|
Cecchetti
Centre Christmas Workshop
At 10am on 14th December nearly 100 nervous but excited ballet students
arrived at The Arts Educational School in Chiswick for the annual Cecchetti
Choreographic Workshop, when Coppélia was to be produced.
The
day had already been highly prepared and expertly arranged and choreographed
by Richard Slaughter and Ursual Hageli of Ballet Creations and Cara
Drower, Director of the Cecchetti Centre, along with a number of other
Cecchetti teachers.
The
students were quickly divided into four groups according to age and
grade and were then whisked off to the relevant studios to start an
action packed rehearsal schedule.
The
dancers were about to be transformed into their roles: the Villagers,
played by the youngest dancers, who quickly grasped a very complicated
Mazurka; Work Hours and Morning Hours by the middle group; Coppélia's
friends performed by the seniors; and Dawn, which was re-choreographed
into a duet for Kirsty Arnold and Helen Stevenson. The principal roles
of Coppélia and Franz were to be danced by Kit Dickinson and
Gustavo Quintans from Ballet Creations.
The
teachers demonstrated the dances and then guided and rehearsed the students
with the rehearsal pianist, Stephen, who amazingly seemed to materialise
in all the studios at the same time, uplifting the students with his
melodic talents.
At
12 o'clock the four groups came together on stage for a run through
in front of Richard and Ursula, with just the finale to arrange! After
a much needed break for lunch, and of course time to make friends, the
rehearsing continued with all acts being linked together.
Various
teachers sent fantastic costumes and the fittings were overseen by Anthea
Barnes and her team. The children were totally transformed into the
world of Dr Coppélius' magical workshop.
At
4 o'clock parents eagerly started to queue for the afternoon's performance
and at 4.30pm the curtains rose and the story of Coppélia was
unfolded with great enthusiasm and professionalism. In the final act,
Dr Coppélius Spanish, Scottish and Chinese dolls and the Toy
Soldier were brought to life and danced with great interpretation.
The
whole day was thoroughly enjoyable and it was quite amazing how quickly
such a performance came together. The parents were also visibly impressed,
but most exhilarating of all was hearing the excited voices of the performers
at the end of the show as they left Dr Coppélius' workshop and
headed back out on to the streets of Chiswick, tired but echoing each
others voices of "I hope we can come back next year"!
Lisa
Millard
|
