| ‘Jesus
Christ Bananas!'
by Cassa Pancho
“Jesus Christ Bananas!”
(The Beav in Dreamcatcher,
Stephen King, 2001)
Sometimes things just happen that are so irritating, yet so
ridiculous that the only thing you can do is blaspheme, add
fruit and leave to simmer…
An Incident occurred recently, and all I can really tell you
is this; we had a magazine interview with a photo-shoot, it
all went fantastically well, then we had an hour and a half
break when, completely unrelated to the photo-shoot, a dancer
tripped and got injured. Her ballet teacher got upset with
me, reputations were called into question, a flurry of letters,
and the incident was seemingly closed. It probably doesn’t
sound like a big deal, but it almost got messy. I had expected
when starting Ballet Black that I would be up against years
of hardcore stereotyping, cultural differences and plain old
racism - but this? Jesus Christ Bananas! When you come up
against things that make life scratchy it can sometimes feel
like you’re continually and quite deliberately banging
your head against a brick wall. Fortunately, for every scratchy
happening, there are about ten that are as fantastic as can
be. Including the people mentioned in this months diary (from
this point onwards of course!)
By the way, if anyone’s interested, full details of
The Incident are available in exchange for seven Bacardi Breezers.
ONO.
Play That Funky Music, White Boy
On Saturday the 13th of July, Daniel Jones came to take class
and rehearsal to begin work on his ballet, The
Devil’s Blues. He’s been with us for a
few weeks now, but what made this day particularly significant
was that Murray Gould (guitarist, composer and enormous hair)
came along too – so we had rehearsal to live music...
Murray Gould rehearsing The Devil's Blues
photograph by Jonathan Still
It was Really Cool. Daniel and Murray have been friends for
years, and it’s interesting to watch them work together.
The line of communication between them seems to flow effortlessly,
freeing Daniel up to concentrate on the ballet. Dancer-wise,
we’re all over the place as it’s holiday season,
plus we’re auditioning about one new dancer per week,
AND news has spread as far as Leeds that we are The Place
(no, not that one) to come and take class – all credit
to Denzil for that one, with his new, improved, honed ballet
classes. We’re back to regular work in September, so
Daniel will be able to cast the piece and we can start rehearsing
like bastards*
*(Say; bàs’tuds,
as fast as you can, with a Northern accent)
Ballet School
The 13th of July was also the last day of term at the Ballet
School. Parents were invited to watch, but my assistant Marina
was away on holiday, so it was just me, a lot of kids and
a tour en l’air exercise that they absolutely adore.
It went very well (thank goodness!) and they will all be returning
next term, some of them with young friends or family members,
who want to join the class. To keep them thinking about ballet
over the summer break, I gave them each an Angelina Ballerina
storybook and they couldn’t have been more thrilled.
I’ve also had calls from the parents of slightly older
children who are keen to start classes, so I need to work
out a way of expanding the number of classes whilst giving
me time to get to the RAD for Ballet Black rehearsals later
in the day. Multi-tasking – what a breeze man.
Finale
Another ballet in our rapidly developing repertoire is Finalé,
choreographed by Christopher Hampson. It was originally done
for the graduating third years of the Royal Academy of Dance
in 2000. I clearly remember being in my second year at the
RAD, sitting in the corner watching Chris rehearse it with
its original cast and thinking; “my God – I wish
I could do that!”
Now, due to Chris’s incredibly busy schedule, (dividing
time between the U.K and New Zealand put my journeys between
Shepherd’s Bush and Battersea into perspective) I am.
Well, sort of. I’m teaching it to the Company, using
a videotape of the performance and whatever memories I have
of rehearsals (the clearest one being Chris describing a tendu
type thing as requiring “you having the most gorgeous
foot on the planet, and you just know it”). I hate it!
I mean, I love the ballet, but transcribing it from a video
is one of the most annoying, frustratingly difficult and tedious
things to do EVER! (Strangely enough, as I write this, the
theme from Mission Impossible is playing – a sign from
Above perhaps?) Having said that, once you actually step back
and see the dancers in action, it’s worth every play
- pause - play - rewind - play - bugger - what - was - that
- step - damn - I’ve - lost - the - remote - ah - here
- it - is moment, and, pending Hampy’s approval, the
costume design is by me - which turned out to be a great deal
of fun.
I have to take this opportunity to say a huge thank you to
Venetia’s father, Pierre Fowell for drawing up the designs
for me. When I draw, it looks like a blindfolded monkey with
a pencil in its teeth has been let loose on paper, so, following
an afternoon of Venetia and I saying “a bit more sort
of like that way” and “yes that’s exactly
it! Now could you do something completely different?”
we finally got the ideas out of my head and onto paper.
Just William
We have been lucky enough to meet yet another cool person,
in the shape of William Potter, dance photographer and, to
quote William, Ballet Black’s newest piece of “studio
furniture”. He found out about us through Celia, one
of our dancers. Cards were exchanged and he came to rehearsal
the following week. One of the first things William said to
me was “I’ve been reading your diaries”.
When I had recovered from the shock of that (somebody actually
reads these things?) I found out that his first ever visit
to the Academy was to purchase none other than Jonathan Still’s
Intuition CD, which was exactly what Denzil was about to use
that day, as Jonathan was away in Prague. Spooky, no? Anyway.
He took a lot of pictures, and returned the next week with
the most remarkable portfolio of work. William has a gift
for capturing…something that I can’t quite put
my finger on. I think what I mean is a kind of intimacy. Whenever
we work, no matter which choreographer is taking rehearsal,
be it Denzil, Daniel or myself, there is always an “up”
atmosphere in the studio and a real sense of friendship between
the dancers, and that is exactly what you feel when you look
at William’s pictures. They will be on the Ballet Black
website before long, as well as in this diary, so you’ll
soon be able to see for yourself…
Future Plans
Get your cheque books ready – December is going to be
an expensive month - we’re having a fundraiser! There
are so many fabulous things that will be happening, but I
can’t really give out any more details yet, except that
it will be held at the Royal Academy of Dance, there will
be live music and tickets will be available online from the
BB site a little nearer the time. Full details in next month’s
diary.
Kent Youth Ballet
At the beginning of August, I began work on the children’s
version of Act II of Coppélia for the Kent Youth Ballet.
I have a cast of thirty-four - yes - that’s thirty-four
kids, with ages ranging from waist high (sort of sixish) to
way taller than me (fifteen/sixteen). We’ve just finished
a week long Summer School, which allowed me to set most of
the ballet in about four days. I was absolutely dreading it
to begin with, but found that I really enjoyed it –
plus all the kids involved are so enthusiastic (if a little
noisier than I had expected) that the time just flew by. The
rest of the rehearsals take place every Sunday from September
onwards, until the performance in November.
On the fifth day, I flew to Madeira with Venetia (she was
PR, but was kind of elbowed out in favour of a pro! She’s
altogether much happier as the BB Pilates instructor though!)
and Vanessa (sometime BB administrator, when I delegate, which
isn’t often). This was a much-needed break for me, as
working full-time, doing BB and the Ballet School, plus the
Kent Youth Ballet can be a bit much. I was banned from taking
my phone, checking emails or writing things down, and by day
three I was semi climbing the walls, finally resorting to
writing out a miniature storyboard for my Kent Coppélia
on some tiny sheets swiped from the back of Venetia’s
filofax on the flight back to London. Sad innit?
Going to Madeira was quite significant as the three of us
had been there this time last year. It was there that I came
up with the name for a project I was thinking about starting
– Ballet Black. We were on a beach of black sand and
wrote the name in foot-high letters, having no clue as to
how things might progress. We had a glimmer of an idea for
headed notepaper, about 50 quid and two dancers, one of whom
never showed up. Now we have enough dancers to call it a Company
(we’ve even turned people away), five choreographers,
a musical adviser, a website, a small but steady school, a
physiotherapist, a photographer, business cards(!) and fabulous
studios to work in.
Blimey.
What a difference a year makes. |
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