Michaela's Masterclass

Michaela DePrince and her students, Danceworks, 7 July 2015

(c) 2015 Danceworks Ltd

Here is a photograph of some of the luckiest, happiest and most excited young dancers in the kingdom. The reason for their happiness and excitement is that they were lucky enough to attend a master class with the outstanding young dancer Michaela DePrince. DePrince is an eleve with the Dutch National Ballet (although she is soon to be elevated to coryphée according to the company's press officer) and her company is in London to dance Christopher Wheeldon's Cinderella at the Coliseum. Yesterday DePrince found time to give a master class at Danceworks' studios in Balderton Street.

Lesley Osman, Danceworks's General Manager, described the class as "wonderful". She added that the rehearsal studio in which the class was given was full of young dancers who are inspired by DePrince. Lesley sent me these photos of the event and kindly gave me permission to reproduce them here.

One of the young dancers in DePrince's class was Ciara Sturrock. As you can see, Ciara shows promise as a journalist as well as a dancer. I am sure that everyone who reads this post will wish her well in her studies and career whether it on the stage, in print or somewhere altogether different  She wrote about her experience yesterday as follows:

"To say I wasn't the best dancer in Michaela's Masterclass today is not an exaggeration. I'm 15 years old, not a 'ballet build', and, although have been taking ballet and various other dance classes since the age of 2, I found a lot of the exercises quite difficult. However, Michaela couldn't have been more helpful and was totally inspiring.

She obviously spotted I wasn't technically as good as everyone else and helped me with my body positioning without making me feel awkward. In fact, Michaela helped everyone. Sometimes she just was like a little girl, flapping about when she didn't do something herself quite the way she wanted it to be - just like most of us girls do!

Michaela taught us both technique and how to make more of our presentation. She told us to keep our heads up, open up our chests and, because you don't speak in a ballet performance, to tell the story through our hearts. This really struck a chord with me and I will always remember this when I perform in the future.

Knowing the story of Michaela's early difficult and dangerous childhood, and how successful she has become, I find it amazing that she is so approachable, humble and funny. I may not be a ballet dancer but I really enjoyed the class today, and learnt a lot in

a short space of time, with this fantastic and beautiful role model."

I was lucky enough to see DePrince dance in Cool Britannia in Amsterdam on the 27 June and I witnessed the enormous and enthusiastic following that she enjoys in the Netherlands (see Going Dutch. 29 July 2015).  I am looking forward to seeing her dance again on Saturday in Cinderella and at the gala for the opening of the ballet season in Amsterdam on the 8 Sept 2015 (see Triple Dutch 4 July 2015).

I took an interest in DePrince even before she joined the Dutch National Ballet Junior Company because I have connections with her country of origin, When I saw her dance for the first time I wrote:

"she is even more impressive in real life. She is quite simply the most exciting dancer I have seen for quite a while" (see The Junior Company of the Dutch National Ballet - Stadsshouwburg Amsterdam 24 Nov 2013 26 Nov 2015).

If you want to find out more about this remarkable young  woman I have collated links to most of my articles in Michaela DePrince at TEDx Amsterdam 26 Nov 2015.  My thanks to Lesley and Danceworks for the photos and to Ciara for the copy.

Dancing through the Summer

Saturday's end of year show brought term to an end at Northern Ballet Academy but as their website says

"just because the sun comes out (fingers crossed!) doesn't mean we have to stop dancing!"

Jane Tucker will be giving  classes to improvers on 4 and 11 Aug beginners on the 6 and 13 at Northern Ballet's studios in Leeds.

The same teacher is also teaching intensive workshops on Swan Lake and Giselle for beginners and advanced students at KNT Danceworks on the 19 and 22 Aug respectively.  I mentioned those courses in KNT Danceworks Adult Summer Intensives 7 May 2015. I shall attend Jane's beginners' classes at Northern Ballet and her Swan Lake intensive on the 19 August and will let you know how I get on.

In the meantime I shall attend at least two of KNT Danceworks ballet classes for beginners or complete beginners each week. These take place in Northern Ballet School's studios on Oxford Road in Manchester between 18:00 and 19:30 every weekday.  I have attended classes by Ailsa Baker, Karen Sant, Josh Moss and Sarah Butler and they are all good. I reviewed Ailsa's class in So Proud of Manchester - KNT Danceworks Complete Beginners Class on 29 Aug 2015. You can also see Gita's view in  Coming Back to Ballet  on 12 March 2015. She wrote:

"Ailsa is another good teacher and clearly very popular. I counted 50 students in her beginners’ class. She let me dance in socks - much easier than dancing barefoot . She was very friendly but still commanded everybody’s attention. She made us work very hard in the stretching and strength building exercises. There seemed to be a wide range of ability and experience from professionals to newbies. Ailsa was very encouraging. Because the class was large the vibe was magic and very chatty. Like all the other classes we started with barre exercises and stretches and then proceeded to port de bras and jumps. It was great fun."

As you can see from the abive flash mob video, KNT teach more than ballet. Gita and I have taken a contemporary class with them (see My First Contemporary Dance Class 27 Feb 2015. You will find the complete timetable here.

KNT also give classes in Liverpool.  I attended their taster classes in Liverpool town hall last September (see It's not every Class that you can use Lord Canning's Eyes for Spotting 9 Sept 2014. Details are posted on KNT Liverpool's Facebook page.

If you can't get to Manchester easily I can recommend Fiona Noonan's classes at Hype Dance in Sheffield (see More than just Hype - Beginners and Improvers Classes in Sheffield 14 May 2014) and the University of Huddersfield (see Team Hud Adult Ballet Class 22 Jan 2014). You will find Hype's timetable here and Tram Hud (that is to say, the University's) here.

Of course, if you live in or near London you are spoilt for choice.  Here is a directory of dance classes kept by londondance.com. It seems that every possible taste and style is catered for. So far, I have attended only one class in London - Adam Pudney's at Pineapple in November 2013. Joanna takes Amber Doyle's classes at Pineapple regularly and speaks very highly of them on Facebook and twitter.  I have not yet attended a class at Danceworks but I have watched Christina Mittelmaier's and Denzil Bailey's and was very impressed. Danceworks are now running classes for the over 50s (see Over 50s Ballet Classes at Danceworks 30 May 2015).  A particularly good deal for the summer is Danceworks 5 day membership pass for £10 which is available from 1 July to 6 Sept.

Finally an appeal. If anyone whether teacher, student or dance school wants to write about their classes please add your comments below or contact me through twitter or Facebook.

Post Script Joanna has tweeted from Tokyo

@jelterps I love @AmberdoyleAmber general #ballet Saturday/Sunday mornings & Adam Pudney Tuesday evening elementary #ballet @pineappledance

— Joanna Goodman (@JoannaMG22) July 7, 2015

I look forward to trying one of Amber's classes.

My Second Ballet

Yesterday I danced in  my second ballet. It did not have quite the same edge as my first time on stage because I already knew what it would be like to dance in a commercial theatre (see The Time of My Life 29 June 2014). Nevertheless, it was still a thrill.  One of the reasons why it was such a thrill was that I knew that I would be dancing before people who mean a lot to me. In particular, Fiona, the teacher who coaxed me back into class a month after I had lost my spouse to a horrible disease when my life was at a very low ebb.

The performance in which I appeared was the over 55 class's contribution to Northern Ballet Academy's end of year show. Northern Ballet Academy does great work in the community. Consequently, there are a lot of classes many of which were represented in the show.  There were so many that we had to be organized in four performances each with a separate cast.  Our's was the last performance which began at 16:30. It included students from the CAT (Centre for Advanced Training) programme as well as some younger kids such as Fiona's daughter who is already something of a pro at the tender age of 9 having already danced Pammy in the Great Gatsby, the young Ondine and one of the mice in The Nutcracker.

As happened last year, we were mustered in the lobby of Northern Ballet at 14:45.  Our teacher and choreographer, Annemarie Donoghue, led us to one of Phoenix's studios on the 6th floor. We had a short class of pliés, tendus, glissés and cloches at the barre and then a couple of run throughs of our piece to the music. To our great surprise and delight we got most of it right. Annemarie took us down to the theatre where we rehearsed a couple of times on stage. Annemarie corrected a few details but otherwise we were OK.

We returned to our studio where we waited for our call which came very quickly. Rather than take the goods lift which gave us our only anxious moment last year we crept down the back stairs and waited our turn. There were some children on stage before us dancing to Elvis Presley's Jailhouse Rock. They finished their routine and we found our way on to the stage in the dark. The lights came on and our music began. The programme described it as Lullaby by Lulaby.   Now I must confess I have never heard of Lulaby and neither (so it would appear) has Google, YouTube. iTunes or Spotify. One of the members of our class who is a retired teacher attributed it to Thomas Schoenberger but I can't confirm that. Be that as it may it is a lovely composition which I have enjoyed listening and dancing to.

The choreography was very different from last year's. It was less spectacular but required much more concentration.  We started in groups of three.  The left hand dancer of each group raised her arm and she was followed sequentially by the middle dancer and the dancer to her right. That was mirrored by the dancer on the right, followed by the middle dancer and the dancer on the left. We then followed a weaving movement that reminded me of a figure of eight of the Dashing White Sergeant or Eightsome Reel in Scottish country dancing. We repeated that exercise with more épaulements and figures of eight. We advanced, retired and turned to the right. We retired, advanced and turned to the left.  We then courued on demi-pointe flapping our arms like wings. Annemarie told us to think of ourselves as swans.

As the music changed we broke into two lines, the front line to do some jumping and the back line to do balancés. The jumpers retired and we advanced doing balancés to the right and left followed by several pas de bourrés. We retired to the wings as the jumping group did their sautés.  The balancés group entered stage left with two temps levés.  We entered from the right with two more and ran across to the front of the stage where we waited for the next music change.

In the final movement we formed our two lines again and repeated the épaulement exercise but this time in the style of a Mexican wave, We concluded with a lovely port de bras exercise that we had done in class for several weeks before the show.

The applause was deafening. We curtseyed and exited and made our way to the stairs but were told to stop before we had reached the first landing. We learned that we would be required for a curtain call of the whole company. That had not happened the year before and I felt very proud.  While waiting for our call Fiona's daughter spotted and greeted me. It was lovely to see her.  The children were called on first.  Then I ran on followed by the rest of my class.  The CAT dancers came on last.  There were speeches and prizes and finally the curtain fell.

I think our performance was more polished than last year though one of my guests said he preferred last year's show because it lasted longer and there was more jumping.  Another said that we had performed better in the technical rehearsal. I wanted to learn what Fiona thought about our show but she had warned me that she had another appointment to attend and I never got to see her. She has however texted me this morning to say "well done for yesterday" and that I had "smiled the whole way through." I am glad if that was so because I was pleased to be there and I had hoped to communicate my pleasure to the audience in the way that Ruth Brill and Rachael Gillespie do.

Annemarie told us that there was some doubt as to whether we could run a show next year because there will not be time for a choreography class. However, she also told us that there will be one final chance to perform on the 24 Sept 2015 as part of a new community project to bring the arts to older people who are living on their own. Performances are very important for any ballet student including very elderly ones like me because ballet is a performing art which belongs in the theatre rather than the rehearsal studio. I do hope that September will not be my swan song.

Triple Dutch

Last Saturday I attended the last performance of the Dutch National Ballet's Cool Britannia at the Stopera (the national opera house and concert hall of the Netherlands which also serves as Amsterdam's town hall) (see Going Dutch 29 July 2015). There are some beautiful shots of that magnificent building as well as glimpses of some of the performances on stage in the video of last year's opening gala.

There are still a few tickets left if you want to attend this year's gala on the 8 Sept 2015.  EasyJet are offering some really good deals from Southend to Amsterdam and if you want a cheap place to stay you could do worse than the Bastion in Amstel. This is the Dutch equivalent of Travelodge in that it offers clean and comfortable accommodation at a reasonable price. I paid 114 euros last week which included an all-you-can-eat buffet breakfast.

The hotel  is not situated in the smartest neighbourhood of Amsterdam - local landmarks include a high security prison and a funeral museum - but it is very handy for the Stopera. Take line 51 on the underground (well actually it is more like Manchester's Metrolink than London's tube) from Overamsteal to Waterlooplein both of which are marked on the underground map. You can buy a 24 hour ticket for the buses, trams and metro but not the overground for 7.50 euros. The hotel is also handy for the airport.  Buy a ticket for RAI rather than Central Station which will save you a couple of euros, Then take the underground one stop to Overamstel.  It is actually a good deal less hassle and almost always cheaper to get to Schiphol than Heathrow from most parts of Britain. Prices of meals and accommodation  are more like Manchester than London once you get there.

We have two other treats in store before the gala. The Dutch are coming to the Coliseum with Wheeldon's Cinderella  next week. They have published the casts on their website. There are still a few tickets left for the show but they are selling like hot cakes.

Treat number three will be the visit of Ernst Meisner, artistic coordinator of the Junior Company to the London Ballet Circle on the 20 July. If you want some background on Meisner read Meet Ernst Meisner and his talented young dancers 6 Dec 2014.

The best peanut butter comes from the Netherlands and in my humble opinion so too does some of the world's best ballet.

Please don't bring TOO MANY rotten eggs or tomatoes

Tomorrow, for three and a half glorious minutes, I shall forget I am one of these:

And I shall pretend that I am one of those:

The corps de ballet in Swan Lake

Photo  Paata Vardnashvili
Source Wikipedia

I am dancing at the Stanley and Audrey Burton Theatre in Leeds on the same stage that my favourite dancers from Northern Ballet, Ballet Black, MurleyDance and so many other companies have graced. Just think. My feet will tread where Kenneth Tindall, Cira Robinson, Damian Johnson and Sarah Kundi and all the other stars in my firmament have trod. The thrill will be for me what opening the batting for Yorkshire at Headingley would be like for a Sunday cricketer.

I am taking part in Northern Ballet Academy's End of Year show.  All the classes at the Academy will be represented from tiny tots to old crocks. There are so many of us that there will be four performances with four separate casts. Ours takes place at 16:30 and our class (the over 55s) will appear at about 17:15. If you come to our show you will see some really talented young people as well as us. This is what Mel wrote about us last year (The Dance DID go on - Northern Ballet Academy Show 2014 29 June 2014). And this is how it felt to dance with them last year (see The Time of my Life 28 June 2015).

Our instructor and choreographer, Annemarie Donoghue, has chosen some lovely music for us. She has created a dance that covers some of the exercises that we have learned in class this year. Gita will review the show for Terpsichore. The house is pretty full but there may still be some tickets if you call the box office on 0113 220 8000.

How about an Elders Dance Company in England?

Some things improve with age

Author Innocenceisdeath

Source Wikipedia

On 9 June 2015 I mentioned two troupes of dancers in Scotland who describe themselves as "elders companies" (see Caledonian Cousins 9 June 2015), I think it is a great idea and I wish those dancers well. One of the ladies who occasionally attends our over 55 class in Leeds enquired about joining one of those companies some time ago but she is still waiting for a reply. She was a little upset about not hearing from them and said so on BalletcoForum for which she was ticked off by one of the fussy folk for her pains. I have to say I see her point but that's by the by.

The reason for this post is to find out whether there is anyone within spitting distance of Leeds or Manchester who would like to form an elders company in the North of England.  If there are please get in touch with me through Facebook, twitter or this blog. If there are enough of us we can approach a company, studio or school for the next stage.

By the way, I prefer the adjective "vintage" to "elders" because some things get better with age.

Oh Fortuna

Birmingham Royal Ballet - Carmina burana trailer from Birmingham Royal Ballet on Vimeo.

Birmingham Royal Ballet, Carmina Burana, Hippodrome, 20 June 2015

David Bintley comes from Honley which is almost next door to mine (see My Home and Bintley's 12 May 2015). It is not possible to grow up in this part of the world without coming across The Choral. It performs at least three series of concerts to full houses in Huddersfield Town Hall every year. In The Choral 19 Dec 2013 I reviewed one of its concerts and wrote:

"So what's all this got to do with ballet or even dance?" I hear you say. Well I did reserve the right to go off topic occasionally for an exceptional concert and this was certainly exceptional. And we dance in Huddersfield as well as sing (see "The Base Studios, Huddersfield"). We produced David Bintley of the Birmingham Royal Ballet. I don't know whether he had any connection with the Choral or even attended a concert but you can't live in this part of Yorkshire without knowing about it. The Choral must have been part of Bintley's cultural heritage."

I asked Bintley about his cultural influences when he addressed the London Ballet Circle last month and he confirmed that my suspicion was right. However, my suspicions would also have been confirmed by the performance of Carmina Burana at the Hippodrome on 20 June 2015 to celebrate Bintley's 20th anniversary as artistic director of the Birmingham Royal Ballet and the 25th anniversary of the company's move to Birmingham.

That was a very special evening which I have already described In Praise of Bintley on 21 June 2015. Two works were performed that day:  Bintley's latest ballet The King Dances, which I reviewed in A Special Ballet for a A Special Day 23 June 2015 and Carmina Burana the very first that he created after he was appointed artistic director of the company. I had come to see The King Dances but Carmina Burana was a treat. A multimedia spectacular. A feast as much for the ears as for the eyes. This was the first time I had seen the ballet and how and why I had missed it all those years is a mystery.

Carl Orff's score has always been popular, particularly O Fortuna. Bintley translated her into the Empress of the World, a blindfolded woman in black shift on high heels representing blind fortune. She danced alone completely oblivious to human merit and indeed the human condition. On 20 June 2015 she was danced brilliantly by Céline Gittens. I have seen quite a lot of that dancer this year and my admiration for her has grown in every performance. Incidentally, I was delighted to read about her promotion in the company. I offer my congratulations to her and the other dancers who have been promoted to the enormous number that she and they must already have received (see End of Season Announcements 29 June 2015).

In the Carmina Burana Orff set to music several secular poems about medieval life. Bintley created what are effectively 6 mini-ballets around each of those poems. O Fortuna was an encounter between lady luck (the Empress Fortuna) and seven seminarians. Spring celebrates the fertility of the earth but also of womankind. It is set in a maternity ward with women who are either about to give birth or who have given birth against a backdrop of drying sheets and nappies with the hapless father or naive body danced by Jamie Bond. The next scene is bucolic with village lads in their colourful jackets and the village lasses in their pony tails competing for the attention of Elisha Willis. The second seminarian, Matthias Dingman (who has also been promoted) in a boiling rage seeks solace in the tavern where he and five gluttons in fat suits are served Daria Stanciulescu in a tureen. Finally, the third seminarian, Tyrone Singleton, returns to Fortuna in the Court of Love where he is stripped to his underpants. One of the most effective and affecting endings to a ballet that I have ever seen.

But there are three other stars to this ballet: the designer Philip Prowse who designed the magnificent and spectacular sets and costumes, Philip Mumford for his lighting and the singers of Ex Cathedra. We in Huddersfield like to think that the Choral has a unique sound which you can best appreciate in the Dies Irae of Verdi's Requiem. Birmingham's magnificent choir Ex Cathedra came closer to that sound than any choir I have heard before or since.

Carmina Burana is of course 20 years old but to me it was as fresh and vibrant as if it had been created yesterday.