The Adventure Begins!

At last, the adventure begins!' Today, I moved into my new home; Ichrachan House, Taynuilt, and on Wednesday I start classes at Ballet West.

Of course, I was sad to leave home- especially leaving Rochelle was hard, although I'll be back at half term!!- but I know that I belong here, I know that at last I shall be happy, because I'll be dancing all day every day, finally having the opportunity to pursue my dream!

Miss Kaye

Once or twice in a lifetime, we might be lucky enough to meet someone who will change our world forever. A year ago, I was beginning to accept the fact that I was never going to succeed as a dancer, and was wondering how much longer I would last before accepting that some dreams simply are not destined to come true. Then, I met Miss Kaye. As I have mentioned in previous posts, I haven't always had a positive experience with certain ballet teachers, but Miss Kaye was different. She was mortified that my previous teachers had barely corrected me, leaving obvious flaws in my technique- but, unlike them, she was determined to help me. Over the past year, she has given me a lot of private coaching- the only thing getting me through dreary days of A-level studies was the knowledge that in the evenings when I was in the studio, I would at last be able to learn, from a teacher who genuinely cared about me.

It's hard to pinpoint exactly how Miss Kaye changed my life so much.... Perhaps simply knowing that she believed in me, and wanted me to succeed, was what gave me the confidence to keep going. 

She helped me to see my flaws in a positive way- yes, I lacked turnout, (or, as we later discovered, I have almost flat turnout but had never been taught to use it!!) yes, I held a lot of tension in my shoulders at times, and had neglected purity of line in favour of what I had naively assumed was artistry.... But these problems could, with a lot of work, be rectified, and Miss Kaye, unlike other teachers, was determined to help me to achieve my potential. 

One of the most important things that she taught me was to relax, and to appreciate the joy of dance. I have learnt to not fixate upon loathing the figure in the mirror, instead focusing my energy on expressing my passion for dance, with the ability to logically reflect upon my progress, and set realistic goals to achieve. At last, I am able to watch video footage of my ballet, without cringing and losing my confidence! Miss Kaye helped me to realise, that at times, yes some steps I dance, some enchainements, some entire pieces of choreography look crap- but the whole point of being a student is to learn, and to improve! Occasionally, I would dance an enchainement, knowing that my turnout was awful or my musicality had vanished, and admit as soon as I had finished "That was bloody awful wasn't it?" To which Miss Kaye would laugh, agree, then say "So what are we going to do about that then?!" She somehow instinctively knew when to challenge me- she wouldn't hesitate in having me dance the same enchainement ten times over until it was perfect, pushing me just far enough- but if I was emotionally exhausted, she always knew exactly what to say to help me rediscover my own inner strength and determination.
Whilst most teachers would discourage makeup, Miss Kaye helped me to discover a sense of glamour- she encouraged me to wear pretty nail polish- in particular, we like burgundy- as having long, neat fingernails finished off my arabesque lines nicely! And she especially liked my vivid red lipstick; as ludicrous as it sounds, I think I definitely dance better when I'm wearing makeup, as I feel more glamorous!!!

At the beginning of the summer, for whatever reason she was delayed in getting to class; a group of hyper 8 year olds were beginning to wreak havoc in the studio. Instinctively, I clapped my hands to get their attention, and said "Okay, warm up. In a circle, 8 skips, 8 gallops on the right....." Ten minutes later, Miss Kaye apologetically arrived, looking flustered- but grinned when she saw her Grade 2 class sitting neatly in the splits. I expected her to take over at that point, but she  invited me to continue teaching- having had no preparation time whatsoever, the class that I improvised for them wasn't exactly ideal- but they seemed to enjoy it nonetheless. By the end of the lesson, all of the children were smiling- and I had discovered a definite passion for teaching. For the next five weeks, I taught the Grade 2 classes; the children's slow but determined progress gave me the greatest joy imaginable, and has inspired me to pursue a teaching career after my vocational training. 

I am so, so incredibly grateful to Miss Kaye for all that she has taught me, and I look forward to returning to Rochelle some day!! <3

Billy Elliot!

On Tuesday, I celebrated my 18th birthday. It feels strange to be an "adult"- I'm still as childish as always, but then again pretending to be sensible is boring!!! 

To my joy, Mum revealed that in the afternoon we were heading to London, to see Billy Elliot! (But first, in the morning I of course had my private ballet lesson; we worked on a couple of lovely grand allegro enchainements!)

Also, I had time to visit dad and his family, which was lovely because I got to see my elderly great grandma, who I'd not seen in quite a while!

Upon arriving in London, we travelled to our hotel on the underground- poor mum hasn't been to London as frequently as I have, so was somewhat baffled- after we'd brought her an Oyster card, she peered around like a curious child; luckily I knew exactly where to go!!!

The Cavendish hotel was beautifully luxurious; after an amazing dinner in a restaurant overlooking Fortnum & Mason, we headed to the Victoria Palace theatre. It was smaller than I had expected, but completely packed nonetheless! The opening song, "The Stars Look Down", was charged with energy and emotion, powerfully expressing the plight of the 1984 miners' struggle against Thatcherism. It had a similar effect on me to the Swan Lake overture; already I felt emotional, anticipating what I could sense was going to be an utterly incredible performance.

I thought the staging was incredibly clever, for example in Mrs Wilkinson's ballet class scenes, the miners often stood at the sides of the stage, singing "Solidarity", to portray how their struggle never ceased. The young girl playing Susan Parks had excellent charisma, stage presence, and a natural ballet physique. Unfortunately, photographs of the ballet girls were not given in the programme- which, nonetheless, was a luscious 48 page souvenir, filled with interviews and dazzling images, all for just £6 (take note, Queensland Ballet!!!).

Expressing Yourself became a truly vivacious showbiz number, complete with excellent tap dancing from Nat Sweeney, and ????? As Michael. The musical flitted rapidly between moments of brilliant comedy and touching sensitivity, as in the next scene, Ruthie Henshall displayed a heart-rending motherly affection for Billy as they read his mam's letter.

The second half opened with "Merry Christmas Maggie Thatcher"; a strong sense of irony and loathing clearly resonated through the lyrics! When Dad went to visit Mrs Wilkinson, the Christmas feel was emphasised by a beautiful snowfall, which reminded me somewhat of the Nutcracker snow!

As far as staging is concerned, it excelled beyond any other production I have ever seen. From neatly crafted backdrops that covered the entire upstage prosce 

The highlight of the second act, for me was the iconic "chair twirling" scene in which Billy dances with his older self- whose autograph I managed to get after the show! At one point, Billy flew magnificently across the stage in a harness, spinning so fast at such a height that I felt sorry for the poor young actor, as he must have felt awfully dizzy! 

I thought Billy's Audition scene was delightfully accurate; I empathised very much with Billy's last minute trepidation, "Dad! Dad I've changed me mind!" and his Dad's working class sense of unease, stood next to a snooty stereotypical ballet parent (luckily I've only encountered a few of those, most ballet parents are lovely but there are the occasional few who appear eager to intimidate!!) Also, when Billy pulled his solo music out of his pocket, to see the tape had unravelled itself, he swore, then swore again as though he was annoyed at himself for swearing, which gave a lovely lighthearted feel to the scene. I had wondered how the staging would portray White Lodge, however instead it was cleverly transformed to show the stage of the Royal Opera House...... As wonderful as it was to visit the Covent Garden studios for my Royal audition, it made me wish that I too could've danced on the Opera House stage! In the audition scene, one of the judges even resembled Mark Annear, who of course was on the panel for the real auditions! Also, when Billy and his dad were interview, they sat directly facing the audience, and the interviewers' questions were a recording, firstly implying that they were sat up in the gods, but secondly giving the vital sense of omnipresence and emotionally detached judgement that auditioners sometimes show. 

When Billy received his letter, he didn't tear it open immediately as I would've done (although his somewhat explicit reaction to seeing it, was exactly what I would've said too!!!), he instead took it to his room- which was incredibly cleverly staged; the staircase leading to his room rose up from beneath the stage, which allowed for effortless scene changes.

The musical ended with Billy leaving for White Lodge, as Michael waved him off and his dad headed back down the coal mine, which gave an uplifting sense of love; Jackie Elliot sacrificed his beliefs about the strike, and returned to mining, to earn the money for Billy to have his chance at life.

The entire theatre's standing ovation which remained throughout the curtain calls was deserved by every single cast member, who truly have their all, to inspire- and in the way that my first Swan Lake inspired me to pursue ballet, Billy Elliot made me glad that our curriculum at Ballet West also covers jazz, acting and singing- perhaps being in the ensemble of a west end production would be just as good for me to aspire to as being in the corps de ballet of a classical company!

The Car Man

The first Matthew Bourne show I saw was Sleeping Beauty. I had expected it to be classical ballet. Needless to say, the quirky neoclassical style took me so much by surprise that I was unable to appreciate the choreographic genius behind it.

Therefore, when a friend asked if I wanted to see "The Car Man" at Sadlers Wells, I was eager to give Bourne's creation a more open-minded viewing. 

Even from the back rows of the second balcony, the stage looked fabulous; the set portrayed a dingy 1960's America town, ironically named 'Harmony'. Interestingly, as the audience entered the theatre, the cast already meandered around the stage in character, which helped us to feel part of the action before the show began.

The piece was set to Bizet's "Carmen", upon which it was based. Unfamiliar with the storyline of Carmen, I found it difficult to follow the action, centred around love, lust and revenge. Nonetheless, Chris Trenfield really stood out as Luca, with excellent musicality and stage presence. Although I haven't done much contemporary work, I found the style very impressive; the dancers' energy and passion radiated right through the huge theatre. 

The scenery in Act 2 initially depicted a club, then switched impressively rapidly to the prison, where Angelo was wrongly imprisoned for killing Dino- when in reality, Luca was Dino's killer, as the latter slept with both Lana (Luca's wife) and Angelo.

The piece culminated in Angelo being shot dead by Lana, expressing the theme of lust and revenge. Although the piece was hard to follow, Bourne's choreographic gift clearly shone. 

La Sylphide

Flicking through my copy of Dancing Times magazine a few weeks ago, I noticed a competition to win a pair of tickets to see Queensland Ballet's La Sylphide. I entered, not expecting to hear anything back- alas, I arrived home from class one afternoon, to a letter informing me that I had won the tickets! 

Delighted, I arranged to go to the ballet, with my friend Lauren. To my dismay though, arriving at the station to get to London, I realised that my train had been cancelled due to industrial action! Luckily, there was another train, just over an hour later- which still managed to get me to London in time for afternoon class at Pineapple!

My first class was Advanced ballet; I enjoyed the challenge of the complex combinations, which were explained quickly. Doing the barre work on pointe was a lovely way to notice how my strength is hradually improving- I worked on demi pointe for the centre work though, as I wanted to focus on my pirouettes.

Next, I did an intermediate level class, for which I worked on pointe throughout. It was lovely to recognise a few professional dancers in the class; Julia Davies, who used to work for Ballet Theatre UK and taught at last year's summer school; and Corey Annand, an Elmhurst graduate who danced the role of Aurora in Midland Theatre Ballet's 2012 production of Sleeping Beauty, the first full length ballet I performed in. It was lovely to chat to Corey and Julia!

After class, I met Lauren at Zizzi to have dinner, before visiting the Royal Opera House shop (where I spent slightly more than I should've, on two beautiful books!)

Then, we headed to the Coliseum. We were both delighted that the seats allocated to us, courtesy of Dancing Times magazine, were row C of the stalls!! A very knowedgable gentleman sitting behind us- Mr S Tyler, of the Ballet Association- chatted to us before the show, educating us on the Bournonville style, and the life of Li Cunxin, the Queensland Ballet's Artistic Director.

It was particularly special for Lauren and I to be at the Coliseum; the last time we were there, we danced onstage together in an English National Ballet workshop.

The ballet began with Sarah Thompson's solo as the Sylph; she used her epaulement well in her neat courus, however it was interesting to note that her grands jetes lacked elevation, and her double pirouette in attitude was en demi pointe; I couldn't help but wonder if it should've been en pointe! Nonetheless, her beautiful feet and high demi pointe were used well throughout.

The fact that the Sylph was the only dancer to work en pointe in act 1 added to her ethereal quality; meanwhile, the other dancers, portraying James, Effie and friends, excellently handled the Scottish national dances, encorporating a lot of ballonnés and brisés to give a sense of lightness and elevation. The stage, adorned eloquently with grey furnishings and a red armchair, clearly set the scene of a Glasweigian Manor House.

I must give a special mention to the children; there was one tiny girl, probably no older than eleven or twelve, who danced the Scottish national dances with as much delightful ease as if she were a member of the corps de ballet herself!

The second act took place in a beautiful forest glade; for me the highlight was the Sylphs corps de ballet's beautiful work in a circle formation, and an adagio sequence, in which pairs of Sylphs faced each other, holding hands, to developpé; an effective use of an otherwise simple step. 

In James' solo, Luke Schaufuss demonstrated excellent use of the Demi plié, which aided his elevation in his neat batterie, however he appeared slightly off-balance in his double tours en l'air.

Nonetheless, all of the dancers gave an enthusiastic performance, accompanied spectacularly by the Royal Ballet Sinfonia orchestra.