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Dancing
in Tring
I was very excited the first day I got to Tring as I had never
been to a residential dance course before and I was wondering
what it would be like.
I
was quite apprehensive as I knew most people would be a lot
younger than I am but I was very well received, as my roommates
were very nice to me, and I felt truly integrated right away.
The group was rather large and it included all sorts of different
nationalities: there were people from Portugal (me), Malta,
Jersey, Italy, USA and even from Japan.
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Students
and faculty from the Cecchetti Students’ Summer
Course at Tring 2003.
Photograph: Mike Bass |
I
enjoyed all the classes very much as they taught me a wide
range of dance related principles. We had Ballet every morning
with a faculty of different teachers. There was Cara Drower,
David Yow, who underlined the importance of communication
in dancing, and Anita Young, who advised us to always express
our great passion for dancing, even in the classroom. We also
learned a lot from Sara Gallie, who taught us very useful
Pilates classes and was always drawing our attention to correct
posture in Ballet and pointe work. Vince Redmon taught us
Ballet as well as working on a fantastic choreography for
the whole group in a very short period of time, which was
outstanding.
I
had my initiation into Spanish dancing with a very pleasant
and patient teacher, Sandra Doling. I never thought Spanish
dancing would be that difficult. It really takes a lot of
practice to get it right. Another new experience was pas de
deux, which was really exciting and quite amusing, as I had
never realised how much hard work the male dancer had to do.
For
contemporary, we had an amazing teacher, Nicky Ellis, who
kept on pointing out the details we weren’t paying attention
to.
All
through the course the staff were really helpful and available.
We mustn’t forget the pianists’ indispensable
contribution, those who played on the Junior Course as well
as ours and particularly Jill Barnes, who played for the students’
course exclusively, without whom none of this would have been
possible.
To
put a glorious end to this week of hard but gratifying work
we had a performance, in which we showed glimpses of what
we had learned throughout our dance classes. I think we all
did very well and I believe the teachers were happy with our
general achievement.
Now
that it is over, I must say it was a superb experience. I
learned a lot whilst having a wonderful time and I’m
very happy to have met lots of people who share my great passion
in this life, dancing. I sure hope to be back next year!
Raquel
Dionisio
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