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Listening to crickets - the Prelude from Les Sylphides

Iestyn wears a tutu skirt over a black T-shirt and baggy knee length shorts, and soft ballet shoes. His 'Madame Galina' shows are comedy routines, but don't think Trocks: the jokes come in the dialogue, and although the dance

Cynthia Harvey and Iestyn Edwards photograph by © Roy Simpson

itself is taken very seriously, it's a glorified version of the sort every balletomane has at some time tried in the privacy of his or her own room. So there's some difference between what Harvey beautifully demonstrates and what Iestyn can reproduce: but unexpectedly, you perhaps actually learn more than watching a trained dancer learning a role. Harvey has to spell everything out in much more detail than she normally would, so you see exactly how the solo is put together, and - especially! - which are the difficult bits. It's interesting, too, to see what proportion of the feeling of the dance comes through independently of technique - it's more than you'd probably think.

Think Pink- the Sugar Plum Fairy's solo

This one is a bit more technical. Miss Harvey has the tone exactly right - it can't be easy to give corrections at this level but she manages it, without sounding the least bit patronising: so although an early attempt only gets a 'somewhat correct', Iestyn's turn in attitude gets a 'Wow!', and his gargouillades a 'Very excellent!' (and I have to say I've seen less convincing 'gargling' from more than one professional Sugar Plum). It looks like hard work: on stage it's always very delicate and controlled, but as Harvey says, 'It's very quick, there's not a lot of time to breathe'.

Ballerina disagreement - the mad scene from Giselle

Madame Galina already has this in her repertory, so it's more a case of running through it for suggestions for improvement. Right at the beginning there's a fundamental point to be decided - does Giselle stab herself, or not? Iestyn says she does, Harvey says she doesn't - not at ABT, at any rate. I'm interested to hear her recommend Lynn Seymour's autobiography as the best description of this scene. Then they go through the whole piece - and I bet there aren't many people who've seen Cynthia Harvey as Bathilde, Berthe and Hilarion, all in the same performance. I learned several new things - for instance I hadn't picked up before that when Giselle looks up into the trees she's seeing the Wilis her mother has described. And even in this form, it's still rather moving.

Then Miss Harvey collects her four year old son, who's been adding comments from the back of the room, and drives off home; and Iestyn takes his show to the Edinburgh fringe, to show off his newly polished technique.