Michelle_Richer

I really felt the WOW factor after my two classes tonight at ENB, although the classes were good as usual, it’s the first time for along time that they have been the only classes I have done on a Tuesday. Even last week, I attended a full day at RBS on the LAB Summer Intensive before going on to ENB, with the long walk to South Kensington tube station after grand allegro at the end of class seem to take its toll on my legs particularly the ankles, that week, once I had arrived at Kings Cross I had a further 10 minute walk to the Travel Lodge at Farringdon. This was further compounded the following day (Wednesday) which was our LAB evening out to see Swan Lake at the ROH. I went back to the travel lodge to get changed into a black evening dress and decided to wear heels to walk to Kings Cross and from Covent Garden tube to ROH which is quite short. As I don’t usually wear heels for very long and not for walking comparatively long distances on pavements they made my feet and ankles very sore. On the return journey it’s a much longer walk to Leicester Square tube station as Covent Garden is closed until November for departures due to Lift upgrades. Come Thursday morning my right ankle was really playing up, I thought I was going to have to skip some parts of the classes. Before the class started I went on the stairs at RBS and did 15 heel drop reps with a strait leg and 15 with a bent leg, that’s all I had time for. My foot must have been significantly better as I forgot all about it. Lunch time came and I needed to go out a get some new ballet tights for the show on Saturday. I shot round Covent Garden and then I suddenly realised my foot was better. I’m not sure if it was solely the heel drops but I’m sure they played a part in it. With tonight’s classes I have never felt so full of energy after class as I felt tonight. Even though I have a pull along mini suitcase, I carried it; I was passing everyone in site. Even when I got to Peterborough railway station I usually use the lifts to preserve my feet, not a chance, tonight I was even passing people on the stairs, that’s why I say tonight had a really big WOW factor.

Hi Balleteacher, its good they are all booked up then I cant be tempted to try and squeeeeeeeeeeeze another one in. as I will already be travelling to London 3 days a week, without the weekend workshops. Hi Janet thanks for the info on Northern. I’m not likely to be taking class there unless they go into rehearsal, I did ask them to consider doing a Christmas Show, but haven’t had a reply, I must chase them up on that one.

Last week I attended the Second LAB Summer Intensive at RBS. We had approximately 40 dancers from all over including Germany and Russia. However only 5 of the dancers were guys. The dancers were basically split into two groups dependant on Surname Alphabetical order but a little of selection based on ability too. Both groups have a general pointework enchainement to perform for the end of course show, but the content of each was quite different. Both groups worked on the dance of the small swans from act 4 of Swan Lake with only minor differences, however we both worked on quite different versions of Odette’s Solo from Act 2 re-choreographed for corps de ballet, which was somewhat simplified. Daily classes have the same format, commencing with everyone present for the first class which has been Pilates, then split into the two groups for company class of the usual barre and centre. Then we have usually had one session to learn an enchainement which will go toward the end of course performance. The morning session usually finishes at 1.30 pm. We start the two afternoon sessions at 2.30 till 4.30. Those are down as rehearsals but in the earlier days are spent learning and building up the sequences and positioning / re-grouping of dancers thought-out that sequence. However on the last day a small group of us skipped the pilates session, then in another studio ran our own pre-rehearsal session. I don’t think any of it technically is particularly challenging, other that there is an awful lot of it to remember. One of our teachers has been trying to help some of the girls to remember with sayings like “Boys steps, big circle”, for me I just counted 4 sets of 8, but the music changes dramatically and provides a clear signature. I think mostly it has been about what comes next and adding in a little saying for those areas that have been most difficult. I think the most difficult step if you can call it that, is getting down and up elegantly from the sleeping swan pose (my words), this is where you go fully down on the floor with one leg folded underneath you, with the other outstretched in front, you then bend forward with your hands crossed next to your feet and with your head down. I’m sure many of the local ballet shops did a roaring trade in leg warmers and other things to protect the knees that week. Personally I am better with the left leg folded underneath than the right. In this piece we use both combinations. Hi Skydancer I’ve met one of your Tuesday Intermediate/Advanced class guys from Northern on my LAB Summer Intensive at the Royal Ballet School, quite a tall lad called John, I don’t know his other name. A few of the girls on the LAB Intensive mentioned Crystal Ballet Associates, whilst I’m mildly interested, I’m reluctant to take on any more as I have 3 separate performance classes with different schools as well as my regular ENB classes and a smattering of smaller local classes too. I seem to have learn a whole host of solo’s in quick succession only to forget them a week or two later, that has to be a complete waist of money. Consequently I have now compiled a list of 12 solo’s that I have learnt in the past and now want to resurrect, in some cases develop my own version, consolidate and keep refreshed in current memory available for use.

Thank you Skydancer, the photo was taken in the Bridge of Aspiration, the bridge over Floral street that links the Royal Ballet School to the Royal Opera House. Kat was there last year with one of the girls from our class called Fiona, Fiona consequently went on to Uni but we do see her from time to time. Kat is not only one of my ballet teachers but a really good friend too.

Hi Lin You never told me Franziska of Holistic Ballet was at the LAB Gala, as you see most people whilst on the LAB stand. I did Franziska’s Workshop this morning on the First Variation (Swan Lake) I posted on #1275. It was fantastic, the best ever workshop I have had from Franziska. When we was about to start the class Franziska walked down the room as we were all next to the barre, she chatted to each girl in turn, when she got to me, there was a cheeky smile and she said “I see you on stage”, she was at the Bloomsbury for the LAB Gala. The Workshop lasted 3 hour and there were a total of 16 girls including me. Most of the first hour was at the barre but we did do some unusual movements involving flexing and rotating different parts of the body. However when it came to centre, we started learning the rep but in easily digestible pieces. The first two pieces we learnt were: i) echappe- attitude front- attitude back – changement x4 ii) attitude efface back – releve passé- ballonne x3 I was a little perplexed as we had missed out the preparation, my enthusiasm got the better of me so I queried it. Franziska said we would add that later. Later came and I was ask to describe the preparation to the class, which I did, however Franziska reversed the order of it instead of starting in standard prep as per the video, we started with the right leg tendu in front, which worked just as well and was just as aesthetically pleasing. I’m not sure if there is any particular reason for preference for the standard prep position other than its common usage in ballet class. There were a few minor changes to the choreography on the video but nothing that made it significantly simpler. The combination that surprised me the most was the “Assemble - sissonne ouverte- pas faille - temps de fleche”, there were three of those in succession. Once I had broken the habit of automatically trying to use a second grand battement to create the scissor action in the air and replace it with a developpe, then it had a rhythm all of its own, it was beautiful and natural. One real advantage for me was, it used the best combination of my legs where the left is significantly stronger than the right. I’m not sure what would have happened the other way around, a much poorer result I suspect. Were learn the choreography as a class as a whole to start with, then as two groups but finally we had to demonstrate it in groups of four which we kept to all the way through the latter part of the class. Once home I can feel the effect on my ankles, this is similar to the days of doing the ankle cracking Cygnet dance. For the moment they are smothered in deep heat cream with socks on to contain it, as I need them recovered for next weeks LAB Intensive at RBS, however Tuesday I also have two evening classes at ENB, which I cannot miss after being absent for 5 weeks doing other workshops etc.

Lin I’m not sure if you are aware or anyone in the general London area but ENB are running a BalletFit taster class on Thursday 21 August 2014 at 7pm – 8pm: in their Upper Studio (£12) A ballet-inspired workout, combined with core pilates exercises to increase strength and flexibility. The class is a mixture of exercise class and ballet technique class. I also came across something by trawling about there website that suggests in certain instances they permit drop in dancers, check out this link: http://www.ballet.org.uk/classes/current-term/ This is of particular interest to me as I would like to alternate Mondays between ENB and Lincoln, as Mondays are the only day ENB run the Advanced class. My assumption is that its not very well subscribed and that may be the reason there is quite a push in my level 3 class for students to transfer to level 4 (advanced)

Fantastic night at my LAB Rep Black Swan Workshop, we finished the solo piece this time with a different teacher, it was based on the video I posted earlier with only minor changes and my prep at the hall in the last two days really paid off. At the end off class we performed the solo three at a time with the rest of the class sat infront of the mirror as our audience. I must say we only had two guys tonight for their solo and there performance was fantastic. Now that’s over, it will be shelved for a couple of week before I can re-choreograph it to my own version which will be a hybrid of three different versions, then I can get that polished. No rest for the wicked, I now have to increase my local hall booking on Thursday to 2 hours as there are two pieces I need to work on. Saturday I have a workshop on Swan Lake Act1 Pas de Trois, First variation, see link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6kNQuwQ6ho My second piece is for next week when I’m at The RBS in Covent Garden doing my Second LAB Summer Intensive and it looks as if we will be doing Odette’s Solo from Act2 of Swan Lake, although I have done this with City Academy at least twice before, I need to re-familiarise my self with it for next week. When I book the hall now, they usually ask if its for one hour or two, even the postman knows where to find me, if a package needs a signature and I’m not at home.

Hi My learned ballet friends This I think is the Choreography our Black Swan Repertoire Workshop is based on. The only difference that I can recall, the workshop had two Pas de Buree’s from preparation (R foot in front) to en dehors pirouette. In the video, it’s a pull up on 5th releve, which is effectively the first part of the pas de buree (I think), then rest of the Pique pass de buree to get the feet in the correct position to launch the pirouette. My first question, how does the dancer (Gillian Murphy) know when to start? It appears that she has already pulled up and has raise the leg which is doing the side in pas de buree ahead of the music, but and places it on the first beat. In reality in class timing at this point is not particularly critical as the multiple pirouette/ attitudes turns are only performed as a single turn pirouette ending in attitude, then held for the music to catch up, where there is a clear signature for the pass de buree. The only other issue I have is the double lame duck turn, but again the class is only performing it as a single. This I tried out this morning with not a lot of success. Out of about a dozen tries only two actually completed the one and half turns in retire, I found balance was extremely tricky and would not want to do it unless the floor was extremely slippy. I think my initial problem was I was still regarding it as a travelling turn as in a single, but as a double it feels more akin to a pirouette. I basically ran out of time this morning and wanted to consolidate the sequence we had learnt ( up to 1.2mins). The only other minor thing in class, the grand pirouette legs are not extended but are at retire, I guess for health and safety reasons as we have 16 to 18 dancers. I have rebooked the hall for tomorrow morning, to learn and practice the end of the solo, but I’m not sure if we will be doing that in class Tuesday night or just polishing what we have learnt as this is a two part workshop. After tomorrow night I will have to leave that solo for a while as I have a new one to learn for Saturday morning when I’m back in London again. So that will be back to my local hall Thursday morning.

Another sort of break week, Monday was spent preparing for my LAB Black Swan Solo Workshop, but without knowing what version it would be based on. I chose a Youtube example of a 16 year old Moscow Gold medallist, the solo was cleanly executed with beautiful lines. Although I didn’t have time to learn the whole solo I managed to make a good start. On the day (Tuesday) the solo was quite different it was from American Ballet Theatre. Fortunately before the end of class I was able to video it as I had a lot of conflicts in my head between the two, however there were some similarities. For the purpose of the next and final workshop session I will practice ABT version from Youtube but personally I really don’t like it, particularly the messy arms. Form me it has to be the Moscow Gold Medallist version with a few enhancements added after this workshop. I have my local hall booked for that Thursday morning, if need be I can book Mon and Tues mornings too. Wednesday morning Body Balance fitness class. Wednesday evening Adult Ballet then Stretch and Tone at Sleaford. Something that’s a little worrying both from Ballet West Body Condition, Spalding Body balance class and Sleaford Stretch and Tone. I have lost a tremendous amount of upper body strength. I’m hoping it’s just down to not doing my morning workout since my ankle / leg injury last Christmas. I'm restarting that immediately and as I will be back as Sleaford next week, it should give me some idea of progress. The following week I’m back on the second LAB Summer Intensive at RBS doing Swan Lake Fiz I met your teacher Ellie tonight at Sleaford and spoke about he plans for Coppelia

Hi Fiz Thank you, I thought our teachers called the dance something else but I may be mistaken. I have downloaded the Mazurka music for Coppelia from Amazon and it matches. You will really have fun dancing this one as its quite lively. I'm doing Black Swan from Swan Lake tomorrow (Tuesday), the most challenging piece I have ever done. I'm just waiting to see who's version it is.

Although I was supposed to be on break from my regular ballet classes last week, I somehow managed a pretty full and eventful week. Although I had no actual class on Monday I did hire my local hall for an hour for practice with the Gamzatti Variation prior to my Tuesday class on this. As I was still not completely happy at the end of the hour I booked the hall for a further two hours on Tuesday morning. During class Tuesday evening it was clear there were some differences between my version and the one being taught and not just bits of simplification, The basis of the LAB version was Natalia Osipova whilst mine was by Yulia Stepanova, hence the LAB shorts workshop didn’t go quite as well as I had anticipated, however I will continue to develop the Stepanova version as for me its much more pleasing to the eye in terms of dance quality. Although I am very much a fan of Osipova, her version to me feels overdone and does nothing for me other than to marvel at her gymnastics. Wednesday was the 400 mile journey up to Ballet West at Taynuilt. My original inquires to Ballet West was about joint their two evening Adult classes, Fitness 7-8pm and Ballet 8 – 9 pm, however I was invited to join a morning class 9-10.30am attended by some of their full time students, that I accepted. Thursday morning when I arrived I think I was expecting something a little different, but once I got out of the car, I could hear children’s voices from the open skylights in the roof, clearly that was the accommodation block. I knocked on the big blue door at the centre of the large white building. A lady opened the door and introduced herself as Gillian, I cant remember the words she used but it must have been the very best welcome I have ever had, in simple terms we just clicked. The house inside was absolutely gorgeous. Gillian was in fact Gillian Barton owner and principal of the school, she took me though the house to a large pine building situated away from the house, it had at least two large well equipped ballet studios. There I was introduced to the class, which was day 4 of one of their summer schools, the student were in their mid to late teens. I was also introduced to their teacher Jonathan Barton Teacher and male principal dancer within the Ballet West company. The standard taught in the class was high, in centre work we were mainly going across the studio 3 at a time, for me it was a case of remembering what I could and a little bit of high speed copying, however Jonathan did say I was thrown in the deep end as the rest of the students had been building up the enchainement during the week, but I enjoyed it any way. At the end of class I was also invited to do their body conditioning class, I though “Oh good this will be easy”. One of the girls warned me it was a hard class. This class was run by our Fitness Instructor Mathew however Jonathan and Gillian attended this class in a student type capacity although Gillian left before the end. The beginning of the class was straightforward and quite aerobic, then we started on stretches which then went into front splits both sides and box splits. At one point front splits was done with the aid of a skirting board ledge (3 – 4inches high) to add purchase to front leg. I found the most interesting stretches were partnered stretches, the first was concerned with high leg extension devant (vertical). Basically the student for stretching knelt on one leg, held her body upright by clasping he hands around her partner standing behind her. The student would lift her other leg as in a developpe and take it as high as she could, her partner would take hold of that leg and pull it toward the student being stretched, ideally taking that pointed foot to her ear. That was also repeated with the other foot. Needless to say I did not do that exercise, Gillian had gone by then and Jonathan was exercising on the floor with a back roller. From legs we went on to arm with various press ups, I though this was going to be easy as I used to be able to comfortably do 50’s in my days of Tai Kwan Do. I barely managed 10 and it was really hard, I had lost all that upper body strength I once had when I was doing Tai Kwan Do. After this we went into partner stretching of the arms, as the girls had all partnered up and I was on my own, I thought I would sit that out. The Jonathan ask if I would like to be stretched, without thinking I said “Why not”, so he partnered me for that. He was terribly gentle and ask me to tell him when the stretch starts to get tight, which I did. Then I would try and stretch a little more and Jonathan felt that then ask “do you want to go further”, I would say yes, I could feel a little tremble from his hands, not sure if it was the force he was applying or just trying not to hurt me, but I would keep saying “Keep going”. At the end of that session I felt fine, the next two days the arms really ached, but that was purely down to me try to push things that little bit further. Although I was invited by Gillian to stay for the afternoon and watch the students rehearsal for their end of course presentation, I left for the afternoon and tried to squeeze in a bit of site seeing in Oban. I went back for the Adult Evening Classes, Fitness 7pm – 8pm, Ballet 8pm – 9pm. Gillian ran those two classes herself and were thoroughly enjoyable but no where near as challenging as the earlier ones. I remember when we said our goodbyes Gillian said something to the effect she would love to teach me ballet, it really did leave with a lump in my throat, and needless to say I will be back Friday Travel 400 miles back home with minimal breaks as I had a hair appointment at 4.45 with I managed to keep and go Salsa dancing that evening. Saturday ENB workshop at The London Coliseum on Coppelia starting at 9.30am. We had 29 dancers in our corps de ballet. The dance we learnt requited partners, I was the odd one out so I partnered one of our teachers. I cant remember the name of the dance but its early in act 1 , however we learnt a simplified version of that dance, watch video from 3.12. We managed to get an audience as the audience for the company class arrived early and we were able to perform the piece twice and got an applause. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=K5VgnfdokOs

Hi Lin That’s the trouble with you youngsters, no stamina. I’ve shed all my non-performing classes with the exception of ENB, but I still visit some of those ive shed in the past when term breaks allow, just to keep some social contact going. Shortly I will be shedding again and that will be to shed the performance classes that are based on teacher own enchianement rather than something from the classics. I don’t mind a classic being re-choreographed to much if its still preserved the original theme, or its to accommodate a larger corps de ballet.

Hi Lin I though you knew me better that that, resting in the garden is for other people. Sunday was spent charging around doing shopping and the lawns ready for the following week. Monday 9am an hours practice session at the hall on Le Corsaire. 10.30 my Body balance class, rest of the day house work tidying up the debris caused by last weeks visit to RBS. However I did get a brief visit out tonight with my boyfriend for a nice meal. Tuesday: I have two hours booked at the hall for polishing my Le Corsaire solo ready for Toms workshop in the evening at the Place. So no rest for me, it’s a pretty full week as I’m going up and joining Ballet West for Thursday, then back in London early Saturday morning for my Coppelia workshop at the Coliseum, hope I see you there.

Hi Pastel I sorry we didn’t get a chance to meet, I would have liked that. But unfortunately I had another ballet to go to so I couldn’t hang around. I went to see Chelsea Ballet’s annual performance at the Lanterns Theatre Docklands and somehow managed to get dragged onto the stage by some youngsters to dance with them as did one or two of the audience from the front row. I know there were a lot of faces I knew in the audience at RBS as was the case in Docklands too.’ I have at least a two day break from Tom at LAB, as I'm doing the second part of his Le Corsaire Solo Workshop next Tuesday. However there is barely a three week rest and LAB is back at RBS with another 6 day intensive on Swan Lake this time, needless to say I will be there.

Today things are starting to take shape, we are now in the Lindon Studio Theatre with all the audience seating in place, curtains appropriately positioned for the show. Not only have we been practicing and polishing individual enchainements, we have been trying to integrate them seamlessly into our show piece. As a lot of Don Q in Act1 is portraying in a market place it allows different groups to appear to mill about chatting and making gestures with their fans allowing them to enter the stage while the previous group is still performing and arrive in position just as the other group ends. There is still a lot of polishing to be done as integration has made it necessary to make small changes to the choreography and we are still getting the odd person turning the wrong way or going on the wrong leg, or even missing a step, me included. Although we were down for additional solo’s today it was decided to clean what we had which was a lot to keep fresh in our heads and muscle memory. Today hasn’t been without its casualties, the ice pack have been our, mainly painful Achilles. As far as I’m aware no one has dropped out with injury yet, but it is intensive and a day longer too this year. I was starting to have discomfort on the bottom of my right heal but that seems to have passed off, however I do have some discomfort at the top of my right leg, almost as if it’s the muscles responsible for turn out. This has only come on this afternoon, not sure why, but we have been doing lots of grand jete’s and high developee’s and also floor barre stretching this morning, hopefully this will have subsided by morning.

Hi Lin My feet are holding up far better than I expected, our first solo is the Entrance of Kitri which Im over the moon with and is hasnt been modified too much. We danced it the first time twoday. Basically we have two groups who train seperately, Im in Group A, Kitri has two logical parts we have the first part with the first three Grand Jete in. Our group is then sub divided into three sub groups. The first dances the first two thirds, the second the remaining third, and my group that goes last deoes the first two thirds again (Two grand jete's) where the third would normally come in most of the group complete the next bit which is similare to the last third except the grand jete has been substituted for a pas de chat and of course a siutatable ending added. One little highlight of the day, we were taken up to the 5th floor to see the sky bridge, I guess a sacred place for ballet dancers. We are learning a new solo Friday but that may not be incorperated in our performance. Its becomming difficult to keep each enchainement from compromising another. I had difficulty today between two that had simularities. I guess on the night it will be right but I think this is the hardest Intensive Tom has done, as the content of Swan Lake last year had alot of repition in its steps, Don Q is quite different, far more challenging.

Hi Lin I left a posdt last night about the LAB Intensive but I only have 30 minutes free access per day from the Travel Lodge im staying at in Farringdon. THere is alot more packed into this course than we did last year. However numbers have been limited agaist the Spring Intensive of over 70, we have a total of 35 dancers about 5 are guys, three of them I know from my LAB company class at RAS and two are frI also know from classes at ENB. So fare we have done two pieces from the Barcelona scene, anoth from a re choreographed version of the dream scene (First piece of music) and then another general enchainement that was intended for the pointe class, but many of us attend it on demi. In addition to that Tuesday evening was my first LAB SHORTS Workshop on the solo I posted earlier on Le Corsaire. That was fantastic and we covered the full sequence in week one and danced it through several times. It is very slightly different from the video but not much, next week we are polishing and then performing solo (one at a time) not sure if everyone will want to do that. At the moment my ankles are quite sore, but only to be expected, but I think Im coming down with a cold as Ive a developing sore throwt, I bought some strepsils to see if they are effective. Tomorrow (Thursday) we are to start on the solo's I think they may only be two, by what I have heard its highly likely one will be the Entrance of Kitri (here's hoping). I did take a Kitri Tutu with me, Ive left it in RBS with my white sparkly one, I have a feeling it wont be welcome so its unlikely I shall get to wear it. I will take a view on the day.

All finished with the Angles Theatre tonight, it was the sixth public paying show this week with good attendance all week, Tuesday according to some was a sell out as was Friday and Saturday evening with a few, with the front row extended to the stage. Saturdays performance of adult ballet see our numbers drop by two but it didn’t seem to have any adverse effect, stage position by this time I think was well understood. A couple of the girls voiced their disappointment that the DVD was of photos and not a video recording of their dance. I’m hoping that this may have set the seed for change, although I may not be there in the future. That class is now on break until September, however I will be starting a performance course with City Academy resulting in two performances at Christmas at Saddler's Well. So I had never intended to go back this year, however if the City class turns into a regular ballet company like LAB then I will join it. All though I like the Angles Theatre ballet class during the months of rehearsals, the down side for me is, we are not dancing to one of the classic’s where my real passion for ballet lye’s. However I did suggest the Friends Dance from Giselle before it was decided what we were doing, but it just didn’t happen. Thankfully the Lincoln has finally gone over to a piece from one of the classics (Coppelia) for its next show. Still a busy weekend for me, getting packed up for LAB first Summer Intensive at RBS (6 days), somehow I’m trying to squeeze two tutus into my suitcase, one for the corps de ballet piece and the other for solo’s as I don’t know what they are as yet.

Finally a ballet free day, well almost. I’ve done three shows at the Angles Theatre this week and we get a break today (Thursday) then its three more to the weekend and then we are done. However I was back down my local hall this morning practicing for next weeks LAB Summer Intensive at RBS. Although the hall doesn’t have mirrors or a sprung floor, its good smooth slippy floor with lots of space to rehearse, bigger than most stages and its not too expensive. As illustrated in the picture above. The LAB corps de ballet piece will be from Don Quixote and the dream scene, I will not know until we get there what solo scenes we many be doing, unless bits are connected with this scene which is quite long. I'm not sure if our version will be based on this but this is what I'm using as a basic model, see link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=2fk1umQZpKI I also have the first part of the LAB workshop on Gamazatti variation from Le Corsaire Tuesday evening. With the second and final part the following week. As most schools are on break that week I will be going up to the highlands of bonny Scotland and do class with Ballet West in Taynuit.

Hi Lin I don’t think any of us see the standing ovation, I’m not sure who told me about it, possibly you or Tom or probably one of the audience I met in the bar later. And if you recall I was front line from the ending position of La Sylphides Reel., the only people in front was initially our two professionals and the young lady J.Li who did the Arabian dance solo, she was at the side of me but just in front. Tom and Lisa out Teachers came on last, then the curtain came down but from our side it was a 3 ton metal fire screen. My dress rehearsal on Sunday at the Angles Theatre didn’t go so well, as a group our performance was about the worst I have ever seen it, not really sure why but we were 3 girls absent, most of it was the last part of our sequence for most of us, I know I momentarily lost concentration and lost it with the music but did pick up by the ending, what I found really annoying was the applause we got from the other students sat in the audience seating at the end of it, as we really did not earn that. Needless to say we were all pretty well fed-up with our performance and not a nice feeling to go home with. Tonight’s performance (Monday) for proper went well, we also had an enthusiastic fairly full audience including the slow hand clap phantom of last year, except this time I spotted him in the front row. When we came to the finale and everyone started clapping in time with the music, so did he, but his was so loud it almost sounded as if he was leading the clapping. This time we all went home as happy bunnies feel that we had achieved something and ready for it all again tomorrow night.

Thank you everyone. For me the second performance was the best as everyone got a better measure of the stage and the lines were much straighter, I know I made a little slip on the Nutcracker finale in the first performance but fine in the second. I was told we got a standing ovation for the second performance but we couldn’t see it when the curtain came down. When I went into the bar after the last performance several people came up and said how they enjoyed the show including one guy where it was the first time he had seen ballet, now its sounds as if he’s hooked. When it all ended my eyes welled up a bit, I just felt so proud to be part of it. To get a true account of how it went ask LinMM as she was in the audience for the second show, but serving on the LAB stand for most of the rest of the day. Ah well another dress rehearsal tomorrow then performing all week except Thursday and two performances on Saturday again at the Angles Theatre in Cambridgeshire.

Hi Lin Don’t think you are out of a job, I see several tutu’s tonight with the pink overlay adrift in places. Mine only has 3 fastening points left from about a dozen, I think the cotton must break when the tutu is folded up. I shall re-stitch mine tomorrow with Pointe shoe ribbon thread which is extremely strong, I will also have some small safety pins for emergency repairs just in case. Lin unless you have something else on, do come and help out, you are part of the LAB company now, just go round the girls asking if they need any help, me and a couple of others tonight needed help in tying the ribbons at the back of our tutu overlay as it kept coming undone.

Hi Skydancer I don’t recall going early from BRB as I drove there in my car. My memory now of that event is quite vague, I do remember leaving when everyone else did as I was with a group of girls leaving and talking to some one, not sure if it was our teacher or not about organising other adult workshops, I did follow that up with a number of emails. As for the two dances you mentioned , the Djinn Dance, having looked at something on youtube, I think I did do that one, I think we had to partner someone for that or at least part of it and I had the only guy that was present during that class. The finale I cant remember at all but I think it highly probable that I was there. As that part of the workshop was more like contemporary it would get filed in my brain as fun and not ballet, so its unlikely I would remember it. Im surprised you found that workshop pricey even though you had factored in Train fairs. But then I guess I spend considerably more that most on virtually full time ballet at around £1000 a month, sometime considerably more. I remember doing a Summer School at Stamford where they had Lyrical, Modern and Hip Hop down for the Tuesday, I did the rest of the week but did ENB on the Tuesday instead. Friday ended with a friends and family performance of what had been learn during the summer school. The dancers were mainly in their teens other that a couple in their twenties. Thursday was the rehearsal, the lyrical ( I was told Lyrical and contemporary are the same) was the first piece to be rehearsed as I wasn’t present my teacher said I could sit it out and watch, three other girls were already in the audience seating. So I said "no, its dancing isn’t it, in that case I will go to the back and try and follow the other girls, If I cant I will just wing it”, and that’s what I did and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The three girls that were sat down were sent to join me. I did sit out on the Friday performance for that piece as I didn’t think I would remember it, but when the music started it all came flooding back and I really wish Id been performing to it. Again that was filed in the brain under fun not ballet. For me my love of ballet is classical and from the classics, I primarily dance for me as its unlikely I will ever have the flexibility, strength or technique to match a professional, but I wont get hung up about that, I will always try my hardest to push my own ability. I have shed all my classes that don’t support performances other than ENB, however I still use many of those previous classes as gap fillers during term breaks if they are still running, after all I’ve generally built up a good relationship between the teacher and myself and the other dancers too for that matter. In the new year I will review my classes again, the bias of performing classes will be solely towards scenes from the classics and not from teacher own choreographed enchainements. It’s also likely I will be doing more one-to-one sessions on classical repertoire. I am sure our paths will cross again, and I will look forward to it

London Amateur Ballet is proud to present The LAB Gala 2014 at London’s Bloomsbury Theatre. LAB is the UK’s leading amateur ballet company, and with over 70 dancers and guest stars, this is sure to be a spellbinding night at the ballet! The programme includes magical excerpts from The Nutcracker, Coppelia, Les Sylphides and many more… as well as the dazzling pas de deux from La Corsaire, danced by our stunning guest stars Tomomi Sato and Pedro Lapetra. To book see www.thebloomsbury.com or call 020 3108 1000 T h e L A B G a l a 2 0 1 4 The Bloomsbury Theatre, London Saturday 5th July 2014 3.00 & 7.30pm

Hi Skydancer Wow what a memory you have, I do vaguely remember that session with Chris and at least one girl after class doing some quite elevated jete en tournant’s, I wonder was that you? I guess you may well have been next to me when I was chatting to Chris near the piano when the class had ended, I really liked Chris as a teacher, I met him again later that week when he was teaching company class at the Grand Theatre. Yes I did the BRB Aladdin workshop that seems such along while ago now. I don’t understand your comment “ but IIRC you weren't actually dancing then” Did you do the BRB workshop this year, I swapped emails with them but decided not to attend unless they were teaching a scene from one of the major classics. I met another girl from the same Intermediate/Advanced class at Northern doing the City Academy’s Ballet Master Class at The Royal Opera House Covent Garden. This was November 2013, I was hoping to see her at Northern but never did. Its not often I can get to that later class unless my regulare class at English National Ballet are on break. They are today for just one week, and I had a trustee meeting in London, so unusually for me no ballet today. I'm really sorry I didn’t stop and have a chat, I feel relly awful about that. I often meet people Ive done workshops or Intensives with, all over the place but I can never remember their names.