Ballet West: - You Can't Argue With Success

A year ago a debate took place in  one of the on-line forums to which I subscribe as to whether Ballet West was a good place to study. If I remember rightly it was started by a lady whose daughter had turned down a place at Tring for one at Ballet West. Now Tring is an excellent school. At least one of the dancers who makes my spirits soar trained there. But I can quite understand why that student preferred Tayhnuilt.

First, Ballet West has a good track record. Look at the Competitions and Awards page of its website. Its graduand Natasha Watson is the only British finalist in this year's Prix de Lausanne (see Natasha Watson in Lausanne 15 Nov 2013). She also won a bronze medal in the Genée (see Yet More Good News from Ballet West - Natasha Watson's Medal in the Genée 30 Sept 2013). Natasha Watson was not the first Ballet West student to do well in the Genée. The website mentions 9 others including Jonathan and Sara-Maria Barton who now teach at the school. It is also worth considering the performances of some of its recent graduates. Several of them have joined Ballet Theatre UK including Sarah Mortimer whom I admired in The Little Mermaid (see Pure Delight - BTUK's Little Mermaid in Southport 27 Apr 2014.

I surmise that much of the credit for the school's success must go to its founder and artistic director Gillian Barton. I introduced myself to her briefly last Saturday before Romeo and Juliet. She was charming and elegant and although we had only the briefest of chats she showed concern and generosity. I was very scruffy having just arrived from Yorkshire after a tedious drive without an opportunity to change or even apply makeup while she was so smart. She put me at my ease immediately. She asked whether I had tickets and a programme and when I said that I had both she offered to refund me. She also offered me a free tee shirt and it took a  lot of persistence on my part to decline those refunds and persuade her that I wanted the merchandise because I wanted to support the school and its students. She eventually accepted my payment for the tee-shirt and donation to the school with grace. Now  if I were a young lad or lass away from home for the first time and feeling rather homesick I would have been cheered up by her immediately. It seems a genuinely happy community. When the school wished Natasha Watson well at Lausanne on Facebook there were literally hundreds of "likes" and comments within hours.

A third reason for going to Ballet West is that Taynuilt is in one of the most beautiful parts of our nation. I explored it the summer before last while waiting for the Craignure ferry (see Taynuilt - where better to create ballet? 31 Aug 2013). It is on the edge of a sea loch and at the foot of a magnificent mountain. Surroundings like that are bound to inspire young men and women with an artistic temperament. Now Taynuilt is a lot further from London than Tring but the United Kingdom is not a large country and we have pretty good roads and railways. With Skype and other VoIP services it is now possible to talk face to face to parents, siblings and friends by video more or less any time. Also Taynuilt is not the back of beyond. Oban is only a few miles away. It has all the amenities of a fair size town including supermarkets, cinema and performing arts auditorium and one of the best fish and chip shops outside Lancashire. Taynuilt is linked to Glasgow by rail where there are fast rail connections to the rest of the country and an international airport with direct flights to the rest of the world.

Ballet is a performing art and as I found from my own very limited experience that there is a whale of a difference between exercising in a studio or even rehearsing in a theatre and stepping out on to a stage before a paying audience (see The Time of my Life 28 June 2014).  The annual tour of Scotland gives the students including the associates and possibly some of the outreach students a chance to dance in public, Now that is valuable and not every school does that. Some of the best performances that I have seen have been by schools. I loved Ballet Central's programme in 2013 and Northern Ballet School's The Nutcracker before Christmas. Now watching a ballet school is not the same as watching Birmingham Royal Ballet and the Symphonia in Symphony Hall but in its own way and on its own terms it can be just as enjoyable. I get a thrill from seeing some of the potential stars of the future which is why I am flying out to Amsterdam on Friday to see Ernst Meisner's Junior Company.

Finally, Ballet West may be a small school but it has a massive footprint with its associate and outreach classes and summer school. To the most talented students it offers degree and HND courses but it also runs associate courses for aspiring professionals in Glasgow and Edinburgh which includes opportunities for kids as young as 8 and outreach classes for everyone. One of my ambitions is to take one of Gillian Barton's classes if ever I am in Taynuilt on a Thursday evening. Judging by the achievements of her students I am sure I would relish the experience and learn a lot from her.

So if I were a parent of a young boy or girl who showed promise at ballet I would happily encourage him or her to consider Taynuilt as a place to learn the art. I don't have massive resources but one of them is this blog in which I am happy to promote Ballet West and its pupils.

Natasha Watson in Lausanne

Théâtre de Beaulieu

Photo Wikipedia

Last year I celebrated Natasha Watson's success in The Genée in Yet More Good News from Ballet West - Natasha Watson's Medal in the Genée 30 Sept 2013. Between the 1 and 8 February 2015 Ms Watson will be competing in the 43rd International Ballet Competition for the Prix de Lausanne. This talented young dancer will be the only British competitor in the finals of this competition. I for one will be rooting for her and I am sure that every other ballet goer will do the same.

Although I visit Scotland several times a year I have not yet had the pleasure of seeing Ms Watson. However, I have seen her colleagues from Ballet West in The Nutcracker and Swan Lake as well as graduates of the school such as Sarah Mortimer who are now dancing with Ballet Theatre UK and they are good. Clearly, somebody is doing something right in Taynuilt.

The Prix de Lausanne is open to dancers aged between 15 and 18 who have not yet turned professional.  According to the organizers' website its mission is:

• "To reveal the potential of exceptionally talented young dancers (ages 15 to 18) from around the globe by having them perform before a jury of world-renowned dance personalities
• To open the doors to the world’s finest schools and companies for them by providing scholarships to the most prestigious international schools and companies
• To promote their scholastic education (a dancer’s career is short-lived: from about age 18 to 38) by ensuring that they earn a high school diploma which will facilitate their career transition
• To preserve their health by applying a strict health policy: eating habits and body mass index are scrutinised before the competition."

The list of prize winners is impressive. They include Steven McRae, Alina Cojocaru, Diana Vishneva, Benjamin Millepied, Christopher Wheeldon and Carlos Acosta. Ms Watson has already  done very well indeed just to get this far.

I regret that I cannot justify a week in Switzerland to see the competition but I do hope to see Ms Watson's fellow students and instructors in Romeo and Juliet in their annual tour which will culminate in a performance in the Clyde Auditorium in Glasgow in February,  Ballet West have already taken this show to China where it was received very well and there are videos of the company's rehearsals on its Facebook page (see Scottish Ballet and Ballet West).

Ballet Education

Students at Northern Ballet Academy Source Northern Ballet

Returning home just before midnight from a very long day that began with a breakfast meeting at Daresbury and continued with a meeting in the Wirral, telephone conferences with new clients and a dash to Hereford and back I returned home to the a pile of bills and other unwelcome correspondence. But there was one item of mail than I did enjoy reading and that was a letter from David Nixon welcoming me as a Friend of the Northern Ballet Academy. I was already a Friend of the Company but I modified my membership by paying a very modest £25 to support the Academy. I decided to do that at the first opportunity after seeing the wonderful teachers and students at Northern Ballet's open day on 15 Feb 2014.

In his letter Mr Nixon wrote about investing in the future of the students who are of course the future of the company and, indeed, ballet in this country. Mr, Nixon did not need to thank me because such investment is in my interests as it is in the interests of every theatre goer. If and in so far as I was acting altruistically I would add that I achieved my ambition of qualifying for the English Bar thanks to the generosity of other much more substantial benefactors to my school, universities and Inn. I am glad of an opportunity to do the same albeit on a very modest scale for some of today's kids.

I have another opportunity to support ballet education this evening in Pitlochry when I see Ballet West in their last performance of Swan Lake this season. This is the company that is attached to what is clearly a very good ballet school set on the shores of Loch Etive which I explored in August ("Taynuilt - where better to create ballet?" 31 Aug 2013). Shortly after I wrote that article one of Ballet West's students won a medal in The Genée (see "Yet More Good News from Ballet West - Natasha Watson's Medal in the Genée" 30 Sept 2013) and was recruited by Scottish Ballet. The company danced The Nutcracker very well last year and I am relishing the chance of seeing them again.

Finally, today is St David's Day. Ballet Cymru who danced a beautiful Romeo a Juliet in Kendal is another company that does great educational work. I should like to wish them and all dancers, performers, musicians, teachers and theatre goers in Wales well on their national day.

Further Reading
9 March 2014    "Teacher who watched her step with Nureyev"  Yorkshire Post

London Ballet Circle

I mentioned the London Ballet Circle in August on 31 Aug 2013. I have now joined the Circle or rather rejoined it as I was a member while I was an undergraduate at St Andrews in the early 1970s but allowed my membership to lapse when I went to UCLA for graduate studies in the USA. Now that I have rejoined I am getting all sorts of useful information in its newsletters and Facebook page.

For instance there is an announcement about the English National Ballet School's special public performances at its studio theatre on Hortensia Road on Saturday 19 October, at 14:00 and 16:00 as part of the Chelsea Festival.  It also celebrates the school's 25th anniversary.  Tickets are £10 for adults £10 and £5 for children and further information can be obtained from galinawilkinson@enbschool.org.uk  on 020 7376 7076.  If I lived in or near London I would be there like a shot.

While talking about the English National Ballet School I should add that two of its students did well at the Genée which I mentioned in "Yet More Good News from Ballet West - Natasha Watson's Medal in the Genée" 30 Sept 2013. . Isabelle Brouwers received a silver medal and John-Rhys Halliwell a bronze. John-Rhys Halliwell also won the audience award.  Belated congratulations to those guys and all the best for the future.  I look forward to seeing them on the stage soon.

More useful information that I have just received from the London Ballet Circle is about Dance UK, the national voice for dance. The website of this organization has information about auditions, events, fitness, jobs and campaigns.  One of the items is Launch in Leeds on 23 Oct which is on my home turf. It is a day long seminar on "How to make a living in dance and how to have a long career" which is run by Northern Ballet, Phoenix, Leeds Met and Yorkshire Dance. Jolly interesting even to someone like me who is far too old and far too fat and arthritic to have any aspirations to a career in dance.

Finally the London Ballet Circle is holding a special event for its new president Sir Peter Wright on the 28 Oct 2013. I would love to have attended the event but I will be on my way back from a meeting of arbitrators that takes place at the UN agency for intellectual property in Geneva that day. The evening for Sir Peter promises to be splendid and I hope everybody who can attend has a great time.  I shall look forward o reading all about it.

You should by now have realized that it is worth joining the London Ballet Circle even if, like me, you live nowhere near London and give the Big Smoke the widest of all possible berths.  If you want to join here is their membership page with details of subs and how to join up.

No Holds Barred

I have got even greater respect for the kids of Mathare whom I mentioned in my article "What can be achieved by a good teacher" (3 March 2013). Like them I have had a class without a barre.  You have to concentrate much harder just to keep your balance let alone perform an exercise correctly. On the other hand you do learn something about weight distribution particularly with glissés and tendus.   

On the subject of Africa I am pleased to see that Michaela dePrince, who was born in Sierra Leone, is now in Europe. She is with the Junior Company of the National Ballet of the Netherlands. As I mentioned in my article, Ms de Prince appears to have exceptional talent and I was saving my pennies to see her in New York.  Thanks to budget airlines the Netherlands is a lot of cheaper and easier to reach than the USA. This is the Junior Company's schedule for the next 6 months.

I have a lot of connections with Sierra Leone through marriage and through looking after another young woman whose family was displaced by the civil war. I visited the country and travelled around it in 2007.   When I was there the scars of the conflict were still very visible.  Watch this short video in which de Prince tells her story.

Louis Smith  Source Wikipedia

Also impressive in another way is our British Olympic medallist Louis Smith who was challenged to learn ballet. A short film "Louis Learns Ballet" on the Royal Academy of Dance's website shows that he had some natural aptitude for the art for he seems to have made quite remarkable progress.

Also on the new website is an article by Jennifer MacFarlane the RAD's manager in Scotland on the Genée which was held in Glasgow this year (Some Thoughts from Scotland on Genée 2013).  Most of the article is about fund raising but there is a beautiful picture of medallist Natasha Watson from Ballet West with her award.  I mentioned this young dancer's success in
"Yet More Good News from Ballet West - Natasha Watson's Medal in the Genée" on 30 Sept and the article seems to have gone viral. Ms. Watson is another outstanding dancer I look forward to seeing on the stage.

Although I try to keep the ballet separate from the law my chambers have provisionally booked the boardroom of Northern Ballet's premises for a 3 hour seminar on recent developments in intellectual property on 11 Dec 2013 for local solicitors and patent and trade mark attorneys.  Attendees will be asked to donate to Northern Ballet's "Sponsor a Dancer" and the Yorkshire Ballet Summer School Appeals.

Postscript

In "Engaging Generation Y in ballet – thoughts and ideas" whose blog I featured in "Fantastic New Blog: Dave Tries Ballet" mentions another sportsman who incorporates ballet into his training schedule:

"British Olympic swimmer Liam Tancock uses ballet seriously within his training. I think one of the best things about Tancock is that he’s so “matter of fact” about doing ballet. Being interviewed by the BBC (BBC Article) he points out the benefits of ballet and how it’s impacted his performance. "

He also refers to a conversation between a rugby player and a dancer. The context of those observations was a discussion on engaging young adults in opera and dance.  Dave had been approached by RESEO (the European Network for Opera and Dance Education) to contribute to the Network's Autumn conference on "GENERATION Y: Engaging young adults in opera and dance".  I agree with his view that often the most effective way to connect with his (or indeed any other) generation is by not 'trying too hard and that "the easiest way to make ballet accessible is by making it seem 'normal.'”  However, rather than comment on that article in detail I invite you to read it for yourselves.

Yet More Good News from Ballet West - Natasha Watson's Medal in the Genée

The Genée (or perhaps more properly The Genée International Ballet Competition) is an international ballet competition for dancers aged between 15 and 19 which is run by the Royal Academy of Dance. It was instituted by Dame Adeline Genée and the competition has been run every year since 1931 including wartime as you can see from the list of winners on the RAD's website.  The format of the competition is here.

For many years the event took place in London but it has recently been held in other cities around the world. This year the competition took place in Glasgow before a panel which consisted of Darcey Bussell, Kevin O’Hare and Christopher Hampson.

The winners of the 2013 competition have just been announced on the RAD's website and one of the bronze medallists is Ballet West's Natasha Watson. Warmest congratulations to Ms. Watson and to her school which is set in one of the most idyllic spots of the United Kingdom (see "Taynuilt - where better to create ballet?" 31 Aug 2013). 

Ballet West prompted me to start this blog with their performance of The Nutcracker in Pitlochry which I reviewed on the 25 Feb 2013 and I wrote about them again on 9 March 2013 when they sent me a lovely programme. I look forward to their new season and also to many performances of Natasha Watson. I am sure she will do very well.

I am also sure lots of sponge cake and other goodies will be consumed today in The Robin's Nest by the good folk of Taynuilt.