Ballet Central Diary

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

Verity's June Diary

Dear Diary,

The tour has gone so fast, I can’t believe that tomorrow, Crawley, is our last venue before our week at the Bloomsbury Theatre in London. I have enjoyed it so much I don’t want it to end, but I suppose it is time to move on to bigger and better things.

Let’s see, the last time I wrote we were about to head off to Grantham, Wakefield and Hexham. This was a tough one as we had three performances in a row with travelling in between, which meant very early mornings and even later nights. I remember Wakefield very well: let’s just say it should have been called ‘Rakefield’. I think our floor rolled itself out at this venue - the rake was very steep! When we arrived at Hexham the next day we all got excited because there was a great big ‘sold out’ sign stuck across our poster. After the show that night a group of girls came around to the stage door and were asking for our autographs - they were really sweet and made us all feel like stars.

The next tour took us to Glasgow to perform in Stirling and Galashiels. Stirling was amazing. The theatre was at a university surrounded by really nice mountainous scenery and there was a lake with ducks and swans. Actually the swans started to come for us at one point, it was really quite scary. I really liked this venue because the dressing rooms were great. They were big and roomy, and there was a little green room with a kitchen, television and comfy sofas! Galashiels on the other hand was not so great. The dressing rooms were fine, but we were performing in a hall rather than on a stage, so we were dancing on the floor and there were no wings.

Not long after our return we headed off for the longest leg of the tour – two performances at Taunton, two at Bridport and one at Frome, this meant five performances in a row! It was tough but I really enjoyed it. Mmm, Taunton? It’s a bit of a blur we’ve done so much since - all I remember is throwing a lot of bread to some very hungry ducks. Bridport I definitely could not forget. At this venue we stayed in twos and threes with families. I was with Carolyn and Naomi and we stayed with a lovely lady and her dog, two cats and two sheep! Her house was amazing and she had a really nice, large yard. It was great to be cooked nice food and just to be in a house rather than a travel lodge. Another reason I couldn’t forget Bridport is because the stage was rather miniature. It was no problem for us though because we are really used to having to adjust our show to fit any size or shaped stage. The two shows went really well and the audience was amazing, they were very supportive.

Aw, we had come to our final stay over tour and it was again back to Glasgow for Cumbernauld and the Royal Concert Hall. Cumbernauld was a bit strange - when we pulled up outside a shed in the middle of the bush we weren’t quite sure what to think. We were even more shocked when we walked in and saw before us a stage that looked like a catwalk! It was all good though - I think our show was sold out that night and it was a very receptive audience. The Royal Concert Hall in Glasgow was amazing! I really loved the two days that we spent here. We spent the first day rehearsing and then we had workshops with children ranging from the ages of 5 to 16. I was with the group of 7 to 10 year olds. We had to do three workshops with them – design, dance and music. These children were to perform in our show the next night and all in all there were nearly 100 of them! It was hard work but it was so much fun and the children really adored us. One little girl said she just had to get my number and email address so I could stay at her house and watch Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone – how sweet.

Since then, we have done two day-trip venues, firstly to Eastleigh and then to Chipping Norton. On the way to Chipping Norton we got stuck in what we thought was a bit of traffic. We then heard that there was an accident up ahead and they had shut the motorway. We realized we were going to be stuck there for quite a while and it was a very hot day so we all piled off the bus and ended up sun-baking on the motorway - not something you do everyday. Luckily it wasn’t too much longer before we got moving again and it didn’t affect the schedule of our day too much.

Well, we have one more venue left - Crawley. In between this we are all very busy preparing for graduation which is only a couple of weeks away, I am going to perform a solo from the third act of Raymonda and I have a lot of rehearsing to do, so on that note I will go.

Verity xx