Jarkko Lehmus Diary

Sitting on the Dock of the Bay...

It has been forever and a day since my last entry and there has been so much going on that I have to apologise to you in advance that I don't have all the facts readily at hand. The alternatives were either to gather all the info and write this later risking accumulating even more back log or to purge my brain now and possibly clarify things later. Since my brain is a close relative to a sieve I decided to serve you the contents before they vanish altogether.

Let's start from the people and events surrounding the company and spiral inwards. Chairman of the company was on the move and a new one has been appointed in the form of Zoe van Zwanenberg. I won't bore you with her credentials, you can read more about her on the company's website, instead I'd like to say that, as first impressions go, she sounded like a solid and very enthusiastic person with not a whiff of 'bs' about her. While we're talking about the board another interesting change is in the process: for the past five or so years the Scottish Ballet has had a joint board with the Scottish Opera but it seems that both companies are getting their own dedicated board early next year. It certainly sounds like good news to me. It can only be a good thing to have separate boards especially when the funding of the companies are discussed and just for my own peace of mind I like to know that there are people dedicating their time for the good of the company.

The good of the company... and how good is the company? Good enough to win a gong for Outstanding Achievement in Dance "for sure-footed modernisation under Ashley Page and dynamic performances" in the 2004 TMA Awards. Nice one!! The Critics' Circle has gone not just one but two up by nominating the company for a hat trick of awards in the form of Paul Liburd and Jose Perez standing for the best male contemporary and classical dancer categories and the whole company for kicking some general pantyhose butt. And it's not just the industry boffins that are appreciating the work but the papers have also done their bit by showering us with enough stars to make up a few minor constellations. It all sounds a bit too good to be true and in a way it is. The sun is shining very brightly at the moment but is the high sustainable? We cross our finger and hope for the best. Ashley's done some wonders with the company but solving the financial problems and securing a real future for it is still in the process.

Moving on to the dancers and staff, the birds seem to be confused whether it is spring or autumn. Emma Sandall is heading back down under to work for the West Australian Ballet, Lorna Scott is on her way looking for a brigter future elsewhere, Adrian Cunescu is joining the Staatsopern in Vienna and finally the man who taught me some finer points of (soft) porn stardom, Jocelyn Giles, is going south to Truro to be a local dance administrator. To make up the numbers a stack of fresh faces are drifting in during the next month. The first arrivals are Will Smith, who has ditched Hollywood and Dance Theatre of Harlem in favour of good old Glasgow, and Royal and K Ballet refugee Justin Whats-'is-nuts. (Justin's last name and the details of the rest of the newbies are to follow at an unspecified date in the future.)

The dancing tide aside, the company has suffered one real loss: our long serving choreologist Jane Swinscoe, I knew her as Jewell, died following a long struggle with illness on 4th October. She will be sorely missed by all of us.

In the middle of everything the show is still going on: the tour over and done with we're back rehearsing the Nutcracker. After a week and a half, and a month and a half to go, I've got most of my bits in the bag already and it's looking like a pretty chilled out run up to the first night. The down side of having all this extra time on my hands is that I'm finding myself in the shops and clubs with increasing frequency but as an adopted scot I'd be half the man I am without a kilt and it sure is liberating to let loose in one. Oh hell, I blame it on the boogie and toast Mr Jack Daniels.