DIBA @ RADA

Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts

Author Chemical Engineer
Source Wikipedia
Creative Commons Licence

DIBA stands for Danceworks International Ballet Academy. It is the facility through which Darnceworks trains dancers under the age of 18. I featured it in Danceworks Academy  on 21 March 2015. As readers know, dance education is one of my special interests whether for the young and gifted, those such as I who take up dancing for fun at any age and everyone in between.

Towards the end of the year, DIBA students put on a show. Last year it took place in one of Danceworks's studios in Balderton Street (see Danceworks International Ballet Academy Christmas Show 3 Dec 2015). Demand for tickets was so high that DIBA had to run three separate shows. The Academy will stage another show this year but this time it will take place in the theatre where RADA (the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts) trains its own students (see Join us for DIBA's Christmas Nutcracker Suite on DIBA's website).

The performance will take place at 17:00 on Saturday, 10 Dec 2016 at RADA Studio Theatre, 16 Chenies Street, London WC1E 7EY. Tickets cost £20  for adults and £12 for children of 12 years or under.  There is also a £2 booking fee if you book online.

Ballet is not just a good way of improving deportment and keeping fit. It is intended to be performed in the theatre which is a place of magic and excitement.  If the link with the stage is ever lost or never there in the first place children will quickly tire of ronds de jambes and grands battements - and who can blame them? How many times have you heard well-rounded, well-educated adults say "I've never actually been to a ballet but I was made to take lessons as a kid and hated them." "Made to take ballet" indeed. It should be a treat!

One of the reasons why I write a lot about DIBA and (Danceworks in general) is that it keeps that link.  It is one of the features that distinguishes DIBA from so many other ballet schools up and down the country. The remarkable young dancer, Michaela DePrince, grand sujet with the Dutch National Ballet, taught some of the children on her last visit to Danceworks (see Michaela DePrince revisits Danceworks 7 Aug 2016). Most of those who attended Michaela's class will decide not to become dancers for one reason or another but they will all benefit from working with her. Their love of theatre will be enhanced for a start and many more will be inspired by her life story to jump their own hurdles which may lie in quite different fields.

However, Danceworks is not just for kids. I took one of its adult ballet classes earlier in the year and had a great time (see Hendrick's Class at Danceworks 19 Jan 2016).  I am delighted that the studio offers classes for my age group (see Over 50s Ballet Classes at Danceworks 30 May 2015). Tasha Bertram will teach a new over 50 class at Danceworks from 13 Jan 2017 between 18:00 and 19:15 (see New Over 50’s Ballet Class at Danceworks on Danceworks's website).

The following passage appears at the bottom of the web page:

"Benefits of balletThere is no age barrier to learn to dance and the long-term flexibility benefits of ballet are excellent. Ballet classes will help to:
Develop and maintain your flexibility. The combination of strength and flexibility is what keeps a body healthier and stronger for longer, and more resilient to injury.

• Work both your body and your mind. The physical and mental challenges of ballet can improve vitality

• Gain confidence in your body You will feel more supple and poised

• Learn musicality Ballet is practiced in harmony with music. You will learn to draw energy from it, count it and live. 

• Feel a new energy and forget your problems in a relaxed and quiet environment.

Come and experience our ballet class and enjoy this graceful and timeless form of dance."

I have been taking ballet classes now for several years first in Huddersfield and more recently with the Northern Ballet Academy in Leeds and KNT in Manchester as well as the occasional class in London and other cities. I can attest to all those benefits from my personal experience. There are adult ballet classes in every part of the country (even in towns and remote villages in the West of Scotland thanks to Ballet West (see the Outreach and Short Courses page on its website)). Everyone can have a go and I hope that a few of my readers will be promoted by this article to do just that.

Caledonian Cousins

Yesterday my monthly newsletter from Scottish Ballet featured Scottish Ballet Elders Company whose members look a lot like the members of my Over 55 class at Northern Ballet. They are described as "Scottish Ballet's first performance company of elder community dancers".  We are not a company but we do put on shows, glimpses of which appear in the YouTube clip. I performed in one last year and had the time of my life (see The Time of My Life 28 June 2014) and we are rehearsing for another on 4 July 2015 (see Not just Americans who will celebrate the 4th July this year 23 April 2015).

According to Scottish Ballet's website the Elders Company will now begin to work with choreographer Winifred Jamieson towards the creation of a new piece to be performed at Dance Base, the national centre for dance at Edinburgh, during the Festival as part of the Fringe. The Company will then tour alongside Prime, the elder dance company from Dance Base to 4 venues in Scotland in October.

I am sure I speak for everyone in my Over 55 class (indeed on behalf of all my readers) in wishing both companies well and a cheery chookas for their forthcoming shows. Since the Yorkshire Post featured us in their colour supp (see "We're in the Paper" 15 April 2015) we have been joined by several new dancers and Northern Ballet is laying on extra classes to cope with demand.

On 30 May 2015 I reported on Danceworks's Over 50s class in London which offers a taster class on 14 July 2015. One of my colleagues from Northern Ballet has already put her name down for that class and I shall try to make it when I am in Town.  I have also heard of Rambert's Mercury Movers for the Over 60s who seem to have a very select audience at one of their classes.

Of course there is nothing to stop dancers of my age or even older from attending mixed aged groups. I have been made very welcome by Team Hud in Huddersfield, Hype in Sheffield and KNT Danceworks in Manchester and Pineapple in London, Yesterday Gita and I attended a one off class by Chris Hinton-Lewis at Northern Ballet and enjoyed it tremendously. But it is fun to dance with one's own age group and then natter for an hour or so at a nearby cafe. If anyone knows of any other dance class or company for the over 50s in any other British town or city (or indeed abroad) do let me know and I'll publicize it as widely as possible.

Over 50s Ballet Classes at Danceworks

For the last two years I have been taking Annemarie Donoghue's classes for the Over 55s at Northern Ballet in Leeds. I love those classes and I have written a lot of articles about them. You will find links to those articles in We're in the Paper 15 April 2015. I am therefore delighted to read in Danceworks' June newsletter that that studio is to start similar classes in London (see Over 50s Ballet Classes at Danceworks). 

Under "Benefits of Ballet" Danceworks claims:

"There is no age barrier to learn to dance and the long-term flexibility benefits of ballet are excellent. Ballet classes will help to:

• Develop and maintain your flexibility. The combination of strength and flexibility is what keeps a body healthier and stronger for longer, and more resilient to injury.

• Work both your body and your mind. The physical and mental challenges of ballet can improve vitality

• Gain confidence in your body You will feel more supple and poised

• Learn musicality Ballet is practised in harmony with music. You will learn to draw energy from it, count it and live.

• Feel a new energy and forget your problems in a relaxed and quiet environment."

I can attest from my own experience that each and every one of those claims is true.

Danceworks is holding a free taster class on 14 July between 18:00 and 19:30.  The website states:

"These classes aim to teach what a regular class would, but at a pace more suited to older dancers, in a private studio in our Mayfair location a few minutes from Bond Street tube."

They sound exactly like my classes in Leeds.  All I would add is that very few concessions are made or indeed required for age. I take classes with young people in Huddersfield, Manchester and Sheffield and these are no more demanding than the classes for the Over 55s. I should also say that several of the members of my Over 55 class could give any of the teenagers and twenty or thirty somethings a run for their money. A number of members of my class are older than me but they are as slim as any supermodel and as sleek as any greyhound and are delightful to watch.

If you want to book a place on the course email communications@danceworks.net.  You will find Danceworks at 16 Balderton Street, Mayfair, London W1K 6TN. Balderton Street is on the Southern side of Oxford Street which is almost opposite Selfridges.