I am delighted to announce that Powerhouse's Ballet's July class will be given by Annemarie Donoghue of Northern Ballet on Saturday 28 July 2018 at 14:00 in Studio 1 at Dance Studio Leeds in Mill 6 of the historic Mabgate Mills on Macaulay Street. As before I shall pay for the teacher and studio hire. All you have to do is register and turn up.
Annemarie was my first teacher at Northern Ballet and I have attended more classes with her than I have with any other teacher. I described my first class with her in Realizing a Dream12 Sept 2013. While she appears to have endless patience and good humour her classes are anything but easy. She pushes her students hard, expects the very best from them and consistently draws out the best. You can see her in action in this YouTube video of her over 55 class at Northern Ballet.
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As its name suggests, Mabgate Mills is located in Mabgate, an interesting quarter of Leeds with a rich industrial heritage. There are several listed and historic buildings in the neighbourhood including the Mills themselves. The studios are half a mile from Northern Ballet and a little over a mile from Leeds railway station. The 42 run bus runs from Infirmary Street nearthe station to Lincoln Green Road which is close to the Mills. There is free parking in the Mill yard on Saturdays.
We still have space on the June class in Manchester. It will be given by Mark Hindle of KNT Danceworks between 13:30 and 15:00 on Saturday 30 June 2018. There is no charge but you must register in advance. You can do so by clicking the button below.
Quite a few changes seem to have occurred since my last class at these studios the most important of which is that Dance Studio Leeds has acquired more space. We danced in a rather more spacious studio where there was definitely room to swing a cat or possibly even a young leopard if one were so cruel or imprudent. More importantly, there was more than enough space to get airborne in the last exercise of the evening.
Yesterday's class was taken by Katie Geddes who had taught me last year. I am used to her teaching and respond to it well. There's a quality in her voice that encourages me to dig deep even when muscles begins to ache and I feel I can go no further. We did all the usual barre exercises: pliés, tendus, glissés, fondus, ronds de jambe, developpés, grands battements and échappés facing the barre.
We put away the travelling barres and after another glissés exercise in the centre we practised an expressive port de bras and then an enchainment involving a chassé, attitude and a rather tricky turn. I did not find it at all easy though I am sure everyone else did and I was definitely flagging towards the end of the class, but Katie rehearsed us several times until she was satisfied that we had taken it as far as we could.
The last exercise was jumping which I like. We started with simple sautés in first and second, then échappés and changements and finally petits jetés. We continued with glissades and jetés. Finally, grands jetés across the studio. The bit I like best.
There were several new faces in class last night but also some familiar ones including a member of my evening class at Northern Ballet. It is a very friendly studio and I was made very welcome. I wish I could attend this class more frequently.
The studios are located in Mabgate Mill just outside Leeds town centre. Classes still cost £6.50. Some parking space has been sacrificed for boxes containing flower beds in the centre of the mill courtyard but it is still easy to park in the evenings. All other details are on the Terpsichore Yorkshire page
That is a pity for the class is good. It is held in a convenient location at Mabgate Mills less than a mile from Northern Ballet where there is plenty of free parking and at the very convenient time of 19:45 which enables me to do a full day's work before grands battements and ronds de jambe. There is a nice bunch of students in the class and until a few weeks ago it was run by the studio's founder, Katie Geddes, who is lovely. Last Christmas she organized a trip to The Nutcracker at The Grand (see Northern Nutcracker19 Dec 2015) and a great party which raised funds for the NSPCC.
Katie is on maternity leave just now and one of the members of the class showed me some photos of her little boy who was born in May so huge congratulations to her and best wishes to the rest to her family. Since Katie went on leave her class has been taken by Sara Horner. According to the studio's website:
"Sara has been performing and teaching for over 11 years since completing her professional training at Performers College, Essex. During this time, she has worked in corporate shows, Pantomime, Cruise ships and Theatre tours of the UK and abroad, as a lead female vocalist, dancer and backing artist. Sara is also a freelance dance teacher teaching in numerous establishments in the West Yorkshire region. She is also Principal of Sara Horner School of Dance teaching ballet, tap, and modern to adults and children in Leeds."
And so she was. Distracted by a passionate conversation about mobile phones I lost my turning and had to drive round acres of urban blight by the motorway before I found my way to Mabgate Mills by which time I had missed warm up and plies. However, I caught the rest of the barre which proceeded briskly with combined tendus and glisses, fondus and ronds de jambe, developpes, cloches and barre stretches. Embarrassingly I was the only member of the class who couldn't get a right leg on the barre and as they were travelling barres there was no lower rail. However, I could get my left leg up. Dunno what's gone wrong with my right leg. I could manage it OK this time last year. No doubt a sign of ageing. It's the only thing holding me back from putting my name down for Jane Tucker's Bayadere intensive in Manchester next month (see La Bayadère it is2 July 2016).
Be that as it may I enjoyed the adagio, the pirouette exercise which Sara worked into a little enchainement,glissades and assembles and the temps leves and grands jetes at the end. As I said in Dance Studio Leeds Beginners' Ballet Class23 Oct 2015 the studio in which class takes place is not exactly cavernous so we have to apply the brakes after the second step hop let alone the step across the puddle which is how I was originally taught grand jetes but it was a lot of fun and the cool down and reverence came far too soon.
I thoroughly recommend this class especially while Northern Ballet is closed for the vacation. It costs £6.50 for a 90 minute session which is about average for the North of England and well below the cost in London. There is a good teacher and nice atmosphere. Everyone makes an effort but it's not edgy or competitive.
This video for Dance Studio Leeds shows every style of dance except ballet but the Dance Studio Leeds actually does offer adult ballet. Katie teaches beginners on Monday morning and evening and Nathalie the advanced class on Friday evenings. As I am trying to compile a guide to all the adult ballet classes in and around Holmfirth I turned up to Katie's evening class last Monday.
Dance Studio Leeds is in Mill 6 of a converted mill complex just north of Leeds city centre known as Mabgate Mills. It is not very far from Quarry Hill but it is not easy to find at night. I circumnavigated the block twice before I found the entrance to a courtyard surrounded by 19th century buildings. One of the advantages of that studio is that you can park in the courtyard free of charge whereas you have to fork out at least £2 to park anywhere else in central Leeds between 18:00 and 22:00.
The studios are on the first floor and compared to many other dance studios that I have visited in my time it is the lap of luxury. It is bright, well decorated and comfortably furnished and there is more than enough room to swing a cheetah never mind a cat in the changing room. My friend, Beverley, who attends the advanced class on Friday tells me that there is complimentary tea and coffee on offer but I did not discover that on Monday.
I arrived at the Studios after listening to The Archersin my motor and sat down on an easy chair near one of the studios. A dance class was taking place and students seemed to be having a lot of fun. A lady entered shortly the waiting area afterwards and asked me whether I was waiting for ballet. I said I was and she asked me whether this was my first class. I replied that it was but I added that I had done two years ballet with Northern Ballet's Over 55 class and that I had also had a lot of classes with a teacher in Huddersfield who had danced with the Queensland Ballet. The lady welcomed me to the class, showed me the changing area and told me that our fellow students were a very friendly, welcoming group which I found out to be the case.
Katie arrived a few minutes later and introduced herself to me and some other new students. She asked me whether I had done any ballet before and I said that I had. At 19:45 we entered the studio and took our places by the barre. The room had a mirror at front and was very well lit and ventilated. It was also quite warm which was hardly surprising given the energy that must have been discharged in the dance class. There was room for 3 on each side of each travelling barre. Katie placed me and the other newbies between experienced students.
We started with a gentle warm-up facing the barre followed by pliés and tendus. We skipped glissés but I soon found out why. Katie got us to do échappés facing the barre which of course incorporate that movement. Katie had several other exercises which were new to me including a fondu combined with a plié which I found very difficult. Katie had a word for everybody - encouragement here, a correction there - almost like a private lesson.
We had a few minutes to catch our breath and take a swig of water and then we started on the adagio. Katie concentrated on arms movements first and then some simple steps and turns. The movement was quite lovely.
Pirouettes followed for which Katie divided us into three groups. One group which included me practised our retirés en plat. Another group did the same exercise on demi. A few of us tried full turns. As we found our balance and got more confidence we tried complete turns. Even I managed one or two.
The next session included jumps of various kinds - simple sautés to start, then échappés and changements - then a variation if the temps levés in groups of three and finally a hop on one leg with the other extended. As you can imagine I got into one hell of a pickle.
Before we knew it it was 21:30. The class was advertised to end at 21:15 but Katie gave us an extra 15 minutes because we were enjoying ourselves so much. At the end of the class she gave us a very thorough cool down. Almost as through as the ones that Jane Tucker gave us at the end of a day's dancing in The Swan Lake intensive. There was no reverance as such because we were on the floor but Katie wished us all a very pleasant evening and we clapped her enthusiastically. I thanked Katie for the class as I always do, She was pleased I enjoyed it and invited me to come again which I certainly will.
There were a lot of pluses about this class. Obviously a good teacher and a very civilized environment, easy parking and a friendly crowd. The only minuses were that the rooms were not very large - two temps levés and we were almost across the studio - there was no pianist and we had to use travelling barres. Minor niggles really.
I wouldn't dare risk the advanced class but Beverley says that's good too, There is a good spread of classes and I shall try some of the other genres by and by.
