Simply Adult Ballet: the progress of one adult dancer who took up ballet later in life

[Colman]

Bereft of classes here too: regular ones ended at end of June, my wife found some others to do for July but there's nothing now: our teacher ran a workshop on short notice one evening last week and a dozen frustrated dancers turned up.

 

I'm down to two martial arts classes a week and a bit of horse riding and it's just plain weird to have all this free time. Nothing on for the two boys either: I have no chauffeuring to do. Very strange.

 

There's some hope that we'll get another workshop before the end of August.

[Michelle_Richer]

Although I’m short of classes and studio space during the summer break, I am still able to do some classes every day of the week (Monday to Friday). ENB was really good last night, our regular teacher Tom is on Holiday in the Caribbean for a couple of weeks, and we had ENB’s James Streeter for both my intermediate and advance classes. I loved it, but he isn’t sure if he will be with us next week or not, I really do hope he is.

 

ENB have some taster classes coming up on the 18th of August.

These are one-off sessions where you can sample ENB Adult Classes programme, including ballet for Absolute Beginners, Improvers to Intermediate as well as BalletFit, before enrolling in the Autumn Term (3 Oct – 21 Dec 2016).

 

Follow the link  http://www.ballet.org.uk/classes/taster-classes/

[Picturesinthefirelight]

If anyone is within reach of Staffordshire Daniel Jones Dance classes carry on running throughout the holiday period.

[TYR]

Is anyone here going on this intensive?

 

http://www.theplace.org.uk/week-3-rambert

[Anna C]

Welcome to the forum, TYR. :-)

[Regattah]

I'm still buzzing!

 

I had my first ballet class in 13 years tonight! I loved it, of course. It was RAD Intermediate, which was just the right level for an extremely rusty 44 year old returner.

[LinMM]

Is this going to be a weekly event now?

[Michelle_Richer]

Things are really starting to get exciting, it’s Ballet West for me all next week.

I’ve ran through my solo’s for the last time today and I feel quite comfy with them, although I know I will get them corrected and enhanced at Ballet West. Just the PDD to go through tomorrow for the last time, I do hope Adrian is on form, we have a little tidying to do there but its minor.

 

Its been another mixed week with different teachers to keep us on our toes, ENB had the lovely Lisa Probert (Ex ENB Soloist) who I haven’t danced with since we ceased LAB rehearsals last year, some on here may have met her in LAB workshops and Intensives. She covered both of my ENB classes Monday night and it was quite fun.

 

Tuesday was the last of our 4 Dance Alive master classes, for that we had Amanda De Oliveira a former  American Ballet Theatre dancer as our teacher, she used new music too. There was one piece that caught my ear while we were doing centre practice, it was a tango, I thought I had recognised it, as I had danced to it in the past from an enchainment from one of David Howard DVD’s. It turns out she had done some training with David Howard. What a small world, At least I did get to chat with here over Balanchine's missing jewel (Sapphire), she was really nice, I hope we see her again.

 

The rest of the week has been a bit problematic, trying to understand and sort out the Russia Visa requirement for our trip to Saint Petersburg in November, just waiting for one doc now, then I think we have everything ready for visiting the Visa Centre in London to have my finger prints taken as biometric identification data.

Edited August 11, 2016 by Michelle_Richer

[Fiz]

Isn't it wonderful about Dormouse's news?

[Jan McNulty]

Absolutely wonderful news about her success and glad I managed to catch her interview on the local London news courtesy of the iplayer!

[Regattah]

Is this going to be a weekly event now?

I think so, Lin! And there's a couple of people I work with who may join me.

 

Yes - great for Dormouse. She popped up on my FB feed. What an achievement!

[Kate_N]

Wow! Dormouse, I just found your interview on Facebook. Great stuff - you look great - nice lines and nice feet. 

[Colman]

Had another two hour workshop this week, with one of our teacher's occasional substitutes. Only eight dancers this time (two of them more advanced teenagers), but it *is* mid-August. 

[Michelle_Richer]

Brilliant first day at Ballet West with our PDD today, some minor corrections before our final run on Friday. Adrian bless him has a day off tomorrow while I'm doing solo's, but we are both in tomorrow night for a body conditioning class with the locals, hopefully some we met last year.

[Terpsichore]

Sadly our 3 day  intensive workshop on La Bayadere at KNT finished far too soon. For me it was the best workshop of the three and Swan Lake and Romeo and Juliet had been good too. A lot of very happy ladies left the Dancehouse this afternoon,

 

Tomorrow a new course starts for more advanced students which I hope and believe they will enjoy as much as we enjoyed ours.

Edited August 17, 2016 by terpsichore

[Michelle_Richer]

It's sad for me too, tomorrow is our last day with the wonderful Gillian at Ballet West. One of the pieces we did today was Gamzatti,s solo from La Bayadere.

[Michelle_Richer]

This week I have a full weeks break from ballet and time to take stock of where we are going. However last week was lighter than normal as a couple of classes had started their summer break earlier.

 

The week before was the event I had been waiting for all year, my annual visit to Ballet West in Scotland. Which is effectively a weeks Intensive on my own repertoire created from some of the classics. This year Adrian my boyfriend and dance partner came along too as we were dancing the Le Corsaire PDD. I was a little worried as weather Adrian could cope with the coaching from our teacher “Gillian”, principal of Ballet West. She was extremely understanding, and simplified his entrance, as I had set it a little too challenging for him. Although he had helpful corrections he also got complements too and became quite relaxed in doing the PDD with me.

 

I know when I had a couple of mishaps, Adrian was in the right place at the right time and we were able to recover and finish the piece on time to the music, just as if nothing had happened. For Adrians lack of Ballet training I found that really impressive. The PDD was only performed on the first and last day of our visit so as not to aggravate his recovering shoulder injury.

 

The rest of the week I spent on my three solo’s, on balance it was probably not such a good idea to take three solo’s containing grand allegro as it is quite tiring and has a significant risk of injury; however this time I managed to escape that.

 

 

Although part of the final day was spent on the polished our PDD, we did have time to look at a couple of next year’s pieces and associated difficulties:

Firstly the Black Swan PDD and its first pirouette’s, as I wanted to keep that as close to Kirov version as I could as I positively don’t like the style of the RB version of pirouette. We tried a few options out, suitable for demi-point but that’s still in the melting pot.

Secondly we tried various combinations to fit in with the music of Arnold Schoenberg for our version of solo for Sapphire.

 

 

That week passed incredibly fast and it was extremely heart wrenching to say goodbye, but never the less we have a plan in place for next year which is likely to be far more challenging that this year.

 

 

This weekend Adrian and I had a really nice social meeting with the rest of our Glen Ballet group, that was to look at our next piece of rep going forward. I took a number of options on video-clip, but it was unanimously agreed to work on a short Don Quixote PDD, mainly because it keeps the guys fully occupied and besides they will really enjoy behaving as toreadors with their cape part of the dance. The group would also like to increase the length of the session too, to at least 90minutes for a full half hour of barre warm-up. I’m hoping studios may be available from the school we are using to cover this requirement but it is at prime time, even if we have to split between two studios.

Edited August 28, 2016 by Michelle_Richer

[Michelle_Richer]

I was really looking forward to this full weeks break from ballet, well almost, I did do 6 sessions down my local hall on prep for next years rep.
However the week has certainly had its ups and downs.

Bank holiday Monday Adrian and I took the bikes out for the first time together this year, we cycled for about 10 miles stopped at a pub on the way and had an ice cream too, naughty but nice, and it was an absolutely gorgeous day, loved it. What could go wrong, well it did. When we got back I had this bright idea of taking one of the boat down the river on this gorgeous afternoon, only problem I couldn’t start the outboard engine as it had been stood for a long time. Adrian bless him is a non swimmer, so I sent to the garage to get a life jacket; he came back with it but laid it down on the landing stage. He decided the problem may be the boat needed balancing by adding his weight to the front; he tried to step on to it, not the centre line but the side. Needless to say the boat tipped over throwing me out and him into the water with no lifejacket. When he hit the water he was only a meter or two from the landing stage but the river shelve off quite rapidly to about 12feet deep with soft mud. He almost immediately went below the surface, all I could think about, I must get him and get his head above water. I don’t know how, but I located him in the murk and got him to the surface, it took a second or two to get his mouth above water as I had him on his back, what did surprise me he didn’t appear to struggle with me as I was expecting. Even more surprising was I have had no life saving training what so ever, and yet everything seem to go just right, I guess someone up there was looking after us. When I got him on dry land he was badly shaken and his legs badly bruised too, I was fine. Well until bed time, then I kept thinking, how will I tell his mum and his brother and sister how he died, it was my fault, I only got a couple of hours sleep that night.

Tuesday the high of the day was presenting my application to the Russian Visa Centre and it going through like a breeze when I had anticipated lots of errors. At least I would be home early. Wrong, I boarded the Edinburgh train with first stop at my station at Peterborough just before it was due to go out, then an announcement to say, “the east coast main line is close at Grantham as some power lines were down”, some passengers bound for Scotland were offered other routes via the west coast, I remained on that train for about an hour but it was clear it was going to take some considerable time. Eventually I jumped ship and went via Northern but it was after 4pm (end of off-peak time) , although my off-peak ticket was inspected, they didn’t query it. I stood nearly all the way back and I was extremely tired with so little sleep, so another horrible day.

Wednesday, definitely no ballet, but never the less was somewhat devastating. I got the priority booking email through for next terms English National Ballet classes. First my teacher Tom Linecar Bolton is no longer teaching next term, also the advance class and the advanced pro classes have been replaced by other classes for Mondays, however the Intermediate class is still running. Tom has been the best teacher I have ever had, always so full of enthusiasm and eager to help, I will really miss him.

Its just not worthwhile travelling to London for the remaining Intermediate class as the others are either basic beginners or contemporary ballet. It just feels awful having to leave, almost like mourning a loss as I’ve been there for 3 or 4 years now, it’s almost like home and very familiar.

I’m really undecided as to where I go next, but I guess I’m going to have to move my days around that I can, but it will still impact on other classes that I take.

Sorry if it’s a bit of a moan.


 

Edited September 1, 2016 by Michelle_Richer

[LinMM]

Nina is going to have a regular class on a Monday at studio 68 near Southwalk I believe it's Intermediate level.

 

Also double check what Tom is doing in Milton Keynes as I think he seems to be doing more there now. He already did one adult ballet class there perhaps he's adding more.

 

Also check out Central they may have a class that will suit you.

 

Is no other teacher taking over the advanced class you liked at ENB .....maybe not right now but down the line ....may be best to ring.

[Kate_N]

Michelle, you could look at the Danceworks timetable - 4pm there's a class with Adam Pudney. He is excellent - precise, musical, demanding but very funny & open & generous as a teacher. It's labelled "Beginner/Improver" but I'd put it at a level like the New York style Advanced Beginner where I've done class at Steps with retired professionals at that level. It's a standard class basically. I wouldn't recommend the Danceworks Advanced/Pro classes - they really are for professionals, or students in vocational training. I watch the last bit of them, thinking "Oh I used to be able to do that" .... <sigh>

 

"Central Nights" is the name for the Central School of Ballet adult drop-in programme. On Monday Lorien Slaughter teaches and Inter/Advanced class at 7pm, so depending on your trains to & fro, you could do the Danceworks class 4-5:30 (don't be put off by the "Beginner" label) and then get bus/Tube across to Clerkenwell from Bond Street (Central line to Holborn and walk would be ny recommendation) to get to Central for a 7pm class there.

Edited September 3, 2016 by Kate_N

[2dancersmum]

Not sure if anyone has seen or is interested but the RAD are doing a free day of classes at HQ in Battersea for dancers aged 50+ as part of their Silver Swans program.

https://www.rad.org.uk/events/dance-for-today?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=Dance%20for%20Today%20Sept%2016%20campaign

[Michelle_Richer]

Hi Linda
Thanks for the info on Nina, that one I will bare in mind. I see Rambert have a level 2 class, I spoke to a lady there, and she said it was advanced but I’m not convinced. I see Crystal have an Intermediate class on a Mondays with an advanced on Wednesdays, but you need their approval to move up to advanced, needless to say several of those I dance with in the ENB Advanced class are doing Crystals advanced too. I even checked out Northern Ballet at Leeds, as I had it in my head their Intermediate/ advanced class was on Thursdays which I have done before, which if push came to shove I could accommodate. It turns out its on Tuesdays so that’s a non starter with the Alive Ballet rehearsals.

I will have a chat with Tom tomorrow but I’m not very hopeful.
 
As for other advanced classes at ENB, they are really a non-starters, again Tuesday is out with rehearsals. Wednesdays is also out, lets say conflicts of interest and leave it at that.

Classes for the new term at ENB on Mondays are as follows:
1) Improvers, 7pm – 8.15pm
2) Intermediate, 7pm – 8.15pm with Lisa Probert
3) Absolute Beginners, 8.20pm – 9.35pm
4) Contemporary, 8.20pm – 9.35pm with New Movement Collective.
 
 
Hi Kate_N
Thank you for the info. The class with Adam Pudney certainly sounds interesting; timing could be somewhat difficult as Mondays start off very early for me with rising at 4am, then on the road at 5am to take Adrian back to his flat by 5.30am so he can start work at 6am. Its just after 6am when I return home. I leave home for my first class about 9.15am for 10am start to 11am, then one-to-one rep 11am to 12am and back home again by 1pm for a change and quick bite to eat. I usually leave home again at 2.30pm (tight timing) for Peterborough Station arriving a little after 3pm for the 3,29 train to King Cross, that arrives about 4.30. That give me enough time for a quick chat on the phone with Adrian, then tube to South Kensington for a coffee and quick snack at the RAH coffee shop before first class at ENB at 7pm, although I generally get to ENB just after 6pm in case a studio is available.

Although 4pm in London is just about doable if I don’t stop for drink/snack, I really am running with no contingency and wouldn’t want to do that in the long term. Never the less curiosity my get the better of my and I may try him anyway.

 

As for Central, its doable time wise, as the last class I leave at ENB is 9.35pm with train out of Kings Cross at 11.01pm, then home just before 1am. However I must say of what I have seen of Central it I’m not impressed, building wise that is.

As I’ve still got 3 weeks to with ENB I’m not making any quick decisions, I may not change my remaining schedule significantly until after Christmas, I need to think it out carefully.  In any case the money I am saving on Mondays will allow my to add in another one-to-one session each week, but at the moment I think I would rather put that effort into my own rep group Glen Ballet, especially as I have two more dancers joining us this week, that really does take up a lot of time.

Edited September 4, 2016 by Michelle_Richer

[Michelle_Richer]

Well after the sadness of loosing Tom at ENB, well not quite yet, we have until the 19th, end of ENB’s term. I have no dought we will meet up for a final drink after class. Although he wont be a regular teacher for ENB any more, he did say he would on accessions he would be back to provide cover if needed. Unfortunately there are several dancers like myself who are not renewing our bookings with ENB.

 

For me at least, Ive decided to put the extra time and effort that this has freed up in to developing my Glen Ballet Group.

 

 

The  rest of the week has been brilliant:

 

firstly  I guess in the wake of not going to ENB each week, I thought I may loose track of a casual acquaintance, a smart gentleman that play the Titanic Theme on the harp in the pedestrian underpass from South Kensington Tube station on my way to ENB which is close to the Royal Albert Hall. He was there this week, so I stopped for my usual chat and this time we exchanged contact details as I really really want that music when he finally records it, for me it’s the best I have ever heard, so beautiful and moving, I just have to choreograph some ballet to it. The following day I received his request on Facebook, he also has his own website. Some of you may know of him, he was an accountant that gave it all up to follow his passion as a musician, he has on CD out already, but not the music he plays in the underpass. Apparently it is taken from the original piano music that the Titanic theme was developed from, it always gives me goose bumps when I hear it, it was just meant to be.

 

Secondly: I managed to get my extra half hour prime-time booking on Friday evenings for Glen Ballet at the studio we hire.

 

Thirdly: I collected my Russian visa from the visa centre without any hitch, for my trip with the Alive Ballet Company.

 

Fourthly: I managed to book flights today for our trip to Saint Petersburg in November.

 

Fifth: Icing on the cake, I’ve also managed to book tickets to see Kirov perform Giselle at the Mariinsky Theatre.

 

So at least for the moment I have a big smile on my face, I’m just hoping to finish the week off on a high when my Toreador capes come in from Spain before Friday, this is when my Glen Ballet guys starting their new piece from Don Q.

[Michelle_Richer]

Toreador capes have arrived from Spain and it only Thursday, guys are just going to love this piece.

[LinMM]

I think the other good thing this week is starting the new piece with Alive Ballet on Tuesday

 

It's to John Taverner "the Protecting Veil" a piece of music which has particular resonance for me.

 

The opening choreography we learned on Tuesday ...just like the music is really beautiful..

 

Cannot wait to carry on with this next week.

[Kate_N]

Beautiful music, that Tavener piece. I think one of the pluses of ballet over say, yoga or Pilates, is the music!

[LinMM]

Absolutely Kate_N!

I do like yoga and Pilates etc but never really gives me the same "buzz" as ballet does.

[Fiz]

I agree with you, Lin.

[Legseleven]

I couldn't agree more, Kate_N! The music is why ballet spoiled me for any other kind of exercise, even the ones with similarities eg yoga, Pilates.

[Kate_N]

I have some friends who are very very devoted yoga practicers. But while I like yoga, it doesn't give me what ballet does, because it doesn't move.

[Michelle_Richer]

Yes Lin that Taverner piece we danced to is nice, but for me is no where as moving as Gabriel Oboe that we danced in our last Alive Ballet Company show, that was a real emotional piece and really beautiful. To be honest I use that as a cool-down with my Glen Ballet group at the end of our session.

 

Interesting comments comparing Yoga Pilates to ballet. Although I don’t do them specifically, but a mix of those with various fitness and body conditioning classes.

The Less Mills Body Balance class I attend states it is based on a combination of Ti Che, Yoga and Pilates, however I do have a habit of balletfy them a bit, if there is such a word, the movement and coordination with the music in a dance like interpretation.

 

Another type fitness class I find quite rewarding is called “Progressing Ballet Technique”, it works well with music. I was first introduced to this as a taster at our last Body Conditioning class last term at RAD Associates at Elmhurst.

 

Just by chance I found a local class that teaches Progressing Ballet Technique when looking for another studio to hire, the basis of most of the exercises I have done uses the large 80cm ball. Here is an example follow the link

 

[Colman]

Back to classes tonight, thankfully.

[Michelle_Richer]

Last night at my ENB classes was a bit like an end to an era, it was the close of the Monday Advance class with Tom our teacher leaving. Needless to say there were various group photos taken with Tom in both the Intermediate and Advanced classes and a final goodbye drink at the a local pub after class.

 

Not only will I miss Tom for his eagerness to help and his endless enthusiasm, I will miss ENB’s lovely studio which has become a bit like home. Only last night with the company away I had nearly an hour practice in that studio before class.

 

 

Monday morning was also the time Adrian my boyfriend attended class with me and my rep coach for introduction to his parts in the Black Swan PDD. As I had learn a good deal of it more or less as a solo or improvised the male assisted parts. I really wasn’t expecting the differences it made. One piece which really stood out was near the beginning which is a sequence temps de fleche’s which starts with the gesturing leg in attitude derriere and the supporting leg on demi-pointe , this was fine when unassisted ( as per Kirov) apart from a few balance wobbles, it launched the temps de fleche beautifully. However we decided to add Adrian in with an open palm to support by palm touch only of my lower arm , with that I could hold that attitude position on demi-point almost indefinitely, for me that was a big wow I wasn’t expecting, but I found for some reason it screwed up the launch of the temps de fleche. Instead of the attitude gesturing leg coming down for a spring off on the other leg for the grand battement , it seem to fall flat, then the other leg was slightly late and inclined to developpe. That took a lot of brain to body reprogramming to pull those two together, but I still cant work out why that little bit of support changed the dynamics of that movement so much, ah well its fixed now.