Ballet Central Diary

Brian Allen. Photo: Bill Cooper. Click on image to enlarge.

Brian Allen’s March Diary

Welcome back.

Where to start? Well in the time since my last entry we have moved on quite a pace. Rehearsals for the tour have intensified and I have had a few performances. Firstly Ashley and I performed at the Critics’ Circle Awards at Sadler’s Wells in January. It was a great experience although quite daunting as well, what with all the ‘famous’ members of the dance world being there and also the directors of companies that I may want to audition for. We performed the pas de deux for Harker and Dracula from Michael Pink’s Dracula five!!! times. By the last time we were very tired and didn’t know how we would be able to get through it, but at that moment David Nixon walked in and we immediately found the strength to do the final go of it!

After this it was nose to the grindstone and more rehearsals, especially on David Bintley’s ‘Scottish Dances’ from Flowers of the Forest, as he was coming in to look at it and hopefully give us his permission to perform it as part of the tour programme. It was a very nervous time for all of the third year. But performing for David Bintley was actually not as scary as we had expected – he was really nice and very supportive of what we had achieved in learning the piece, and was able to fill in any gaps in the style of the ballet.

After the exciting event of David Bintley’s visit and his giving us permission to perform his ballet, it was full steam ahead for our preview night on 25th February. This was also a tense time for us, both with the nervousness of casting and the actual performance. We all wanted to do as many pieces as we could in the performance, but with a big year like ours (there are 29 students in Ballet Central this year) it was obviously not possible for all of us to perform what we wanted. I was however lucky enough to be chosen to perform four pieces: pas de deux for Harker and Dracula from Dracula, the pas de deux from Helgi Tomasson’s ‘Handel – A Celebration’, the new Sara Matthews work - ‘Superstruct’ and David Fielding’s ‘Measured Paces’.

The performance went very well and I was very pleased with all that I did in the performance. Most of all, I feel that I am now getting to grips with my role in the Dracula pas de deux, it is the role I feel I have made my own and I have got lots good feed back, about it. The Central Friends that I have talked to were very complimentary of the performance and it has given all of us a huge boost to our confidence.

Now the opening night in Epsom is fast-approaching, and it draws closer with every week. It is 17 days and counting!!!

‘Til next time
Brian

Christie Duncan. Photo: Bill Cooper. Click on image to enlarge.

Christie Duncan’s March Diary

Hi everyone,
So sorry I haven’t written in such a long time. I have been busy up in Leeds working with Northern Ballet Theatre as a member of the corps de ballet for Swan Lake again for the past 3 weeks and much of my time has been spent at the Grand Theatre, which I will go into in more detail shortly.

Since my last entry in January I spent 2 weeks working on pieces for Ballet Central back at school. It was strange but also quite comforting being in this environment again, following a month of rehearsals with NBT – it was nice to be surrounded by my friends and peers once more. I found this reassuring as I was in the same position as everyone around me, all of us auditioning for a jobs and everyone having the same fears of what will happen once we graduate as well as our excitement and anticipation for the Ballet Central tour.

Despite feeling more at home with the familiar surroundings and security of being at school I found these couple of weeks some of the toughest of the school years so far. I put myself under too much pressure as I tried to learn all that I could of the Ballet Central programme, as well as keeping on top of what I had learnt at NBT. I felt that time was running out and that I wouldn’t be ready for the tour! However the two weeks back at Central were busy ones and I managed to learn sections from 4 of the pieces as I began to catch up on what I had missed.

Just as I’d started to get to grips with Ballet Central, January was drawing to a close and the new month brought about my return to NBT. The hectic month of January was not over yet though, as I also had to think about auditions and getting a job. Finding the time to fit them in is proving hard enough - let alone travelling to and organising them!

I did manage to get the ball rolling though and on January 31st I had my very first professional audition. It was for Norwegian National Ballet, which meant me taking a plane to Oslo. I’ve never been to Scandinavia before or to a place where there’s so much snow, and I felt a mixture of nerves and excitement.

As it was my first audition I wasn’t really sure what to expect which made me slightly anxious, especially as I entered the studio to find so many people! I soon relaxed as I saw that a surprising number of faces were familiar ones. I saw people from such places as summer schools, the Genée competition and even White Lodge. It’s amazing what a small world the dance world is!

There were roughly 130 girls and only 20 boys! Despite the large numbers of hopeful dancers, desperately seeking the panel’s attention I made sure I made my way to the front of the studio to begin each exercise; there’s no point travelling all that way only to hide at the back of the room! Although I wasn’t called back at the audition, I really enjoyed it, and it has made me less afraid to go to auditions in the future.

Once back in England, I then travelled back up to Leeds to continue rehearsals with NBT. Just a couple of days before I was due to go to Leeds I learnt that one dancer was injured and I was to learn her place. I was glad of this opportunity to prove that I could change places and learn new steps quickly, but was also concerned that I wasn’t as sure of what I was doing as I should have been. As I had watched and learned the patterns of the corps de ballet I was able to work out where I had to go and where I was in relation to the other dancers. This made rehearsals easier and found that I picked up the new place and steps quicker than I thought I would! I was also grateful that I’d paid close attention to the patterns and placing of the corps de ballet as a whole, a skill that my experience with NBT has taught me.

Transferring what we had been rehearsing in the studio to the stage was daunting at first, as suddenly there were lights, costumes and a raked stage to contend with! During the first few technical rehearsals my fingers felt tingly and my stomach wobbly. Suddenly I couldn’t control what my arms and legs were doing and I didn’t seem to know where my weight was. This was unnerving at first but was put to rights as I adjusted to the rake and got used to being on stage.

The world premiere was really exciting and there was a great buzzing atmosphere. I loved being on stage and looking out to see faces in the auditorium at last, although I had a lot of responsibility as I had to lead the line most of the time!

As the week continued I became more relaxed during the performances. The music is so powerful and emotional, it seems to carry me through the steps; sometimes I don’t even realise I’m doing them, I somehow just feel the movement. This was a fantastic feeling, which can only be owed to my experience with NBT, for which I’m very grateful.

As well as gaining valuable experience on stage, I’m also thankful for NBT’s friendliness towards me. Both the dancers and staff members were very helpful and welcoming, making me feel more at home in the theatre.

I’m performing with the company again next week in Nottingham, so I’ll keep you all informed as to how the performances go and of course the beginning of the Ballet Central tour!

Bye for now,
Christie

Sarah Kundi. Photo: Bill Cooper. Click on image to enlarge.

Sarah Kundi’s March diary

Hello again to everyone.

Countdown: we now have 2 weeks till our tour starts- I’m getting really excited with what we’re about to embark upon as young professionals….!

Since my last diary entry, things have been running smoothly…… We’re all just so busy and focused now that the start of the tour is literally round the corner…!

We now have a total of nine pieces in the programme and on Wednesday 25th Feb, we presented these pieces at a Preview evening held at Central School of Ballet for Central Friends. It was a success - the audience seemed to enjoy their evening as much as we enjoyed the joy of performing for them.
I had the pleasure of dancing the role of the Tennis Girl from ‘A Simple Man’ which I felt proud and privileged to do - I will persevere to perfect this role as the tour progresses….Gillian Lynne will be coming in next week to rehearse us all in the piece- it will be good to get valuable feedback from the choreographer!

On the Preview Evening, there was a fantastic surprise in store for me - Colin Ede, a Central Friend and artist, presented me with a painting that he did of me( originally from a shot taken of me with HRH Countess of Wessex for HELLO! Magazine). I did not expect to be given such a lovely painting which was executed in oils on canvas. I personally thanked him. Not only is he a gifted artist, but a very generous and nice person too. Colin is usually commissioned by Central Friends to do paintings of Ballet Central dancers and poses and he is also interested in maybe doing another painting of me in my current production shot of the Tennis Girl (which is featured on the back of the Ballet Central 2004 leaflet) - that would be great!!!

Regarding auditions, I’m looking forward to mine with Northern Ballet Theatre on Sunday 21st March- this will consist of a ballet class and if successful, you stay for a physio assessment and a repertoire class afterwards…..Then we wait for the news, the news being…… have I got a contract?........Wish me luck!... Fingers crossed!.......

Take Care till next time- wishing everyone the best.

Sarah
01/03/04

Ashley Dixon. Photo: Bill Cooper. Click on picture for larger image.

Ashley Dixon, March Diary

Hey everyone,
Sorry I haven’t written in ages but I do have a good excuse, I promise. Unfortunately towards the end of January I felt sick and was admitted to hospital with suspected appendicitis, which as you can imagine was quite scary so close to starting the tour. I was kept in hospital for a few days while they tried to find out what was wrong. After the two days they discharged me saying that I had a viral infection and would have to rest for at least a week.

This was the last thing I needed at this time as we were drawing nearer to the tour and the work load was increasing – however, I would have been no good staying at school so I went home for a week. This also meant that I sadly missed the audition for Norwegian National Ballet in Oslo. However, since then I have sent my application to Northern Ballet Theatre and have an audition so I will keep you all informed.

So, on went my time at home and it seemed more like a month than a week - I felt I was missing out on so much at school. The last couple of days at home I couldn’t wait to get back to Central and get on with things again. However, a week later, when I actually got back to school I wanted to go home again! My stamina was so low that I was struggling to keep up with everything. But I solved this problem by gradually building up my work load day by day until after about a week I was back doing full timetable again.

This was such a great feeling, as only a few weeks before I was in hospital not knowing if I would be dancing at the beginning of tour. This also meant I could start catching up on new choreography and notes about some of the pieces. The next few weeks seemed to fly by and before we knew it we were told that David Bintley, Director of Birmingham Royal Ballet, was coming in to watch us rehearse ‘Scottish Dances’ from Flowers of the Forest – a ballet he choreographed that we were hoping to include in the tour. He seemed impressed with the staging of the piece and was kind enough to give us his permission to use it.

After this I felt really good about myself and felt that we were finally all coming together like a company, nearly forgetting that in the next week or so was the Ballet Central preview – an in-house event where ‘Central Friends’ are given a first exclusive performance of the tour

The preview day turned out to be physically a lot harder than I thought as we didn’t just have to dance but we had to set up the studio to look like a small theatre. This included us setting up lights, a sound system and laying a different dance floor. This was a good experience for us as we have to do this at every venue on tour, giving us an insight in to how a day in the life of Ballet Central works. I felt quite nervous about the performance as I was in the first piece, but as soon as the music started the nerves went and I started to enjoy myself. As the show progressed I thought I would start to tire and lose strength, but the more I went on I felt it was going better and felt really comfortable with the pieces. However at the end of the show when it had all finished all I wanted was to go home and go to bed.

Now the preview has gone and we have about 3 weeks! Until the tour starts - I can’t wait! We are constantly rehearsing pieces just adding the final touches and working on presentation and interpretation. I’ll write again soon, (I promise) keeping you up to date on the tour and any auditions I have.

Bye for now, Ash