Set design: Michael Mitchell
Lighting design: Patrick Curtis

Cape Ballet Africa dancers: Camille Bracher, Gabriel Ravenscroft, Gemma Trehearn, Jan Kotze, Joshua Williams, Julia O’Keeffe, Kayla Schultze, Kingsley Beukes, Mia Coomber, Nicolas Laubscher, Nina Simpson and Quinton Jacobs.  

Guest artist: Brandon Lawrence of Ballett Zürich is partnering Cape Ballet Africa’s Camille Bracher 
in Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s Concerto adagio pas de deux, by permission of The Kenneth MacMillan Estate.
     

Bravo to Debbie Turner, artistic director of Cape Ballet Africa for SALT, the inaugural season of CBA in Cape Town, in the Baxter Pam Golding Theatre. The programme features the premieres of three innovative new ballets by South African choreographers Kirsten Isenberg, Mthuthuzeli November and Michelle Reid. In addition, audiences are treated to Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s Concerto adagio pas de deux, danced by permission of The Kenneth MacMillan Estate, with guest dancer Brandon Lawrence of Ballett Zürich who is partnering Cape Ballet Africa’s Camille Bracher.

A strong neo-classical thread runs through this extraordinarily diverse programme – with signature neo-classical ballet minimalist staging, expressive costumes and striking lighting. Although each piece is very different, there is a vital athletic and acrobatic component to each work. It is breathtaking to watch how the 12 dancers in Cape Ballet Africa shift in each number and embrace the demands of each piece. Brandon Lawrence of Ballett Zürich dazzles along with CBA’s Camille Bracher in Concerto adagio pas de deux, first performed in 1966 by Deutsche Oper Berlin.

It is astonishing that a new ballet company has acquired the rights to perform the famous pas de deux by Sir Kenneth MacMillan Estate, which doesn’t grant rights easily. Debbie Turner has curated SALT, showcasing the diversity of ballet in South Africa – choreographically and from a dance perspective.

I was unable to attend the opening on Saturday night, September 21 and attended last night, September 25. The theatre was packed and I saw several people who were at the opening on the weekend. They loved it and came again.

The programme opens with Kirsten Isenberg’s Reverie, choreographed to Rachmaninov’s Concerto No 2 in C Minor. This ballet is a pink tableaux- a homage to romantic classical ballets like Les Sylphide and Swan Lake, but stripped down to the neo-classical, with the dance the primary mode of expression.  Isenberg says: “It is a meditative and reflective study. Swathed in a palette of blush pink, it is delirious fanciful musings, in a dreamy state”. The bodies are in a trance like state – beautiful and entrancing with the exquisite Rachmaninov score.

The ethereal and tranquil Reverie is followed by Mthuthuzeli November’s pulsating Chapter Two, set to a commissioned score by Peter Johnson. The striped costumes in saturated reds and pinks reminded me of animals in an African landscape, migrating across grasslands, to a universal beat of the continent. The dance is fierce and urgent. Considerable choreographic attention has been given by November to the male dancers. They are not merely props, lifting and hoisting female dancers as in much classical ballet.  Peter Johnson’s thumping score heightens the cadences and rhythms of the bodies in space.

After interval, is Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s Concerto adagio pas de deux- danced with precision and care by Brandon Lawrence and Camille Bracher, costumed in orange. A nod again to Debbie Turner for including the pas de dux in this programme. SALT is very much a celebration of the choreographic and dance talents in contemporary South Africa but it is also an acknowledgment of the Euro-centric past of ballet. The pas de deux is like an enigmatic wild card in SALT and shakes up the mix.

The final ballet is Michelle Reid’s Smoke, with a prelude, a re-visioning of the Dave Brubeck’ Quartet’s version of Take Five, leading into Papa was a Rollin Stone, by the Temptations. The music has been licensed through SAMRO. Costumed in fiery passionate red, Smoke is an intense and captivating work, signature Michele Reid in the way that she conjures up a powerful narrative for all her work. The energy and skill of the company is palpable in Smoke and in all the pieces in SALT.

As a non-ballet person, I do not have the knowledge  to discuss the technical aspects of SALT such as Jetés (leaps), Grand jeté (large throw), Arabesque (dancer is supported on one leg, either straight or demi-plié, slight bend in the knee, while the other leg is extended straight behind and at a right angle) but I can say that SALT is a marvel of technical prowess, even to the non-ballet person [See https://www.masterclass.com/articles/ballet-moves-for-all-skill-levels for ballet terms and positions].

Mention must be made that Debbie Turner has also done the costume design for Reverie (with Kirsten Isenberg), Chapter Two and Smoke.

The season wraps up on Saturday, September 28, 2024. Do not miss Cape Ballet Africa’s sublime SALT – beautiful – contemporary neo-classical ballet which riffs off classical-romantic ballet.

Kirsten Isenberg’s Reverie, choreographed to Rachmaninov’s Concerto No 2 in C Minor, danced by Cape Ballet Africa, premiere at CBA’s inaugural season, SALT in Cape Town at the Baxter Theatre, September 21-28, 2024. Photo by Paul Seaby.
Mthuthuzeli November’s Chapter Two, set to a commissioned score by Peter Johnson is premiering at Cape Ballet Africa, inaugural season, SALT in Cape Town at the Baxter Theatre, September 21-28, 2024.

✳ Featured image: Michelle Reid’s Smoke is premiering at Cape Ballet Africa, inaugural season, SALT in Cape Town at the Baxter Theatre, September 21-28, 2024. Photo by Paul Seaby.