next diary BGBC tour dates Central School page The students... Pia Driver Laura Caldow Benjamin Whitson Martin Collyer We are following four final year Central School of Ballet students through their final training, UK tour and hunt for jobs. The students involved record their thoughts the way they want and when they want, and we wish them every success for the future. The diary starts in Feb 2000

We thought it would interesting to follow some students through their final training and preparations for getting a job in the big world. Ballet Central suggested itself because... well I'll hand over to Pia Driver, one of the students involved, who introduces the diary and what is to come. But remember these are real people, training and touring and we are incredibly lucky to get a slice of their time - we can't thank them enough for helping. Over to Pia....

Introduction
The four of us involved in the diary are in our final year and have just begun touring with British Gas Ballet Central. We aim to write a piece each month describing our thoughts and feelings towards the tour and the dance world in general.

We hope it will give you, the reader, an insight into our lives as Ballet Central company members and the two and a half years of training at Central School of Ballet, leading up to our first performance.

We will write about the different venues we go to, the roles we perform and the obstacles we encounter along the way! We'll fill you in on all that happens to us from now until Graduation and you will be with us as we reveal the true experiences of four friends nearing the completion of their training, going through the transition from student to professional. So we leave you this month with a few notes on each of us, to let you know how and why we are doing what we are today. Pia Driver

Pia Driver
My name is Pia Driver and I was born in Cambridge in 1980. My dancing career began at the age of ten, when I attended a local dance school to participate in a Jazz lesson. I continued training in the evenings, slowly increasing the number and the variety of the lessons I took. As I entered competitions and was given the opportunity to perform on stage I realised the direction my life was going to take.

In my final year at secondary school I auditioned at various dance colleges and was pleased to accept my place at Central School of Ballet. I chose this college because of the versatility of training techniques offered. Personally I love performing, whether it is classical ballet, contemporary dance, Jazz, drama or singing. I needed to know and learn the range of dance vocabulary used, to develop my own artistic style and preference.

In my second year of training I was given the opportunity to dance at the Martha Graham School in New York. This was for six weeks last summer, on a scholarship I auditioned for last May. The experience was enhancing both mentally and physically. My mind broadened as I was able to take a variety of dance classes and watch several live performances. My eyes were opened to so many new experiences that I found it very hard to leave.

Being back in London I was happy to complete my final year at Central School of Ballet. This year the training has become more intense, in preparation for our third year tour - a performing experience designed to prepare us for auditions and company work.

Laura Caldow
Hi, I'm Laura. I'm eighteen and a member of British Gas Ballet Central. I was born in Aberdeen, Scotland and started dancing at the age of three. I always wanted to become a ballet dancer, so from the age of eight I begun attending summer courses at The Royal Academy of Dancing in London. I also became a junior associate of Scottish Ballet. I was lucky because there were relatively few young dancers in Aberdeen, so I was able to get plenty of performing experience with my dancing school and in the local theatres.

When I was ten I was accepted for the Royal Ballet School Junior Summer School and after completing the course I decided I would like to go to a full-time school. I auditioned and was accepted for Elmhurst Ballet School in Surrey, and so at just twelve years of age I left home to pursue my ballet career! However, it quickly became clear to me when at Elmhurst that not only was I not suited to ballet, but that I enjoyed contemporary dance more. I also enjoyed jazz, tap, spanish, drama and singing lessons.

At sixteen I decided to leave Elmhurst and go to Central School of Ballet. The school seemed ideal as I would be able to improve my classical technique whilst also learning a variety of other dance forms, with a strong emphasis on contemporary dance. The first two years were enjoyable but at times hard as I was going in a different direction to most of my fellow students - it is not until the third year that one is really able to specialise. I also took three A-Levels, which added more pressure to an already packed timetable. However, the different contemporary techniques which I learned alongside ballet in the first two years definitely kept my spirits up!

I was also extremely lucky to be given the opportunity to try choreography in the first two years. I choreographed a piece for Design for Dance - a collaborative project with students from Central St Martins Art College - in 1998, and it was included in the Central School of Ballet Summer Show. Thanks to that, I was given the chance to try choreographing for Ballet Central this year, and happily my piece has been included in the company's programme. This is very exciting for me - being able to stage a ballet and learn something of lighting and costume design, rehearsing other dancers, and showing my work to a much larger audience throughout the country.

I hope you will follow me through the tour and my final six months as a student - coping with the ups and downs of touring, as well as trying to find a job. And, most importantly, I hope you will come and see the show for yourselves, so that you may see what we achieve for all our dedication, stress and hard work!

Benjamin Whitson
Hi, I'm Ben and I'm in my third year at the Central School of Ballet. I guess you would like to know what my hobbies and interests are, but if I tell you them all now, I won't have much to say next month! So here are a few basic details:

Age:  19
D.O.B: 4/11/80
Home:  Epsom
Pets:  Dog - Foxy
       Cat - Treble
       Fish - unnamed
          (suggestions welcome!)
Ambition:   To get a job and
            enjoy it!
Fave Foods: Italian and Indian

I'd better get serious now.

Well, like the other three I am currently a member of British Gas Ballet Central, and we have just started our tour. We have already invaded Ilford, Canterbury and Norwich and we will be coming to a theatre near you soon. You have been warned!

I can't wait to make you read about all my teenage worries and problems and stresses and strains of touring, and maybe there might be a few happy instalments (if you're lucky.) However, I'll try to offer you an insight into what it's like to be a final year student preparing for life on the stage in the 'Big Bad World'.

Martin Collyer
Hi I'm Martin, I'm eighteen years old and this, my third year at Central is my third year of full time training. I'm really pleased to have the chance to write for ballet.co as I think it'll be very interesting for me to do and I hope it will be for you to read. I have never used the internet before so I guess now would be a good time to start!!

I'm afraid this month will be very brief, just a little "hello", if you like, then hopefully next month we'll get going a little more.

It's been my ambition for a long time to be a dancer and getting out on tour with BGBC is a really great feeling. You do so many years of hard training in the classroom which can so often seem to amount to nothing but getting out and performing makes it all worthwhile. Already, in the space of three shows, I've tasted some highs and lows. Norwich was a really hard show for me as no matter how hard I tried that day; nothing seemed to work as it should. The hardest part is that you know you have a paying audience and you have to give them your very, very best, even if on the day that seems to be pretty poor. You just have to keep getting back on that stage for another solo or another piece and trying to make it work better than the last one, no matter how bad you feel. Anyway, other than that it's been great and I'm really enjoying it.