New English Ballet Theatre Comes to The Stag Theatre, Sevenoaks

New English Ballet Theatre's  ‘Tales of Dafne and Calypso: A Female Odyssey', is a sumptuous modern ballet programme of two halves that dives into the mystical worlds of heroic women, Greek legends, fabled power and legendary characters.  A must for ballet fans, dance fans, and new audiences at Sevenoaks and Rickmansworth, the programme features five modern ballet pieces by the next generation of gifted choreographers. Audiences will also have the opportunity of seeing guest soloists from English National Ballet: Lead Principal Fernanda Oliveira and First Soloist Fabian Reimair in action on stage alongside NEBT's dancers.

Says Karen Pilkington-Miksa MBE, NEBT founder and Artistic Director: “We are very much looking forward to performing at the Stag Theatre in Sevenoaks and Watersmeet in Rickmansworth.  It's part of NEBT's mission to bring contemporary ballet and exciting work to new audiences – as well as existing ballet fans - to different venues across the UK and I'm delighted we'll be visiting both venues for the first time.  New work thrives when it's experienced live; engaging with different communities allows us to introduce more people to ballet and inspires our artists in new ways."

First half: Valentino Zucchetti has created two new pieces.  ‘Apollo e Dafne' is set to Handel's cantata of the same name while the second piece is the world premiere of ‘Testimonies of the Unseen', a pas de deux performed by Fernanda Oliveira and Fabian Reimair with music by Mathias Coppens.

Second half: Marika Brussel's ‘By a Thread: Calypso' (photo left) opens the second half of the evening.  A new adaptation of Homer's ‘Odyssey' Marika's dramatic piece puts the nymph Calypso centre stage.  The music is an original score by US composer Ryan Cockerham.

*According to Homer's Odyssey, Calypso detained Odysseus for seven years against his will, promising him immortality if he would stay with her.  She was forced to let him go when he chose to return home.

To post a comment, you must register and login.