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Sunday 26th July 2009
For the third consecutive year, Cecchetti Day was held at the prestigious venue of the Royal Ballet School in Covent Garden London – and what an enjoyable day it was! The programme opened with Mandev Sokhi waking us all up by giving the London Junior Associates an introduction to Spanish Dance. It was fascinating to see the young students develop their own individual style and pick up the complicated rhythms and sequences of Flamenco.
Above: Junior and Senior Scholars, Cupwinners
Giannandrea Poesio was our next treat – to listen to anyone so passionate and knowledgeable about the History of Ballet was a captivating experience, and on his visit to St Petersburg he discovered some very intriguing facts about the life and work of Enrico Cecchetti. We were privileged to see new pictures of a younger Enrico Cecchetti, and to find out the seventh position of arms came from the Gene in the ballet ‘Amour’ meaning ‘I offer my love’.
A highlight of the day was Diane van Schoor taking a pointework coaching class for talented pupils from the Royal Ballet School, White Lodge. She also coached the Peasant solo from Giselle and it was a joy and pleasure to see the students’ quick response to create the style of the solo in such a short time.
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Above left: Diane Van Schoor with White Lodge students
Above right: Mandev Sokhi with London Junior Associates |
After a much appreciated lunch break came the Annual General Meeting, presentations were made to Tessa Barker who is standing down from the Cecchetti Associate Committee. A Long Service Award was presented to Joan Hewson who still teaches at Pineapple Dance Studios.
Recognition was given to the respected Mary-Jane Duckworth and Linda Pilkington – both of whom are retiring from examining, and who will be greatly missed. The coveted award of the Enrico Cecchetti Medal was presented to Tanya Bayona, who has spread the Cecchetti technique throughout Malta and has been an inspiration to many teachers and pupils.
The Northern Cecchetti Associates, celebrating their 10th Anniversary, travelled down to London to give us an energetic demonstration with Bernard Pierre Louis’ Contemporary class. The older students had certainly benefited from the Limmone technique in their training as they performed the movements with ease and fluidity. Jeremy Kerridge then gave the younger Associates a Ballet class full of movement and fun.
We then watched the Winners of Area Competitions, the Choreographic, Mabel Ryan Awards and Cyril Beaumont Scholarship after which, these lovely dances were followed by the Junior Scholars performing Kismet. This was an excellent choreography by Kirsty Williams with Kaleidoscope patterns and partner work evolving in front of our eyes. Gillian Toogood, with her natural talent for choreography, created a breathtaking dance entitled a Jig in the Making for the Senior Scholars, which they executed on pointe. Both dances were full of contrast showing the Scholars off to their best ability.
Giannandrea Poesio brought the day to its climax by his class on the ‘Lost Language of Mime’. He taught the mime of Carabosse with great effect. We then had the privilege of watching an exquisite performance of the ‘Blue Bird Pas de deux’ danced by Simone Clarke and Yat-Sen Chang, two principal dancers from English National Ballet.
On behalf of all the Cecchetti teachers, I would like to thank our Chairman, Elisabeth Swan, and her hard-working Committeee for all they have achieved this year, particularly for the new Cecchetti Classical Ballet logo, and for producing such a varied and wonderful day.
Lucy Pohl |
