Joffrey; Week 1

I have just finished my first week of classes at the Joffrey Ballet School in New York City. I feel so lucky to have such an amazing opportunity, the teachers are incredible and I feel like I'm improving already! Yesterday's teacher was an ex-Bolshoi dancer :D

It's been awesome to see New York too, (although I have to say, the Subway is a lot more confusing than the London Underground!!) so far we've visited Central Park and the Brooklyn Bridge, which was phenomenal! (I'll upload photos when I work out how to!) This afternoon, I'm going to see American Ballet Theatre's Swan Lake, which I'm super excited about! 

Ballet West

A few months ago, I auditioned via video, for a place at Ballet West, in Scotland. I really wasn't expecting a place at all- in fact I just wanted the rejection email to come quickly, so I could get over my inevitable failure and move on. 

Last week, I glanced at my phone, whilst modelling for a group of artists who were drawing portraits. I had a voicemail message from an unfamiliar number, so clicked on it to listen, out of curiousity. "Hello Sophie, this is Jean from Ballet West," oh please no, I'm surrounded by people, this is not a good time for a rejection, I thought desperately- yet couldn't quite bring myself to cut off the message. The voice continued "We are sorry to have kept you waiting, but I am calling you with the good news that we would like to offer you a place at Ballet West, for this September". The world seemed to stand still for a second, I barely dared to believe what I was hearing. To the shock and bemusement of the poor artists who were drawing me, I screamed with delight, feeling as if, at last, the entire universe was perfect. It felt entirely surreal- in fact it still does- to think that just as I had lost hope, my ballet school dream finally came true. When I received my official letter confirming my place at the school, it felt just like the scene in Billy Elliot, when Billy got his letter from the Royal!!

This week, mum and I went to Scotland to visit Ballet West. It  is in a tiny, sleepy village on the north west coast of the Scottish Highlands, called Taynuilt. The scenery is breathtaking, although we did get very lost attempting to walk from the station to the school, after nine hours on a train!! Luckily, a lovely lady pulled over in her car and offered us a lift to Ballet West. At the school, we watched a pas de deux class- the dancers were all very gifted, and it was lovely to see the trust between the students. Then, we met Gillian, who is the owner of the school. She is incredibly kind, and reassured mum that she takes very good care of all of her students!! Mum and I stayed the night in Oban, before travelling home- having made a definite decision that I belong at Ballet West!! Although moving away from home is a daunting prospect, I am already counting down the days until I start at Ballet West, it's all so exciting!

Meanwhile, I'm busy preparing for a trip to New York; I'm off to the Joffrey Ballet School summer intensive next week!!!!! :D

Exciting news!!!

I GOT A PLACE AT THE JOFFREY BALLET SUMMER SCHOOL IN NEW YORK !!!! :-D :-D

Just One More!!!!

Just as I thought auditions were over, my friend text me last week; "Joffrey Ballet are holding summer intensive auditions in London!!" Of course, the allure of a trip to my favourite place was irresistible (although tinged with the tiniest bit of sadness knowing that my last trip to Covent Garden, for my Royal audition, was filled with hope of a ballet school place, a hope that is now extinguished for at least another year).

I arrived in London (having successfully navigated the Underground!) and did a Russian ballet class at DanceWorks. I have always admired the Russian dancers, and adore the Russian style, however a negative audition experience involving a rude principal and a very strict teacher who spoke- or rather, yelled- in Russian throughout the class, had somewhat diminished my desire to learn the Vaganova style. I didn't really know what to expect in the class, but was pleasantly surprised by how lovely our teacher, Zina Mamedova, was. Zina trained at the Vaganova, danced with the Kirov, then became Principal of the National Ballet Theatre of Prague! 

We did a lot of barrework, focussing on building strength through slow, repetitive movements. The centre work was faster paced, with four lovely grand allegro enchainements!

After exploring beautiful Hyde Park, I travelled to Covent Garden. The spiral staircase to exit the station was a good warm-up; 193 steps! I visited all of the dance shops, before arriving at Pineapple Studios for the Joffrey audition. 

There were just seven of us in the audition (although as Joffrey tour worldwide for their auditions, I'm not expecting a place at all!); the man who taught the class was wonderfully enthusiastic, and gave some really useful corrections. He was particularly meticulous regarding alignment; for example in arabesque he didn't want us to pitch forwards at all (contrary to what I have been taught!); it was quite hard to adapt to the unique Joffrey style!

The pirouette enchainement was lovely; despite having not danced for 2 weeks over Easter, I managed a few triples, which I was very pleased about as I was expecting it to be a disaster!! 

During certain exercises I had to remind myself to smile, but in grand allegro I couldn't help but smile, as it felt as if all of my favourite steps had been put into one enchainement!

They said we'll hear the results of the audition within 3 weeks- although I'd absolutely love to go to New York, it isn't financially feasible, so I'm looking at summer schools in the UK instead :P

Audition Conclusion

I've completed all of my auditions (Royal, Northern, BTUK, London Russian & Hammond), and am very sad to say that unfortunately I wasn't offered a place this year. However, the past few months of auditions have taught me so much- independence, confidence, and most importantly, how to cope with rejection!! I have made the decision to study a BTEC Dance course at college, with the aim of auditioning for ballet and contemporary schools in early 2017. That seems like an eternity away!! But I suppose I knew all along that I wasn't ready for vocational school this year; within the next two years i hope to continue to improve my ballet, and increase my knowledge of contemporary. I also teach at my local dance school; there is nothing more wonderful than bringing joy to young children, giving them the gift of dance.

Ballet Theatre UK audition

On Sunday, I had my audition at the School of Ballet Theatre UK. I didn't feel as nervous as I thought I would- I knew that I had done as much as I possibly could over the past year in terms of improving my strength and stamina; it was my chance to show how much I've improved.

In the audition, I was asked to stand at the front of the barre, facing the panel- I was very pleased to be given such a good place! The class was taught by Elizabeth Haslam, the company ballet mistress. It went pleasingly well- my adagio and pirouettes were strong and controlled, a reassuring contrast to last year's disaster!!! In the pointework section, there was a simple couru en diagonale; having seen Swan Lake the day before, I felt like the queen of the swans! The only thing I was slightly disappointed with was a sequence of turns en pointe; three pique turns, one petit Soutenu, repeated three times through- the music was faster than I was used to, so I missed two of the piques on the left side... 

Next, we had a Contemporary class; the first part of the class consisted of beautiful leaps, turns and floorwork, expressing a beauty and freedom of movement that only a dancer could appreciate. Then, we learnt a piece of choreography; the choreographer, Emily Ayers, explained that the theme of the piece was "A demon representing all of the hatred in the world, trying to break free from the core of the Earth" so the piece was very dark and sinister, but I loved it!

After class, we had our interview and a physio assessment- I thought it went well, although it is hard to tell what the strange physical tests were looking for! 

They said the wait for results will be up to 2 weeks, which feels like an excruciatingly long wait....... In the meantime, I am busy preparing solos and monologues for my Hammond audition which is next week!!!

Swan Lake

Four years ago, I saw Swan Lake for the first time- it was that which inspired me to dance. The Russian State Ballet of Siberia this year toured the UK again, and I went to see Swan Lake, with my beloved grandad, who loves Tchaikovsky's music but had never seen a ballet.

Flicking through the programme, I was pleased to see that some of the Principals I had seen before, particularly Ekaterina Bulgatova and Margherita Noisik, were still with the company; Anna Aulle, however, is now a principal with the Stanislavsky Ballet.

Another thing that caught my eye was the photograph, of the company's headquarters in Siberia.

What is it, about that overture, that makes it so indescribably beautiful?! As it wanders and meanders its way through a million emotions- slowly building, like a volcano of passion, such that the air hovers still for a second, then, in a dynamic explosion that makes every atom of our being shiver with awe, it reaches its breathtaking crescendo.

And the curtain rises.

The lavish court scenes were danced with joy, the luxurious backdrop and costumes setting the scene perfectly. One thing I found interesting was how, in the male dancers' pirouettes, they articulated their feet slowly and deliberately through the tendu to 2nd, then *bam!* the foot hit a plie in 4th and the dancer effortlessly executed five or six flawless turns. However, their 4th in the demi plie was very, very open- it was as if he was in 2nd, but with one foot where it would be in 4th with the alignment of 2nd! Very flashy!

The Director of the Company, Sergei Bobrov, seemed to have edited the original choreography; after the Goblet Dance, the lights dimmed; Seigfried was poised in 2nd arabesque; was this the transition to the lake scene? Indeed, the spotlight that guided Seigfried through the opening steps of his solo seemed to shine like moonlight.... Von Rothbart, with the wings of a black raven in place of his usual sweeping cape, entered, to dance a duet with Seigfried- although neither character acknowledged or seemed to notice the other, and their movements were mostly contrasting, with some perfect moments of poised unison and grace. 

Then, Von Rothbart disappeared, and the court scene continued- although the villagers pas de trois was omitted. Interestingly, at the end of the court scene, the lights dimmed and Rothbart appeared again- as before, he did not interact with Seigfried as such, seeming to imply that, instead of going to the lake to hunt as in the traditional version, Seigfried was instead drawn to the lake by the black raven Rothbart.

I knew every step of the Swans entrance, having studied it in three masterclasses over the last few years!! Interestingly, in the temps leves in arabesque, the swans inclined their heads towards their arm, creating the shape of a swan nuzzling its wings, but sacrificing the purity of line that would usually be seen in arabesque- I couldn't quite work out whether I liked this new interpretation of the swans' mannerisms or not!

The Cygnets pas de quatre was sublime; they danced as if their minds and bodies worked as one, in immaculate synchrony, with precise entrechats and neatly articulated echappes.

In the second half, the National dances seemed to take longer than in other productions; I couldn't quite identify which nationalities were presented, but I particularly enjoyed the mazurka, and the vivacious Spanish princess solo.

Then, Odile entered, to deliver a spectacular solo which rivalled that of Miko Fogarty- the coda had not thirty-two, but thirty six fouettes, with doubles and triples effortlessly thrown in. 

The Prince's coda had the same music as Odile's, but at half the speed, as his jetes en tournant and ménage seemed to hover, suspended in the air.

As the Prince swore his undying love mistakenly to Odile, the lights glowed red- he realised his awful mistake, and rushed to the lake, where Odette and her swans grieved his infidelity. 

Seigfried battled Von Rothbart into the lake, and both were engulfed by its icy waters- however, this cathartic scene was disappointingly staged- the billowing 'lake' seemed to be a single blue sheet, beneath which Seigfried and Rothbart both noticeably exited to the wings- perhaps more material would've concealed their exit.

The final scene was phenomenal though; the orchestra were incredible; their music seemed to show Odette's grief as much as the movement did; at the curtain calls, I did wonder if it was acceptable to cheer or give a standing ovation!!!!