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The Cecchetti boys’ workshop was held on Sunday 7th June at the Dance Attic in Fulham and was another great success. Raymond Chai was the director on this occasion and was absolutely wonderful. Raymond has had an extensive and varied career as a dancer across Europe and is a well respected choreographer for theatre and television.
Above: Raymond Chai and Andrew West with the boys who attended
Raymond has been a guest teacher for prestigious companies such as English National Ballet, Richard Alston and Matthew Bourne’s companies, to name but a few. He is currently Ballet master for ‘Ballet Black’ dance company.
Raymond’s friendly manner and great humour gave him an instant rapport with the 16 boys. To begin class, he asked them to walk around the space in a relaxed manner, then slowly picked up the pace and unexpectedly changed directions until the grinning boys were running in all directions to the great amusements of the observers! This made the boys feel happy and relaxed when they began the well structured class, which was ideal for the 8 – 12 year-olds, with enough to challenge the older boys and inspire the youngest.
Mr Chai then taught the boys a variation of the Nutcracker ‘Mouse and Soldier Battle,’ which the boys loved. They were so well engaged and performed enthusiastically to the applause of the observers. I think the boys were thrilled when Raymond asked the mice to jump on the backs of the soldiers, which resulted in eight combat piggy backs and 16 laughing boys. Mr Chai ended the session with a little one-to-one pirouette training and told me he was impressed with the way the boys took correction and improved so quickly. They are a credit to their teachers.
It was our pleasure and privilege to have Senior White Lodge pianist Andrew West to accompany all, and who is so reassuringly experienced and accomplished.
The afternoon flew past and was filled with laughter and great dancing. I am sure that the workshop is instrumental in keeping the boys’ interest in ballet alive, so thank you to all the parents, teachers and boys who support this invaluable event.
Sarah Bradshaw, Event Organiser |
