Ballet Central Diary

Take a bow...

So...its all over. The last three days have been an incredible mix of emotions, a mixture of deep sadness but incredible excitement, it truly is the end of an era. The final week was School show week so tuesday and wednesday were spent in the Unicorn Theatre doing dress rehearsals. Ballet Central only performed 4 pieces each show and so for the Gala I did Steps to Bach and of course the Cinderella Fireside pas de deux for the final time. I would like to say it has been a pleasure to dance all the rep this year but Cinderella was without question my highlight. Massive thank you to the Qeen Bee Mrs Gable for giving me the opportunity to dance it every night, it has been an absolute dream. The shows went well and it was nice to join up with the rest of the school, the staff seemed pleased and thats quite a rarity.

The weekend came very quickly and it turned out to be one of the most amazing couple of days I have ever experienced, it all started to get a bit emotional with tears here, there and everywhere. We did our final class at Central on Saturday morning and then our final Ballet Central show that night. I danced the same pieces I had done for most of the tour (Cygnets, Arabian, Steps to Bach, Do you want to...? and Cinderlla) which was nice because I was able to give them all one last shot. It was quite difficult to concentrate I have to be honest, it was a very special show and looking up into Ryms tear filled eyes all the way through Cinderella made it all the more difficult. Similarly at the end of Do you want to...? as I walked slowly towards Laurel, I could see the tears streaming down her face. We all went on for our final curtain call and the audience gave us an incredible applause cheering and clapping for what seemed like eternity.

There was, of course, the small matter of graduation and Sunday was the highlight of my time at the school. First of all we did our final class together at the theatre and then we were assessed on our solos. I danced Matthew Bourne's Swan Solo from Swan Lake and I was relatively chuffed with how it had gone. That evening we did them all again for a packed out auditorium full of friends and family and I was also told to do a speech on behalf of all the students. Standing in the wings waiting to do my solo was a pretty strange feeling, three years of intense training came down to this in a way and I was just thinking about advice that Simon Cooper (who taught and coached me on the solo) had given me and that was to grab the audience straight away with the way I walked on. The dance itself was a bit of a blur but as I finished and ran off stage the auditorium errupted, it was the most incredible feeling. To be honest it was full of friends and family and if i had fallen straight onto my nose I would probably have been given the same reception but it was completely unexpected and thanks so much to all my mates, my mum and dad and my little sister for the response....wow! After all that we went and got changed into our classy little outfits for the ceremony which was great. Me and Sophie still had to do our speech and I had a lot of fun thanking everyone and of course taking the micky a bit out of the staff, I did forget a few people, as i always knew i would, but we got a fair few laughs which was what it's all about really.

Finally, and i do apologise for by far the longest entry I have ever done (eat your heart out Rym), was our graduation party!!!! We had hired out a bar by school and we had a fantastic night. Me and Ruan had organised a few awards of our own and a couple of days before had given all members of the Company voting slips. We had a laugh seeing who everyone had voted for and we announced all the winners at the party to raptuous applause. Unfortunately some of them are a bit (ahem) innappropriate to announce over the internet but here are the winners of a few of them, some are obvious while others we will leave to the imagination. Chelsea won best smile, Sophie best legs, Clementine best bum, Nick the superhero award, Amy won the F.I.S.H award, the snake award and the 'Tom 'n' Ruan Award', Rym won the Fashion Victim Award, Jen won the Big Brother award and I won the Dancer of the Year Award (believe me it certainly wasn't an award for the best dancer). It was a great night which we all eventually finished at half six in the morning in a swimming pool, what a laugh.

Finally then I must sign off for the last time. It has been an amazing three years and to have the opportunity to tour the country with 26 of your mates doing shows is a truly sensational experience. Thanks for reading and I will do my best to make sure it is not the last you all hear of me fingers crossed ay. It has been a pleasure to write these blogs and if any of the guys are reading, it has been a pleasure to share a stage with you all.

All the best

Tom Conlan x

Posted by Tom Conlan at July 22, 2008 05:26 PM