Michelle_Richer

Oh sorry Susan, you are quite right, the emails were from Sausan Cameron.

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.

Hi Susan Welcome to the forum. We did exchange a few emails towards the end of last year, I was the one that visits Ballet West as I know you pass through Taynuilt to visit your in-laws, I was there again only a couple of weeks ago doing rep with the wonderful Gillian. What pieces are you guys working on this season?

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.

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.

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.

Thanks Lin, but I guess middle of the day is not ideal for either day as we could be preforming ourselves at the Congress, don't we have some cultural visit on the Saturday Unfortunately I don't have access to any of that project info while I'm away this week at Ballet West.

Lin, what day and where are the students of vaganova performing that week?

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.

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/

Things are going to feel a bit strange for the next month as several of my classes will be on Summer break, ENB, and the Alive Ballet Company are still running, together with one of my local smaller classes. Not only that but I have had to make some significant changes to my weekly schedule, mainly due to availability of studio space. However in the search for alternative studio space I came across a Ballet school near where my boyfriend lives that does Progressing Ballet Technique. Although no studios for hire, I did manage to try their last 3 Progressing Ballet Technique classes before the summer break. The last session I had with RAD’s Adult Associates at Elmhurst gave us an introduction to this by one of their body conditioning teachers, whilst its quite fun its also quite challenging, especially the routines using the large 80cm balls. On the bright side its only 2 weeks to go before my one-2-one weeks Intensive at Ballet West in Scotland. I know I shouldn’t be considering making changes to the pieces we are taking up there this year, however I came across a beautiful piece of music for my Gamzatti variation from La Bayadere / Le Corsaire, although I thought it was slightly slower, on checking it , it is the same, but it does have quite a distinct rhyme in the background that sounds a little bit like a cha cha, for me that really brings out the musicality in the dance. I particularly like the travelling turn section of the single pose, double pose, chaine, chaine, repeated twice, they seem to just glide through on the music, its just beautiful. My original music has a more strict tempo. However the new piece has an awful beginning that cannot properly be anticipated, it almost as if the orchestra is taking its queue from the dancer as she does her introductory port de bras/ change of weight and hits 5th with left hand on the first strike of the orchestra. Although I can get quite close, I really don’t feel comfortable with it, so I have reluctantly reverted to my original. In its port de bras from standard prep, it has a raising right arm with the music (almost gliding), the music halts momentarily, that signals an immediate change of weight, and arms through first to left high , the arrival of the left high should co-inside with the next strike of the orchestra, open palm punctuates it. That works well for me, so on balance I’m sticking reluctantly to the original

Hi Katharina Thank you so much for your suggestions, that has been really helpful. I really like the idea that the area could be Vienna. I looked at "Variation for Orchestra OP 31" and most of the variations but unfortunately non are to my taste. However I did find in “11 Waltzes for String Orchestra” No 7 Kraftig, it a really lively piece, very nice and I do like it, but sadly the end is not well punctuated for dance. Although I listened to a lot of Schonberg’s work, but needless to say, I did listen to several of Strauss’s Vienese waltzes too, and they would do very well, but with those I must confess I am drawn in the direction of Strauss’s Polkas.

Oh what interesting responses, firstly as stated this is inspired by, which means it is not exactly the same, but similar, so should avoid copy right issues. As for the names of each gem stone, I have used that in the context what I like or in other words what inspires me. Minor renaming of those sections is obviously no problem. As for “Sapphire” as it appears to the best of my knowledge at the moment nothing has been created for it, I know I could literally use anything, such as “WAG THE DOG, HE LOVES TO TANGO”, but sorry that just isn’t me. That’s why my original question about “Sapphire”, was to establish some form of authenticity to work from. I think it’s also worth pointing out this is not a commercial venture; also any supporting documentation I create should carry the words “Inspire by” as I think morally I have an obligation to give credit to George Balanchine for that inspiration.. To be fair giving credit by using the "inspired by" term is not uncommon.

Not a good start to the week now all the rehearsals are over for a while. Monday: I was looking forward to getting back to my ENB classes as I have missed four in trying to preserve my legs through lots of additional Sunday rehearsals . I got on the train at Peterborough as usual, firstly the train stopped at Hitchin then 3 other trains joined us stacked side by side. Then it was announced that there had been a fire in a signal box at Kings Cross and it had to be evacuated, late came an announcement to say the signal box was in operation again and we would soon be departing, the other trains did, then we slowly crawled out of the station and came to a halt again, this time there was something wrong with the train , another announcement “ A Thunderbirds Locomotive was coming out to rescue us, well it never came, later we crawled to Stevenage station where the train withdrew from service and we had to catch another one in. A 50minute journey took over three and a half hours. Needless to say I missed the first class but managed to do the second. Tuesday; normally our rehearsal day except now our show is over, we have a series of four 2 hour master classes with guest teachers arranged for us. Our first was at the Place Nr Kings Cross, it was really hot that day, my car indicated 35.5 ºC on the way in, the studio was very hot too, but never the less I still enjoyed it. I even learnt a new step, a Russian pas de chat also know as a grand pas de chat, that was fun, some of our dancers preferred to stay with a standard pas de chat. At the end we had a nice stretching session, I was fine until we were sat down with our legs apart in second, and I came to drop down on to my elbows as I can when I’m warmed up, I could feel the tightness in my right leg since my last injury, so I didn’t push it, then I felt something give, that was not a nice feeling and I instantly released the stretch. At the moment other than the presents of the pull I don’t think its done any lasting damage, at least I hope not. When I got back to Kings Cross for home, there were still quite a lot of disruption in the train service, my train had been cancelled, Grrr Wednesday; My first class is a Fitness class, at just after 8am I got a telephone call from my instructor there to say no classes as the centre is closed. There had been a shooting on Tuesday and three were killed . I guess the Fitness centre at Spalding is now a crime scene. On the bright side Adrian my boyfriend made his debut by performing our Le Corsaire PDD with me in front of my Glen Ballet group, apart from one little slip of the hands in a promenade it went really well for him. Our Glen ballet group congratulating him on his performance, I think that has done wonders for his confidence, especially as we are taking this PDD up to Ballet West for polishing in a few weeks time.

For those that were enquiring about the LAB Summer Intensive, I spoke with Tom (LAB Artistic Director) last night as promised, he confirmed that this will not be going ahead this year.

The ROH website describes JEWELS as: Each of the three movements draws on a different stone for its inspiration and a different composer for its sound. The French Romantic music of Fauré provides the impetus for the lyricism of ‘Emeralds’. The fire of ‘Rubies’ comes from Stravinsky and the jazz-age energy of New York. Grandeur and elegance complete the ballet in ‘Diamonds’, with the splendour of Imperial Russia and Tchaikovsky’s opulent Third Symphony. Each section salutes a different era in classical ballet’s history as well as a distinct period in Balanchine’s own life. Through it all, Balanchine displays his genius for combining music with visionary choreography. Its my intention to create my own version, as I said inspired by Jewels, ideally as a solo for all four piece. These wont actually be required in earnest until next year, but may be part of the rep I take up to Ballet West for polishing, having said that I already have the costumes for these pieces. I already have my rep for Ballet West this August, but I do like to plan ahead. These are my thoughts: For Emeralds I do like the female solo to the Sicilian. Rubies, I really don’t like it, as it is, however I will still try and retain a shortened version of the music and the fire and energy of the dance, but I fancy I will loose the jazz/ contemporary style and turn it to more classical allegro, but nothing is cast in concrete yet. Diamond: I really do love the opening waltz, although I do find it quite repetitive and boring after a while and will make a good candidate for shortening into a solo. Sapphire: well there is the question, what era/ area should it represent and indeed what music. I guess English or Scottish may be an idea.

Do any of our members here know a little bit about George Balanchine’s original creation of the Ballet “Jewels” as I would like to create something inspired Jewels but including the long lost “Sapphire”, which I understand was his intention together with pearls, but I don’t know how far that evolved. Sapphire was to be a fourth act of Jewels using the music of Arnold Schoenberg, does anyone have any idea what that music was or what city Sapphire was supposed to represent?

I did ask Lisa and got a very simple reply “Tom organises LAB stuff”, so nothing given away there. I will see Tom on Monday the 18th, as I’m with Ballet Cymru this coming Monday, so I will ask Tom when I see him, but I strongly suspect LinMM is right, it may well not happen.

Here is another London Adult Ballet Intensive run by Kim Amundsen, one time one of my LAB Teachers. Dear dance friends I'm doing a Dance Summer Intensive at The Place for two days on the 23rd and 24th of July. Live music with amazing Simone Sistarelli. 60min Barre a Terre ,60min neon classic ballet class and 2 hours Choreographic workshop. I would appreciate if you could share this message around to other dance friends so as many as possible get the chance to join. Many thanks in advance. Kim Amundsen xxx #balletdancer #dancer #Fitness #BarreaTerre #balletclass #contemorarydance #jazzdancer #amateurs #Intermediate #recovery #corestrenght #maledancer #femaledancer #professional #strength #ballet #neoclassicalballet #floorbarre https://www.facebook.com/events/910715679075109/?ti=cl

I see Karen of KNT Danceworks is also putting on another Summer Intensive on Giselle, this time in Liverpool on 29th to 31st July.

I was asked to post this on the forum as I am one of the Alive Ballet Company dancers, however I have no commercial interest in the company, I hope that's ok, as I think this is a wonderful opportunity for an amateur dancer. ALIVE BALLET COMPANY and ALIVE CONTEMPORARY DANCE COMPANY are looking for new dancers (Adult amateur) to join next term. We will be rehearsing from September with shows in November in St Petersburg, Russia and December in London. Trial session will take place in August. Please get in touch for more information. info@dancealive.london.

Hi LinMM KNT did Giselle's "Dance of the Willis" last year at Manchester, it was a really nice piece but quite long, you would have enjoyed it. They also did Giselle’s solo from Act 1 too, I know there was potentially another piece for that intensive, but I think the length of dance of the Willis from Act2 probably consumed it If you’re looking for Sleeping Beauty, RAD at Elmhurst are running a Workshop on the 3rd of July 10.15am to 12.45pm, but that may be closed now, but anyone wanting to check its availability, contact Louise Gould, at RAD Midlands. RAD at Elmhurst are also doing Don Quixote on the 4th of December 10.15am to 12.45pm, I may check them out on that one.

I guess I have finally succumbed to the fact my knee injury is not going to get better on its own, especially as my requirement to dance get even greater. The only thing that I can suspend for a few weeks is my 2 ENB classes on a Monday evening which really grieves me. However that has created the window of opportunity to see a Physiotherapist and also accommodate an additional rehearsal practice session for our summer show. I don’t think anyone realised just how much we needed to put into this show, including our teachers, this is the first time as a small ballet company of around 14 to 15 dancers we have tackled a full ballet. For those of us that have been there from the start we are dancing almost every scene. Additional voluntary rehearsals have been offered at the weekends, as yet other than half term I have not taken them up, now I think I need too, as does the majority of our dancers. That will take me to a total of 9 hours a week rehearsal for that show for the next month. Our show “Season of Joy”, a magical celebration of the seasons, is on the 9th July with performances at 5.30pm and 8.00pm at the Chelsea Theatre off the King Road, London . My other significant commitment is preparation for my week at Ballet West, with gosh, 6 hours a week with that one too, including two with my rep coach which includes one with my PDD partner Adrian. Our highlight of last week was for Adrian and myself seeing ENB's "Swan Lake in the round" during Saturdays matinee performance, which at least did give us the opportunity to check out the Chelsea Theatre where we are to perform next month, which was particularly important for Adrian to be able to find it on his own on show day, as he is not that familiar with London. The theatre was much smaller than I had anticipated although it has seating for 120 people, I guess one could say its quite intimate. Sunday turned out to be quite special too, although it was a long drive to Birmingham in an unfamiliar loan car, as mine was being repaired. As I was one of the RADs Adult Associates dancing on the pop-up dance floor provided by Harlequin to Celebrate the Patron Lunch (Queens Birthday) at New Street Station shopping area. Adrian came along to watch and met the girls from my classes and got on extremely well with them, at least now he has some idea of who he will be dancing with when he does his first session next term. One of the requirement of dancing at that event, was, we had to purchase a green RAD green commemorative T shirt which we had to wear when we were not dancing, Adrian see mine and ask if it was possible for him to have one, I wasn’t sure. I checked with the lady in-charge of the T shirts and she did have a few spares, and even more surprising one to fit him too. When he put it on, he seemed so proud to be wearing it, it was a bit special for me too and made a happy ending to that day. The visit to my Physio resulted in a diagnosis of a weak VMO muscle above the right knee. This visit was quite surprising, after quite a detailed examination of pushing pulling virtually every muscle and joint of my leg from foot to hip, what was most surprising was when I was asked to lay on this couch with the underside my right knee supported by a rolled up towel, the lower half of my body had a towel over it although I was wearing my leotard and no tights. I felt quite disappointed with the therapy that was taking place as I could not feel very much or have any real sense of what was taking place, however that all changed when I was asked to get up a check my retire position using the right leg. My left had previously been check and was above the knee, the right was about half way up the calf, any more and it was extremely painful. After whatever the therapy was, my right leg was easily raised above the knee in retire and without any discomfort what so ever, I was truly gob-smacked and just couldn’t believe it. In reality that relief was short lived as the knee started to stiffen by the end of that evening. I came away with two different sets of strengthening exercises to do twice a day. I have since researched other VMO strengthening exercises that are somewhat more aggressive, I need to discuss these with my physio at next Mondays session, also I really want to see how she releases the VMO so effectively even though it is a little sort lived.

Hi BBSAdult Thank you for your comprehensive reply and your encouragement to come to Boston. Sadly its unlikely, as I would not see any great need being fulfilled by coming, but socially I would probably enjoy participation in one of your courses. I have a real passion for repertoire, to that end I use a private rep coach for two sessions every week, I also belong to an amateur ballet company where we are working on performance material all the year round. I also work on my own repertoire that takes a good deal of practice and development, I have to hire suitable premises for my own use to fulfil that need, my hire for next week stands at 1 session in London, 3 sessions in Sleaford and 4 sessions in Surfleet. That is without my normal ballet classes which I of course I also attend. My requirements are not just the joy of dancing something determined by the teacher from a named ballet. For me it works the other way round, the requirements are quite specific and are in the first instance defined by myself (the dancer), Not only will the scene be set, but from who’s version was the choreography or its parts derived, as much of my choreography is a hybrid from two or more ballet companies together with a sprinkling of that which has evolved from our own sessions. During the summer each year, I select a few pieces for polishing for performance at what you might call an intensive summer school, in my case at Ballet West in Scotland. Again this takes place through one-to-one coaching. This year my selections are Le Cosaire Act 2 Grand PDD, Le Corsaire Gulnara’s variation, Le Corsaire / La bayadere Gamzatti variation and finally Don Quixote Act 1 Entrance of Kitri. Oh and our final run-through of these pieces are always performed in costume. Although I generally avoid many of the rep workshops on offer, as they seldom publish what they are teaching before the actual day and often the rep is simplified. However I do miss meeting the regular dancers I have known for some considerable time. But never the less occasionally I do, do the odd workshop still. In fact last Sunday I attended English National Ballet Swan Lake Master class, only to meet a girl that I did a Summer school with 3 years ago. For me there are a few ballet schools that give advance information as to what is being taught, that allow proper preparation to take place before the course commences, that works for me. Finally the picture is of a 6 day Swan Lake intensive I attended a couple of years ago, most of the dancers performed in consume for the end of course showing, although it was not compulsory, for me it just goes with the territory.

Hi esme I’m not sure what we are performing in Saint Petersburg, I guess it will either be something from our summer show “The Four Season”, or something from our Christmas show, but those we haven’t discussed yet. The trip to Russia is being done as part of the “ 47th World Congress in Dance Research”, this is what they say about the congress on their site: “The Congress is organized by the Saint-­‐Petersburg Section of CID–UNESCO. The program includes: scientific papers, lectures, workshops, video presentations, exhibitions, performances.. We welcome specialists in cultural studies, art historians, psychologists, sociologists, anthropologists, philosophers, theologists, medics, choreographers, dance teachers, dance therapists, dance film directors and professionals representing all forms of dance from all over the world.” I’m sewing too, mainly to get costumes finished before going up to Ballet West as our final run-thru is nearly always done in costume. I’m taking a couple of tutus up there but those are OK, my main focus is my Yellow and Black Spanish outfit for the Entrance of Kitri from Don Q, the other is Adrian’s outfit for our Le Corsaire PDD where he dances as Conrad the pirate. Hi Sheila Who knows what may happen in Boston Linc’s, it’s just up the road from me. I did look at one time at trying to hire the stage area of Boston’s Blackfriars Theatre, but its fully booked by other regular groups between performances. I’m now running a small rep group in Sleaford Linc,s, one of our ladies comes from Boston. I guess it’s a small world.