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InternationalBallet Masterclass Diary Prague, August 2004 by Daria Klimentova |
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Sunday 8th August This is our second year of the Masterclasses, and word of mouth has obviously spread. We have 90 students this first week and 98 the second. (Thank goodness the National Theatre have completed their beautiful new studio in time for us). One girl from California and one from Australia arrived two days ago, (only flights available for them), and six Italians yesterday. (Five from La Scala School). Today Ian has to meet 40 people at the airport and send them onto Hampy (choreographer Christopher Hampson) at the Hostel, who checks them in. All goes very smoothly, even the teachers all arrive with only a slight delay. This year Brian Allen, a student from last year, is also helping us out with meeting the late arrivals.
John Monk (one of the managers from ENB) and Brian meet all the students at the Hostel and walk them to the Studios. We give them a short introductory talk and then the first classes are at 10.00. We have two classes, both mixed, I take one and Hampy the other. There is always a great buzz in the air for the Masterclasses and this year is no exception.
After general class the girls split into two groups to do an hour each of solo work, this week with Francine Richard( ex Paris Opera dancer), and the boys work with Greg Horsman (ex Australian Ballet star and now Ballet Master with ENB).
After lunch we split into 4 groups, two do pas de deux, one works on repertoire with Hampy and the fourth group works on Contemporary with Mark Baldwin (A.D. of Rambert Dance Co).
This evening the Ceska Sporitelna Banka once again put on a fantastic welcome spread for us, and the Deputy British Ambassador, Mr Michael Tatham, and the Czech Ambassador to London, Mr Stefan Fule, honoured us with their presence, along with the Director of the National Theatres, Mr Daniel Dvorak, and the Administrator of the National Theatre Ballet Company, Mr Martin Rypan.
Unfortunately one of our girls couldn’t work on any longer with her in-growing toenail, and on medical advice has returned home with her parents as they were going home anyway today. Our Medical Officer, Jiri Cumperlik is a wonderful Physio and we are very privileged to have him with us. The girls’ parents send us a lovely note saying what marvellous treatment their daughter received from him and how good they thought he was. It is also a real bonus that his English is good. I can’t believe he only charges them £10 per session.
Oh dear, another one down. Poor Emma-Jane Maguire, a dancer with the Royal Ballet, and a vegetarian, has got food poisoning. Jiri sends an ambulance to the Hostel to take her to the hospital. She gets an injection to settle her down, and one of her roommates looks after her and gets her in a taxi back to the hostel later on. Ian checks in on her late that evening, and makes sure that everything is arranged for her travel back to the UK the next day (she was only here for the first week). She tells Ian that she loves the place and it is so unlucky to have this as an additional memory of it.
So another day at the airport for Ian, and as we have lost Hampy to Atlanta Ballet (for a new piece he is Choreographing for them) Brian and John take it in turns at the hostel. We appear to lose Kumi Ozaki from Japan who does not arrive when she told us she would; the flight does but no Kumi. Bit of panic phone calling, and then I check the emails to discover that she changed the connecting flight and will now be coming in from Amsterdam at 21.20. Ian waits for her and all is well. Tamara Rojo (star of Royal Ballet) and Brenda Edwards (ex Martha Graham and LCDT) arrive safely, and only one and a half hours late. B.A. are getting worse.
As soon as Tamara has finished for the day she is off and running, trying to visit as many Art Galleries and Museums as she can possibly fit in to the week. There are an awful lot to get through and it is her favourite pastime. My mother is ill so we also have my daughter Sabina spending the next few days with us. She insists on putting on her leotard, ballet shoes, tights and tutu and then holds court with all the students in the canteen, singing alternate English then Czech nursery rhymes. English ones to the Czechs and Czech ones to the English, for a three year old she certainly knows how to play to the crowd.
Having the canteen open this year has proved a huge success, the lady who runs it would normally be on holiday at this time of year, and has sent all her regular staff away, which she is now regretting. She serves hot meals for less than £2, salads, sandwiches, rolls, fruit salad buffet style, pastas, all drinks and yoghurts etc, and spends from 9 o’clock to 3 o’clock running like mad. She always however has a good humour and says that she is enjoying it thoroughly and will definitely be opening again next year.
We lost Greg today amid a mass of autograph signing and photo taking, and Otto Bubenicek (First Principal Artiste of Hamburg Ballet, John Neumeyer’s company) arrived to replace him. Otto goes down a storm with all the boys, and during the interview with him he is asked many questions, and the compilation video of his work is excellent, so well put together. The longest interview however was with Tamara; we had so many questions from the girls that the session went on a whole hour. After the interview all the students went along to an orchestral concert at St Thomas’s Church on the Old Town Square. Mozart’s “A Little Night Music”, Bach, Vivaldi and Dvorak, with a soloist from the National Theatre Opera. Very nice.
The enthusiasm and energy of the students is fantastic, they work so hard with Tamara and Otto on their solos (Manon and Cinderella for the girls, La Corsaire and Cinderella Prince by Neumeyer for the boys) and we never have any absentees for general class either. I think having Hampy, Greg, Vaclav, Tamara, Otto, Francine and myself alternate for general class gives them a wonderful variety, and they really respond to it, of course this would not be possible in a company or at a normal ballet school, but more is the pity. Our last night party is a huge hit once again, and as Hampy is away Jonathan Still and Ian are the barmen this year. What a surprise, all the sweet cakes etc disappear as soon as the covers come off. Tamara, Brenda and myself are surrounded by students wanting their photo’s with us, and autographs. There is a lovely atmosphere. Ian and I do our usual raffle, giving away lots of trinkets from the world of ballet, programmes and calendars etc. We are all sad to be saying good bye once again for another year. The final problem comes on Sunday evening when one of our students, Shaina, calls from London to tell us she is being deported back to Prague (I can’t think of any where I’d rather be deported to) as her entry visa for the UK is not correct (she is American but studies in London). So after a night in London she heads back to the Hostel in Prague, and then on to see the Deputy British Ambassador, she met at our first night party, to try to sort things out. Ah well! See you all next year.
 Next Year it all happens again!
The Prague International Masterclass Sessions will be held from the 1st to 13th August in the Summer of 2005. Look out for the ads from February to see who is teaching, or visit www.balletmasterclass.com
Administrator: Ian Comer, 60 Rothschild Road, London, W4 5HT. |
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