Powerhouse Ballet's Swan Lake Intensive Workshop

Jane Tucker and the Members of Powerhouse Ballet  

Author Gita Mistry  Reproduced with the author's kind permission

 

On Sunday, 25 May 2025, Powerhouse Ballet held an intensive workshop on Swan Lake at Dance Studio Leeds which proved to be one of its most successful events ever.   Many thanks to our guest ballet mistresses, Sara Horner and Jane Tucker of the Academy of Northern Ballet, and to everyone who turned up for making the day so pleasant and memorable.

Sara Horner and the |Dancers at 13:15

Author Sue Pritchard   Reproduced with the author s kind permission

Sara started our workshop at 10:00 with breathing and stretching exercises on pilates mats and towels.  As soon as she judged that we were ready for 3 hours of demanding barre and centre exercises, we brought out the travelling barres.   Sara took us through the usual exercises - pliés, tendus, glissés, ronds de jambe, frappés et cetera.   After cloches and grands battements, we removed the travelling barres and started the centre exercises with tendus and glissés. Sara taught us a beautiful adagio, and we finished with temps levés in anticipation of the grande entrée of the swans in the first lakeside scene of Swan Lake. The last half hour of Sara's slot consisted of pointework exercises for members who had received pointe training and brought their pointe shoes.  The rest of us followed the class on demi-pointe.

Jane took over from Sara at 13:15.  She began by telling us a little bit of the history of Swan Lake. The ballet had not been an immediate success when it was premiered in Moscow.  She told us that critics had complained that Tchaikovsky's music had been too symphonic for ballet.  They had plenty of other niggles before Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov got to work on the ballet for the Imperial Ballet in St Petersburg. Since then, it has been a favourite of audiences all over the world.

Jane had selected three of my favourite pieces from the ballet: the grande entrée that I mentioned before, the pas de trois from Prince Siegfried's birthday party and the cygnets' dance.  A few years ago, I had dinner with the distinguished dancer Terry Hyde.  He told me on the good authority of Mrs Hyde, who was also a dancer, that members of the corps de ballet have been known to whisper under their breath as they enter the stage:

"I hate Swan Lake! I hate Swan Lake!  It's a terrible bore,"

And then words to the effect that they can't wait for the season to end.  I hasten to add that that story was news to Jane Tucker and also Yvonne Charlton.   Anyway, we loved the swans' entry and other pieces amd can't wait to perform them.  That could be on 15 Nov 2025 at the Chroma Q theatre in Leeds, or possibly even earlier if KNT invite us back to dance in one of their shows.  However, Lauren Savage has just proposed another lovely piece for members to consider. 

We now have something on which to build. Our plans for a summer school in Bangor or York, our own mixed bill and full-length ballet and, eventually, a salaried artistic director are becoming realizable.  However, if we are going to implement any of those plans, we shall need some additional revenues. Up to now, I have sponsored all the company's activities, and I will continue to do so to the same extent as before.  But we can do so much more if others contribute.   Earlier this year, I circulated a business plan to members that contained details of a subscription and charges for some merchandise and services.  Nobody objected to the proposals, and I shall consult on ways of implementing them.  At this point, I stress that members' contributions will fund new services and not those that were previously free. We shall also set up a friends scheme for those who want to support the company but not necessarily dance with us.  Later, we shall canvass for advertising, business sponsorship and grant funding.

We have much to look forward to, including a 2-hour class with Rachel Hickey of the Czech National Ballet at KNT Danceworks on 20 July starting at 14:00. Rachel is a fellow Mancunian who trained at Elmhurst before starting her career in the Olomouc ballet, which was also Emily Joy Smith's company.  Many thanks to Emily Joy for introducing us to Rachel.  I will post a registration card in the next few days.

A Celebration of Dance: Wilis and More

 

Dance Studio Leeds, Powerhouse Ballet, Part of Giselle 19 Nov 2022, 15:00 Chroma Q Theatre, Leeds

By some fluke, I once accomplished a chassé, pas de bourrée, pirouettes single or double and pirouette dedans without everything going wrong. The delight on my teacher's countenance was a picture to behold.   I saw exactly the same expression on Saturday after  Powerhouse Ballet had danced the scene from act II of Giselle where Zulma and Moyna summon the wilis from their hidden forest graves to attend  Myrtha.

The reason for my teacher's delight is that the cast danced very well.  So well that I felt impelled to rise to my feet in standing ovation.  Our teacher, Jane Tucker, had taught us the choreography during a day-long workshop in July and rehearsed us almost every weekend since.  She had a cast with different levels of skill and experience and she adapted Coralli and Perrot's choreography in a way that enabled each and every one of them to shine. Christie Barnes excelled as Myrtha as did Lauren Savage and Esther Wilson as Moyna and Zulma.  They were supported by a polished corps consisting of Fiona Cheng, Jayne Johnston, Helen Peacock. Sue Pritchard, Helena Tarren, Lois Watters, Anne Williams and Bo Zhang. 

During our rehearsals, we discovered the talents of many of our members.  Christie Barnes not only danced Myrtha but also directed several of our rehearsals including one that was effectively a second workshop at York St John University.  We also discovered that she is an accomplished photographer and filmmaker as she chronicled our progress. Lauren Savage proved to be an excellent teacher leading one of our company classes and several warm-ups.  We found costuming and make-up skills and lots of practical tips such as the best place to park on a busy Saturday from different members.

Those discoveries have advanced one of the objectives of Powerhouse Ballet which is to provide opportunities for members to develop their theatre skills. That is why I invited Katherine Wong to lead our company class in Bolton last October`.  I have also asked Alicia Jolley to give a class in North Wales in the New Year, Holly Middleton to help rehearse future productions and drama student, Fiona Cheng, to teach us how to act.

Our 8-minute extract from Giselle was just one of many pieces performed at Dance Studio Leeds's Celebration of Dance on Saturday.  The show was staged to raise funds for Martin House children's hospice in Boston Spa.  At a health and safety briefing just before the show, the studio's director, Katie Geddes, announced that she had raised a very healthy profit for the charity,  Readers will be happy to learn that this publication contributed to that sum as one of the show's sponsors.

Because I wanted to assist our cast in any way I could I only saw the second half of the show.  However, everything that I did see was excellent.   Every style of dance was on display from Egyptian folkloric bellydance to West Side Story.  I enjoyed them all, particularly belly dancer Ya Habibi who entered the stalls inviting the audience to join her on stage, West Side Story and Afro Fusion's Rise 'N' Shine.  Some of the pieces that I would like to have seen but couldn't because they were in the first part were Indian classical dances.  Happily, at our last rehearsal, I asked the director to give us an exhibition class and some background information on the art form early in the new year.

Powerhouse Ballet hit a number of headwinds even before lockdown of which the biggest was scepticism.  When Covid 19 closed the studios and theatres I wondered how we could possibly survive.  Relief came from an unexpected source.  Maria Chugai, a soloist of the Dutch National Ballet and the best Myrtha I have ever seen in over 60 years of balletgoing, offered us an online class in April 2020 which was a spectacular success.  The success of that class encouraged me to invite other performers such as Krystal Lowe, Beth Meadway and Shannon Lilly as well as Jane Tucker, Annemarie Donoghue, Fiona Noonan and other teachers from our region to be online ballet mistresses.

Powerhouse Ballet is now on a roll.  We have found a new venue at Ballet Contours near Manchester city centre where we shall hold this Saturday's company class. We welcome dancers from Hull to Hollyhead.  If you can get to East Ordsall Lane by 15:00 do come and join us.  We have invited Heather Boulton, the director of the studio, to give us our first company class at that venue.  I visited the studio a few weeks ago and was most impressed.  It is fully equipped with a well sprung floor.  Above all, Heather is an excellent teacher.

KNT's Day of Dance Tomorrow

The Dear Old Dancehouse

One of the highlights of my year is KNT's Day of Dance.  It offers a chance to train with some of the best teachers and performers in the business.  Last year, for example, I took classes with   Alex Hallas of Bale Cymru and  Jane Tucker of Northern Ballet Academy.

Another Day of Dance will take place tomorrow and I regret to say that I only learned of it a few minutes ago when I tried to check in your some online classes for the coming week. According to KNT's Class Manager app, the following are available:

• 11:00 - 12:30 Beginner/Pre-Intermediate Ballet 
• 11:00 - 12:30 Intermediate/Advanced Contemporary 
• 13:00 - 14:30 Intermediate/Advanced Ballet
• 13:00 - 14:30 Pre-Intermediate Contemporary 
• 19:00 - 20:30 Beginner/Pre-Intermediate Ballet 
• 19:00 - 20:30 Beginner/Pre-Intermediate Contemporary
• 20:30 - 22:00 Intermediate/Advanced Ballet  
• 20:30 - 22:00 Intermediate/Advanced Contemporary 

All the classes for tomorrow's Day of Dance are priced at £10.

Sadly it won't be quite the same as last year because we are exiled from the Dear Old Dancehouse as a result of the public health emergency but we shall still have excellent teaching.  Above all, we can still wave at each other over Zoom even if we can no longer embrace.

Plagues don't last forever.  There is every chance that medicine will eradicate or at least contain this virus as it has done with so many other infections.   One day this horrible scourge will be nothing more than a horrible memory.  I wish everyone a great weekend.

Never have I been more proud of Powerhouse Ballet

© 2020 Powerhouse Ballet

 

I had booked a studio at Yorkshire Dance for our September company class because it has a piano. Throughout lockdown, I had promised our members that Jane Tucker would one day lead triumphantly back to the studio with David Plumpton at the piano.  

It was, therefore, something of a blow to learn that we were limited to 12 in the studio including our teacher.  The increasing numbers of coronavirus cases across the country as a whole and in the North of England, in particular, was a further blow.  The sudden imposition of restrictions in Leeds on the very day of the class felt like the last straw.     

And yet today turned into a triumph - not a disappointment - thanks entirely to Jane Tucker's inspired teaching and Sarah Lambert's technical genius.  Just over half of us attended the class in the studio while the rest of us joined in from home over Zoom.  We had tried a hybrid class last month with Sophie Richardson and several dancers in Birmingham and others at home.  It was a partial success despite Sophie's brilliant teaching because those of us at home had problems with the sound which made us feel more like spectators than participants.  

This time Jane and Sarah made us fee;l a single integrated class.  We felt the energy radiating from Leeds and iI got the impression that we were energizing them in return.   Never have I seen the dancers in the studio and online look happier, more confident or more capable.  Never have I been more proud of our company. 

Our July company class will be given by Lynne Reucroft-Croome in Studio 3 at Dance Studio Leeds on 24 Oct 2020 between 16:15  and 17:45. We hope to acquire a portable microphone for the teacher which should improve sound quality even more.   We shall also return to Manchester just as soon as the Dancehouse becomes available for hire.   If anyone can suggest an alternative venue in Manchester, Liverpool or elsewhere in the Northwest please let me know. 

The Audition is now full

Terry Etheridge

On Tuesday our ballet mistress, Beverley Willsmer, told me that Terry Etheridge had given one of her best classes ever.  Having danced with what is now English National Ballet as well as a leading company in Germany and having trained at the Rambert, Beverley will have attended a lot of  classes.

The class for the audition is now full and we have a waiting list.   If you want to be considered for our first ballet it is still worth putting your name down on the waiting list and keeping the 15 and 16 Sept free.   I have relinquished my place at the barre to make way for a dancer with a better chance of being selected.   I shall try to move the class to a bigger studio.  Urgent matters and illnesses that prevent dancers from attending class always crop up at the last moment.

If we can't give you a place at the audition please do not despair.   We have a cracker of a class the following Saturday, the 22 Sept 2018 with 90 minutes hard graft from Mark Hindle and a further 60 minutes masterclass with our guest teacher and choreographer, Yvonne Charlton. from the Netherlands.  We have also lined up a workshop with Ballet Cymru, Wales's national classical ballet company, as well as company classes with Jane Tucker, Karen Sant and Fiona Noonan who are excellent.

If you want to discuss this article or find out more about Powerhouse Ballet send me a message on my contact form.

Sugar Plum for an Hour

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In  our most ambitious intensive yet, we were guests of Mr and Mrs Stahlbaum at their Christmas party. We were also allowed to be the Sugar Plum Fairy and her prince for an hour or so. I am talking, of course, about Jane Tucker's workshop on The Nutcracker for KNT Danceworks which took place yesterday in the Dancehouse Theatre's studios at Northern Ballet School's premises on Oxford Road in Manchester.

The day began with floor exercises on Pilates mats as it had with Jane's previous workshops for Swan Lake, Romeo and Juliet and La Bayadere. We then had a 90 minutes class which was very similar to Jane's Wednesday evening classes at Northern Ballet Academy in Leeds. A brisk warm-up starting with a walk, then a run with a sudden change of direction about 30 seconds in, skipping facing in, then facing out, jumping Jacks and running on the spot, tendus facing the barre, pliés at the barre, tendus, glissés, ronds de jambe, cloches, grands battements and stretches, centre exercises (pirouette turns, port de bras and various types of jumps) for 90 minutes. Very much like every other instructor's class you might think. Well, no, because Jane challenges each and every one of us to our limits. She expects and gets maximum effort.

After a swig of water, we started with our rehearsals. Jane taught us three dances: a bit of the prince's solo from Act II, the Sugar Plum fairy's dance and, finally, the party scene just before Drosselmeyer calls with his prezzies for the kiddies.

The first two roles are danced by principals and require enormous strength and precision. The prince demands a tour en l'air from a standing start followed by three changements, more tours en l'air and more changements, a quick succession of arabesques and jetés culminating in pirouettes. Sugar Plum requires rapid and dainty footwork much of it on demi-pointe which I find taxing. Gallantly Simon played our Muntagirov for the day while the rest of us struggled to imitate Nuñez. We rehearsed each of those dances a couple of times before breaking for lunch at 13:45.

On the way back to the workshop we spotted some young dancers of South Asian heritage learning what seemed to be an Indian classical dance in the studio next to us. We peered in through the window for a few seconds. Noticing our curiosity the teacher came to the door and explained that her class was part of the Centre for Advance Training in Dance programme (see The Lowry CAT 27 May 2016). Leeds has a CAT too and I had seen the high standard achieved by those young dancers in their summer show (see Small Steps and other Pieces - Leeds CAT End of Term Show 2 July 2016). I am delighted that students in Manchester have opportunities to experience some of the dance traditions of the rest of the world and not just European genres. Particularly apt as yesterday was the day before Diwali.

In the last 90 minutes we learned the party scene which was easier to remember but required some teamwork. We were split into two groups which filed in from stage left and stage right respectively. The first part was easy enough - three steps and then  a tendu. The pace changed to a gallop and we met the other group offering each other out left or right hands alternatively. I was reminded of the eightsome reels of my days at St Andrews. Once we had completed the gallop we formed into four lines. More memories of my student days. Each line faced the other and set. We curtseyed to the opposite line, again as in Scotland. Finally, we lined the walls of the studio facing our imaginary audience.

After another rehearsal of each dance from the top our adult dance class principal Karen arrived and filmed our efforts in our end of the day show. We performed the prince and Sugar Plum in three groups and Karen clapped each group generously. I have no idea what I looked like on film but I shall probably learn at our chambers party when the smartphones come out after everyone has had the odd glass or more of Christmas cheer. Finally, we danced the party scene together to more applause from Karen.

We had a great day yesterday. In my view the best intensive ever. Possibly because it is traditionally performed around Christmas, there's something about The Nutcracker that makes us all feel good notwithstanding its alleged dark side (see A Dark Side to The Nutcracker 24 Oct 2016). A huge thank you to Jane for teaching it, Karen for arranging it, Josh for assisting with it and each and every one of my fellow participants for making the day so special.

A Dark Side to The Nutcracker?

Ivan Vsevolozhsky's original costume sketch for The Nutcracker

Source Wikipediadia

The dark side of Giselle is obvious with its ghosts of jilted girls or laid-off garment workers. Christopher Hampson's Hansel and Gretel is a bit gruesome with the witch being tumbled into a furnace. Even Swan Lake is a bit dodgy with Siegfried's jumping into the lake. But The Nutcracker is alright surely with its divertissements, Sugar Plum Fairy and girls singing "La, la, la, la, la" in the Snowflakes scene.

Well maybe not if Margaret Fleming-Makarian is correct. She  has written and published a 161-page treatise called The Original Nutcracker Ballet - A Hidden Allegory in which she argues that there are hidden meanings in the work. According to John Riley who has reviewed her work in the summer 2015 Digest of the Society for Cooperation in Russian and Soviet Studies

"These include postEnlightenment ‘rationalisations’ of the human body as automata, early attempts at dream interpretation and comparative religion’s analysis of pagan, Christian and occult symbolism."

He continues:

"the major theme is early nineteenth-century Napoleonic expansionism, and the resultant pan-European upheavals and changes in society and geopolitical power, particularly the German–French–Russian relationship."

Now this may not be so strange as it seems as Russia was undergoing a period of rapid economic and social change at the end of the 19th century with the emergence of a new class of manufacturers and merchants. That phenomenon was a theme of many English and French novels of the time and it would not be unreasonable to expect it in some other art form elsewhere in Europe. It is certainly the case that Drosselmeyer like Rothbart and Carabosse are outsiders. Rothbart disguises himself as a wealthy merchant when he presents Odile to the princely court. Are the magician and witch in The Nutcracker and The Sleeping Beauty code for the manufacturers who disrupted the existing order with their factories and technologies based on steam and steel?

Well, perhaps, and then again perhaps not but there will be an opportunity to hear Ms Fleming-Makarian and to explore and test her arguments on the 25 Nov at 19:00 when she will discuss The Hidden Allegory of Tchaikovsky's 'The Nutcracker' in a talk to the Society for Co-operation in Russian and Soviet Studies at 320 Brixton Road, London, SW9 6AB. The venue is served by the 3, 59, 133, 159 and 415 bus routes and the nearest underground stations are Brixton and the Oval.

According to the Society's website:

"Margaret Fleming-Markarian spent her professional life teaching dance. Now retired, she researches the classic ballets, drawing upon her practical experience, as well as early training at the Benesh Institute of Choreology, and academic education in European and Art History at the University of Edinburgh. Centring her research on the Sergeev choreographic scores in the Harvard Theatre Collection and the Royal Academy of Dance Library in London, she seeks to build a meaningful visual context for the original classic choreographies through their original designs and sets preserved in St Petersburg."

For those who want simply to dance The Nutcracker  Jane Tucker of Northern Ballet Academy will teach an intensive workshop for KNT in the studios of the Northern Ballet School in Manchester on 28 and 29 Oct 2016 (see A Unique Opportunity to learn a Bit of The Nutcracker 12 Oct 2016). The last I heard was that the Saturday class for beginners is full though there may be vacancies through cancellations and there is still room in the advanced class on Friday.

If you just want to see The Nutcracker, the Royal Ballet will dance it at Covent Garden between 23 Nov 2016 and 12 Jan 2017 (see Royal Opera House's website), the English National Ballet at Milton Keynes, Liverpool and London between the 23 Nov 2016 and 7 Jan 2017 (see English National Ballet's website), Birmingham Royal Ballet in Birmingham between the 25 Nov and the 13 Dec 2016 (see Birmingham Royal Ballet's website) and the Ballet Ireland are taking it on tour to Coleraine, Newtonabbey, Cookstown and Enniskillen as well as many venues in the Republic of Ireland between 5 Nov  and 23 Dec 2016 (see the company's website). There is also a students' production of Act II by pupils of the Danceworks International Ballet Academy in London on 12 and 13 Dec 2016.

For background information and links to other resources on The Nutcracker visit my page on the ballet.

PS. I am very grateful to Colman Reilly for tweetng that the Irish National Youth Ballet will dance The Nutcracker at the Pavilion Theatre in Dun Laoghaire, between the 9 and 11 Dec 2016. That is the handiest possible venue for visitors from Liverpool and North Wales and it is not too far from any part of Northern Ireland.

Where can I get a Ballet Class in August?

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Not in Brum for a start!

"Classes are currently on Summer Break!" proclaims the DanceXchnage's website. "Our NEW autumn term starts Monday 19 September – Saturday 10 December 2016." And they try to make out they are the nation's second city.

No such problem in the real second city. Danceworks has classes through the summer as you can see from their timetable. Sodoes Pineapple.

Classes don't stop at Leeds, or Liverpool or indeed Newcastle-Under-Lyme according to Picturesinthefirelight. 

But in Manchester our modern Ithaca, there are classes throughout the year at KNT in the Dancehouse Theatre's studios. And for the next few days something wonderful will happen.

I don't know whether there are still places on these intensives. I suspect not. But if you don't enquire on info@kntdanceworks.co.uk  Tel: 07783 103 037 you certainly won't be able to come.

Ekaterina Vazem - the First Bayadere and a First Rate Teacher

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The first Bayadere was Ekaterina Vazem. In a quotation from her memoirs which appears in Wikipedia she described it as her favourite of all the ballets that she had occasion to create. She liked its:

"beautiful, very theatrical scenario, its interesting, very lively dances in the most varied genres, and finally Minkus' music, which the composer managed especially well as regards melody and its coordination with the character of the scenes and dances."

She then goes on to mention a disagreement with Petipa which you will have to read for yourself.

Vazem was a great teacher as well as a great dancer. From my conversations with dancers and my reading of their biographies I have detected a special bond between teacher and student which does not seem to exist in quite the same way in other disciplines.

I have mentioned that bond several times in this blog.  In Le jour de gloire est arrive 3 Feb 2014 I wrote about Dame Antoinette Sibley and her teachers Tamara Karsavina and Pamela May:

"At the beginning of this post I mentioned the tradition of ballet. Crisp described Sibley as a 'repository' - which set her giggling - of knowledge. She had known so many of the greats and indeed she had been taught by two of them. The great English ballerina Pamela May who taught at the School while appearing regularly at Covent Garden and Tamara Karsavina whom Sibley adored. Karsavina once invited the young Sibley to her home and she cooked a steak for her. Sibley chose a steak because she thought it might be easy - something you just place under a grill - but Karsavina took the same trouble over that steak as she did with everything else."

One of my best friends from St Andrews who trained with Olga Preobrajenska wrote this about her great teacher which I reproduced in my post of 31 March 2013:

"Haven’t forgotten about your Olga P. request….don’t really know what to say except that she was a tiny and fierce little lady who believed in physical punishment and commanded the utmost respect from her students. I was 9 years old and terrified of her. I grew to love her and when she died, mother and I attended a benefit and somewhere I have one of her linens that we purchased. There was a gentleman at the studio who acted as her manager…he appeared to be slavishly devoted to her. As a child I did not know what their relationship was other than he also collected money for the dance lessons. I remember the time that Maria Tallchief came to the studio. She was beautiful. Many famous dancers came to her for instruction."

In my article What can be achieved by a good teacher 3 March 2013 I wrote how Mike Wamaya has changed the lives of some of the poorest children in one of the roughest neighbourhoods of Nairobi through his ballet lessons:

"In many ways the kids in this class have had the worst possible start in life but in one very important respect they could not have had a better one. Look at the teacher, Mike Wamaya. He is good. I googled for some more information on Mike and I found an even better clip from CNN and this article in The Daily Nation. These films show what can be achieved from the discipline not only in the studio but also in the class room and in life generally. Something that I and most readers of this blog in many walks of life are likely to have found out for ourselves."

"Love my profession" exclaimed Esther Protzman who teaches at the Netherlands Royal Conservatory in the Hague on social media recently and well she might for she has already trained some lovely dancers many of whom are on a trajectory to the top.

Vazem's pupils included  Anna Pavlova, Olga Preobrajenska and Agrippina Vaganova after whom the Imperial Ballet School was renamed. There does not seem to be any film of Vazem's teaching but there is this clip of her famous pupil who would have inherited something from her.

When a teacher has danced with a major company his or her teaching has a special edge which is not easy but is always good.  I experienced that edge last year in Jane Tucker's Swan Lake intensive at the Dancehouse which I described in KNT's Beginners' Adult Ballet Intensive - Swan Lake: Day 1 18 Aug 2016. I wrote:

"We were led upstairs to one of the studios where we met our teacher. I know Jane Tucker from Northern Ballet and think the world of her. She has a wonderful way of coaxing us to carry on even when we can go no further. "Not bad" she exclaims after a shambles of a turn. "How are you doing?" She smiles. "All right?" And so we are."

This year I am back for La Bayadere.  These start on the 15 Aug for beginners and the 18 Aug for more advanced pupils and I gave full details in La Bayadere - where it all took place 24 July 2016. As I said before, if you want to take part call Karen on 07783 103 037 or get in touch through her contact form, Facebook page or twitter.

Dance Like A Knight - Romeo and Juliet Intensives

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

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

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

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

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

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

One of my proudest moments - Dancing in Move It!

Yoshie Kimura and Jane Lambert

It is nearly 03:12 in the morning but I am not going to sleep until I have written this experience out of my system. Last night I took part in Move It, The Dancehouse's seasonal dance revue performed by students from its many and varied evening classes. I was in KNT's Beginners' Ballet piece which was choreographed by our teacher, Karen Sant. It was not the first time I had danced in public but it was by far the most enjoyable.

Karen had asked us to assemble at The Dancehouse at 15:30. She had told us to wear black leotards with a mesh dress, black tights, pink shoes and our hair in a bun. The last instruction caused me no end of grief because I have never learned how to style my hair. I spent a whole hour in front of three different transatlantic YouTube tutorials entitled "How to make a classic ballet bun" (or words to similar effect) getting precisely nowhere. Happily Gita knew how and she arranged my hair in a very tight bun within minutes.

Just as she had finished I caught my crowd proceeding with a purpose so I followed them. They led me to the auditorium of The Dancehouse Theatre where we all sat down. There were already dancers on stage performing to an infectious drum beat.  After they had finished the compère whom I had mentioned in Better than Eurovision took to the stage. Her introduction was very much as it had been last year but she said something very true about adult dance. Nobody forces us to come to class week after week as may have happened to some of us when we were children. We come because we want to not just to keep fit but because dance is enormously satisfying both emotionally and spiritually. She added that for the teachers seeing that satisfaction on the faces of their pupils is enormously rewarding. I will give an example of what she must have meant below.

The compère then called on the first piece which was Josh Moss's repertoire class (see A Pint for Josh 28 Aug 2015). They were performing the swans' entry from Swan Lake which was a bit of choreography that I happened to know from the Swan Lake intensive that I attended over last summer (see KNT's Beginners' Adult Ballet Intensive - Swan Lake: Day 1 18 Aug 2015, Day 2 19 Aug 2015 and Day 3 20 Aug 2015). It was executed beautifully as was a Rothbart excerpt danced by my classmate from the intensive, Simon Garner, and another gent whose name I do not know.  We saw the whole of the first part of the review and a bit of the second before our cast was called back stage to do our stuff. Gita saw the whole performance so she will review the show. All I will say is that I enjoyed each and every piece and some (including the last ballet piece performed by a cast that included another Swan Lake intensive student, Yoshie Kimura, photographed with me above) enormously.

Not long into the second part of the show we were called back stage.  The Dancehouse is only the second commercial theatre in which I have performed and is quite a bit bigger that the Stanley and Audrey Burton in Leeds. There is a whole labyrinth of passages and anterooms before you get to stage left or stage right. Somehow I arrived at the right place for entry stage right. Our music struck up. The first step was a tendu with the right leg followed by a fondu and lunge. Out of my peripheral vision I caught Tyson, yet another Swan Lake intensive student doing those steps so I knew I was OK. We repeated those en croix. then some lunges left and right working through a plié in second, a soutenu, some balancés right and left, followed by three glissades to the right, a changement, more glisssades and another changement, a run, a temps levé, another run, a turn with the right hand followed by a turn with the left, some sautés, an advance forward, two awkward retirés, a port de bras and then lights followed by a curtsy and a rapid exit to the right. Or something like that! We (or rather I) made a few errors but somehow we got through that rehearsal without mishap.

Karen shepherded all the KNT evening class students to one of studios after the rehearsal where she and the other teachers put each of the casts through our paces. Being very old and rickety I had intended to do a barre with Sophie before the rehearsal but I never made it because of my struggles with my hair.  I did a few pliés in each position with side and back bends, tendus, glisses, ronds de jambe, grands battements and stretches on the upper rail of the barre of my own. I applied some make up and then it was time for our second rehearsal. We were better second time round. Several of us practised some of the steps once or twice again until we got it more or less right.

With all the KNT casts in the studio dancing, snacking, chatting, stretching it was just like a party. Some of us checked our phones. I found tweets and chukkas messages from far and near: Andrea from Basel (via Golcar), Andrew in Sheffield, Marion and Annette in Chelmsford, Mel in Budapest, Nik in New Zealand and Mark Hindle from somewhere on the high seas.  I thank them all.  After our studio rehearsal I spotted Jane Tucker who had taught our intensive. Everyone who had taken that intensive was transformed by it so her presence back stage lifted our morale to new heights. Mine particularly for I had taken her class at Northern Ballet the previous Wednesday and by some fluke I had actually managed to pull off a pirouette more or less correctly. Jane had witnessed it and the expression on her face was a joy to behold. I think she was even more delighted than I had been.

Gradually the studio emptied until there were only two casts left. Our friends from the advanced class toi-toied and chukkased us and we made our way back stage. We could hear the peels of applause for each of the other turns and then it was us. The saying "it'll be alright on the night" has some truth because a performance almost always lifts performers. I am sure we made mistakes - Gita has already mentioned one that I made - but it didn't matter. We danced like we had never danced before and left the stage elated. "We did it!" one us said punching the air once out of the audience's earshot.

Then there were photos and flowers and hugs and kisses. That was when Yoshie arranged for someone to photograph us which she posted to my Facebook page. I'm a bit taller than Yoshie so I tried to plier in first position hence my rather curious expression and pose.  Honestly, I had not been drinking. In a Facebook post before the show Karen had referred to us all as "the KNT family" and that was just how we felt. We got to know each other a little better yesterday. I certainly got to like my classmates and our wonderful teachers, Karen, Josh and Ailsa, even more. We all made our way to the bar and I am sure the celebrations must have carried on for ages.

Performances like yesterday's are very important to students at every level for ballet belongs in the theatre. Without the chance to dance it is just another way of keeping fit.  Nothing wrong with that, perhaps, but it is a bit like reading Shakespeare for an exam. The poetry and music can still emerge but it is strained. I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to everyone who got me to this point - Karen, the Dancehouse, all the teachers at KNT and all the others elsewhere who got me started and have helped me on my way.

Isn't it great when you find a teacher with whom you just click

Matthew Golding and Anna Tsygankova in Swan Lake
Dutch National Ballet Gala 8 Sept 2015

Photo Angela Sterling

(c) Dutch National Ballet 2015 All rights reserved

Reproduced with kind permission of the company

You are probably wondering why I am writing about a ballet teacher under a photograph of the great Matthew Golding and Anna Tsygankova in Swan Lake. You will find the answer in my review of the Dutch National Ballet's gala of 8 Sept 2015:

"The first half of the evening was rounded off gloriously by Golding and Tsygankova's pas de deux from the black Act of Swan Lake. That was thrilling although I couldn't help thinking of my own shortcomings when I tried to learn Siegfried's solo at KNT's ballet intensive last month (see KNT's Beginners' Adult Ballet Intensive - Swan Lake: Day 3 20 Aug 2015). They were as magnificent in Swan Lake as they had been in Cinderella on 8 July 2015 (see Wheeldon's Cinderella 13 July 2015)."

The teacher who taught us Siegfried's dance as well as the cygnets, the Hungarian dance and the entry of the swans was Jane Tucker and she teaches the adult ballet improvers' class on Wednesday evenings at Northern Ballet.

The reason I mention Jane today is that Birmingham Royal Ballet are at The Lowry this week and tonight I shall see the whole ballet with Momoko Hirata and Joseph Caley in the title roles. Another favourite, Céline Gittens, is in the show too. I admire all the other artists in the cast too. We should be in for a treat tonight. chukkas and toi-toi to all and indeed to all the other casts who will perform at The Lowry. I shall be looking out for the dances that I was taught with particular interest. That Swan Lake intensive has given me insight into the ballet that I could bir have gained in any other way.

When I was learning Latin in the early 1960s I had a classics master called Smith. Mr Smith was terrifying. If he caught you yawning in his class he would make you run  round the Big Side (the playing field that ran alongside the Talgarth Road opposite the Royal Ballet School and later LAMDA as it happens) in full school uniform. He was also an officer in the corps and if you dared to yawn in his class on Monday when we all turned up in cadet uniform you found yourself running round Big Side with a heavy pack. But I was devoted to Smith because he aspired to excellence and coaxed the very best out of his pupils. He taught me that my classics lessons were not just exercises with particles of sound but the gateway to brilliant civilizations whose treasures are still accessible with just a modicum of effort.

Fifty years on I have found another teacher like that. She is not in the least bit terrifying and the only time she makes you run found anything is in warm up.  But she has the same aspiration to excellence and she coaxes the best out of her pupils in exactly the same way as Smith. Obviously none of us will ever dance like Golding or Tsygankova or the excellent dancers of the Birmingham Royal Ballet whom I shall see tonight but with any luck we will all dance better than we did last week. I feel pretty sure that I do.

To be fair all the teachers of Northern Ballet are good and I learn something valuable from each of them. I also have a brilliant teacher at Team Hud to whom I owe an enormous debt of gratitude for leading me back into ballet. I shall never forget Adam at Pineapple who has only taught me twice but has taught me a lot or the wonderful teachers at KNT, Ailsa, Josh, Karen, Mark and Sarah. But there are some teachers with whom pupils just click. Last week I was stuck with a turn. Jane talked me through it and turned with me. Last night  I saw her do the same with others:  a young classmate doing a particularly awkward jump and re-inspiring an older classmate who had danced with one of our great national companies in her youth but has now been weakened by disease and the passing of years. It was this coaxing of the best from everyone that reminded me so much of Smith and it is why I am equally devoted to her.