Take Five blues
English national ballet
Nominated BEST DIGITAL CHOREOGRAPHY National Dance Awards 2021
Ek / Forsythe / Quagebeur Sadler’s Wells 9 -12 November 2022
COSTUMES Stina Quagebeur LIGHTING Simon Bennison MUSIC Nigel Kennedy, Recital
The original Take Five Blues was created for English National Ballet’s Digital Season 2020. Created with Film Director Shaun James Grant. It is available to watch on ENB at Home. Take Five Blues was nominated Best Digital Choreography at the National Dance Awards 2021.
In 2022 it was extended into a full one act work to go alongside Mats Ek and William Forsythe in Tamara Rojo’s last programme at English National Ballet.
Take Five Blues was inspired by Nigel Kennedy’s take on Bach’s Vivace and Desmond’s Take Five, and the way in which contemporary jazz and classical music are uniquely married together.
Film director Shaun James Grant creates a jazz-influenced dream-like atmosphere, where the eight dancers are in their own world, free to feed off each other’s energy and play with the unexpected melodies and rhythms in this high-spirited number that pushes past classical ballet’s rules and boundaries into new territories.
“Between these two mighty male choreographic beasts, Stina Quagebeur impressively holds her own with Take Five Blues, a piece conceived for film in lockdown, but which elegantly fills the stage with its punchy, relaxed dynamics, as if a group of friends had just put on Nigel Kennedy playing Bach and begun to dance.”
“An enjoyable blitz of whizzing pirouettes and relaxed phrases”
The Times
“With warmth and fun, the dancers bounce off violinist Nigel Kennedy’s unconventional recordings of Take Five and Bach’s double concerto.”
The Guardian
“The driving score provokes spiky, assertive dance. Quagebeur keeps it loose, with plenty of bite. It’s a cheering blast of Friday night vibes.”
The Sunday Times
“A lively ensemble piece… filmed in a way that immerses the viewer both visually and sonically.”
The Stage
“Stina Quagebeur is fast making her mark as an inventive, accomplished choreographer, and her Take Five Blues, can only further cement her reputation.” Culture Whisper
“Stina Quagebeur’s Take Five Blues, providing yet more proof of her instinctive capacity to illustrate the joy of dance with innate musicality. Quagebeur has achieved the difficult challenge of making pure dance accessible and enjoyable for all by mixing moods and evoking spontaneity.’ ‘There could be no misunderstanding the sheer kinetic joy of Stina Quagebeur's Take Five Blues.”
Graham Watts Bachtrack