Daniel Jones Diary

29 and still Dancing That Dance...

Time for a nice triple

Leaving Liverpool on Saturday October 26th meant that it was definitely time for a nice triple. At our studios at Jay Mews we had two weeks to get our triple bill together and ready for Southampton where we would open. I was lucky enough to be dancing all three ballets – Christopher Hampson’s Double Concerto, Mark Morris’s Drink to me only with thine eyes, and Kenneth Macmillan’s The Rite of Spring. Quite a programme with an unimaginable number of counts to memorise. To be honest I’m not a counting kind of dancer. I’ve always found numbers and expression not very compatible. I always do whatever I can to learn the music well enough so that I’m not saying five, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight in my head while I’m trying to dance with a melody.

Daniel Jones rehearsing Dancing That Dance at Jay Mews
photographer Daniel Jones ©

Having already performed Double Concerto and The Rite of Spring, it was Drink to me only with thine eyes that I would have to learn for the first time. Mark Morris came to our studios the day before our opening night, and you could feel the apprehension in the air when he walked into the studios on Monday November 11th to see how we were handling his ballet. His personality took over the room instantly, and he did not hesitate to say the thoughts that were going through his mind. Although we didn’t have much time with him he gave us all plenty of information to chew on. Everything he said made a huge difference to how the piece was finally performed, and it really was a memorable experience to be rehearsed by the man himself, Mark Morris. After two performances of the triple bill we then finished the week with Christopher Hampson’s The Nutcracker. It was then time to travel up to Manchester to perform the triple bill and The Nutcracker which was to be the final week on tour until February.

29 years young

November 26th was the day I became 29 years young. To try and forget I was getting a year older, myself, a number of dancers and some friends went to Rodizio Rico churrascaria in Westbourne Grove. A churrascaria is a Brazilian barbecue where you get to eat as much as you like (a very popular idea with the dancers but obviously we can’t do it everyday) including the speciality dish, chicken hearts. Not my favourite I have to say but they did become more popular as the night went on. It was a lovely evening and I almost managed to drink enough to forget that I was a year older than yesterday.

Cabaret

November 28th was time for English National Ballet’s company cabaret. Since I joined in 1992 there has been a cabaret every year which is usually organised by the dancers. The cabaret show itself consists of various comedy sketches written and performed by the dancers and other members of the company. Although normally the cabaret is held on tour, due to tight scheduling the cabaret was held at our studios in Jay Mews. It was a great show, and a good laugh was had by all. I particularly enjoyed seeing the whole company sing English National Ballet to the tune of English country gardens. I have to confess that it was all my fault as I had written a reworded version of English country gardens and managed to get everyone to sing along.

Dancing that dance

Saturday November 30th was time for The Marilyn Jones dance centre’s 25th anniversary gala at the Victoria Hall, Stoke on Trent, where Fernanda Oliveira and myself were to perform a piece that I had choreographed called Dancing that Dance. With music by guitarist Murray Gould and costumes and designs by Jamie Attle it was quite special to perform a new work that nobody had seen or heard before. There was a great atmosphere backstage as all the children and adults involved prepared for the show, and many of the children were asking us lots of questions. There was one question that did almost put me off and I will never forget. It was just as I was to walk on stage to start the piece that a young boy called Bradley Hall asked me ‘What’s the worst performance you’ve ever done?’ ‘Ask me afterwards’ I replied as I entered the stage, trying not to think of what I’d just been asked. It went really well and it was really cute to be totally upstaged by a young child dressed as a teddy bear who presented us with some flowers as we bowed.

Fernanda Oliveira ready for Dancing That Dance
photographer Daniel Jones ©

Unfortunately I never did find Bradley to tell him about my worst performance, which was probably the one when I didn’t actually perform at all. I was playing the wolf in Ronald Hynd’s The Sleeping Beauty, and unfortunately I couldn’t find my wolf head, so all I could do was watch red riding hood from the wings trying to look terrified of the Invisible Wolf. Oops!

Marilyn Jones, Daniel Jones and Fernanda Oliveira
after the show at The Victoria Hall, Stoke on Trent
photographer Daniel Jones ©

Ballet Black

Sunday December 8th was Ballet Black’s first public showing and was held at the Royal Academy of Dance. It was an evening of music and dance hosted by Ballet Black’s director Cassa Pancho and their ballet master Denzil Bailey. Along with Denzil Bailey’s A New Beginning and Cassa Pancho’s The Boogaloo Room, the company also performed The Devil’s Blues, a ballet which I originally choreographed in 2000 for English National Ballet’s choreographic workshop. This was my first experience of seeing dancers perform a piece that I had originally choreographed on other dancers. I really enjoyed the evening, and it was nice to hear that the dancers really enjoyed performing the piece.

Christmas at the Coliseum

I am now well and truly into Nutcracker mode. As well as playing the Brigadier, Clara’s Father, King Rat, Jackfrosts, Arabian, Waltz of the Flowers, and Russian in various performances of Christopher Hampson’s The Nutcracker, I also have seven scheduled performances playing Drosselmeyer. This Drosselmeyer was created on Irek Mukhamedov and there is a lot more dancing for the character than previous productions that I have performed in. I have already performed it twice and I had a lot of fun doing it. With thirty three performances to go before January 5th it’s certainly going to be a Nutcracker Christmas, I just hope I’m not Nutcrackered out when we get to the last performance.