La Bayadere Intensive Day 2: Idols and Disembodied Shades

There is a mirror at the front of the studio where we train. I glanced at it yesterday as I entered our notional stage from the top of its imaginary ramp. Try as I could to incline towards the audience with my arms in fifth and my right leg extended there was just no way that I could pass as a disembodied shade.  I did my best to be ethereal and dainty but I am big boned and my frame is now upholstered with more than a generous accumulation of middle age spread despite my attempts to mitigate it through exercise and diet.

On the other hand I might just pass as an angular statue though I lack the strength and virtuosity of Ivan Vasilev in the YouTube clip. Because everyone else in the class is young and nimble Jane had prepared the workshop around the shades. That was sensible because my classmates can dance those roles so much more convincingly than I can. At the start of the programme I asked Jane whether we could do the golden idol which had been danced so impressively by Andrei Federkov in St Petersburg Ballet Theatre's production at the Coliseum last year (see Blown Away - St Petersburg Ballet Theatre's La Bayadere 24 Aug 2015). There is something very dramatic and chilling about a statue that comes to life. It is the statute that leads Dom Juan to hell at the end of Moliere's play.  She replied that she would see what she could do but I knew it would be a big ask because she would have to adapt the choreography considerably for us.

To my great delight and surprise she did just that and we learned it yesterday as well as another piece for the corps. Learning the idol was great fun for we had to move in a quite non-balletic way which is what I do anyway.  We did some assemblés and chaînés  though not the tours en l'air or multiple turns shown in the video clip in substitution of some of the tours en l'air that only a powerful dancer trained in the Russian style can do well.

Today is our last day and I can barely crawl to the bathroom let alone dance this morning but I will try. This has been a great experience and I am grateful to Jane Tucker for teaching us and KNT for giving us the opportunity to learn the choreography of this beautiful but relatively little known work.

La Bayadère Intensive Day 1: There's Life in the Old Girl Yet

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I hesitated before signing up for Jane Tucker's La Bayadère intensive at KNT  even though I had voted for it when Karen Sant polled us on what we wanted to learn because I was not sure that I would be able to do it. Much as I had enjoyed last year's Swan Lake (see KNT's Beginners' Adult Ballet Intensive - Swan Lake: Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3) and this April's Romeo and Juliet (see We had a stab at that! KNT's Romeo and Juliet Intensive Workshop for Beginners 9 April 2016) they nearly killed me and now I am a year older, slower, stiffer and generally wonkier. Truth to tell, my anxiety that I might no longer be up to it is the only reason why I did not bite Hannah Bateman's hand off when she advertised her Ballet Retreat in Leeds earlier this year.

I am really glad that I did sign up for Jane's intensive because I had a whale of a time yesterday. Although I am as stiff as a board this morning with aches and pains in muscles and joints that I never knew existed despite soaking in a hot bath followed by a cold shower I am buoyed up by two news items.  The first was the 97 year old dentist and entrepreneur featured on How to Age. The second was the story on The World Tonight about Doreen Petchey from Reading who has just passed her RAD Grade 6 exams at age 71 (see Congratulations Doreen 12 Aug 2016 on the RAD website and the video clip on her (Britain's oldest ballerina: 71-year-old passes Grade 6 exam). I might add in passing that there are lots of ladies of that age or older in Annemarie Donoghue's Over 55 class at Northern Ballet in Leeds and that at least 4 members of that class regularly attend Jane Tucker's improvers' class in Leeds on Wednesday evenings which is definitely not for wimps.

Our intensive started with 30 minutes of floor exercises on Pilates mats at 10:00.  We then had 90 minutes of class which consisted of a full barre and the usual centre work which took us through to noon.  Between noon and lunch we learned our first bit of repertoire which was the second shade's solo dance from the last act of the ballet. The first and the last bits were easy enough but I got a bit lost in the middle but Jane seemed to be reasonably satisfied with our effort overall.

We broke for lunch at 13:30 and I found a Japanese restaurant behind The Dancehouse that Gita the Eater had discovered in April.  I really love Japanese cuisine having been to Japan three times but although there are lots of places that claim to be Japanese restaurants there are very few that would pass muster in Tokyo. This is one of the very few that would. I refuelled on tempura and rice with plenty of green tea.

After lunch we ran through the second shade's solo again and then started on the descent into the kingdom of the shades. Jane had already taught us a version of that dance which I had struggled to master in her improvers' class in Leeds and the Romeo and Juliet intensive in April.  It was a considerable relief to find that she required us to do the version that appears in the video. Yoshie led us out to the centre of the studio and we followed her in height order. The first bit consisted of a sequence of arabesques followed by a right tendu with our arms in 5th which was just about doable but then an almost interminable couru which we did on demi punctuated by a développé and two descents to the floor which I dared not risk for fear of never getting up again. I couldn't do them in cygnets last year either.

We repeated the dances that we had learned before Karen who filmed us with her tablet.  Our day finished with 20 minutes of floor exercises. I left the Dancehouse just after 16:15 to begin the trek back to Brockholes which turned out to be surprisingly smooth once I had caught a through train from Oxford Road to Huddersfleld.

The first thing I did when I arrived home was to run a hot bath. Jane's advice last year of a hot bath followed by a cold shower was the best tip I have ever picked up from a ballet class and it really works. I was going to give alcohol a miss last night but when I heard about Mrs. Petchey I felt compelled to drink her health in Argentine Malbec. If she can do grade 6 at age 71 I should be able to finish this course at age 67. And perhaps I should have a shot at the RAD exams too. If I passed them I might eventually be allowed to turn up to Chelmsford Ballet's company class. I am looking forward to another year of classes with Annemarie and Jane in Leeds and Karen and Ailsa in Manchester. Maybe there's life in the old girl yet.

A British Asian’s Perspective on La Bayadère

In March I saw Shobana Jeyasingh’s Bayadère – The Ninth Life at The Linbury. Jane reviewed the show for Terpsichore in La Bayadère - The Ninth Life 29 March 2015. The piece started with an Indian blogger writing about a performance of La Bayadère the night before. He wasn’t too impressed by the ballet and I got the impression from her video that neither was Shobana Jeyasingh. So I didn’t expect much when I turned up at The Coliseum last Sunday to see St Petersburg Ballet Theatre’s performance of the ballet.

I was very pleasantly surprised. I loved the score, costumes, sets and choreography. It was not a very pleasant story but not so very far out that one could say that sort of thing could never happen in India. The drumming dance in the divertissements was spot on as was the way some of the women moved. The set for the rajah's palace in the second scene of Act 1 reminded me of some of the palaces and maharajahs' homes that I had seen on a recent visit to Rajasthan. There were some things that the company did not get right. The brahmin's costume for example. Brahmins rarely wear red which is a bridal colour. They are more likely to wear white and only very occasionally a red scarf. 

There was some great dancing by Denis Rodkin as Solor but that was to be expected from a principal of the Bolshoi. I was also impressed by the St Petersburg Ballet Theatre’s dancers, particularly Irina Kolesnikova as Nikiya, Natalia Matsak as Gamzatti, Andrei Federkov who danced the bronze idol and Miho Naotsuko who was one of the lead shades. Naotsuko was the woman of the match so far as I was concerned.

I thought the ballet took its time to get going but it certainly had some action in Act III. I was mesmerized by the descent of the shades, thrilled by Rodin and Kolesnikova’s pas de deux and the lead shades’ solos at the end and the bronze idol divertissement. I don’t know why we don't see this ballet more often because it is one of the most exciting I have ever seen.

The audience loved the show. One chap threw some carnations on to the stage which were gathered up by Rodkin and presented to Kolesnikova. These were followed by the more formal bouquets for the principals from the management. Then more flowers from the flower thrower. Rodkin picked up one of those bouquets and tossed it deep into the auditorium. I clapped vigorously but from my seat. I wish I had stood up and given them a standing ovation.

I was uplifted as I entered St Martin’s Laine in the late summer sunshine.

Here is a heavenly recipe collection for potato and cashew nuts with a cool cucumber raita to honour the shades which you may like to try .

Potato with cashew nuts and lime leaves, served with cucumber raita
(Serves 4)

Ingredients

500g/1lb Potatoes part boiled
60g/2oz cashew nuts
1 Tsp cumin seeds
1/2 Tsp paprika
1⁄2 Tsp chilli powder
1 Isp onion seeds & a handful of lime leaves
2 Tsp dried coriander
1⁄2 Tsp turmeric
1 1/2 Tsp of ginger pulp
1 Medium dry whole chilli
Salt to taste
Ground nut oil
1 Tbsp chives
Juice of a Large Lemon
Zest of a lime

For the raita

1⁄2 Cucumber grated
250g Plain yoghurt
1 Clove garlic
1 Small rocket chilli
1⁄2 Tsp turmeric
Salt to taste
1⁄4 Tsp mustard seeds crushed

Preparation
Peel and chop the potatoes into chunks and part boil in salty water for 15 mins. Set aside. 

For the raita 

Prepare the grated cucumber and remove the water by squeezing it in your hands 

For the raita 

Crush the garlic, finely chop the green chilli and grind the mustard seeds in a pestle and mortar.

Method

Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a Lowu or shallow level pan, lightly fry the cashew nuts, cumin seeds and add the limes leaves and stir.  Now add in the ginger and whole green chilli.

Add the potatoes and sprinkle in the onion seeds, paprika, chilli powder, dried coriander, salt and turmeric. Give it all a good stir and cook on a medium heat for 2-3 mins, add in the lime zest and lemon juice. This brings out all the flavours. Finally, after a good stir sprinkle over the chives.

For the raita 

Add to grated cucumber: the yoghurt, garlic, chilli, and turmeric and give it stir. Add salt to taste and mix in the crushed mustard seeds.

Finally enjoy this video of Kolesnikova's solo towards the end of Act II.