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July 30, 2004
Ballet Insurance
"When will I be thirty?" is no longer a question in my mind. It is no longer a ballet fear that I have looming in the back of my head. I am thirty years old and I am a ballet dancer. Actually, I never really gave much thought about the prospect of being a thirty year-old ballet dancer. I haven’t really had that much time on my hands to worry about what being thirty years old actually means. I do know that thanks to my ever increasing age I have cheaper car insurance which I suppose is because the insurance company assumes the older I get the more reliable and experienced driver I become, thus making me less prone to car accidents. Maybe this means that in time my pirouettes will be more reliable and my Grand Allegro will become much more secure. I do hope so.
Barcelona
English National Ballet’s tour to Barcelona consisted of eight performances of a triple bill (Christopher Hampson’s Double Concerto, Derek Deane’s Swan Lake Act 2, and Michael Corder’s Melody on the Move) with no break. Fortunately there was a nice side to this. We were all given the option to either travel to Barcelona a couple of days before rehearsals commenced, or return to London a few days after the performances ended. I decided to go a couple of days early so as to be able to do some sightseeing before the hard work began. Universal Mediteranea is home to one of the largest rollercoasters in Europe and I couldn’t resist trying it out. What a monster. I was so scared I had to do it twice, but that was enough. Then there was the Picasso Museum, the Dali museum, the Gaudi house, the Gaudi cathedral, etc. Somehow, in between ballet classes, rehearsals and performances I managed to visit most of the fabulous sights that Barcelona had to offer. I also took with me a new toy which has become a great companion: a Sony DSR-PDX10 broadcast quality camcorder. A beauty of a camcorder with which I managed to get some fabulous footage of behind-the-scenes in the ballet world and delicious shots of the beautiful city of Barcelona.
The theatre was stunning. It didn’t quite look as glamorous on the outside as it felt on the inside, but this didn’t seem to affect ticket sales as the performances were completely sold out. There was, of course, tight security, and as the theatre was within walking distance of the hotel I managed to avoid any taxi nightmare scenarios which have happened to me in the past.
Sightseeing in Barcelona.
Photo © Daniel Jones
Three Mills
Three Mills studios is where English National Ballet and the extra fifty or so dancers that joined the company for our giant Swan Lake season at the Royal Albert Hall rehearsed for the weeks leading up to the performances.
It is indeed an enormous production and English National Ballet becomes a very different place whenever we increase in such size.
As any one can imagine when a company almost doubles in size, everybody has to take more responsibility when it comes to learning the choreography and also helping each other.
Not forgetting that as this particular production of Swan Lake is in the round there is no such place as upstage or downstage. We either face the organ, or nearly face the organ, or look towards the front, or… well, somehow we manage to find our way and placing. As anyone who has seen the production will acknowledge - the ladies that dance the swans are amazing at finding their spot on the stage. It is beautiful to watch.
May 24th
Sadly, during rehearsals of Swan Lake at Three Mills Studios I received a dreaded phone call from home. George Robert Moss – my Grandfather had passed away that morning. Almost immediately I travelled home to be with my family in Newcastle-under-Lyme. I was very close to my Grandad (as I called him). Some of my most treasured memories with him were when I travelled to and from White Lodge, the Royal Ballet School. Grandad would accompany me to London on the train from Stoke-on-Trent to London Euston and would share with me many of his war stories which took him to places as far away as Burma, Iraq, South Africa and many more. I realized then how lucky I was to be able to choose what I wanted to do, and I prayed that no war would come and take my dreams away that sadly had taken seven precious years out of his life. He only ever encouraged me to follow my dreams of becoming a ballet dancer and always encouraged me to continue to do what ever I wanted. I miss him very much.
George Robert Moss 1919-2004
Royal Albert Hall
The day after the funeral I returned to work to dance at the Royal Albert Hall. Everyone was very supportive and I can’t thank people enough for their love and support. It was weird going on stage so soon after such a major event but I suppose life has a way of throwing such tests at you to see how you cope.
The Royal Albert Hall itself is a wonderful place for any performer to experience. There are pictures all around the building of some of the different types of events that have been held there. Tennis, Boxing, Concerts, Operas, Circuses – the list goes on and on – have all been displayed in the beautiful building that was originally built out of one woman’s love for one man.
Daniel Jones, Fernando Bufala, Pedro Lapetra and Laurent Liotardo in Daniel Jones's Dancing that Dance.
Photo © Daniel Jones
Choreographic workshop
English National Ballet’s 2003/04 season came to a close with three performances of a choreographic workshop. Eight people in the company, including myself, created new works for the event which was put together during lunch breaks, coffee breaks, and any extra minutes that the choreographers could grab to get their volunteered dancers into the studio.
Dancing that Dance was my contribution to the shows and was an extension of a piece I’d performed once before at a gala in my home town. This time I extended the piece to three parts. A Barber Shop Quartet with four men (Daniel Jones, Fernando Bufala, Pedro Lapetra and Laurent Liotardo), A duet to a Harmonica solo for two ladies (Miranda Lee and Jennie Harrington), and finally a pas de deux to some slide guitar (Daniel Jones and Fernanda Oliveira) that had been composed specially for the piece by Murray Gould. Jamie Attle designed and made us wonderful costumes and we all had a great time performing. The fun we had may have had something to do with the amount of time we spent laughing in rehearsals. Some treasured moments of hysteria were caused by random accidents during early rehearsals. I had acquired some teach yourself capoeira – a Brazilian martial art - DVDs from Brazil and I found the movements so impressive that I used them as a starting point to create close contact movement for the choreography. Well, it lead to some very close contact and also inspired the giggles which is never a bad thing – as long as no one gets hurt.
Jennie Harrington and Miranda Lee.
Photo © Daniel Jones
Ballet Blast
Ballet Blast is my next ballet adventure. I am running a ballet Summer Course in Newcastle-under-Lyme called Ballet Blast for people of all ages. I am really looking forward to it and I will let you know what happens…
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