04 Feb The Chelmsford Ballet Company joined by Ballet Central students for A Midsummer Night’s Dream
The Chelmsford Ballet Company will be joined by two third year Central School of Ballet students for its performances of A Midsummer Night’s Dream & 70th Anniversary Celebrations this year. Oliver Harrison and Thomas Varney will be performing with the company from 20-23 March at Chelmsford’s Civic Theatre, in the roles of Demetrius and Lysander.
The pair are third years at London’s Central School of Ballet, where they are about to embark on the 2019 Ballet Central tour, Central School of Ballet’s renowned graduate performing company. With Ballet Central a regular at the Civic Theatre as well as The Chelmsford Ballet Company, Oliver and Thomas follow a rich and wonderful history of Central alumni who have also performed with the company. These dancers include Christopher Marney, Ballet Central Artistic Director and previously a dancer with Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures; Andrei Iliescu, performing in The Phantom of the Opera; dancer and choreographer Richard Bermange; James Parratt, previously with Ballet Cymru and New English Ballet Theatre; and Jasmine Wallis, dancing with Vienna Festival Ballet. With Christopher and Jasmine dancing with the company as members too in their youth, the sense of the company’s nurturing and supporting young, aspiring dancers is only too apparent.
As part of its 70th anniversary year in 2019, and looking ahead to the next 70 years, The Chelmsford Ballet Company is working closer than ever with Central School of Ballet: the two sets of dancers have already performed together as part of Hutton & Shenfield Choral Society’s Music for Christmas at the Brentwood Centre in December. Upping the ante this year, The Chelmsford Ballet Company will be performing A Midsummer Night’s Dream as a specially commissioned piece as part of the celebrations, accompanied by a historic performance from past repertoire, and choreographed by Artistic Director, Annette Potter.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a wonderfully romantic, comic tale, set in moonlit woodland in the realm of fairyland. The fairy King and Queen, Oberon and Titania, argue over Titania’s refusal to give up her changeling boy to Oberon; he has become quite jealous of her giving him so much affection. He sends Puck, his servant, to find a magic plant to cast a spell on Titania. The juice of the magic plant, when squeezed onto the eyes of someone asleep, causes them to fall in love with the first creature they see when they wake up. When Titania wakes, the first creature she sees is Bottom, having had his head transformed into that of an ass by Puck, and she falls madly in love with him…
As an amateur company with professional standards, The Chelmsford Ballet Company has a reputation for staging impressive productions with fantastic artistry. From the choreography to the sets to the costumes, the company continues to celebrate its success under the artistic leadership of Annette Potter, nurturing the company’s dancers from company classes to workshops, through to rehearsals and the company’s annual production. The company demonstrates a huge array of talent through its dancers, excelling themselves each year.
Tickets for A Midsummer Night’s Dream & 70th Anniversary Celebrations are on sale from the Civic Theatre, Chelmsford. Call the box office on 01245 606505, or visit https://www.chelmsford.gov.uk/theatres/whats-on/dance/a-midsummer-nights-dream/
