FROM New York to Moscow, Paris to Tokyo and now London to Cape Town, the words International Ballet Gala send a tremor of expectation through audiences.
They promise sophisticated and powerful performances by the cream of the ballet world and South Africa will get in on the act later this year with an International Ballet Gala at the GrandWest Arena in Cape Town (June 29) and five performances at the Teatro at Montecasino, Joburg (July 7 to 10).
The CEO of the Cape Town International Ballet Competition, Dirk Badenhorst, is the driving force behind the competition, as well as the International Ballet Gala.
He has just returned from New York, where he attended the Youth American Grand Prix and was gratified to overhear one of the contestants from last year’s Cape Town competition urge her ballet dancing friends to come here.
“She said: ‘You have to go to Cape Town, it’s paradise’. That for me, speaks more than R1 million worth of marketing.
“We sometimes forget how wonderful our country is,” said Badenhorst.
Still, he has to admit that South Africa does not have enough ballet dancers who perform at the level which can be expected from the gala.
This is one of the reasons he wanted to present an International Ballet Gala, to highlight the lack of local performers.
“It’s about inspiring our kids and saying, ‘You have to prepare for this’,” said Badenhorst.
He points out that it takes years of dedication to get to such an exacting standard of performance.
“We have the talent, but we don’t have the commitment – from the parents, sometimes from the teachers and sometimes from the children.”
He referenced the daily six to eight hours of practice of the Chinese and Korean dancers who are winning international ballet competitions.
“If you’re good at it you will make money off your skill, but your skill has to be developed to the utmost. Parents in South Africa often don’t have respect for their kids’ talent,” he said.
Since the competition is biennial, he tries to organise “something to keep up interest” every other year. In 2009 several international students and teachers offered workshops and performances, and this year it’s the International Ballet Gala.
The gala will feature a host of dancers who have won previous Cape Town International Ballet Competitions including Sung Woo Han (South Korea).
“It’s wonderful to say that someone who won his first competition in Cape Town has just won in New York,” Badenhorst enthused about Han, who just took gold at the Youth Grand Prix in the senior section and won gold in the junior classical section in Cape Town in 2008.
Other dancers include Alys Shee (Canada), Elza Lemaine (Latvia), Hyo Jung Jun (South Korea), Nathan Chaney (US), Oscar Carmenates (Cuba), Raimond Martinov (Latvia) and Aaron Smythe (Australia).
South African-based dancers include Michael Revie (Ireland), Kitty Phetla and Angela Malan.
Andile Ndlovu, the joint winner of the gold medal in the senior contemporary section in the 2008 Cape Town competition returns to our stages from Washington DC, where he is a member of the Washington Ballet.
While Badenhorst’s ballet company, Mzansi Productions, will bring a South African flavour to the gala, audiences can look forward to pas de deux and showpieces from such legendary ballets as Swan Lake, Le Corsaire, Don Quixote and The Nutcracker.
Badenhorst said the immediately recognisable pas de deux performances appealed to potential audience members who are not as au fait as the fanatical ballet fundis and this lent itself to broadening the potential audiences.
“The interest in ballet in South Africa is bigger than we thought. Ministries have been saying that ballet is not for black people, but Kitty Phetla and Andile Ndlovu are proving them wrong,” he said.
They will be bringing in children from disadvantaged backgrounds to some of the Joburg performances, but Badenhorst sees it as more than just a nod towards corporate social responsibility.
“We have to inspire them to strive for a higher standard, but also, bringing in young children is about creating new audiences,” he said.
Already he is thinking ahead to next year’s competition, which will run at Artscape in Cape Town from February 27 to March 4.
“I don’t want the judges to be teaching during next year’s competition, so they will offer the workshops afterwards,” said Badenhorst.
l The International Ballet Gala, presented by the Cape Town International Ballet Competition (funded in part by the City of Cape Town) and Mzansi Productions (funded by the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund), will be presented at The Grandwest Arena in Cape Town on June 29 at 8pm and the Teatro at Montecasino in Joburg from July 7 to 10 with evening performances at 8pm and matinees on Saturday, July 9, at 3pm and Sunday, July 10 at 2pm. Tickets cost R80 to R350. Bookings through Computicket or call 083 915 8000.