Huddersfield University's Graduate Costume Show

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University of Huddersfield  Graduate Costume Show 15 June 2018 17:00 Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield

I am often asked by friends who regard balletomania as an addiction how I came to be hooked. Even  though I saw a lot of theatre, attended a lot of concerts and visited a lot of art galleries and museums as I was growing up, I never had much to do with ballet.  That was largely because my father, a kindly and erudite man of letters, regarded it as slightly disreputable owing to its association with the Soviet Union and the tendency of the classical tutu and male dancers' tights to reveal more than many considered decent.

My interest in ballet was sparked by an exhibition of early 20th century Russian art at the Victoria and Albert Museum or possibly Royal Academy when I was about 16 or 17.  There I saw some of the work of Leon Bakst and was quite bowled over. I learned of his work with Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes. I found that he was just one of many great artists who had been commissioned to design for the ballet.  When I should have been revising for "A" levels and Oxbridge scholarships in Hammersmith Library I was pouring over its massive collection of reference books on theatre design and ballet.  I watched what I could on television and became an early fan of Peter Darrell's Western Theatre Ballet. Eventually the London Festival Ballet staged a triple bill at The Coliseum that included the The Firebird, widely regarded as Bakst's masterpiece.

On the pretext of treating an elderly aunt I persuaded my parents to pay for me to see the show. It was better than I had ever imagined. The music, the colour, the movement and the drama absorbed all my senses.  It was the most thrilling experience that I had ever known.  The auditorium exploded at the curtain call.  The cheering, whooping and growling from the crowd, the thunderous applause, the mountains of flowers were theatre in themselves. Nobody with any soul could fail to have been moved by that experience.  Although I had to wait till I got to St Andrews with an independent income before I could afford another show or ballet lessons my passion for dance had been ignited.

I experienced a similar frisson  of excitement last night when I saw another costume for The Firebird .  That garment had been designed by Amelia Sierevogel who has just graduated from the University of Huddersfield with a bachelor's degree in Costume with Textiles. The costume was modelled by Erin Phillips who also reads Costume with Textiles at Huddersfield.  As soon as she came on stage I recognized her as a fellow adult ballet student. Erin did not simply display that costume. She danced in it.  Much of her performance was on pointe.  It was - or rather costume and dancing were - spell binding.

Amelia's costume was just one of several excellent works that I saw last night at the Graduate Costume Show at the Lawrence Batley Theatre in Huddersfield.   The students on that course learn to design costumes for theatres around the world as can be seen from the placements.  Amelia's were with the Australian Ballet and the Australian Opera last year.  Students pick characters from theatre, literature, film or television and create costumes for them. Last night we saw costumes for Cinderella and Ophelia as well as The Firebird and many other characters.  There were several designs for the ballet. Erin was not the only model on pointe last night.  The show opened spectacularly with a scene from Midsummer Night's Dream with a splendid Bottom dressed as an ass.

Although last night's show was filmed, it is likely to be some time before any of it is posted to YouTube.  Happily one can get some idea of its format from the above recording of Rhianna Lister's designs for characters from A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy from the 2016 show.

As I said above, I was led to ballet by Leon Bakst so I cannot stress too much the importance of theatre design. Over the years I have been impressed by other designers such as Nicholas Georgiadis, Osbert Lancaster and more recently Lez Brotherston   The course at Huddersfield is described in Costume with Textiles at the University of Huddersfield - Natalie Day. It is clearly an important resource for the theatre and thus for all of us.

Although it has nothing to do with costume design or fashion I must report another find.  On my way back to my car I passed an eatery called Rostyk Kitchen that advertised jollof rice. It is a delicacy from West Africa that my late spouse used to cook and I miss it so.  West African food requires a lot of preparation and the ingredients are not always readily available. I can cook simple dishes like plantains and sweet potatoes but not plasas, pepper chicken or groundnut stew. Now I no longer need to mither Vlad the Lad's mum and dad, my sisters in law in London or my relations by marriage in Freetown when I get a craving.  My feast of jollof rice and chicken completed a perfect day.

Back To The Pointe

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It’s been months since I last wrote a post here, and until last week it had been ten weeks since I had last attended a ballet class, and here’s the reason why.

Shortly before Christmas 2017, I came out in a horrible black bruise all the way from my third metatarsal to my ankle. I thought I’d broken my foot, as it was quite painful to walk on never mind dance. I had an x–ray and soon found out that it was not broken, but instead that I had tiny fibre tears all along my peroneal tendon. I was advised to take a break from ballet. With the Christmas holidays approaching that wasn’t a hard task, but I was wary, as I had booked onto The Ballet Retreat, which was in Leeds, on the first weekend of the New Year. I did attend The Ballet Retreat and I had a wonderful experience there, meeting such wonderful people within the ballet community. My foot seemed fine, so I returned to my classes as usual. Within a short space of time the pain came back, so I stopped. I gave my foot a chance to recover and I focused on my studies.

As a final year student studying costume, I lead a very busy life.  Particularly over February I wasn’t able to attend any classes, as I was just so busy. With my dissertation finished now and a costume, portfolio and textiles samples left to complete, it’s been hard to find time to do anything but my degree.  I love my course and the work I am producing, but I also love ballet.  

I felt the need to return to ballet both physically and mentally. I could feel my body and mind needed to dance. So finally after a long ten weeks away from ballet, I made time to attend a ballet class last week. The class was at KNT Danceworks in Manchester, with Karen Sant. I took the pre intermediate class and thoroughly enjoyed myself. I used to take the following class and the pointe class after the pre intermediate class, but as it had been so long since I had last danced I decided to take it easy. I was also conscious of my studies and the time it takes to travel back to Huddersfield, and therefore I left after the one class, as I didn’t want to have a late night. To be honest I felt worn out, my body hadn’t been worked properly for months. I grinned to myself though during the class as I started to plié and tendu, the exercises coming back to me through my muscle memory. It felt so good to dance. There are many things that I need to work on now that I used to do with such ease, but I was delighted to be back in class!  

With less than 10 weeks until my final ever university hand in, I’ll be squeezing in what I can of ballet, but soon I’ll be able to plié and pirouette as much as I like. Bearing in mind my foot though, I’ll be taking my comeback slowly. I think it’ll be a little while before I put my pointe shoes back on, but I hope to return to it soon and the wonderful classes I had been taking with Fiona Noonan as well as those at KNT.

I love ballet and I always will, it’s been heartbreaking to have taken so much time away, but it has been beneficial, for I have comeback stronger and with an increasing desire to dance! Ballet is fantastic for the mind and body.

As for my university work, I enjoy it despite the long hours. My project is on The Firebird and if you would like to see what I have been working on the last few months, please feel free to check out my Instagram account here.

Amelia x

Introducing Amelia Sierevogel

Amelia Sierevogel when she first attended Fiona Noonan's ballet class

© 2017 Amelia Siervogel: all rights reserved
Reproduction kindly licensed by the copyright owner

Amelia Sierevogel

As a new contributor to this blog, I should like to introduce myself. My name is Amelia Sierevogel and I’m currently on my placement year, studying BA (Hons) Costume with Textiles at the University of Huddersfield.

I’ve always been interested in the world of ballet but never took classes as a child as I studied gymnastics instead. My parents were able to finance only one hobby each for my siblings and me. I gave up gymnastics aged 16. For two years between then and starting university, I was rather unwell. I had contracted glandular fever and was beginning to suffer from severe migraines.

When I moved to university I wanted to find an activity that I could invest myself into both physically and mentally to help improve my health. Of course, I naturally chose ballet having always wanting to learn it.

I took my first ever ballet class aged 18 with Fiona Noonan in Huddersfield. A teacher who is most inspiring. This class was also where I first met the lovely Jane Lambert – a lady I find most knowledgeable and passionate about ballet.

When I first started ballet I used to sickle my feet, twist and sit in my hips and my jumps were awful – I was like a spring that couldn’t quite articulate through my feet! However, I still had flexibility from being a gymnast as a child and with strengthening exercises, sheer determination and the help of Fiona I corrected my errors and it’s safe to say I have progressed quickly.

As I am currently on my placement year, I’m not living in Huddersfield at the moment. Instead, I moved home and started to commute to my placements to save money. Of course, this meant I needed to find somewhere to continue taking ballet!

So I enrolled myself at Ripon Dance Academy. I first attended their adult class, which was taken at a steady pace and was enjoyable, but I didn’t find it particularly challenging. Instead, Miss Carole and Miss Laura, the wonderful teachers at RDA, suggested that I attend their intermediate ballet class. I started this class the following week. The age range in the class is from about 14 to 18 and now they have me aged 21. The girls in my class are lovely and so talented, Miss Laura works us hard and I feel that I am being pushed and challenged. I have learnt so many new steps over the last seven months and in November was allowed to start pointe work! – a truly magical experience.

Currently, in class, we are preparing for a Showcase, which will take place at Ripon Grammar School on 2 April 2017. I’m very excited but I’m also quite nervous, as I haven’t performed on a stage for about six years. This performance will be spectacular for Ripon Dance Academy and I’m sad that I will be saying goodbye to them after this performance.

This is because I shall be travelling to Australia for four months to undertake my placements in the costume departments with the Australian Ballet and Opera Australia. This will, of course,l be an amazing experience and I am looking forward to it! Naturally, I will also be looking to take class in Australia and watch performances.

Ever since I started two and a half years ago, I have found my stress relief, health fix, enjoyment and passion in ballet. I strive to improve and become the best dancer I possibly can. None of which would be possible without my amazing teachers or other classmates. I look forward to sharing my experiences with you as a young adult dancer, reflecting on classes, reviews of performances and dance products, and perhaps some insider costume knowledge.

Amelia x

Opportunities not just for Dancers

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When I visited Amsterdam in February I toured the studios and workshops of the Dutch National Ballet. The tour included the wardrobe department and I saw many of the costumes for Mata Hari shown in the film above (see Double Dutch Delights 17 Feb 2016). Later in the day I attended Ballet Bubbles at the Meervaart Theatre which opened with a speech by Ernst Meisner in which he said that the Junior Company provided opportunities not just to outstanding young dancers but to technicians and support staff.

My ears pricked up because one of the members of my ballet class at Huddersfield University is a young fine arts and design student with a passion for ballet who happens to be half Dutch. She has already been accepted for a summer placement with the Royal Opera House and hopes to make her career in the theatre. On my return to Yorkshire I told her about Ernst's speech and my tour of the Stopera and she asked me to find out more about the programme for her.

Yesterday the company's press officer Richard Heideman sent me the requested information.  The company recruits its costume designers from the Stichting  Meesteropleiding Coupeur (Master Tailoring Institute) in Amsterdam. The Institute runs a three year training course in partnership with the Dutch National Ballet, the National Opera and other companies much in the way that the Junior Company provides a bridge between ballet school and the senior company.

Anyone who is interested in the programme should contact the institute at:

Stichting Meesteropleiding Coupeur

Jan Maijenstraat 11-15
1056 SE AMSTERDAM
T 020 820 1153
E info@meesteropleidingcoupeur.nl

www.meesteropleidingcoupeur.nl

Yesterday I wrote about the crowd funding intuitive for the young American dancer Melsissa Chapski and the Italian Giovanni Princic (see Crowdfunding for the Ballet 25 May 2016). The donations page is in Dutch which Nadja van Deursen who is in charge of fund raising for the National Ballet thought might be a problem for us Brits who are notorious monoglots. Actually I don't think it is because Dutch is the nearest relation to English and I can understand most of what is written or said to me in the Netherlands including Ernst's speech though that may be because I studied German which even more closely related to Dutch at secondary school. Be that as it may she has suggested that those of us who are not Dutch can donate to Melissa and Giovanni's scholarship fund through this page and I have just done so.

Scottish Ballet Costume Appeal

Between 13 Dec 2014 and 14 Feb 2015 Scottish Ballet are touring Scotland and the North of England with Peter Darrell's The Nutcracker. This was a sumptuous production when first performed as  can be seen from the photos on the 1970s web page of the website of the Peter Darrell Trust. Recreating this magnificent ballet does not come cheap and Scottish Ballet are appealing for contributions to the cost of the costumes.

You can pay £35 for a party dress

£70 for a rodent

£150 for a snow flake

£300 for Clara

£500 for the Sugar Plum

£1,000 for the Nutcracker

Whatever you want to

pay for anything else

The contributions received so far have been acknowledged on the costume appeal website and will be recorded in the programme. You can contribute to the appeal by clicking this link and filling out the form.

If you want to see the ballet in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen or Inverness you can click this link here for details. If you want to see it in Newcastle you can click here. I do hope Scottish Ballet will take The Nutcracker to the rest of the UK. It has a lot of fans throughout the country, particularly London where there is a massive audience for dance and Bristol where the company began.

If you want to learn more about this production there are pre-show talks and post show discussions in the theatres where the ballet is performed (see "Get Closer"). There are also films, photos of the costumes and rehearsals and details of workshops for kids and adults in Edinburgh and Glasgow which one little boy in London would just love if he could only get to Scotland.

I learnt to love ballet in Scotland which is why Scottish Ballet occupies a special place in my affections (see Scottish Ballet and Ballet West 3 Oct 2014). I do hope folk will support the costume appeal generously.