North and South
am writing this sitting on a train speeding south. One night in my new flat in Leeds turned into two after some catastrophe near Doncaster led to National Rail cancelling all trains going to London on a Sunday night. As you can imagine, there were many unhappy Londoners in Leeds yesterday.
It has been a while since my last entry; time marches on relentlessly and now there is only a month left until graduation. We have done two day trips recently- Hertford and Bury St Edmunds, as well as a visit to the south-west.
The tour to the west country was really fun. A show in Taunton, then two in Bridport (a historic and essential stop on every Ballet Central tour), and then finishing with a show in Frome.
Taunton was characterized by the pub next door to the Travel Lodge, which is always greeted with glee as we alight from the coach because it means a good dinner and a pleasant, sociable evening. There was a slight crisis, because unfortunately, there was a sudden injury the day before we went to Taunton, so the whole programme was changed at the last minute. This meant people had to step in; Becky had to come on tour to do Choice, I had to do Cinderella, and so Amy had to replace me in Steps- nobody minds though- its always sad when someone gets injured, and we all did what we had to do to get the show on.
I will always remember Bridport by the unique challenges that this venue poses- but I had a great time there and would have loved to have stayed. The stage was really small and a funny shape- there was a little alcove at the back. The main problem was the darkness though- it was pitch black on stage and we all felt as though we were dancing with our eyes shut. This meant people were jumping into walls, having problems getting in and out of wings and general havoc ensued in the dress rehearsal. We have a bit of a Thing, as a group, with dress rehearsals. For some reason, they are always really, really bad. Everything that can possibly go wrong normally does, and I think we must sometimes drive Bill to distraction with worry about the mess we could potentially make of the show. But somehow, the show always happens at least, so there is light at the end of the tunnel. As Bill put it after our Bridport dress, 'Ballet Central have been coming here for twenty five years- we want it to be twenty six.'
In the end, the show was good, I think having the dressing rooms backing onto the wings and stage and having to be absolutely silent during the show made us really focus and concentrate.
At this venue, instead of staying in a hotel, we stayed with host families. It was so amazing to see these people so willing to share their homes with us, and it really made this tour an experience. I stayed with Sophie and Chelsea with a couple called Cynthia and Jason and we had a great time. Their house was so lovely (just like the sort of place i want when i grow up!) and they gave us lovely homemade soup after the shows and croissants for breakfast which is surely something that happens in dancer's Valhalla.
On our morning off (!!!!!!) we went to the beach nearby. It wasn't a particularly hot day, and it was a bit of at trek, but when we saw the sea and the sandy dunes, it was completely worth it. The panorama of the sky was very powerful that day, and closer to home, the surrounding countryside is ruggedly beautiful. There is a quality of light peculiar to that part of the world which makes you feel as though the scene is not quite real- as if it could disappear at any moment.
We left Bridport early on Saturday morning, amid sighs of regret from the shopaholics among us- the market was just setting up. The town is packed full of great little shops where a few of us had picked up some vintage bargains, and it would have been worth a browse round the stalls- maybe next time!
Frome was Laurel's home venue, so the audience was really appreciative and the theatre was really nice. I felt that Cinderella went really well at this venue- it is always a lot easier on a big stage because we really have to push it- run further, make everything bigger; and for some reason this really has an effect on me emotionally. There were parts of it that are a bit of a blur, and I think Tom was a bit disconcerted by some of the spontaneous details I added in the passion of the moment. It was far from perfect, but there comes a point when you have to leave those worries and inhibitions somewhere else, to be dealt with tomorrow, and that was the point I reached on stage at Frome.
We leave for the next tour tomorrow, going to Wakefield and Hexham. From the rolling hills of the Summerland to the blustery North- traversing the kingdom in Roy the ex-racing driver's coach, with a DVD on the player and the patchwork of fields passing by, has actually turned out to be quite fun.
Posted by Rym Kechacha at June 23, 2008 08:19 PM
