It’s all about the footwork (or random jottings on a Monday evening)

Here, at least there is not that much happening in the dance world (well, there was Dansk Danseteater's open air 'Spring Dance' but the weather is not friendly to open air performances just now).   I haven't stopped reading - or indeed listening - about dance, however.

Last week I managed to catch a short documentary narrated by Deborah Bull about Pina Bausch on BBC Radio 4.   It was interesting to hear about dance and not just see it!  The programme was focused on who she was and her legacy, and obviously timed to coincide with the Pina Bausch season in London (you can read about it here http://www.barbican.org.uk/news/artformnews/theatredance/pina…).  I had wanted to hear it again before writing about it by unfortunately it was one of those programmes that are only available for 7 days. Hopefully it will be repeated at some point.

While I was on the BBC website, I  decided to do a search for ‘ballet’ to see if I could find anything interesting and one fun thing came up – this picture from 1961 of Western Theatre Ballet  in Walter Gore’s “Street Games”. Western Theatre Ballet was founded by Peter Darrell and Elizabeth West in 1957, and in 1969 moved to Glasgow, where they were first known as Scottish Theatre Ballet, eventually becoming Scottish Ballet in 1974.   

The dancers were Gail Donaldson and Peter Cazalet. Scottish Ballet is a company I grew up with, so it was kind of nice to find this.

A  final random note, which just must be about football, since Euro 2012 is kind of hard to escape at the moment.  Dance and football?  Well, indeed, yes.  There has been much written and discussed about the benefits of footballers learning plies and pirouettes to improve their agility, strength and – dare I say it – grace.  It helps to improve their footwork, which 'is what it is all about' or so I have been told!  There has even been a ballet about football, namely English National Ballet’s ‘The Beautiful Game’ from 2008.  You can listen to this review from ‘The Guardian’

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/audio/2008/sep/12/football.ballet.unicorntheatre 

I leave you with the thought of Zlatan Ibrahimovic learning battement frappeé.........

The Everyday Dancer

It’s been a while since I have been on this blog.  Christmas and family matters put a hold on things for a while, as well as the fact that there has been no dance to go and see.  So I thought as I get back to the blog in 2012 I would start with a book review.

I got given for Christmas “The Everyday Dancer” by Deborah Bull.  It is a very easy read (you could easily finish it on a snowy, cold winter Sunday), nicely illustrated and I think goes a long way to do what it aims to do which is give a picture of the life in the day of a dancer.  Bull structures the book around the daily schedule, weaving in descriptions of classes and rehearsals as well as some anecdotes from her own experience, from being a rat in “The Nutcracker” to her final performances as a principal with The Royal Ballet. 

I have to say that I enjoyed the book, read in little bits on my boring bus journey to work.  It give a good picture of what goes on behind the scenes (I particularly liked her comments about different costume types and wigs).  However, I do wonder who the book is aimed at?  I guess any teenage girl who dreams of being a dancer would lap it up, and I know I would have loved it if I had read it when I was 13.  As I say, I enjoyed it now too, so maybe it is aimed at anyone who has an interest in and likes dance, though don’t expect to learn anything new if you watch a lot and read a lot about dance.