Word has spread about the Bolshoi Ballet – Live in HD series at Queen's Film Theatre. Queues are long and form early, and there's no point in turning up without a ticket. The crowd of ballet aficionados, new and old, are in comradely good spirits for the now regular Sunday afternoon celebration of the art form.

Le Corsaire was originally created for the Paris Opera Ballet by Joseph Mazilier in 1856, inspired by an epic poem of the same title by Lord Byron. Its Bolshoi premiere was two years later in Moscow, and, after being reimagined by Alexei Ratmansky and Yuri Burklava, the current incarnation of the ballet is widely acknowledged as the most sumptuous version ever.

After the customary peek back-stage, the curtain rises on a teeming bazaar and slave market somewhere on the Barbary Coast of north Africa. Impossibly jolly slave girls primp and preen and flirt to get the best deal for their masters. The colourful scene unfolds against huge, hand-painted backcloths depicting the minarets and domed palaces clustered around a busy harbour.

These gorgeous works of art by set designer Boris Kaminsky lend the production a bewitchingly old fashioned flavour. It is far removed from the computerised designs and lifelike three-dimensional effects more frequently presented to modern day audiences.  

Amongst all the hustle and bustle of the bazaar, a band of swashbuckling pirates disembarks. They are led by the dashing eponymous corsair Conrad (Ruslan Skvortsov). The gaggle of girls jostle either to catch a pirate’s roving eye or to join the harem of the absurd, lecherous Pasha, but one figure remains aloof.

She is the Greek beauty Medora (Svetlana Lunkina), whose guardian is intent on selling her to the Pasha in return for untold treasures.  Inevitably Medora and Conrad fall instantly in love and the story of their passionate but dangerous relationship unfolds over the course of the next three and a half hours.

Lunkina and Skvortsov make a glamorous couple. Their good looks and technical brilliance forge a genuine stage partnership of equals. This is particularly evident in the celebrated Corsaire Pas de Deux. They depart on a voyage across mountainously craggy seas to a gloomy towering cavern, where treacherous plots of murder and kidnap are hatched against them.  

The path of true love, of course, does not run smoothly. Medora finds herself in the very place she hoped to avoid – the opulent seraglio of the Pasha.

This is the setting for three of the ballet’s spectacular set pieces: the 'Pas d’Esclave', the 'Pas de Trois des Odalisques' (prettily danced by a trio of young soloists) and the heart-stopping 'Le Jardin Animé'. The last is perhaps the most striking. It is a frothy, pastel coloured feast of flower garlands and ivory voile tutus, performed by more than 30 dancers.

Praise must also go to the enchanting Nina Kaptsova, last seen as Maria in the Nutcracker. She is perfectly cast here as the pert, mischievous Gulnare, who volunteers to swap identities with the veiled Medora at her hastily arranged wedding to the, by now, utterly bewildered Pasha.

This feast of storytelling, pantomime tradition and sublime dance reaches its climax in a dramatic shipwreck, in which a great galleon cracks asunder before our eyes. But, unlike, Byron’s poem, the ending is a happy one. Medora and Conrad are washed up safely on a sandy beach in an emotional show-stopping finale. The audiences in Moscow and Belfast are simultaneously drained of emotion and speechless with admiration.

For more information on The Bolshoi Ballet Live in HD Season in Belfast go to Queen's Film Theatre's website.

Even on the surface, the human body is a baffling piece of mechanical engineering. But peel back the layers, strip it back to its basic component parts, and a precisely organised web of cells and molecules, tendons and ligaments and joints is revealed.

A major part of Wayne McGregor’s recent creative work has centred on collaborations with cognitive scientists, investigating the inner and outer workings of flesh and blood, blurring the divisions between art, science and mathematics and examining the perfectly coordinated way in which the body operates.

In 2004, he became a research fellow in the experimental psychology department of Cambridge University – a somewhat unusual departure for a dancer. Indeed, career-wise, McGregor has trodden where few have gone before. He is regarded with awe and wonder in the world of contemporary dance.

He formed Random Dance in 1992 as the instrument for evolving his now famously fast, articulate choreographic style, with its beautiful classical overtones. And in 2006, the circle was closed when he was appointed resident choreographer of The Royal Ballet.

A frisson of excitement inevitably surrounds a Random Dance performance. One never knows quite what to expect. The inspiration and title of its latest piece, FAR is taken from Flesh in the Age of Reason, Roy Porter’s weighty history of 18th century explorations into body and soul.

McGregor was drawn to its enquiries into movement, thought and emotion, evoking the spirit of the Age of Enlightenment, when intricate anatomical drawings and microscopic analysis raised all kinds of intellectual and philosophical questions about the meaning and composition of life itself.

In an hour of continuous, high-energy performance at the Waterfront Hall, ten extraordinary dancers, all clearly attuned to the mindset and creative vision of their director, give physical expression to a series of searching, abstract concepts surrounding the soul, human consciousness, the coordination of head, heart and psyche.

If it sounds impossibly difficult to get to grips with, well, in many ways it is. There will be those who will lose patience, who will deem this dance genre to be self-indulgent, inaccessible, cold, distant.

Those judgements will not be helped by a clinically stark set, backed by a steel curtain dotted with 100 tiny neon-lit tubes. McGregor’s style is not about pretty pictures and feel-good experiences but about high-tech presentation, intellectual challenge and supremely brilliant dance.

The piece opens in darkness, with four black-clad figures bearing flaming torches onto the stage. The soaring operatic score, composed by Ben Frost, tells us that 'we were not stocks and stones… nor are we angels… but men clothed with bodies and governed by our imagination'.

And the next 60 minutes proceed to illustrate the argument, as the soundscape becomes intense and electronic, then sweet and folksy and Lucy Carter’s astonishing lighting design takes us into other worlds and realities.

Barely clad in natural earth and flesh tones, the dancers whirl and whiplash through a mind-boggling series of non-stop sequences, twisting and weaving their bodies into impossible, gravity defying multiple shapes, redolent of images viewed through a microscope in a laboratory.

At its height, it is a challenge to keep track of where the whole thing is going, but the ending is simple – a motionless body, devoid of soul and strength, abandoned on a darkening stage.

FAR is certainly not everyone’s idea of a night out at a dance show, but one would have to go far, very far, to witness dancing and choreography of this intensity and sublime quality. It’s a real Ulster Bank Belfast Festival at Queen's event, the kind of performance, for better or worse, that you simply don’t see anywhere else at any other time of year.

Check out What's On for information on all other Belfast Festival events.

Most people’s life stories evolve gradually over a period of years and often don’t amount to anything of great global significance. Moya Doherty’s already successful life story exploded into the stratosphere in the course of just six minutes in 1994.

Doherty is the latest guest in the University of Ulster’s Life Stories series, which hosts one-to-one conversations with prominent graduates from the world of arts and culture. Doherty will be talking to Professor Paul Moore about her childhood in County Donegal, the jet-setting existence she leads today and, inevitably, the R word – Riverdance.

Doherty was RTE’s executive producer on the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest in Dublin, charged with conceiving a spectacular piece of entertainment to bridge the gap between the songs and the judging. That earth-shattering performance has since developed into a hugely lucrative global industry. Yet does she ever wishes it would go away and drown itself?

'Ah no, not at all,' she laughs.  'It does cast a very long shadow but that’s the power and the nature of the piece. It has been a joy and such an extraordinary journey. Maybe it has prevented us who are involved from expressing ourselves in other ways, because you’re so overshadowed by it – but who’s to tell?'

It certainly isn't something that Doherty expects to happen again.

'It was a moment of alchemy, a mixture of history, politics, entertainment, energy, new beginnings ... everything. Those of us who engaged on that journey came from such different places and spaces. It’s remarkable how life can just tackle you like that, disarm you.'

Doherty registers as a practical, pragmatic person, adept at making the most of every opportunity. Her parents were teachers in rural Donegal, who subsequently moved to work in Dublin, Her earliest ambition was to become an actress.

'In those days, you didn’t have the media and communications and acting courses you have now, so my learning was very much on the ground,' she reflects. 'My university degree was four years spent in RTE, working my way up through the system from secretary to executive producer of the Eurovision – and presenting along the way. Those were fantastically heady days. It was amazing not only that those opportunities were open, but open to a young woman.

'Before going to RTE I spent some time with TEAM educational theatre company, as I really wanted desperately to act. But after a year with them, I realised how darned hard it was. The money was shockingly poor and you had to be strong and courageous enough to take constant rejection. Then, I always questioned if I was good enough.

'It’s something I would love to return to. The great sadness is I don’t think a woman in her fifties could go back to acting if she hasn’t done it for 30 years, because it’s a layer upon layer of experience that you gain and garner. The thing is, in my mind, I’d still want to play Ophelia and Juliet and I hardly think that’s going to happen now!'

Doherty is a shining example of the busy woman syndrome, juggling a high-powered international career with family life. Beside her, through all the highs and the lows, has been her husband and business partner John McColgan.

'Any woman who works knows that experience,' she says.  'In many ways though, it collided with the years my children were very small and that was heart-wrenching for me, because what I did involved a lot of travel. There was the balance of pursuing this huge juggernaut while managing the preciousness of those years with children. But both of us being in it together meant that we could support each other, carve out the work and understand the needs of both business and home.'

She is in the throes of preparing for the Global Irish Economic Conference to be held next day in Dublin Castle and at which former American President Bill Clinton would give the closing address. She has met him on a number of occasions and amusingly recalls a conversation, at which her uncanny ability to spot a winner was much in evidence.

'It was immediately after Barack Obama had spoken for the first time at the Democratic conference in Massachusetts. A group of us were talking about the upcoming presidential campaign and who would the Democrats field. I said what about Barack Obama and several people asked who he was. I’ll never forget President Clinton’s line. He said, "oh, he’s a little-known Senator from Illinois." Life is a curious thing, isn’t it?'

Life Stories with Moya Doherty takes place in the Great Hall of the University of Ulster’s Magee campus in Derry on October 12 at 8.00 pm. For reservations call 028 71675456.

It is a near certainty that the vast majority of ballet lovers hold in their hearts the ambition to be present at a live performance by the Bolshoi Ballet. Now, thanks to a creatively bold and technologically brilliant development, we are able to do just that – and without even stepping far beyond our own doorstep.

Beginning this month and running until June 2012, Bolshoi Ballet – Live in HD allows audiences in Ireland and across the world into a full season of work direct from its famous theatre in the heart of Moscow.

Queen’s Film Theatre in Belfast is one of seven venues in Ireland receiving this simultaneous satellite feed, which admits audiences not only into the glittering auditorium, but also into the orchestra pit, the scene dock and even behind the curtain during intermissions, where the backstage crew orchestrate the complex routine of scene changes.

We are also given the freedom to wander through the foyer areas in the company of our Russian counterparts, and to stand outside in the maelstrom of traffic roaring around the gilded domes and concrete office blocks of downtown Moscow.

The State Academic Bolshoi Theatre of Russia was established in 1776 and remains one of the country’s major cultural symbols. It is revered in the ballet world for its strict adherence to the classical technique and a repertoire largely devoted to the masterpieces of the Russian musical theatre of the 19th and 20th centuries.

A massive programme of renovation on the historic building is drawing to a close, and the next ballet in the series, Tchaikowsky’s Sleeping Beauty, will be the first production on the Bolshoi’s gloriously restored original stage.

But to begin at the beginning, Esmeralda is the first in the series. This three-act ballet was inspired by Victor Hugo’s celebrated novel Notre Dame de Paris, choreographed by Jules Perrot, with music by Cesare Pugni. It was first presented in London in 1844, then revised in 1886 by the great Russian choreographer, Marius Petipa, for the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre (better known as the Kirov).

Two leading members of the current generation of choreographers, Yuri Burlaka and Vasily Medvedev, have collaborated on this sparkling new version. High on their list of priorities was to celebrate the large number of colourful roles in Perrot’s original, and to showcase the stunning technical abilities of each member of the Bolshoi cast, from soloists to corps de ballet.

Thanks to the high definition pictures, superb sound quality and sensitive close-up camera angles, audiences are able to experience every nuance of Pugni’s sublime score – beautifully played by the Bolshoi orchestra conducted by Pavel Klinicjev – every fleeting expression on the dancers’ faces and the dazzling technique of these supreme artistes.

Prima ballerina, Maria Alexandrova, as Esmeralda is, quite simply, in a class of her own. A gypsy Esmeralda may be, but Alexandrova’s fine-boned features and imperious bearing bring a unique quality to the intriguing combination of folk and classical dance, punctuated by castanets and tambourines.

Her first encounter with Ruslan Skvortsov’s Phoebus, the handsome army captain who gives her his scarf and his heart, is a meltingly tender affair. As the tangled tale of unrequited passion unfolds, their strong, trusting stage partnership blooms into a love affair with the audience. At the final curtain call, it is hard to let them go.

Rising star Ekaterina Krysanova sets the pulse racing as Phoebus’s innocent young bride Fleur de Lys, devastated when she realises her betrothed has pinned his colours to another mast. She performs a heart-stopping series of pas de bourrees with incredible strength, finesse and concentration. It is matched only by Alexandrova’s swooning response to their marriage, which leaves her, quite literally, dead inside.

The gorgeous sets take us right into the heart of old Paris: to the stained glass splendour of Sainte Chapelle, the narrow cobbled streets of the Latin Quarter, the medieval Hotel de Cluny, out of whose tapestries emerges a stunning pas de deux between Diana, goddess of the hunt, and the huntsman Actaeon.

And over it all hovers the majestic façade of Notre Dame, the atmospheric setting for Hugo’s great novel, a wonderful ballet and this landmark performance.

Sleeping Beauty, the next in the Bolshoi Ballet – Live in HD series will be screened live at QFT on Sunday 20 November.

Maiden Voyage Dance Company is ten years old. For over 20 years, its founder and artistic director Nicola Curry has witnessed the stop-start progress of dance in Northern Ireland, along what has sometimes been a rocky road.

Like many of her peers, she cut her teeth with Ulster Youth Dance, under the inspirational leadership of internationally renowned choreographer Royston Maldoom. From the age of five, she had taken ballet classes at home in Armagh and then in Portadown and vividly remembers those early encounters with the brave new world of contemporary dance.

'I was 16 when I joined Ulster Youth Dance,' she recalls. 'It was very important to a whole generation of young dancers. It gave us the confidence to believe that it might actually be possible to have a career in contemporary dance. I was also involved with Irish Youth Dance in Dublin, where I met people like Liz Roche (of Rex Levitates), with whom I’ve worked many times over the years.

'They were halcyon days. I had the amazing experience of performing in huge productions like Royston’s Carmina Burana in the King’s Hall and at the 1996 Belfast Festival in Wayne McGregor’s Cyber Generation.'

She grins and notes that none of them knew then that Wayne would become one of the giants of the dance world.


'Those performances generated massive audiences for dance in Belfast. Companies from across the water like Phoenix and DV8 and Diversions came here regularly and made a big impression. But then the funding dropped off and the whole thing was in danger of withering away.'

Indeed, Curry’s own career might have taken a similar turn. On leaving school, she was offered a place at the prestigious Laban Conservatoire in London, but her local authority would not support her financially. Instead, she studied law at Queen’s University and then signed up for a Masters in intellectual property.

But the urge to dance would not go away. Fearful of missing her chance, she quit her law studies and went to Limerick to do a Masters in dance performance.

Three years as an arts administrator at Young at Art during the early years gave her the business expertise to strike out and set up her own company. In 2001, Maiden Voyage took its first faltering steps.

'There were not many dance companies around at the time,' Curry says. 'Echo Echo was in Derry and a few others had started up but had not lasted. Of one thing I was certain, I wanted Maiden Voyage to be a Belfast company.

'For the first four years, our funding was entirely project-based. We had no office, I was the only staff member and I danced myself – although I sometimes wondered if I was too old!'

Over the years – and under Curry’s solo stewardship – Maiden Voyage has put down deep roots, dividing its activities into three strands: commissioning and producing new work, professional development, and outreach and education workshops.

It has notched up an impressive set of production credits – including last year’s massively popular Best - and Curry takes justifiable pride in the volume of quality new work commissioned and the creative teams involved.

'Funds are short and it’s difficult to make new work here, but we have been fortunate in attracting so many top composers, dancers and choreographers to join us. It’s also satisfying to give professional opportunities to young dancers and choreographers, who are from or based here,' she says.

'One of my favourite pieces is 4 Quartets, which was based on TS Eliot’s beautiful poem, composed by Neil Martin and choreographed by four people with whom I’ve worked many times. One of them, Susannah McCreight, is doing a big new piece for us for 2012, with music by Brian Irvine. We’re really excited about that.'

While Curry is now focusing her attention on restructuring and expanding the company, she also has something rather more jolly on her packed agenda. Maiden Voyage’s birthday falls over the weekend of October 22 and 23, coinciding with its performances in the Ulster Museum during the Belfast Festival at Queen’s.

'This is the second year of our Dance Exposed project at the Museum, in which we’ve commissioned contrasting pieces from a local and a European choreographer, Stevie Prickett and Filip Van Huffel from Belgium,' Curry explains.  'But, we do have a bit of a break between performances, so I think we’ll probably take the opportunity to fit in some birthday cake and a bit of a hooley.'

Free Dance Exposed performances will take place in the foyer of the Ulster Museum at 11:15, 12:15, 14:15 and 15:15 as part of the Ulster Bank Belfast Festival at Queen's. For more information check out CultureNorthernIreland's What's On.

'From climbing, investigating rocks, and crawling underneath things, we’ve created dance!'

Freelance choreographer Esther Alleyne, from Coleraine, didn’t know what to expect when she and her colleague, Yorkshire-born choreographer Bridget Madden, travelled down to Inishowen recently. But what they experienced was a real challenge.

For two weeks, Steve Batts of the Echo Echo Theatre & Dance Company joined forces with Belfast-based climber and artist Dan Shipsides for Phase One of Vertical.Nature.Base (V.N.B.), a camping project.

The camp, which took place at Shroove Beach near Greencastle, saw Shipsides, Batts and several others explore climbing both as a sport and a creative activity. Alleyne and Madden were two of the numerous participants involved.

Their work and research culminated in the construction of a metallic platform on the site. During that two week time period, Alleyne and Madden gained a feel of rock climbing – the sense, the taste, the touch and so on.

Then they replicated it all over again for Phase Two of V.N.B. This time, the platform was transported to Echo Echo Dance’s Bishop Street Studios in Derry-Londonderry for a series of dance performances at the end of September.

Describing the fruits of their labours, Alleyne says: 'We’ve kind of been working on embodying the landscape. That’s what we’re doing on the floor in Derry; translating our experience on Shroove Beach and putting it on the platform for everyone to see.

'It’s been an amazing experience.'

It’s as if a new form of dance has been created from climbing and research. And Madden shares her colleague’s enthusiasm, considering herself 'fortunate' to have worked in such gorgeous surroundings.

'The key to our research was to go down there with a real openness and awareness, to not bring any baggage from, I guess, the suburban world,' adds Madden. 'City life and outdoor life are very different.'

Shipsides, a highly respected artist, is pleased that the project attracted such a vast range of participants. 'Some knew about Echo Echo, others were interested in my work. Then you had dancers, contemporary visual artists and climbers. A whole mixture of the general public got involved.'

It’s a new and exciting experience for Shipsides to work with a dance company. To him, though, Echo Echo are more than that: 'They focus more on movement, which is what my work’s about. It’s not about what you see, it’s how you engage and interact with what you see.'

The project is part of Echo Echo’s Into Contact and is funded by Legacy Trust UK’s Connections programme in Northern Ireland. The idea for V.N.B. came about from the need to do something with climbing that was also unique.

Through this project, Shipsides and Batts have made it their mission to explore the deeper resonances and textures of climbing as an activity.

A series of exhibitions, practice climbs and discussions between the two men culminated in an exhibition in Inishowen, and the Derry dance performances.

It is hoped that these dance performances will expand movement as a poetic medium, and people of all ages were encouraged to get involved.

Batts, Echo Echo’s Artistic Director, is thrilled to have someone of Shipsides’ calibre on board for V.N.B., describing him as 'a very good camper', and more: 'He’s tidy, he’s efficient, an early riser and very good natured. We have a shared interest in exploring the outdoors, although he’s possibly more practical than I am!'

Echo Echo’s Development Officer Sarah Bryden concurs. 'It’s been a privilege to work with a fine artist such as Dan Shipsides to create this platform. This unique approach has yielded very interesting results.'

Visit Echo Echo Dance Company online.