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Fewster
Cecchetti Scholarship 2007
The
Annual Fewster Cecchetti Scholarship was held on Sunday
4th November 2007 at The Place, London
The
event was adjudicated by Mary Goodhew and Elisabeth
Swan, Andrew West was at the piano and Errol Pickford
gave two very enjoyable and challenging classes. The
first started calmly and quietly at the barre and built
up to beautifully structured, exciting enchainements.
After
this initial class, all the entrants, 23 in number,
from six vocational schools, were invited back to continue
competing in the second class. This began with adagio
and a chance to demonstrate their classical line and
continued with exciting sequences of pirouettes, allegro,
batterie, pointework and virtuosity.
Mary
Goodhew opened her remarks by expressing her gratitude
to Mr Pickford for superb classes. The dancers had really
been put through their paces in terms of line, quality
and dynamics. She added that when Barbara Fewster was
Principal at the Royal Ballet School she always stressed
the need for ingrained musicality in the dancer and
congratulated Andrew West on expressing the essence
of the Cecchetti music and providing inspirational accompaniment.
The
standard was high. All the dancers had many attributes
and were a credit to their teachers. However, she made
her decision on the grounds that Miss Fewster would
want neatness, precision, timing and co-ordination.
She advised the importance of catching the physical
and musical highlights in the set port de bras and the
need to breathe and phrase the music. She encouraged
the dancers to remember the importance of the use of
the floor and of the demi plié and to establish
clear lines, not to ‘amble’.
These
qualities were ably demonstrated by the winner, Lauren-Claire
Smith (Kate Simmons Dance Ltd) and incidentally also
this year’s Cyril Beaumont Scholar. The runner
up was Kazuka Oike (Arts Educational School, Tring).
The Boys Award was shared by Jack Allen (also Arts,
Tring) and Louis McMiller (Royal Ballet School).
In
the concluding remarks, Richard Glasstone thanked Mary
Goodhew and Elisabeth Swan paid tribute to Daphne Cooper
for her excellent organisation on the day despite postal
strike difficulties.
Christine Axon |
