Medea

A new ballet begins its life as a blank canvas, an empty page and the vision of one person.... the choreographer.  Learning old works is an exercise of solely learning steps, steps that were once created on someone else and although your body will dance the same movements, your soul will still create a 'unique' stamp on the role.  That being said, there is no greater pleasure than to be honoured of being a part of creating a new ballet and last Thursday, after eight weeks of hard slog in the studio, we had our World Premiere of Gianluca Schiavoni's ballet 'Medea'. 

From the beginning, I understood that this performance would be strong (the play tells of Medea avenging her husband's betrayal by slaying their children.)  When you start to create a ballet with an ending of such magnitude, you can't begin to imagine how the end will unravel....... It's an interesting period as choreography and characters develop, to stepping onto the set for the first time, wearing the costumes and ultimately listening to the first applause.

MEDEA 

WORLD PREMIRE 13.03.14

CHOREOGRAPHY - Gianluca Schiavoni

COSTUME DESIGN - Simona Morresi

SET DESIGN - Maria Rossi Franchi and Andrea Tocchio

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Feathered....

In the midst of our hectic rehearsal schedule, when after a busy week you just feel like retreating home to your duvet and 'Keeping up with Kardashians', we still have performances to do. So when Ronald Hynd's ballet 'Rosalinde' comes along, it's not such a mean feat to put some flamboyant feathers in your hair and waltz around to the orchestra's delicious hum of Strauss.  Add some comedy moments (choreographed ones of course!!!!!) and a pop of confetti as the curtain closes..... it's just one of those ballets where you don't wind yourself up into a nervous wreck before you step on stage! 

But all good things come to an end and last week we performed our last 'Rosalinde' of the season.  At least it will leave behind fond memories and I will never be able to listen to Strauss, without thinking of this ballet!

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With Love...

Happy Valentine's Day, after a very long day of rehearsals!!!

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Manon with Vogel.....

There are some ballets that you can't tire of dancing and Kenneth Macmillan's 'Manon' is one of them.  The music, the ambiance all tie together to create a ballet that is quite frankly a sheer joy to perform. For me there is no better feeling than dancing a ballet that you love.

Though sadly we only have three performances this season, for two of them we are lucky to be joined by Friedemann Vogel of the Stuttgart Ballet,  whom will take the lead role of Des Grieux.  

Yesterday we had our stage rehearsal and tonight we will have our first performance....  As we only have a few performances, I'll just have to make the most of each one and savour the inspiration of sharing the stage with such a talented dancer as Vogel.

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The Marathon...

The Nutcracker.....(in a ballerina's life) is an annual affair. It's a fact you can't deny, that come late October/November the rehearsals will start to creep into your work schedule.  The Nutcracker 'marathon' is lurking around the corner and you can feel each dancer brace themselves for the long haul.

Now,don't get me wrong, the ballet certainly isn't doom and gloom, as of course when we start rehearsals, I immediately get the Christmas feeling running through my bones....... and how could I ever associate that with a dark cloud?!

Last week 'Christmas' finally finished in the theatre (on, yes, the 3rd of February!) I don't wish to think how many miles I ran around the stage or care to imagine how many paper snowflakes I swallowed as I did so! We performed to packed houses each night and I hope scattered some magic to each child that came to watch....

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The Times We Had.....

SWAN LAKE

The times we had, have and will have!  

'Swan Lake' seems to follow me and with every new 'version' I perform in, along with it come old habits.  Muscles twitch and ache to move in previously rehearsed choreography, I gaze into the darkness and dance to a different theatre,  but my mind sings the same melody..... Memories flood into my head of moments from years ago........ and then I don't mind so much that the ballet follows me.  As with anything from the past,  'Swan Lake' is full of treasured memories of old friends, travels and happiness. In reality, memories that I actually would never want to leave behind.

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How many layers?????

It came....... the snow that is. 

 November came and went, December came and went and I naively wondered if the snow would fall at all and then it came, in abundance, and still as I type!

I completely agree that it's beautiful - to look at! But I must admit defeat to the tireless war each morning of layering, layer upon layer and not giving in to just throwing on the same cosy jumpers, cardigans, coats, hats and scarf. 

 I mean, come on, tights under my jeans are currently a staple part of my outfit and god forbid if all the thermals I own just happen to be in the wash...... well that just sends me into a panic! 

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