15 minutes | Tuesday, 4 February 2025
In this episode of Arts and Culture on Voice FM, host Xan Phillips interviews Kit Holder, artistic coordinator and former first soloist of the Birmingham Royal Ballet, about their upcoming performance of Cinderella at the Mayflower Theatre.
Kit discusses the opulent production designed by David Bentley and John McFarlane, the challenging roles for male dancers, and the meticulous design and durable quality of costumes and sets.
He also talks about the impact of his background in sports and exercise psychology on his current role, focusing on dancer well-being and performance management.
The interview concludes with Kit's enthusiastic endorsement of the show as a perfect post-holiday escape.
Transcript
[00:00:00] Xan Phillips (Voice FM): Hello, my name is Xan Phillips and welcome to Arts and Culture on Voice FM. And today we celebrate the mixing of folktales and ballet, as the Birmingham Royal Ballet is performing Cinderella at the Mayflower Theatre from Thursday the 6th of February. It's a timeless story of love, courage and kindness, godmothers and pumpkins, and enough artistic freedom to include mice, lizards and even a dancing frog.
Here to tell us more about the performance and Birmingham Royal Ballet is Kit Holder, artistic coordinator and former first soloist for the company. Kit, good afternoon to you, how are you? Hi there, very well thank you. And Let's, let's really just leap in first with not necessarily a tricky question, but when you look at the main characters you suddenly realize that the leads in the story are female.
So is this a show where the male dancers almost take a back seat?
[00:00:56] Kit Holder (BRB): Absolutely not. I have done this show, I think I've danced every performance that this show has. has ever had. And I remember it being a very busy show and very tiring show for the men. It's a very, very busy show. There's a lot of action.
There's a lot of happening. There's a lot of costume changes. There's a lot to look at. I mean,
[00:01:20] Xan Phillips (Voice FM): so does that mean you have actually started from the ground up, so to speak?
[00:01:25] Kit Holder (BRB): Pretty much. Yeah. So we made this ballet, I think in 2010. So David Bentley, who was our director at that time, really incredible choreographer, created this new production, and it was quite rare already at that time to have new full length ballets made at this scale, this level of opulence.
But David worked with John McFarlane, who's a legendary theatre designer, also designed our production of The Nutcracker, which is the best nutcracker in the world. Equally opulent, very, very spectacular, really truly beautiful designs, very, very, very clever designs as well in terms of the way the set is constructed and operates on the stage.
The set is a star of the show in its own right, very much so in Cinderella. But me, I was in the corps de ballet in this original production. And over the years moved up sort of one notch perhaps over the course of 15 or 20 years or so.
[00:02:37] Xan Phillips (Voice FM): And, and you mentioned that this is a opulent, opulent show. Can you, can you give an idea to someone who's never been to the ballet, maybe has been to the theater, the what exactly they, the, the, the bang for buck in this is?
[00:02:53] Kit Holder (BRB): To make a show look fantastic, truly look fantastic, it has to be fantastic. The fabrics that are involved in the costumes are, are as incredible as you see. If you were to see them up close, they wouldn't look, you know, slightly ropey or they are. We build shows like this to last. So John McFarlane, as I mentioned, designed our Nutcracker, which we premiered in 1990.
And it still looks. as incredible as it did then. It has had a couple of refurbs and, you know, costumes have been mended along the way. We very much hope that Cinderella will have the same length. John takes a, a very involved role in the creation of his sets and costumes. It's absolutely not unknown for him to be at the production warehouse painting.
Backcloths himself, and he's very hands on with it and which is great because he really knows what he's doing. If you were to look up close, you would, you would really see that they truly are spectacular. They are the real deal, these things.
[00:04:10] Xan Phillips (Voice FM): Well, look it's interesting that you're mentioning the the costumes because it is a classic rags to riches story.
And as, as we all know with ballet, the movements are so fine and graceful. And this might be like a dumb question, but is it difficult to dance and get over the idea of someone being impoverished as Cinderella is for the beginning of the story?
[00:04:38] Kit Holder (BRB): Well, we're very, very lucky with this production because the, the creatives, both Sir David and John McFarlane really.
understand dance. So John has provided costumes. that work for dance. Not only do they look fantastic, they can be danced in. They don't cause any any restrictions or barriers to, to the dancers. And David is a phenomenal choreographer. He has an incredible gift for, a gift and a skill, I must say a skill, for telling stories through movement.
So although we have some incredible dancers and artists at Birmingham Royal Ballet, the choreography should do most of the work in terms of the storytelling. Certainly in this case, it absolutely does. David's a master.
[00:05:32] Xan Phillips (Voice FM): And. Some of the characters are going to be, some of the dancers are going to be characters wearing masks.
Maybe another dumb question, but when you're dancing with a mask on, is, is it a difficult, but also at the same time, is it more fun? Because in some respects you get a, a different face on, so therefore your, your movement actually has a a different responsibility or interpretation for the audience.
[00:06:00] Kit Holder (BRB): Yes, I think all of those things are true. We, there are a number of masks in this show. Me of them are full head masks. We have, for example, a frog who has a head it's a little like, it feels a little bit like one of the old diving masks. It's that kind of size. It's probably not as heavy. You do have a limited view.
And it does adjust the balance, but as you say, it can it can enhance the character a little bit and I must say this just reminded me that when we first started performing this show, the frog character appears towards the end of the first act. briefly reappears in the second act, doesn't appear in the third act.
We had complaints from audience members that the frog did not appear for the curtain calls, because for many people it was their favorite part of the show.
[00:06:58] Xan Phillips (Voice FM): Does the frog appear now or is that something we'll have to wait to see?
[00:07:02] Kit Holder (BRB): I believe now that the frog Does indeed appear in the curtain calls so that people can show their appreciation.
[00:07:11] Xan Phillips (Voice FM): But it's a bit frustrating for the lead dancers, but they got the guy in the frog is getting more cheers than they are.
[00:07:20] Kit Holder (BRB): Oh, I'm sure I'm sure they get there. I'm sure they get their appreciation.
[00:07:25] Xan Phillips (Voice FM): But you yourself though as, as, as we mentioned in the introduction, you were the former first soloist.
You've now moved to artistic coordinator and in sport, actually, we just seen Andy Murray go from player to coaching Novak Djokovic. So do you see similarities in what he's doing? And, and has that move been easier than you expected in the first place?
[00:07:54] Kit Holder (BRB): Wow, I would love to compare myself to Andy Murray.
That would be quite something. And although I did quote him, actually, we retired more or less the same time. And he famously put out something on social media that said he didn't like tennis much anyway. And I tried, I tried something very similar when I retired from performing. Didn't, didn't like performing much.
No, I think that Some people have a gift for passing on everything they've learned in their own careers and sharing their experience in a way that has value to other people. And, and others just don't, you know, just because you have been a top performer in whatever discipline that is, it doesn't necessarily mean that you have the ability and the skill to pass that on and to coach other people.
I'm certainly learning a lot. in this new role now. But I do rely a lot on my own experience, but that's my experience. It's not necessarily the experience of the dancers that I work with. So. I hope that they, they get value from my experience somehow.
[00:08:58] Xan Phillips (Voice FM): Well, it's because I was reading your biog on the Birmingham Royal Ballet's website, and I was really interested in the fact that you got a master's degree in sport and exercise psychology.
And is that something that You needed yourself as a dancer. Is that something that you help other dancers with? Because there's a lot of pressure as a ballet performer, because not only to get your body in top peak condition, but of course, you've, you've got to worry about your weight and your, and your shape.
So is that where something where that master's degree comes in handy?
[00:09:36] Kit Holder (BRB): Yes, it undoubtedly influences the way that I work with dancers. I think really in every aspect of the work I do with dancers, it helps. Whether that's around putting things in place, throughout the season to help dancers manage, for example, pre performance anxiety or motivation or various associated stresses.
You know, for example, the Cinderella tour, which opens in Southampton, runs until I believe the beginning of April. We do a lot of performances of it. It's tiring. It's exhausting. So dancers have to have a psychological skill set in place to ensure that between us all, we're delivering the standard of performance that Birmingham Royal Ballet audiences should expect.
Every single time that can be a challenge. I'm really proud and confident to say that we do do that. And I think as time goes on, we're learning more and more about all aspects of health and well being for dancers and how to safeguard our people here, dancers and all the rest of the departments of our organization all with the aim of delivering the performances to the best possible standard.
[00:11:09] Xan Phillips (Voice FM): Well, that's, that must be quite Not only satisfying, where you see it work so well on stage, but also a challenge behind stage. Because of course, you have to build yourself up to the part, you do the show, you're full of adrenaline when you come off. And then it's, I suppose, is that, is that the trickier part?
Is that after the show, managing that adrenaline late at night? Then making sure that the next day everyone is you know, any nooks, any, any, any aches or pains that looked after but also at the same time, just trying to get people back into the real world and then back into into make believe later that night.
[00:11:50] Kit Holder (BRB): Yeah, it is one of the challenges of, of our performance schedule, and I think touring can exacerbate that. Southampton, we're quite lucky, you know, after the performance, there's plenty of good places to get good quality food. The hotels are nice, you know, where Southampton isn't a challenge for us. But it can be, as you say, you know, you need to calm down after a show and recover, relax, make sure you're fueling the body up ready for the show.
next day's two performances. And it's something again, that in the company, we're trying to put everything in place to support dancers and make sure they've got all that knowledge and as much help as we can give them.
[00:12:33] Xan Phillips (Voice FM): So we're coming to the end and I've, I, I want to give you the opportunity to write because you know, when, when you, when you have a poster and this no doubt will say Cinderella by the Birmingham Royal Ballet.
And then underneath there's a quote, what would Kit Holder's quote be for this show?
[00:12:59] Kit Holder (BRB): Well, you know, the thing is, this, this, we're, we're in this post Christmas period now where everyone's a bit sort of post festive. And isn't Blue Monday is around this time of year and it's supposed to be one of the darkest, most downbeat points in the year.
And I, I think it's a perfect time, I genuinely believe this. It's a perfect time to come and watch a show like this. It's escapism. It's beautiful. And it's the best two and a half hours that you will have. this year, and it's the best two and a half hours to spend that money on this year. I personally guarantee that and if anybody wants to take me up on it, they can write to me at Birmingham Royal Ballet, tell me why they didn't agree.
[00:13:44] Xan Phillips (Voice FM): Fantastic. You're really, really putting your neck on the line there, aren't you? I believe
[00:13:51] Kit Holder (BRB): it. I do. I believe it.
[00:13:52] Xan Phillips (Voice FM): Brilliant. Well, Kit Holder, it's been a pleasure speaking with you. He's artistic coordinator at the Birmingham Royal Ballet, a former first soloist, and Cinderella opens its tour at Mayflower Theatre on Thursday, the 6th of February.
Kit, thank you very much for your time and we wish you best of luck with the tour.
[00:14:13] Kit Holder (BRB): Thank you so much.