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PRESS: Cape Ballet Africa launches Spring Season with ELYSIUM

  • 2 days ago
  • 3 min read

Christine Skinner

Cape Ballet Africa is set to enthrall audiences with a new quadruple bill at The Baxter this October, launching the dynamic young company’s Spring Season. Hot off its highly successful run of Swan Lake in Johannesburg, CBA presents ELYSIUM at The Pam Golding Theatre at The Baxter from 3 to 11 October 2026. 


Remanso by Nacho Duato.
Remanso by Nacho Duato.

ELYSIUM brings together four exquisite and diverse ballets by celebrated choreographers George Balanchine, Nacho Duato, Kenneth Tindall and Michelle Reid, each offering a unique perspective on the human experience.

 

Through contrasting choreography, music, and artistic styles, ELYSIUM creates a rich and inspiring ballet experience, exploring themes of love, resilience, transformation and joy, celebrated through the range, beauty and emotional depth of ballet.

 

“ELYSIUM marks two years since CBA debuted our inaugural production SALT at The Baxter,” says Debbie Turner, Artistic Director and Founder of Cape Ballet Africa. “There have been many exciting developments since then and we are happy to be back on The Baxter stage with this captivating quadruple bill. The programme includes two new works created for the Company by extraordinary South African choreographer Michelle Reid and UK based, internationally acclaimed Kenneth Tindall.”

 

“Michelle, creator of the sassy, sensational, smouldering ballet SMOKE, will once again make an indelible mark on CBA’s repertoire with a powerful new ballet titled Duende. We were fortunate to have hosted Kenneth Tindall for two weeks as he choreographed and shaped We Met At The Moon, Briefly, his new work for our dancers. We can’t wait to share ELYSIUM with audiences, it’s a journey of ethereal beauty and classical elegance with dynamic storytelling,” says Turner.


Allegro Brillante by George Balanchine
Allegro Brillante by George Balanchine

Opening the programme is George Balanchine’s Allegro Brillante, a joyous celebration of expansive romanticism, set to Tchaikovsky’s soaring Piano Concerto No. 3.  It was originally staged for CBA by Diana White of the George Balanchine Trust, who has spent her lifetime studying, performing, staging and coaching Balanchine’s works. Balanchine famously said Allegro Brillante "contains everything I knew about classical ballet.”

 

Next up, CBA presents Nacho Duato’s REMANSO, performed to Poetic Waltzes by celebrated Spanish composer Enrique Granados. First performed by the Company as part of their production Breathwords, with the support of the Embassy of Spain in Pretoria and the Spanish Consulate in Cape Town, this ballet returns due to the overwhelming response it received here. Critics hailed it as:

 

‘a thrilling demonstration that human bodies can be used to say things that — almost 30 years after they were first expressed — still feel original and continue to have something to convey about what it is to be alive’ (Daily Maverick);  

 

‘a witty and expressive piece’ (Beverley Brommert);

 

‘equal parts playful and sensual with a quirkiness that gives it an added charm’ (Theatre Scene Cape Town);

 

‘a dream of power, connection, confidence, love and non-judgement’ (Calloffthesearch.com);

 

We Met At The Moon, Briefly is award-winning choreographer Kenneth Tindall’s newly commissioned work for CBA. 

 

Says Tindall, “I travel around the world, working with different companies. It can be quite a lonely endeavour, but then you walk into a studio space and, for a brief moment, you all hold this poetry, this art that you're trying to create among the noise that's happening around you.  

We Met At The Moon, Briefly has been created with the tools of all that are involved, the elements in the environment, and the very place itself - Cape Town. It’s a physically demanding, very beautiful ballet, full of sculpture. It’s classical, performed en pointe, but reinventing, innovating to create something different.” 

 

Closing ELYSIUM is Michelle Reid’s Duende, set to music by guitarist and composer Estas Tonne. “When used in everyday modern language, the word Duende is used to describe someone who possesses a magnetic, inexplicable personal charm, charisma or allure,” says Reid. “When I found the music by chance, it was a very interesting sound for me as I have never worked with Spanish guitar before. I feel in love with it and could see something fun and exciting could be created.”

 

ELYSIUM will be presented at The Baxter from 3 to 10 October. Bookings can be made at Webtickets online or at Pick n Pay stores at a cost of R200 to R495 per person.

 

The performance schedule is:

Tuesday to Saturday @ 19h30

Sunday 4 and Saturday 10 October @ 15h00

Thursday 8 October – Seniors Special performance @ 11h00

 

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