Essex Excellence - The Chelmsford Ballet's Cinderella

(c) 2023 Chelmsford Ballet Company: all rights reserved Licence Courtesy of the company

 

Chelsea Ballet Company Cinderella Chelmsford Theatre 17 March 2023 19:30

Chelmsford is a community about the size of Huddersfield and the same distance from London as Huddersfield is from Leeds, Manchester and Sheffield.  Although Chelmsford has been a city for many years in the ecclesiastical sense as it has a cathedral it was elevated to city status in the municipal sense in 2012 to celebrate the late Queen's diamond jubilee.  While Huddersfield is renowned for its choral society Chelmsford has an institution that is at least as precious, namely the Chelmsford Ballet Company.

Chelmsford Ballet Company is a company of artists who live and work or study in and around Chelmsford.  Although some of its members have made a career in dance - including one of my dear teachers at Northern Ballet Cara O'Shea - many do not.  I shall not call those artists "amateurs" because that description has connotations of aspiration rather than achievement.  In the quality of its productions and the enjoyment that its audiences experience the Chelmsford Ballet stands comparison with many companies of full-time dancers.

Every March the company stages a full-length ballet or mixed bill in Chelmsford's Civic Theatre.  This year it presented its own version of Cinderella.  The score was by Glazunov and not Prokofiev and the choreography was by the company's artistic director Annette Potter with the important contribution of a pas de trois for Cinderella, her prince and his footman from one of my longstanding, favourite choreographers Christopher Marney.  One of the company's strengths is the quality of its sets, costumes, lighting and special effects.  Annette Potter designed the sets, Ann Starlings the costumes and Alana Holland the lighting.  This year we were treated to indoor pyrotechnics when the Fairy Godmother cast off her cloak to reveal a dazzling tutu, Cinderella set off for the ball and at the finale.  I do not know who takes credit for those fireworks but they were spectacular.

Another strength of the Chelmsford Ballet is that it finds a role for as many of its members as possible.  These include the children who performed as mice and the adults who danced as fairy godmother's assistants, seamstresses, ladies of the court, court dancers, the hours of the clock and guests at the wedding.  All of those performers danced well and all deserve congratulations but if I gave each and every one of them her due in this review it would resemble a telephone directory.

The lead roles were, of course, the prince danced by Nicola Marchionni and Cinderella danced by Isabelle Fellows.  They performed their roles with fluency and flair.  They impressed me particularly in their first duet with movements that required considerable virtuosity and more than a little daring. They communicated ecstasy to the audience.  Appreciating the difficulty I applauded them specifically for that sequence.  I have no idea whether they could have heard clapping from row "O" but they know about it now.

The other important female characters were the fairy godmother danced elegantly by Samatha Ellis and the step sisters Alycia Potter and Georgia Olley.  The sisters were my favourites and I can assure readers that there is nothing "ugly" about either of them in real life.   I was able to congratulate one of them on the way out of the theatre when I deposited a somewhat larger contribution to the company's charity than I would otherwise have made.   It is very difficult to clown in ballet and they showed their virtuosity in the dancing lesson by collapsing into splits.  I was reminded of Paddington Bear at Her Majesty's platinum jubilee when one of the sisters took the teapot and poured its contents down her throat from the spout.

The three other males were Neil Harget who was Cinders's long-suffering dad, Alexander Evans who was the tailor and pageboy and James Fletcher who also performed several roles including Marney's pas de trois with Marchioni and Fellows.  All were impressive but I have to give special praise to Evans.  He is still very young but I am sure he will go far.  He has stage presence in spades.  I was particularly amused by his chutzpah as he extracted the last wad of banknotes from a father on his way to Carey Street. 

Cinderella continues at the Civic for one more day and if you can make it to Chelmsford either for the matinee or the evening show you will be amply rewarded.

Beatrix Potter comes to Life

Beatrix Potter and Peter Rabbit*

 

* Photo credits Rod Tinsley/Tony Cockrell Copyright 2022 Chelmsford Ballet Company, Reproduced with kind permission of the company

Chelmsford Ballet Company Beatrix Potter™ Tales in association with Frederick Warne & Co. Chelmsford Civic Theatre, 16 March 2022, 19:30

I have watched every annual show by the Chelmsford Ballet Company since 2013. I have enjoyed them all but none has delighted me more than Beatrix Potter™ Tales in association with Frederick Warne & Co. It was a show in which everyone shone from the tiniest hedgehog to guest artist Xholindi Muçi.  It was not just the cast that excelled.  I don't think I have seen so many scene changes. There was a different backcloth for each scene.  Those backcloths seemed to depict not the Cumbrian lakes and fells but the rolling hills, brooks and woods of rural Essex. Never have I seen more lavish costumes.  Each animal head painstakingly created.  There was entertainment even in the interval as the artists dashed through the bar and foyer in full costume. 

The ballet opened with Olivia Riley as Beatrix Potter at her desk.  She rose to her feet.  Gentle soutenus and développés represented her musings.  Characters from her Tales came to life one by one.  They included:

• Mrs Tittlemouse (Sophie Odell)
• Johnny Town Mouse (Orla Swann) 
• Mice led by Anastasia Marks and Tessa Raita, 
• Peter Rabbit (Alycia Potter)
• Mrs Tiggy-Winkle (Anna Gellett)
• Hedgehogs led by Isabella Stagg
• Alexander Pig (Grace Emerson)
• Pigling Bland (Xholindi Muçi)
• Pig Wig (Darci Willsher)
• Jemima Puddle-Duck (Samantha Ellis)
• Mr Tod (Anna Gellett)
• Jeremy Fisher (Kiera Cook)
• Hunca Munca (Isabelle Fellows)
• Tom Thumb (Abigail Wiltshire)
• Squirrel Nutkin (Rachel Young)
• Tabitha Twitchit (Echo Murrill)
• Mrs Tiggy-Winkle in Act 2 (Grace Emerson) and 
• Squirrel (Karisma Patel).

There were many artists - some very young - who danced in the ensemble.  Each and every one of them performed well. The only reason I have not listed them above or singled them out for special praise below is that this review would resemble a telephone directory had I mentioned everyone who impressed me.

Each of the scenes represented a different Tale. Some were solos and others were duets.  I particularly admired Muçi's dance with Willsher.  There was some difficult choreography in their duet including a fish dive. I enjoyed all the solos especially Peter Rabbit, Jemima Puddle-Duck who flew across the stage and Jeremy Fisher who read "Pond Life" while waiting for his catch.

This was the first time I had seen this ballet but I was told by Elizabeth Baker (the company's President) that it had been in the repertoire for some time.  She had danced in an earlier production.  She said that the ballet had been inspired by the film.  Frederick Warne & Co. had licensed Chelmsford's version.  The score had been composed by John Lanchberry and Nigel Westlake.  The magnificent costumes were designed by Ann Starling. The sets were created by Annette Potter who also choreographed and produced the show. 

The Tales of Beatrix Potter shows what can be achieved by non-professional dancers.  Chelmsford Ballet was formed 73 years ago and has survived lockdown, austerity, inflation and umpteen recessions.  It inspired us at Powerhouse Ballet to set up a similar company in the North of England.  lt would be wonderful if we could stage something like the Tales of Beatrix Potter one day. 

There will be performances tonight and tomorrow.   If you can reach the Chelmsford Civic Theatre you can expect a treat.

Chelmsford Ballet's Seventieth Anniversary Show

Oberon, Titania and Puck with Fairies Dancing

Author: Willliam Blake
Source Wikipedia, A Midsummer Night's Dream

Chelmsford Ballet Company A Midsummer Night's Dream 20 March 2019 19:30 Chelmsford Civic Theatre

It is very hard for me to review a performance by the Chelmsford Ballet Company objectively because I am an associate member of the company. As I live in Yorkshire I cannot participate in its performances but I have attended all its shows since 2014 and even one of its AGMs.  I am very proud of my connection with the company.   I have come to expect a lot from the Chelmsford Ballet and its dancers have always delivered.   This year's show was no exception.

The evening was in three parts:  it opened with preparations for Hippolyra's wedding to Theseus. It then switched to Coppelia starting with the dolls' scene.  That comprised the whole of the first act.  The second act was a transposition of the play without Pyramus and Thisbe. A computer-generated graphic flashing the years back to 1949 indicated why Coppelia had been substituted for the play within a play.  Coppelia had been the company's first full-length ballet so there was no need for a lion, wall or even a man in the moon which would not have been easy for a choreographer transpose into dance.  There are also some parallels between Hermia and Swanhilda in that Franz makes a pass at the strange new girl reading a book upside down.  Is that is reading too much into the juxtaposition of Athenian wood and Swabian village?

Although I love Coppelia I enjoyed the second act much better than the first.  It told the story beautifully.  It started with the quarrel over the changeling boy and continued with the troubles of the lovers, Puck's blunder, Titania's infatuation with Bottom and the final reconciliation.  I think Annette Potter was right to include Coppelia into the 70th-anniversary production though it might have been better to have Midsummer Night's Dream with an extract of Coppelia as part of a double bill.

There were some memorable performances.   Andrew Potter danced both Dr Coppelius and Oberon.  James Fletcher was a hilarious Botton.  Olivia Riley was a splendid Puck.  Women can often dance that role at least as successfully as men as Isabela Coracy has shown in Arthur Pita's version for Ballet Black. Titania, the fairies, lovers all danced well and all deserve congratulations.

I have already mentioned the computer-generated graphics. Whoever created them for Chelmsford Ballet is a genius. I am surprised he or she has not been snapped up by New Adventures years ago.  I think that artist's best work was the overgrown palace in The Sleeping Beauty.   The other things the company does particularly well are the costumes. They were gorgeous.  Particularly the fairies' tutus and in some cases headgear.

Wednesday's opening night was attended by both of the company's patrons,  Doreen Wells and Christopher Marney.  Readers of this blog will know I have always been one of Marney's fans. Wells, who danced with what was then called the Touring Company, was one of the big names when I began to follow ballet. She was and remains one of my favourite dancers. The city's lord mayor was in the audience resplendent in her chain of office.  It was, altogether, a very good evening.   Well worth the long drive from Holmfirth.

Vampires

The Vampire

Author Philip Burne-Jones

KNTs Day of Dance at the Dancehouse was a great success.  I got some valuable tips on arabesques and développés from Rachael Crocker that everyone else seems to know but had somehow eluded me these last 50 years and I got to dance a vampire in a scene that Karen Sant had created from David Hotchkiss's music for Daethon and Arundel.  I would not have missed the day for the world.  Judging by the comments on Facebook and twitter, neither would anyone else who was there.

I had booked just two classes:  beginners and pre-intermediate ballet with Rachael from 14:00 to 15:30 and the repertoire class with Karen from 15:30 to 17:00.  There was, of course, much more than that.  There had been classes in jazz, PBT and contemporary in the morning. The prima ballerina, Harriet Mills gave a class for more advanced students at the same time as our beginners and pre-intermediate class and Rachael gave a repertoire class in musical theatre at the same time as Karen's class.

There were a lot of familiar faces from KNT but also several from Northern Ballet.  Several students had travelled considerable distances.  One from as far way as Anglesey which is where I plan to spend my long awaited and much anticipated summer holiday next week.  While I have been beating the drum for KNT in Leeds my Yorkshire friends have been spreading the word for Hannah Bateman's Ballet Retreat next weekend which I would have been tempted to attend had I not arranged a holiday.  Karen occasionally refers to us as the KNT family which sounds soppy but really isn't while a friend who attends the Ballet Retreat tells me that is how she feels about that workshop.  One of the wonderful things about events like yesterday's are the friendships and connexions that they catalyze.

Rachael's class began  with the usual barre exercises with a particular focus on relevés, retirés and balancing on demi with rapid turns.  Clearly she was getting us used to the idea of pirouettes. We did plenty of those in the centre including chassé, pas de bourré and turns in fourth.  I continue to find them difficult even though I had performed the exercise with two other teachers that week.  Rachael spotted that several of us were struggling with arabesques and pivots and diagnosed the problem as the position of the right arm. Similarly, several of us were struggling with  développés,   "Imagine your leg connected to your arms by a piece of string", she suggested. "You raise your arms from bras bas to first at the same time as you lift your leg," I tried that and it really helped.  "And as you unfold your right leg you raise your left arm," she added.

I was so pleased about what I had learned from Rachael that I mentioned it to Mark Hindle on the way into studio 1 for Karen's repertoire class.  I suspect that he was surprised that I had not worked that out for myself or learned it from another teacher some time between yesterday and my first ballet class in 1969.  Diplomatically he observed that it was one of the advantages of taking classes from different teachers.  I had already learned that from Marion Pettet of the Chelmsford Ballet. That is why the Chelmsford Ballet invites different teachers for its company classes which is what I try to do with Powerhouse Ballet.

Mark was in the repertoire class because he was lead vampire in the scene that Karen had choreographed from David Hotchkiss's score.  A recumbent Daethon (danced by Ruaridh Bisset) was ambushed by circling vampires. Most of us wore black as had been requested by Karen.  We surrounded Daethon menacingly with our arms rippling like bat wings.  We bourréd away to form several lines where we pivioted, pliéd, turned twice, joined hands, balancéd, pushed Daethon to the ground as he morphed into a vampire.  Pretty chilling choreography and at least as impressive in my humble opinion as other choreographers' Dracula.  There is only so much that can be accomplished in 90 minutes but I think Karen did justice to David's score.

We performed our piece before Rachael's musical theatre students who applauded us generously.  Ruaridh and Mark and many of my fellow vampires were superb and deserved their clapping though I am not sure that I did.   I was beginning to slow down after 90 minutes of hard exercise.  Rachael invited us back to studio 1 to show us what her class had learned.  They were very good indeed. Very slick, very polished and you could tell from the smiles on their faces that they were having a whale of a time.

I hope that Karen arranges another day of dance soon. Many others have said the said the same on Facebook.  Having said that I also enjoyed the repertoire workshops with Jane Tucker and Martin Dutton.   I hope that we shall have a few more of them too. Although I can attend Jane's class in Leeds throughout the year her repertoire classes were special.  I learned more about Swan Lake and La Bayadère from her intensives than watching scores of performances from the stalls and reading libraries of books and programme notes.

Powerhouse Ballet - What comes next

Kirklees Leisure Centre

© 2018 Jane Elizabeth Lambert: all rights reserved

At about 3 pm today. a group of dancers will meet in the studio shown in the photograph above to begin a 90 minute class with Jane Tucker of Northern Ballet Academy. I have no idea how big that group will be. Some 20 people have registered for the class but several have had to drop out. On the other hand, I have received at least one intimation through twitter from a dancer who has not yet registered that she is looking forward to meeting everybody. All I would say is that if you want to come and have not yet registered is please let me know as soon as possible so that I can ask the staff at reception to let you in.

The class will take place at the Kirklees Leisure Centre at Spring Grove Street, Huddersfield, HD1 4BP which is just to the west of the Castlegate ring road. It is just down the hill from junction 24 on the M62 with oodles of onsite parking at 70p per hour and a short walk from the bus and railway stations for those who will use public transport.

There will be a short meeting after the class to decide whether we want to form a company and to elect a small steering committee to draw up a business plan and constitution. Several of the people who have had to drop out have stressed that they still want to form a company. Several others who can't be here today have said the same. We have even had messages of support from Mel Wong and David Hotchkiss in Hungary. I think we have enough support to plan for our next activity.

It is important to keep the momentum. Chelmsford Ballet holds company classes with a different teacher on the first Sunday of every month. Cara O'Shea, who once danced Princess Aurora for the the Chelmsford Ballet, gave her old company a very good class a few years ago. We need to do the same. Jane Tucker has very kindly agreed in principle to give us another class as have a number of other teachers.

As many of us have progressed from beginners to improvers and beyond without mastering all the basics and have acquired bad habits I have asked Karen Sant of KNT to arrange a day long ballet boot camp to iron some of these out (see Ballet Boot Camp Pilot 9 May 2018 Powerhouse Ballet). As it is likely to take a little more than a day for folks like me I have discussed the possibility of residential courses with Gillian Barton in Scotland and Terence Etheridge in Cornwall.

Chelmsford arranges all sorts of other events throughout the year such as workshops, an annual coach trip to London to see a show, a performance with the Brentwood Choral Society at Christmas and a children's workshop called "Let's make a ballet" in the Autumn. As workshops and summer schools require time off work I was thinking that we may as well hold them in places where we might well go on holiday such as Taynuilt and Truro. I was also thinking of inviting artistic directors of visiting companies, choreographers, dancers and musicians to dinner meetings where we talk to them over a glass of wine or coffee after a light supper. If I can persuade them to sit down with us, Christopher Marney, Yoko Ichino, Cira Robinson and Koen Kessels are high on my list. Finally, I hope we can persuade Northern Ballet, Phoenix Dance Theatre and visiting companies to arrange special events with us where we can explore the choreography and maybe meet their dancers, creatives and technicians.

I emphasize that we need artists, craftsmen and women, designers, managers, musicians and technicians as well as dancers. If you would like to help us in any capacity even if you live outside the North, do get in touch.

The Importance of Performance

Standard YouTube Licence


I spent last weekend driving to Truro and back to see Duchy Ballet (see Cornwall's Coup: Duchy Ballet's Sleeping Beauty 19 March 2017).  I shall spend this weekend driving to Chelmsford to see my company dance Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. I have emphasised the possessive adjective because I am proud to be a non-dancing associate member of the company and the only reason why I have never auditioned for dancing membership is that Chelmsford is just a tad too far for rehearsals.

It would have been cheaper and easier to have whizzed down to London and back by Hull Trains, Virgin or Grand Central to see Project Polunin at the Wells or even the Pite, Wheeldon and Dawson triple bill at the Royal Opera House and cheaper and easier still to have stayed in Leeds to see another performance of Northern Ballet's Casanova  (which I strongly recommend, by the way - see Casanova - "it has been a long time since I enjoyed a show by Northern Ballet as much as I enjoyed Casanova last night" 12 March 2017) but I would have missed something important.

Performances like the one I saw in Truro on Saturday and the one I expect to see in Chelmsford are important because they give a purpose to all those years of exercises at the barre and in the centre.  Ballet, like Shakespeare, is intended for the stage. Without performance, class is just a workout - about as arid as cramming Romeo and Juliet for an exam.  Performances are important not just for children and young adults but for students of any age.  I shall never forget the thrill of my first performance at Northern Ballet Academy's end of term show in 2014 (see The Time of my Life 28 June 2014).

However, students will take performances seriously only if audiences take them seriously.  Such audiences should include not just mums, dads and siblings but also regular ballet goers and even the occasional ballet blogger.  The attendance of a critical audience is particularly important when principals of leading companies perform in a student show as Elena Glurdjidze and Arionel Vargas of English National Ballet did in the Bristol Russian Ballet School's Romeo and Juliet (see Good Show - Bristol Russians' Cinderella in Stockport 19 Feb 2014) and Tom Thorne and Laura Bösenberg of the Cape Town City Ballet did on Saturday.

There is sometimes a reward for audiences who make it to civic theatres in remote parts of the country. Sometimes you see stars of the future as I did when I saw Xander Parish for the first time in York in 2007. Even as a student it was clear that he was going places.  I think I saw a spark of excellence in the lilac fairy on Saturday and also in Odette-Odile in Greenock last month (see Ballet West at the Beacon 13 Feb 2017). I don't want to embarrass or tempt fate for either of those two promising young women but I don't think I have seen the last of either of them.

Statistics

Since I started this blog on 25 Feb 2016 I have posted 804 articles and received over 200,000 page hits. Our 10 most popular articles have been as follows:

1. A Romeo and Juliet for our Times 7 Nov 2016
2. Meet Gavin McCaig of Northern Ballet 3 Sep 2014
3. The Dutch National Ballet Junior Company's best Performance yet 8 Feb 2015
4. Thinking out Loud about Ballet West 8 Feb 2016 
5. Ballet West's Romeo and Juliet 1 Feb 2015 
6. The Nutcracker as it really should be danced - No Gimmicks but with Love and Joy 20 Mar 2014
7. Michaela's Masterclass 8 July 2015 
8. Mandev Sokhi 10 Oct 2015
9. Ballet Cymru's Summer Tour 22 May 2016 
10. A Unique Opportunity to learn a Bit of The Nutcracker 12 Oct 2016

Readers seem to be most interested in Ballet Cymru with three articles in the top 10. That may be because the company is about to start a short season in London and dance Darius James and Amy Doughty's Little Red Riding Hood at the Cardiff Millennium Centre on 4 Dec 2016. Sadly one of the articles in the top ten mourned the loss of the talented Mandev Sokhi.

The Dutch National Ballet's Junior Company is also very popular with readers who enjoyed my review of the opening night of the Junior Company's tour of the Netherlands in 2015.  There was also a lot of interest in one of my very favourite young dancers, Michaela DePrince, who visited London last year and this to deliver master classes at Danceworks. 

In fact, there was considerable interest in the young. I was delighted to see Northern Ballet's Gavin McCaig listed at number 2.  Actually, he led the field for well over two years until Ballet Cymru claimed the number one spot a few days ago. Reviews of Ballet West's Romeo and Juliet and The Nutcracker by Ballet West were also very popular as was my review of the same ballet by Chelmsford Ballet.  And still talking about The Nutcracker I am delighted that my preview of Jane Tucker's workshop on the ballet for KNT at the Dancehouse Theatre (which I attended) was also in the top 10.

For only the third month ever we have received more than 10,000 hits in one month and we still have a few days of November to run. My main audiences outside the UK seem to be the USA, Russia, Germany, France and the Netherlands in that order.  Once again, I should like to thank all my contributors, Joanne Goodman, Peter Groves, Janet McNulty, Gita Mistry, David Murley, Alison Winward and Mel Wong for all their posts. The blog would have been much less interesting without your articles. I should also like to thank all who have supplied photos and other content especially Richard Heideman of the Dutch National Ballet,  György Jávorszky of the Hungarian National Ballet, Rae Piper of Chantry Dance and Jenny Isaacs and Patricia Vallis of Ballet Cymru.

At Home with the Chelmsford Ballet

Annette Potter, Artistic Director of the Chelmsford Ballet Company

Author Jane Lambert
(c) 2016 Jane Lambert: all rights reserved

I first learned about the Chelmsford Ballet Company nearly three years ago (see The Chelmsford Ballet 15 Dec 2013). I joined the company as a non-dancing associate shortly afterwards. Since joining I have written a lot about the company and attended all its shows (see The Nutcracker as it really should be danced - No Gimmicks but with Love and Joy 20 March 2014, A Delight Indeed 22 March 2015 and A Real Beauty: Chelmsford Ballet's The Sleeping Beauty 25 March 2016. It was only on Sunday that I got a chance to visit the company at its home in Chelmsford.

The occasion was the company's annual general meeting which took place at the headquarters of Chelmsford Young Generation Amateur Music Society ("CYGAMS"). CYGAMS is located on a recreation ground just outside the city centre which would have taken hours to find before the development of satellite navigation. Google maps guided me the 208 miles from my home without a hitch and I reached the room where the meeting was to take place with time in hand.  I already knew the company's chair, Marion Pettet, its artistic director, Annette Potter, and its publicity officer Jessica Wilson. I had met some of the front of house volunteers at the annual shows and, of course, I recognized some of the dancers, but this was my first opportunity to chat with them.

The AGM was conducted very briskly and efficiently but also quite thoroughly. Minutes were approved. The office holders and committee members were introduced. The chair reported on the year's activities which were impressive. The treasurer and other officers reported on their respective stewardships. Everything seemed to be managed most satisfactorily. The officers and committee were re-elected and received a vote of thanks from the floor.

Chelmsford Ballet Company's Rehearsal Studio

Author Jane Lambert
(c) 2016 Jane Lambert - all rights reserved

After the meeting the artistic director showed me the studio where the company class and rehearsals take place and the properties store which are also located in CYGAMS.  As you can see from the photo, the studio is spacious with a sprung floor, a wooden double rail barre, a carpeted area for an audience and a baby grand in the corner. It stands comparison certainly with the studios at the Northern Ballet School where my evening classes with KNT take place and even the top studio of Northern Ballet and Phoenix Dance Theatre's premises at Quarry Hill in Leeds.

Chelmsford and District Model Railway Club

Author Jane Lambert
(c) 2016 all rights reserved

The props store was next to the rehearsal studio and it was a veritable treasure chest.  There were flags, halberds and items of every conceivable kind of scenery. The company had been particularly adventurous and innovative in its use of projected graphics in  its production of The Sleeping Beauty earlier in the year. Annette Potter told me a little about how those effects were achieved. She was very proud of her technicians' expertise and she commended them as warmly as she did her very talented dancers.

As I was about to set off for the trek home to Yorkshire I heard a whistle blast and the chugging of a locomotive. I turned to investigate and found this tiny engine dragging its driver and passengers around a miniature railway track. A kindly gentleman in a smiley faced t-shirt with a North American accent told me that the track was operated by the Chelmsford and District Model Railway Club. He invited me to take a ride and I would gladly have accepted

Photo Jane Lambert
(c) 2016 Jane Lambert All rights reserved 

had it not been for the prospect of a long drive home. There were also miniature traction engines wheezing in the space between the tracks. It all seemed a lot of fun.

I told the North American gentleman that I had driven down from the North to attend the Ballet Company AGM. He told me that the Model Railway Club often receives visits from curious dancers whom it is delighted to welcome. He wished me a safe journey to my Borealian fastness. Coming from the other side of the Atlantic he may well have regarded 208 miles as no big deal. A Sunday afternoon drive if he hailed from somewhere like Texas or Alberta but it was a long way for me.

I have to say that Chelmsford with its friendly people and many activities is my kind of town. It is good that engineering is pursued as energetically and enthusiastically as dancing and the other performing arts that take place at CYGAMS.

I look forward to returning in March (if not before) for Annette Potter's new ballet, Alice's Adventures, which will run at the Civic Theatre from the 22 to 25 March 2017. Other events that will take place shortly are Lets Make a Ballet for local children on 16 Oct 2016 and the Christmas concert with the local choral society in Brentwood on 17 Dec 2016.

Chelmsford's Next Ballet - How Come The Essex Girls (and Boys) Get All The Fun?

Teniel's White Rabbit

Source Wikipedia

Chelmsford Ballet Company, of which I am proud to be a non-dancing associate, describes itself as an amateur company with professional standards for all its work, involving professionals in its productions, courses, teaching and workshops. It is based in Chelmsford but its dancers come from all over Essex and beyond and its associates such as I and far like Gita come from as far away as Yorkshire.

The company's Artistic Director is Annette Potter of The Classical Ballet & Theatre Dance School. She has staged some wonderful productions since I have been following the company namely The Nutcracker (see The Nutcracker as it really should be danced - No Gimmicks but with Love and Joy 20 March 2014), Pineapple Poll and Carnival of the Animals double bill (see A Delight Indeed 22 March 2015) and The Sleeping Beauty (see A Real Beauty: Chelmsford Ballet's The Sleeping Beauty 25 March 2016).

This year Annette is creating a new ballet for the company to be called Alice's Adventures based on Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland.   This will be quite different from Christopher Wheeldon's Alice in Wonderland.   As Annette has kindly agreed to give me an interview I shall be writing a feature on it shortly. The company has published the following information in its blog:

“Alice” has not been performed in any guise by The Company since 1994. This version, choreographed by our Artistic Director Annette Potter, will bring a fresh look at the characters and story; bringing with it a different slant on an age old favourite. Dancing members will be able to audition for a part in this new production in October. Many have already indicated that they wish to participate and we’re sure that those candidates successful at audition in June will also be keen to audition again for a role in the show."

A workshop will take place on 25 Sept 2016 for any dancing members who wants to take part in the show and it is necessary to audition to become a dancing member.  The show will be performed at the Civic Theatre between 22 and 25 March 2017,

Another important event in Chelmsford's calendar is Let's Make A Ballet for children and young persons aged between 7 and 14. That will take place on 16 Oct 2017 at The Sandon School. How Come The Essex Girls (and Boys) Get All The Fun?

Another Photo from Chelmsford's Pineapple Poll

Scarkett Mann as a Midshipman

Photo Amelia Potter

(C) 2015 Chelmsford Ballet Company, all rights reserved

On 22 March 2015 I reviewed Chelmsford Ballet Company's double bill at the town's Civic Theatre (see A Delight Indeed 22 March 2015). On 27 March 2915 I published a lovely photo of Marion Pettet as Britannia at the end of the show (Chelmsford Ballet - the Magnificent Marion as Britannia in Pineapple Poll 27 March 2015). Here is another image from that delightful performance.

Each of the girls of Portsmouth has taken a fancy to a member of the crew of HMS Hot Cross Bun. In particular the street vendor Poll danced by Scarlett Mann is interested in the ship's commander Captain Belaye. In order to be closer to the sailors the girls don naval uniforms and false beards and steal on board the vessel.  This is a shot of Poll disguised as a midshipman.  This photo was taken by Amelia Potter. My thanks to Marion Pettet, chair of the Cheltenham Ballet Company, for permission to reproduce this work.

Marion has also sent me some great pictures from Chris Marney's Carnival of the Animals which I shall publish soon.

I should like to wish all my readers a Happy Easter.

Chelmsford Ballet - the Magnificent Marion as Britannia in Pineapple Poll

Marion Pettet as Britannia (and Mrs Dimple)

Photo Amelia Potter
Reproduced with kind permission of the Chelmsford Ballet

Last Sunday I reviewed Chelmsford Ballet's Pineapple Poll and Carnival of the Animals (A Delight Indeed 22 March 2015).Marion Pettet has kindly sent me 4 photos all by Amelia Potter which I shall publish individually.

Here is the magnificent Marion as Britannia in the closing scene of Pineapple Poll To the right stands Andrew Potter as Admiral Belaye.

A Delight Indeed

On Wednesday Leanne Shipp tweeted

@jelterps Jane, you're in for a delight on Saturday in Chelmsford with @Ballet_CBC! Loved both pieces but esp Carnival by @chrismarney!
— Leanne Shipp (@ShippLea) March 18, 2015

She was so right. Any company would have been proud of yesterday's double bill.  As it was performed largely by dancers who do not yet make their living from dance it was all the more remarkable.

Note my terminology. I did not say "amateur" deliberately. There was nothing amateurish about the show. Everything was polished. Not just the dancing (which was perhaps not so surprising since several members of the cast were either at, had been to, or were on their way to, top ballet schools) but the direction, stage management, sets, costumes, lighting - even the glossy programmes. All the more impressive when it is considered that the production was completed in a year on a limited budget and much of the set painting and costume making would have been done by the members themselves.

There were two one act ballets yesterday evening - Annette Potter's Pineapple Poll based on John Cranko's choreography and a new ballet by Christopher Marney called Carnival of the Animals. The works complemented each other perfectly for Marney has much in common with Cranko. Pineapple Poll was created early in Cranko's career and while Marney has created a string of successful ballets for Ballet Black, Ballet Central and others it has to to be remembered that he is still a very young man (see Christopher Marney 16 March 2014). If, as I fervently hope, he lives to a ripe old age and his career maintains its present trajectory Carnival will be regarded as an "early Marney". I can foresee school and university teachers yet unborn setting essay questions like "Pineapple Poll and Carnival - compare and contrast" to the grandchildren of yesterday's corps de ballet.

For those who do not know the Cranko ballet there is a good synopsis in Wikipedia. There are five key roles: Pineapple Poll, Jasper the pot boy, Captain Belaye, Blanche his bride and her aunt, Mrs Dimple. Jasper falls in love with Poll but she has eyes only for the captain. She steals on board his ship with her friends to attract his attention but he has eyes only for Blanche and she is so disappointed when the captain leads Blanche and Mrs Dimple on board HMS Hot Cross Bun. However when Jasper enlists as a midshipman Poll finally takes an interest in him and the ballet ends happily with Mrs Dimple representing Britannia. With music selected and arranged from the works of Sir Arthur Sullivan it was a great patriotic romp.

Captain Belaye was portrayed majestically by Andrew Potter. Readers of last year's review of The Nutcracker will remember that he was Drosselmeyer. Jasper was danced by Stephen Quildan whom Jessica Wilson has interviewed recently in Dance Direct (see Stephen Quildan – Educating Experiences 13 March 2015). He displayed great virtuosity - I couldn't help clapping one particularly difficult jump even though I shouldn't have done - but also he expressed loving, longing, disappointment and despair so eloquently. Scarlett Mann was a delightful Poll - coquettish, determined, devious but still delightful whether selling trinkets on the quayside or marshalling the crew of the Hot Cross Bun. Also attractive was Megan McLatchie as Blanche. However, for me the star of the show was Marion Pettet as Mrs Dimple - and Britannia. Last year she was Frau Stahlbaum. A wonderful actor as well as an accomplished dancer and a great chair of the Chelmsford Ballet Company.

The Carnival of the Animals was written by Saint-Saëns which is best known for The Swan. That piece upon which Fokine created The Dying Swan for Anna Pavlova never fails to move me even when I hear it on a DVD player or over the radio. There are many reasons for that - some personal - to which I alluded in my review of Northern Ballet's Sapphire gala last week (see Sapphire 16 March 2015). Last Saturday Javier Torres presented a new interpretation of Saint-Saëns's music and last night we got another. A pas de deux between Quildan and Jasmine Wallis which was also lovely. Typical Marney.

But I am getting ahead of myself. Marney did not create a new version of The Carnival of the Animals. He made a ballet about a company that was about to dance The Carnival of the Animals. A young stage hand longed to dance - perhaps because of his longing for its principal dancer performed beautifully by Wallis. But when he tried to lift her - dainty though she is - he found that pas de deux work was not quite as easy as it looked. According to Tim Tubbs's programme notes the ballet was set in the 1930s - the heroic early days of the English ballet after Diaghilev had died but before the Second World War when endless touring by the Vic-Wells Ballet won the hearts of the nation to this originally foreign art form. There were a few animals - foxes perhaps - and a yapping lap dog quite invisible to all but the dancers but clearly another dog like Bif which could do ballet (see Woof 12 Oct 2014 to understand the reference) - but the main characters were people. Quildan the stage hand, Wallis his sweetheart and principal dancer and Pettet her mother.

Again, Pettet stole the show for me as the bossy, fussy but affectionate mother but she was not the only star. Quildan with a foot in a bucket one moment and fumbling the ballerina the next - showed that he can amuse an audience as well as amaze it. Wallis was an adorable ballerina. Everybody in that show danced well. Jessica Wilson (the blogger who interviewed Wilson and danced Harlequin last year) and Jenni Stafford as the ballerina's friends, Georgia Otley and Amelia Wallis (Clara in last year's show) as playful school kids, Hannah Cotgrove, McLatchie again and Carly Parry as the domestics and Mann, April Goulding and Darci Willsher as the company's dancers. It must have been such a thrill for them to work with a dancer of the calibre of Marney and one which each and every one of them richly deserved.

I loved The Nutcracker but this double bill was even better. "What are you doing next year?" I asked Marion Pettet when I congratulated her after the show. "Not sure" was the answer. I suggested La Sylphide at first because ir is a ballet in a British setting which should be danced by a British company. But then I remembered their wonderful young women dancers (some of whom I have mentioned above) which is the company's strength. Wouldn't they be splendid in the entry of the shades in La Bayadère?

Chelmsford Ballet Company's Cast

Although you can see from the little map in the inset how far I live from Chelmsford I am very proud to be a non-dancing associate member of the Chelmsford Ballet Company. As I said in The Chelmsford Ballet  15 Dec 2013 this is one of the oldest companies in the United Kingdom.  It describes itself aptly as "an amateur company who set professional standards for all [its] work, involving professionals in [its] productions, courses, and other teaching and workshop opportunities." Last year I attended its opening of The Nutcracker  at the Civic Theatre in Chelmsford and I was delighted (see The Nutcracker as it really should be danced - No Gimmicks but with Love and Joy 20 March 2014).

Between the 18 and 21 March 2015 the company will dance Pineapple Poll by John Cranko (one of my all time favourite choreographers) and Carnival of the Animals by Chris Marney (one of my favourite living choreographers whose work reminds me so much of Cranko's). In its newsletter  the company described Pineapple Poll as follows:

"Poll, a comedy ballet of sailors and their sweethearts, is full of fun – originally choreographed in 1951 by the celebrated John Cranko. Captain Belaye and the HMS Hot Cross Bun arrive in Portsmouth and the sailors head into town for the pretty girls and the local inn. Fun ensues as Poll and the girls, Jasper the pot-boy, sailors, Blanche, her Aunt and Captain Belaye plot to capture their hearts’ desire."

Everyone is familiar with the Dying Swan from Saint-Saëns's Carnival of the Animals but Marney promises a new twist:

"Marney's Carnival of the Animals, a first for the company, is set in a 1930s theatre. The young stage hand falls for a dancer in the corps de ballet of a touring company: humour and romance ensue as he sets about joining the show to win her hand. This piece is accompanied by the beautiful music of Camille Saint Saëns, Poulenc and Strauss."

The company has cast Stephen Quidan and Jasmine Wallis in the principal roles.  According to the newsletter, Quildan graduated from the Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance and is now with Peter Schaufuss and is an associate with Ballet Black.He will dance Jasper in "Poll" and the starstruck stage hand in "Carnival." Wallis is a dancing member of the company and studying at Central which just happens to be where Chris Marney trained. She will be the dancer in Matney's production.

Last year every performance was sold out and they seem to be going very well this year. If you want to see the performance book your tickets on-line on the Civic Theatre's website.

News from Chelmsford

Chelmsford Shire Hall

Source Wikipedia

I am very proud to be a non-dancing associate of the Chelmsford Ballet Company. As I noted in The Chelmsford Ballet  16 Dec 2013 it is one of the oldest ballet companies in the UK tracing its history to 1947 which is well before Festival, Scottish, Northern and just about everybody except Rambert and the London and Birmingham Royal Ballet companies. I saw a wonderful production of The Nutcracker in March. The company's patrons are my favourite living British choreographer Christopher Marney and one of my all time favourite dancers, Doreen Wells, or perhaps more properly The Marchioness of Londonderry.

I have just received the company's newsletter and they are in jubilant mood as well they might. They had an excellent run at The Chelmsford Civic Theatre when they danced to packed house at every performance. They can now look forward to dancing in their own Marney ballet between 18 and 21 March as well as John Cranko's Pineapple Poll. Before then they can look forward to the Lets Make a Ballet workshop for young dancers on 19 Oct 2014 and the annual Music for Christmas concert of the Hutton and Shenfield Choral Society at the Brentwood Centre on 20 Dec 2014.   I might also add that they have yet another treat from my part of the world in that Northern Ballet Academy's Cara O'Shea will take the next company class. I have been lucky enough to take a class with Cara and I learned a lot from her.

The company has just stated to market its own merchandise which includes ladies and gents' dance wear at very reasonable prices, I think I may get myself some of that.

Nervous? Shhhhh...... Northern Ballet's Over 55 Class End of Term Show

Today I went behind the scenes of the Stanley and Audrey Theatre for the first time. It was the technical rehearsal for the our class's turn in the Academy of Northern Ballet - End of Year Show 2014 and I am one of the dancers would you believe. Only last week I saw Tobias Batley, Martha Leebolt and all the other great dancers on that stage. And I am going to be following them. You have no idea how proud that makes me feel.

Proud but apprehensive because this is a first for me. When I was at prep school I dreamed of being Perry Mason, winning the Nobel Prize, opening the batting for England, even of being Prime Minister but never in my wildest dreams did I dare to believe that I would ever dance in a ballet in a major theatre in a great city before a paying audience. I didn't even dream of it last September when I took my first lessons with Annemarie (see "Realizing a Dream" 12 Sept 2013).

So what made me so have a go? Well I saw David Wilson of Dave Tries Ballet in Stockport in February (see "Good Show - Bristol Russians' Cinderella in Stockport"  19 Feb 2014). He and the other members of his company were having so much fun. Ballet is a performing art and while we can't all be as good as Antoinette Sibley or Anthony Dowell we can all perform. I was tempted again when I saw the wonderful Chelmsford Ballet especially after I met Annette Potter, Marion Pettet and Jessica Wilson. I'm an associate member of that company and I can hardly let the side down. The tipping point was when Gail Gordon of Chantry Dance hauled me on stage and filmed me and the camera didn't protest (see "Chantry Dance Company's Sandman and Dream Dance"  10 May 2014).

So I have been working very hard with my teachers Annemarie at Northern Ballet, Fiona at Team Hud and Lucy at Hype. I'm 65 years old. I've got no coordination. I'm overweight. But I'm passionate about dance and will give it my best shot. Mel will be in the audience to review the show - not just our contribution but the whole Academy's. Though she is my friend I respect her integrity and trust her not to pull her punches. So I think the consensus on Sunday morning will be don't give up the day job. Just as well that my clerk always has something for me to do on Monday morning.

The Nutcracker as it really should be danced - No Gimmicks but with Love and Joy

Chelmsford Ballet Company The Nutcracker Chelmsford Civic Theatre
19 March 2014

I had very high expectations of The Chelmsford Ballet Company's performance of The Nutcracker. As I noted in The Chelmsford Ballet 16 Dec 2013

"An amateur company with patrons like Christopher Marney, choreographer of the wonderful War Letters for Ballet Black, and the great ballerina, Doreen Wells, invites attention. On the home page of their website the Chelmsford Ballet Company describes itself as "an amateur company who set professional standards for all [its] work, involving professionals in [its] productions, courses, and other teaching and workshop opportunities." According to the history page it traces its history back to 1947 which makes it older than English National Ballet, Scottish Ballet and Northern Ballet."

I had fresh cause to admire the company when I learned that Cara O'Shea, the wonderful teacher I had seen at Northern Ballet's Open Day and who also taught me a few days later, had danced for the Company as Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty. None of that had quite prepared me for yesterday which was one of the happiest evenings that I have ever spent at the ballet.

There were so many reasons why I enjoyed this performance. First, it kept faithfully to the story that we all know and love.  No gimmicks like balloon trips or regal rodents clinging to the gondola into Act II. Set firmly in Mitteleuropa rather than the banks of the Thames, the Christmas party taking place at the Stahlbaums and not the Edwards and Clara remained a little girl throughout the show and did not morph into Sugar Plum. Secondly, this was a production in which every age group and both genders were well represented. I had expected to see only teenagers (mainly girls) and while there were certainly plenty of them the cast also included prominent members of Chelmsford society. Thirdly. they had a wonderful audience who knew when and where to clap. How they yelled when they saw something they liked. And how they roared at the end of the performance. Chelmsford knows that it has something special in its city and it supports the company magnificently. The theatre was packed. 

As I mentioned in "Chelmsford Ballet's Nutcracker - Not Long Now!" 24 Feb 2014 the company had engaged Richard Bermange to dance the Cavalier, Emma Lister Sugar Plum and Michael Budd, the Mouse King as guest artists.  They all danced well but I particularly admired Lister for her solo in the final pas de deux. With the possible exception of the overture the music for that dance is the best known part of the score and this ballet has more memorable tunes than just about any other. She executed it impressively. Bermange partnered Lister well and Budd was a Putin of a mouse king if not a Stalin. Really, really scary.

Amelia Wallis, who danced Clara, was delightful. Not only can she dance well but she can also act. Clara is on stage for almost the whole ballet which must require considerable stamina and concentration. Wallis did not flag or drop her smile for a second.  Clearly she has talent and I am sure we shall all see more of her. Also talented is Morgan Wren who danced Fritz, Clara's pesky brother, the Nutcracker and the Chinese divertissement. He has presence. Other dancers who caught my eye were Jessica Wilson who danced one of the Harlequins, the Spanish dance and the dance of the flowers, Jasmine Bailey, the other Harlequin, the principal snowflake and leader of the dance of the flowers and Megan MacKatchie, also in the Spanish dance.  Andrew Potter was a magnificent Drosselmeyer, Marion Pettet. Frau Stahlbaum, ever the gracious host - I loved the way she reprimanded a naughty boy tousling his hair - Stan Rose the sporting grandfather and Elizabeth Baker his wife.

But there was far more than just great dancing.  Ingenious sets and costumes, clever lighting and a last but not least a beautifully designed and printed illustrated programme. Altogether it was a triumph for the artistic director Annette Potter.

The show continues until the 22 March and there will be a video of Saturday's performance of which I shall certainly buy a copy. I came down from Yorkshire to see this show and I would say it was well worth the effort. We Yorkshire folk are quite sparing in our praise - particularly of Southerners. If we say something is good you can be sure it is bloody marvellous. If you live anywhere in East Anglia, Greater London or the home counties do yourselves a favour and see this show.

Chelmsford Ballet's Nutcracker - Not Long Now!

I have already mentioned the Chelmsford Ballet's Nutcracker which opens at the Civic Theatre on the 19 March 2014 ("The Chelmsford Ballet" 15 Dec 2014). Well now I have some casting news.

Richard Bermange will dance the cavalier. Since graduating from Central School of Ballet, Bermange has worked with English National Ballet, K-Ballet, Tokyo, Tivoli Ballet, Copenhagen, Peter Schaufuss Ballet and The National Ballet of Ireland. He has danced many solo and principal roles in Napoli, Cinderella After the Ball, Romeo and Juliet, Schehezarade, Swan Lake and The Nutcracker and choreographed Virus for the Cloud Dance Festival in 2011.

Michael Budd will dance King Mouse. He is an Essex lad who studied at The Royal Ballet School. Budd has danced with many leading companies including Matthew Bourne, the Vienna Festival Ballet where he was a principal and the English National Ballet at the Royal Albert Hall.

Emma Lister of the National Ballet of Ireland will dance The Sugar Plum Fairy.  Born in Canada and trained at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School Lister has danced ballet in the round in the Royal Albert Hall with the English National Ballet as well as more exotic locations such as Alaska, Bermuda - and now Chelmsford.

The opening performance on the 19 March 2014 will be in aid of PARC Essex. According to its website

"PARC exists to provide support to families who have a child or children with any type of additional need from a very early stage. We have a range of children on our books including those with speech and language difficulties, autistic spectrum, epilepsy and those with physical and learning difficulties."

There will be a collection on the day so if you are coming - and as a proud associate non-dancing member of the company I certainly shall be  - do dig deep.  PARC seems a very worthwhile cause.

New Connections - London Ballet Circle, Chelmsford Ballet and BalletcoForum

Hieronymus Bosch: Garden of Earthly Delights     Source Wikipedia

I have just returned from the London Ballet Circle's annual general meeting and party.  Although I had been a member of the Circle when I was an undergraduate and I rejoined it a few months ago this was the first event I have been able to attend.   It's a long way to London and I set off with a degree of trepidation because those of us who follow ballet are either incredibly sweet or crashing bores.  An evening with the former is delightful.   A couple of hours of the latter brings to mind Sartre's Huis Clos.

I am glad to say that I found only the sweet type last night.  The Circle's Chair, Susan Dalgetty-Ezra, and her husband, with whom I chatted yesterday, are particularly delightful. So, too, is their webmaster, Istvan Lengyel.   Also Audrey Allen who edits the Newsletter. Alas, I did not meet the lady who keeps the Facebook page and twitter feed with whom I had already exchanged pleasantries. Although I had come a long way I had certainly not come the furthest distance. I met a delightful gentleman from Ilkley who was connected with the Yorkshire Ballet Summer School.

You can see from the Newsletter that the Circle has a very full programme of events:

• Patricia Linton on the 20 Jan
• Elena Glurdjidze on 10 Feb
• Tamara Rojo on 3 March
• Ruth Brill on 24 March, and
• Peter Wright on 14 April.

Most of the Circle's events take place from 19:30 at The Dining Room, Civil Service Club, 13-15 Great Scotland Yard, London SW1A 2HJ and are open to the public for a small additional entrance fee. The annual subscription, which has recently increased by 50% is still only £12 which I for one regard as a bargain.  It does excellent work to support young dancers, including the Yorkshire Ballet Summer School which is particularly dear to my heart.  So please join.

One of the great and the good at the Circle's party was Doreen Wells who is now the Marchioness of Londonderry. I had last seen her when she danced with the Royal Ballet's touring company (which is now Birmingham Royal Ballet) nearly 40 years ago.  She was a magnificent ballerina then and she remains radiantly beautiful now.  It was good to see her again when she drew the raffle.

Doreen Wells is one of the patrons of the Chelmsford Ballet Company which I have also joined as an associate member  The subscription is another snip at £13 per year.   I have yet to meet any of the members but I have exchanged tweets and emails with some of them and they are all definitely of the sweet kind. Apart from the satisfaction of promoting a good cause there seem to be two main benefits of associateship membership. News of their shows the next one of which is The Nutcracker at Chelmsford Civic Theatre between the 19 and 22 March. Secondly, if you are good enough (Grade 6 or above) the company classes taught by people like Sandra Madgwick of the Birmingham Royal Ballet.

And that brings me on to my last new connection because I mentioned those classes in BalletcoForum. This is a free on-line discussion forum on such topics as recent performances and dance education.   I joined just before Christmas and have picked up quite a few interesting titbits of information ranging from a ballet based on Pushkin's The Fountain of Bakhchisarai to how to pivot in arabesque.   One service that Istvan Lengyel of the Ballet Circle recommended yesterday is a ticket exchange for when a show is sold out.  I have not tried it but I am sure it is useful.  As I had about 10 months of reviews of ballets and ballet classes in this blog I had contributed quite a lot by writing a summary in the forum and linking to the relevant article here. However, they have recently changed their rules to prevent such references. As I do not have time to write two lots of copy and as I do not intend to neglect this blog I may not be able to contribute quite so much in future. However, it costs nothing to join and there are some good conversations so I still recommend the forum.

The Chelmsford Ballet

Amelia Wallis         Courtesy The Chelmsford Ballet Company

An amateur company with patrons like Christopher Marney, choreographer of the wonderful War Letters for Ballet Black, and the great ballerina, Doreen Wells, invites attention. On the home page of their website the Chelmsford Ballet Company describes itself as "an amateur company who set professional standards for all [its] work, involving professionals in [its] productions, courses, and other teaching and workshop opportunities." According to the history page it traces its history back to 1947 which makes it older than English National Ballet, Scottish Ballet and Northern Ballet.

I heard about the company through twitter. English National Ballet had been tweeting about the work that goes into their costumes for The Nutcracker (see "Cracking" 14 Dec 2013). I commented:

"@ENBallet's tweets on the amount of work which goes into each dancer's costume for a classical ballet like The Nutcracker is an eye opener."

The Chelmsford Ballet's publicity officer Jessica Wilson replied:

"@nipclaw @ENBallet we are busy sewing ours too, mouse king head has arrived and soldiers are at the ready!"

I followed the links and found the company's website.

The dancers are staging The Nutcracker at the Chelmsford Civic Theatre between the 19 and 22 March 2014 and I shall be there to review it on the opening night. If you want to come too, the following link takes you straight to the box office.  Clara in that performance will be danced by Amelia Wallis whose photo appears above. She and the other dancers were auditioned at a Nutcracker workshop other pictures of which you can see here.

If you do see the show it is worth staying awhile to visit the city and county. It has a very pretty 15th century cathedral dedicated to St Cedd who was one of the earliest English saints. There's a fine Saxon church that is also dedicated to him by the nuclear power station on the coast. Chelmsford also has a fine Shire Hall near the cathedral where the Crown Court used to sit. I got to know the city well in my early years at the Bar because my clerk sent me regularly to cross-examine coppers and plead mitigation there.  Essex is very like the North. It also has factories, coast and even a few hills though none quite so high as ours. More importantly, it has gritty, generous hearted people with a thirst for education and a determination to get on - not la-di-da but just like us. In fact I regard them as honorary Northerners.

Returning to the company for a second, there are classes for the company and guests which I would love to take, a regular newsletter and lots of other events. You can join as a dancing or a non-dancing member for a very reasonable subscription. You can download the application form here.  If you live nearby and are into dance, what are you waiting for?