| Cyril
Beaumont Scholarship
Awarded
on 18th October 2007, held this year at the studios
of Kate Simmons Dance
The
award was instigated by Cyril Beaumont, the founder
of the Cecchetti Society, to assist young vocational
dancers being trained in the Cecchetti Method, to continue
their training.
The
14 candidates for this year's award were assessed on
the basis of an extended class, taken by Gillian Hurst,
under the critical eyes of the adjudicators, Susan Lucas,
formerly a First Soloist with The Birmingham Royal Ballet,
and Mary Jane Duckworth a past Chairman of the Committee,
and the possibly more sympathetic eyes of a small invited
audience.
The
class ended with a demonstration of Cecchetti Port de
Bras, described once by Sir Frederick Ashton as "the
most wonderful port de bras that exists". The Maestro
himself always stressed the importance of "movements
of the upper part of the body, emphasising the port
de bras and thereby co-ordinating the movements of the
arms and the head in order to develop épaulement".
Dame Ninette de Valois, ever down to earth, put it so
simply "If the top knows where it has got to go,
it makes learning the steps so much easier".
The
adjudicators eventually awarded this year's scholarship
to Lauren-Claire Smith, now in her graduate year at
Kate Simmons School in Warrington, commenting on her
beautiful classical line and secure technique, with
Kazuya Sasahara, who is already developing an impressive
‘ballon’, as a close runner-up. Highly commended
were Haruka Tabei and Tomoe Imamura.
It
was generally felt that Cyril Beaumont would be very
pleased with the high standard of dancing his scholarship
continues to encourage.
David
Lloyd
Above:
Beaumont Scholarship competitors with Adjudicators |
