Another Slice of Pineapple

In November 2013 I attended Adam Pudney's Elementary Ballet class at Pineapple. I wrote in Pineapple 20 Nov 2013:

"This was the most exhilarating class I have ever taken. It was hard work. When I finally struggled down to the changing room my T-shirt and leggings were as wet as they are when they come out of the wash. It was also demanding. Even the barre work was difficult. The floor work was largely beyond me. But Adam is a wonderful teacher with lots of patience and we all learned something. Even I found myself making turns and jumps that I had never managed in Yorkshire.

 When I took that class in 2013 i had only just started my classes at Northern Ballet. Since then I have had two years with Annemarie Donoghue as well as regular classes with Fiona Nooonan at Huddersfield University and occasional classes with KNT and Chris Hinton-Lewis  and other teachers in Leeds. I am therefore a little more confident but probably not much more competent.

Yesterday I returned to Pineapple for a second class with Adam. I enjoyed it even more than the first one. It began with the basics which is never a bad thing. It then proceeded at a rapid pace through plies, tendus, glisses, ronds de jambe and grands battements followed by quite a challenging port de bras, pas de bourres and jumps.

The great thing about Adam is that he has time for everyone. His classes are not small but he has a word for everyone, a correction here, a compliment there and encouragement for everyone. Embarrassingly he caught me while I was attempting to do a releve on my right foot with my left foot in retire. That foot has been giving me trouble for about a year and I can only rise by pressing on the barre. My left foot is much stronger and I can balance on demi on that foot. However, he was kind but he shared my disappointment.

I had come to London to see the Mark Baldwin's Inala at Sadler's Wells on Friday and the Dutch National Ballet's Cinderella yesterday. I am rarely in London at weekends. I am usually up to my ears in work when I go there on weekdays so it is not easy for me to get to class. Yesterday class with Adam was a real treat.  As big a treat in its own way as Cinderella and Inala.