Furman is the former director of what was then the University of Cape Town Ballet School. After reaching the pinnacle of her career on home soil, excelling in teacher training, syllabus development and examining, she left South Africa to start the American Academy of Ballet in New York. It is widely regarded as the Summer School of Excellence for budding ballet dancers in America. She also created and choreographed the Performance Awards, a programme taught and presented in the US and beyond in ‘pursuit of excellence through the joy of dance’.
Furman's husband Simon and son Laurence founded the Mignon Furman Ballet, which made it possible for the guest appearances by the dancers for this occasion. I attended the first of five performances by the international stars and Joburg Ballet, performing as a company for the first time in the Mother City. There appeared to be a capacity audience by curtain-up, extremely vocal in their appreciation of the performances from the entire cast. That’s always a pleasure to hear. They performed devoid of sets, on a beautifully lit stage, elegantly costumed.
Throughout the short season New York City Ballet’s Ashley Bouder and Joaquin de Luz alternated performances of Balanchine's ‘Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux’ with the pas de deux from ‘Sleeping Beauty’, ‘Nutcracker’, and ‘Don Quixote’. These selections are perennial crowd pleasers! So too is the pas de deux from ‘Flames of Paris’, performed this time by Daniel Ulbricht (NYCB) and Betsy McBride (ABT).
The only piece choreographed by Furman herself was ‘A Silent Tear’, performed by Remy Young (ABT) with coaching from Gina Chiavelli.
Kevin Durwael, director of the Royal Ballet School of Antwerp and teacher at the AAB Summer School of Excellence, choreographed ‘Affection’ In memory of Furman. It was performed by McBride and Marshall Whiteley (ABT). He also choreographed the neo-classical piece ‘Joy’ performed by ABT dancers McBride, Whiteley and Young as well as Joburg Ballet’s Monike Cristina and Ruan Goldino. What a triumph that was! Durwael also choreographed the wonderful ‘Transcendence’, performed by Joburg Ballet.
A certain standard is expected when international dancers of this stature venture abroad to perform. They certainly lived up to that. I’m probably not alone in thinking we could have done with more of the likes of ‘Tango’ by Ulbricht, but this short solo was enough to ignite excitement for those of us gearing up for the upcoming Tango Marathon Cape Town in December.
Some of the takeaway comments heard from audience members include what a pleasure it was to see new performances by different dancers (meaning those not based in Cape Town) and that we don’t see much neo-classical ballet. If you’re a dance fan, and want to see this style more regularly, please look out for Cape Dance Company programme announcements.
Back to the tribute, what a pleasure it was to see Joburg Ballet in their stride. Their performances were truly enjoyable, polished, inspirational and aspirational for any young dancers wanting to make ballet a career. Revil Yon, in particular, has grown so much as a performer since being a member of this company. The production will live in our memories for some time to come.
Photos by Pat Bromilow-Downing
