Effie

What a lovely topic! I grew up in North America, so my introduction was seeing Suzanne Farrell dance on TV (on Sesame Street) and I told my mother I wanted to do that too. She enrolled me in ballet class the next day. Later in my childhood I got to see Evelyn Hart of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet dance Five Brahms Waltzes in the Manner of Isadora Duncan and Giselle Act II PDD (with Cesar Corrales's father, Jesus!). My ballet teacher got our class permission to watch company class onstage and I remember the pianist playing "Hey Jude" during the stretch after barre - Evelyn Hart changed the words from "Hey Jude" to "Jesus", singing it to Jesus Corrales. The performances were incredible, but I think it was actually the company class that I found the most intimate and compelling. I discovered the Royal Ballet as a teenager when a Canadian cable channel broadcast a British TV special about Viviana Durante and Darcey Bussell. I loved them both (but especially Viviana Durante). The same channel later broadcast the Irek Mukhamedov recordings of La Bayadere and Mayerling. I wore those VHS tapes out from watching them so much! As an adult I've moved around to several countries now, including many places without a large ballet presence. I'm so grateful for RB DVDs and performance streams since I've never lived in England and love the Royal Ballet so much. And I'm so happy to discover this community as well!