London School of Classical Ballet: ‘Ballets Russes’ at Cadogan Hall

[maryrosesatonapin]

There was a mixed bill tonight with performers ranging from young children to Principals of the Mariinsky Ballet.  As you can imagine, the standard varied widely but there was a lot to enjoy in a very varied programme.

 

The first half consisted of ‘Les Sylphides’ danced reasonably well.  The second half was a mixture of numbers of which one of the highlights was the Russian Dance from Swan Lake.  A senior student of the school, Isobel Passey, accomplished a really promising performance in this.

 

Daria Pavlenko and Evgeny Ivanchenko from the Mariinsky danced a gorgeous pas de deux from Scheherazade – very raunchy! – I wondered what the young kids made of all the sensuous writhing.  But the show-stopper at the end was a pas de deux from the Flames of Paris danced by senior student Kamila Sizinceva and the Bolshoi’s Igor Pugachev.  I’m not sure if it was just because of the contrast to the other male dancers of the evening, who apart from Ivanchenko were all very much amateurs, but from the moment Pugachev appeared on stage he seemed to fill the whole hall up to the rafters with his huge Bolshoi spirit and he gave the performance his all – really stunning.  The audience was rapturous.

 

The reason I like to support these performances is that the London School of Classical Ballet (also known as the London Russian Ballet School) does so much important work in the community, bringing ballet to children and their families who would otherwise never even think of going to a performance, let alone learn how to dance.  Many of the kids come from disadvantaged backgrounds but are given top-class training with huge financial support.  I was sitting next to a grandma of one of the young performers and she didn’t even know how to follow the programme.  But her interest was piqued and she is hoping to go to some ‘proper’ ballet performances now (as she put it).

 

Outreach by the LSCB gives children (regardless of ethnicity or family income) the opportunity to actually dance on stage with Bolshoi dancers, and has a huge impact on the lives of those who would otherwise never enter a theatre.  They train promising children four or five times a week, leading up to performances such as tonight’s.  One little boy with learning difficulties had never been able to speak until he was transformed by the programme, to give just one example.

 

Ballet gives all of us on this forum so much – but also gives to those in desperate need of enrichment in their lives.  

[alison]

Thanks, maryrose...   I've expanded on your title, as I for one had no idea what LSCB stood for    Hearing that Pavlenko was dancing, I really wish I'd been able to go  

[LinMM]

Very much agree maryrosesatonapin they do wonderful work and always enjoy their shows

I haven’t been to adult classes there for a while but they are starting a weekly Rep class which should be very interesting incorporating some character dancing 😊

[LinMM]

By the way their emails always come as London Russian Ballet School I think the other may be a previous name, 

[maryrosesatonapin]

31 minutes ago, LinMM said:

By the way their emails always come as London Russian Ballet School I think the other may be a previous name, 

That's what I thought, @LinMM, but here's a snap of last night's programme: 'tis a mystery!

 

[LinMM]

Oh  🤔...perhaps it’s the other way round then...perhaps they are changing name from London Russian to this though last time I was there it was very Russian!! 
Hope to get to next performance anyway.