Company...

... for Knots in the String.

‘I love being part of a company. It’s the best feeling in the world.’ Dame Judi Dench from The Man Who Pays the Rent.

Being a company member has always held such resonance for this great actor. She mentioned the joy of belonging to companies like the Old Vic and RSC and that’s what got my little grey cells moving.

When I decided to join the Felicity Ryan Ballet School a few years ago, I didn’t expect to do anything other than front up to the studio weekly, go through enjoyable motions and go home. I certainly didn’t expect to make friends with likeminded folk. But that’s what happened; we started to bond, gasping when it hurt, laughing when it went wrong and clapping after the révérence.

We were asked if we would like to learn a routine to perform at the annual concert and whilst most of us made the decision quite easily, it was a mammoth ask for me. So far out of my comfort zone as to be on another planet. But if we had bonded before we began to rehearse, it was nothing to the way we worked together and fed off each other’s energy as we moved toward performance day.

The need to turn up and be counted for rehearsal was paramount. As Dame Judi says, no one performs in a bubble, each relies on the other. Anything else, she implies, is a little bit selfish when one is a part of a company. I suppose one could argue that one little company of senior amateur dancers is hardly the Royal Ballet, but the theory’s the same. Dame Judi talked about acting being a three-way process: the actor, fellow actors and the audience. The three elements are integral, winding around each other in a harmonious way. The result is a performance that will be memorable. It’s not a big stretch to lay that over what we do. We rely on each other for timing, for spacing and whilst we do it for fun, we owe it to the school and our teacher, maybe even to ourselves to be the best we can be.

As I listened further, I learned how important it was for the actors to create a backstory for the characters so that the nuance on stage could be honed. A backstory is always evident in the great classical ballets, but what about just a small 3 minute piece danced to an excerpt.

When we performed that first year to the powerful Dance of the Knights, we were arrogant Veronese noblewomen. We had hauteur. We were part of the houses of Montagu and Capulet.

The following year we danced to the theme from Amelie. It was a winsome piece, a charming cameo but there was no story.

Last year we danced to the Spanish Dance from Swan Lake and it was impossible not to dance it as proud Spanish signoras who are reliving the days of seduction before they subside into the role of aged duennas.

I wondered last week, as we danced to the music of Einaudi’s Experience, what the story could be there.

It’s calm, almost wistful. So imagine if you will a group of elder women in a provincial location. They’ve seen life and they watch as the young ones party, not a care in the world. And so these women meet to ponder wisdom, dancing with soft joy, reliving the days when they were as supple as willows and aware they have deep knowledge that Experience has taught them. (Must ask our teacher what she thinks…)

In the second year concert, wearing black again and not really wanting to be called the Black Nonnas, we jokingly called ourselves The Black Swans. Then in Year III, we became The Señoras in flaming red and black. I’m not sure what colour and style the company will wear this year, but I think about the group who dance and who turn up weekly without fail and about the camaraderie that exists, the way Pauline’s arm nearly garrotted me and how we fell about laughing (or as Dame Judi says – ‘corpsing’) and I think we really are The Senior Company, with all that it implies…

Doing:

Well the above, obviously.

And playing Nurse Nanny after picking up a bloodied grandson from school. He fell on rocks during the lunch hour. Has an enormous bruise under the chin and a 1cm wide and quite deep cut that required steri-strips. It’s his birthday next week, too…

Attended a weekend course on metalwork/goldwork in embroidery which was a huge leap of faith for me who has always held that type of embroidery far too hard. It’s the stuff they do at the Royal School of Needlework for heavens’ sake! And yet here I am, stitching a white and silver heron.

Reading:

Still with Matthew Harffy’s Dark Frontier, still enjoying it immensely. Have just purchased Antoine Laurain’s new release French Windows and honestly, cannot wait to start it!

I’ve just finished listening to Dame Judi’s And Furthermore which was filled with honesties and anecdotes of her artistic life. Because of its quality and because I’ve always loved the words of Shakespeare, I really had to listen to The Man Who Pays the Rent. I admire this woman so much, she’s earthy, funny, incredibly intellectual and can swear like a navvy. The book is brilliant. I think if I had this to listen to as student, I would have appreciated the deep nuances of the plays and sonnets so much more. Academic interpretations by teachers and lecturers were so crusty but Dame Judi lived the roles and her thoughts on character, plot and narrative are magnificent!

Watching:

Filled in the gap between end of the Tour de France and the beginning of the Olympics with The Game – a British spy thriller set in 1972 with Tom Hughes as the lead. It was good. 5 stars.

Now watching the Olympic Games – mostly all the elements of the equestrian sports. But some rowing, hockey and canoe/kayaking, a wee bit of gymnastics and will watch the soccer when it gets to heartstopping finals. But heart in the mouth at the equestrian cross-country.

I think on company in respect of interests through my life. I was a competitive swimmer and whilst I trained as part of a team, it never felt like a ‘company’. We swim those lanes as individuals. Not my idea of fun these days…

I was an equestrian for awhile – dressage and showing.

I was solely responsible for practice, presentation and performance and although I had a specialist trainer (the wonderfully respected Captain Harry Sanna from Hungary), my company was my beautiful horse to whom I was devoted. That whole time was special – akin to the feeling of company at ballet. Indeed, some of the moves in dressage are balletic.

(In this image, he’d been retired from dressage for 18 months, but the handsome boy could still do a bit of a half pass when asked.)

And so we come back to this week, where I think on Dame Judi’s words. I agree with her that ‘company’ is loyalty, resonance, communication, support, humour and affection – putting the group first.

I’ve said before that the support from the ballet mob that was given to me pre- and post-operatively was so important in keeping my spirits strong. This week, we’ve communicated by text since class and have bemoaned aches and pains but like all good Senior Company members, can’t wait to get back to it again next week to move forward together so that we can laugh, whinge and reach as high as we can in each other’s slipstream.

Considering I’m someone who is just as happy with my own company, I find that a pretty amazing thing…

Song for this week? Well it’s not exactly ballet but it’s a great song!

In honour of France, the Olympics and the dance , this: