LONDON!!! :D :D

On Sunday, i was incredibly lucky to be invited to take part in a ballet masterclass at the Royal Opera House, in London. i have always wanted to dance there, so i was super excited!!! After a long train journey, we arrived, in Floral Street at last. After a few photos next to the Opera House and RBS Bridge (with mum getting a bit tetchy that I was doing arabesques whilst she was stood awkwardly with a camera...) it was at last time to step through the Stage Door. I suppose it felt a bit like border control in an airport; our parents werent allowed in, and we were even given posh "Visitor" passes! Anyway... Amid a flurry of nervous excitement, we were escorted up to the De Valois studio. And Wow, what a studio!!! It was the biggest, most beautiful place imaginable!! Francesca Filpi taught the class, and i have to say, she was a rather fab teacher!! We began barre exercises, which were challenging but very enjoyable. For me, the highlight of barre was adage; i was expecting a soft, slow piece of music, so a lively rendition of "I couldve Danced All Night" was particularly lovely :-) We began centre work with a very pretty adage, then a pirouette enchainement. I was slightly disappointed that we did pirouettes from 5th, not 4th, as Ive been managing triples from 4th recently,but pirouettes from 5th are awkward, lol!!! We did a very complicated allegro; Francesca set a simplified version for those working at Intermediate level (which I am) however I decided to just go for it, and do the advanced version :-P After a gorgeous grand allegro then reverence, it was time for a quick break, before Lauren Cuthbertson's solos class. Lauren was a wonderful teacher; she taught us a solo from Act 3 of Sylvia. The dance was very long and quite confusing, but I loved learning it. Although we only had an hour, we finished the solo, which was satisfying but tiring!!! (my mum couldnt understand why, if it was a solos class, we didnt actually dance it as a solo!!) After a final photo with Lauren, we made a little detour on the way out, to visit the shoe department. (wow!!!) I felt quite sad to leave, but an hour in Capezio for new pointe shoes cheered me up!!! ;) I think the masterclass was an incredible experience, although it was very difficult!! If there is another one I would love to go!! :) Sorry for such a long post, haha!