Inquiry

Through reflection I have begun to ask questions which isolate aspects of my work and have shown me what parts of dance and performance I wish to explore and improve

What in your daily practice gets you really enthusiastic to find out more about?

I have always been very passionate about Classical Ballet and, although it sounds like a very ‘schoolgirl’ and narrow-minded approach to appreciating dance, It is the finer detail of pure technique and furthermore using said technique to create artistic expression so beautiful or exciting it makes those watching feel moved or enthralled.

What gets you angry or makes you sad? Who do you admire who shares your

feelings or has found away to work around the sadness or anger?

What angers me so much in this industry is the blatant abundance of ignorance. With Dance now at a fantastic media high I feel it is tainted with ignorance and the impression that what we do is easy or in some cases that your success is proportional to your hardships and sob stories. A fine example of this is the BBC programme ‘So You Think You Can Dance’. Don’t misunderstand me I am actually a big fan of this especially as my friends, Charlie Bruce and Drew Mconie, did very well last year but on watching some of the other competitors who progressed rather far I felt their talent was mediocre but their back stories were extraordinary. This raises two dilemmas; 1: People who watch mediocre, or even terrible dancers in some cases, believe that they are talented and that is what great dance looks like and 2: people are also led to believe that if you have a heart warming back story you can get anywhere in dance. Obviously professionals know that these people are accepted into the show to make entertaining television but members of the public and prospective audience members begin to think that no effort needs to be made to become a dancer and a sob story will suffice. My Dance teacher Terry Wright is someone who I admire who shares this same view; as an ex-dancer and first soloist with English National Ballet and a teacher at Arts Ed Tring for over 20 years she clearly has an expansive knowledge of dance and it’s technique, especially Ballet. While under her instruction she gave me a section to read from-

Beaumont, Cyril, Idzikowski, Stanislas. A Manual of the Theory and Practice of Classical Theatrical Dancing (Methode Cecchetti).Dover Publications, Inc. New York, 1975. (first published in 1922).

“Advice to those Contemplating the Study of Dancing.

Pause- and think a score, fifty, a hundred times before you devote yourself to the study of the dance.

Do you realise the difficulty of this art, at once so beautiful and so ungrateful? Do you realise how many obstacles must be surmounted before you can become a dancer, even of average ability? Then think of the labour that must be expended, the injustices, intrigues and jealousies of distinction. If you are still undaunted by these disagreeable facts, you have proved yourself to possess enthusiasm and determination, qualities indispensable to success.

Consider your physical, personal and mental qualifications. If you are too young to do this for yourself, let your parents or guardians give their thought to so vital a matter.

Do not imagine that you can become a dancer in six months. Terpsichore is a jealous goddess, and those who seek fame among her votaries must sacrifice at her altar years of patient study and hours of physical labour. Weigh carefully these words, and if after due consideration you still find yourself consumed with a passion for the dance, the first question that arises is the choice of a master.

I really feel that these words articulate the endeavour of dance and its struggles very eloquently.

What do you love about what you do? Who do you admire who also seems to love this or is an example of what you love?

The best part of what I do for me is achieving something that my body shouldn’t be able to do; what I mean is that some amazing dancers that we see today have these amazing bodies that are almost custom built to dance, not that I’m saying they don’t work hard because it is obvious that they do however I am definitely not one of those people! If you’ve seen my legs you’ll agree. What I’m driving at here is being able to achieve something with a perfect body is great but when you achieve something with limitations then that’s something really special. I think a lot of the people I went to college with agree with me as Tring merited itself on being able to make all sorts of dancers whereas places such as the royal ballet looked for a certain aesthetic which stopped many of my colleagues being accepted. I have great respect for all these people as many of them are now either Principals in ballet companies touring the world with contemporary or working the west end in musical theatre they may not have had a perfect body but they worked hard, achieved what they wanted and are now never out of work.

What do you feel you don’t Understand? Who do you admire who does seem to understand it or has found a way of making not understanding beautiful or interesting, or has asked the same questions as you?

Something I have been unable to understand since I began touring ballet is the variety of audience responses; for example the ugly sisters in Cinderella, at some venues the jokes would bring the house down but at others the response was a definite ‘tumbleweed’ moment. Some people who I really admire are the dancers of English National Ballet Company and I remember some of them asking the same question. The conclusion that they came to was very simple ‘we dance exactly what we’ve been instructed to at the best of our ability, everybody is different and not everyone laughs at the same things. Also when the audience is not as experienced at watching ballet they are more reluctant to express their feelings in case of embarrassment...plus we still get paid the same if they like it or not!’