Cape Town's ballet scene
When it came to booking our first ballet at Artscape ...
After nearly 10 years in London, going to
as much ballet as possible and absolutely revelling at being in the glorious
Royal Opera House and in the ‘presence’ of certain of the Royal Ballet’s stars,
we were not sure what to expect of the ballet scene in SA.
When it came to booking our first ballet at Artscape, which was Cape Ballet’s 2006 production of Giselle, we thought no more than ‘What night suits us?’ It was only when I read an article in a local paper raving about Marianne Bauer’s Giselle that I wondered who was dancing on the night we were going.
The review waxed lyrical about Marianne so I hoped that we were going to see her. We were a little disappointed on the night to see that Tracy Li was dancing. But that disappointment was not to last long. Tracy Li danced a beautiful Giselle and, afterwards, I thought ‘How could Marianne have been better?’ Tracy Li had wowed us.
Then, a ballet or two later, we had the privilege of seeing Tracy and Marianne dancing together. That was one Sunday night, under the stars at Maynardville. We saw A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Maynardville a few years ago when on holiday in Cape Town and were really sold on the idea of theatre under the glorious African skies. But back to the ballerinas. We were looking so forward to seeing Tracy Li dance again and almost a little dismissive of Madame Bauer. That was only until she came on … and lit up the stage! She was dancing with her husband, Coert Grobbelaar, also a Cape Ballet principal, and they really do make a very special kind of magic together on stage.
We have since seen them again at Artscape, in Nomvula, After the Rain, a ballet set to the music of Freshly Ground (imagine!) and I just don’t think there’s any one better. Move after Darcy et al!
Listen to Freshly Ground's Nomvula
In March we went to see St Petersburg Ballet doing Giselle at Artscape. It was really lovely, although (perhaps a bit bizarrely) I am already loyal to the Cape Ballet and didn’t stand up when (only about a third of) the audience gave a standing ovation. (We had seen my/our favourite ballerina, Marianne Bauer, in the foyer beforehand so there was a little added loyalty.) The costumes were really spectacular though!
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