Choreographers: Dreda Blow and Sebastien Loe

Reviewer: Emily Maloney (age 11)

The Public Reviews Rating:

Northern Ballet’s Ugly Duckling is their first children’s ballet and I loved it! This was my first ever ballet and I want to see more like this. This ballet appealed to all age groups, even their parents. The story is really enjoyable and easy to follow.

One day three little ducklings hatch and they excitedly wait for the last one to hatch. When the egg hatches they are disappointed because their baby sister is ugly, grey and fluffy. She doesn’t look like her brothers and sisters and doesn’t dance like them. The family go to the pond to learn to swim but the lifeguard wouldn’t let Ugly in. Ugly was very upset so she ran away. When she ran away she found two frogs. She thought she might be like them but she wasn’t. She then ran away from the frogs and found two cats. She realized she wasn’t one of them either. Ugly fell asleep under a tree and the Swan Queen came and started to dance with her. Ugly danced with the Swan Queen and it felt good. But the Swan Queen went away and Ugly was all alone which was very sad. The next day Ugly met a fox. He started to dance with her, she thought she’d found a friend at last but he was really nasty and tried to eat her! Ugly runs away and finds herself alone again when the winter comes. Something magical happens in the winter and she turns into a beautiful swan. Everyone is really happy for her and dances with her until she flies away with the Swan Queen.

I loved this show, especially the dancing, because it was so graceful and delicate. Each dancer danced their part really well, this is because the frogs really jumped and the ducks really waddled! Even though the fox was mean, he was really funny. The scenery was really great, it was already set out before the show started which really made me believe we were really at a pond! The costumes were fantastic and made me believe they were real animals. I loved the Swan Queen’s costume the most because it was beautiful. I liked the way we were warned at the beginning not to feed the animals until after the show and to be quiet so we wouldn’t scare them!

A fantastic show that will be loved by children and adults alike.

This show is the first of three ballets especially written for small people that will be performed over the next three years. Northern Ballet are asking for ideas for their next children’s ballet. Suggestions can be submitted on their website nothernballet.com/duckling.

Runs until Friday 2nd November 2012

 

Tags: Ballet, children, Dreda Blow, Leeds, Northern Ballet, Sebastien Loe, Stanley and Audrey Burton Theatre, Ugly Duckling, West Yorkshire