Dancing his way into the history books this week with Scottish Ballet is Inverness-born dancer Barnaby Rook Bishop, writes Susan Welsh
Because of the availability of numerous gadgets and gizmos, some youngsters today never get the chance to be bored. That’s a shame, because boredom can lead to great things.
No one knows this better than one young dancer with Scottish Ballet, 21-year-old Barnaby Rook Bishop, who will make his Highland debut with the company when it visits Eden Court Theatre to present two pieces, Emergence and Sibilo, tomorrow and Saturday.
Scottish Ballet is the first UK ballet company to present Emergence, a dance created by internationally acclaimed choreographer Crystal Pite, and the company’s own emerging choreographic talent, Sophie Laplane. This riveting piece sees dancers cast as a swarming, scurrying insect-like group moving in an eerie universe. The full force of the company’s 36 dancers creates spectacular formations, set to a hypnotic electronic score by Owen Belton.
The second part of the autumn season double bill includes the world premiere of company dancer and choreographer Sophie Laplane’s exciting new work Sibilo (the Italian word for whistle). Her singular choreographic style mixes humour with inspiration from everyday emotions and situations. The work shows her special ability for creating joyful and unrestricted dance while Alex Menzies (Scottish electronic music producer and DJ also known as Alex Smoke) has created an original score to go with it.
Barnaby, who was previously awarded The Sibley Dowell Award for a promising student with potential at the Young British Dancer of the Year Awards in 2013, joined Scottish Ballet earlier this year and is keen to show Highland ballet fans what he’s made of.
“I was born in Inverness and lived on the Black Isle with my parents, Caroline and John, at Easter Suddie near Munlochy. Dad’s an architect and when I was six we moved from the Black Isle to Norfolk. As a youngster I was really energetic but didn’t start dancing until I moved to England. We were living in a small village and there really wasn’t anything to do apart from play football,” said Barnaby.
To avoid boredom, he asked if he could attend a local ballet class being run by the mother of one of his good friends.
“I took to it like a duck to water and loved it straight away, although I kept up the football until I joined the Royal Ballet School when I was 10,” said Barnaby, who says his dream role is that of Romeo.
While moving away from home to study in London was tough for the youngster, his determination to succeed kept him going.
“I remember learning about Rudolph Nuryevev when I was younger and wanted to be just like him – he was a real inspiration to me.”
Having joined Scottish Ballet as an artist in June, he made his Scottish debut at the Edinburgh Festival last month where he danced in Emergence and MC 14/22.
“Emergence is a very contemporary piece and the girls are on pointe for most of it. I’m one of the sextet within the piece.”
First created for the National Ballet of Canada in 2009, it was also performed by Pacific Northwest Ballet in 2013 and has won numerous awards.
“Sibilo is a piece with four men and four women and starts with everyone together dancing in unison then break out into solo, duets and a trio section. The prologue in particular is pretty energetic. You have to build up your energy levels during rehearsals so by the time you get on to stage you are really fit.
“I like to prepare myself quite quietly and go through in my head what I have to do before taking to the stage. On performance days it’s really busy, so it’s important to remember to eat. Before the show I’ll have something light, but after the show I’ll eat whatever I fancy which is a nice position to be in.
“During my visit I don’t think I’ll have time to visit the Black Isle, but I can’t wait to have a look around Inverness again as this will be the first time I’ve been there since I left all those years ago.”
Scottish Ballet presents Emergence and Sibilo at Eden Court, Inverness on October 7 and 8 with performances at 7.30pm. A pre-show talk, focusing on dance takes place at 6.30pm on October 7. Contact: 01463 234234.The company also visits His Majesty’s Theatre, Aberdeen on Friday, October 14, and Saturday, October 15, with performances at 7.30pm. There will also be a pre-show dance talk at 6.30pm on the Friday. Contact: 01224 641122.