Chelmsford Ballet Update

River Chelmer

Author Roy Gray
Licence Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0
Source Wikipedia

Folk in the rest of the UK tend to be very unkind about Essex even though there is much to admire in that county. For a start it possesses some beautiful countryside as you can see from the photo of the River Chelmer from which Chelmsford derives its name. Also, it has one of the nation's oldest ballet companies of which I am proud to say I am a non-dancing associate member.

In order to graduate from associate to dancing member one has to be accepted at an audition which takes place once a year.  Those who are accepted are considered for the annual show in March as well as special events and workshops.

This year's auditions will take place on 24 June 2018. There are three classes of membership and the criteria are as follows:

"GENERAL DANCERS
Age 13 years on 1st September in the year of the audition and holding a Grade 2 Ballet certificate (or above) or be working at an equivalent level.
SENIOR DANCERS
Age 13 years on 1st September in the year of the audition – Female dancers should be working “en pointe”.
JUNIOR DANCERS
Age 10 years and not more than 12 on 1st September in the year of the audition and holding a Grade 2 Ballet certificate (or above) or be working at an equivalent level."

Those who are accepted for any grade of membership are expected to show a reasonable degree of commitment to the company.  Obviously I can't do all that from Holmfirth but I would have applied for general dancer membership like a shot had I lived in Essex. Those who can make the grade and offer the required level of commitment should apply by completing and lodging this application form before 10 June.

If you are accepted at the audition you qualify for all sorts of fun things like workshops with Ballet Central and Sir Matthew Bourne's company, New Adventures.   Ballet Central's took place on 22 April and was aptly described in the notice to members as a "perfect after show treat." You can say that again. I am green with envy.

Chelmsford's joint patron is none other than Chris Marney who was a magnificent Count Lilac in Bourne's production of The Sleeping Beauty and is now Artistic Director of Ballet Central.  The dancers from Chelmsford Ballet have an opportunity "to sample innovative and exciting repertoire and work on story telling and characterisation in dance" on Sunday 8 July 2018. The blurb from Chelmsford (appropriately on a lilac background) states:

"This is an amazing chance to participate in a workshop specifically tailored for the Chelmsford Ballet Company, which will allow all grades of dancing members an opportunity to understand the process of narrative dance and to work on characterisation."

Finally a note to my fellow Northerners. We could do this sort of thing if we ever get Powerhouse Ballet off the ground.  In the short term Karen Sant has offered us a day's intensive training in Manchester, Ballet West a week in Scotland and Terence Etheridge a fantastic experience in Cornwall. We have got Northern Ballet and Phoenix on our doorstep. They would almost certainly be willing to help. We have excellent links with all the other leading companies in the UK and even beyond.

But in order to get off the ground we need a full class of dancers in Huddersfield on Saturday 26 May 2018 at 15:00.  You have the opportunity of a FREE 90-minute class with Jane Tucker, one of the best teachers in the business, for which you would have to pay £7 plus a £5 registration fee in Leeds or £15 in Manchester. Opportunities live this do not grow on trees.

Dutch National Ballet Junior Company Auditions

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If I were a talented young dancer (or the mother, father, aunt, uncle, brother, sister, cousin, friend or teacher of such a dancer) I would be thrilled by the opportunity of joining the Dutch National Ballet Junior Company.  This is a half way house between ballet school and the professional stage which I discussed in an interview with Ernst Meisner in The Junior Company on 3 Dec 2014.

The Junior Company has already been the springboard for some brilliant careers.  I saw Michaela DePrince in Nov 2013 just after she had joined the Junior Company (see The Junior Company of the Dutch National Ballet - Stadsshouwburg Amsterdam 24 Nov 2013 25 Nov 2013) and she is already a grand subjet with the National Ballet. DePrince has been particularly successful but there are others who have done very well too. The outstanding young Italian dancer, Cristiano Principato, for instance, has already had a chance to show his talent for choreography by staging his own ballet (see Palagio 4 June 2016). Many of them have been recruited to the main company or been offered contracts with other fine companies such as the Stuttgart Ballet, the Norwegian National Ballet and the Hungarian National Ballet.

Such an opportunity has arisen because the Dutch National Ballet is holding auditions for next year's Junior Company at Amsterdam on 21 Jan 2017 (see Audition Junior Company on the Dutch National Ballet's website). Candidates can apply online so long as they meet the following requirements:

• strong classical ballet technique;
• minimums height of 5 feet 5 inches (1.65 metres) for ladies and 5 feet 11 inches (1.8 metres) for gents; and
• graduating this year or next.

I hope that there will be at least a few applications from the UK and that some may actually be good enough to get in but I wish all candidates from all countries all the very best. Whether or not he or she is accepted I wish each and every candidate who is good enough to try every success in his or her training and subsequent career.

The Junior Company

Dutch National Ballet Junior Company

Photo Robin DePuy

(c) Dutch National Ballet 2014

Reproduced with kind permission of the Dutch 

National Ballet

As in the previous interview, my words are in italics and Ernst Meisner’s are in plain text.

“You had some brilliant young dancers last year. Some, such as Michaela DePrince, were already well known before they joined you. How did you recruit them?

"Michaela is indeed a very special dancer and she has now joined the main company and is already dancing nice roles, like the pas de trois in Swan Lake. I also cast her in my ballet for the Back to Bach programme and she did a fine job!

We have an open audition every year. About 700 dancers apply each year and between 100 and 150 are invited to actually come and take a class with us in Amsterdam. This is one way of recruiting. However our school is the first port of call and I prefer to get to know a dancer a bit longer and see how they work in classes over a period of time. So we always hope to get some talent that comes through our own school.

I also attend competitions like the Youth American Grand Prix and the Prix de Lausanne to scout for other talent.”

“How did you become the Junior Company's Artistic Co-ordinator?”

“Once I had heard about plans of having a Junior Company, I approached Ted Brandsen and mentioned that I was ready to make a new step in my career and wanted to focus more on choreographing, managing and teaching. All three things are part of the job.  I was offered the job a few months later.”

“What does the role of Artistic Co-ordinator involve and how does it differ from that of Artistic Director?”

“Ted Brandsen is the Artistic Director of both the main company and the Junior Company.

My job entails the daily running of the Junior Company, planning, contact with choreographers, designers, programming, rehearsing dancers, teaching class, watching shows and so much more that comes along…!
It is a very diverse job and teaches me so much every day! I work very closely together with Ted and aim to achieve his vision for the Junior Company on a daily basis.”

“Tell me something about a Junior Company dancer's day - class, rehearsals, touring etc."

“A Junior Company dancer’s day is much the same as any dancer’s day in the sense that he or she will do class, rehearse and sometimes have performances or tour the Netherlands to do performances. What is different is that because there are only twelve of them. We can give them all a lot of attention and coach them individually. Not just in solos and repertoire, but also how to behave in a big company.

Three times a week they do class with the main company (to get inspired!), but the other three times we give them a separate class so we can focus on their individual needs. They also get more individual guidance from our health team and we organize special classes on whatever we feel they need to spend some more time on. Last year we even did a cooking class for the young ones! That was great!”

“It sounds a lot of fun as well as a lot of hard work. I am sure they all enjoy it.”

“Your dancers come from all over the world and not all of them speak Dutch or Flemish. Do you require recruits from other countries to master Dutch or do you allow them to use English?”

“The language in the main company and Junior Company is English. Almost everyone in Amsterdam speaks fluent English, so it isn’t difficult for foreign dancers to fit in.”

“I see that Nathan Brhane, Mert Erdin, Michaela DePrince, Wentao Li, Daniel Montero Real, Sho Yamade and Jessica Xeian are now apprentices. Are these long term appointments? Will they be invited to stay with the Company and allowed to rise as far as their talent takes them?”

“All our dancers receive one year contracts for the first four years they are with the company. Once they pass their first four years they receive what we call a permanent contract and can stay until they are 38.”

“By the way, they are all beautiful dancers and I wish each and every one of them all the best in his or her career.”

“Me too! And it is great to see them do so well already in the main company!”

“Will there be another grand opening night for the Junior Company like the one I attended last year at the Stadsschouwburg?”

“Yes on 6 Feb 2015 we will open the second season of the Junior Company officially at Stadsschouwburg again. So that promises to be a nice evening again!”

“Are there plans to tour the Netherlands and other countries? Shall we see them again in England?”

“Yes we will have about 20 performances around Holland again. They are now all on our website http://www.operaballet.nl/en/doublebill/2014-2015/show/junior-company.

I am also really pleased that our relationship with The Royal Opera House continues and we will be back at the Linbury Studio Theatre in 2015 as part of the Springboard Series Season again.”

In the next few posts I introduce each of the new members of the Junior Company.