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!

Swan Lake repertoire workshop

On Sunday, I was lucky enough to be invited to attend a ballet workshop with Lewis Turner, of Birmingham Royal Ballet. The first hour of the session was a ballet class (there were only 5 girls and 2 boys in the class, so he worked us hard!!)- as usual, my feet simply refused to obey me in petit allegro, but pirouettes were fun; triples to the left And right!! Yeyyah!! Anyway. Then, we did repertoire, and learnt the Pas De Trois, from Swan Lake. I actually found it relatively easy, apart from a section of pique arabesques and jete entrelaces; it was done with a partner, so I got very baffled as to which way I was going!! Overall, I found it very fun- we did some basic pas de deux, which I loved! Can't wait to do more repertoire classes at my summer schools :)

The Cost of being a Dancer

So yesterday, I was doing a spot of rather random mental arithmetic, to try and work out approximately the ballet year 2013/2014 is going to cost. This is what I came up with; Regular classes, about £25 a week. 45 weeks = £1125 2 Associate schemes, £25 a session each, 12 sessions a year = £600 One-off trip to London = £150 2 ballet exams, about £150 each (including extra classes & pianist rehearsals) = £300 Leotards, pointe shoes, tights etc (approx. 6 pairs of pointe shoes; £40 each, 6 pairs of flat shoes; £12 each, 1 pair of soft pointes: £20, 12 pairs of tights; £5 each, 4 leotards; £20 each) total = £472 About 3 auditions, £20 each = £60 Summer schools etc, £500. Wow, that is a lot. Okayy, so it costs around £3300 a year. (Sorry daddy!! Mummy Really regrets taking me to see Swan Lake three years ago.) Yikes. That is rather a lot- i'm sure vocational school on an MDS or DADA scholarship would be so much cheaper....