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

[Jan McNulty]

Who is Renato for the benefit of those of us who haven't got a clue to whom you are referring?

[Nicola H]

5 minutes ago, Jan McNulty said:

Who is Renato for the benefit of those of us who haven't got a clue to whom you are referring?

Renato Paroni 

an apparently somewhat  eccentric  Ballet teacher who, when in the UK  and not  off around the world  teaching  at other vocational schools / coaching / ballet mastering   teaches at Central  . including  some of their  open access Evening classes  ... 

the   rosta of teachers for  the  public  classes at Central is  really  rather remarkable https://www.centralschoolofballet.co.uk/classdescriptions.php

[Kate_N]

13 hours ago, Jan McNulty said:

Who is Renato for the benefit of those of us who haven't got a clue to whom you are referring?

 

Mr Paroni is a master ballet teacher. He has taught in London for several decades - I used to do his classes at Danceworks, and he now teaches adults in the "Central Nights" programme at the Central School of Ballet (an excellent adult programme, by the way). Informally, he is known for teaching long-ish classes - generally running an hour & three quarters or two hours, and he's probably known familiarly, by those who have actually taken his classes, for his very funny metaphors in his coaching & corrections. Yes, he has a distinctive teaching persona.

 

BUT - a big but - especially for serious dancers ...

 

He's probably best known in the UK for his connection to the ENB. For a long time, he has been Tamaro Rojo's personal coach, and also works as a choreographer and personal coach for young ENB dancers and students at ENBS. Ms Rojo is a phenomenal turner, and I'd say (from my experience of Renato's teaching) that has been enhanced by her work with Renato. 

 

He is an extraordinary teacher. He works with a number of other eminent teachers, here and in the USA (Antonia Francheschi, Nina Thilas-Mohs), in teaching the "Equal Weight" method developed by Cristina Bernal (via Maggie Black) - legendary teachers in New York, which is probably the place which rivals London for its dance culture (apols to Paris!). Ms Francheschi danced with the NYCB - specially choreographed for by Balanchine no less!

http://www.peridance.com/facprofile.cfm?fid=1415&name=Antonia_Franceschi

The technique does a lot of work in first, and really works to get you thinking about your weight and turnout in a very functional way. 

 

My personal experience of Renato's teaching over about 15 years is his extraordinary ability to get adults really safely and securely turned out - I walk out of his classes - even if they're 2 hours long - feeling really well-oiled in my hips, turned out safely, no sore knees, and very lifted & centred. My turns are always good in his classes, and I love his commentaries! He has an absolute eagle eye for corrections. Unfortunuately, he doesn't do the level of hands on corrections that he used to (I suspect some adult dancers have reacted badly) but I can remember, still, the first time I did one of his classes, very nervously at Danceworks - we were still in the plie exercise - and he came up behind me and used practically his whole body to push - gently! -my spine and pelvis into alignment. I got the correction immediately because he was working with my whole body  - there's something about the way he can place your body which is really very very good. I've not experienced that with many other teachers (Hannah Frost has tat ability as well, but teaches quite differently). 

 

I think he's one of those teachers who homes in on "teachable" students - luckily, I've always been one of those. But some people just don't like his style. And I imagine if all an adult has ever done is syllabus work or basic beginners ballet, his professional outlook (he really does treat adult students like professionals) is challenging. I get that people might not like him, but I think you always need to experience a teacher before dismissing them. I'd always encourage someone to take class with Renato. Even if you don't click with his methods, you won't get injured - at least not through his doing.

[Jan McNulty]

Thanks Kate.

[LinMM]

I did a class with Renato Paroni one Sunday about four years ago. I think I had gone to Central thinking David Kierce was there and did Renato's class instead.

He definitely has an eccentric touch ....was wearing a boiler suit type thingy with enormous hob naily looking boots but quite liked him as a teacher as like David he can be very funny.

The only problem that day was it was exceptionally crowded .....probably near 40 people present and a massive range of dancers from some Royal Ballet Dancers who were in class( apparently there were no classes at Royal that week!!) to people who had only been doing a couple of years of ballet.

In the Centre he did seem to set slightly different levels .....two groups of slightly harder steps and two with slightly easier ones which would have been very good .....but some annoying people decided to go in almost every group ....some running in at the last minute....grrr.

The barre was very long with loads of tendus which I didn't mind at all and in the end ( though was worried after the long barre) the Centre work overall  wasn't too complex.......the class is called Beginners/General ....and I did think he kept it around this level.

Nice to see how it all should be done by the Royals....I'm sure Marienela Nunez was in class that day....but very unassuming....and some great pirouettes from the male Royals!! 

I would do another of his classes as I mostly enjoyed it .....but not if there are always about 40 there ....have no idea how unusual/ usual this is.

[Kate_N]

Well, the fact that he attracts that level of dancer tells you something!

 

And yes, his technique uses a lot of work in tendu, retire, and ronde de jambe. It's usual in an advanced/professional class to do a slow tendu, a fast tendu, a glissé and and a jeté exercise (and those last 2 can be quite different in emphasis) - so this is not so unusual really. I like it - it gets your feet working & you get on your leg - a typical class from Renato or Nina will have a relatively simple barre - easy for an advanced dancer in terns of choreography and accessible to beginners. The centre can then go much faster & with more complexity.

 

It's probably a shock if you're mostly used to set syllabus work, or conventional & non-professional level classes, but I do like this technique - I find it's also quite kind on an older body!

[LinMM]

I think the classes at Central in the evenings and on Sunday's are very good with some excellent teachers and wonderful value .....when I last went £8 for an hour and a half!! Cheaper than here in Brighton.

However I only go rarely now as this was in the days when I first returned to ballet and so before I joined LAB and Alive etc and as am now in London weekly I can only spend so much time there!! So don't have as much time at weekends any more as am in London mid week.

But if anyone is looking for classes then I can generally recommend Central....I personally much prefer to Danceworks even if not all the floors are that perfect to dance on! 

 

 

[Nicola H]

14 hours ago, LinMM said:

I think the classes at Central in the evenings and on Sunday's are very good with some excellent teachers and wonderful value .....when I last went £8 for an hour and a half!! Cheaper than here in Brighton.

However I only go rarely now as this was in the days when I first returned to ballet and so before I joined LAB and Alive etc and as am now in London weekly I can only spend so much time there!! So don't have as much time at weekends any more as am in London mid week.

But if anyone is looking for classes then I can generally recommend Central....I personally much prefer to Danceworks even if not all the floors are that perfect to dance on! 

 

 

It's  10 gbp  a class now, but  for a solid hour and a half of   a teacher of the  calibre  that Central Nights has  you can't go wrong  - certainly  if i'm in London  on a weeknight   and can get   ...    last time i was in London was in March for an appointment on the Friday Morning  as   1st class train lunchtime/ mid afternoon  and a night in travelodge is cheaper than trying to  travel on the morning and rather less stressful  delays wise   so I travelled down Thursday afternoon and   decided to have  the rest of friday and some  of saturday  in London  - so  I took David's Thursday  night ' beginners'  class  - yes it's suitable for  total newbies but  for anyone who wants a  decent class taught by a really good teacher  and where  at least half the aching   afterwards is from laughing  ...   I recognised a number  of people  there from TBR   and know they also  take  David;s improvers or improvers plus classes  . 

Friday  I took  Hannah Frost's class at Central  - against  she's a fabulous teacher  and   much fun was had  - also bumped into  a familiar face from TBR  there as well. 

might have to  brave  some of the other classes  next time i'm in the smoke..

and , yes,  the Herbal Hill building has it's own unique charms  ... 

[LinMM]

I think it's just not quite so hot and sweaty and NOISY as Danceworks!! ( not to say that there isn't a lot of sweaty work going on of course!  

Going to one of David's classes was a general tonic all round.

[Kate_N]

Horses for course really. Most good teachers teach at Central, Danceworks and Pineapple variously. I tend to go for particular teachers & levels, rather than the actual studio itself - as long as there are showers, a place to change, and a decent floor, I'm fine. So if I'm working in London Friday-Saturday-Sunday, I'll do Nina Thilas Mohs' class at Central on Friday night & at Danceworks on Sunday afternoon (but her classes are quite a way above Beginners) and Hannah Frost's Beginners at Danceworks on Saturday to keep me tuned up & working on the basics. If I'm in town on Monday, I don't like to miss Adam Pudney's class. I guess the 7pm start of Central's night programme is good for those tied to office hours - the 4:30 start of Danceworks ballet classes can be a bit of a push. 

[LinMM]

I agree the teacher comes before the venue every time!! 

Its just me ......I'm not keen these days on either Pineapple or Danceworks studios because they are stifling and lacking in air generally ....and everyone plays the music at full Belt!! I can't even stand ballet class music on so loud it's sometimes painful! ( when my ears are working properly that is....another thread!) 

Central just seems to have a generally calmer air about it. But in the end I go for the teacher not the studio.

[TYR]

On 09/05/2018 at 15:58, LinMM said:

He definitely has an eccentric touch ....was wearing a boiler suit type thingy with enormous hob naily looking boots but quite liked him as a teacher as like David he can be very funny.

 

 

On Sunday - at 28 degrees outside - he showed up wearing a fur-lined parka.

[LinMM]

Yes that figures somehow!!

Just like you would never have guessed he was a ballet teacher on the day I attended class.....in fact initially I thought he must be the pianist or something....it was those boots ....but come to think of it not that appropriate for a pianist either!!

[Colman]

Grade 2 ISTD done today. Nobody died, so all went reasonably well. 😂

 

Now to talk my teacher into Grade 3 in November so I can catch up with my wife. 

[Kate_N]

Congratulations, Colman!

[LinMM]

Great that you took the exam when do you get result? 

[Colman]

21 minutes ago, LinMM said:

Great that you took the exam when do you get result? 

 

Eventually. The ISTD admin in Ireland is capricious at best.

[LinMM]

Well hopefully not too long ....looks like another celebratory drink coming up!!

[Colman]

Tonight’s celebratory drink is in the airport on the way back from the RAD Coppelia workshop in Elmhurst. 

[Anna C]

Hello folks, 

 

This thread is approaching 80 pages - would you like to start a new one for general discussion by adult dancers? Or are you happy to carry on with this one. 

 

Kind regards, Anna C

[Colman]

I believe that’s been done before but it fell by the wayside. 

[Michelle_Richer]

Hi Coleman

I’m glad you managed to make Elmhurst, I hope you enjoyed the Coppelia workshop.

 

I was with RAD Adult Associates for a couple of years just before the Rep workshops were introduced on the same day.

 

I must confess when I first started with them I thoroughly enjoyed it, attitudes seemed very different, for my first term I only signed up for Improver 2 and body conditioning, however I was asked it I would also like to sign up for Improvers 1 and I could do absolute beginners free, as this would help give the small number of absolute beginners in the class other dancers to follow. There were about 6 of us that did that to help out. Lunch time was a bit of a social gathering as we all met in the common room with the teachers; it was also used for changing as most of us had leotards under our day clothes.  As I made a full day of it I used to ask if I could use the studios for my own practice, and that became a regular thing for me and lasted for about a year.

 

The second year things became much different, the common room became out of bounds, we had to take food and drink into the studio at lunchtime, something I positively hated doing, it just didn’t seam right. I ask again about using the studios for my own practice, I didn’t get the positive and helpful response I was expecting, basically they didn’t want to know, although they didn’t forbid it. We had one teacher that started to introduce short pieces of rep into the Improvers 2 session which was the last class of the day , that was really enjoyable.

 

I was really delighted when RAD had combined an afternoon of rep with a morning for the Adult Associates, needless to say I signed up for a full term of both. Firstly I enquired what particular piece we would be dancing, that wasn’t forthcoming and I really do hate going in blind without making an informed decision. As it was I was overtaken by circumstances as I sustained a nasty leg injury which stopped me dancing for 4 to 5 months. I persisted for a while in trying to get advance info on what was to be taught but nothing significant was ever fourth coming, so in the end I dropped Elmhurst completely, but never the less I do miss it.

 

[Colman]

I don't think they know until the attendance list stabilises. My wife did one where the rep being taught changed because the one boy they had booked dropped out. I suspect I'm not as picky about what rep I do as you are so it doesn't really bother me. Though I'm in not hurry for another stint in the Lilac Fairy's attendants.

 

The workshop was good, but I fear that the Czardas that we did will turn up on my work-out playlist and I'll end up having flashbacks. 

 

I think they're fairly constrained in how they use the facilities there. We generally end up eating in the seating area in reception these days. I got there early and was doing a bit of tai chi in the (empty) foyer to warm up a bit and shake out the flight stiffness and I'm pretty sure I overheard a slightly anxious conversation along the lines of "we can ask him to stop if you like" when a member of the school staff came by. (He was entirely unconcerned, and I don't think had said anything to them.)  

Edited May 24, 2018 by Colman

[Michelle_Richer]

Hi Coleman

For my mind-set it would seam logical to plan for mixed participants, and if there is no guys present do a little more with the girls pieces, as inevitably they tend to be simplified to meat the short time schedule, that really isn’t rocket science.

I guess I was spoilt in my early RAD rep workshops as we did get some advance notice. I do remember my very first one with RAD held in Cambridge where we did “Dance of the Knights” from Romeo and Juliet. For me the sequence from a video of dance seamed almost impossible to remember, then one day I had this idea of creating a diagram showing the path of the sequence with notation of the movement. Hey- presto, I found I could hold that picture in my head. When it came to the workshop, this piece required both male and female dancers, some of the girls had to dance the male parts, I quickly took my place as the lead girl on the right ( as in the two column of girls coming down the stairs) , wow I really enjoyed that, but was a little disappointed as we only danced part of it.
We also did Juliet’s solo which we may not have had advanced warning off.
The one remark I remember my RAD teacher saying, “I know we will see you again”, she was right, as at one time I would virtually hoover up any rep workshops going, I guess as time when on I just got more selective.

 

I guess to a large extent I’ve move away from rep workshops to using a one-to-one rep coach twice a week and working towards finally presenting my work at Ballet West in Scotland once a year. This will be my fifth year, ordinarily I would have at least two PDD’s and 5 or 6 solo’s, however this year has been really difficult as I incurred a leg injury which meant I hadn’t really worked on anything since my last visit to Ballet West last August until after Christmas, and then for the first two or three month I was very guarded as to what I put my body through, and of course there was the other complication of extending my own studio which was also very time consuming. See studio picture internal and external.

I see you mentioned “The Lilac Fairy” I’m taking that variation from the prologue up to Ballet West this year, that certainly wasn’t planned. This came about at the Alive Ballet Company had set a date for a Ballet Boot Camp and my job was find a suitable studio for it, I did try the Royal Opera House but the studios were extremely expensive , finally I settled on Sadlers Wells which were really nice studios at a fraction of the cost. Whist I didn’t intend to do this boot-camp I guess curiosity got the better of me and I contacted our guest teacher. She was extremely helpful in telling me the pieces we would be dancing. The Lilac Fairy was one of them, at the time I didn’t realist there are at least two completely different versions. When I met her on the day, I realised I had actually met her before, in fact I had a photo of us together when she ran an ENB Swan Lake Master Class. Fortunately the version taught (Russian) was the same as I had familiarity with, although what we were taught was simplified in places and had the opening port de bra removed, it gave me a head start. At least when I got back to my rep coach, the simplification was removed, I also managed to find music that would allow the opening port de bra as this was normally done prior to the orchestra starting, my version is loosely based on Paris Opera Ballet’s version with a little of my own, I really fell in love with the piece.

 

But things don’t always go to plan, Last year I did both the Black Swan PDD and Solo, This year I wanted to include an alternative Black Swan solo, but I held it until last to allow my right leg to sufficiently recover. It has a 3 step promenade followed by a couple of fouettes all repeating 3 times without the gesturing leg touching the ground. At first it didn’t look too difficult, whist I had some success on the way, I simply didn’t have enough stamina to consistently complete this section, that coupled with breaks by my rep coach and also my occasional break to complete my studio meant in some instances I appeared to be going backwards. 

 

To make matters worse, months of work I had put in with The Nutcracker PDD with Adrian came to a halt when Adrian appeared to hurt his arm. This was a pirouette sequence of 5 single singles where I don’t actually stop between them , and Adrian then  swaps his arm , the Right which was in fifth with finger down for my support, goes low, with Left which was pushing my left hand around for momentum, goes high, I go through a turn into a dip, It was on the arm swap he hurt himself. We stopped and called a halt to it until it was checked out. Fortunately the same week a specialist surgeon was calling at Adrian medical centre and Adrian was able to see him, An ultra scan was done on both shoulders and there is tears in both, so Nutcracker is out for this year.

According to Adrian is shoulder is ok providing he doesn’t take his arms through 5th, so we are gently taking him through the PDD with the Entrance of Odette combining part of the Lakeside scene, so far so good. However with the alternative Black Swan solo problems, I’ve had to shelve that for this year and switch to the Bluebird female solo, that has worked out really well.

 

Just coming back to your Flashbacks, I’ve  had an number of those from pieces I’ve danced on stage but I have one in particular that really haunts me, it’s the Opening of Act 4 of Swan Lake , perhaps as it is a particularly long piece and it was broken up into three pieces, but not taught in sequence. This was done at a LAB intensive at The Royal Ballet School in Covent Garden, that music is not only haunting its almost spiritual in the feeling I experience, it really is strangely beautiful.

 

Edited May 25, 2018 by Michelle_Richer

[TYR]

Well, I've been going through a dip in form. So much so I had to drop out of Nina Thilas-Mohs' class and got screamed at by David Kierce. Not sure what else to make of that except that I've also been working unusually hard in the gym and I think I'm just perma-knackered.

[LinMM]

Probably just body overload!! Take a mini break and no doubt you will be fine again soon.

Best wishes

Linda 

[Michelle_Richer]

It seams I’m in the wars again, since the studio is now completed and fully operational, well at least I’m not hiring studios for my own practice anymore and so some of our attention has turned to my garden and house. That said its just as injurious as ballet, it was something as simple as trying to break willow tree braches to let sufficient light in for newly planted water irises to grow. I guess the willow branch once it was down was a bit too big to break by hand, except for this ballerina. I bent it over to break it, and force my whole body weight behind it, it wouldn’t go at first but then it snapped with an exploding crack and I slammed into the river edge concrete path. My first though was to try and stop myself rolling into the river, then for a moment just lay there mentally checking everything and thinking here we go again more debilitating injuries. Gradually I got up but very shaken at least I could move but I realise I felt badly bruised down my left side and my little toe on that side hurt like hell but I didn’t think I had broken it.

At first I couldn’t wear shoes, the compression on that swollen toe was too painful, it was socks on the carpet at home.

The next day was Body conditioning followed by ballet class, although I was able to drive without too much discomfort in shoes, it was painful to walk, at least body conditioning most of us do that in socks or bare feet, that was fine until one of the exercise we do on our side, and of course we repeat it on both sides, on the left it was unbearable and I cheated it (which I told my teacher), by lifting my body above the affected area, ballet wasn’t too bad other than releve’s on the left foot which really effected the little toe.

 

When I finally got home I checked myself in the wardrobe mirror, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, my thigh from just above the knee at the side , to my bum was absolutely black with a massive brews, there was some brewsing on the little toe but it was very swollen, however I did manage all my classes that week. It has taken just over two weeks to loose the browses, although the little toes is still somewhat swollen. However another issue may have shown up this Sunday.

 

Sunday is now the day that Adrian and I practice our PDD for our visit to Ballet West, we are now working on an extract of the Lakeside scene and Entrance of Odette from Act2 of Swan Lake. Adrian seams to have made a good job of his walk on as Prince Siegfried, finding his crossbow and gesturing with it until he sees the flock of swans, then we follow  the standard choreography into the entrance of Odette, that was fine but unpolished until we got to where Odette does a sequence of 4 soutenu/ swan arm burree’s whilst Siegfried is trying to put his arm around her ( 3 times), As Siegfried piece is quite fast, Adrian bless him couldn’t get around quick enough, so I broke it down to three simple steps and a ¾ turn. As I was demonstrating it too him I stretched my left leg and something went in my left knee, it was extremely painful, I stopped and rested for a while, but I could still feel a presence in my knee, we resumed and it happened again, this time I was getting rather worried as this has never happened before.

 

As we had done that piece to death, I thought it would be useful to make a start on the mime scene and feed it too him in quite small doses, I remember carrying it on beyond where I had taught it to Adrian , to where the “Wicket magician has made me into a swan”, on SWAN I step back with the right leg , left leg in deep fondu with the left extended back strait and pointed, I could barely get down with the left leg on Sunday (yesterday). However I tried that after my body conditioning class today and it was no problem and pain free, it just leaves a bit of a question mark of uncertainty.  

 

My only concern now is I have a Pointework workshop booked for Sunday, I just hope things hold up for that, fingers crossed.

 

 

 

[Michelle_Richer]

About a month ago I attended a pointe workshop following a nasty swollen little toe type injury, I never thought I would make it, however I had to do it on demi with my soft ballet slippers. I tried to put my old pointe shoes on a couple of days before but there was no way as the pain was excruciating, a day before the workshop I did manage to at least get them on but it was still extremely painful and as Ballet West was coming up, the last thing I wanted to do was wreck all the work we had put in to our rep for that.

 

Pointe work for me somehow seems to be fated, last Autumn I had booked and paid for a ballet and pointe work course held by our ballet company “Alive” at the Royal Ballet School, sadly I missed that too through injury.  Although this time it was classified as a workshop, its likely to be repeated on a periodic basis providing there are sufficient numbers to make it worthwhile, I did ask that the next one be after I return back from Ballet West .

 

I was hoping as each of my regular classes and coaching sessions closed for the summer break, I would get a good run of rep practice before Ballet West in a couple of weeks time, however the recent hot weather has rendered my studio unusable after about 9.30am as the inside temperature approaches 30 degrees C, some days by mid day its been around 45 degrees. For the next two weeks I’m back to hiring my local hall, otherwise we are likely to be less polished this year than previously.

 

Once back we have to invest in air conditioning for the studio as we have tried the simple things like opening the doors and windows and using our large wind generator fan. We have already looked at the feasibility of where to install a split air conditioning unit. There is only one place, that is to lower the mirror attached to the house wall to floor level, that will create sufficient room above it for the internal air conditioning unit and access for the pipe work to the external compressor unit.

 

At least it will also provided heating for the cold winter temperatures too.

 

I never dreamt I would be doing all this for ballet when I started, but I guess its all a learning process. 

 

 

 

[Michelle_Richer]

The practice run up to this year’s session at Ballet West to say the least has been tough going, mainly due to the lack of studio time in my own studio. This summers abnormally hot weather for around the last month has meant, even at 7am the studio temperature was around 20 ºC  at that its very comfortable, by 9am its usually around 25ºC still ok but just starting to be uncomfortable, by 9.30 to 10am its hitting 30ºC, it then for me at least become too uncomfortable to concentrate. After about mid day temperatures inside the studio have been around 45 ºC and normally the temperature has held above 30ºC until after about 9pm at night.

 

Well as it is, we have run out of practice time as Adrian and I are travelling up to Scotland tomorrow (Saturday), staying overnight at Dumbarton, then on up to Oban on Sunday for a 9am start at Ballet West Monday morning.

 

Adrian bless him has done really well in spite of him protesting he’s not a ballet dancer and I expect too much of him, however I was quite impressed at our last session when we did Swan Lakes  ending of the Lakeside scene into the Entrance of Odette incorporating the mime scene.

 

Up to this point Adrian had always had the video running on the big scene to prompt with his timing etc, however he popped out to the loo and I had switch it for the sound track only with some minor editing. I was expecting moans about not having the video to follow, but he took all his stride after the third practice run he went all the way through, further more I had changed the very end by adding a couple of pieces of additional mime.

 

I’m quietly confident now things will be fine by our presentation day (Thursday) when we perform all our piece in costume. So it’s up to Scotland with 4 different tutu, a bunch of fans for Don Q as I have broken 3 already, and Adrian of course with his Crossbow.  

 

Once we get back it down to installing air conditioning ASAP, unfortunately this isn’t something we can do by ourselves

[Terpsichore]

Have a good visit to Taynuilt.   

My regards to Gillian, Tony, Jonathan et al.    

 

Toi toi toi for Ballet West's performances in Malaysia.

[LinMM]

Must say Michelle you ve done a brilliant job with your studio!! It's a little fantastic space! with a really good floor etc.

I had great fun in Michelle's studio when visiting the other week pretending to be Isadora Duncan!!

The way it is set up with the big tv screen for accessing videos etc and great soundtrack it's very inspiring to work on something and try to improve it! 

Luckily when I was there the weather changed and could spend all morning in the studio without any problems!! Just right at 21 degrees!

But a bit of a coincidence on CBSS course at Pineapple this week ....one of the teachers opened the barre work with THAT Brahms Waltz 

( The first one in the series of five dances created by Ashton for the Royal Ballet to celebrate Isadora).

i saw that Osipova is also rehearsing a new Isadora piece in America ....would love to see that!!

[Michelle_Richer]

Another wonderful week at Ballet West this year again making it the 5^th for me (well only  4 days this year) , however it had its ups and downs.

The journey this year was extremely tiring especially the first leg up to Dumbarton where we stayed Saturday night. This year we didn’t have our own car, its in for repair, we had a smaller courtesy car with restricted  leg room for Adrian’s long legs.  Adrian is a 6ft 3 guy and needs a lot of room for comfort so consequently we had too keep stopping for breaks to allow him to have a walk around and stretch his legs. For me it just seamed to take forever to get to our destination.

 

Sunday was a much nicer day with a relatively short second leg to Oban, we arrived at the hotel full of eager anticipation for the following morning at Ballet West.  We have stayed at the hotel before so we knew the morning drill, breakfast at 8 usually we are on the road by 8.30 for Ballet West at just before 9.00am , at least we have been in previous years. This year there seamed to be a lot more people for breakfast, it had gone 8.30 before our order was taken, we text Gillian at Ballet West  to say we would be late, that really annoyed me, so we ceased to have breakfast at the hotel for the rest of the week. About a mile or two just outside Oban we found a petrol station that provided cooked breakfast rolls while you wait and hot drinks too, so we used them instead, at least we were at Ballet West the rest of the week on time.

 

Day 1 was my first two solo’s, the easy ones I thought, the first Sleeping beauty’s Blue Bird female solo, I had a full A4 sheet of corrections. For corrections we both get together and I document them as its not always possible to implement each and everyone at normal music tempo, first you have to break that old memory, I find it better to run the music slower at about 80% of its normal rate to allow a little additional thinking time to override that old memory and burn in the new one. Many can be done strait away, but there is always one that resists.

 

The second solo was Sleeping Beauty’s  Lilac Fairy from the prologue. Fewer corrections from this one but it was just as challenging. Firstly I guess I don’t help my self by insisting it has the full opening port de bras which is mostly done before the commencement of the orchestra. Where I just cheat it a bit, by trying to fit the port de bras into the short preamble missing timing on count 1 but being back on time by count 2, in other words a bit of a compromise. I did find some music used by one of the Vaganova dancers that was a little slower, but it just felt too slow for the main phases. The most challenging piece in this variation is the pirouettes following the attitude to arabesque steps into brush down tendu wit the gesturing leg.

At my coaches studio in Lincolnshire which uses a slippy wood floor, these are no problem. In my own studio where there is a significant amount of grip, these pirouettes for me seam very inconsistent. The floor slippyness at Ballet West  seams to be between the two. When I first arrived at Ballet West I did sneakily try one of these pirouettes and it worked first time, but when repeating it in the solo it just seamed to be getting worse, I guess I was just getting tired.

 

Day 2 only one solo for this day as this had been quite a tricky piece to dance particularly the retire passé section of 3 sets of 8 counts with different fan arm head positions. This was a piece our teacher Gillian liked and said it suited me, but I guess it was the one that got the most amount of preparation put into it. My choreography for this piece was inspired from two completely different dancers, the first has beautiful port de bras with the fan, the second was lively with intricate port de bras positions through the retire passes, the music was taken initially from the first. However the week before Ballet West I became uneasy about inappropriate noises in the music, firstly after the pull-up into Spanish pose for want of a better word on count two, there is an abrupt sound of the fan being flicked open, the music is not dissimilar to a harp being strummed slowing, for me after pull-up I simply let the fan fall open in sympathy with the musical strum, that fitted beautifully. Later there is a small pause followed by a short abrupt strum where it is appropriate for the dancer to flick the fan open, however on the sound track the dancer flicks it open before the music which is really off putting Grrr.   In the end I found some clean music free of fan and pointe shoe noise, it had similar tempo but it was sadly 16 counts short, so I had to adapt the ending. The only really tricky piece in this variation at Ballet West, was remembering to limit the travel of the retire passes otherwise I was inclined to run out of space travelling backwards; the distance available in studio 2 was about 6.5metres.

 

Tuesday evening I also attended Ballet West’s Adult Fitness Class, in previous years Gillian has run this class, but now a Senior Adult Ballet West student  called ( I think) Ragu (sorry if its incorrect). There were only two others in the class, a young Ballet West student, I think she would be around 20, and a middle aged lady. I was warned this class was not like Gillian’s, they were right.

 

I can’t remember all that we did but the intensity against the high number of reps. What I can remember at the barre, we did a rise in first and pulled the feet further together, then we went into progressive plies whilst remaining in pull-up, we must have gone through 5 or 6 different levels in the plie, it wasn’t just going through them, each level was held for a sustained period of time, it could have been 10 seconds or so, I certainly felt it in the inner thighs. In the centre we stood balanced on one leg, and made small movements on the other to the side, the number of reps exceeded 100, we also tried to do this on releve of the supporting leg, but I think we all failed miserably after a few reps.

Another one was laying on our side, with the top leg turn over with its foot on the floor. Every thing below the hip is off the floor, that leg is made to move up and down in small movements for over 100 reps, before going on to the other leg.    

 

Day 3 Swan Lake Lakeside scene and Entrance of Odette PDD including the Mime scene.

Although Gillian knew of the mime scene she was no longer familiar with the gestures, so Adrian and I added commentary in as we danced through them. It commenced with our entry of Siegfried , I edit the music to capture something that reflected a happy walk, as this was supposed to be Siegfried’s birthday, Adrian started from the up-stage right corner and walked to the up-stage left corner, as it was a happy piece I had his left hand on his hip and the right wafting about in sympathy with his walk (leg position), however Gillian didn’t think it looked regal enough and suggested a change which Adrian liked so we implemented it. When he finally sees his crossbow in the centre of stage, he briskly walks over to too it and round behind it. Initially I had him checking to see if anyone was watching looking left and transferring his weight to the left leg whist brushing his right arm out as you would do with a breath, then repeating it on the other side. Gillian thought we were trying to be too balletic and suggested making it more natural , this too was changed to a skulking squat peering out to see if anyone was looking, probably not very regal but I must confess it would have conveyed more to the audience about what was going on.

Siegfried pick up the bow, feels its weight, looks at it both sides then takes 2 steps forward and pretend to aim it skywards. Lowers it, turns to stage left corner with bow low follows the skyline with his eyes ( for Adrian the top of the studio mirrors) until facing centre ( Audience ) then raises his right arm to follow the imaginary swans he has seen, then we follow largely the choreography of the Royal Ballet including my entrance.

 

There was only one piece I found naggingly difficult and that was recognising in the music where to step out in alarm as Siegfried crept up behind me which followed his mime for “YOU,  FLY-A-WAY,  NO”, Although I was seldom off time there, I was never comfortable with it as it’s a really poor signature.

The piece that follows is Odette soutenu and swan arm burees repeated 4 times, Adrian has always found it difficult to get round me in the short time of this phase and has often been blocking my travel during practice. As it’s highly repetitive he has often forgotten to peel off on the 4^th soutenu as my facing with swan arms are different on this one.

 

Although the majority of the choreography is inspired by the Royal Ballet, the ending is quite different after Odette’s pleading with Von Rothbart both followed with a soutenu, mine follows that with a retire passé of the left leg to the front whilst hands palm down  crossing around first position, then on the loud blast from the orchestra the arms move out firmly gesturing a very strongly “NO”,. Siegfried from his aiming position lets go of the bow with his left hand , turns CW to face away from me, head down looking very dejected because I wont allow him to shoot Von Rothbart, his left arm droops out at no more than 45 degrees. I run over to it and perch on his arm with my left leg extended in attitude, he turn his head towards me and our arms extend out to 90 degrees, I let go of his arm with my extended arm but I still hold the extension and shake my head slowly reinforcing the “NO”, then the long note appears from the Orchestra indicating the beginning of Odette’s walk off, Siegfried follows shortly after.

 

Although we had borrowed some of the ending from another company, it was to quite different music at the end. The fit we had achieved with the Royal Ballet music was remarkable, I just loved it.

At the end of day 3 Adrian was starting to complain about growing pain in his shoulders due to existing tears and said, he would only be dancing it once on his performance on day 4.

 

Day 4 All pieces were danced in costume and videoed as we usually do at the end of our intensive training. As Adrian was videoing my solo’s, we forgot to record the first Swan Lake run through. Adrian bless him agreed to give it one more shot for the recording by Gillian this time.

 

At the weekend Adrian and I went through the videos, I certainly wasn’t very happy with mine, they could have been far better. However I must pay tribute to Adrian I was really impressed with his performance of Swan Lake particularly his piece dancing with me on the 4 soutenu Swan arm buree section, the timing, and leg / arm positions were the best I had seen from him. As a thank you that weekend I took Adrian to Liverpool as he is an ardent supporter of Liverpool Football Club, apart from buying his birthday present as I had agreed too, I bought him a Liver Bird trophy with an LFC inscription on it as a special thank you for all his efforts and of course my nagging to make progress, very well done Adrian.

 

Lessons learnt, we must make more use of more video recording for analysis and self correction, so I guess its more new toys for our studio, eg high speed digital camera and also a wide angled camera to allow operatorless recording. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[TYR]

Currently on The Place's third intensive week with ENB. Had two very good days and a less good one; we were told we're ready to show our Repertoire 1 piece from Aszure Barton's FANTASTIC BEINGS by the end of class yesterday, but today I managed to wipe out and fall on my backside in technique class for the first time ever. I've crashed in improv before but never in ballet class.

 

(Crash inquiry: it helps to have done a la seconde turns more recently than a year ago. Off balance far enough, bum went straight down.)

 

On the other hand I think I'm falling in love with temps lévé arabesque.