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June 30, 2005
Richard's June Diary
Hello again, it really has been ages since my last entry. Ballet Central has been so busy over the past month and with the end of my time at Central drawing ever closer there’s tonnes of extra stuff that needs dealing with.
In my last entry, I think I was just about to go off to Newtown in Wales. To be honest I can’t really remember this tour so let’s just say it was another fantastic show!!! The next leg of the tour took us Grantham, Wakefield and Hexham. This was a pretty gruelling tour as we had three shows back to back in different towns. The last venue in Hexham gave us a particularly warm reception. Ballet Central has been visiting Hexham since it began twenty years ago. The show was sold out for weeks in advance and they loved us! We even had fans waiting at the stage door for autographs. We also stayed in a really good hotel which made a nice change from the usual Travel Lodge.
The next port of call was Scotland. The best part of the journey was playing travel Bingo with Fergus, the artistic director, taking the role of Bingo caller. Our first venue in Scotland was Galashiels which had a tricky performance space. Basically it was just a village hall! I ended up having a very heavy show because one of the dancers cut his foot just before the show. This meant I had to go into the jazz piece without any rehearsal - really nothing, not even a walk through! And I also had to dance in The Numbers Game too. This meant that I was in six out of the eight pieces which was a lot of fun and a lot of quick changes. Stirling was a really nice venue set in amongst the Highlands of Scotland with panoramic views. The theatre was massive but…nobody came apart from Fergus’ parents. (OK, I’m exaggerating slightly.)
We then had a week back at school where I had the opportunity to start rehearsing my Graduation solo. I also found out at the beginning of this week that Israel Ballet were offering me a position with their company. I am really happy to have somewhere to go next year.
The next tour took us to Taunton, Bridport and Frome, another marathon tour with five shows on five consecutive days. Taunton was a good sized theatre and the town was very pretty with a river and lots of grass to play on. The two days we spent in Taunton were really sunny and we got tanned. The next theatre in Bridport was yet another classic Ballet Central venue. We stayed with families that kindly offered their hospitality during our stay. The stage was very, very, very small and a funny shape, but like professionals we overcame these problems and gave two great shows. On our second day in Bridport we ventured out to the seaside and paddled in the sea. Two crazy girls, Carolyn and Naomi, had a bit of a swim - I think Carolyn was wearing her leotard! We all got a bit sun burnt and only just managed to make it back in time for class…ooops! By the time we got to Frome we were all very tired but still had one last show to put on. It was another sunny day so we spent our free time catching some rays. We had a pleasant surprise when two of our Ballet Central members, whom we had to leave in London because of injury, turned up at the theatre to watch the show. As it was the end of this tour, me and Louise decided to have a bit of fun during that evening’s performance of Sidewinder - we had a quick peck in the middle which entertained everybody in the weary Ballet Central cast.
We then began our second trek up to Scotland. The first venue in Cumbernauld was…different. The stage was very long and narrow and had audience on three sides which made projection and spacing quite awkward. After the ‘get in’ a group of about seven of us went on a food finding mission as the theatre was in the middle of nowhere. We took orders from everyone and ventured out to find Asda. We found it ok but got lost on the way back and were missing for over three hours! Don’t worry, we made it back just in time for class… AGAIN.
The next venue was the prestigious Glasgow Royal Concert Hall. This was the biggest and most impressive venue Ballet Central played to, seating over three thousand. We managed to sell nearly one thousand tickets making this the biggest audience that Ballet Central has EVER performed to. During our visit to the Concert Hall we took part in a workshop programme with kids aging five to sixteen. We had to incorporate these children into one of our pieces of repertoire which was a lot of fun and a lot of hard work.
Once we got back from Scotland we had a couple of days to recuperate before two day trips, Eastleigh and Chipping Norton. In Eastleigh, I had the pleasure of meeting up with my Great Auntie Shirley and she loved the show. She also told half the audience how great I was! Chipping Norton has to be the smallest theatre we toured to even though they told us that Bridport was. It was another nice day and we topped up our tans. The show went really well even though it was such a challenge on the tiny stage.
We have had a few days at school, so we have all had time to practice our Grad’ solos. By the way, I am going to be performing ‘The Bronze Idol’ solo from La Bayadere. In amongst all this madness we have also had to produce a Personal Development Portfolio Dissertation on our chosen Graduation solo and prepare a Viva Voce presentation, so it really has been a very busy time.
With two weeks to go until Graduation we are all getting a bit anxious but I’ll keep you updated and let you know how things go in my next instalment.
See ya, Richard
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