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December 01, 2007
Sausage England
Still Standing
Rothbart`s face. Photo © Daniel Jones
Just a few more days to go and I will have survived English National Ballet`s Autumn tour of the Snow Queen and Swan Lake. Unfortunately the tour has taken it`s toll on the dancers in the company, and injuries and illnesses have meant lots of casting changes. The reality of a dancer`s life on tour means being able to keep the body healthy and avoiding the flu is as much part of the job as doing daily class and learning the choreography, but it`s not easy.
Traveling, tiredness, stress, and the repetitiveness of the shows can make maintaining overall fitness hard. Personally, the current tour has been especially hard as I have been cast to do the same parts almost every show. I really know what I'm doing, but sometimes doing the same parts so many times can be mentally tormenting, especially when aiming for perfection. Pretending every show is my first ever performance is a trick I often use on myself to keep motivated, although I wouldn`t recommend it to anyone who suffers from extreme first night nerves. It could be dangerous.
Sausage England
The last two months of ballet have taken me all over England. Sadly, despite all the traveling, the theatre and the local High street is about all I see of the Cities. It's a sad fact that most High Streets tend to look the same - the same shops, the same window displays, and the same offers - however, in the centre of Southampton and Manchester there has appeared a new swarm of market stalls. Mini wooden villages that use strong scented cooked sausages to woo customers.
A Sausage Temptation. Photo © Daniel Jones
These big, juicy sausages have been incredibly hard for me to resist - especially on matinee days - but I`ve had to be strong as I can`t imagine dancing with one of them bouncing around inside of me.
I`m looking forward to eating one when the tour is over, and see if they really do taste as good as they smell. Lecker.
Twelve hour days
Next week we have a week of rehearsals at our London base before we start a marathon of 49 consecutive performances at the London Coliseum. While performing The Snow Queen and Swan Lake we have been rehearsing the Nutcracker in the day time. This has meant arriving at the theatre at 10.30am, and leaving the theatre at 10.30pm. Twelve hour days are exhausting, and now that I`m approaching my mid-thirties I`m starting to wonder what it`s like to have a life outside of a theatre.
The place where my Costumes live. Photo © Daniel Jones
Inside a theatre it`s magical but tough, painful but addictive. There are bright spotlights but there is no sunlight. Maybe that`s why I`m feeling so tired? Could it be a lack of Vitamin D? Do German sausages contain Vitamin D?
Maybe not.
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