Jarkko Lehmus Diary

Crunch Time Magic

Plenty of blood, sweat and tears has mixed in with the water that has passed under the bridge since the last entry. The honeymoon is over and the reality is making hay. Exhausted people injuring themselves physically and emotionally. Some are hanging their thights up and moving on with their lives and others are taping their toes, gritting their teeth and ploughing on. Mine is the latter choice. So here I am with some Finnish dry white table wine trying to unlock the secrets of Bach's Chaconne in D Minor.

Since Jose Perez left to peel gold off the floors of Italian tv-studios Jodie pulled the rabbit out of the hat and cast me to replace him in the first cast of the first pas de deux of William Forsythe's Suite from Artifact. A dream come true and all hell breaking loose at the same time. I had danced the second couple for a few months and felt that I knew it pretty well but the first couple is a different sort of vertebrate. I'm not a great partner for girls in those pointy booties as it is and I've got an additional handicap of missing the whole learning process of the material so I'm just copying other people and making things up as I go along. I feel a bit sorry for Claire Robetson. She had a good thing going with Jose and now she's back to square one with me. Luckily for me she knows the piece inside out and, if she'd have wing, she'd probably fly through the whole thing by herself. We are doing the first run through on stage in costume on Wednesday and the first night is on the next week's Wednesday. I'm shitting my thights but I hope nobody notices. They're mustard colour anyway.

On a more positive note Ashley's own piece, Nightswimming into Day, is shaping up nicely. I'm looking forward to getting on the stage and giving it some with lovely Eve Mutso. Whether the second cast, me included, is ready is a different matter. So many things to do and so little time.

Another season, another poster. You'd think that if they bother stretching my body out and shaving some extra flab off my bum they'd do something to my feet as well, like paste on Sylvie's trotters.

As I said before there are all sorts of movement going on in the company. Lilian Pommier has left on a very short notice to study sports science in a university in France, Nick Cleverton is leaving this week to become a personal trainer and Lorna Beattie is off to a university as well after the tour is finished. It's sad to see them go, but when you hear the call of the wild you've got to follow. A few more people are leaving after Nutcracker and in the end of the season. Filling the void are the newcomers Hubert Essakow formerly from Royal Ballet, Florence Baz from Northern Ballet and old acquaintance Limor Ziv.

Ashley is pushing the company to it's limits and beyond and his direction is clear. The challenge for him is to lure enough talent up here to make his vision flesh. The work is hard but rewarding but if there aren't enough performances and audience it's hard to justify the long hours in the studio and frustration kicks the door off it's hinges. It's a slow process getting the Scots to realise that a night out in ballet could be a cool thing to do and if the company's budget stays as it is were not going south of the border, let alone outside this rainy island. To address that particular issue the company has hijacked Cindy Sughrue from the Scottish Arts Council to be it's new Executive Producer. She seems like she knows what she's doing and isn't shy of fighting for what she wants. But at the same time there is a vacancy for the Head of Press and Marketing, a Finance Officer and the Chair of the Board and the whole saga of the new premises is on the boil as well.

Transformation, deviation or innovation. Which ever word you want to choose I do not care. What I care about is that the right people find their way here to work their magic. I'll be sacrificing my liver to the spirits in the meantime.