Daniel Jones Diary

Breakdown Recovery

May 24th 2003

The Linbury Studio Theatre, at the Royal Opera House was the venue for English National Ballet’s first public performance of selected works from their last choreographic workshop. Adam Cooper was to appear in the second part of the programme in Kenneth Macmillan’s Sea of Troubles. And Finally… was my contribution to the programme which closed the first part of the evening and followed the other new works that had been created by members of the company. I was lucky enough to have a wonderful group of dancers to work with, Thomas Edur, Agnes Oaks, Yat Sen Chang, Fernanda Oliveira, Jan-Erik Wikström, Caroline Duprot, and Yosvani Ramos.
And Finally… was great fun to create, and as I sat amongst the audience and listened to people chuckle away, I was filled with a great sense of relief. Although I was convinced that the fun parts worked, it is of course, the audience that decide whether you are funny or not and they were clearly on my wavelength. Phew.

Last minute preparations for the performance at the Linbury Studio Theatre.
Photo © Daria Klimentova

Breakdown Recovery

The rehearsals leading up to the performance had been a lot more tense than I had anticipated. I think this was due to the fact that normally the choreographic workshop is a private affair, but this was the big league. This was the next level, where you open yourself to public criticism and put your work in the hands of the judges, you, the public.
After the second and final performance, which took place on Tuesday May 27th, everybody seemed to be happy with the event. It had been a great opportunity for many dancers to see what it’s like on the other side, the side of the choreographer, the rehearsal director, or even coach, and you can only benefit from tasting those experiences. Personally I had learnt a lot about how important it is to be a member of a breakdown recovery service. This was because my family’s car had broken down on their way to see the second performance and they managed to arrive five minutes before the performance started thanks to the speed of the recovery service that picked them up and got them on a train to London.

Fernanda Oliveira, Yat Sen Chang, Thomas Edur, Agnes Oaks, Jan Erik Wikström and Caroline Duprot in Daniel Jones's And Finally... Photo © Daria Klimentova

The Rite Stuff

Speaking of breakdown recovery services, last week, at the Sadler’s Wells theatre, was my first week back on stage since January. Kenneth Macmillan’s Rite of Spring was to be my first taste of live performing for my brand new fifth metatarsal, and the rest of me of course, since my accident. It’s certainly not a mild ballet, but my toe and everything else survived with no side effects. Actually it was fantastic to be back, and, if somebody had asked me which one act ballet would you like to do when you come back from being favourably one sided? Kenneth Macmillan’s Rite of Spring would definitely have been on my list.
As for Coppélia, which English National Ballet performed for the rest of the week, well, you don’t get much more jolliness in a classical ballet than in Ronald Hynd’s Coppélia. A bit of Czardas and Mazurka once in a while must be good for you, it certainly hasn’t done me any harm. Not forgetting the famous pirouette section as an Escort in Act 3 which was my biggest technical test of the week.

Brits Abroad

When it came to the end of the performance on Saturday night, I was really quite relieved. I had completed the week’s performances without even thinking about ice-packs or arnica. I guess that means I’m back, just in time for a foreign tour to Greece. The Herod Atticus theatre in Athens will be the setting for the company’s final performances before the summer break. We will be performing the same programme that we performed at Sadler’s Wells but with Christopher Hampson’s Double Concerto instead of Michael Corder’s Melody on the Move. I can’t wait to be in the hot Greek sun, and I will tell you all the gossip when I get back. Well, some…