It was a particular pleasure to welcome Sarah Kundi last Sunday as I have been following her for as long as I have been blogging on ballet. I admire her line as a dancer but also her ability to tell a story. She is an actor as much as she is a dancer and excels at both. Although Sarah comes from London she launched her career in Leeds. As a result, she has many friends in this region several of whom joined our Zoom meeting.
My first question to her was how she found living with us north country folk. Quite a lot so it seems though she spent a lot of time on tour. She already had a connection with Northern Ballet in that she trained at Central School of Ballet which had been founded b its director Christopher Gable. She joined Northern Ballet a few years after David Nixon had become artistic director. He was building up a portfolio of narrative ballets that suited her. It was not a foregone conclusion that she would come to Leeds. She also auditioned for Birmingham Royal Ballet. One of her favourite works is Scottish Dances by David Bintley. Happily, she chose us though our audience included three ballet goers from Birmingham who could not have shared our delight.
Though Sarah had enjoyed her time with us she wanted new challenges which she found with Ballet Black. That had been a very successful move for she was nominated for the National Dance Awards and features as "Dancer of the Month" in the Dancing Times. I was taking her through some of the roles she had danced when Gita Mistry unmuted herself exclaiming ."War Letters". That work by Christopher Marney had also been one of my favourites. Gita and I saw it for the first time at the Bernie Grant Centre in Tottenham. It was then and there that we met her mother and father.
Sarah's parents told us quite a lot about her early life and career on that occasion. They mentioned that their other daughter had a talent for dancing but she did seek a career on stage. However, Sarah did. She trained with some excellent teachers,. "Carole Gable?" I suggested. "Yes," she agreed but then listed several more. While she was at Central that she met Paul Chantry who partnered her in pas de deux classes. Paul went on to found Chantry Dance and Chantry School of Contemporary and Balletic Arts of which Sarah is a patron.
Sarah told is that she has always had an interest in education. She did some teaching for a few months after she left Ballet Black. I told her about my shock when the company visited Leeds and we found that she was no longer with them. Gita found that Sarah had joined MurleyDance. The very next day I wrote Something to brighten up your Friday - MurleyDance is coming to the North 8 Nov 2013 in Terpsichore. That company did indeed visit Leeds at the end of November ad I met a whole new set of talented young artists including David Murley.
Sarah moved again in 2014 and this time we thought we had lost her for good. She had been taken on by English National Ballet for their Romeo and Juliet in the round at the Albert Hall. We feared that this would be the last time we would ever see her as she had a job offer in Spain. Fortunately, she was offered a full-time contract by ENB which saved her for the nation.
She has been with ENB for nearly 6 years in which she has been cast in some really meaty roles. These include Madge in La Sylphide, Myrtha in Akram Khan's Giselle and my favourites Lady Capulet in Romeo and Juliet (see Manchester's Favourite Ballet Company 29 Nov 2015 Terpsichore) and Hortensia in Christopher Wheeldon's Cinderella in the Albert Hall where she literally stole then show.
Questions from the audience included "How she found working with Akram Khan". Sarah was full of praise, particularly at the speed at which she worked. Sarah Lambert asked Sarah Kundi about her music. The answer is that she enjoys the piano and is getting on very well. I asked her about her remaining ambitions. She would love the opportunity to dance to Juliet and I think she would dance it well. In the longer term, she is interested in teaching and she has already taught at a high level. Gita asked Sarah for some advice on planking. Sarah gave Gita a target time to hold the position and suggested that she should add an extra 5 second to her time every so often. Gita shared one of her recipes with Sarah which I shall post to the Powerhouse Ballet website.
I explained that although we don't charge for the Zoom meeting we do invite participants to contribute to a dance charity. Sarah's is her company and I invite all Sarah's many friends to dig deep to support that cause.
This week we welcome the internationally acclaimed accompanist, David Plumpton who was supposed to visit us on 17 May 2020. We now have a backup plan if Zoom plays up again. We look forward to seeing you at the Stage Door on 7 June at 15:00.
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