The Rehearsal

Ballet is intended for the theatre. No matter how untalented a student you may be, unless you dance before the paying public in a theatre you miss something important. The occasions that I have danced in the Stanley and Audrey Burton Theatre (see The Time of My Life 28 June 2014 and My Second Ballet  5 July 2015), The Dancehouse (see One of my proudest moments - Dancing in Move It! 31 Jan 2016) and Morley Town Hall (see Growing Old Disgracefully in Morley 28 Sept 2015) have truly been high points of my life and, lest the cynical suggest that I ought to get out more, I have been blessed, through my career, marriage and education, with a very full, happy, challenging and fulfilling life.

This week I am preparing for Move It at the Dancehouse in Manchester on 13 May at 19:00. I know it clashes with the Eurovision song contest but, believe me, our show will be so much better (see  Better than Eurovision 24 May 2015). If anybody thinks that in this first contest after Brexit any jury in Europe will give the British entry any points at all, irrespective of its artistic quality. must already reside n Cloud Cuckoo Land. Unless you happen to have a ticket for Ballet Central's how in Whitehaven (see Triumphant  1 May 2017), the Birmingham Royal Ballet in York or Poole (see Doing the Splits 8 May 2017), Northern Ballet's Casanova at the Wells (see Casanova Second Time Round 7 May 2017) or the Royal Ballet's Mayerling 13 May 2017) you won't find better entertainment this Saturday.

Yesterday was the day of our technical rehearsal. I had a very busy week with and yesterday was particularly hectic with my IP clinic in Barnsley (see How can I protect my Business Idea? 7  May 2017), proofs to correct, my draft decision in a domain name dispute to review on top of the usual pressing paperwork. I also had to make a detour to Planet Dance at Batley to pick up the mesh dress that I shall be wearing for Saturday's show.

Traffic was very heavy in Princes Street last night delaying my tram for over 20 minutes as a result of which I arrived at class between pliés and tendus. Nevertheless, we had a good class with the usual barre and centre exercises.  At the end of the class, Karen. our teacher and choreographer led us to the theatre, We had only a 15-minute slot on stage so we had one run through from the top. I won't even hint at what it is but Karen has included something quite spectacular in our piece.  At the suggestion of the stage manager, we also practised entering the stage and finding our place in darkness. As we were somewhat less than perfect Karen brought us back to the studio for some further work in the studio. We staggered onto Oxford Road well after 21:00 and I finally rolled up at my Pennine fastness tired but happy just before Radio 4's Book at Bedtime.

Why Terpsichore Yorkshire?

A few minutes ago I launched Terpsichore Yorkshire with an article about Planet Dance, a dancewear retailer and wholesaler in Baltley. By so doing I am looking after my core audience, the adult dance community in Yorkshire and the Humber.

I started this blog in a very small just over three years ago to write about my classes at Northern Ballet Academy, the University of Huddersfield, Dance Studio Leeds and other studios and to review performances by Northern Ballet, Phoenix Dance Theatre and visiting companies to The Grand, Bradford Alhambra, Stanley and Audrey Burton and other theatres in Yorkshire.

This blog has been spectacularly successful with over 10,000 hits a month. It has massive audiences in the United States and Russia and significant followings in Hungary, Italy and the Netherlands as well as the United Kingdom. My overseas readers and indeed those from other parts of the UK cannot attend classes in Leeds or Huddersfield or indeed performances in our local theatres. They want to read about what is going on at Covent Garden, the Coliseum and Sadler's Wells which they do visit occasionally as well as theatres and opera houses abroad and in other parts of the country. Consequently, my focus has moved away from Yorkshire and the North to London and overseas.

That is a pity for Leeds remains an important dance hub.  One of the reasons for increasing funding to Northern Ballet is that Arts Council England believe that

"Leeds has the potential to become a major regional dance centre. We suggested that Northern Ballet should work with Phoenix, Leeds City Council, Yorkshire Dance and others to explore how they might work collaboratively to build a broad dance culture in Leeds, capable of increasing audiences and attracting and retaining talent in the city"

(see How Arts Council England supports Dance 10 Oct 2015). I want to chronicle and if possible even to facilitate that development.

Terpsichore Yorkshire will focus on our great local companies, their talented artists, its great teachers and so on. We will give in depth previews and comprehensive analyses of their performances. We will write about dancers from Yorkshire with other companies such as David Biintley, Xander Parishm Brandon Lawrence and Dominic North. At the sane time, we will also try out adult dance classes in all parts of the county and report on them. We will check out local dancewear retailers and their merchandise.  We will report news and views on all aspects of dance from all parts of Yorkshire,