Birmingham Royal Ballet Workshop

Congratulations to Year 12 Glenlola pupil, Georgia Crawford, who attended a ballet workshop which was taken by Rebecca from the Birmingham Royal Ballet Company.  Here is Georgia’s report.

The class was for 17 people who were Grade 6 and above in ballet. The age of the other dancers in the class varied from 14-30+, with me being one of the youngest.

Firstly, we did some stretches, then we had to do centre barre which was hard because it was the first time I’d ever done it. We did pliés, battement tedus and battement glissés, adage etc. With each different exercise, the lines that Rebecca put us in were rotated so we could always see what she was teaching and weren’t hidden at the back the whole time.

We then did pirouettes from the corner and then Rebecca  taught us the ‘Waltz of the Flowers’ repertoire from the Nutcracker. This was such an amazing experience to be taught by someone who dances in one of the most well known ballet companies which I have an audition for at the beginning of January in London.

The next day the Birmingham Royal Ballet put on a performance called ‘A Night of Music and Dance’ and I got the privilege of meeting Melissa Hamilton who is a First Soloist with the Royal Ballet.

Seeing performances like this remind me how hard ballet is, and how hard I must work to be a professional. Melissa is from Northern Ireland and it was her first performance at home. She’s a gorgeous dancer, as was everyone else who was on stage. My dream is to be a full time student with the Royal Ballet in London in September 2020.

Georgia Crawford