Knowing Haworth intimately

Tourism is once again discussed in Brontë Country, as reported by The Telegraph and Argus:

Tourism guardians want to get “under the skin” of the tourist havens of Haworth, Ilkley and Otley.
They want residents to help visitors get a true sense of the places, beyond the likes of the world famous Bronte Parsonage Museum, the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway and Ilkley Moor.
West Yorkshire Tourism Partnership and Welcome to Yorkshire are collecting the information to build up an intimate picture of the areas.
And their inhabitants are being asked to share their ideas of what makes them special and so help to generate more income from visitors. Tony Venables at Venables Bainbridge Books in Main Street, Haworth, said: “There is nowhere else like this place. It’s a bit bohemian. It’s not just the tourist elements – we all know about that.
“What visitors don’t see is the community which is so diverse. It’s attracted a lot of interesting and intelligent people to come and live here – you just have to visit the Fleece pub and speak to locals and you’ll find lecturers, architects, artists and musicians.”
For Barbara Pearson, of Mytholmes, Haworth, who has lived in the area for most of her life, it is the moors and those other areas most visitors do not see. “Like The Goit, a walk along the side of the railway which takes you to Oxenhope. Visitors just don’t get there,” she said.
Nick Hindle, of the Fleece pub, has been a resident for eight years and for him it is the local characters who add spice.
He said: “There are some really interesting people which helps add to the sense of community you get here.”
Project manager Susan Briggs said: “The first part of this is to find out ‘what makes the area special’ from the point of view of the people who know it best – the residents.
“We’re asking for information about quirky or interesting or just favourite things about the area to help tourists really get a true sense of place.
“It may be a great view from an unusual vantage point, a fantastic farm shop or hidden gallery or perhaps a walk that only locals know about.”
The information would be collated to build an intimate picture of the area which would be made available to businesses to help them develop the area’s sustainable tourism, she added.
“Working out the small details that fit together to give the area its character and ‘sense of place’ means that visitors will get a better feel for ‘Pennine Yorkshire’, developing a real affinity for the area and hopefully staying longer and spending more.”
Anyone with a view can e-mail susan@tourismnetwork.co.uk or visit the website knowpennineyorkshire.com.

As opposed to this, though, News of the World (Fabulous Mag) stays rather on the surface of things:

The county is also steeped in culture, and has been home to many a famous face. The literary Bronte family lived at the parsonage in the pretty village of Haworth (www.haworth-village.co.uk) and its cobbled high street now houses an array of one-off shops and cute tea rooms.

Another place of Brontë pilgrimage these days could be Edinburgh, which is currently home to the Wuthering Heights adaptation by Northern Theatre Ballet. As The Herald Scotland says,

Music was the inspiring nudge that led David Nixon to choreograph a full-length version of Wuthering Heights for Northern Theatre Ballet (NBT).
The question has to be asked. Was it the Kate Bush song? Did all those plaintive, high-pitched whoopings of ‘ It’s me-e-e-e, Cathe-e-e-e...’ pirouette into his imagination, make him think that the Emily Bronte novel could translate into two acts of wind-swept love, thwarted happiness, cruel despair and eventual tragedy?
“Do you know, I’ve never heard that song,” he laughs. “Not then, when I’d only just joined Northern Ballet, and was thinking about repertoire and what I might make for the company. And not even now, when we have revived Wuthering Heights and taken it out on tour again. Should I have? Would it have made a difference to the choreo­graphy?” And artistic director Nixon laughs again, because there is, actually, a story behind the music.
He explains that originally the composer Claude-Michel Schonberg – already known for such hit musicals as Les Miserables, Miss Saigon and Martin Guerre – had created the score for another company, another choreographer.
“Claude-Michel wrote the first draft for Derek Deane and English National Ballet. But by the time he’d finished, Deane was no longer with the company. They had a new artistic director, plans had changed, they weren’t interested in doing a version of Wuthering Heights.”
But some quick-thinking person joined up various dots: put Nixon, Northern Ballet Theatre, Emily Bronte and Yorkshire into the same loop and suggested that Schonberg send this, his first-ever attempt at a ballet score, to Nixon.
“As soon as I listened to it, I loved it. Absolutely loved it,” says Nixon. “I started reading the book again – maybe didn’t quite realise how appropriate the Yorkshire connection would be for us... I’d only been with the company a matter of months, I wasn’t thinking in those ‘Leeds-specific’ terms.
“Actually, I was caught up in what direction I should go in with any new choreography. We’d started out with a couple of my existing works, but it was important to do something new for this company I had agreed to direct. By the time I met up with Claude-Michel, I felt sure that I had not just the right music and the right story, but the right cast. And I still look back and think we pulled together a great piece in 2002 – although, being honest with you, the revival we started touring last year has been much more successful with critics and audiences. I’d like to think that’s because we, as a company, are in much better shape – and recognised in terms of what we do, not in terms of what anyone else does.”
It’s a “Heathcliff” moment, this whiff of impatience that NBT’s achievements as a briskly touring company are so regularly rated against what goes on-stage at the Royal Ballet in Covent Garden. Nixon doesn’t seem prone to volatile hissy fits – and yes, it’s tempting to ascribe his affable, courteous style to his being Canadian. But the Canucks’ recent Winter Olympics mindset of “own the podium” is maybe discernible in the way he chafes against the still-prevailing London-centric view that quality diminishes the further away from the capital you train and perform.
“I do think that what we do is of tremendous value to the whole dance scene in Britain,” he says. “And I think our 40th anniversary last year might have brought that home to some people.” And there it is: the ‘home’ word. In the course of this year, NBT will move into their long-awaited, purpose-built home, and Nixon is understandably enthusiastic, relieved.
“We’ve waited and we’ve waited, ” he says. “It was supposedly ready to go forward when I arrived at NBT in 2001. It didn’t. More timelines were put in place. Still nothing. And I’ve been quite upset at how long we’ve had to wait, because the world keeps changing. Plans fall by the wayside, ideas lose their point –the moment goes, the people leave. You’re asking dancers to work in spaces that aren’t properly heated, with facilities that are inadequate.”
The wait, however, will be worth it. Nixon’s undoubted pleasure in the structure can’t be disguised. “It’s stunning. When you stand inside the building, it’s just so... dance-ish. Because it’s all studios. There are offices, tech spaces and so forth but the dominating feature is a stack of dance studios. It really is, I think, a flagship building for the whole community. Something that positions Leeds as a city where dance happens. A city that – and I know opinions will differ on this – can claim to be the country’s top dance city outside of London.”
And that claim, like Schonberg’s score for Wuthering Heights, is very sweet music to Nixon’s ears. (Mary Brennan)

Minnesota Reads uncovers a new Brontëite: author Swati Avasthi.

If your favorite author came to Minnesota, who would it be and what bar would you take him/her to?
I’m not sure Emily Bronte would fit in the Minneapolis bar scene. I’d probably take her up north and try to cheer her up with some of Betty’s Pies and the soothing waters of Lake Superior. (Jodi Chromey)

That's definitely more like her!

Another author interviewed today is Angela Morrison on The Story Siren:

Is there a different genre that you'd like to write?
Maybe one you'd like to stay away from?I DO write other genres. I am revising two very different romantic novels. The first is a historical YA called MY ONLY LOVE inspired by my Scottish coal mining ancestors' emigration story. It is to die for heartbreaking. And the second is a time-slip novel, MY TIME ASSASSIN, that I'm turning upside down. I'm adding a Bronte-esque heroine to the mix. Think, Jane Eyre meets the Terminator--but my assassin ain't no robot.

The Dakota Student includes a strong-principles kind of declaration:

I'd much rather spend time with people who can laugh at Jane Eyre puns than those who think Mitch Albom fills their culture quota. (Erin Lord)

And one of those myths that turn up from time to time: Branwell Brontë dying standing up, this time brought to you by Who2? (And Somerset Maugham, apparently). It was, in fact, one of Mrs Gaskell hearsay stories with not a grain of truth in it.

The Huffington Post mentions in passing Wuthering High by Cara Lockwood. And Modoration says briefly that the Brontë sisters may have been the inspiration behind Chekhov’s The Three Sisters.

On the blogosphere, Luetut 2006-2010 writes about Agnes Grey in Finnish and Serendipity reviews Rachel Ferguson's The Brontës Went to Woolworths.

Categories: Branwell Brontë, Brontëites, Dance, Haworth, Wuthering Heights