Anya Grinsted has been an unwavering support so far in my career. Having once been a teacher at Elmhurst ballet school, Anya still wished to retain her connection with Elmhurst and it’s students and so advertised for her course named ‘Back to the Barre’ on the student bulletin board.Unlike any other ballet course I had been to, this one looked at how to approach ballet training from a completely different perspective. Anya taught me how to relax my strained neck and shoulders that had resulted from my intense training by simply using the weight of the limbs to make the movement rather than tensing the muscles. This technique of concentrating the weight of the body into the floor comes from the De Vos method and is the basis of Anya’s unique teaching.When I met Anya she thought she recognised a natural dance quality in me that was getting lost due to the strain that resulted from the intense focus on my ballet technique. I am so grateful to Anya for taking me under her wing and helping me so much to release the tension in my upper body, which in due course also helped me to develop as an artist as well as a ballet technician. I admire her so much for all the hard work she put in for me, all the days she gave up to give me private tutorials when she was under no obligation and often refusing any payment. To this day, now that I am working professionally she still finds the time to send me photocopies of diagrams and information that she thinks might help me and continues to work hard teaching her own students as well as those from Elmhurst. Her dedication to dance and her young students is incredible and I will always truly admire her for that.
Robert Parker
When I was working with the Birmingham Royal Ballet I became inspired by the male principal dancer Robert Parker.Robert Parker joined the company in 1994 and from the very beginning he began to prove himself as an outstanding dancer. He progressed extremely quickly and soon began to dance more prominent roles even before he was promoted to principal.Although he has been noted for his excellence in many major roles, I remember in particular when he danced’ Edward’ in Edward 2nd. The role demanded not only technical excellence but also a huge amount of stage presence and dramatic acting, and I think it was particularly Parker’s artistic abilities on stage that drew me to admire him as a dancer. His performance of this role was so whole heartedly given and so believable that it truly established him as a favourite of mine.Throughout my high school years I had various opportunities to see him dance and also to meet him whilst working with the company. I remember in my graduate year I was finding the timetable at school combined with auditioning and performing with the company very stressful, and I will never forget how kind and supportive he was. Despite his success as a dancer he remained down to earth and kind which lead me to also admire him as a person.Most recently I was able to see him dance in one of the last roles to be created for him by David Bintley. The ballet was ‘Cyrano ’in which he was cast as the title role. Requiring the dancer to convey almost every emotion from happiness to anger, love and despair, I have never seen a performance that blew me away so much as that of Robert Parker, and I will always admire his excellence in performance.
Mercia Hetherington
Mercia Hetherington was a very prominent figure throughout my time in high school and was treasured by everyone at Elmhurst having served on the staff for 22 years. Her previous notable career as a principal dancer combined with her years of experience as a teacher made her one of the most admired people I have met so far whilst in pursuit of my career.In my second year at Elmhurst I was lucky enough to have her as my main ballet tutor. I arrived in her class enthusiastic but full of many little faults and quirks when I danced, resulting in her affectionately nick- naming me ‘Ism’ or ‘Izzie’, short for ‘mannerism’.Throughout that year Mercia worked meticulously on the basis of our classical technique starting the first five minutes of class just facing the barre and standing in first position so that we could feel our turn out. She was incredibly patient and as a result we all soon began to gain strength. I personally started to become more grounded and began to lose my tendency to fidget, and benefitted greatly from her help in ironing out my faults.There were many little things that made her both special and memorable as a teacher, such as her amazingly straight back and upright posture and her long and sharp thumbnails that she used to grow especially so that she could poke our muscles if we weren’t using them. She also realised the importance of being versatile and encouraged us to do well in all our dance classes as well as her own.Mercia was both a prestigious and kind member of our school, to this day I visit her for advice which she is always willing and passionate to give and I hope to continue my visits to this inspiring lady.
David Bintley CBE
My admiration for David Bintley, the Artistic Director of Birmingham Royal Ballet first began at the age of 8 when I was accepted in to the Royal Ballet School’s Junior Associate programme in Birmingham. For 3 years I trained in the Birmingham Royal Ballet studios every Saturday and whilst I was there, I was fortunate to be given many opportunities to perform with the resident company.My first chance to work with David Bintley came when I was successfully chosen to dance in his ballet ‘Still Life at the Penguin Cafe’. Working with him at such a young age was a wonderful opportunity, he was kind and clearly very passionate, and he knew every detail of what he wanted us to do.It was an invaluable experience dancing with his company and performing in many different theatres and I never thought that an opportunity like that would come again.But at the age of 10 I was chosen to perform the child role of’ Princess Phillipa’ in David Bintley’s production of Edward 2nd. The Artistic Director’s continuing faith in me lead me to greatly admire both him and his work as I was launched into rehearsals for his intensely dramatic ballet. I feel so lucky to have worked closely with Mr Bintley so early on, and I owe the fact that I had such a wonderful introduction to my future career almost entirely to him.In my first year at Elmhurst Ballet School, I was asked to dance with the company again. And this time I would be touring with the company to Hong Kong and then later to New York City.Such an opportunity as this was very special to me and I can only feel great admiration for David Bintley and his belief in me.
Prague Masterclasses
I first attended Prague Masterclasses at the age of 16 and I enjoyed it so much that I decided to go back again for another 2 years. Out of many other summer courses I have attended, I admire this one in particular for the opportunities it presents to both inexperienced and professional dancers and also for the fact that it is a non-profit organisation.Daria Klimentova, principal dancer with English National Ballet and her husband Ian set up the ballet masterclasses in Prague in order to promote particularly Classical Ballet in Daria’s home country, the Czech Republic. The course gives dancers the opportunity to be taught by some of the best principal dancers still currently at the top of their career such as Tamara Rojo and Sofiane Sylve and also famous dancers that have retired from dancing such as Viviana Durante.Not only do the dancers get to work with the very best in their field but they also get to tackle a wide variety of repertoire. On one occasion I had a great opportunity to learn Juliet’s solo from 1st act of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ by Kenneth Macmillan. Repertoire such as this is usually reserved for those already dancing professionally at soloist or principal level and I really appreciate how Prague Masterclasses gives you the chance to learn roles like this.Despite the fact that the two week course is in the middle of the summer holiday, Daria and her staff work hard to teach class, solos, pas de deux and group repertoire in order that they can pass on their passion, experience and knowledge to those who are willing to learn. I admire very much all the effort that is put in by the organisation in order that young dancers can continue to be inspired by their art.
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