Cork City Ballet

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Something very interesting seems to be taking place in Ireland and it is happening not in Dublin or Belfast but in Cork which has an estimated population of just over 200,000.  In contrast to many cities of that size in Great Britain that do not even have an adequate auditorium for a touring company, Cork has its own recently rebuilt 1,000 seat opera house and a well-established local ballet company that is capable of staging a full-length Petipa ballet.

From this evening until Saturday the Cork City Ballet will perform Swan Lake at the Opera House. Intrigued by this production, I have booked myself a seat in the stalls for the 14:00 performance on Saturday.  I have also googled everything that I can find about the company and opera house and watched every video that I can find on YouTube. From what I have seen, the standard of performance is very high indeed.

The company appears to have been founded by Alan Foley who trained in Cork, London, Russia and New York.  He is its artistic director and choreographer.  According to the company's website, Foley danced with the Irish National Ballet and I think may have seen him in a show by that company in Dublin.  I have not been able to find out much about the dancers other than the guest artists who have appeared for the company over the years so I can't say much about the troupe's size or experience.   The Auditions page states that the company currently operates seasonal contracts for dancers for its winter season.

However, it has an impressive repertoire and has earned some complimentary reviews mainly from the Irish press but also some from Dance Europe and the Dancing Times.  It does not seem to run a school or an associates programme for local students but I am delighted to see that it offers adult ballet training for absolute beginners and improvers at its Firkin Crane studios on Wednesday evenings.  Should I ever be in Cork on that day I shall try to join one of those classes.

I will review the performance of Swan Lake either on Sunday or shortly afterwards.

Visiting Taynuilt

Ballet West's Grounds

© 2018 Jane Elizabeth Lambert: all rights reserved 

In my very first blog post I wrote:

"I was intrigued to receive a mailing for a performance of "The Nutcracker by Ballet West". Now I had heard of a company by the name of Ballet West in the United States which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year but if that company ever came to the United Kingdom I would have expected it to tour major cities rather than towns in the Highlands of just over 2,500 souls. It occurred to me that there might be a company from the West Country which is where Scottish Ballet originated, I googled "ballet, west, uk" and was surprised but delighted to find a company and school in Taynuilt. Delighted because where could be more idyllic to study dance than by the banks of a real lake (or more properly loch) which might even host the occasional swan?"

I attended that performance and enjoyed it so much that I returned to Scotland the following and each subsequent year to see other shows by that company. Over the years I have made the acquaintance of the school's principal Gillian Barton, her children Jonathan and Sara-Maria, the choreographer Daniel Job and teachers, alumni and students of the school.

When I was in Greenock to see Giselle and the Rossini Cocktail earlier this year I told Gillian Barton that I would be in the area at the end of April.  The reason for my visit was to see Scottish Ballet's Highland Fling in Oban on 29 April and the St Andrews University Dance Club gala on the 30. Gillian invited me to call in to Ichrachan House on the way which invitation I readily accepted.

When I first made contact with the St Andrews Dance Club just over a year ago I asked whether I could attend one of their classes 50 years on.  I was told that I would be most welcome.  I checked the Dance Club's Facebook page and found that there was a beginners' ballet class between 16:00 and 17:00 on Sundays.  As St Andrews is only 120 miles from Oban I thought there would be ample time to dash along the A85 and arrive in time for Scottish Ballet's Highland Fling at 19:30. When I checked it out on Google maps I found that the journey would take at least 3 ½ hours with expected traffic and roadworks delays. Sadly, I had to abandon that idea and I tweeted my disappointment.

Gillian Barton picked up my message and invited me to one of her classes.  Even though I am old and slow and fat with no real aptitude for ballet, her invitation was irresistible.  I had often thought of attending one of Ballet West's outreach classes when next in the area (see Taynuilt - where better to create ballet? 31 Aug 2016).  I had even asked about private lessons because the leading contributor to BalletcoForum who has also attended my over 55 class in Leeds makes regular visits for that purpose. However, I had never thought in my wildest dreams that I would ever attend class with exceptionally talented students who were training for the stage. It would be like meeting Roger Federer on the tennis court. I consulted Fiona Noonan, the teacher who had led me back to ballet after a break of 45 years, and my good friend, Mel Wong, who know my limitations.  "Go for it and enjoy it" they replied as if in chorus adding their personal tips on how to survive.

I very nearly fluffed the opportunity.

The hotel that I had chosen because it seemed to be the closest to Ichrachan House turned out to be worse than Fawlty Towers, The description on Booking.com was idyllic. The rate of £65 for a twin (I had intended to travel with a companion and had made double bookings for everything) seemed reasonable enough. When I arrived after driving from Ecclefechan I found the place deserted.  There was a sign stating that check in was between 16:00 and 18:00 with a mobile number to ring for arrivals outside those hours.  "Not to worry" I thought "I'll take tea at the Robin's Nest." When I arrived at the nest I found that the redbreast had flown that day.  The tea shop normally opens on Sunday but not that particular day.  "Roosting perhaps with my landlady" I thought.

Loch Etive

© 2018 Jane Elizabeth Lambert
All rights reserved

I drove down to the pier and to my relief and joy I found that Loch Etive and its majestic, surrounding hills were still there. Indeed, there was even a swan on the loch.

I returned from the pier and found my landlady who was lovely. She was also interested in dance and thinking of attending Highland Fling.  I told her the story and the story of La Sylphide from which it was derived. I thought I had encouraged her though she did not like the idea of cutting off wings with garden shears.

As I mentioned in Scottish Ballet's "Highland Fling" in Gurn and Effie Land 2 May 2018 I skipped supper to attend Scottish Ballet's pre-performance talk and I had skipped lunch in anticipation of Oban's legendary fish and chips. By the time the post-performance talk was over all the purveyors of that delicacy were closing and I did not fancy a curry or chow mein the night before a ballet class. Breakfast at MacFawlty's did not begin before 08:00 which was when I was supposed to be at the barre.  Pangs of hunger, heavy lorries on the Oban road, strange groans from the bathroom fan and the failure of the radiator to take the chill off the air kept me awake all night  The result was that I was half comatose when I should had had my wits about me on Monday morning.

Worse.   My landlady had directed me along a road that ran parallel to the road I should have taken and Google maps seemed to back her up.  Then Google maps led me a merrier dance than any ballet teacher could have done.  I eventually found the entrance to Ballet West a few hundred yards from my hotel with the result that a journey that should have taken a few minutes actually took more than half an hour.  Instead of arriving at the studio 15 minutes before time which I had always been taught to do, I arrived right in the middle of glissés.

The class was taken by Jonathan Barton who had danced the lead roles brilliantly in The Nutcracker, Swan Lake and Romeo and Juliet.  Graciously he admitted me to his class despite my tardiness.  The students welcomed me with smiles. I recognized some of them from Rossini Cocktail which I had reviewed in Fizzing! Ballet West's Rossini Cocktail 6 Feb 2018.

I rattled through the warm up exercises facing the barre that Karen had taught me.  I rather prefer Jane's warm up of running round the studio, suddenly changing direction on a sixpence, skipping facing in, skipping facing out, jumping jacks and stretches but obviously that was not possible on that occasion. I followed it up with my own pliés and side bends in 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th, tendus with foot flexes and glissés before joining the class exercises.

The class was unlike any that I had ever attended before.  First, it lasted two hours although 30 minutes was pointe work which I did not do. With the benefit of hindsight I could have participated in a lot of that on demi but I never thought to ask.  Secondly, it was much faster than any class that I had ever attended before. Normally, in adult ballet classes there are breaks in exercises from stage right and stage left but on Monday the pianist kept playing and we kept dancing.  Thirdly, the instructions were more complex than anything I am usually asked to do.  I don't think that we were asked to do anything that I had not been taught at some point or other though there was plenty that I had never mastered.  Fourthly, there was not much actual teaching though I did learn a lot as I will explain blow. The experience was very like the company classes that I had seen in Amsterdam, Leeds and Oxford. Jonathan was more like a ballet master putting his cast through their paces than an adult ballet teacher.

I learned a lot by observing the regular students.  For instance, between barre exercises they stood in 5th with their arms in bras bas and their faces inclined towards the centre.  "I can at least do that" I thought.  In fact, they may have taught me something much more valuable and that is to concentrate on the instructions and get on with the exercise in hand. Miraculously, despite my lack of sleep I woke up in class. I forgot my hunger, The aches and pains that usually start after 40 minutes didn't bother me. I normally want to rest on the barre. Nobody did that on Monday so neither did I. The result was that I attempted everything.  Even the exercises where I did not have a clue winning a round of applause for trying at one point.

Of course, I also learned a lot from Jonathan. In particular, never look at yourself in the mirror when trying to dance. As he put it: "You can watch a performance or you can do a performance but not both at the same time." This is a very bad habit that I had acquired and it will not be easy to break but if I can crack it I am sure it will improve my dancing.  Jonathan is an inspiring teacher.  In a grand jeté en tournant exercise he pointed to the surrounding hills urging us to "soar like the mountains".  Even I cleared a few inches with that exhortation ringing in my ears.

I have had two lessons since Monday.  One with Karen Sant in Manchester on my way back from St Andrews and the other with Jane Tucker in Leeds on Wednesday. I doubt if my dancing can have improved much from just one class but my mental attitude and self-confidence certainly have.  I emerged from both classes much happier than usual feeling as though I had achieved something.

After the class Jonathan invited me to watch him coach Joseph Wright and Uyu Hiramoto for the grand pas de deux in Paquita.   I had seen both of them in Giselle earlier this year and they both impressed me.  Particularly Uyu.  In Ballet West Amplified 11 Feb 2018 I wrote:

"The last scene was enchanting. Mist (dry ice) wafted across the stage. Lights flashed. Myrtha (Uyu Hiromoto) glided onto the stage. She was as regal last night as she had been the week before. I have been a fan for some time and yesterday I had the chance to meet her. It is as hard to pick stars in dance as it is winners at Aintree but occasionally a student or member of the corps seems to stand out from his or her peers. Xander and Demelza Parish did so at the Yorkshire Ballet Summer School gala in York on 31 Dec 2007 (see "Review: A Summer Gala of Dance and Song, Grand Opera House, York"31 July 2007 The Press) . So, too, Michaela DePrice did in Amsterdam in 2013 (see The Junior Company of the Dutch National Ballet - Stadsshouwburg Amsterdam 24 Nov 2013 25 Nov 2013). I saw the same signs in Hiromoto yesterday. Now I could be wrong but I was right about the Parishes (especially Xander) and I was right about DePrince though she was already in the Junior Company and on her way to great things when I first saw her."

Grounds of Ballet West

© 2018 Jane Elizabeth Lambert
All rights reserved

I also saw a contemporary class after that session.

As I wanted to spend some time at my alma mater, my visit to Ballet West was necessarily brief. I did not see any of the students' quarters or dining or recreation facilities so I won't attempt to discuss the learning experience or compare it to other ballet schools.  All I will say is that the surroundings are magnificent and the teaching staff that I have met - Gillian, Jonathan and Sara-Maria Barton, Daniel Job, Natasha Watson inter alios - have impressed me greatly. Students and alimni have brought back an impressive haul of medals and trophies from the Genée and other competitions (see the Student Achievement page of the Ballet West website) so Ballet West appears to be doing something right.  They have also trained some of my favourite young dancers such as Isaac Peter Bowry and Sarah Mortimer.

However, none of them are in the Royal Ballet or other great  national companies so I asked Gillian Barton why not.  Actually I already knew the answer because a very similar situation exists in my profession.  The bench contains a disproportionate number of judges because they are recruited from the best chambers and the best chambers tend to recruit from the Russell Group and particulalry Oxbridge because any vacancy can be filled many times over with good candidates from those law schools. That is not to say that there are not even better candidates from the other universities but they are harder and require more resources to find.  If you can fill a vacancy immediately with excellent candidates from the Royal Ballet School (and possibly a handful of other schools) there is very little incentive to spend time and money looking further. Rather unfair perhaps but perfectly understandable. There are ways round the problem.  Ballet West has set up its own touring company which will provide some opportunities for its alumni and it is developing ever closer links with the big companies but these are  long term projects that will take time to achieve.

As Ballet West is already training an adult ballet student I asked Gillian Barton whether she would be prepared to train any more of us to which she replied that she would.   I asked about costings and she replied that she charged £600 for a week's summer school which includes accommodation.  She could probably do the same for adults or less if they found their own accommodation and transport.  I asked about content to which she replied that she would give us anything that we needed - repertoire, technique - anything.  I suggested talks on putting ballet in a cultural and historical context. She said that Daniel Job is an authority on dance history and theory. I also asked about day courses to bone up on something awkward as pirouettes and other turns are for me.  She said that she could do that for £40 per hour.

Argyll is breathtakingly beautiful and if I could learn some ballet there I would be in 7th heaven.  If anyone would like to join me on an adult ballet residential course, do let me know.

One Day Ballet Workshops at the Dancehouse

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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.

Dance in Newcastle

Dance City Performances (with subtitles) from Northern Stars on Vimeo.

I first heard of DanceCity from BalletLORENT when they visited Huddersfield on 30 Sept 2016 (see BalletLORENT 3 Oct 2016). BalletLORENT are one of several dance companies that are based at a studio and theatre complex known as "DanceCity" which is located just north of the Tyne at Temple Street in Newcastle.

DanceCity is a member of the National Dance Network to which dance agencies around the country (including our own Yorkshire Dance) are also associated. DanceCity runs classes in many styles to students of all ages and abilities. These include ballet classes for beginners and improvers aged 55 or over which seem to be very similar to the classes that I attend at Northern Ballet Academy. For those contemplating a career in dance, DanceCity's Learning Academy offers formal, professional, dance training at all levels starting from children aged 10 to postgraduate level in conjunction with Northumbria and Teeside Universities and local schools and universities. That includes a Centre for Advanced Training similar to the CATs in Leeds and the Lowry. There are opportunities for local choreographers and companies to perform their own work and even a small fund for commissioning new work from local artists.

Equally impressive is the performance programme for the theatre. In November, for instance, there will be no less than 6 shows starting with James Wilton's Leviathan this evening which is described as a "blend of athletic dance, martial arts and capoeira." The plot is intriguing:

"LEVIATHAN follows Ahab, a ship captain hell-bent on capturing the white whale: Moby Dick, a beast as vast and dangerous as the sea itself, yet serene and beautiful beyond all imagining. Ahab’s crew is drawn into the unhinged charisma of their captain, blindly following him on his perilous adventure towards almost certain destruction."

The theatre is currently offering a very generous 2 performances  for £22 promotion which seems good value for live entertainment in the centre of a major city.

Although Newcastle does not yet appear to have its own professional classical ballet company (but please do correct me if I am wrong) it is on the circuit for visiting companies. For instance, Northern Ballet will perform Beauty and the Beast next week and Scottish Ballet will dance Hansel and Gretel  in the same theatre in February.

Back to Class in Leeds and Moscow

Tomorrow is my first ballet class of the new academic year. Although this video was taken some years ago before I joined the class, most of the students are still there as is our teacher, Annemarie, and our pianist.

This year there are Improvers' classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays and they last slightly longer than in previous years (see the timetable), Term actually started last week but I missed the first class in order to attend the Dutch National Ballet gala in Amsterdam (see The best evening I have ever spent at the ballet 13 Sept 2015).

Although I missed class last week because I was travelling and the week before because of work I have been able to keep training for most of the summer. I have managed to attend classes most weeks at KNT in Manchester which take place in the studios of Northern Ballet School and Team Hud at the University of Huddersfield. I also attended Jane Tucker's Swan Lake intensive at KNT on 17, 18 and 19 Aug which was my summer holiday this year as well as her vacation classes at Northern Ballet. I even managed to get to London to take another class with Adam Pudney at Pineapple (see Another Slice of Pineapple 12 July 2015).

Tomorrow we are rehearsing for another performance of Lullaby at Morley Town Hall on 26 Sept 2015 (see One Last Chance to Shine 11 Aug 2015). This is advertised as A Feast of Music and Dance by Older Performers which is targeted at audiences aged 55+. If you want to see us click here to book on-line.

Finally, although it has nothing to do with us, I found this lovely video of a beginners' adult ballet class in Moscow. Don't the girls look happy? What is it about ballet that has that effect on us?


 

Remember the coster? Well 'e aint got no ballet school no more.

You remember "Wouldn't it be loverly", the conversation between the coster and the porter about adult ballet classes at Covent Garden? And his excitement in "The Coster gets his Answer" when the geezer in charge told him he could join his class.

Poor bloke! He's feeling a bit deflated right now because he has just discovered this email in his spam filter:

"Dear Adult Ballet Participant,

We hope you have been enjoying The Royal Ballet School adult ballet classes on Wednesday evenings. This has been a new initiative for 2014 which we have run in various formats over the last three terms and this trial period will conclude at the end of the autumn term.

Following extensive consultation, we regret to inform you that, in order to re-evaluate provision, the School has decided not to continue with adult ballet classes from January 2015. Therefore the last adult ballet class will be Wednesday 17th December 2014.

All classes are now fully booked meaning that online booking for the remaining classes this term is no longer available. If you are on the waiting list and a place in class becomes available, you will be contacted in good time.

The decision to suspend the adult ballet classes has not been made lightly; you will appreciate there are some significant considerations for the School including cost implications and child protection issues. Meanwhile, we suggest you research the following organisations, all of whom run established adult ballet classes:

The Place, 17, Dukes Road, London WC1H 9PY
http://www.theplace.org.uk/dance-adults

Trinity Laban, Creekside, London SE8 3DZ Tel: 020 8305 9400 http://www.trinitylaban.ac.uk/schools-and-community/adults

Central School of Ballet, 10 Herbal Hill, Clerkenwell Road, London EC1R 5EG Tel: 0207 837 6332  http://www.centralschoolofballet.co.uk/aeccourseoutline.php

Rambert, 99 Upper Ground, London SE1 9PP Tel: 020 8630 0600  http://www.rambert.org.uk/learning_participation/rambert_classes/adults

English National Ballet, 39 Jay Mews, London SW7 2ES  http://www.ballet.org.uk/classes/

Thank you for your understanding in this matter and we hope you continue to enjoy taking adult ballet classes. Thank you also for your interest in The Royal Ballet School. If you would like updates concerning The Royal Ballet School and priority booking for events and open days, we recommend you consider joining our Friends.
http://www.royalballetschool.org.uk/the-school/friends/

Warmest wishes,

The Adult Ballet Team"

Never mind!  It was good while it lasted!  He learned a thing or two.  He's going to check out the classes that the Royal Ballet School suggested.  He has also heard of the RAD's syllabus and non-syllabus classes for adults, Pineapple, and the londondance.com website.

He's also had a butcher's at the Danceworks newsletter which has lots of deals. He's hinted to the missus that he wouldn't say no to a Danceworks gift card. And he knows where he can go to work off the turkey and Christmas pud over the Christmas holidays.

So he's spoilt for choice, isn't he.

Adult Ballet in Moscow and San Francisco - could have been Leeds or Manchester

I think this class was filmed in Russia but this is exactly what we did in Leeds with Annemarie this morning.

One of the loveliest things about ballet is that you are part of a worldwide community of dance.  Here is a class in San Francisco but it could be Fiona's class in Huddersfield or Ailsa's in Manchester.





Look at the backgrounds of the pupils - architect, graphic designer, gymnast, even the equivalent of a High Court Judge - it is exactly the same in Leeds. And look at the interaction between the students and their teacher in both classes. It's a real bond of mutual respect and affection. Possibly that is the most precious thing in ballet.

Post Script

You will soon be able to do adult ballet in Dubai. There are two job ads for ballet teachers in the UAE in the RAD's Job Search International and both taking adult ballet classes is part of the job description. Where next?

New Term at Team Hud - and around the World

I may be wrong but I think there will be thousands of people around the world (if not millions) who will have been inspired to take up ballet by World Ballet Bay. Although it is always best to start as a child it is possible to start and go quite a long way as am adult. Dave Wilson is proof of that.  He started as a graduate student in the United States and I have seen him dance with Arionel Vargas and Elena Glurdjidze in Stockport and Weston Super Mare. It is also true of The Adult Beginner in Los Angeles and my learned friend The Legal Ballerina who is also in the United States. Even some professionals came into ballet late.  Matthew Bourne who established New Adventures is said to have had his first lesson in his late teens. Even I have ventured onto the stage of the Stanley and Audrey Burton Theatre in Leeds before a full house and managed to avoid rotten eggs and tomatoes and I make dance teachers despair.

So where to start. Well if you are in Huddersfield you could do worse than try Team Hud in the sports hall of Huddersfield University. I reviewed it when classes began in January 2014 (see "Team Hud Adult Ballet Class" 22 Jan 2014). Yesterday was the start of the new academic year for Tam Hud with a crop of eager  young students including four blokes. It was taken by Fiona Noonan who trained and started her career in Queensland. "I can see she is a good teacher" muttered a chap from Barnsley whom I had met at Tristram Dance Studios a few weeks earlier. I had recommended Fiona's classes at Hype and the University and I was glad to see that he had followed my recommendation. "One of the best", I replied. "and believe me I have done the rounds." Fiona is now teaching two classes at Huddersfield: a beginners' class at 18:30 which I attended yesterday and an improvers' class at 19:30 which the chap from Barnsley was about to take. Both cost £5 if you are a member of the general public but students can subscribe to the gym for a few quid and take all the classes in all the sports and activities at no extra cost.  A larger but still affordable subscription is also available to the public and if you want to find out more you should call the University on 01484 422288.

A good teacher is everything and, as I told the bloke from Barnsley, Fiona us one of the very best. She is also teaching an intermediate and advanced class at Hype in Sheffield on Monday evenings for the time being. While I would not recommend an intermediate class for an absolute beginner it is good to be pushed and challenged and Fiona certainly does that. But she does it in a nice way and if you get something right you feel a real sense of achievement. She also has a wicked sense of humour. Try blogging or tweeting that you have had a hard class elsewhere and boy does she make you work the next time she sees you.

If you can't make it to Huddersfield then there are some great evening classes at Northern Ballet Academy in Leeds. I took two in the vacation and one with Chris Hinton-Lewis that I really enjoyed. My favourite class in Leeds is the Over 55 class with Annemarie Donoghue which runs on Tuesdays for improvers between 10:30 and 11:30 with an extra half hour for the keen types from 11:45 to 12:15 and Thursdays between 11:30 and 12:30 for beginners.  Annemarie is also a wonderful teacher and you can see her in action in this video with some of my friends. Not only do you get instruction from an excellent teacher but you learn in the studios of one of the world's best ballet companies - it's official Northern won one of the Taglioni awards - and you have Ollie, Elena or some other pianist tinkling away on the old Joanna.  The only drawback is that you have to be over 55 to join that class but anybody can take one of the evening classes. Not bad for £6.50 plus a £5 registration fee.

If you live in the North West KNT Danceworks run evening classes for adults in Manchester and Liverpool. They also have great teachers, Alisa and Karen, whom I can't recommend too highly.  I have only had two classes with Ailsa and one with Karen but I learned a lot from both and had a lot of fun. The students in both cities were friendly and keen to learn and we all smiled and laughed a lot afterwards.

I have had only one class in London from Adam at Pineapple but that was ace. Pineapple was recommended to me by Joanna Goodman who takes Amber's class nearly every week and she did me a real favour in recommending it. You have to take out temporary membership and then pay for the class which makes it somewhat more expensive than the classes in the North but then hey this is London. A class that I have not yet tried but would dearly love to do so is Paul Lewis's class at the Royal Ballet School. One day, perhaps, one day.

It is a long time since I last visited LA but the Adult Beginner reviews adult ballet classes there and her articles are always a good read.  Johanna writes about adult ballet in Helsinki in Pointe Til You Drop.  There are adult ballet classes everywhere - even in India. Wherever you are, enjoy yourselves and have fun.

Crystal Ballet's Associate Programme for Adults!

Crystal Ballet, who have already brought dance lovers the stunning Genesis film shown above (starring Steven McRae, Vadim Muntagirov, Daria Kilmentova and Alina Cojocaru no less!) and run incredibly popular Pas de Deux courses for adults, are starting up a unique Associates programme especially for adult dancers in September.

Despite the seeming boom in adult classes in the UK recently, we all know just how difficult it can be sometimes to get regular, high-quality ballet tuition as an adult (particularly if we have professional aspirations but lack access to company classes etc). There are plenty of associates programmes available for young dancers in the UK, but very few are welcoming or open to adults. Thankfully Henry St Clair, AD of Crystal Ballet and former ENB & Royal Ballet dancer, is set to change that!

The course itself will have three tiers to ensure that dancers get placed in the level that is best suited to them - Crystal Ballet Elementary, Intermediate and Advanced - and the classes will take place on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays between 19.15pm and 20.45pm making them accessible to dancers who live outside of London. I have been reliably informed that the classes will be held in a studio at the English National Ballet School, accompanied by a pianist, and the teaching faculty for the course is something to really get excited about (if you want to find out who you'll have to contact Henry at henry.stclair@crystalballet.com!) Like most associate programmes Crystal Ballet Associates will run on a termly basis, with 3 12-week terms per year. In addition to classes, associates will also be able to take regular intensives weekends which will cover aspects such as Pas de Deux, Pointe & Female Rep, Allegro & Male Rep (I wonder if that's open to girls, too!) and Pilates, contemporary and stage craft. And there will be the opportunity for all associates to work towards a performance of a ballet classic at the end of the course year! 

Booking is now open for the course, but places are likely to go quickly due to its unique nature, so get in touch with Henry if you want to find out more asap! His email is henry.stclair@crystalballet.com and he can also be reached via Twitter (https://twitter.com/crystalballet). 

The UK adult ballet community is already buzzing with excitement about the course:

Summer motivation won't be a problem with @crystalballet 's exciting project looming ahead! #raisemygame
— antoinetta (@antoinetta13) June 26, 2014

So excited! September can't come fast enough (I know, crazy 2 wish away our Summer). I blame @crystalballet & it's amazing new venture!
— Tracy To (@tracynto) June 25, 2014

Just reading an email of utter adult ballet EPICNESS from @crystalballet!! Once in a lifetime opportunities for the Adult-Ballet-Community!
— Rebecca Jukes (@becca_tweet) June 25, 2014

UPDATE: Crystal Ballet now has a Facebook page for the Associates course: https://www.facebook.com/crystalballetassociates don't forget to 'like' it to stay up to date!

For Emma

Lord Street, Southport                                               Source Wikipedia

Sitting next to me in the Atkinson for Ballet Theatre UK's performance of The Little Mermaid on Saturday was a young lady called Emma. She was with several friends from work.

"Wasn't it lovely" she remarked as the applause died away.
"It certainly was" I agreed.
"Do you see a lot of ballet" she asked.
"Quite a few" I replied. "I keep a blog called Terpsichore" I added, writing down the URL on a scrap of paper.
"Oh I am only just getting into ballet,"
"Did you study dance as a child?" I asked,
"Not really" she said. "I would love to do it now but I suppose it is too late".
"It's never too late" said I. "According to the BBC there's a student in Scotland aged 102."
I told her about my classes at Leeds and Huddersfield and adult ballet in general,
"You're so lucky to live near Leeds" replied Emma but I know of nothing like that round here."
"There almost certainly are adult ballet classes in Southport" I countered "and there will certainly be one somewhere in Merseyside."
"Tell you what" I added "if you visit my blog I'll give you a few tips in an article just for you."

So, Emma, this article is for you.

First up, the main dance authority for the UK is the Royal Academy of Dance. Anybody can join as a friend for £19 and get all sorts of benefits and concessions. They have a searchable database of qualified teachers all over England and you can see who works in or near Southport. Another good source of information is North West Dance.    It is then worth googling "ADULT", "BALLET" and "SOUTHPORT" and cross-referencing any dance schools that come up on then search with the RAD teachers and North West Dance activities. When you have found some schools and teachers you like give them a bell or send then an email. See whether any of them will take an absolute beginner and then take it from there.

Second up, don't spend too much money at first. Nobody expects you to wear expensive shoes or dance wear at this stage. Most teachers will let you turn up to your first class in t-shirt and leggings and dance in bare feet. When you get a bit more settled you can invest in a leotard and soft toed shoes. You don't need to worry about pointes at this stage and it may be that you never do. I buy my shoes from Frederick Freeds in London. Would you believe that they still had a record of my size from when I first started dancing? You teacher will tell you all about how to break in a pair of shoes gently.

Next, I would see as much professional ballet on the stage as possible for it is amazing what you can learn from watching dancers.  Ballet Black, one of my very favourite companies, is coming to the Atkinson on  the 22 May. If there are any tickets left go grab yourself one. I will be there. I saw their show in  London in  February and it was outstanding. Birmingham Royal Ballet is coming to The Lowry in September with Beauty and the Beast. English National Ballet is bringing Swan Lake to Liverpool in November. Northern Ballet is coming to Manchester with Cinderella also in November.

If you want to discuss any aspect of ballet you should join BalletcoForum. You will there discover a remarkable lady who lives not too far away from you with an encyclopaedic knowledge and at least as great a passion for ballet as mine. And there are many others there who can guide and encourage you in your appreciation of ballet.  Finally, I am by no means the only blogger. My own favourite is Dave Tries Ballet. He started in his twenties and he is now dancing with stars of English National Ballet.  Follow his journey from his first class to where he is now in just a few short years. You might also learn some maths from him too.