Ballet Black's Autumn 2025 Tour

Standard YouTube Licence

Ballet Black has just announced the itinerary for its autumn tour.   It will present a double bill consisting of My Sister, The Serial Killer by Cassa Pancho, based on Oyinkan Braithwaite's novel, and Chanel DaSilva's A Shadow Work.

The company will visit

• Watford on 8 Oct 2025
• Durham on 14 Oct 2025
• Nottingham on 24 Oct 2025
• Coventry on 4 Nov 2025
• Marlowe on 18 Nov 2025
• Sadler's Wells 26 to 29 Nov 2025.

Sadly, the company will miss Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Sheffield and York this year, even though it has danced to packed houses in some of those cities on previous tours.  Nor does it plan to visit Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland. Nottingham is the nearest venue for us, and Durham for the Scots and Northumbrians.

It is important to note that Ballet Black is more than a touring company.   It has a Junior School with classes in West and East London and an associates programme.   One of the teachers is Cassa Pancho, and I am proud to say that I once attended her class at the Barbican.   I could barely keep up as I was by far the oldest member, but I learnt a lot from her.   Ballet Black also offers online classes and makes some great films. 

Through these and other activities, Ballet Black makes a valuable contribution to the cultural and social life of this country.

Acosta Dance Centre Update

Author Ethan Doyle White  Licence CC BY-SA 4.0, Source Wikimedia Commons

 

I visited the Acosta Dance Centre with Melissa Rayne in September 2023 and wrote about my visit in My Visit to the Acosta Dance Centre on 28 Nov 2025.  Since then, I have been keeping in touch with the Centre through its newsletter ADC Express.

The latest issue of that newsletter announces some fascinating workshops, including in particular A Journey into Afro-Brazilian Arts on Sunday, 15 Jun 2025 between 10:00 and 19:00, the “Alafia” 2025 Afro Cuban Dance Festival between 10:00 on Friday, 11 Jul 2025 and 17:00 on Sunday, 13 July 2025 and Tango Puro between 10:00 on Saturday 9 Aug 2025 and 17:00 on Sunday 10 Aug 2025.  The fee for the last course has been reduced from £120 to £90.  There are also lots of classes from floor barre at 11:00 today to pointe work at 13:15 on 28 Jun.

The Acosta Dance Centre differs from other studios in that it is linked to the Acosta Danza company, the Acosta Dance Foundation and the Academy in Cuba.  It seems to have a dual mission to promote dance at all levels in Cuba as well as the UK.

The Centre is very close to Woolwich Elizabeth line station and a short walk from Woolwich railway and Docklands Light  Railway station.

Jumping for Joy

Standard YouTube Licence

I described Jump two years ago in Jump 11 July 2015. It's a fan club for young ballet fans with its own website but it is also an open day called Dansdag when kids take over the Stopera. This year it fell on 24 June and I am told by people who were there that it was particularly good this year.

Judging by this film it certainly seems to have been. Most ballet companies run special activities for children and young people but this must be one of the best.

Working off the Christmas Pud

Author Musical Linguist
Source: Wikipedia
Creative Commons Licence

Good old Danceworks. I could give Lesley Osman and her teachers a hug right now. The only days they will be closed will be Christmas Day, Boxing Day and News Year Day which is reasonable enough. The rest of the time between now and the first week of January they will be open for business and you will find their Christmas timetable here. I can't wait till Monday 9 Jan 2017 when Northern Ballet and KNT reopen so I shall be packing some shoes, leotard and tights when I trek down to London for my grandson's birthday on the 28 Dec.

The other studio that I attend in London is Pineapple and they will shut between 22 Dec and 3 Jan 2017. There are, of course, a lot of other dance studios and teachers in London which I have not checked out and many of them are listed by London Dance.

Outside London, term starts at Birmingham DanceXchange on 9 Jan as it does at Northern Ballet and KNT in Manchester. Dance Studio Leeds reopens on 3 Jan 2017 and there will actually be some classes on that day though most will re-start later in the month.  Term also starts on 3 Jan  2017 at Dancecity in Newcastle. In Glasgow, Scottish Ballet's classes appear to start on various dates from the second week of January.

Should any dance studio or accredited teacher run a class in any dance style anywhere in the UK between now and 9 Jan 2017 I will publicize it here, in Facebook and on twitter. Indeed, I shall even try to attend and review it if it is at all possible.

ENB's Big Give to Dance for Parkinson's

Standard YouTube Licence


Every year English National Ballet holds a Big Give to raise funds for its Dance for Parkinson's programme. I mentioned the event last year in English National Ballet's Appeal for Funds for its Parkinson's Classes 14 Dec 2015, which appeared just at the tail end of the fundraising drive.

This year I am on time.   The target is to raise £20,000 for Dance for Parkinson's. This is a programme of high-quality dance classes and activities based on ENB’s repertoire for people living with Parkinson’s. The company explains:

"By giving during the Big Give Christmas Challenge , 29 November – 2 December, your donation will be matched by gifts already pledged to English National Ballet. This means your donation will be worth twice as much."

Here's what contributors need to know:

• "The Big Give Christmas Challenge 2016 takes place on Tuesday 29 November, 12pm – Friday 2 December, 12pm.
• Start the donation process at 12pm on Tuesday 29 November when you will see a clear message to indicate the Challenge has started. If you start the donation process before 12pm and pre-fill the donation form, your donation will not be matched.
• You may donate any amount from £5 to £5,000.
• All major debit and credit cards (including American Express) are accepted.
• If you are a UK tax payer we would be very grateful if you tick the gift aid box so that we also receive the tax paid on your donation.
• Remember: your gift, whatever the size, will make a difference, and we are very grateful whatever you give.
• We will share the link to donate on 29 November."

ENB holds Dance for Parkinson's classes at its studios in London and also in Cardiff, Ipswich, Liverpool and Oxford with local partners.

These are part of a national network of dance classes for persons suffering from Parkinson's disease known as Dane for Parkinson's in the UK. That organization lists classes for sufferers in every part of Great Britain from Cornwall to Scotland.  In Yorkshire, for instance. there is a class in Shelley village hall which is the next village to mine and others in Halifax and Sheffield.

Dance for Parkinson's in the UK is part of a global network that started in the USA in 2001 when a body known as the Brooklyn Parkinson Group started to work with the Mark Morris Dance Group (see "Our History" on the Dance for Parkinson's website). It is the Brooklyn Parkinson Group and the Mark Morris Dance Group's video that appears above. The US national network is Dance for PD. Let's wish all those folks a belated Happy Thanksgiving and a happy Black Friday.

Dance in Newcastle

Dance City Performances (with subtitles) from Northern Stars on Vimeo.

I first heard of DanceCity from BalletLORENT when they visited Huddersfield on 30 Sept 2016 (see BalletLORENT 3 Oct 2016). BalletLORENT are one of several dance companies that are based at a studio and theatre complex known as "DanceCity" which is located just north of the Tyne at Temple Street in Newcastle.

DanceCity is a member of the National Dance Network to which dance agencies around the country (including our own Yorkshire Dance) are also associated. DanceCity runs classes in many styles to students of all ages and abilities. These include ballet classes for beginners and improvers aged 55 or over which seem to be very similar to the classes that I attend at Northern Ballet Academy. For those contemplating a career in dance, DanceCity's Learning Academy offers formal, professional, dance training at all levels starting from children aged 10 to postgraduate level in conjunction with Northumbria and Teeside Universities and local schools and universities. That includes a Centre for Advanced Training similar to the CATs in Leeds and the Lowry. There are opportunities for local choreographers and companies to perform their own work and even a small fund for commissioning new work from local artists.

Equally impressive is the performance programme for the theatre. In November, for instance, there will be no less than 6 shows starting with James Wilton's Leviathan this evening which is described as a "blend of athletic dance, martial arts and capoeira." The plot is intriguing:

"LEVIATHAN follows Ahab, a ship captain hell-bent on capturing the white whale: Moby Dick, a beast as vast and dangerous as the sea itself, yet serene and beautiful beyond all imagining. Ahab’s crew is drawn into the unhinged charisma of their captain, blindly following him on his perilous adventure towards almost certain destruction."

The theatre is currently offering a very generous 2 performances  for £22 promotion which seems good value for live entertainment in the centre of a major city.

Although Newcastle does not yet appear to have its own professional classical ballet company (but please do correct me if I am wrong) it is on the circuit for visiting companies. For instance, Northern Ballet will perform Beauty and the Beast next week and Scottish Ballet will dance Hansel and Gretel  in the same theatre in February.

Powys Dance

Powys is huge. It accounts for 25% of Wales. It stretches all the way from the county that we used to know as Merioneddshire to erstwhile Monmouthshire. It straddles the English border to Machynlleth by the Irish sea. It stretches from the Brecon Beacons almost to Snowdonia.

Powys was created by the Local Government Act 1972, the same monstrous legislation that abolished our Saxon ridings and left us "Cleveland" and "Humberside" in its stead. Save for early medieval historians and archaeologists whose research or teaching concerned the 5th-century Celtic kingdom by that name, nobody spoke of "Powys" before that Act came into force.

But never mind, the people of that massive local government entity have created institutions with which folk from its ancient market towns and rural villages can identify. One of those institutions is Powys Dance (or Dawns Powys if you prefer).

Powys Dance is the dance authority for this municipality and claims on the About page of its website to have "been a part of the cultural fabric of the Powys arts scene for 35 years." Its mission is "to inspire more people to enjoy participating in dance" and, if the following video is anything to go by, it succeeds in that objective.

What We Do at Powys Dance from Powys Dance on Vimeo.

Classes are offered to kids, young people and adults with disabilities at very reasonable rates. These include ballet, Pilates and yoga at an impressive looking studio and auditorium at Llandrindod Wells.

Powys Dance's blog shows that the county is visited by the National Dance Company of Wales (see National Dance Company of Wales @ The Hafren: Class + Performance 24 Oct 2016) and I see from Ballet Cymru's website that that company will dance Romeo a Juliet at the same venue on 9 Dec 2016. Having seen that performance in Kendal three years ago (see They're not from Chigwell - they're from a small Welsh Town called Newport 14 May 2013) and the National Dance Company in Huddersfield (see Cambriophilia  19 March 2015) I can tell the ballet and dance fans of Newtown that they are in for a treat.

Scottish Ballet and its Public

Standard YouTube Licence


I was at St Andrews when Western Theatre Ballet moved to Glasgow and right from the start it engaged with its public in a way that no other British company had ever done before.  It visited all sorts of venues including our Buchanan Theatre the day this country adopted decimal currency. Scottish Ballet was the first company that I got to know and love and you know what they say about first loves. As you can see from the film the tradition of engaging with the community continues.

The other way in which Scottish Ballet engages with its public is through its classes. In its newsletter today it announced particulars of its adult ballet classes:

• In my age group there is Regenerate on Thursdays and Sundays;
• A 10 week class Absolute Beginners on Wednesdays between August and October;
• A 10 week class for Beginners on Thursdays between August and October;
• An Intermediate class on Mondays;
• An Advanced class on Tuesdays; and
• Open ballet classes on Tuesdays over the Summer.

Classes take place at the company's premises at The Tramway on Albert Drive next to Pollockshields East station.

English National Ballet's Appeal for Funds for its Parkinson's Classes

I should have mentioned this earlier (and would have done had I kept up to date with my emails) but English National Ballet are raising money to fund their classes for persons suffering from Parkinson's disease (see The Big Give: Dance for Parkinson’s 27 Nov 2015 English National Ballet blog). Their main fund raising effort took place on 4 and 5 Dec 2015 but members of the public can still contribute up to 17:00 on 14 Dec 2015 through the Big Give website.

Readers may remember one of the company's classes on World Ballet Day. These seem to be adult ballet classes just like any in that they start with barre work, continue in the centre and end with a reverence for the instructor and musicians. The students may not be able to do everything that takes place in other adult ballet classes but they clearly do a lot. These are rightly described as high quality dance classes and the company's artistic director has every right to be proud of the initiative.

Classes take place at Cardiff, Ipswich, Liverpool, London and Oxford and English National Ballet hope to open a sixth venue with the funds that they expect to raise. They bring considerable benefits for the students which are mentioned in Dance for Parkinson’s study results announced 30 Oct 2015 English National Ballet blog.

I congratulate English National Ballet and wish them well with this project. I hope other companies will undertake similar initiatives in other parts of the UK and overseas. I wish the instructors, students, musicians, management and everyone participating in these classes a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

Making it easier to dance in London - Danceworks's Parking Concessions

One Sunday afternoon I arranged to meet Joanna at Danceworks to take a class with Franziska Rosenzweig. Joanna very sensibly took public transport and arrived on time. But we don't do that in the North because we don't have a tube except for a few stations in Liverpool and Birkenhead unless you count the Newcastle metro. We drive to class and park in Quarry Hill if we want to attend Northern Ballet or in front of the Manchester Met students union if we are going to KNT. I knew that Londoners spend large chunks of their working day in a hole in the ground but as it was a Sunday I thought street parking would be easy peasy lemon squeezy. I could not have been more wrong. It took me ages to park and by the time I arrived at Danceworks Joanna was doing ronds de jambe and grands battements and reception wouldn't let me in.

It is likely that this debacle has happened to others because Danceworks has now negotiated a deal with APCOA for up to 4 hours parking at its Oxford Street West car park for just £5. As the usual tariff for that duration is £34 that's an enormous saving. To get that discount motorists should collect a validation voucher from Danceworks and insert it into the ticket machines when they leave the car park. Four houses allows enough time for a couple of classes and a good natter in one of the many cafes and bars in that part of London.

Information about this discount arrived in Danceworks newsletter which also contained details of a new 8 weeks improvers' course for beginners between 22 Sept and 17 Nov between 19:00 and 20:30 on Tuesdays which will be taught by Christina-Maria Mittelmaier, a professional level class by David Kierce of the Queensland Ballet and the opening of the Ballet Academy for children that I mentioned in Danceworks Academy of 21 March 2015.

Danceworks are also running draws for tickets for West End Shows like Bend It Like Beckham which Gita saw in July and thoroughly enjoyed and Shobana Jeyasingh Dance's Materiall Men and Strange Blooms which is starting its nationwide tour from the Southbank on 15 June 2015. Also, if anyone is interested the studio has 20 tickets for Birchbox Beauty events at Selfridges where champagne will be served and products may be tried.

Chantry Dance Company's Tour

One of my personal ballet highlights of last year was dancing in one of Chantry Dance Company's workshops in Lincoln. the workshop was followed by a performance of Sandman and Dream Dance by Paul Chantry and Rae Piper where I saw just how good that husband and wife team were. I followed them to Grantham for Chasing the Eclipse and Halifax for The Happy Prince on their Autumn tour. I also attended their associates' show at Sadler's Wells, a networking event and one of their summer school presentations. I have also got to know Paul and Rae better through following them on twitter and Facebook. I like what they stand for and I admire their erudition.

The company has just announced its 2015 tour which will take in Grantham, Halifax, London and Worcester and present two new ballets: a work based on the life and loves of Vincent Van Gogh which will pursue the man behind the self-portrait, yearning for affection, balancing genius with madness and Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik. Other than that the associates will have a chance to dance in those shows I know very little about them but as soon  as I have more information I will pass it on.

Chantry Dance has also mentioned new open modern, pre-associate and associate classes in Grantham. The modern classes will be given by Gail Gordon who has choreographed shows in the West End. There will also be an Easter Musical Theatre Workshop in Grantham on 10 Feb 2015. Mel, who attended last year's summer school, tweeted that Gail's jazz class demanding but also a lot of fun.

Finally, this company which is much more than a dance troupe, is recruiting a fund raiser "who is passionate about seeing the type of work [they] do develop, and believes keenly in the company's work and mission." They are looking for "friendly, personable and genuine people who want to be part of our charity's work and become a valued member of the CDC team." If you think that you fit the description send an email with your CV to rae@chantrydancecompany.org explaining:
1) why you are suitable for the post
2) your relevant experience
3) what you find attractive about working with CDC
4) why you wish to see CDC develop further.
I wish all candidates who apply for the post the very best of luck. It sounds a super job for the right person.

Adult Ballet in LA

MacArthur Park, Los Angeles

Photo Wikipedia

If I did not have the good fortune to have been born in England I would have settled for America. In particular Los Angeles, California where I went to graduate school. Westwood, Santa Monica, the Music Center are like a second home. I made so many friends there and have so many happy memories. I am reminded of those times by Adult Beginner whose blog I greatly admire (see "Around the Blogosphere: Adult Beginner" 26 Feb 2013).

Whenever I visit a new ballet school I review it and I have quite a collection of adult ballet reviews from around the country but I don't have any from elsewhere and that is where Adult Beginner has done us all a service.  Yesterday she and Rhonda Jambe (what a wonderful name I wonder whether she knows Tom Levy) reviewed the Hollywood Dance Centre (see "The Rhonda Jambe *and* Adult Beginner review of Adult Ballet at Hollywood Dance Center" (sic) 15 Aug 2014), It sounds quite a place. Here's a sample:

"The Studio: is beautiful. You enter at street level and go INTO THE PAST!!!! Ok reals though, you go up this crazy orange staircase, arrive at a landing, go into one of the two studios and, oh yeah, the front studio has A CHANDELIER."

I must remember to pack my ballet shoes next time I pass through LA. Which t-shirt should I wear? One of my UCLA Bruins which are now somewhat threadbare after 45 years of use or a new Royal Ballet one?

Another article by Adult beginner which I have also enjoyed is "Dude wants to know if he’s welcome in ballet class. Let’s hear it for the boys" 12 Aug 2014. That post was sparked off by an email from one of Adult Beginner's male readers:

"It was a very warm afternoon and I arrived several minutes early to get in some stretching before class. I enter the studio and greet the teacher, whom I’ve taken classes with for some time. While we talked, a woman seated on the floor putting on her slippers looked up at me in complete and utter shock. Horror, even, with eyebrows arched and mouth askew. Uh oh. What did I do? Quick!…damage control!"

What happened next? And what did Adult Beginner say about it? Well you will just have to read her post to find out. But she reacted with humour and humanity, She sounds a really nice lady,

It's an Ill Wind - Review of Northern Ballet's Beginner's Class

I got up at 05:00 yesterday so that I could make Annemarie's 11:30 class for the over 55s in Leeds. This was more of a struggle than it sounds because I had come to London for our chambers Christmas bash at the Luce e Limoni the night before. Barristers are a fairly gregarious bunch as Lucentio noted in Taming 

of the Shrew

"And do as adversaries do in law, strive mightily, but eat and drink as friends;" 

and Luce e Limoni is not a bad eatery if you ever find yourselves in the area (which you might if you go to Sadlers Wells for a ballet or even consult me about a patent).  So I rolled up to my long suffering daughter manquée's home in the early hours of the morning. But I hate to miss a class so I set off at 06:00 clearing the Blackwall Tunnel in no time at all and belting up the M11 and A1 towards Leeds with bags of time.

And then just south of Donny disaster struck. I found myself in a massive queue of trucks on the A1 (M). Yesterday's storm had blown down a tree which closed both lanes of the motorway. I found myself wedged between lorries, the hard shoulder and the central reservation unable to do anything except scan the ether for traffic information of which there came forth none.   As Melvyn Bragg gave way to Woman's House which in turn gave way to something else I realized that I was not going to make my class. Doubly galling as I shall have to miss next week's as well because I am speaking at a conference on Middle East intellectual property law at the Langham Hotel on the 12 Dec 2013. As Annemarie is a great teacher I rang the Northern Ballet Academy to send her my apologies. "No problem" said the kind lady at the other end. "there's a beginners' class at 19:00 tonight if you can make it in time".

Eventually the tree was moved and I reached my humble abode in time to prepare myself a late lunch or early dinner and make my way to Quarry Hill by 18:45.  The class took place in studio 3 which Annemarie had used on a couple of occasions. It has mirrors on only one wall and that is the wall where there is no barre. The class was very much like the one I had taken at Pineapple a few weeks earlier, lots of earnest looking disgustingly fit and thin young men and women one third of my age.

I understand that the class is usually taken by Fiona Beale but she was indisposed last night so it was taken by a teacher who introduced himself as "Chris". "Could that be Christopher Hinton-Lewis?"  I wondered.  One of my favourite dancers. Dancers look so different when you see them off the stage without makeup, lighting or costume. Well I couldn't think of any other Chris on the teaching staff so I guess it must have been. "What am I an ageing female version of Horace Rumpole of "traditional build" like Mma Ramotswe doing in the presence of this Adonis?" I thought to myself.

Class started with pliés though the sequences were a bit more complex and energetic than I am used to starting in second with port de bras, rises and quite brisk turns but I survived.  I also survived tendus and frappés plus a brush through which Chris described as "getting shit off your shoe" and an exercise which so far as I can remember was tendus to en plat front, side and back with the right foot culminating in a  retiré.  Quite a lot for an old lady.

Then we went into the centre which started off tamely enough with port de bras but became increasingly complex. The next exercise was pirouettes and that is something at which I am not very good. However, I did pick up some good tips and to my great surprise I was able to complete first 90, then 180 and finally 360 degree turns - more or less.

We next did chassés and pas de bourrée and even managed something approaching a port de bras which Chris commended.  I felt quite confident about that because Annemarie is mustard when it comes to port de bras. Finally we did some jumps which is about the only thing I can remember from my very first ballet classes in St Andrews 44 years ago. My teacher, Sally, used to get me jumping like a jack in the box. Chris started us with simple jumps in first and finally got us to do échappés.

It was very hard work but a wonderful class and great fun.  "See you next week" said one of the girls afterwards which was a wonderful boost to the self-confidence. "Was this your first class?" asked another which brought me back to earth with a bump. Was I really that bad? Anyway Chris invited me back though I am not sure how often that will be possible as I am already taking one regular class on a Thursday and nobody pays me to take ballet classes.