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Since my last newsletter, Carlos (Acosta) and I have completed our last two performances of La Bayadère. For the matinee, Angus brought Phoebe up to the wings to watch the last act and she really seemed to enjoy it. Although I was tempted to take her on stage for a 'red-runner' (curtain call), I thought better of it - she might well have screamed the place down! She did, however, have her first experience of the stage door after a show, where she made quite a hit.
Natalia Makarova coached me for two of my rehearsals. She has spent most of her time rehearsing others who were new to La Bayadère, but she coached me in the role of Gamzatti when the Royal Ballet first performed the ballet in 1989. It's fascinating to work with her - and you know she'll always have something to say about the show no matter how well it goes. With Phoebe around, however, Natalia seemed more interested in talking to her than in giving me feedback on my
performance.
As well as La Bayadère, I was also rehearsing In the Middle and Giselle. Unfortunately, all that work managed to inflame an old injury in my ankle just before the final Bayadère. Although I managed to get through the show, I had to pull out of the Gala in honour of Dame Beryl Gray two days later. (My foot never seems to be happy doing Giselle; I think it's all those jumps and hops that aggravate the injury.) Dame Beryl has coached me in various roles in the past (including the Black Queen in Checkmate) so it was very disappointing not to be able to dance at her Gala. She fully understood, however, that injuries do occur, especially when you are working on a variety of different pieces all at the same time.
It has been great working with Roberto Bolle again in In the Middle. Now that's a piece where you have to give your all - and you definitely know
you've been dancing, because your body aches so much afterwards. The pain is worth it, however, as it is amazing to dance. Roberto and I have just started rehearsals for Romeo and Juliet. It's fun to dance with a Romeo who is a real Italian and with his incredible talent, you could say that he may be perfectly cast. Then it will be on to the next ballet, when Jonathan Cope and I start work on the new Chris Wheeldon piece (Leanne Benjamin and Johann Kobborg have been cast as the other principal couple). I haven't heard how many other dancers from the company will be in the piece, but I'll let you know once rehearsals have started.
Jonathan Cope and I enjoyed our first performance of Giselle and as usual I loved dancing with him. He is such a wonderful actor as well and it is great to feed off him on stage - although I wasn't quite sure my neck was going to stand up to all that shaking at the end of Act 1! We went on without having had a stage call - and although we had a full call in the studio for the first act, we hadn't had one for the second. So there were a couple of small changes in that act which came as a surprise to us! It was great to have Elizabeth McGorian and Jane Burn back on stage after being off for a long time with injuries; it was also a special night for Rosalind Eyre - back to play my mother - as it was her mother's 90th birthday. It was our conductor's (Boris Gruzin) first show with the Royal Ballet, but he knows the ballet inside out, of course. Coming from the Kirov, he is used to following the dancers: so if you slow down or speed up, he will change the tempo and follow you. That can be good, but sometimes you want to be pushed by the music; if you are feeling tired (which you are towards the end of Giselle), you want him to take control and push you along. As tiring and emotionally draining as Giselle is to dance, it is however, one of the most rewarding classics to dance.
Recently I've been involved in some promotional work for Audi and Aqua Libra . I've been involved with Audi for four years now and have had the good fortune to drive some of their wonderful cars - though the model has changed now we have Phoebe. (It used to be a sports car as you can see from the photo.) Audi sponsored my first Giselle and they even brought up two cars to be displayed outside the front of the Vilar Floral Hall: one was a 1939 sports car and the other was the latest A4 Cabriolet that goes on sale in August. After the show I attended a function with quite a few celebrities, including Graeme Le Saux who plays for Chelsea Football Club - a thrill for my Dad as he is a season ticket holder. I've joined him on the terraces a few times and really enjoyed myself, although it does get a bit cold!
Aqua Libra sponsored the first night of the run of Giselle and have asked me to front an advertising campaign for the next few months. They wanted to use a dancer as they thought our profession represented the
healthy 'balance' that the drink provides. It helps you retain calcium, which is very important for dancers; we need to keep our bones strong, as they are put under a lot of stress. The drink is also alkalizing; that helps keep the nerves in your stomach calm on the day of a show. Bill Cooper, a dance photographer, took some shots of me drinking some of the different flavours; I recommend the 'Berry', so look out for those pictures.
I've also been busy sewing pointe shoes and preparing my tour box - sent off this week to Australia for our tour at the end of May. (Phoebe will be coming with us, of course. Her first tour!) I included about 20 pairs of shoes so that they'll be ready for me when we arrive. It's a very tight schedule - we have only two days in the country before our first show, which is Swan Lake. We can't leave any earlier as we have shows in London right up to the day before we leave. I enjoyed performing in Australia in the past, when I danced Bayadère with the Australian Ballet in 1998, but it will be great to be there with my home company.
I would like to update the FAQ page , (in the Fan Club Section) so if you have any interesting questions that haven't been answered before, please send an e-mail with your question on it and we'll add a selection of them to the site.
I would like to thank everyone who has sent cards, letters and gifts to me at the Opera House; I really appreciate your support. Sorry for the delay in replying to some of them - I am slowly working my way through the pile, so if you haven't heard from me yet, you will soon. Thanks also for the comments regarding this site.
I hope you enjoyed the newsletter. Please come back again to see what I have been up to.
Enjoy your dance.
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