Ballet Central Diary

a sea of troubles- Linbury, Sadler's and the Bard

Why do I always feel like I should have read Tom’s entries before he posts them? He clearly does not own a dictionary (not a crime, neither do I), but then, he doesn’t have the god given innate sense of correct spelling that I was born with.
The LINBURY show went very well. I didn’t dance in the end, which was disappointing, but all part of the rich tapestry of life I suppose! It’s actually quite a dramatic story- it tends to be with me. I have learnt recently that my life can never just run smoothly- there has to be Hollywood melodrama involved somewhere.
Basically, I was intending to dance, and pushed myself hard (too hard) in class to try to get back jumping and on pointe. I had a rehearsal on the Thursday before the show and tried to do the piece. It was an unmitigated disaster, and there I was in tears, feeling not only extremely gutted that I wouldn’t be dancing for the exalted audience that was present, but also that I was letting others down.
It wasn’t a good day.
This injury has taught me so much, about myself and about life. When I was first injured, I came back too quickly and did too much too soon, and this is probably why my body is complaining and taking its time. I’ve learnt that I personally need to have the courage to admit to myself that there is a problem, not to just gloss it over with smiles and jokes. I’d like to thank Anna, our physiotherapist at school, who has been amazingly supportive and helpful throughout this period.
So at Linbury, I was very busy being very helpful. I went round with a camcorder filming footage of class on stage and getting little interviews with everyone. I’m inordinately proud of the footage, I’ve heard with a little editing, it could be up for a best picture Oscar next year.
This week, despite obvious limitations, has been a very good one. NBT have been at Sadler’s Wells doing Hamlet and I’ve taken class with them twice and am going back tomorrow. Even though I’m not on pointe or jumping, I wanted to get the trauma of meeting people over with and also get a chance to watch the company close up and see how they work day to day.
The first day I was a wreck. So nervous and timid- I felt about five years old again. I was so anxious to make a good impression on everyone that I could hardly speak. I needn’t have worried- the company were absolutely lovely. Class was on stage, (which was breathtakingly thrilling for me) and I was really worried about so many things- taking someone’s space at the barre, doing the wrong exercise, falling over, looking stupid etc. I was acutely aware of one of Bill’s favourite sayings ‘you never get a second chance to make a first impression’ I dread to think what first impression I made on the company!! Having said that, if Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy could change their minds about each other, I’m sure all is not lost for me.
I learnt so much in those two short classes. I began to get acquainted with stuff the company do all the time like set warm ups, by keeping my eyes and ears open, thinking on my feet and copying the first person that I saw. Phillip Feeney is playing for their class tomorrow, so I’m very excited.

I had a little nosy around the wings yesterday, getting very excited seeing all the shoe skips behind the stage (big boxes where all the dancers shoes are kept to be taken on tour) and they had all their names on them. And I know it’s a bit silly, but I really can’t wait until my name is on one of them!!!!! I saw the table where all the props for Hamlet were kept, and what amazed me most was this bit of paper, which I remembered Claudius signing in the show. Of course, no-one out front could have distinguished it from Heat magazine, but it actually had proper writing on it- and get this- in german!!!!
So, onto Hamlet. I had a ticket for the first night, and was really looking forward to seeing it- despite all the mixed reviews. I studied the play for my AS level English, so I know it reasonably well, and I did see quite a traditional, solid version of it in Richmond a couple of years ago. However, I do belong in the group of people who find Hamlet as a character unbearably annoying and dithering. I actually had quite an interesting, if slightly random conversation with a guy in a pub once about him, and he was absolutely scandalised at my impatience with the existential dilemmas of what he called ‘the greatest hero of English literature- precisely because he is just a normal bloke to whom abnormal things happen.’ I disagreed vociferously and expressed a much greater admiration for Macbeth- at least he did something and didn’t just think about it.
Anyway, I digress.
I think the point about Hamlet is that everyone has had a reaction of some kind. Even if they didn’t like it, they have had some kind of experience. I think that is primarily why people go to the theatre, go to a gallery, buy a CD, go to a concert, see a film, or turn on the TV. The purpose of Art (yes, with a capital A) is to experience vicariously something one might never do in daily life.
So even if you hated Hamlet, surely you cringed when the woman had her fingers cut off. Surely you jumped out of your seat when that gun went off in act two. Surely you felt as though you were witnessing something inhuman when Ophelia was abused by those soldiers.
The highlights for me were mainly the solos, pas de deux and pas de trois that expressed the relationships between the characters. Ophelia’s solo in act two was particularly moving, the duet with Hamlet and Ophelia in act one was really something else, and Hamlet’s confrontation with his mother was gripping. Feeney’s score was amazing, and I loved the bits with the female singer, very evocative of the period, and the dancing at this point was, for lack of a better expression, wicked!

What’s also worth mentioning in relation to this show, is that everyone’s always talking about how no-one takes any risks with choreography or programming anymore- how companies are dictated to by the box office and little ground breaking new work emerges. It seems to me that if people do take risks- (anyone, big companies, small companies, freelancers) even if they don’t work out, they are not commended for having the courage to dare in the first place. I think the fact that the courage was there for someone to do something a bit different enriches the art form, even if the piece or production was savaged by critics and sold one ticket to the choreographer’s mum.

Brevity is the soul of wit- something i must learn, I'm afraid!!

The Gala (and not much else i'm afraid)...

I will begin my latest addition to the world wide web by painting a picture for you all. Date 19th April 2008, time 8:36pm (roughly), venue Lindbury Theatre Royal Opera House. There I am, standing in the wings dressed as Prince Charming, a Lindbury auditorium packed with some of the most important people in the dance world, a musical genius at the piano waiting to play live music and Brenda is on stage kneeling down, face in hands. I had a little moment, a kind of conversation in my head that went a little bit like this 'TOM, YOU MUPPET, WHATEVER YOU DO DO NOT BALLS THIS UP!!!!'...and then the music started. How i got to that stage i will never really know, i am just a lad from Brighton that loves performing, the director of the Royal Ballet Company was out there for crying out loud, no pressure then she sees Carlos Acosta dance pretty much every day. If I am honest theres not much you can do at that point, a part of me wanted to pick up Chris the stage manager and plonk him on the stage, he could improvise he would be great, however I then realised that this was the whole reason i started dancing and the whole reason i wanted to be a professional. I closed my eyes as i always do when Feeney starts the music, took a deap breath and stepped. This, as they say, was it.

I was well aware that this was probably the biggest and most important show i had ever taken part in. The Ballet Central gala performance is always held at the Opera House and the staff pack no punches in letting us know just how important it is. We had had 4 shows beforehand, Ilford, Crawley, Cambridge and Chelmsford all of which had gone pretty well but we knew that would be no consolation if we mucked this one up.

I had already done Matthew Bourne's Cygnets in the first half which had gone quite well. I was really chuffed to have been chosen to dance it, it's a dream of mine and, even if it never happens again, at least i got wear the costume. It is a short piece and was over quite quickly so i had been buzzing to get back on that stage and do Cinderella.

If I am going to be totally honest with you it ceratinly wasn't the best we have ever done it but the feeling was incredible, the buzz the adrenalin, you just cannot get it anywhere else. The presage at the end was a bit disappointing. I am not sure where it went wrong but it was the only time it had not worked perfectly. Brenda ran , I bent my knees and pushed but she did not get all the way up there straight away. Fortunately the adrenalin took over and i locked my arms but it was a shame, my parents and friends told me they did not notice it was different but we were disappointed, we both felt like we had let people down a bit.

Overall though my two pieces and the show overall went well. The Boss was pleased and Bruce Sansom (director of the school and overall ruler of pretty much everything) spoke to the company and said it had gone very well.

Overall a success then, thats it for now as a Jazz rehearsal beckons, a lot more has happened but i'm banking on Rym and Brenda to elaborate in the next few weeks.

Speak soon

Tom

Goodbye April. Please do not fly away May!

I am on break at the moment and have decided to start my dairy, however I think I will finish writing it tonight. I have so many things to say since I have not written for a while. We are sooo busy, its real fun ( but tiring at the same time), so when I have some free time I have to catch up on so many thins ( this is one of them) and sometimes it takes a bit long- so I do apologize if I have kept you waiting.

First thing I would like to mention is the musical theater week which we are having at the moment. We are working with Patricia Merrin on chorus Line and Phantom of the opera. She has really inspired me with her carrier and we are all enjoying working with her- doing something different from what we are normally used to. Today we have learnt ‘One’ from Chorus Line which we will be assessed on, on Friday. It is a crash course as on can see ( I personally would have loved to have another week of learning routines of that kind), it is quick and maximum concentration is required, but everyone sees to be enjoying what we are doing and full attention is guaranteed. We are also having our singing assessments on Friday and I will be singing ‘If my friends could see me now’ from the Sweet Charity musical!

Along with all of this, we also have another show on Sunday. We will be performing at Bracknell - a stage which is smaller than the Linbury Theater. We do not know yet what we will be performing, however everyone is ready to do any piece they would be called into.
For the last two shows I have performed three numbers – adding Choice with Capriole Suite and Cinderella. I have really enjoyed the last two performances especially dancing on the Linbury stage again. It was a bit stressful that day as we knew that there where important people watching, and by that I do not mean that it was a more important show than any of the other as to me once someone has bought the ticket and has left home to come and watch us, than that person in important, however at the Linbury theater there were lots of people who have an eye for dance and thus we had to make better impressions. This week we have the toughest week we have had so far, as we started early on Monday morning and will be finishing the week Sunday at around 12:30 (when we get back from the theater), then the following day we keep on going till the following Saturday and then comes the day we would all have been waiting for – Sunday, and we have a Bank holiday!!!!!!! That is very generous and we really appreciate it. I think we could all benefit from a day off to work on our dissertations!

I know I have other things that I could have elaborated and spoke of but tonight I am going to do less talking as I have to work a bit more on my dissertation as tomorrow I have a session with tutor Louise.

Last but not least I want to say a Big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my friend Sarah Mansueto and my amazing and adorable baby brother Jacob (he is not a baby any more he’s going to be 15 now, but to me he is still my little brother – not in height though cause he grew taller than me!!!!!!) --- Miss you ;)

what happens when your dreams come true?

So, I did say that by the time I wrote again I would be in a better frame of mind, and I’ve made good on my promise- I have managed it spectacularly.
I’ve known about this for about a week, but I thought I’d wait until April had officially started before I wrote about it here (two entries in one month is more than enough even for the most avid diary reader!)
So, this story has its beginnings just under a year ago, when I saw Northern Ballet Theatre’s production of the Three Musketeers at Sadler’s Wells. It was only a dress rehearsal, but I absolutely loved it, and from then on, my ambition for third year was to get into NBT.
This year, working with David Nixon on Steps to Bach gave me a further insight into what being in the company would be like, and when it came to the audition in late February, I knew that cometh the hour, cometh the dancer.
Last Wednesday, I had a call from the company offering me an apprenticeship contract for next season. I was lost for words, really.
I start on the fourth of August, which happens to be my nineteenth birthday. What a way to celebrate!!!
I love the type of work they do- my favourite ballets are the big dramatic ballets that really say something about the human condition and are total works of theatre. The thought that next season I will be part of that in some way is completely overwhelming.
I’m still not really back dancing; I started back in class quite soon, and my ankle swelled until it hurt to dance, so I’ve stopped again, and hoping to go back next Monday. Chelmsford is out of the question, but I’m quite sure that all being well, I’ll be back well in time for the Linbury. That’s two weeks from now, so the countdown is on!! It’s incredibly frustrating not being able to dance, but I just have focus all my energies on healing, and not on bemoaning my fate!
An incredibly short entry, for me at least!
Maybe there will be more news when I’m actually doing something again……..