It has been an eventful first season at The House. The first public view was of course the Televised Gala with the TV programmes that ran before and after the official first night. By then however we had been working in the building for a couple of months! It is great to be back at The House especially as having all our rehearsal studios there makes life so much easier. They are probably the best dance facilities in Britain, if not the world!!
My first visit to the New House
was actually a few days after the rest of the company as I was in Hamburg having a new ballet choreographed by John Neumier called Lento. My partner was Otto Bubenecek (of course he is tall) and it was the first time I had worked with him. As you are probably aware I enjoy working with different partners and it was a fun experience to spend some time with a different choreographer. The piece was going to have its world premiere as part of the International Choreography Bill in December at the ROH - our first shows after the opening - but due to scheduling we had to learn it 2 months before it would actually be shown!
The official opening was a nervous experience especially as I was opening the ballet section with The Rose Adagio from Sleeping Beauty; that of course, is the piece that everyone loves but most dancers don't particularly enjoy. I can't really say I enjoyed it but I did love performing a pdd from Prince of the Pagodas with Jonathan Cope. There was of course the official reception after the show but we were just glad to be able to open on time. There were some earlier performances in one of the smaller theatres in the Opera House which made press headlines (you may have seen the photos) mainly due to the fact that Cherie Blair attended the day after announcing her pregnancy. There are actually three performing areas that are available. The two smaller ones are used by our company to try out new choreography and also by outside companies.
It was good to get back into the routine of performing on our stage after being homeless for two years. Our first shows were the International Choreography Bill where I performed Lento and also the Barber Violin Concerto with Nigel Burley. Our first full length ballet was a revised version of The Nutcracker by Sir Peter Wright which we even performed on Millennium Day. Roberto Bolle was my partner and again this was the first time I had worked with him. We went on to make our debuts in Les Rendezvous later in the season and we are continuing the partnership by opening the new season in Swan Lake in October.
The other full length production
I performed this season was Manon which I danced with Igor Zelensky! It was wonderful to continue the partnership with Igor and we are becoming more at home in the roles! He is such a powerful dancer that it is great to work with him. He also has a good sense of humour and you may have seen him hamming it up for a photo shoot for the Times Magazine in July.
A couple of new roles I learnt this year were in The Concert (Jerome Robbins) and also a new part in There Where She Loves which was choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon. The main problem in The Concert was keeping a straight face as Johann Kobborg was really funny. I had a lot of fun dancing the role and the audience seemed to enjoy it from the feedback I received! If you were out there in the auditorium, I hope you enjoyed it too. I danced the pdd with Jonathan Cope in There Where She Loves (I love dancing with him) which gave us a different personality to portray. Johnny and I also danced Pavane pour un infante defunte ( also choreographed by Chris Wheeldon) in the Linbury Studio programme called New Works.
The other two ballets I performed
were Les Biches which I first danced in 1991 and Serenade. Although Serenade was the first ballet choreographed by George Balanchine in the USA it never seems to age and I love dancing his work!
As well as ballet I have also had the opportunity to front a campaign for The World Gold Council. This was for the Gold Virtuosi 2000 International jewellery Design Awards. One of the many pictures from that campaign is shown above: photo by John Swannell, styled by Hilary Alexander with hair and make-up by Jonathon Malone.
The end of the season brought some disappointment as a foot injury forced me to miss my scheduled performance of Giselle and a performance with The Kirov. I was really looking forward to the shows and I'm sorry if you had booked to see those performances but I was in too much pain to be able to perform. The best cure for my injury was complete rest which I have been having over the summer!
I hope you enjoyed the newsletter and the changes made to the site. Please come back again to see what I have been up to.
Enjoy your dance!!
Darcey
