Michelle_Richer

Hi Terpsichore Good luck with you show at Manchester, what piece are you performing in that show ?

Well my comment about using the barre was made a bit tongue in cheek, however I do remember one day at Northern Ballet when we were relegated to a smaller studio than normal, about four of us had to do the barre exercises in the centre. Also when our Lincoln teacher had her barres stolen, for a while we made do with chair backs and then graduated to doing barre exercises in the centre. I understand Trogs issue with the moving barre. I use the centre barre at my ENB classes, even at holiday times when there is more than enough space on the wall barres. I know sometimes there are only a couple of us on it. It is reasonably stable unless we are using fouettes or pirouettes into arabesque, then it can get a bit wobbly that’s why I prefer to do it off the barre and only place my hand on it at the end as a token gesture. I also start with preparation of barre exercises with my hand off the barre, for me it seems more appropriate and I have never been corrected for it. Similarly both hands come off the barre at the end of an exercise into bra bas. Things like rise and balance, weather its in simple releve 5th, or pirouette prep position, I tend to go strait up hands off the barre, even if I wobble a bit the same with arabesque / attitude balance, only if there’s a wobble out of control do I seek the sanctuary of the barre for momentary correction of balance. One thing I have not successfully mastered is balance with my eyes closed, we did that tonight before rehearsal and I can only go a few seconds before the wobbles get me. For core strength and balance check out this link of a young girl from The Vaganova Academy, how many of you can do this? https://www.facebook.com/academyvaganova/videos/817524671680153/ Hopefully I will be visiting them next November.

No!, barre's are for those that are a bit unsteady on their feet, I remember doing class at Scottish ballet with two Bolshoi trained girls, much of the time they did the exercises without holding the barre, they were very impressive. I think I would need a bit more of a challenge on those long bumpy train journeys, I think barre excersised done unsupported on a wobble board would be more approapriate don’t you?

I personally think posting classes and workshops need to be on mostly their own individual threads, as I have done with my recent RAD postings, especially where closing dates are critical. I will do the same with English National Ballet’s winter term dates when they are open for general booking. Those of us in the system received our priority booking link on the 27th. Anyone interested in joining ENB please keep you eye open as their classes fill up quickly. For those types of posting they will naturally have a short lifetime. I know the "Simply Adult Ballet" thread is one of the longest, and well viewed with quite a following. There are basically no rules as to what is posted on it, other than posters to use there own common sense . When I created it, it was for everyone ref my first para “I’m setting up this thread up for everyone concerned with adult ballet, all are welcome, dancers, teachers, physio’s everyone. I claim no ownership to it what so ever, however I will continue to report about my journey on it, I hope others will too.” As time has gone by my posting has got less, basically as my hours associated with ballet have increased. I had a peak at this thread on Thursday and was tempted to post, but I had been up from a just before 4am Thursday morning, and on the road by 6 for Norwich Theatre Royal by 9am (awful traffic tailbacks into Norwich in the mornings). Then on to London for LAB rehearsal at RAD studios that evening, finally arriving home just before midnight. Friday was another long day too, however I did get go Salsa dancing at my local group that evening, something I handnt done for a long time, and Oh heck I didn’t realise how much Salsa I have forgotten, it really is frightening

These are non-syllabus masterclasses for male and female dancers at beginners or improvers level. Classes focus on technique, musicality and artistry to enhance performance skills. VENUE Elmhurst School of Dance 249 Bristol Road Birmingham B5 7UH DATES Sunday 7 February Sunday 13 March Sunday 17 April Sunday 15 May Attendees must be available for all four classes. CLASSES TIMES AND FEES Improvers 1 10.00-11.30am £67 Improvers 2 11.45am-1.15pm £67 Focus on Technique and Body Conditioning 2.00-3.15pm £56 Absolute Beginners 3.30-4.45pm £56 CLOSING DATE FOR APPLICATIONS Friday 8 January FACULTY Ali Maxwell, Angela Paul, Jenny Murphy, Jill Firth, Joel Morris, Rachel Hester & Silvia Jimenez IMPORTANT INFORMATION In order to keep these masterclasses running RAD need to receive applications before the closing date of 8 January. Ten days before the current phase they only had four applicants and they were going to cancel the adult classes when RAD had a flurry of late applications and interest has naturally grown during the phase. It would be easier for RAD to arrange studio bookings and faculty if all applications were received by the closing date where possible. Application forms are available at www.rad.org.uk Return completed applications as soon as possible to Louise Gould either via email or post. FURTHER INFORMATION Email lgould@rad.org.uk Tel 01386 40935 Mobile 07554 457257 Visit RAD Midlands and East of England regional Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/RADMidlandsandEastEngland

This is a result of a mail drop as RAD are trying to get this course together at short notice, they need 10 participants to break even, it would seem a shame to loose this opportunity. Sadly I am not able to attend as I’m on dress rehearsal that day. Held at : Elmhurst School of Dance, 249 Bristol Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham B5 7UH. Sunday 6th December 10am to 12.45pm Workshop to be conducted by Jenny Murphy, former Birmingham Royal Ballet dancer. Cost £31.75 RAD will accept applications right up to the very last minute if there are spaces. Contact Leonie Locke at LLocke@rad.org.uk

The new route was checked out but was modified to Piccadilly line from Holloway road to Hammersmith, then district line from Hammersmith to Richmond. Although Tfl website suggested a travel time of 45 minutes in reality it was longer due to 3 sets of delays. When I finally arrived at Richmond I only had 10minutes left in my time budget, just enough for a taxis. Needless to say I was pleasantly surprised to see a full taxis rank just outside Richmond station. As part of the exercise I walked the route from Richmond Station to the Rambert School as that was down as 25minute, however I completed it in 18. I spoke to our artistic director as he is my Monday night teacher at ENB about the timing, fortunately there is some additional material going in before my scene that will give me just a few more minutes. Even my boyfriend has been prept to leave the first location after my act has finish and make his way to the tube station as he doesn’t walk as fast as me even though he is a big guy 6, 3 and Im only 5, 3, as I cannot afford to wait for him if he trails behind, Gosh this feels more like a military exercise than doing ballet performance but hey ho it makes it that little bit more challenging and exciting. Enjoyed my two sessions of Grand Allegro at ENB last night but still have to be a little bit careful of the left Achilles as it tends to stiffen up on the journey home. However I do wish I could get to 180degree Grand Jete like the 59 year old lady in this Link: https://www.facebook.com/balletmag/videos/10153640684107976/?fref=nf

I checked out the proposed route last Monday, right up to the changing rooms and Studio Theatre for the LAB performance. The time taken left 12 minutes in hand. However things took a serious dive on Thursday when our venue was changed to the Studio Theatre The Rambert School, I think this makes things much tighter and tomorrow (Monday ) I will check out the route timing from Kings Cross via Victoria line to Vauxhall underground, with short walk to Vauxhall over ground station to St Margaret’s via SW trains, then final brisk walk to Rambert. Now I’m not sure if it feasible in this time slot and although there a small number of different routes available, they are all critically around the same time where every minute counts. To be honest I will be pleased when the Christmas shows are out of the way and can start working towards the performances for 2016 including if it comes off, a possible performance in Saint Petersburg.

I think £5 per class is petty average, certainly out in the sticks where I live. For me the more expensive cost is travel which usually exceeds that of the more expensive drop in classes like “EverybodyBallet” at the Royal Opera House which used to be £25.00 per class. Yesterday (Tuesday) was to have been the day I trialled the route between my two performance venue (CBAT Nr Holloway road tube station and The Laban Centre nr Greenwich). However that had to be aborted soon after I started when it was announced that Dockland Light Railway was on strike. I now intend to travel that route next Monday. However using calc from the TFL website it suggests I only have 15 minutes in-hand for contingencies, so it’s going to be extremely tight. I just hope my boyfriend Adrian and I can get there before the performance starts, as it would be unfair on him if he weren’t allowed in the auditorium. I guess I have a little more leeway as I think there are a couple of scenes before I go on. My group has two parts in a three part dance, we are doing the first and last part, one of the point groups are doing the middle piece, although I continue to practice that piece as I run through the whole of the dance but its not to the choreography the other group are using, it to the Dutch National Ballets version, and I love it. Similarly a piece we are dancing from Act2 follows one of Myrthe solo pieces which hasn’t been included involving a Manege of 10 Saut de Basque’s. I mentioned how that fitted well with the grand allegro we had been doing in Monday night ENB Advance class as it had all the main movements for that solo and I was being coached on that on Friday. I think the was a look of shock horror when I was ask if I was doing that in the show, to which I replied no. For me the two pieces go well together and I dance them because it feels right, even though I’m not performing one of them. At least next year I have 3 companies where dates don’t clash for summer performances now I have Northern’s confirmed, I’ve only got one to go and I wont know for sure until I’ve actually joined them after Christmas.

Hi Crystal Ballet It looks like a nice Masterclass / Workshop in a really nice venue, the price is very attractive too even without the discount. But as always I’m curious about its content: 1) Solo from act2 I guess can only be Odette’s solo that follows the Big Swan dance. 2) Perhaps you can elaborate which scene(s) are being taught for Swans rep. 3) However having a whole half hour allocated to Q & A seems a little odd, especially as it’s at the end of the event. Of all the workshops and Intensives I’ve attended, I don’t think I have experience a Q &A session at the end, usually the closing session is the final run-though in performance mode for videoing of the event, and some times with friends and family watching. However I am aware some establishments don’t permit this, like the Royal Opera House.

I think someone said it was half term this week, well it certainly doesn’t feel like it. No break from ENB but that is quite normal for them, also term breaks are often no longer than 1 week. Although the Alive Ballet Company and London Amateur Ballet do have a half term break this week, Monday was spent doing a one-to-one with my teacher at a studio I hired at Templeton House from London Rehearsal Space. Basically my teacher needed time spent with me to re-chorography my piece in the show without sacrificing time with the main dancers, as I’m only doing the matinee with this company before going on to do the LAB performance. It was certainly a good session, much of it was videoed, but it will make better sense when danced with the rest of the corps de ballet next week. For LAB we have our group rehearsal tomorrow (Wednesday), then we will see how it all fits together, as some schools that make up LAB have been working on different parts of the same scene. I guess there may also be changes to the choreography. Hopefully we will be told of the costume requirement too. The only rest bite I get this week, it that there is no Friday one-to-one as my teacher Emma is on break, however I still have my two hours at the Sleaford Studio for rep practice to finish the week off as normal. Once my Christmas shows are out of the way, I’m hoping to add in a Summer performance at Northern Ballet in Leeds providing dates don’t clash. I am also looking at the possibility of joining another amateur performing company, this time in Scotland for a performance in the summer there too, providing rehearsals etc can be successfully scheduled in. There is more too for next year!

The Royal Academy of Dance, in partnership with The Point, Eastleigh, is looking for the next generation of leading female choreographers. ‘Where are all the women?’ will take place on Monday 26 October, 9am–5.30pm at The Point, Leigh Road, Eastleigh SO50 9DE. Where are all the women? – led by Carrie Whittaker from Lîla Dance – will include a special discussion with Genée 2015 Commissioned Choreographer and The Royal Ballet’s Young Choreographer, Charlotte Edmonds. If you are aged 13–22 years and want to work with inspirational female choreographers, join the RAD for a day developing your skills. Spend the day taking class, learning about choreography and networking with like-minded young female dancers and high-profile professional artists. The entry fee is £40, and there are limited places available. If you are an RAD registered teacher, this event can count towards your Independent CPD requirement by attending. Book online at www.rad.org.uk/creativespaces

Remember the “A” Team saying “I like it when a plan comes together”, well my week felt a bit like the opposite to that. Firstly I have lost my slot for rep practice in my local hall this Monday, as someone has done a three day block booking over the weekend and Monday too. Fortunately I did manage to SQUEEEEZE a slot in for Tuesday before rehearsal in London. Thursday morning I got an email to say my rep coach at Heckington could not make our Friday session, so we have re-arranged that for Monday utilising my hall slot. Thursday evening at LAB rehearsal we were told we are not doing the middle piece of our dance that we learnt the previous week, its now being done by another group. Oh poo and I really liked that piece. So now we have the beginning and then end. For practice I will still continue to dance the whole thing through. This Friday I have lost my two hour slot at the studio I hire in Sleaford, as its required for the youngster rehearsal for their show. Hopefully my planned schedule will be restored the following week. On the bright side, we did manage to check out the new porcelain outdoor ballet floor for PDD practice. For promenades and single turn partner assisted pirouettes its pure magic, but it is extremely slippy for anything else. I even found I could do fouettes round on a flat foot. Even a standard single turn en dehors pirouette is quite tricky as it requires almost no energy. On the down side, its extreme easy to pick grit up from the non porcelain slabs that border the floor, so ballet slippers must be kept off then. Also the porcelain tiled area needs to be a little bigger for the guys walking circle for promenading.

Hi Lin There are workshops that I do for fun as they are for me less about learning and more about social contact. In the main I have dropped most providers of these workshops, I'm now more focused on one-to-one rep coaching. To an extent the same is true of ballet classes, Wednesdays I do a beginners class at Sleaford, although I don’t think any of the girls there are actual beginners. I like the girls there and the school too. The school has been very good to me, in opening up early to accommodate my private hire. In the winter the heaters are always put on prior to me arriving, the studio is always spotlessly clean, the staff at the school are absolutely fantastic. However if I should find another performing group for Wednesdays, then I would sadly no longer be able to support that class. As for writing stuff down, when using one-to-one coaching, it tends to be to my choreography, that is usually documented for my teacher/coach first as our basic plan. However corrections are also important. During my visit to Ballet West both my teacher and I kept a list of observations as we went along, these were not necessarily the same, most if not all would be corrected during the sessions, however at the end of the day, we both sat down and I drew up a consolidated list of issues that had come out, I still have those as a reminder. Potentially all my repertoire is performance pieces, but the only one likely to see the light of day in the immediate future, that is the Nutcracker Grand PDD and the associated Sugar Plum Fairy solo. However the PDD is well behind schedule for our Christmas Salsa Party, as our local hall has not been available for practice for the last three Sundays and I’m sure Adrian my boyfriend will have forgotten much of what he had previously learnt. However the out-door porcelain tilled surface is ready for testing out this weekend if weather permits. Then hopefully we can make up for lost time.

Wow Kate_N, I am impressed at doing a Piqué turn manége around the Royal Albert Hall stage, that must have been exciting. I wonder when that was. I have done many of ENB workshops over the last three years but never had the opportunity to go on the Albert Hall stage. These days most of the Workshops are either on the London Coliseum stage or at their studios at Markover House where I attend my Monday night classes. The dance of the Three Odalisques I first learnt was with ENB at Oxford, and strangely enough as far as I can recall, the bit we learnt was to Bolshoi’s Choreography. The reason I say that, was when I first see Le Corsaire performed by them at the Coliseum, I was a little disappointed with that, against what we were taught. The ENB workshop at Oxford was for me the best they ever did. We ended up doing part of that dance as duets, a dancer coming out of each corner crossing in the centre and dancing on opposite legs and only occupying half the stage, each dancing towards and away from each other. It finally closed with pique turns towards each other ending in a tendu devant with the two dancers forming a “V” shape with the two front feet almost touching, it was gorgeous but I guess you couldn’t do that with every class. ENB’s choreography for the other piece Gulnara’s solo has a beautiful turning ending, sadly non of us could have done it, so it was very much simplified, however its certainly on my to do list. The ending is a Pique turn, double pique into a single fouette, followed by a double fouette, that combination is repeated three times and chaines to end. Our teacher that afternoon demonstrated this beautifully. I don’t think we are worlds apart from you take on “Muscle memory”, during latter stages of rehearsal there are always minor changes and tweaks to polish the final production, also then for the faster pieces of choreography you are running at full speed, certainly one of the advantages of having a pianist. Where it becomes more challenging is where part of the sequence is reversed, opposite arm and leg combination mid-sequence, that more difficult to burn in, but if that’s what the Artistic director desires, then we have to accommodate it. But never the less it’s not easy. Repertoire for me drops into two categories, (1) that which I have to dance as part of a company in performance. (2) That which I have developed from the classics from multiple sources, those I have control of. Workshops for me are sources of inspiration, that why I insist on knowing what is being taught, as I can then discriminate against those that will not add any value to my own repertoire. In any case I don’t attend them just to have fun and forget everything over the following few days. Even though I probably didn’t show the recent “dance of the Three Odalisques" in a very positive light, never the less I do take a little bit of its choreography away with me for incorporation of my own. It very small but a neat connecting pas de buree which Bolshoi don’t do. At the end of a short developee / arabesque combination repeated three times, Bolshoi end the last second arabesque by placing the gesturing foot down, rotating the body a quarter turn ACW, the gesturing foot is now in tendu devant and the associated arm in 5th, normally bolshoi would do a walk to prep for the next sub-sequence. ENB on the other hand do a coupe, chasse , pas de puree to prep. As Bolshoi’s leg is already extended, the pas de buree fits nicely, and for me, make a far nicer connecting step. Although I have said my version is Bolshoi, which it largely is, it has influences from Kerov, Mariinski and American Ballet Theatre too, together with some additional audience orientation from my one-to-one sessions at Ballet West. I love your take on the Tendu and Glissé, I would argue that the Glissé contains the Tendu as you must go through a Tendu first and close through it too, the same is true for a Grand Batterment. As for they have different emphasis and energy, for me that’s in the music, I take it that emphasis you means accent, eg AND IN, energy meaning gusto. Coming back to your manege of Pique turns around the Royal Albert Hall. I personally find it more challenging doing a manege in a smaller circle. A real challenge is doing the RB Sugar Plum Fairy solo manege of mixed turns in a small space. I can manage this in my local village hall, but not in the two studios I hire. I dropped the manege when I did my version of the Sugar Plum Fairy variation with Ballet West.

Last week started badly for me. I attended a Le Corsaire where we danced a couple of pieces I thought I knew reasonably well. The first was an extract of the Three Odalisques, the version we danced was from ENB,s production, but some time ago I had learnt Bolshoi’s, they seemed very similar, so I wasn’t too worried. I had practiced this against ENB’s music as the introduction as its dance, is different. The main sticking point for me was the change in direction after the third Temps leve , both ENB and Bolshoi go into a fondu on the supporting leg. ENB did a quick back front back jump landing on the front supporting leg, ready to step into the next Temps leve in the opposite direction. Our teacher anticipated that this may be a problem for some of the dancers and offered a simple changement solution, I also suggested the Bolshoi solution which is a pas de buree into a changement type step but only landing on one leg, that was thought to complicate matters so it was declined. Loosing the pas de buree was almost too much for my little brain, I just about coped with the changement on the first turn but the second, having to stop the automatic body memory of the pas de buree made me hesitate and even question what leg I was on, it was just awful. Even on the final video that was taken I did a double hop at that point Grrrr. The second piece we learnt was Gulnare solo from the Pas de Esclave. This was to take place in the afternoon, however our teacher for the afternoon session arrived early, and when we were due to take the lunch break, she ask our pianist to play this piece. Nina our teacher started to dance it through, I joined her and danced it through with her. I wasn’t sure how far she was going to go so I continued and really enjoyed it. We both stopped at the turns section. That was probably the best I did that day , after that it just went downhill. Only real issue I can remember was one of direction associate with going into attitude with the leg derriere, I had always remembered this from being taught with a very small turn no more than a quarter turn, which is detectable in ENB choreography. We were demonstrated this with no turning action and it looked very clean, and I liked it. However without the turn it seemed to loose my queue and special awareness of which arm etc. Also the geometry of the studio seemed strange for this piece, although I’ve danced in that studio many times before. My practice for this piece has always been in rectangular studios with the long side representing the audience. Not too sure what the situation was at Sadler’s, weather it was a square studio or if we were dancing on the narrow side. But that day I could not do anything right, to make matters worse I had taken and was dancing in a different tutu for each roll, I went away not feeling very good about myself and feeling a right pratt. Once I got on the train for home that evening my throat started to gung up, I had a cold coming. The following Monday it was really taking hold, but fortunately I was on term break from ENB, however I still had my local hall booked through recurring bookings. Although I was feeling pretty rough, I went to do some of my pre-rehearsal prep, but I managed to find a little time to run through Gulnare’s solo, that was fine, so I started to re-choreograph the centre part of the ENB version to a combination of Bolshoi and Mariiski, it seem to work pretty well and help resort a bit of confidence that took quite a knock. I got a further opportunity to dance through this piece when I arrived early at RAD and found our studio was free the hour before our class started. I went strait into my re-choreographed version , a hybrid of ENB, Bolshoi and Mariinsky danced to ENB music. I only had the music with me to dance to, but for some reason I always entered the turns section too early. I had spent nearly an hour on this piece enjoying its sequence but mystified about the end. It wasn’t until later, the penny dropped, I had left out the grand jete section and substituted the new jete enturnant which should now follow it. It wasn’t until Friday that I had a chance to run through the Odalisques and oddly with the Bolshoi version I found I was hesitating at the same point, when prior to the workshop I could dance through it with no problem. It took several repetitions until that issue was re-burnt into muscle memory. Gulnare solo also came out fine this time. Sadly my local hall was not available again this weekend for Pas de deux practice with my boyfriend Adrian. However the porcelain tiles have been laid and grouted on my new out door PDD floor ready for trying out next weekend. At least I will now be able to get Adrian up to speed with our PDD work and keep him there.

Interesting assumptions: firstly the commitment is less than 100%, I would suggest my attendance at rehearsals is significantly higher than most. Especially last year when we were often down to only 50% of the dancers present, and of course it has an effect on those of us that are there, particularly positioning a visual queues for group work. As for cost, yes its significant when terms have to paid for in advance, but for me travel is a much larger investment as I have to travel around 100miles each way, for each and every rehearsal. Not only is that good deal more costly than most, it also require a good deal of time commitment too in terms of travel where I don’t get home until around midnight, in addition to that, I hire my local village hall for each rehearsal practice, so I think I have pretty well demonstrated my commitment, this isn’t something I’m playing at. Another point that was made, one doesn’t have control of traffic etc. Good point, only this Thursday when I attended LAB rehearsal at RAD in Battersea. My train was an hour late, thank goodness the traffic in London was relatively light and the 170 bus journey from Victoria was quicker than usual and I just made it in time. The final leg of my journey on the way home is 25mile by car from Peterborough. Just outside Peterborough a deer ran in front of me, it couldn’t have been more than 4 feet away, that was a very near accident. There are no warning signs on this stretch of road and I have never seen wildlife there before in all the time I have been travelling down to London for Ballet (3 to 4 times a week). What ever one does, there are always risks and sometimes one has to make tough decisions that you are not comfortable with, but so be it. It may not for the faint hearted, my it certainly is my choice.

Kate_N Life is a risk and ballet is in particular. As for do both organisations know, of course they do. Discussions took place with both well before this season started. Then the two dates were different one was on the 12th the other on the 19th, but for some reason one was moved so they new converge. Although I’m not comfortable with what I am doing, I WILL NOT DROP ONE IN FAVOUR OF THE OTHER, I have loyalties towards both sides. Now its down to logistics, can I physically get from on to the other in time, with the second venue unknown, I really don’t know until I can trial that route, which was to have been today. LinMM may recall around last Christmas we both did an ENB Rep workshop at the London Coliseum, at the end Rep session, we all had coffee, then most went to watch the ENB dancer do company class. I didn’t, I had to get away smartish as I was performing on stage in Lincoln that evening. In a two week period last year I performed in 9 show’s together with the associated dress rehearsals. So doing two shows at different location I don't this is particularly arduous no providing one is able to get between them in time. Perhaps Kate_N you can enlighten as to where you perceive a significant risk element comes from. LinMM I know we are to do something with the “Dance of the Willis”, but we are still doing rep from Act1 and its very fast, almost akin to the Scottish Reel from La Sylphides that we did the year before, but it is a really nice happy piece. Our teacher mentioned we would be doing a partnered section to this rep, (oh goodie) but I guess we will have to borrow some guys from the other groups as we only have a couple. Our new teacher was teaching the guys part this evening and he has a wonderfully effortless grand jete to die fore, I was really impressed.

Firstly I have to declare I have no financial interest in this company but I am one of its classical dancers. DanceAlive London specialises in classical ballet and contemporary dance and consequently consists of two separate companies. The “Alive Ballet Company” is the classical arm which I belong to. The other is “The Alive Contemporary Dance Company, an existing established company. The Alive Ballet Company is a newly formed Amateur Ballet Company in London with weekly rehearsals in a fun and friendly atmosphere. Rehearsals are held on Tuesdays 7 pm to 9pm at the Centre for Business Art and Technology. As we are a newly formed company of classical dancers, the approach is slowly slowly, as we only have a single piece of repertoire to perform at Christmas as guest dancers within the Contemporary companies show on the 12th of December. Our piece for that show is “The Waltz of Flowers” from “The Nutcracker”, choreographed for an all girl cast. We are to perform two shows a year, our next will be in the summer, around late June, and this time we are doing our own full show. DanceAlive also runs Ballet classes , Repertoire Workshops and Yoga for Dancers, see website for full details http://www.dancealive.london/company/alive-ballet-company/

I have an apology to issue to LAB, its dancers and supporters, regarding the Christmas show venue. I GOT IT WRONG, it not the Bloomsbury as I had stated in post #1770 and #1774 of this thread. As the Bloomsbury are currently undergoing an ongoing program of Asbestos removal and general refurbishment until June 2016. Our Christmas show venue has not been named as yet.

As my PDD sessions with Adrian has come to a bit of a holt due to the Hall being booked last Sunday for a party and this Sunday coming I’m doing a Le Corsaire workshop with Dance Alive London at Sadlers. So last Sunday we made a start on my outdoor Porcelain ballet floor for PDD development. It worked out far more expensive than I had anticipated, so we have broken it down to three phases. The first is a tiled section of 4.5 x 3 600mm tiles, we have prepared the ground and laid the screed. As I’m away at the workshop next Sunday, the foundation has a couple of weeks to dry and harden, then we will lay the tiles. If that turns out successful after a few months use, then phase 2 with add another 3 x 3 matrix of 600mm tiles to extend the side, followed later by phase 3 which is a further matrix across the front of 2 x 7 600mm tiles.

I don't think it has been announced, but I ask Tom at my ENB class last Monday, and he confirmed that venue with me. I may well check the route out for timing this week. I also need to know what costumes we are wearing for the first piece. The show this time is only Giselle and our group has 4 scenes to learn before the show at Christmas.

Hi Lin I could well be ice skating on the Porcelain tiles when it freezes over in the winter. So you should never be surprised at any thing I do, case in point on my way to my ENB class on Monday I called in at RBS Covent Garden to try a book the Linden. Anyway seriously, the large Porcelain tiles gives me a better slip coefficient for Pas de deux promenades and pirouettes for demi-pointe. I’m hoping it will increase the range of different movement we can incorporate in our PDD repertoire, or at least allow use to develop the technique more easily before applying them to a normal studio surface. The other driver behind this is accessibility, as I can’t always hire my local hall on Sundays when my boyfriend Adrian is available. Also as Adrian is not a ballet dancer as such, it takes him longer to learn, and each missed week is inevitably a setback. My dilemma now is just how big an area I cover with these large 600mm x 600mm tiles. I can get away with a 3 x 3 matrix, however I can accommodate at least 6 x 7 matrix but that is significantly more expensive particularly the ground work. I wouldn’t dream of using pointe shoes on porcelain, however it has crossed my mind to investigate using a smaller turning pad on the bottom of ballet slippers to improve the demi-pointe slip coefficient for use with normal studio floors. Thanks Lin for giving me the heads up on the two LAB dates, the show is on the 12th of December, so I am double booked, but I’ve managed to resolve it but its a bit hairy. I’ve managed to get LAB to agree to move the opening back to 7.30pm and our act at the other venue is moved forward as that show starts at 5pm. It certainly has changed my part in the rep, as Im now sort of going solo centre stage, almost as a spare, as the other groupings come from either side and mirror each other. I guess that makes sense as I will be missing for the second show, as I will be with LAB. Although I'm participating in shows for both groups, I still feel a bit awful that I have kinder let both sides down. As I can’t do the second show of the first group, I won’t get to do the after-show celebration drinks with my friends of that group which makes me feel like a bit of an outsider. The second group (LAB) I won’t get to do the warm-up or the stage positioning and prep, before going live. Timing on this one is going to be very tight as I have travel from CABT Holloway road to the Bloomsbury, do two costume changes and make-up, all with no more than a hour and a half. I’m certainly checking out the timing of this route in the next couple of weeks or so, as that’s crucial.

First week back after the summer break, although my Monday ENB classes have still been running. However it has seemed ages since my other regular classes and rehearsals as a weekly routine. Its been a bit of a strange week as the routine is somewhat different, sadly I have lost Kat my Monday private rep teacher, so I have an hours slot there to be filled. Tuesday is back into rehearsal with a newly formed Amateur Ballet Company “Dance Alive London”, That was our first session at CABT , it’s a small group for our first Christmas performance, numbers are limited to 14 dancers, however we do have slots still for two more dancers. As this was a new venue for me I checked it out Monday night on my way to ENB. As I was early it gave me the opportunity to look round the ballet shops around Covent Garden as I was looking for something to form an overskirt for a romantic tutu in pale pink and also pale blue. No luck though. Wednesday didn’t turn out quite as planned, its usually 2 fitness classes and one ballet class. I had done my morning “Less Mills Body Balance “ class as normal and went to Sleaford for my Ballet , followed by Stretch and Tone, at reception I paid for them both, but it wasn’t until I finished the Ballet class, I was told the Stretch and Tone class now follows Zumba which is now the next class. After some thought, I declined the Zumba class, as I’ve added quite a lot in for this term with between 5 and 6 days of ballet a week, I’m not really sure how my ankles with stand up from over-use. However I did enquire if a spare studio was available for hire during that slot, but unfortunately it was not, so I didn’t stay. Thursday wasn’t much better, the schedule remained the same with recurring hire of my local hall for rep practice in the morning, followed by LAB rehearsal in the evening at RAD, except now the two groups that were formed for last season were now to be recombined again, as RAD studios are only available until 9pm, and not 9.30 as before. I was somewhat concerned that the group would now exceed 30. On Thursday there were only five girls including me and two guys. According to our teacher there should be 12 of us when the others turn up. Some have moved to other LAB classes on different days, but word on the grape vine is, that many have left. For me personally I prefer to work with a small group, however I am sad so many have left. I’m not sure as why this is other than Tom who was our regular teacher has stepped down somewhat and that post has been delegated. I wasn’t sure how I would get on with our new teacher but he seems quite OK. Friday is no rest day, I have an hour private intensive rep with Emma one of my private coaches, and as I now have too many solo pieces to keep refreshed in an hour at another studio, I’ve had to extend my practice/refreshing booking to two hours. I cant help but think my solo reps is becoming a monster. Sundays, when my local hall is not booked out to people like the local Hockey club, I’m able to book it for working with my boyfriend Adrian on a Pas De Deux. I have it booked for this weekend. As progress is a bit intermittent and I don’t have the space in my own studio for PDD work, together with the expense of studio hire. We have looked at modifying one of the surfaces out the back of my home which is currently slabbed. By replacing some of them with 9 x 600mm x 600mm large porcelain tiles, they are wonderfully slippy for promenades and pirouettes on demi pointe

Not at all. I was shown great kindness last year and I will always remember when I left, Gillian walked me back to my car and said “I wish I could teach you to dance”, my eyes welled up and I knew I would be back. Later that year I sounded them out about private tuition and then Rep coaching with a short description of what I was looking for, and yes they could do that. Finally we arrived at a mutually convenient date and I sent in a detailed briefing of the choreography, including links it was derived from and the time interval of the various section that were included together with a description of my own created pieces . Perhaps more importantly, a list if difficulties associated with each piece. I also indicated what I would be bringing with me, eg my laptop will all the relevant music and video clips together with the appropriate costumes for the final polished versions. At our first meeting we discussed the schedule and agree daily start at 10am with an hours class for warm-up, an hours rep coaching, then one hour practice on my own till 1pm. I had a 2 hours lunch break as it was almost half an hour each way travelling giving me an hour with my boyfriend Adrian back at Oban. The afternoon reconvened at 3pm with the second rep coaching session which was somewhat cleaned , this time in costume, at we end of that we summarised all the feedback corrections including my own. I continued for a further hour of practice on my own, finally leaving at 5pm. In reality the morning class was about 45 minute, giving us a little longer with the rep. Much of what came out was audience presentation, tweaks of the hand and head position, she really knew her stuff, as she would say beautiful now look in the mirror, I would think “gosh”, I haven’t done much, but the results were amazing. Some of the movement of port de bras was made much smaller than the original rep and I was told sometimes less is better, she was right, it can be made more delicate. I remember when I was doing Le Corsaire “Dance of the Three Odalisques” as a solo. The music intro is quite long as the pasha n that is moving about and the three odalisques are stood in preparation, Gillian thought that this was too long as the audience could get bored, so we added a little walk into prep. It took a few iterations to get the walk path and timing right, once into position and the arm raised, head following with the appropriate strum of the harp ( I think), there is also another short wait through a type of half strum of the harp, but that’s what Bolshoi and most other companies do. Again Gillian wasn’t happy with it, so we used it as a queue to turn the head to face the audience, then we were off arms came down and crossed, change of weight the off to the first Temps leve. After doing this a few times and getting the hang of timing into prep, I thought “MM”, I wonder if I can time it for a chassis thought into the arm raise inside that phase of music. I did and it worked beautifully well. On the last day after ballet class we started of Giselle’s solo from Act1, I was in my usual leo and wrap-round skirt, Gillian see me try to do some of the reps port de bras which is done with the skirt, she stopped me and said “Have you got a costume for this one”, I said “yes”, she replied “well put it on then”. Gillian was right, it does look silly trying to pick up a short skirt for the various pieces that require it, its part and parcel of the rep. I can honestly say I learnt an awful lot those three days, it was magical, it was like an artist painting but now having the confidence to pain with much stronger brush strokes. In addition to my rep coaching I attended Ballet West’s Adult Fitness class on the Tuesday evening, I persuaded Adrian my boyfriend to join me. Fortunately Gillian’s new husband Tony was there too, at least Adrian had a guy there too and they got on like a house on fire. During the class Gillian did ask him if he would dance the Grand Pas de deux with me, oh shock horror he didn’t say no, He said “you better ask Michelle”. Gillian has offered to do some PDD coaching for us next year, even though Adrian is not a ballet dancer. Although PDD with Adrian started off with him as my ballet scare crow, he has always wanted to do a just that little bit more and I’ve usually added something in. I think its time I started to introduce him to the barre with some basic barre movements and very basic sequences in the centre, as I’m sure he would never contemplate going to a regular ballet class. I can think of at least 3 more PDD’s I would like to re-choreograph for us. When we finally said our good byes I felt quite emotional but I wasn’t ready for what came next when Gillian asked when our next LAB Gala is as she wants to come and see me perform if she can make it. Now if that hasn’t put the pressure on to sort my technique and performance skills out, I don’t know what will. I really do have to pull all the stops out now, there is know way I want to let this lady down . For me now Ballet West is my Ballet home. Sadly its not all good news, I have lost “Kat” my Monday private rep coach and a very good friend who I have known for at least three years. She has now been offered a full time post with the University of Lincoln which she has accepted. The very best of luck to her.