Returning to my Beginners' Class after 54 Years

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In Ballet at University 27 Feb 2017, I recounted how the St Andrews Ballet Clun was founded more than half a century ago.  A year later I attended the 50th-anniversary gala of the founding of the Club and reviewed it in St Andrews University Dance Club's 50th Anniversary Gala on 5 May 2018.  The Club has grown and prospered over the years and now offers a wide range of classes as can be seen from its website.  It has its own range of branded merchandise and has even set up an alumnus network which I have joined.

I was invited back to St Andrews last month to give a talk to the student Law Society.  As the website advertised a beginners' ballet class the very next day I emailed the president with a request to attend that class 54 years after I had learned my first pliés and tendus.  I received this welcoming reply almost immediately:

"It would be an honour if you attended our beginner ballet class this week! Here is a quick description of how our class is going to run from our beginner ballet teacher, Bronwen:

We’ll start with a quick dynamic stretch and cardio warmup (with modifications for anyone who isn’t comfortable with jumping). Then we’ll do a couple of barre exercises (probably some plies, ronde de jambe, battement glisse) and some centre work on balancés, pirouettes, sautés and glissades. (We might not get through all of these - it really just depends on timing.) Then for the second half of the class we’ll learn a new section of the show choreography to the song Skyfall by Adele, incorporating some of the steps we worked on in the centre exercises. Modifications will be available for all the exercises for anybody who needs them."

I made the class and met Bronwen.   She was very pleasant and tolerant of all my faults - which were manifold as I can see from the video of my performance that a friend took for me.   We did basic barre, some centre exercises and then some choreography.  Just before the class broke up we were briefed by a committee member on the arrangements for the annual show.

According to the Byre Theatre website, there will be two student dance shows this year.   Dance Club Showcase Icons on 1 and 2 April 2023 and the Blue Angels Spring Gala: Through the Looking Glass on 5 April 2023. I am not sure where the beginners' class will perform but I would love to see them.  As you can see from the video they put on a pretty good show the last time they performed.

As I wrote in Ballet at University, I was prompted to contact the St Andrews Dance Club by a review of a full-length ballet that had been staged by the Cambridge University Ballet Club that appeared on the Balletco Forum website.  That is a much bigger club which is perhaps to be expected as Cambridge is a bigger university.  They had presented some excellent shows in the past though not recently/.  

I enjoyed my time at St Andrews  and learned a lot of which my pliés and tendus continue to serve me well.

Jumping for Joy

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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.

Simon Garner's Dancer

Dancer inspired by the work of Glen Keane

Author Simon Garner
©  2017 Simon Garner: all rights reserved

Reproduced with kind permission of the author

I introduced Simon Garner in Images of Giselle on 20 May 2016.  He describes himself as a nurse, Photoshop lover, aspiring writer and an asexual male who takes ballet classes which are amazing fun. It is through those classes that I have made his acquaintance.

Although he does not mention it on his twitter account description he is also an artist. He made this drawing of a dancer for his "favourite ballerinas" on the day of our Show last Saturday.  He would have taken part in that show had he not sustained injury a few days ago. We all missed Simon and wish him well. We also appreciate his drawing which is why I sought his permission to publish it in this blog.

In granting permission, Simon asked me to add that his drawing was inspired by the work of Glen Keane. Keane is described by Wikipedia as "an American animator, author and illustrator. He is best known for his character animation at Walt Disney Animation Studios for feature films including The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Pocahontas, Tarzan and Tangled." It will not have escaped your notice that the first three of those film titles are also the names of ballets by Birmingham Royal Ballet, Northern Ballet and Ballet Theatre UK. For those who want to know more about this artist, his work is explored and celebrated in The Art of Glen Keane and the Keane Art blogs.

If you liked Simon's drawing, you will find more of his work on his flickr account.

Show

Move it!13 May 2016

Author Gita Mistry

© 2017 Gita Mistry: all rights reserved

We attracted quite a good crowd to The Dancehouse for Move It! yesterday despite competition from the Eurovision Song Contest, Ballet Central's mixed programme in Whitehaven, Birmingham Royal Ballet's triple bill in York and the Royal Baller's Mayerling and Nothern Ballet's Casanova in London. That is not because we are such talented dancers -though several of our number are very good - but because it is fun to be there. It is more like a party than a performance both for the performers and for the audience.

I took part in KNT's pre-intermediate class show. "Sounds intriguing," said Tracy our compere at the dress rehearsal, "what's that?" Our teacher, Karen Sant, shouted that it was for students who were no longer beginners but not quite up to intermediate level. As it is a bit of a mouthful I prefer to call it the Tuesday night class which I have been attending off and on for the last two and a half years. You can see us in the picture that Gita took last night. I'm in the back row second from the left.

Karen had choreographed a piece for us that lay just within my capabilities based on the exercises that we do in class with lots of balancés and glissades and one spectacular lift by two of the gents in our group. We also had to run around the stage in clockwise and anticlockwise circles, a run into the centre and a run back and a reverence in which we bowed rather than curtsied. Unlike the previous years, all classes reappeared at the end for a final curtain call.

Yesterday was not the first time that I had danced in front of a paying audience so I knew what to expect. It did not mean that we were (or at any rate I was) any less nervous as we crept onto the stage in blackout  or any less exhilarated once the lights came on but I knew that I would not freeze like a rabbit in a car's headlights and that I was likely to enjoy the experience.

For once in my life, my hair was arranged in a proper ballet bun (merci a Gita who had arranged it in a heart shape just like one of her edible buns). Not even my hairdresser had been able to accomplish that.

Karen has asked us to assemble in the Dancehouse café at 15:45.  Gita had guessed as I panicked in the traffic looking for a way to the Chester Street car park that Karen probably meant 16:00 but knew better than to disclose the actual timetable to a band of adult ballet students. Olivier, our chef de quelquechose on whom I occasionally practise my French, confirmed that that was indeed the case.

At or about the appointed time we were led into the auditorium. Tracy emerged from behind the curtain and greeted us cheerily. We gave her a sort of half muffled grunt in reply. "You'll have to better than that, dancers", she told us. "If you expect to receive the love you've got to share it."  She read through the running order and called on the first act which was Josh Moss's repertoire class. A recording of harp strings and then Minkus's gorgeous music from La Bayadere as Katie Daly led her shades into their kingdom. Tendus and arms in 5th look simple enough but I had tried to learn that dance from Jane Tucker last year and knew that it was anything but - particularly when it comes to the bourrées with arms in arabesque towards the end.

All the other classes filed on and were warmly applauded by the crowd. I can't quite remember the order in which they came but they included the usual jazz and contemporary classes plus the belly dancers whose rhythmic music to a compelling Arabic air is clapped on by the audience and the lovely Chinese dancers in their flowing sparkly robes. "I can see you sparkling away," said Tracy from the stage, and they really do. The show rounded off with the adult ballet class in which my friend Yoshie Kimura performs. Now those students really are good. This year they recruited a young man who knows his onions when it comes to jumps. His assemblés and entrechats were a joy to behold.

After rehearsal, we were led back to our studios where we practised our steps, ate our sarnies, shared our jokes, caught up with our mates on Whatsapp and Facebook and generally chilled out. I spotted a member of the advanced class performing barre exercises. As we always have a class before a show in Leeds I decided to join her for a few pliés, tendus, glissés and ronds de jambe and am very glad I did because I would have been even more wooden otherwise. This is one thing that Manchester could learn from Leeds.

Before we knew it, it was our turn to come on. There had been some lively street dancers immediately before us and we knew they would be a hard act to follow. We entered the stage and all seemed to go well. The lift was perfect and received some cheers. We finished our routine and bowed to what seemed very generous applause.

There is always a flood of emotions after a show. On the one hand, relief that it went without too many disasters but, on the other, sadness that it is all over. That made me think of the cast of Casanova at Sadler's Wells whose two-month tour of the nation also ended last night. They must be going through the same emotions one hundred fold.

We all repaired for the bar. Hugged and congratulated each other, our friends and relations and theirs and then melted into that good Manchester night. More classes next week. More camaraderie. More pain and stiffness afterwards. More fun.

More Good News from Wales: Swansea Students' Show

Swansea Grand Theatre

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Copyright waived by the author

Yesterday I mentioned that the Welsh composer Jack White who has written the scores of Cinderella and Stuck in the Mud for Ballet Cymru and has recently been commissioned to write a score for the National Dance Company of Wales has published a recording of Cinderella on his website and very reasonably invited the public to contribute what they can for licences to download and play his work. Today I bring more good news from the principality, My fellow adult ballet student, Sophia Komninou is taking part in a show at Swansea Grand Theatre on 18 July and she has kindly invited me to watch it. As Swansea is the gateway to the Gower Peninsula which has some of the finest coastline and countryside in Europe if not the world I will be there if I possibly can.

The show will be presented by the Irenie Rogers Classical Ballet Academy or Ballet Academy Swansea for short. According to Sophia, the show will include the greater part of act 2 of Giselle, the Dance of the flowers from The Nutcracker and various other pieces from the adult ballet and younger students. There are videos of previous performances on the Academy's Facebook page and I think you will agree that the standard is pretty high. I am particularly impressed with the scenes from La Bayadere which, as it happens, Sophia and I studied together in KNT;s intensive from Jane Tucker Manchester last summer (see La Bayadere Intensive Day 3: No Snakes 17 Aug 2016).

Sophia describes herself on twitter as a "feminist, amateur ballet dancer and ballet geek, foodie, crafter and curious". Dance, crafting and food are only her spare time activities by the way. She is primarily an interdisciplinary researcher with a background in nutrition and dietetics with a specialization in obesity and weight management.who teaches infant and chi;d public health at Swansea University.

Over the next few days I hope to find out more about adult dance classes in Swansea in order to compile a directory of such classes in Wales. I already know that Krystal Lowe teaches an adult ballet class at Ballet Cymru's premises at Rogerstone near Newport between 18:00 and 19:30 on Mondays (see Ballet Classes for Adult Beginners on the Ballet Cymru website) and that Louise Lloyd gives classes between 18:15 and 18:30 on Tuesdays at the Dance House in the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff (see the Adult Beginners' Ballet page of the National Dance Company's website).  As I get to hear of more classes I will publish them in the blog.

KNT's Le Corsaire Workshop and Evening Class Show

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I have been coming to KNT Danceworks's evening classes at the Dancehouse Theatre in Manchester ever since the 28 Aug 2014 (see So Proud of Manchester - KNT Danceworks Complete Beginners Class 29 Aug 2014). I am very glad to have found KNT as it is now very much a home from home. I have met some delightful people there, both teachers and students, and learned a lot over the last three years.

In addition to regular classes in most types of dance on almost every day of the week, KNT holds special events that I particularly enjoy. These are repertoire intensives with Jane Tucker of Northern Ballet and shows for the evening class students in the auditorium of The Dancehouse.

The latest intensive was Le Corsaire which I mentioned in Le Corsaire Intensive on 2 April 2017. It took place on 15 April 2017. I was unable to attend the workshop but I did see most of the end of workshop show which impressed me greatly.  The above video is just one clip from it. I think you will agree that everyone in the film danced well. Their performance is particularly impressive when one considers that they had only one day to learn the choreography.

The next show will take place on 13 May and I will take part in it. I will appear in the Pre-Intermediate Class performance which will be one of several contributions in many dance styles ranging from African to tap. Our instructor, Karen Sant, has created a lovely piece for us. Students in other classes will present shows too. The Chinese dance is a particular favourite of mine. There is a wonderful atmosphere in the theatre both in the auditorium and behind the scenes on show night. We have a splendid compère who is herself a dancer. To get a flavour of the evening, see Pride of 23 Oct 2016 which also contain links to reviews of other performances.

If any of my readers happens to be in Manchester on 13 May with nothing better to do that day, it would be great to see you. The show has yet to be advertised but it usually starts at 19:00 and costs about £5, The Dancehouse is almost next door to Oxford Road station and a few hundred yards from St Peter's Square Metrolink tram stop. There is a multi-storey car park in the same block as The Dancehouse in Chester Street and there is usually plenty of unrestricted street parking in the vicinity after 18:30.

Dance! Dance! Dance!

Ripon Cathedral

Author wfmillar
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Ripon Dance Academy  Dance! Dance! Dance! Ripon Grammar School, 2 April 2017, 18:30 

Today's New York Times features a charming 360 degree video of children in New York auditioning for the School of American Ballet. Almost every one of those children will have been taught pliés and tendus at a local dance school. We saw Sergei Polunin's first teacher in Dancer on 3 March 2017. Local dance schools are very important and deserve to be supported by those who value dance. That is one of the reasons why I drove half way across Yorkshire to see the annual show of the Ripon Dance Academy in the assembly hall of Ripon Grammar School last Sunday.

The performance took place in the assembly hall of Ripon Grammar School whose old boys include Richard Hammond and Bruce Oldfield. Not perhaps the best venue because it was pretty full by the time I arrived a good 20 minutes before the curtain rose and as all the seats were on the same level it was impossible to see the dancers' feet. I took an aisle seat about 2 two-thirds of the way back from the stage which enabled me to see the dancers on the periphery of the stage who tended to be the younger or least experienced ones but not those taking the leading roles who took centre stage.

The show was organized in three parts called "acts" and between each act there was an interval that allowed the audience to stretch to stretch one's legs. The show was compered by a gentleman whose name I have been unable to find in the programme. He had mentioned something about refreshments in the intervals which had apparently earned him the displeasure of his wife for none were on offer. I don't think anyone minded for it was a fine evening and it was relief enough to stand and walk around the auditorium, foyer and forecourt.

Act 1 started with a modern jazz routine called One Short Day. It was followed by "What is this feeling?" from Wicked. The singers whom I believe to have been Amelia Noakes and Sofia Robinson had pleasant voices and good stage presence. Children in the preparatory and primary ballet classes danced the Ugly Duckling to Danny Kaye's vocals and Cinderella though not to Prokofiev. In this they were led by an adult whom I guess to have been one of their instructors. The choreography seemed to incorporate some of the exercises that they would have learned in class which they seemed to remember well. Next was a tap routine by the youngsters, Everything Old is New Again. 

My favourite piece in the first act was Five Guys Named Moe who turned out to be four girls, Amelia Dodds, Matilda O'Brien, Shannon O'Brien and Gaby Simmonds and one guy, Elliot Hutchinson. All danced well but I was particularly impressed by Eliot who seemed to show real promise though he has got to learn to smile a bit. Indeed, all the dancers have got to smile. Only my colleague, Amelia Sierevogel, seemed to be enjoying herself but she is an undergraduate whereas most of the others were teenagers or young children.

The preparatory and primary tap dancers performed the Mickey Mouse March delightfully in their Minnie Mouse costumes. They earned some of the loudest applause of the evening. The show group rounded off the first act with extracts from Mary Poppins.

The whole of the second act was given over to extracts from Coppelia though a version that did not seem to have a Franz or Swanhilda. Eliot, however, danced Dr Coppelius, a role which required him to do so lifting as well as some awkward assemblés and chaînés. Four scenes were danced - the flower scene, the presentation of the doll, the girls' trespass in Coppelius's workshop while he is in the pub and a finale. Students of all levels performed in this act and they were all good.

Act three started with another musical, Join the Circus, by the Show Group. Elliot plus the girls in the grade 4, 5 and intermediate classes danced an Egyptian Ballet. I had hoped we might get a rare performance of The Pharaoh's Daughter by Petipa but it turned out to be from Nixon's Cleopatra. Or at least it was  Schönberg's music. I am not sure about the choreography. The boys (who were in the minority in this cast) danced a vigorous Mission Impossible. More freestyle from the seniors in Lose My Breath. Then Fame from the grade 4 tap dancers, Trolls by the preparatory, primary and grade 1 modern students in delightful costumes with some impressively spiky headgear, Music by the grades 2, 3 and 4 modern jazz students and a reverence by the entire cast.

The cast was rewarded by enthusiastic applause. The principal, Carole Cundale, gave a short speech thanking all who had participated in the show including some of her classmates from some of her own childhood classes who had trekked up from London. Everyone got a goody bag of some kind. The compere and technicians were shiny's blue and the women's were multicoloured.

I noticed in the programme that Amelia Sierevogel had assisted Cundale with the costume design. They deserve special credit for the costumes were splendid. Delightful dirndls and flowing skirts for Coppelia which must have been such fun to wear and the lovely trolls and Minnie Mouse outfits for the younger children. Everything in the production worked well. All who took part whether cast, front of house or back stage did a great job and deserve congratulations.

As she is about to go to Australia for her placement as part of her degree course I waited for Amelia to appear. I commended her on her performance and also on the costumes. She introduced me to her teacher, Laura Murphy, who told me that the Academy was not yet 4 years old but had already placed students in vocational schools.

It seems well supported by the community. Ripon is not a big place yet the fair size auditorium was pretty full, I am not sure that I saw any stars of the future but we certainly saw some very promising children and young people who had obviously worked hard and had been trained well. I hope those kids and their instructors will be encouraged in their endeavours by this review. Above all I hope they learn to smile.

La Bayadere Intensive Day 3: No Snakes

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Updated 24 Aug 2016

It was only on the train home that it occurred to me that there might have been more tactful ways of showing our appreciation to our excellent teacher, Jane Tucker, than flowers at the end of our workshop on La Bayadère in view of what had happened to Nikiya. But some sort of expression of our appreciation was appropriate as this workshop was special. Romeo and Juliet was good (see We had a stab at that! KNT's Romeo and Juliet Intensive Workshop for Beginners 9 April 2016) as had been Swan Lake (see see KNT's Beginners' Adult Ballet Intensive - Swan Lake: Day 1 18 Aug 2915, Day 2 19 Aug 2015 and Day 3 20 Aug 2015) but this was even better. I for one learned so much over the last three days and not just about La Bayadère but ballet in general.

As on the other days the day started with floor exercises on our Pilates mats. There was then a 90 minute class which focused on some of the steps we would need for our rehearsals and performance. Jane had included some  jetés en tournant in the golden idol so we worked on those as well as our balancé turns.  After class we ran through each of the pieces that we had learned. We were far from perfect but Jane told us that she had been expecting carnage and we never got anywhere near that. For the rest of the morning and early afternoon we concentrated on the details that required most attention.

After lunch, Jane fashioned the dances that we had learned into a show. Each piece was to lead seamlessly into the next. We did a couple of rehearsals and then prepared for our audience which consisted of Karen Sant and Josh Moss who are beautiful dancers as well as outstanding instructors.  Although I have very little experience of performing I have already found that performances tend to lift a cast and it was no different today. There were glitches but everyone put her heart into the show. My favourite was the golden idol as I explained in Day 2 earlier today. Jane's adaptation included some échappés which I have always enjoyed.  It was over far too quickly. Karen clapped vigorously after each piece while Josh filmed us with a tablet or mobile. Both Jane and Karen told us that we had made progress since the start.

There were some very happy ladies who left The Dancehouse today - all fired up with enthusiasm for our classes and shows in the coming year. Tomorrow Jane starts a new course for the more advanced students which I hope and am sure that they will enjoy as much as we did ours.

Danceworks International Ballet Academy Christmas Show

Earlier this year I wrote about Danceworks International Ballet Academy for dancers between the ages of 8 and 16 (see Danceworks Academy 21 March 2015). Next weekend they are dancing Act II of The Nutcracker for their end of term show. If it is anything like their video it should be great.

They had originally planned performances at 16:00 on 12 Dec 2015 and 13:30 on 13 Dec 2015 but those shows have sold out. To meet demand the students will dance an extra performance on 13 Dec and 15:30. The performance will take place in Studio 10 of Danceworks's premises at Balderton Street. Tickets are £8 for adults and £4 for children under 12.

The Spring term starts on 4 Jan 2016 and there will be another show in the summer. I know one of the students on the course and her mum seemed  very pleased with the training.

The Creative Industries Road Show comes to Leeds

Leeds Grand Theatre

Photo Mtaylor848 

Source Wikipedia

The Creative Industries Federation describes itself as

"the first fully independent body bringing together the public and private sector, across all parts of the country, from the largest multinational to the smallest start-up, from television to computer games, from music to design, from architecture to visual arts".  

For the purpose of recruiting members the Federation recognizes the following as creative industries advertising, architecture, computer gaming, crafts, design, creative education, fashion, film, IT and software, museums, galleries and libraries, music, performing arts, publishing, radio, TV, video and photography and visual arts. English National Ballet is among the Founder Supporter Companies and Organizations as is the Royal Opera House and Tamara Rojo appears on the Federation's launch video.

The Federation is running a series of road shows around the UK "in which leading figures from the arts, creative industries and commercial education will come together to forge new links and map the challenges the sector faces in their area.".  The first of these took place in Manchester on 27 April 2015 and the second in Birmingham on 20 May 2015. On Monday, 1 June 2014, it was Leeds's turn and the caravan gathered in the Howard Assembly Room, a large auditorium leading off the bar of the dress circle in the Grand Theatre,

The event came to my attention because one of the Federation's promises is to "defend intellectual property rights in an ever more digital future." Defending intellectual property rights and indeed attacking them sometimes is what I do for a living but I would probably have given the road show a miss had I not noticed two names on the panel. One of those was Sally Joynson who is CEO of Screen Yorkshire. The other was Sharon Watson, the artistic director of Phoenix Dance Theatre.

The event was chaired by John Kampfner, CEO of the Federation and Anamaria Willis CEO of CidaCo. The first part of the evening was a monologue by Anya Hindmarsh on how she got to be where she is now. All very worthy but it is not as if we had not heard countless similar stories from other entrepreneurs from way back when. The next talk was Tom Riordan, CEO of Leeds City Council which was equally worthy. The main part of the evening for me was the panel discussion in which Sally and Sharon were billed to take part. Also on the panel were Jamie Sefton, Managing Director of Game Republic Ian Thompson, of Thompson Brand Partners, Dominic Gray of Opera North and Anya Hindmarsh.

The advertised topic of the panel discussion was

"'Uniting the Northern Powerhouse' - Following the emergence of the Great North concept how can growth and success be leveraged across the M62 corridor for the benefit of us all?"

Kampfner posed the combustible (for Leeds) question "Is the Northern Powerhouse all about Manchester and if it is does it matter?" and he asked Sharon to respond. Sharon played that ball with a very straight bat. She replied that Phoenix Dance and Northern Ballet had always regarded the North as a powerhouse so there was nothing new there. Actually that was about as much as she or anyone said on the subject because one of the first questions from the floor came from a teacher who complained that children in Yorkshire were just not taking art and design courses in sufficient numbers and that she was looking to the panellists to put that right. For the rest of the evening the panel concentrated on why that should be, whether it was because parents wanted their offspring to get "a real job" whatever that might mean and whether there was too much an emphasis in this country on STEM. As we could do better in maths and science according to recent PISA tables I was rather worried where that discussion might be leading but apart from a few calls to turn STEM into STEAM there was no serious attack on existing educational priorities.

As there had been a lot of Manchester bashing at the LEP Summit in 2011, the Leeds International Economic Conference last year and even at Northern Ballet's breakfast meeting in September 2013 I was really heartened by Dominic Gray. He urged Leeds not to compare itself to Manchester because the two cities are different.  He recalled the success of the Tour de France last year when images of our beautiful countryside were transmitted round the world. Leeds's strength lay in its hinterland, he seemed to suggest which was like music to my ears.

After the talk there was networking in the bar at which attendees had to buy their own drinks in the best Yorkshire tradition. I met a number of interesting people from different arts and creative sectors including Sharon Watson.  I am a great admirer of her company and her work and had met her very briefly on a couple of other occasions. We swapped a couple of stories about the importance of dance and I told her about my faltering efforts to learn her dance form (see My First Contemporary Dance Class 27 Feb 2015).

If anyone wants to join the Creative Industries Federation here is some further information. Subscriptions do not come cheap. Businesses with turnovers of £200 million or above are charged £15,000 plus VAT while businesses that provide support to the creative industries (such as barristers' chambers) would be charged £6,000. Even individuals aged 25 or under are charged £40.  Having said that, there are discounts for those who join in June and further discounts for those who join after attending the Leeds road show. The creative sector does need a forum and collective voice but few of the people I know in dance have that kind of spare cash.

Not just Americans who will celebrate the 4th July this year

Every year the students of the Northern Ballet Academy put on a show. I was in last year's and had the time of my life. Everyone has an opportunity to take part from the tiny tots to us old crocks. And while we may lack the agility and technique of the gifted young people on the CAT programme who are destined for great things we equal them in enthusiasm.

This year the show is taking place on the 4th July and, as you can see, Adult Beginner and our other good friends in the USA are laying on some fireworks for us.


Our teacher Annemarie Donoghue has chosen some lovely music which I am struggling to identify. I think it is Debussy but my friend who used to dance professionally thinks it could be Satie. We both agree that it is French but perhaps we shall learn that it is Argentinian, Russian or even American.   Our teacher has  choreographed movements that are a joy to dance but require slick timing and good team work.

I am trying very hard to make the show but there are two problems.  The first is that I am a lot busier than I was last year,  As I found out to my cost, missing just one rehearsal sets you back plenty.  I have a hearing before the Comptroller-General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks in Glasgow starting on Monday which I would not miss for the world because it is a very, very, very, rare and unusual opportunity for an English barrister to be briefed in Scotland. But it does mean missing the second rehearsal and I really can't afford to miss any more. The other problem is that my feet have been playing up all year. There is a delightful courou on demi-pointe which I love to dance but are murder on the old paws.

So I am both excited and apprehensive. It will take place in the Stanley and Audrey Burton Theatre in Leeds Tickets sell out like hot cakes because mums and dads (or in our case grandchildren) come to see the show but there are usually one or two spares for Friends of Northern Ballet and other connections.  So toi-toi ti us.

More good news from Manchester

On Saturday 23 May 2015 the adult dance students of KNT Danceworks in Manchester will put on a show at The Dancehouse. It is called Move It!  and tickets will cost £8 if booked over the internet or £10 at the door. I saw the beginners' ballet class last week and it was already very good. I would have loved to have taken part but I can at least review it for this blog.

Another event that promises to be a lot of fun is KNT's proposed Beginners' Ballet Workshop for August. Here's an announcement from Karen Sant of KNT Danceworks:

"*** KNT Danceworks Adult Summer Workshops ***
These dates are all still TO BE CONFIRMED but I need to see how many people are interested to make sure this is feasible. If you are interested in a specific workshop, it would really help me if you could let me know which one in a comment below.
All our summer workshops, held at The Dancehouse Theatre, will be taught by industry professionals. The price will be £200 for one workshop (3 days) or £350 for two workshops (6 days). They will run between 10am and 4:30pm approx.
Mon 10th - Wed 12th: Beginner Jazz & Contemporary Workshop
Thurs 13th - Sat 15th: Advanced Jazz & Contemporary Workshop
Mon 17th - Wed 19th: Beginner Ballet Workshop
Thurs 20th - Sat 22nd: Advanced Ballet Workshop"

I do hope those workshops happen and they will happen if enough people support them. If you are interested please contact Karen on info@kntdanceworks.co.uk or 07783 103 037.