January
2007 Newsletter
Happy New Year. We hope everyone had a
good Christmas and New Year with an ample
diet of Nutcrackers!
Our guest at our last meeting of 2006
was Principal dancer, Johan Kobborg, who
talked about his productions of La Sylphide
and Napoli Divertissements. He gave us
many insights into staging productions
as well as talking about his current injury
and some of his plans for the future.
Once again we packed the Swedenborg Hall,
but fortunately did not have to turn anyone
away, although we were totally full. Members
heeded our advice and turned up early.
For members unable to attend meetings,
a summary is made available on our website,
www.balletassociation.co.uk once the report
has been checked by the guest speaker.
If you do not have access to the internet
and would like a copy of a report on any
meeting, please send a stamped, addressed
envelope to Joan Seaman, our membership
secretary, at 56 Turney Road, London SE21
8LU.
Future meetings
Our next meeting is on Thursday 18 January
at the Swedenborg Hall. We are delighted
to welcome soloist Steven McRae as our
guest. We had invited Steven earlier in
the season but the date coincided with
the arrival of his parents from Australia,
so we are pleased that he is able to start
off our new year of meetings. Steven has
made an enormous impact since joining
the Company in 2004. Born in Sydney, he
won a scholarship to the Royal Ballet
School from the Prix de Lausanne in 2003.
He was promoted to soloist in 2006. He
has created roles in Homage to the Queen,
Three Songs – Two Voices and Chroma
as well as dancing soloist roles in Giselle,
Nutcracker, La Sylphide and Manon. We
know this will be a popular meeting and
suggest you arrive early to avoid being
disappointed. The meeting will be restricted
to members only up to 7.15pm. If there
are still seats at that time, we will
open the meeting to guests.
As announced at the AGM we are holding
some meetings at Bloomsbury Central Baptist
Church this year. This is a larger venue
which will comfortably seat our membership.
Our first meeting there will be on Thursday
8 February. (Please note that this is
a change of date, as our original date
clashed with an Insight evening.) Our
guest on that evening will be Principal
Character Artist, Gary Avis. Born in Ipswich,
Gary joined The Royal Ballet in 1989 and
was promoted to Soloist in 1995. In 1999
he left to co-found K Ballet in Japan,
then joined English National Ballet in
2002. He rejoined the Royal in 2004 and
was promoted to Principal Character Artist
the following year. His repertoire is
enormous and has recently seen him dancing
Madge in La Sylphide as well as creating
one of the pas de deux in Christopher
Wheeldon’s DGV Danse à grande
vitesse. We know members will be delighted
to welcome him back to the Association.
Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church is at
the eastern end of Shaftesbury Avenue,
opposite the Shaftesbury Theatre. It is
about 150 metres from the Swedenborg Hall.
From Covent Garden you walk up Endell
Street and cross over Shaftesbury Avenue.
The church is then on your left. As the
church has other meetings, please do not
arrive before 6.30.
Provisional dates for the rest of next
season are: Thursday 15 March, Friday
23 March, Wednesday 11 April, Thursday
10 May, Wednesday 16 May, Thursday 14
June, Thursday 12 July. Please note there
are two additional dates. All these dates
are provisional. They will be changed,
if they clash with ballet events at the
Opera House.
Meetings, unless otherwise stated, begin
at 7.30 p.m. and are held at the Swedenborg
Hall, off Bloomsbury Way (nearest tube
Holborn). Doors open at 6.30 p.m. Admission:
Members £3, Concessionary Members
£2, Guests £7. The Swedenborg
Hall seats a maximum of 100 people, so
turn up early to be sure of getting in.
Association Officers
At our first committee meeting, David
Bain was re-elected as Chairman and Sylvia
Tyler was elected as Deputy- Chairman.
News
Members will be delighted to hear that
Gemma Bond is marrying ex-Royal Ballet
dancer, Matthew Dibble, during the mid-season
break. You may also have heard that Marianela
Nunez and Thiago Soares got engaged at
the end of their last Sleeping Beauty,
with Thiago proposing on stage in front
of the Company. We send our congratulations
to all of them.
Nominations for the National Dance Awards
have been announced by the Critics’
Circle. Results will be announced on 25
January. From the Royal Ballet Companies
they include:
Best Female Dancer – Alina Cojocaru,
Sarah Lamb, Miyako Yoshida
Best Male Dancer – Carlos Acosta,
Federico Bonelli, Johan Kobborg
Emerging Dancer Classical - Chi Cao, Steven
McRae, Tyrone Singleton
Best Classical Repertoire – Birmingham
Royal Ballet
Best Classical Choreography- Alastair
Marriott for Tanglewood, William Tuckett
for The Canterville Ghost.
Annual Dinner 2007
We are now able to confirm that our Annual
Dinner will be on Wednesday 2nd May. Once
again, it will take place at the Rubens
Hotel in Buckingham Palace Road. Dinner
is at 8.00pm. A private bar is available
from 7.00pm. The dinner will cost £31.
Given the popularity of our dinner last
season and our growing membership, we
expect a very heavy demand for tickets,
so early application is advised. Initially,
this year’s dinner will be open
to members only. If there are still vacancies
by the end of March, we will open it up
to members’ guests. (You may apply
for a guest on the application form, but,
if you do, please send two separate cheques
and two stamped addressed envelopes.)
There will be about 140 places for members
and 35 for an exciting array of dancers
of all ranks, Company management, etc.
We will not be announcing the guest list
until the April newsletter. You will then
have an opportunity to let us know which
dancers you would like to sit near.