Fiona Gordon: Bovim Ballet’s SwingTime evokes the spirit of the Big Band Era in designer dress and pointe shoes.
Clever use of other arts, including timeless music accessible across generations, and much attention to the theatricality of the visuals, keeps the production of SwingTime in line with choreographer and company director Sean Bovim’s vision of making ballet accessible to a wider audience. And the fact that he pushes the boundaries of balletic expectation, and does so with beautiful bodies, certainly helps his cause.
We are taken on a loosely-constructed trip down his memory lane by an aging Mr Bojangles (played with characteristic sensitivity by Grant Swift). The smooth voice of vocalist Francois Lliam accompanies some of the songs. As at home in his dance shoes as with microphone in his hand, or behind the grand piano, Lliam slips seamlessly into the chorus line as necessary. Each dancer has their strengths, character, and is interesting to watch, as a part of the whole, for different reasons. Some have better extensions, some have timing that is super spot-on, some have personality that is magnetic. But Simone Muller’s flawless performance of her solo in silver definitely deserves a special mention.
Choreography, particularly for the group numbers, is loosely based on the style of the Charleston and jive; fast-paced and en pointe. Designed to dazzle, some of the pieces are more polished than others. Where they got it together, it was slick and exciting in its uniformity. In the pieces where it was a bit more messy, and unfortunately there were a few, it does lose the special something. There were one or two obvious technical slips, but on the whole the seams were smooth.
Couples feature strongly throughout the ballet – whether those couples were ‘dreaming a little dream’, or cute and flirty (‘with a wink and a smile’), glamorous in gold, representative of the young Bojangles and his young love, or young men in Jumpin’. ‘Ms Jones’ features, with high-kicking legs, and some were serenaded by a seductive violin (played by none other than company administrative manager Francois Arzul) which evokes olde worlde elegance in two beautifully performed white pas de deux. Whether high-energy and fast-paced, or slower and more sentimental, much of the partner work is deceptively difficult with complicated lifts and crowd-pleasing tricks, and yet manages to portray a mood most effectively, forming a strong backbone of the show.
The second half of the show doesn’t exude quite the energy of the first – perhaps a testament to the aging of Mr B – but there is little chance of boredom, and I am disappointed when the programme comes to its end.
The use of mirrors and mirror balls add another dimension to the movement, and to the overall theatrical effect. From lighting (Patrick Curtis); to choreographic patterning; to a programme designed as a long-playing record (Karl Staub) and designer costumes – black and white dropped-waist dresses, men striking all in white, or women sparkling in glittery red dresses (all courtesy of Kluk and CGDT), much attention is paid to design throughout, and lends a lot to the success of this production, which can be appreciated on many levels, by a diverse audience.
SwingTime runs at The Baxter Theatre from Tuesdays to Saturdays at 8pm and Sundays at 6pm, until 25 October. Tickets range from R120-R150, and are on sale through Computicket.
The ballet moves to the Oude Libertas in Stellenbosch from 2-12 December 2009
Cast: Kerryn Howard, Tanya Futter, Kirsten Isenberg, Faye Dubinski, Simone Muller, Jennifer Middleton, Kristin Wilson and Nicola Marais, Grant Swift, Marc Goldberg, Shaun Brian Murphy, Ignatius Van Heerden, Devon Marshbank, James Bradley, Kyle Rossouw, Owen Manamela and Francois Lliam.
Fiona Gordon
fiona@artslink.co.za
www.artslink.co.za
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