Powerhouse Ballet January Update

Fiona Noonan

On 16 Sept Terry Etheridge held a workshop in Leeds where he created a beautiful ballet for us.  He invited not only the dancers he had selected for the piece at an audition that we had held the previous day but also everyone who had attended the audition. It was a glorious day and it was then that we became a company. We had come from different adult ballet classes from across the North of England and North Wales. Although we had been very courteous to each other we had flocked to our own groups. All this changed at the workshop. Everyone chatted to everyone else. I sensed that some real friendships were being formed.

Those friendships were reinformed the very next week when Yvonne Charlton visited us in Liverpool.  I described her visit as Our Best Day Yet in a post to the company's website.  I wrote:

"I have already received requests to bring Yvonne back to the UK. In response to those requests, I have asked her whether she would like to license us to perform her work so that we could add it to out repertoire. She has no objection in principle and is prepared to return for an audition and workshop similar to the one we did with Terry Etheridge in Leeds."

Yvonne is coming back on 23 Feb 2019 when she will take the company class ar the Dancehouse Studios between 13:30 and 15:00. The next day she will teach us one of her ballets at Dance Studio Leeds between 09:00 and 14:00. Her music is Morning Mood from Grieg's Peer Gynt.  Alena Panasenka, one of Northern Ballet's accompanists, will play for us.

Yvonne has to catch a plane to Amsterdam immediately after her workshop so she cannot coach us but Fiona Noonan has very kindly agreed to do so. Fiona was the teacher who led me back to ballet after many years and I shall always be grateful to her for that.  She attended Terry's audition on 15 Sept and danced with us at our workshop with Ballet Cymru on 28 Nov 2018 (see More than a Bit Differently: Ballet Cymru's Workshop and the Launch of the Powerhouse Ballet Circle 29 Nov 2018). Last Saturday Fiona gave us an excellent company class.  It was one of the hardest classes I have ever done because we started with centre barre to develop our strength.  However, it paid dividends when we tackled pirouettes and a balancé, pas de bourré, pirouettes, dedans and dehors enchainment.

Many of the members of our company train regularly at KNT Danceworks which holds classes in the Dancehouse's studios every day of the week except Sundays and public holidays. KNT's principal is Karen Sant and she gave us one of our best company classes ever on 1 Dec 2018.  KNT is about to celebrate its 10th anniversary with a gala at the Dancehouse on 4 May 2019 the tickets for which are already on sale.  Karen has kindly invited Powerhouse Ballet to premiere the ballet that Terry Etheridge has created for us at her gala as her special guests.  As KNT has been listed in several publications as one of the top adult ballet classes in the UK this is a singular honour which I acknowledged on the company's website on 25 Jan 2019.

We now have to rehearse in earnest and our next rehearsal is fixed for 10 Feb 2019 at 15:00 at York St John University. We will of course also hold rehearsals of Morning Mood and Fiona will suggest dates, times and venues after Yvonne's workshop,  As we are as much a North Wales company as a Northern English one we are planning a day-long workshop in Mold which Martin Dutton of the Hammond has already agreed to teach.  We shall hold company classes at the end of each month and I have already booked our Jane Tucker for our anniversary class.

If our debut goes well we shall convert into a charitable incorporated organization and seek funding from Arts Council England and maybe the Arts Council of Wales, the National Lottery and other organizations.  As part of our social mission, we shall perform at hospitals, care homes and other institutions whose residents do not get many opportunities to watch dance.

Several readers have asked, "what has happened to my dance reviews?" The fact is that I have not seen any ballet since Birmingham Royal Ballet's performance of The Nutcracker in the Albert Hall. Talk about Dry January. I have been so busy with Powerhouse I have had little time for anything else.  But all that will change as of tomorrow when I shall see Scottish Ballet's Cinderella in Newcastle and Saturday when I shall see The Nutcracker by Ballet West in Stirling.   

Coming Down to Earth Gently

After Saturday's performance another member of the cast wrote:

"For me I was a little disappointed, it was a lovely moment dancing on that stage with such lovely people but it all ended so quickly, I almost felt robbed. I have thoroughly enjoyed learning and dancing that enchainement to “Return of the Maxim” with you and the other ladies of Northern ,,,,,,,,,,,,"

I know what she means. I also experienced a tinge of sadness as I scuttled off the stage after the reverence and mounted the stairs to the landing where we had left our clothes. But it was short lived for there were so many delights and diversions afterwards: flowers from Mel and another bunch yesterday from Vlad the Lad and his Mum and Dad yesterday, hugs from my friends and family, lovely texts, tweets and emails from all over the world (especially after Mel's review appeared), a scrumptious meal at the Wardrobe with Vlad the Lad, his Mum and Dad and Mel, the delight on Vlad's face when I presented him with Anna Kemp's "Dogs Don't Do Ballet", a house full of guests and a child's laughter and, perhaps best of all yesterday's 10th Anniversary CAT Gala at the Stanley and Audrey Burton Theatre,

The afternoon began with the thrill of meeting Kenneth Tindall who approached me as I was waiting for Mel in the foyer. I recognized him because I had seen him on stage many times but he seemed to know who I was for he greeted me very cordially. "How are you doing?" he asked "Were you dancing yesterday? How did you find it?" I told him that I enjoyed performing very much and that it was very different from a rehearsal even in the theatre. "Yes" he agreed. The thrill of being in the presence of an audience always raises one's performance and one never loses that thrill however often one performs.

Shortly afterwards we were led upstairs to one of the rehearsal studios where there were tables groaning with sandwiches, scones and dainty cakes.  Kenneth Tindall invited Mel to sit next to him on his table and I sat next to her. Also next to Tindall was Natalie Russell who was one of my favourite dancers and whose little boy Charlie made friends with Vlad the Lad while waiting to see our show. I was joined by Laraine Penson whom I had met at Northern Ballet's business breakfast on 23 Sept 2013 (see "The Things I do for my Art: Northern Ballet's Breakfast Meeting" 23 Sept 2013). Connexions of Matthew Topliss who had also danced at that event were on the other side of our table. Last but by no means least, Cara O'Shea sat with us for a little while. I can attest that she is a fine teacher for I have actually had the pleasure of attending one of her classes (see "A Treat For Us Old Ladies" 27 Feb 2014).

We were each offered a flute of champagne with which our table toasted the CAT and looked forward to the next 10 years. While we were tucking into our cakes and scones we were joined briefly by David Nixon (whom I had met briefly the day before on the landing after the show) and later the wonderful Yoko Ichino who sat on our table for a few minutes. It is always a thrill to meet a ballerina but Ichino is special. I must be one of the few people in England to have seen her dance in the USA and I remember her appearance to this day. I blurted out how much I loved her performance, a compliment that she had accepted with the utmost grace. But I had also seen Ichino in February (see "Northern Ballet Open Day" 16 Feb 2014) and it was the thrill of seeing her and Cara teach that prompted me to become a Friend of the Academy as well as the company.

After the meal we took our seats for the Stanley and Audrey Burton Theatre for the show. Passing the stage which was illuminated faintly by a gentle blue light I marvelled that I had actually danced there the day before. The show was introduced by David Nixon who outlined the history of the CAT programme. It began with students on the current programme and continued with some of its recent graduates who had returned as special guest performers. They were all outstanding and it would be unfair to single any of them out for special praise but I did like Courtney George very much indeed. She danced her solo with remarkable grace, power and speed.  Mel, who knows far more about dance than me, will write a proper review in due course. Each of the returning guests was presented with a big bouquet by one of the junior students which was a nice touch but an even nicer touch was a single Yorkshire white rose that was presented to each of the graduating students by Ichino herself.

The afternoon had been arranged by Hannah Bateman who is one of my favourite dancers at Northern Ballet. Here she is talking about the event. We all owe her a great debt of gratitude for a splendid day.