One Day Ballet Workshops at the Dancehouse

Standard YouTube Licence

You can watch umpteen performance of Swan Lake or The Nutcracker in the theatre and think you understand it.  You try to dance little bits of it yourself as I have also done and your realize just how little you know.  However, the next time you watch the bit that that you have tried to learn you appreciate the ballet so much more.

My opportunity to learn some repertoire came from Jane Tucker who is one of my teachers at Northern Ballet.  Since August 2015 Jane has run intensive workshops for adult ballet students on  Swan Lake, Romeo and Juliet, La Bayadere and The Nutcracker, all of which I have attended and described in this blog.  It is very hard work.  You start with floor exercises at 10:00, then 90 minutes of class, then wall to wall rehearsals until the late afternoon when you take part in a show.  You stagger out of the Dancehouse theatre into your car or train and soak in a hot bath followed by a cold shower to break down the lactic acid in your weary limbs.

But the sense of achievement afterwards is immense.

I was therefore delighted to read the following announcement on Karen Sant's Facebook page:

"*** 1 DAY BALLET WORKSHOPS! ***
Dates
Saturday 8th April - Advanced Ballet
 Saturday 15th April - Beginners/ Pre Intermediate Ballet
Venue
The Dancehouse Theatre, Manchester
Price
£60 (£20 deposit included in the price payable ASAP)
Times
10am - 4pm
Teacher
Jane Tucker (Northern Ballet Theatre)
Repertoire
TBC - Please keep your suggestions coming of what ballet you'd like your repertoire to be from!
We need 20 students to be able to hold the workshop.
Please comment below if you'd like me to book you in. You will receive a registration form and info pack shortly after.
The days will consist of a warm up session, ballet class, stretching class, repertoire and a short performance at the end of the day. A more in depth timetable will be announced soon.
Hope to see lots of you there, it's always been great fun!
Karen."

Karen never has any trouble filling her intensive workshops. The announcement appeared yesterday and she has already had 9 "likes" or "loves". Jane is a great teacher who has danced some of the roles herself with Northern Ballet and other companies. She brings her experience as a performer to her class.

The Dancehouse studios are about 200 yards from Oxford Road railway station. If you came by car there is a multistorey car park in the same block as the studios offering all day parking at a discount on Saturdays.  If you want to book a place, contact Karen through Facebook, send her an email at info@kntdanceworks.co.uk or call her on 07783 103 037.

The Best Fille Ever

Royal Ballet, La Fille mal gardée, Royal Opera House, 16 April 2015

I first saw La Fille mal gardée in 1970 with Merle Park as Lise, Michael Coleman as Colas, Brian Shaw as Simone, Alexander Grant as Alain and Leslie Edwards as Thomas. I've seen a lot of performances of this ballet since then. But I don't think I have ever seen a better one than last Thursday night's. Vadim Muntagirov danced Colas, Laura Morera Lise, Will Tukett Simone, Paul Kay Alain and Gary Avis Thomas. Ashton would have been delighted with their performance.

Morera was an adorable Lise. Ashton had created that role for Nadia Nerina who retired just before I could afford to take myself to Covent Garden. I saw her only on black and white television of which a few fragments remain on YouTube (see the ribbon dance with David Blair and a rather longer extract from Act II). For me Lise was Merle Park and I have compared every ballerina who has danced that role over the 45 years to her. The highest compliment that I could pay a dancer in that role whenever I reviewed that ballet was that she reminded me of Park. That is what I said about the performance of the lovely Maureya Lebowitz when Birmingham Royal Ballet danced Fille in Nottingham last year (see Fille bien gardée - Nottingham 26 June 2014 27 June 2014). Morera has put her signature on that role.  How charmingly she coaxed her mum into her clogs clicking them gently together. How sweetly she pretended to catch, swat and stamp on an imaginary fly. A disobedient daughter, yes, but such an affectionate one. How could anyone remain angry with her for long?

Muntagirov was the best Colas that I have ever seen. In previous productions he had been overshadowed by Lise which is perhaps as it should be as  Fille is in the title in contrast to the other great ballet about an arranged marriage that went wrong, Romeo and Juliet. Muntagirov transformed that role with his power and grace. He is a magnificent dancer of whom I can never see enough.

Tuckett was a very convincing Simone. Previous dancers in that role had danced it as a pantomime dame but Tuckett was womanly.  At least one person in the audience expressed surprise that Simone was a man on reading the cast list. Kay portrayed the gormless and gulled Alain skilfully. It is a difficult role to dance in the 21st century. Fifty years ago we were less kind to folk with learning difficulties and other disabilities. We laughed at them then but don't any more. Kay won our hearts and our sympathy.

On 9 April Avis tweeted:

Well! Who would have thought that on my birthday at my age I'd be having a solo rehearsal with Wayne McGregor for #ROHwoolf @RoyalOperaHouse
— Gary Avis (@balletboy09) April 9, 2015

I have always liked Avis so I replied

@balletboy09 @RoyalOperaHouse many happy returns from one of your most devoted admirers who hopes to see more of you in the years to come.
— Terpsichore (@jelterps) April 9, 2015

It was such a treat to see him so soon after that exchange.

And yet another treat was to be in a London audience who had seen ballet before and knew when to clap and when to roar. Every single seat in the House was taken. There was a buzz. There was gaiety. There was flair. The crowd was there to watch and live the show. Not simply to be seen by their neighbours in the hope of appearing in the social pages of a county glossy. Such a glorious experience in every way.