ENBS Winter Showcase 2024 (Rehearsal Watch December 4th)

 

Bi-annual visits to the English National Ballet School have become something of a tradition for the LBC and it is always a joy to follow the progress of these talented students. Watching a working rehearsal of this year’s Winter Showcase was no exception.

The afternoon was introduced by Amanda Skoog, ENBS’s Executive Director, and under the watchful eye of Lynne Charles who has taken over from Viviana Durante as Artistic Director, we were treated to a variety of well-known excerpts from a full range of the classical ballet repertoire. Beginning with the famous Entrance of the Shades from La Bayadère, Lynne was keen to point out that coaching a corps de ballet is more difficult than coaching soloists. The dancers have to appear to be as one with not only their line and movement but even with their breathing. Lynne had arranged the programme to suit the students from all levels within the school and as well as ensembles we were shown beautifully danced solos forming audition pieces for two of the most senior students. The junior students must have been thrilled to have been rehearsed beforehand by Massimo Moricone himself in the Dance of the Knights from his version for Northern Ballet of Romeo & Juliet.

 
Keen also to give the students a full range of experience in the contemporary technique and choreography that is required nowadays in their professional careers, Luca Braccia had coached them in three class demonstrations of the Cunningham-based technique, Release-based technique and a Structured Improvisation. This allowed these talented and versatile students an opportunity for self-expression and a move away from the more classical discipline.

Performance opportunities are a vital part of the students’ training, helping them to prepare for a professional career in dance. We were extremely fortunate to have been invited to this event and full performances of the Winter Showcase are, unsurprisingly, fully sold out.

Following this rehearsal a donation to the School of £750 was made.

 

Report by Krissie Poyser       
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