Ballet at University

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In 1969 or thereabouts, I attended a student meeting to set up a dance society at St. Andrews. Most of those present were women.   I shall mention their names in case one of them reads this post or perhaps one of my readers can put me in touch with one of them.

Our chair was Sally Marshall who had either danced professionally or had trained to a high level. She came from Edinburgh, read biochemistry and taught our classes. There was Camilla Martiensen from London. A slightly built young woman but exceptionally clever and a delightful dancer. Then there was Meg Hutchinson who came from Argyll or somewhere else in the West. She was a beautiful highland dancer and was almost always accompanied by her mother and two dogs. I think she read modern languages, Spanish certainly and possibly also French. If any of those ladies gets in touch with me I shall be overjoyed.

As you can see from the video there is still a Dance Soc at St Andrews though I don't know whether it is a direct descendant of the society I helped to found. Our club met for classes every Monday at the new sports centre on the North Haugh. We even had a pianist, a young chap who played purely for the love of music. I don't anyone gave him a bean. As well as classes we made trips to nearby towns to see Western Theatre Ballet as Scottish Ballet were then known. We even brought them to St Andrews for its first arts festival in 1971. Our professor of Fine Arts, John Steer, knew the company well when they were both in Bristol It was John Steer who introduced me to the company's artistic director, Peter Darrell and his stars such as Bronwen Curry, Elaine McDonald, Kenn Wells and Ashley Killar. I was also dance correspondent for Ἁɩεν, our student newspaper and reviewed his Beauty and the Beast.

The Dance Soc seems to have grown a bit since my day and now stages shows. It has a Facebook page which I have just "liked" and a full page on the Saints website. It also has its own society website though that is down for maintenance. It appears from the President's report that the Society did very well in competitions in Dundee, Durham and Manchester.

I was reminded of Dance Soc by a post to BalletCo Forum on Cambridge University Ballet Club's recent performance of Giselle on 17 Feb 2017. There are some lovely photos of the ballet on HJORTH MLED H's website and he has written a rather good summary.  Some of those dancers seem to be rather good and it is impressive that they have found the time to fit classes and rehearsals into their busy schedule.

I have also googled "ballet" and the names of some of our other great universities and have found ballet clubs or dance societies at Oxford, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Dublin, Durham, UCL, King's College London (how could they not with Deborah Bull as their Vice-Principal), Imperial College, LSE. Manchester. Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Nottingham, Cardiff, Sheffield, Newcastle, Exeter and Southampton.

I gave up ballet when I graduated from St Andrews. I went to the University of California at Los Angeles in 1972. In those days there was not even a ballet company in LA let alone a ballet class. All that seems to have changed I am glad to see for ballet is now offered by UCLA Recreation.  I still attended ballets. Dance has been an abiding passion.  I supported Covent Garden and many other theatres and companies financially throughout my life. But I did not so much as touch a barre for very many years.

It was only in 2010 (shortly after I had lost my spouse to motor neurone disease and undergone some life changing surgery of my own) that I approached a barre again. I noticed an ad by Fiona Noonan, an Australian trained dancer for ballercise which turned out to be pilates, body conditioning and a bit of ballet. I took that class for a while and miraculously recovered my will to live. A little later she invited me to take her ballet class and my confidence grew.  In 2013 I joined Annemarie Donoghue's class for the over 55s at Nothern Ballet Academy. It is no exaggeration to say that ballet has turned my life around. When I thank Annemarie, Ailsa, Chris, Fiona, Jane, Josh, Karen or some other teacher for a class, it is not just for the 90 minutes of instruction. It is for giving me my life back.

At St Andrews we sing:

"Gaudeamus igitur. Iuvenes dum sumus.
Gaudeamus igitur.Iuvenes dum sumus.
Post iucundam iuventutem.
Post molestam senectutem.
Nos habebit humus —
Nos habebit humus."

Ballet has helped to keep the molesta senectutis  at bay up to now and with a bit of luck humus me non habebit at least for a while.

Scottish Ballet's Young Dancer Mentoring Scheme

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Scottish Ballet's Christmas appeal is in support of the company's mentoring scheme (see Hansel and Gretel, and You Appeal  on Scottish Ballet's website).

Noting that one of the themes of Hansel and Gretel is that Gretel looks after her little brother and that Hansel looks up to Gretel as a role model, Scottish Ballet has devised a mentoring scheme that reflects that supportive relationship whereby established performers advise and assist the next generation of young dancers.

The video shows Constance Devernay coaching two promising young students.  The thrill of working with  one of the finest artists on the British stage must be enormous. Also, Devernay derives enormous satisfaction from passing on her considerable skill and knowledge.

Donations of £40 or above will be acknowledged on the appeal web page and those over £80 in the company's programme.

I have a personal interest in this appeal because I was a sort of mentee of Professor John Steer who became the company's chair when I was at St Andrews. It was he who cultivated my appreciation of ballet and introduced me to Peter Darrell and his dancers shortly after their move from Bristol. I have followed the company and attended its performances ever since (see Scottish Ballet 20 Dec 2013).

I strongly recommend Christopher Hampson's Hansel and Gretel. I saw it in Glasgow in 2013 and you will find my review at Scottish Ballet's Hansel and Gretel 23 Dec 2013).

Scottish Ballet

Tomorrow I go to Glasgow to see Scottish Ballet's Hansel and Gretel. I am looking forward to it tremendously, partly because a new work by Christopher Hampson is a delight in itself but also because Scottish Ballet has a special place in my affections.

Although I had an interest in ballet when I was at school in West London - maybe because of a wonderful exhibition of costumes and scenery from the Ballets Russes or perhaps because I had got to know some of the students of the Royal Ballet School as they were just across the Cromwell Road from us - it was at St Andrews that my interest developed into a passion.  The Professor of Art History was John Steer who had come to us from Bristol. There he had got to know Western Theatre Ballet and it was through him that I got to know that company.

Peter Darrell  1928 - 1987

The company had a wonderful choreographer in Peter Darrell as well as wonderful dancers like Bronwen Curry, Ashley Killar,  Kenn Wells and my favourite Elaine McDonald. I began to follow them even while they were still at Bristol.

A year after Steer came to St Andrews the company moved to Glasgow and changed its name to Scottish Theatre Ballet. I do not know whether Steer had anything to do with that move but he was very close to the company and eventually became its chair.  Once when Scottish Theatre Ballet visited Dundee Steer actually introduced me to the cast.  I even had the privilege of giving two of them a lift to their lodgings.  One was Kenn Wells. I cannot remember who was the other.  Steer actually brought them to our university. They performed in the Buchanan Theatre in Market Street, on 15 Feb 1971, the day we adopted decimal currency.

The first of Darrrell's full length works that I saw was Beauty and the Beast.  I reviewed it for Aien our student newspaper.  I saw the ballet at the King's Theatre in Edinburgh shortly after they had moved to Scotland.  I also remember chartering a bus for our ballet club of which I was a founder member.  The dancing was superb and I can remember Thea Musgrave's score which Darrell had commissioned.   I could not find the ballet in the company's current repertoire which is a pity.

Darrell and Steer are now dead and I was very sad to learn today that Elaine McDonald is not in good health.  I was even sadder to learn that my world had intruded into hers when she sought a judicial review of the richest borough in England's decision to withdraw her carer to save a few thousand pounds.  But I have seen a film clip of her taken shortly after the appeal.  Despite her infirmity she retains her elegance and bearing as a star.

A lot has happened to Scottish Ballet since I left St Andrews. Tarama Rojo has come and gone and it now has an excellent artistic director in Hampson.  It has won critical acclaim around the world.  It is one of the UK's strongest companies.  I now have other loves in ballet but it was Scottish Ballet that was my first love.