6 min readWaterside Arts Centre, Sale, Thursday October 4th
By Dr Matthew Foley
HAUNT Manchester’s Dr Matthew Foley recently went to talk with Rae Piper, Paul Chantry and Shannon Parker of the Chantry Dance Company, who are bringing a very special, Dracula-inspired ballet to Sale on Thursday October 4th.
Tickets for Dracula: Welcome to D’s can be purchased online and their September / October tour also includes performances in Grantham, Lincoln, London, and other venues across the country.
HAUNT: Thanks Paul, Rae, and Shannon for joining us on a break from your busy rehearsal schedule! What inspired you to re-imagine Dacula for ballet in a cabaret setting?
RP: Both myself and Paul have a great interest in the character of Dracula. We are very much drawn to mythology and folk stories and, for us, vampires fall into that category. Dracula, being the most famous vampire, seems to stand out. So, we wanted to do a piece inspired by Stoker’s novel but to find something new in it.
The inspiration for changing the story, and setting it in a cabaret club, comes from the fact that Paul and I have very varied backgrounds. We haven't just worked in the ballet world; we’ve worked in musicals, too, and I even used to work as an acrobat. I’ve also had a lot of hands-on experience of performing at cabaret. We wanted to bring all of these different aspects of our theatrical experience into play. So, we thought about Stoker's story in terms of its broader theatricality, rather than just restricting it to ballet or contemporary work.
Basically, vampires in the cabaret club is really cool! What’s not to like!?
HAUNT: Indeed, it’s going to be great fun. And it’s that sense of fun that comes across in your wonderful promotional materials for the show. The stylings are amazing. How much did you guys get involved with design?
RP: As well as writing and choreographing the ballet, we did all of the designing ourselves; so, we’ve decided the costumes and how the artistic look of the show works. We have to design costumes with the dancers in the show in mind, of course, so that they can perform all of their moves. Particularly, for Shannon, who has to do a lot of duet work – her costumes need to be practical and we had to think carefully.
HAUNT: The Steampunk aesthetic feeds into the costumes and design – why did you go for this styling?
RP: Obviously, Dracula in its original form has a Victorian feel about. It seems to us that, in the book, the fantastical and magical elements of the vampire are trying to be overcome by the human world of science. Science and magic combining lends itself to Steampunk, and its anachronistic feel. In that sense, we didn’t feel that we were completely grounded in the Victorian setting. The fluid time period gave us more liberty to explore different ideas and themes.
HAUNT: Did you draw from any of the stylings of the several film versions of Dracula?
RP: To be honest, while obviously we’ve been inspired by everything we’ve ever watched or read about Dracula, pretty much everything we have done design-wise has come from our idea of re-writing the story, which has given birth to the design itself. We haven’t really taken anything from anywhere else. It’s all the fault of our own brains. . .!
HAUNT: Music is so important to the different versions of Dracula. How did you compose the music for Dracula: Welcome to D’s?
PC: The music that we used for the ballet was specially composed by Tim Mountain. We have worked with him on quite a few occasions, firstly when we did a science and art’s festival in Grantham called ‘Gravity Fields’. Tim composed the music for our ballet ‘Chasing the Eclipse’, which was set in space. His music has a cinematic feel to it, it’s very theatrical, and it lends itself to what the company is all about. The next time we worked with Tim was on another space ballet ‘Ulysses Unbound’ and he also composed the music for last year’s ballet ‘The Sandman’. We loved his work so much that we had to invite him back for Dracula!
HAUNT: What is it about the Gothic that appeals to you as a Company? What elements work for you as performers or for your audiences?
RP: As a company, we like to explore stories with some really heightened moments that lend themselves to drama. There is plenty of scope for drama in the Gothic elements of Dracula: vampires and all.
HAUNT: Shannon, what appealed to you about the story?
SP: I work with Rae and Paul at the Chantry School of Contemporary & Balletic Arts – where I teach -- and I’ve always admired their work and work ethic. I haven’t done a full-length show for a long time and so I suggested to Rae that I’d really love to try and tackle the part of Lucy. When you’re in a company atmosphere there is a comradery and it presents a different challenge to choreographing for yourself, when you might just do the things that work easily for you. As an artist and a dancer, I like to try and rise to the challenge that comes with others choregraphing you; it’s just a real high.
HAUNT: And how is Lucy represented in this version of Dracula?
SP: Many of the plot elements are the same as the novel: Lucy’s friendship with Mina; the story between Mina and Dracula; but when Lucy is bitten in this version she indulges in being a vampire a little more . . . We are constantly inventing and analysing how we want to portray our characters. It is easy as an artist, when you see a film, to just assume that’s how a character should be but we are reinventing as well as keeping the characters who everyone knows. There’s a little twist to Van Helsing, for instance . . . people will need to come and see what!
HAUNT: Our interest is piqued! Thank you Rae, Paul and Shannon!
We can’t wait to see the show at the Waterside Arts Centre Sale, on October 4th.
