Finding Out More about the Company

[Ashton Fan]

I  know that the people who visit the forum have a great enthusiasm for dance and that those who visit this section of it are interested in what is happening at the Royal Ballet and its dancers past and present. I suspect that  some of you might be interested in the web sites of two London based organisations which give their members  some insight into the world of classical ballet by arranging  talks by company members and others.

 

The organisations in question are the London Ballet Association, sometimes disparagingly referred to as the "Royal Ballet's supporters' club", and the London Ballet Circle. Now while it is true that the Ballet Association is very much an organisation whose primary  focus is the Royal Ballet it is also interested in the Royal Ballet School and the Birmingham Royal Ballet, and many of its members are also Ballet Circle members. Ballet Association invites speakers from all levels of the company including the most recent recruits. While the accounts given by the men about how they came to be involved in dance have a certain sameness about them, both Watson and Hay foe example,had their initial experience of ballet classes as a result of their sisters going to classes what tends to stand out is the differences in the availability and type of training to be found in different countries. The number of boys starting serious dance training later than we might perceive to be the norm and doing well is another notable factor.

 

Ballet Circle invites a wider range of speakers to its meetings than Ballet Association does.Its speakers include not only those with Royal Ballet and Royal Ballet School connections but those working at English National Ballet and other English companies;directors and dancers from foreign companies;the occasional dance critic and people like Maina Gielgud whose training,career as dancer, director, stager and coach are far too wide ranging to categorise easily.

 

Both organisations publish sanitised accounts of the interviews on their respective websites after the interviewee has had the opportunity to remove anything that he or she said which now seems a bit too indiscreet, but even in their expurgated form they can be extremely interesting. The quality of the reports is inevitably variable as some interviewees are better raconteurs than others and not everyone has good interviewing skills but you may find something of interest among them. 

 

One thing that really stood out at the meeting of Ballet Association held earlier this week is that dancers like Gary Avis who was the speaker are just as taken by the excitement generated by the presence of so many talented dancers at every level of the company as the regular ballet goers are.It is good to know that the experienced professionals feel that there is something rather special happening in the company at the moment in terms of creativity and performance.

Edited February 4, 2017 by Ashton Fan