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.

KNT's Le Corsaire: "It wasn’t called an intensive for nothing"

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KNT Beginners' Ballet Le Corsaire Intensive  Dancehouse Manchsester, 15 April 2017

Wendy McDermott

The workshop at KNT always seems popular and this one day workshop, taught by Jane Tucker, was certainly that. There were around 25 dancers all ready to learn some of the choreography of Le Corsaire. We poured into the Dancehouse Theatre building at around 9.40 am, the majority of us made a beeline for the changing rooms (a.k.a the toilets) and into the studio for 10 am to begin a 30min stretch and warm up followed by a quick break, after which our 90 min ballet class started at the barre.

Now the trouble with writing about class some three weeks after it has passed, is a little unfortunate as I’m struggling to remember the finer points, but what I do recall is that when we moved into centre we paid particular attention to pirouettes, both en dehors and en dedans, which gave us an inkling of what lay ahead for the repertoire classes in the afternoon. After another short break, we began learning Act II’s pas de deux, the male solo part probably made famous by Nureyev (though I must say, after watching other solos of the same I enjoyed Baryshnikov just as much, if not a tad more). Starting downstage left, a keen ear was needed to pick up the count to move into our three grand pas de chat, each one followed by attitude derriere on demi pointe and finishing downstage centre into pirouettes en dehors right and left, balancé de côté, one more pirouette then a pose, which is best described as Usain Bolt’s signature. Finally a step, glissade jeté* (I think!) around the studio with chaînés and final pose to finish. Phew! Just about the majority of this we all worked very hard to learn before our well earned hour long lunch break.

It wasn’t called an intensive for nothing, as the afternoon continued in earnest and for the remainder of the afternoon we were taught two sections of Act III’s pas de trois (pas des odalisques). From glissade assemble, attitude devant derriere, pirouettes from fourth position, and ‘lame ducks’, to temps levé in arabesques and all the other steps in between. As beginners, we may not get the leg height of some or turnout be as strong but we all danced our hearts out that afternoon, and came away feeling invigorated. What’s more, all our hard work was filmed for our final performance which can be viewed above.

Another Class at Dance Studio Leeds

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A lot of things seem to happen on Monday evenings. It's the night that the London Ballet Circle meets for its talks.  Last Monday it was Ballet Black's first Friends evening (see Ballet Black's First Friends' Event: A Rehearsal with Chris Marney 14 July 2016). A few weeks earlier I was on my way to Trecate (see From Italy with Love 1 July 2016). Before that I was travelling back from Hungary (see My Trip to Hungary 23 April 2016). For all those reasons and more I had got out of the habit of visiting The Dance Studio, Leeds for its Monday evening Beginners and Improvers Ballet Class.

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 Nutcracker 19 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."

Essex is the county of The Chelmsford Ballet Company and Just Ballet so anyone trained there must be good.

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 is 2 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 Class 23 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.

Scottish Ballet and its Public

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I was at St Andrews when Western Theatre Ballet moved to Glasgow and right from the start it engaged with its public in a way that no other British company had ever done before.  It visited all sorts of venues including our Buchanan Theatre the day this country adopted decimal currency. Scottish Ballet was the first company that I got to know and love and you know what they say about first loves. As you can see from the film the tradition of engaging with the community continues.

The other way in which Scottish Ballet engages with its public is through its classes. In its newsletter today it announced particulars of its adult ballet classes:

• In my age group there is Regenerate on Thursdays and Sundays;
• A 10 week class Absolute Beginners on Wednesdays between August and October;
• A 10 week class for Beginners on Thursdays between August and October;
• An Intermediate class on Mondays;
• An Advanced class on Tuesdays; and
• Open ballet classes on Tuesdays over the Summer.

Classes take place at the company's premises at The Tramway on Albert Drive next to Pollockshields East station.

Romeo and Juliet Intensive - the awful proof as the camera does not lie

(c) KNT Danceworks 2016

On 9 April 2016 I wrote about Jane Tucker's intensive workshop at KNT (see We had a stab at that! KNT's Romeo and Juliet Intensive Workshop for Beginners 9 Apr 2016). We had a great day and at the end of the course we gave a performance.  We did two works:

• Dance of the Knights which you can see above; and
• The Juliet variation which you can see below.

(c) 2016 Danceworks 2016


In both films I am struggling to keep up. Clearly, I should not give up my day job.  But you know what? It's not too bad for a badly co-ordinated, overweight old lady, is it.

We had a stab at that! KNT's Romeo and Juliet Intensive Workshop for Beginners

Not literally, perhaps, because we didn't have the manpower for a street brawl or time for the Mercutio v Tybalt or Tybalt v Romeo showdowns but we did have a go at modified versions of the Dance of the Knights and Juliet's solo yesterday. Following the success of KNT's Swan Lake intensive last summer (see KNT's Beginners' Adult Ballet Intensive - Swan Lake: Day 1 18 Aug 2915, Day 2 19 Aug 2015 and Day 3 20 Aug 2015) Karen Sant arranged for Jane Tucker of Northern Ballet to return for two intensive workshops on Romeo and Juliet. Gita and I attended the beginners' intensive yesterday. A more advanced one takes place today.

Yesterday was something of a reunion for there were a lot of familiar faces from the Swan Lake intensive including a contingent from Liverpool who are among the jolliest and pleasantest people I know.  I had occasionally seen some of those dancers at KNT's Saturday class but this was the first time since August that we had seen them all and it was good to renew acquaintances. This time we had a small party from Yorkshire which would have been bigger had I mentioned this workshop sooner to my classmates on Jane's Wednesday evening improvers' class in Leeds. Several had expressed interest when I told them about Swan Lake and a few asked for details of this course which was why I published Dance Like A Knight - Romeo and Juliet Intensives on 24 March 2016, but by that time the course was fully subscribed.

The day began with a warm up session on our pilates mats starting gently with angels' wings and building up to more challenging floor exercises including full sit ups as well as some useful foot exercises. We then had a full 90 minute class which started with the Ichino style cardio exercise which all the teachers in Leeds employ in one form or another. Jane's starts with a walk, develops into a run with an about turn when the class least expects it, skipping facing out, skipping facing in, jumping Jacks, calf stretches and balancing on one foot which I can never accomplish on my right leg and seldom on the left. Class followed the sequence in Leeds with one or two modifications. We even had a go at the Descent into the Kingdom of the Shades from La Bayadère which I would love to master. It looks easy enough from the stalls but I assure you it isn't. Especially not the arabesque penché or the 360 degree pivot in arabesque which I can't do for toffee. Having said that, I don't think I was quite as bad yesterday as I had been in Jane's last class in Leeds but she may well beg to differ.

Between the end of the class and lunch we learned a modified version of the Dance of the Knights. Jane divided us into two groups. As we were stage right I guess we must have been Capulets which is great because it put me on the same side as my heroine, Sarah Kundi, in English National's excellent staging of Nureyev's version of the ballet in November (see Manchester's Favourite Ballet Company 29 Nov 2015). The piece started with the chaps, Simon and Tyson, who are both a pleasure to watch, and then we women proudly strode across the stage in our heavy brocades carrying our masques snarling silently at the Montagues who were approaching us. On reaching our destination we did some glissades, chassés, pivot turns and lunges including changing places with the row in front.

Bart Engelen, Full Moon

Photo Michel Schnater
(c) 2015 Dutch National Ballet, all rights reserved
Reproduced with kind permission of the company

I have seen lots of versions of Romeo and Juliet - Lavrosky's, MacMillan's, Deane's, Pastor's, Nureyev's, Maillot's. James's and Job's since I started this blog - but there is one other ballet which is set to Prokofiev's music that I just couldn't get out of my mind. That was Milena Siderova's Full Moon which had been danced by Norwegian National Ballet artist Bart Engelen when he was with the Junior Company of the Dutch National Ballet. Here's a photo of Bart and here's what I wrote about his performance:

"Milena Siderova's Full Moon was such fun. The music to Romeo and Juliet boomed across the auditorium but there was no sword fight, crowd scene or bedroom pas de deux. Just Bart Engelen clutching a cushion. Engelen is a beautiful young man. Tall and muscular, blond and slender. He contorted himself into all kinds of shapes as Ed Watson did in the first act of Winter's Tale."This pillow has such a force" explained Siderova in the film. "You can't let it go". I wondered why the company had placed this work immediately after Swan Lake and then it dawned on me. Siegfied saw Odette by moonlight and she was also under a force, namely Siegfried's spell that she could not let go. And why Romeo and Juliet? Well it is a good tune but perhaps the lovers were sent to their fate by a force that they could not let go."

It was very hard to suppress a fit of the giggles as Jane gave us our directions and I had to apply all the powers of concentration to think Capulets and Montagues and keep a straight face. Bart and Madame Siderova you have a lot to answer for.


After lunch we polished that dance before exchanging our brocades for Juliet's chiffon ball gown. Jane set the scene.

"You are 12 years old. This is your first ball. You are so excited you can hardly contain yourself. All eyes are on you. You want everybody to be you."

Now, although I have no personal recollection of what it was like to be a teenage girl I am old enough to remember Hooray Henries and debs. As I went to school in London I even knew some. I remember Henley, Wimbledon and the season, all of which was recorded in Jennifer's Diary. I imagined myself as one of those giddy, giggly girls who used to rain cut flowers on stage from the balcony at Covent Garden.

Juliet's piece is fast and furious and no way could I keep up as I am old enough to have been Juliet's great grandmother. I saw Fonteyn dance Juliet towards the end of her career when she was close to my age but she had been dancing all her life and was an exceptional talent. We started on demi pointe literally shaking with excitement and shot into a temps levé followed by a balancé turn then another temps levé. There were soutenus and chaines. It was a glorious and exhilarating experience for me.

Jane coached Simon and Tyson on Romeo's variation and then gave us all a final run through before our show.

We performed in front of our dear colleague, Yoshie Kimura, and our teacher, Mark Hindle, who were a very discerning if somewhat over generous audience. I think all of us gave it our best shot and we were very, very happy with the day.

Jane gave us a final cool down on our mats plus some tips about hot baths and cold plunges and sent us on our way. Altogether it was a great day. I am very grateful to Jane for giving the course, Karen for organizing it, Mark for assisting Jane, Yoshie for watching and encouraging us and all my companions for their excellent company.

Dance Like A Knight - Romeo and Juliet Intensives

Every time I hear Prokofiev's Dance of the Knights from Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet my spine tingles and I come out in goose bumps. Whenever I ask a young male dancer what would be his favourite rule it is almost always Romeo and a fair number of young women want to dance Juliet or at least one of the other strong female roles such as Lady Capulet danced so memorably by the magnificent Sarah Kundi in Manchester last year (see Manchester's Favourite Ballet Company 29 Nov 2015).

Well now we can all have our chance since KNT Danceworks are running beginners and advanced intensives on Romeo and Juliet at the Dancehouse at 10 Oxford Road in Manchester on 8 and 9 April 2016. Those intensives will be taken by Jane Tucker of Northern Ballet who taught us Swan Lake in April (KNT's Beginners' Adult Ballet Intensive - Swan Lake: Day 1 18 Aug 2015).

Jane Tucker is a wonderful teacher and, as I have said before, I think the world of her but don't expect this programme to be easy. For Swan Lake we did a warm up on pilates mats, then a 90 minute class, then wall to wall rehearsals for the rest of the day until cool down at the end.  It nearly killed me. Nearly, but not quite. If I can survive this intensive, folks, then so can you.

I am really glad I did Swan Lake for lots of reasons. It was good fun and I got a great sense of achievement at the end. Everyone on the course got to know each other a little better and we developed a great camaraderie. I got to know and appreciate the choreography so much more. Whenever I watch cygnets, the swans' entry, the Hungarian dance or Siegfried's solo I smile and say to myself I had a go at that.

If you want to do this intensive call Karen Sant on 07783 103 037, email her at info@kntdanceworks.co.uk or contact her through Facebook you had better get your skates on. Tickets are selling like hot cakes.

By the way Dance of the Knights was used for another ballet  by Milena Siderova of the Dutch National Ballet. She created a hilarious dance called Full Moon for Bart Engelen who is now with the Norwegian Ballet. Read my review in The Dutch National Ballet Junior Company's best Performance yet 8 Feb 2015.

This year I am in it!

Liverpool Town Hall, 8 Sept 2014


I described last year's Move It as better than Eurovision as indeed it was.  This year's show is taking place this Saturday and, guess what, I'm in it. I've danced in public before at the Stanley and Audrey Burton Theatre in Leeds this year and last (see My Second Ballet 5 July 2015 and The Time of my Life 5 July 2014) and also in Morley Town Hall (see Growing Old Disgracefully in Morley 28 Sept 2015) but this performance is altogether more challenging for it takes place in The Dancehouse which is half as big again as the Stanley and Audrey and part of Manchester's history.

I shall be dancing in the Beginners' Ballet piece but that class is of a very high standard. See how good they were last year in Didn't They Do Well!  Well we have an even harder routine this year and we have all been working hard to master it since the beginning of last term. Our choreographer is Karen Sant and she expects a lot from each of us. The above video shows her teaching our contemporary class in Liverpool Town Hall on 8 Sept 2014. I was there and wrote about it in It's not every Class that you can use Lord Canning's Eyes for Spotting 9 Sept 2014. It was the first time I tried jazz and contemporary although we started with ballet.

There will, of course, be lots of other performers apart from us. Other ballet classes plus Jazz, Tap, Burlesque, Flamenco, Hula Hooping, Chinese Dance, Street Dance, Belly Dancing and more. Last year I had a great time and if you do come I hope you do too.

Tickets will set you back £5. Doors open at 19:00 and the show starts at 19:30. The Dancehouse is in Oxford Road, a few hundred yards from, and on the same side of the road as, the railway station, There is also lots of unrestricted street parking on Saturday evenings. If you are feeling peckish you can get an excellent burrito at Panchos and there is also good Chinese, Indian and fast food in the area.

We Mancunians like to say that what we do today London does tomorrow. I think it derives from the days when impresarios previewed they shows here before taking them to the West End. They did that because Manchester has the best theatre and most discriminating audiences outside London

Dance Studio Leeds Beginners' Ballet Class

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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 Archers in 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.

KNT's Beginners' Adult Ballet Intensive - Swan Lake: Day 3

Marius Petipa

Source Wikipedia

Well it's over. We did our show. We have all had a stab at dancing four of the best known dances from Swan Lake. I feel a massive sense of achievement merely to have taken part in all the classes and rehearsals and the final performance even though I am conscious that much of the choreography was well beyond my physical strength and skill. I am enormously grateful to Jane Tucker for teaching this course and to Karen Sant for organizing it. I am also grateful to all my teachers for conducting me to the point where I could contemplate a workshop of this kind. Finally, I want to say a big thank you to all the other participants for making me feel so welcome notwithstanding my antiquity, awkwardness and lack of talent.

Our day started with warm up exercises on our pilates mats. Depressingly they included some that I could do perfectly well just a couple of years ago which were now quite beyond me. Sit-ups from a flat on the back position, for example. I could only achieve that by enormous exertion which was clearly not a good idea so I raised myself as much as I could and sank back with somewhat greater alacrity than anybody else. The exercise that I found particularly useful was for the feet. Just over a year ago my right foot started to give me trouble to the extent that I can no longer rise on it on demi. Jane showed is how to flex and stretch the toes. That really helped with some of the barre work later.

I felt very much at home in Jane's class for it started just like every class at Northern Ballet with a walk, skip and run. We did tendus at the barre, followed by pliés in second, first, fifth and fourth, then more tendus. glissés, ronds de jambe, cloches, grands battements and stretches. In the centre we did a port de bras, pirouettes of various kinds, chaînés and all types of jumps. A bit more difficult than the Over 55 improvers at Northern Ballet perhaps but still doable.

The last hour before lunch and the first hour after lunch were taken up with rehearsals. We did the Hungarian dance, Siegfried's solo, cygnets and the swans' entry.  There were sequences of each dance that I never mastered but the prince's dance was by far the most difficult for me.  It required assemblés, tours en l'air (which I had never tried before) and multiple pirouette turns which I have never managed in class. The swans' dance was the most satisfying to learn and execute.

The last event of the day was our show. We had been asked to bring white leotards, flesh coloured tights and a black skirt. I had ordered mine from Just Ballet in Essex. Those garments took their time to arrive because the rain had smudged the address. The Royal Mail in its wisdom had sent the package to Harrogate rather than Holmfirth. Happily I picked them up on the morning of the show. This was the first time I had worn ballet tights and I found them difficult to put on in the confined space of the ladies' shower cubicle. Nevertheless, I managed somehow.

As often happens the excitement of performing raised everybody's game - even mine - but it was over so quickly. I savoured every single second of the show.  Karen and Jane clapped us generously.  Jane asked us whether our expectations had been met. "Oh indeed they had" we replied. "They had been exceeded." Jane commended the progress that we had made in the three days of the workshop.

So was this workshop worth £200 and three days off work. Emphatically yes! I think the real benefit will be a heightened appreciation and understanding of the ballet when we next see Swan Lake on stage. In my case that will be Birmingham Royal Ballet's at Sadler's Wells. I shall be looking out for the changements and échappés of the cygnets and I will say to myself "I did that". I will share the pride of the noble Magyars in the Hungarian dance. My heart will leap with each of Siegried's tours en l'air. And I know what it is like to be a swan under a magician's spell. This experience will stay with me for the rest of my life.

KNT's Beginners' Adult Ballet Intensive - Swan Lake: Day 1

Swan Lake

Author Paata Vardanashvili

Source Wikipedia

Creative Commons Licence 

Although I was very gung ho when I booked my place on KNT Danceworks beginners' adult ballet intensive summer school on 4 June my feet were chilling at an alarming rate last night as I contemplated the enormity of what I had committed to. I set out the timetable in "A Swan? Me a Swan? Ah! Go on!" 13 Aug 2015. Three days of warm-up sessions, classes and rehearsals and then a performance on the last day.

"Have you taken complete leave of your senses" asked wise I of frivolous Me. "You are 66 years old, way overweight, badly coordinated and one of the least competent students who ever clutched a barre."

Hard to argue with the truth. But I had paid my money. Booked three days off work. Told everybody I was going. Too late to back out now. So I wended my across the Pennines in low spirits feeling much as the condemned must have felt as he was trundled along to Tyburn.

My spirits rose when I actually arrived at The Dancehouse. I was welcomed by Karen with a smile and recognized more than a few familiar faces. We were led upstairs to one of the studios where we met our teacher. I know Jane Tucker from Northern Ballet and think the world of her.  She has a wonderful way of coaxing us to carry on even when we can go no further. "Not bad" she exclaims after a shambles of a turn. "How are you doing?" She smiles. "All right?" And so we are.

We started our day with a warm up on our pilates mats. Gentle stretches to soothing music. A few minutes break followed by a 90 minute class. Like all Northern Ballet teachers we started with a walk, then arm stretches, then a run, then a skip facing in. Then a skip facing out. We did the usual barre, port de bras, turns and jumps. We had our first rehearsal just before lunch in which we learned the cygnets' dance. After lunch we learned the Hungarian dance. Finally, we had a very thorough cool down on our mats. "Go and take a hot bath followed by a cold shower" advised Jane "And get a good meal inside you,"

Well, I feel knackered but not nearly as knackered as I had expected to be at the end of the first day. I did follow Jane's advice and while the cold shower was murder I have no more aches and pains than I would expect at the end of any class.  I must have seen scores of Swan Lakes over the years but this course has given me an understanding of two dances that I would never have gained otherwise in a month of Sundays.

I am just so glad I came.

A Different Kind of Ballet Class - Emily Talks at Hype

Sheffield

Author Tpxpress

Source Wikipedia

Every ballet class that I have ever done, whether in Huddersfield, Leeds, London. Manchester, Sheffield or (half a century ago) St. Andrews, has followed a pattern. Usually there is a warm followed by 20 to 30 minutes barre consisting of pliés, tendus, glissés, ronds de jambe, fondus, cloches and either grands battements or développés, then a port de bras which is my favourite part of the class, followed sometimes by pirouettes (which still defeat me), sautés, grands jetés  or temps levés and cool down. We did most of that yesterday as well as several steps that were quite new to me - but in a different way - and it was a lot of fun.

The class took place at Hype in Sheffield which I mentioned in More than just Hype - Beginners and Improvers Classes in Sheffield 14 May 2014. Our teacher was Emily Talks who has been on maternity leave over the last year. Mel had spoken very highly of Emily and I can quite see why. Emily and I had met briefly in August when Mel did her grands battements and we have been friends on Facebook for a while but this was the first time I had taken one of Emily's classes.

It was not a big class. Less than 10 of us. All women except for Ian (the gent I introduced in my review of Hype's Frightnight contribution (seewas Out of this World 3 Nov 2014)). Emily's warm up consisted of getting us to walk in random directions, then backwards trying not to turn round which resulted in my barging into Mel with great velocity, then walking forwards curtseying or bowing to each other as we passed.

Instead of pliés and tendus at the barre Emily called us into the centre and taught us a delightful enchainement consisting of pliés. rises, arms in open 5th, glissé, piqué, point, several steps forward and finally a port de bras all carried off with a smile. She drilled us several times at this exercise until we got it more or less right.

She sent us back to the barre briefly to practise glissés (3 in front followed by a plié, 3 to the side followed by another plié, 3 to the back followed by yet another plié, 3 more to the side followed by a snappy relevé). We did that in both directions a couple of times.

Next we tried fondus in the centre bending our left leg and raising our tight, then our tight raising our left, bending our left and stretching our right, bending once more and balancing on left in relevé running a few steps and balancing on our right legs in third arabesque. We marked it once without music and then with music. We divided into groups and had a go at the exercise several times. We then tried the exercise on the opposite feet. I have had trouble with my right foot for over a year and just can't hold demi-pointe for more than a millisecond which can't have impressed Emily. On the other hand I could make a much better stab at third arabesque balancing on my left leg. Emily drilled us in that exercise several times and I do think I improved slightly. Seeing my struggles Mel slapped me on my back by way of encouragement.

Our last enchainement was a weight shifting exercise for which we were given props. There was a big bag of toys and other goodies on one of the racks from which Emily selected some coloured wands with streamers for each of the women and a Union flag for Ian. My wand had green and white stripes with a green ribbon. The exercise consisted of waving our wands (or flag) in the air from left to right and back again as we shifted our weight from one side to the other pointing our unengaged toe a couple of rapid soutenus waving our wands (or flag) below our tummies, pliés, rising in the air, running (and then for me the new bit) jumping a  rassemblé changing step and direction and ending with our rights arms and wands in the air and our left arms forming a continuous line. Or at least that was the idea. I don't think I ever got there but I did my best. Again, we tried that exercise in groups several times.

Finally. we did some conventional jumping - sautés and changements ending with some temps levés. Again we tried each of those exercises several times.

Then it was all over.

Emily's cool down consisted of some stretches on the floor followed by some stretches on out feet.  We curtseyed to Emily, then to each other and we were on our way.

I don't think a class has ever gone so quickly. I have to think back to my first class with Annemarie to recall one that has been as much fun. The hour was more like a rehearsal than a class. By combining the exercises into enchainements we were able to understand the exercises in the context of a performance. By repeating them more than once each of us we improved a little - or at least (in my case) I thought I did. We were all bouncing and chatting as we exited the studio.

I shall certainly try to return to Sheffield for another of Emily's classes. Unfortunately, I don't know when. Emily's class clashes with meetings of the London Ballet Circle. Ernst Meisner was the guest last week, Marcelo Gomes the week before that and Li Cunxin is coming next week. There is no way I would miss the opportunity to listen to and afterwards shake hands with them.  Moreover Sheffield is not a city I visit often. Traffic is terrible. Public transport is no better.  Trains from  Brockholes take forever and the tram does not go anywhere near Hype's studio. Off-street parking is outrageous and the council has the cheek to charge £1 for parking outside the Lord Nelson after 18:30. The only reason I was able to take yesterday's class was that I had a business meeting in the city followed by an invitation to the Wong Ting. Nevertheless, I have an incentive to return and return I will just as soon as I can.

KNT Danceworks Summer Intensives

I have already mentioned KNT Danceworks' Adult Summer Intensives in More good news from Manchester 14 April 2015 and KNT Danceworks Adult Summer Intensives 7 May 2015. Yesterday Karen Sant published the curricula vitarum of the course teachers and their credentials are impressive.

Here is what she wrote about Jane Tucker:

"Born in West Yorkshire, Jane undertook her early training with the Northern Dance Centre and completed it at Central School of Ballet and Northern Ballet School where she performed and toured with Manchester City Ballet.
Jane began her professional career with Hong Kong Ballet in 1994, touring extensively through Asia, north America and Canada.She returned to her roots joining Northern Ballet Theatre in 1999 and enjoyed three years touring around the UK and China.Throughout her dancing career Jane has performed in most of the classics and premièred in many new works: The Last Emperor, A Streetcar Named Desire and Madam Butterfly to name a few.
Jane gained Distinction for the Professional Dancers Teaching Diploma at the RAD, London in 2002 and has accumulated extensive teaching experience to date.Since graduating from the RAD Jane has toured Australia undertaking workshops and classes in companies and vocational colleges including the Western Academy for Performing Arts. Within the UK Jane has taught for various schools - Northern Ballet School, Elmhurst, NSCD, SLP college and Theatreworks. She helped produce sleeping Beauty for the Liverpool Proscenium Youth Ballet Company, and provided classical training for contemporary companies Darkin Ensemble and Diversity Dance. She has also coached boys for the West End production of Billy Elliot."

Pausing there,  Jane taught one of the vacation classes at Northern Ballet last year. It was hard work but I enjoyed it very much. I should add that Manchester City Ballet is still going strong and that they performed The Nutcracker delightfully last year (see Alchemy 13 Dec 2014). Jane will teach both the beginners' and the advanced ballet courses. The beginners will be based on Swan Lake and the advanced on Giselle.

Jazz will be taken by Dane Quixall and contemporary by Gavin Persand.  Karen warns that the places are filling up. If you want to take part you should contact her through her Facebook page and ask for an application form. You will be asked for a £50 deposit and the balance must be paid not less than 4 weeks before the start of the course.

I am in a quandary. I love to dance and I know that I would appreciate Swan Lake so much more when I see it on stage if I have actually danced some of it myself - but I have come to ballet very late in life. While I can just about struggle through Fiona Noonan's 90 minute mixed age and mixed ability class at Huddersfield I am not sure that I can keep up with the agile young people who danced so well in Move It last month (see Didn't They Do Well 27 May 2015). My balance is not as good as it was last year and I struggle to stay on demi-pointe for more than a micro-second these days. On the other hand, maybe I should go for it while I can still dance at all.

So Proud of Manchester - KNT Danceworks Complete Beginners Class

Pierre Adolphe Valette   Oxford Road, Manchester

Wikipedia

Northern Ballet started in Manchester in 1969 and one of the company's best ballets was Gillian Lynne's A Simple Man which celebrated the life of L S Lowry. I also started life in Manchester some 20 years earlier. As a Mancunian I have always regretted Northern Ballet's departure from our city though had they stayed they might never have been housed so well as they are now at Quarry Hill.

But as I tweeted when I visited In the Frame at the Lowry Northern Ballet's déménagement has not deprived our city of dance. Not only do we see a lot of dance at The Lowry, the Palace and other venues but we also make it as this wonderful Oxjam flash mob video shows. We have the Dancehouse, Northern Ballet School and KNT Danceworks. All at 10 Oxford Road which is approximately where Adolphe Valette would have been standing when he painted the picture above.

Yesterday I attended the Complete Beginners Ballet Class at KNT Danceworks and I had a great time. Our instructor was Ailsa Baker who was excellent. The Dancehouse is an old cinema which has been converted into a theatre and dance studios. Our class took place in a studio at the top which was large with a lovely curved roof and large windows allowing plenty of natural light.

There were about 20 of us - perhaps more - nearly all  were women and most of us were young.  I joined the class a few minutes before it started to find that most of the kids were stretching like experienced dancers. Complete beginners' class? Huh! Some beginners.  I introduced myself to Ailsa who asked me whether I had done any dance before. I owned up to being in the Over 55 Class at Northern Ballet. "Don't worry!" said Ailsa reassuringly. "If you can do more or less what I show you it is good enough for me."

But it immediately became clear that Ailsa has very high standards and she expects her students to make an effort which is fine by me.  We started some toe exercises followed by pliés and relevés and balances with our arms in first and fifth. Then we did combined pliés and tendus followed by glissés, fondus and grands battements.  It was during the grands battements that I realized that Ailsa is serious. As one half of the class swung their legs at the barre the other half were in pairs on the floor in plank position clapping hands alternately. Now that was a shock for this old lady but I wasn't giving up. Finally we had some stretches with our legs on the barre. Somehow I willed my back paws onto the second rail of the barre. Those who know me will realize that is no mean achievement.

After our barre work and stretches Ailsa called us into the centre and taught us some balancés, posés and a grand jeté which she combined in a lovely enchainement which we practised in groups starting from right to left starting with the right foot and then from the left with the left foot. Ailsa filmed us on her mobile phone. Ailsa used the same music as Fiona Nooman, my teacher in Huddersfield, which made me feel very much at home. I don't know the names of the tunes but I really love them. They go round and round in my head long after I finish class.

Alas, like all ballet classes it came to an end too soon.  "How did you like it?" asked Ailsa when I paid her my fee. "I really loved it" I said. "Then you'll be back?" "You bet!!" and I meant it "Though I can't come every week once my classes start again in Leeds."

There's something about Manchester and Manchester people. They (and I hope that includes me) are very friendly.  My mother, who came from Bramhope, noticed that. She went the opposite way to Northern Ballet. 

There's a lot to be said for this class. A lovely big studio. Good parking nearby (the meters stop at 18:00 unlike the curmudgeonly city fathers in Leeds and Sheffield who rake what they can off impoverished adult ballet students). A very reasonable fee - £5 for an hour. And a great instructor  who coaxes the best out of her class with a smile and words of encouragement.

Serendipity - Tristan Dance Studio

On a Wednesday evening I normally go to the University of Huddersfield for a mixed ability ballet class (see "Team Hud Adult Ballet Class" 22 Jan 2014) but late this afternoon I was told that ballet had been cancelled owing to "mixups at gym", A bombshell that was sugared with three kisses (xxx). Not long ago I would not have minded missing class in the least but now I do. I love my classes and I don't know how I ever managed to get through the first 63 years of my existence without them.

I was desolate but then I had a brainwave. Way back in the recesses of my memory I remembered that I had googled "adult" + "ballet" + "Huddersfield" in February when I was told that the class at Team Hud was fully booked.  I found an adult ballet class at Lockwood and was invited to join it. Fortunately, I was allowed back into Team Hud the next week and I have hardly missed a class since then.  I trawled my email until I found the invitation and saw that there was an adult ballet class on Wednesdays. I googled "Tristan" + "Dance" + "Studios" again this evening and found this website. I checked the Huddersfield timetable and found there was a class tonight.

Tristan Dance Studio is not an easy place to find. Its postal address in Lockwood but I would have placed it in Beaumont Park or even Netherton.  Google maps traced a tortuous route down narrow country lanes and the signage was so indistinct that I drove past it twice. When I did spot the sign I found that the studios were located in a former mill.  Barring my way was a heavy steel gate but nobody in the gatehouse.  I got out of my car and found a control panel on which the words Tristan Dance appeared. I pressed the button. Someone picked up the phone but did not speak, The gates opened and in I drove,

The mill consists of several buildings each with several tenants and it took me some time the studio. It was at the top of a flight of rickety stairs.  I scrambled to the top and found a lady called Elaine who told me that she was also taking the beginners' class.  Although the kindest things I can say about the studios was that they had seen better days and could have benefited from a lick of paint and a new floor they were quite light and airy. Some idea of the premises can be gleaned from the YouTube video above.

From our studio Elaine and I could see the advanced class through a glass partition. It was taken by a gentleman whom I now know to be Tristan Nigel Edgar. He had two students. We saw them practising développés. Later they donned black tutus to dance an adagio.  We were taught by a lady whose name I cannot remember.  Our class began with pliés in first, second and fifth, then tendus and glissés, then ronds de jambe and finally grands battements and cloches. Our instructor led us into the centre and showed us an adagio which involved chassés and pas de bourrée. Once she was satisfied that we had got that right she showed us a more complex adagio which required us to balance first in arabesque and then attitude. Next we attempted some pirouettes and I have to say that Elaine was a lot more successful than me. As Elaine told me that she had only just started ballet it is clear that out instructor must be good. She did not push us as hard as Fiona or Annemarie but she was nevertheless effective. She was very patient and encouraging and I liked her very much. 

 Looking through Tristan's website I see that it has had some significant successes.  At least one of its recent pupils has made it to the Royal Ballet School.   I will certainly come back to this studio now that I know where it is. Although I will stick to Fiona on Wednesdays I will come to Tristan's Friday night classes whenever I can.  Classes at Tristan are £6 per hour which is the same as Hype but more than Team Hud and The Base.

More than just Hype - Beginners and Improvers Classes in Sheffield

Sheffield Town Hall                                                                    Photo  Wikipedia

For the last year and a bit I have been taking Fiona Noonan's adult ballet classes at The Base Studios and Team Hud in Huddersfield (see "The Base Studios, Huddersfield"  2 March 2013 and "Team Hud Adult Ballet Class" 22 Jan 2014).  Recently she has been engaged to teach advanced, intermediate and pointe classes at Hype Dance Academy in Sheffield while the regular teacher is on maternity leave. For the next three weeks she will be covering Hype's beginners and improvers classes too.  Yesterday I followed her to Sheffield to take her classes at Hype.

The first thing to say is that Hype is not easy to find. I lived a mile from Hampton Court Palace between 1955 and 1982 so I know all about mazes but not even that labyrinth had prepared me for Sheffield's one way traffic system. I suspect it was devised in the days when Sheffield City Council was said to be slightly to the left of Fidel Castro and it was the local local authority's policy to drive motorists off the roads and onto the excellent trams.  Hype's address is 67 Earl Street, Sheffield, S1 4PY which my satellite navigation seemed to think was on planet Zog. The first time I tried to find it I missed the class altogether as I crawled around the city centre from one traffic jam to the next as the minutes ticked by. There are directions on the "contact page" of Hype's web site but these are not much help unless you know Sheffield well. It is no good calling the studio for directions because the switchboard is not covered for the whole of the day.

If you are a motorist the trick is as follows:

• get on the A61 (inner city ring road in the clockwise direction) which you can join at the Park Square roundabout from the Parkway which connects with the M1 (watch the cameras they are super-sensitive after the 50 mph sign), 
• follow the ring road past the station which should be on your left, 
• make a sharp right onto St Mary's Road, 
• then another into Matilda Street, 
• carry on down Matilda Road past the UTC college which should be on your right, 
• then a left into Sydney Street, 
• a sharp right on Arundel and 
• then left on Earl.

To say you can't miss the studio would not be true because it is a very undistinguished two storey brick building which must have been a warehouse or other light industrial building in its heyday.  There is signage for the observant pedestrian and no doubt aspirant taxi driver if they have anything like The Knowledge in Sheffield but it is easy to miss.

One good point about the location is that there is plenty of street parking which costs £1 after 18:00.  Don't be fooled into using pay by phone because the app tried to charge me £2.40. Another is there are some very good Chinese restaurants and a grocery within a few hundred yards of the dance school. My favourite is the Wong Ting where I celebrated my 60th birthday.

Once you find Hype and get inside it is very nice. There appear to be two studios and Fiona's class was in Studio 1.  That is a long narrow room with barres along the right hand side and a mirror at the front. The walls are decorated with posters and playbills and Victorian schoolroom style exhortations such as dance is 20% talent and 80% labour. Yeah!

There must have been between 15 and 20 people in the beginners' class, mainly women nearly all of whom were in their twenties.   We filled the fixed barre and 4 of us spilled on to a travelling barre. They were a friendly crowd and most of them were well kitted out in leotards and soft toed ballet shoes.

Fiona introduced herself to the class and told us a little bit about her training in Australia and her career as a dancer and teacher. She then asked the students what they had learned from their regular teacher and how she had taught them. The answers suggested that her method was very much like Fiona's.

We had a warm up exercise in the centre for toes and legs.  I was dismayed to find that my balance was well below the class's because I had to let my feet touch the floor once or twice. We then sidled off to the barre for the usual exercises.

Fiona is a good teacher but I have never seen her teach better than she did yesterday. She likes a big class of enthusiastic students and she found them at Hype. Through the barre exercises she focussed on technique particularly on basics such as weight distribution and the use of abdominals and abductors. She has an eye for detail and I think we all had a correction to make. Once she was happy with our pliés, tendus and glissés we moved on to fondus and développés which do not come easily to this old lady but nevertheless have to be done.

In the centre we followed a port de bras exercise that I had already attempted several times in Huddersfield which consists of chassés starting on the right, then left and en croix, a lunge, a pivot, arabesque which is substantially repeated on the left.  Annemarie in Leeds has a similar exercise for us old ladies except that we soutenu rather than pivot and cut out the arabesque.  We marked it without and then with music and then tried it for ourselves.  To my joy I found that I could just about hold my pivot - at least for the first time.  The second was a bit of a dog's breakfast.

Fiona asked the class about travelling steps and two of the students set off with something that looked very much like temps levés to me.   That is certainly what we ended up with.  The long narrow room gave us plenty of space for building up some momentum.  We did that exercise in groups of three and loved it.  In the last few minutes we did a few sautés and jetés again making good use of the room's length.

All too soon the class was over. Fiona explained that another teacher would be taking over from her in a few weeks' time. That announcement elicited a few sighs showing how much everyone had enjoyed the class.

A few of us stayed on for the improvers' class which started immediately afterwards.  One of the students in that class was Mel with whom I had driven down to Lincoln the previous Friday (see "Chantry Dance Company's Sandman and Dream Dance" 10 May 2014). Mel is a good dancer and I had feared that I would find myself out of my depth.  Although she and all the other students were in a different league to me they were also friendly.  Everyone was keen to learn.   The barre and centre exercises were similar to those that we had done in the beginners' class but they were done by my fellow students even more slickly and elegantly.

The final class of the evening was beginners' pointe for which I did not stay. I doubt that I shall ever reach that standard because try as I might my ankles are weak and my core is jelly but you never know.  When I started ballet again just over year ago I couldn't do any of the centre work.   Now I am at least having a jolly good bash.

Before coming to Sheffield I had done two classes in Leeds and I had expected the Sheffield classes to be a bit of a slog but they weren't. They were a lot of fun and I could have carried on for more.  I have not met the other teachers but judging by the standard I found at Hype they must be good.  I have no hesitation in recommending that dance school.