Advent 9: And for this I’d like….
Nothing makes me more uneasy than the kind of teacher who seems to imagine a music so perfect, so refined and so sublime to accompany their exercise that there is…
Advent 8: Reasons to be cheerful 5, 5, 4, 3, 11, 7, 6, 6, 9, 4, 4
Stravinsky’s Agon is a dastardly complex score, serialist, polyphonic, polyrhythmic, you name it, and Balanchine’s choreography takes no easy ways out. But that’s just the technical challenge of the piece,…
Advent 7: Moving to think
I could have picked any number of examples, but this is one that I remember most from the times I’ve worked with Gillian Lynne because it’s so darn simple. Somebody…
Advent 6: If in doubt…
I think you probably have to have a mental imprint of Julia Farron’s voice and demeanour to appreciate this. It was about 20 years ago, at an induction course for…
Advent 5: When you do the step…
This has to be my favourite correction of all time, from Gary Harris (aka Fido, now director of Royal New Zealand Ballet) after the first run through of an allegro…
Advent 4: Can I have that on a…
In the years that I’ve been playing for student ballet teachers, I’ve always found the notion of asking for ‘dance rhythms’ a bit silly, unless dance rhythms are your thing.…