KNT's Day of Dance Tomorrow

The Dear Old Dancehouse

One of the highlights of my year is KNT's Day of Dance.  It offers a chance to train with some of the best teachers and performers in the business.  Last year, for example, I took classes with   Alex Hallas of Bale Cymru and  Jane Tucker of Northern Ballet Academy.

Another Day of Dance will take place tomorrow and I regret to say that I only learned of it a few minutes ago when I tried to check in your some online classes for the coming week. According to KNT's Class Manager app, the following are available:

• 11:00 - 12:30 Beginner/Pre-Intermediate Ballet 
• 11:00 - 12:30 Intermediate/Advanced Contemporary 
• 13:00 - 14:30 Intermediate/Advanced Ballet
• 13:00 - 14:30 Pre-Intermediate Contemporary 
• 19:00 - 20:30 Beginner/Pre-Intermediate Ballet 
• 19:00 - 20:30 Beginner/Pre-Intermediate Contemporary
• 20:30 - 22:00 Intermediate/Advanced Ballet  
• 20:30 - 22:00 Intermediate/Advanced Contemporary 

All the classes for tomorrow's Day of Dance are priced at £10.

Sadly it won't be quite the same as last year because we are exiled from the Dear Old Dancehouse as a result of the public health emergency but we shall still have excellent teaching.  Above all, we can still wave at each other over Zoom even if we can no longer embrace.

Plagues don't last forever.  There is every chance that medicine will eradicate or at least contain this virus as it has done with so many other infections.   One day this horrible scourge will be nothing more than a horrible memory.  I wish everyone a great weekend.

Best "Day of Dance" Ever

KNT Danceworks has held three Day of Dance events at the Dancehouse studios.  For a Day of Dance, Karen Sant hires guest teachers from the stage and leading ballet schools. She has brought us Harriet Mills, principal ballerina of the Karlsruhe Ballet, Alex Hallas of Ballet Cymru, Martin Dutton of the Hammond and other great teachers.  I have attended all three of those events.  They have all been good but, last Saturday's was perhaps the best one yet.

Ironically, I very nearly missed the event even though I had been looking forward to it from the day it had been announced.  That was because I could barely walk on Saturday.  My legs were like jelly - or rather melting sorbet - and I was stiff and achy in every single limb and muscle.  I could barely step into the shower.  How on earth was I to achieve ronds de jambe let alone grands battements?  Reluctantly I messaged Karen to say I was unlikely to make it.  Sympathetically she advised me to rest up.

So I abandoned plans to visit Manchester and settled in front of a computer screen to write about trade marks.   But then tweets and Facebook messages about the morning's sessions started to ping.  I thought about what I was missing.  I tried to put the Day of Dance out of my mind but I couldn't.   Even if I did not dance a step I still wanted to be at the Dancehouse.  I quickly donned some leggings and a leotard and set off for Manchester.  There was no way I could arrive in time for the 13:30 class but I could still make the 15:00 one.

I arrived at 13:45 by which time Amanda Van Hoof Gilliland would have been on glissés if not further into the barre.  She subsequently informed me that she would have let me join the class late.  I have done that with teachers I know but I had not previously taken a class with Amanda. In any case, arriving late is discourteous to other students as well as the instructor.  I waited in the cafeteria until the class was due to end before making my way to the studio where it was taking place in order to find my classmates.  I caught the last few minutes and could see it was good. Amanda received resounding applause at the reverence. I shall certainly look out for one of her classes in future.

The class that I did join was excellent.  It was given by Joey Taylor of the Birmingham Royal Ballet.  He taught us the Jack in the Box solo from the first act of Sir Peter Wright's version of The Nutcracker.  That is a production that I know very well.  I had last seen it at the Albert Hall just after Christmas with my former ward and her little boy, Vladimir, who are the nearest I have to a daughter and grandson. In my review, The Nutcracker returns to the Royal Albert Hall 30 Dec 2019,   I wrote:

"Each of the five largest ballet companies of the United Kingdom has a version of The Nutcracker in its repertoire. I have seen all of them at one time or another and the ones that I like best, which are Scottish, Northern's and the Birmingham Royal Ballet's, more than once. If I had to choose one it would be Peter Wright's production for the BRB."

Vlad loves ballet and The Nutcracker in particular.  One of the bits that he liked best was the Jack in the Box solo.  He applauded until the palms of his hard were sore.

It is a very fast piece.  It starts with 4 jumps followed by 4 grands battements then 4 sets back in arabesque, a soutenu, some spectacular tours en l'air,  then some steps to the left which I can't even begin to describe, a gesture to the children at Mr and Mrs Stahlbaum's party, a coupé, two cartwheels, a run around the stage, more jumps and finally a collapse into a box. It is over very quickly but requires a lot of energy and even more skill.  Needless to say, I did not achieve very much of that though I did do some despite the discomfort.  But several members of our group did manage more.  In particular, Christie Louise Barnes, who is a member of the cast of Powerhouse Ballet's Aria, performed some very impressive cartwheels.  I should add that she is one of the most congenial persons I know and working with her on the Aria project has been a pleasure.

One of the reasons why I had crossed the Pennines was to answer questions on the constitution and business plan for Powerhouse Ballet that I had drafted on Friday (see Please do not let Powerhouse Ballet wither on the Vine  20 April 2019 Powerhouse Ballet).  I have been running Powerhouse Ballet in my spare time meeting the odd expense here and there as and when it arrived which was fine for the first few months but not for the long term. Hopefully, we shall have an organization in place to take over the management of the company after 4 May 2019 when we make our debut at KNT's Tenth Anniversary gala.

I met lots of dancers from Powerhouse Ballet as well as the regulars from KNT.  They are the loveliest bunch of people one could ever hope to meet.  Karen once referred to us as "the KNT family." That's not a bad description.  I am so glad I made the effort to attend the Day of Dance on Saturday.

KNT's Day of Dance: Rachael's Musical Theatre Class

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I described KNT's Day of Dance last Saturday in Vampires (19 Aug 2018).  While I was trying to dance like a vampire in Karen Sant's class Rachael Crocker was teaching this routine to our colleagues in the musical theatre class.  After we had performed our piece they invited us next door to watch them.

I described them as "very good indeed. Very slick, very polished and you could tell from the smiles on their faces that they were having a whale of a time."  You can see for yourself what I meant,

I am so fortunate still to be dancing with the graceful, athletic and generous students of KNT.  They welcome me as one of my own even though I am decades older, so much slower and far more ponderous than they are.  I am very well aware of my limitations as a dancer and am reminded of them whenever I see myself on film, especially when I get in the way of what would otherwise have been a much more polished performance.  Usually that does not matter but recently it very nearly did.

That brings me to two announcements to those who have put their names down for Powerhouse Ballet's audition on 15 Sept.   As promised I have spoken to Mark Hindle about extra coaching for the audition on 15 Sept and he has suggested a mock audition for those who want it in the Dancehouse on one of the Saturdays before the audition.   I will find out about availability of studio space with the Dancehouse on Tuesday but in the meantime it would be useful to know who intends to turn up for this session with Mark either on 1 or 8 Sept by emailing me at jane@powerhouseballet.co.uk.

The other announcement is that I have arranged for the chef whom Jay Rayner described as "Britain's best home cook" and "the greatest  Indian chef in Britain" to prepare a healthy but tasty energy giving lunch for those who show up at Dance Studio Leeds on 16 Sept 2018 to work with Terry Etheridge.

KNT Danceworks Day of Day - A Couple of Postscripts

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Two postscripts to Vampires, my write up on yesterdays' Day of Dance at the Dancehouse,

The first is that Karen has posted the video of our performance of Daethon and Arundel to YouTube which you can see above.   Remember we learned this piece in 90 minutes.  For many of us it was the first time we had heard David Hotchkiss's music or learned about his libretto.   Daethon was danced by Ruaridh Bisset and the lead vampire by Mark Hindle.

The other postscript is that Harriet Mills, who taught the advanced ballet class yesterday, keeps an excellent blog called A Ballet for Life which I strongly recommend. Harriet is a principal of the Karlsuhe State Ballet.  On 17 Nov 2018 her company will premiere a new production of Swan Lake by Christopher Wheeldon which I for one should like to see. 

If anyone would like to see it with me get in touch as soon as possible.   If there are enough of us we might be able to negotiate group discounts with the theatre, hotel and airlines.

Vampires

The Vampire

Author Philip Burne-Jones

KNTs Day of Dance at the Dancehouse was a great success.  I got some valuable tips on arabesques and développés from Rachael Crocker that everyone else seems to know but had somehow eluded me these last 50 years and I got to dance a vampire in a scene that Karen Sant had created from David Hotchkiss's music for Daethon and Arundel.  I would not have missed the day for the world.  Judging by the comments on Facebook and twitter, neither would anyone else who was there.

I had booked just two classes:  beginners and pre-intermediate ballet with Rachael from 14:00 to 15:30 and the repertoire class with Karen from 15:30 to 17:00.  There was, of course, much more than that.  There had been classes in jazz, PBT and contemporary in the morning. The prima ballerina, Harriet Mills gave a class for more advanced students at the same time as our beginners and pre-intermediate class and Rachael gave a repertoire class in musical theatre at the same time as Karen's class.

There were a lot of familiar faces from KNT but also several from Northern Ballet.  Several students had travelled considerable distances.  One from as far way as Anglesey which is where I plan to spend my long awaited and much anticipated summer holiday next week.  While I have been beating the drum for KNT in Leeds my Yorkshire friends have been spreading the word for Hannah Bateman's Ballet Retreat next weekend which I would have been tempted to attend had I not arranged a holiday.  Karen occasionally refers to us as the KNT family which sounds soppy but really isn't while a friend who attends the Ballet Retreat tells me that is how she feels about that workshop.  One of the wonderful things about events like yesterday's are the friendships and connexions that they catalyze.

Rachael's class began  with the usual barre exercises with a particular focus on relevés, retirés and balancing on demi with rapid turns.  Clearly she was getting us used to the idea of pirouettes. We did plenty of those in the centre including chassé, pas de bourré and turns in fourth.  I continue to find them difficult even though I had performed the exercise with two other teachers that week.  Rachael spotted that several of us were struggling with arabesques and pivots and diagnosed the problem as the position of the right arm. Similarly, several of us were struggling with  développés,   "Imagine your leg connected to your arms by a piece of string", she suggested. "You raise your arms from bras bas to first at the same time as you lift your leg," I tried that and it really helped.  "And as you unfold your right leg you raise your left arm," she added.

I was so pleased about what I had learned from Rachael that I mentioned it to Mark Hindle on the way into studio 1 for Karen's repertoire class.  I suspect that he was surprised that I had not worked that out for myself or learned it from another teacher some time between yesterday and my first ballet class in 1969.  Diplomatically he observed that it was one of the advantages of taking classes from different teachers.  I had already learned that from Marion Pettet of the Chelmsford Ballet. That is why the Chelmsford Ballet invites different teachers for its company classes which is what I try to do with Powerhouse Ballet.

Mark was in the repertoire class because he was lead vampire in the scene that Karen had choreographed from David Hotchkiss's score.  A recumbent Daethon (danced by Ruaridh Bisset) was ambushed by circling vampires. Most of us wore black as had been requested by Karen.  We surrounded Daethon menacingly with our arms rippling like bat wings.  We bourréd away to form several lines where we pivioted, pliéd, turned twice, joined hands, balancéd, pushed Daethon to the ground as he morphed into a vampire.  Pretty chilling choreography and at least as impressive in my humble opinion as other choreographers' Dracula.  There is only so much that can be accomplished in 90 minutes but I think Karen did justice to David's score.

We performed our piece before Rachael's musical theatre students who applauded us generously.  Ruaridh and Mark and many of my fellow vampires were superb and deserved their clapping though I am not sure that I did.   I was beginning to slow down after 90 minutes of hard exercise.  Rachael invited us back to studio 1 to show us what her class had learned.  They were very good indeed. Very slick, very polished and you could tell from the smiles on their faces that they were having a whale of a time.

I hope that Karen arranges another day of dance soon. Many others have said the said the same on Facebook.  Having said that I also enjoyed the repertoire workshops with Jane Tucker and Martin Dutton.   I hope that we shall have a few more of them too. Although I can attend Jane's class in Leeds throughout the year her repertoire classes were special.  I learned more about Swan Lake and La Bayadère from her intensives than watching scores of performances from the stalls and reading libraries of books and programme notes.

A Day Not To Be Missed: KNT's "Day of Dance" in Manchester

When I told colleagues at work a few years ago that I had spent three days of my summer holidays in Manchester they did a double take.  Even more so when I told them that I had spent the time learning Swan Lake and it was one of the best three days ever. I did the same a year later to learn La Bayadère and again the year after that to learn Coppélia.  

That was great fun but this year we regulars at KNT are ready for something different.  Accordingly we are offered "A day of dance with industry professionals at the Dancehouse Theatre Manchester." In other words, wall-to-wall classes on Saturday 18 Aug 2018 from 10:00 in the morning to 17:00 in the afternoon.

Two of the industry professionals have already been announced.  They are Rachael Crocker and Harriet Mills.  Rachael will be teaching advanced jazz, beginner and pre-intermediate ballet and musical theatre and Harriet advanced ballet.  Both have very impressive credentials

Here is Rachael's bio:

"Rachael trained at Northern Ballet School and was a Royal Ballet senior Associate whilst training she qualified and took part in the prestigious Adeleine Genee Awards and also won the IDTA ballet scholarship.
Rachael recently finished performing at the London Coliseum in Kiss Me Kate (choreographed by Will Tuckett) as Dance Captain. Prior to that she was part of a small group recording the soundtrack to the new Mamma Mia movie ‘Here We Go Again”.
Other theatre credits include: ‘Dick Whittington’ at the London Palladium, ‘Strauss’ (National Tour); ‘Kiss Me Kate’ (Welsh National Opera); ‘Cats’ (RUG Australia) as Tantomile understudy Jemima, Demeter and Victoria Graziella in ‘West Side Story’ (National tour); first understudy Meg Giry in ‘The Phantom of the Opera – 25th Anniversary tour’ (National tour); ensemble and first understudy Wendy in ‘Peter Pan’ (Mayflower theatre); ‘We Will Rock You’ (Antwerp Belgium); ensemble and understudied and played Wendy in ‘Peter Pan’ (Grand Canal theatre Dublin); first understudy Cinderella in‘Cinderella’ (Orchard theatre); ensemble and 1st understudy Iris in ‘Fame’ (National tour); ‘We Will Rock You’ (Dominion theatre); swing in the original London cast of ‘Movin’ Out’ (Victoria Apollo); alternate Ice Princess in ‘The Snowman’ (Peacock theatre); swing and first understudy Zsa Zsa in ‘Love Shack’ (National tour); Dance Captain and swing in ‘Grease’ (Victoria Palace, Japan and National tour); ‘Cinderella’ (New Victoria Woking), Rumpleteaser, Demeter, Jemima and Tantomile in ‘Cats’ (Stuttgart Germany); Meg Giry in ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ (Hamburg Germany) and the Spirit in ‘The Spirit of the Dance’ (US tour).
Film and TV credits include: ‘Devils in the Disguise’ for the Discovery Channel, ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ directed by Joel Schumacher and ‘Finding Neverland’ directed by Marc Forster.
Radio Credits include: BBC radio production of Smith of Wooten Major.
Rachael has also appeared on the Al Murray Show, took part in the 2008 Olympic handover ceremony and guested for Rock of Ages for their performance at West End Live. She also regularly performs for Incandescence Contemporary Circus Theatre Company and Private Drama Events.
Teaching: Rachael graduated from the Royal Academy of Dance gaining a Distinction for The Professional Dancers Teaching Diploma and teaches at various schools and colleges across London. She taught scholarship classes for the IDTA and RAD along with various workshops in ballet and jazz."

Harriet is a principal with the Karlsruhe State Ballet.  I was lucky enough to attend one of her classes earlier this year (see One of the Best Ballet Experiences Ever  14 Feb 2018).   This is her bio:

"After attending her first vocational school from the age of 11, Harriet Emily Mills left the Hammond School, Chester, to start at the Royal Ballet Upper School in London. She graduated after 3 years with her first job with the Staatballett Karlsruhe and has worked as a professional ballet dancer there for 6 years. Harriet has danced roles such as Odette/Odile in Swanlake, Myrtha Queen of the Willis in Giselle and Katharina in Taming of the Shrew. She has been involved with many creations by choreographers such as Davide Bombanas (Der Prozess), Terence Kohlers (Misia Sert, Das Kleine Schwarze/ the Riot of Spring) and Reginaldo Oliveiras (Edith Frank in Anne Frank). After 6 years of working her way through the company Harriet is now a Principal Dancer."

Space is limited and bookings have to be made and classes paid for in advance.   The email address and phone number for further information appear on the poster above.  The Dancehouse is a short walk from Oxford Road station which is on the Leeds to Liverpool mainline.  There is an NCP multistory car park in Chester Street which is literally round the corner from the Dancehouse.  The car park offers a discount for daytime parking on Saturdays. There is usually plenty of free street parking on Saturday afternoons.  There is a bus stop outside the studios which is served by several routes. The nearest tram stop is at St Peter's Square which is a few minutes walk from the Dancehouse.