Press intern Amanda Grimm sits in on rehearsals for Val Caniparoli's new work.
Val Caniparoli, the respected San Francisco-based choreographer, is finally here at Scottish Ballet, creating a new work which will be performed as part of the upcoming Geometry and Grace programme. Last week I had the amazing opportunity to sit in the studio while he was working with the dancers. It was fascinating for me to have a glimpse into the choreographic process, and see, as I discussed in my first blog post, how it really is a collaborative endeavour involving numerous talented individuals.
Val Caniparoli in rehearsals. Photograph by Andrew Ross.
In my first blog, I mentioned how the costume designer Sandra Woodall had detailed ideas and imagery behind her designs, which also inform the choreography. Once Val gets into the studio, however, he draws the majority of his inspiration from the dancers, who he encourages to be part of the process.
“I appreciated it as a dancer when a choreographer would come in and would allow you a point of view and allow you to talk and have suggestions and thoughts, and this company’s amazing at that,” he explains. “I feel they feel part of the process, they take ownership of the ballet, and I think you get a better performance.”
Val Caniparoli and Eve Mutso in rehearsals. Photograph by Andrew Ross.
The dancers are able to be part of the process like this because of the way Val works: he enters the studio with a blank slate and an open mind. Of course he has, as he says, “a seed of an idea, a vision”, but he doesn’t like to make it too set before he arrives, and he certainly doesn’t put together any sequences of steps as he doesn’t feel that it helps him.
“I’ve never had a block with choreography,” he says. “There was a period of time when I prepared before I came in, but those ballets weren’t as successful.” Instead, Val goes into the studio, looks at the dancers, has a think, and then choreography just flows from his mind and body: he dances out sequences, and the dancers imitate.
Owen Thorne and Eve Mutso in rehearsals. Photograph by Andrew Ross.
This method clearly works well for Val, as evidenced by his critically acclaimed ballets. However, it means that he doesn’t have a record of the exact steps that he wants, prepared beforehand, to fall back on. This provides an opportunity for more people to be involved in shaping the ballet. Nicolas Blanc, the ballet master, has been attending all the rehearsals, watching as Val choreographs, and helping him remember the details of each ephemeral phrase of choreography as it’s created. He also looks at the piece with a critical eye, and makes suggestions: “lower your front arm to create a better line”, “travel more on your jump to make it more exciting”, “keep your weight on your back foot to make that slide on pointe work better”. Artistic Director Ashley Page and Deputy Artistic Director Paul Tyers sometimes watch rehearsals as well, and make similar suggestions.
And it’s not only the Company’s artistic staff who contribute to the choreographic process. Sheelagh McCabe, the deputy stage manager, has been attending all the rehearsals. She will be cueing the soundtrack during performances - starting and stopping it at a certain count, or when a dancer makes a certain move - so it is critical that she become familiar with the choreography, and how it maps on to the score, and this also helps with the choreographic process. When Val says, for example, “let’s take it from the buzzing section”, Sheelagh will start the music from there, meaning that Val doesn’t have to keep stopping and breaking his concentration to play around with the music.
Of course, despite the important contributions from others, most of the credit for the choreography must go to the choreographer. Val is an extremely talented, original and exciting choreographer, and if these rehearsals and his previous works are anything to go by, his new piece for Scottish Ballet is going to be a huge success.
This week, press intern Amanda Grimm goes behind the scenes at Scottish Ballet.
In the past two weeks at Scottish Ballet I’ve been writing less for the press and more for audiences who want to learn about ballet and the myriad activities that contribute to the finished product of a performance. In the process, I’ve been learning a fair bit myself.
First, I learned about the daily activities and responsibilities of the ballet staff when I interviewed ballet master Nicolas Blanc for an article that will be appearing in the Geometry and Grace souvenir programme. The ballet staff, which comprises Nicolas, Hope Muir and Maria Jimenez, teach technique class every day, coach the dancers in rehearsals and provide a link between the dancers and the Artistic and Deputy Artistic Directors. They must also learn each ballet inside out, down to every last detail, in order to be able to teach it accurately to the dancers. The ballet staff usually teach themselves from a video, but they often record the steps and patterns on paper, so that when in rehearsal they can be quickly reminded of what’s next, without always using the video. Nicolas uses a system for recording directions that he learned while training at the Academie de Danse Classique Princesse Grace, in Monte Carlo. Maria trained in Benesh notation, the most prominent system for recording dance, which has been used since the 1940s. This notation is a great tool, not only for learning a ballet, but also for preserving it for future generations.
Nicolas Blanc and Claire Robertson in rehearsals.
The day after interviewing Nicolas, I talked to Tim Palmer, the production manager, about the lavish sets for Scottish Ballet’s Cinderella, for a blog that will soon be featured on a new arts website. It was fascinating to learn how Artistic Director Ashley Page and the designer Antony McDonald worked together to come up with the general idea and look of the production, and how they hired a set construction company with theatrical expertise so that they knew how to build sets that both look right and function in the theatre, engineering expertise so that they could make the sets safe and strong enough to support the weight of the dancers, and touring expertise, so that they could build sets that can be taken apart, transported and bolted back together, and still remain in good condition for decades. It was also interesting to learn about the challenges of set changes during a performance, and all the organisation and people management skills required. I’m really looking forward to seeing Cinderella this winter, and paying more attention to the gorgeous sets.
Production Manager Tim Palmer with Cinderella set model.
Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, I learned more about the Company dancers. One of my tasks this week was to update a list of information about the dancers, and add one interesting fact about each dancer. I found these facts by reading through their bios, CVs and the press quotes about them. I began to see how they all have different backgrounds and strengths, and started to put names to faces.
Then, yesterday I got to watch rehearsal for Scènes de Ballet. I love watching rehearsal: it’s such a different experience to watching a performance. You get to see the work in progress: in this rehearsal, Nicolas Blanc and Deputy Artistic Director Paul Tyers were coaching the four casts of the principal couple, making corrections and suggestions. And you get more of a sense of the dancers’ personalities, as they make mistakes, laugh and actually speak a bit! I think it’s great that Scottish Ballet frequently holds Access All Areas events, which give audiences similar glimpses behind the scenes. They also hold one-off events like last weekend’s The Dance Challenge, in which two groups of interested individuals took a tour of Scottish Ballet’s award-winning headquarters, watched Company class and a rehearsal and participated in a question and answer session with a dancer, before trying out some ballet for themselves. If you want to learn about every aspect of the ballet, events like this are the perfect way to do so… Well, other than doing an internship!
More from Amanda Grimm about her internship with Scottish Ballet.
I had a nice surprise this weekend when I walked by the Festival Theatre in Edinburgh and saw a huge poster for Geometry and Grace hanging in the window. That was really cool to see, now that I know the team who designed it, and have witnessed part of the process of creating such a poster (when I attended the photo-shoot for the secret new production). It was such a stunning, professional-looking finished product, and made me feel even more proud to be working for Scottish Ballet.
However, the work of an intern isn’t always very glamorous. Over the past weeks I’ve done a few tasks that may not have been terribly exciting but are essential to keep the Company running smoothly, so I’m happy to help. For example, last week the Marketing Department needed to send out Geometry and Grace brochures to all the regular attendees of Scottish Ballet’s performances. This sounds easy enough, but we had to send out 1,700 of them! The Marketing intern Sophie Boardman printed 1,700 addresses onto sticky address labels, and printed the beautiful photo used on the Geometry and Grace posters onto 1,700 envelopes. Then the two of us spent a day folding a letter, placing the letter inside a brochure, putting the brochure into an envelope, labelling the envelope with an address sticker, and stamping the envelope…1,700 times! When we finished, everyone in the department gave us a round of applause.
But most of my time here is spent working directly on press, which includes writing press releases about events and productions, and getting those press releases out to newspapers, radio and different forms of media. I’ve been letting the press know about The Dance Challenge this week, which is a unique opportunity for the public to go behind the scenes at the ballet, watch the dancers rehearsing in the studios at Tramway and even take part in a beginner’s ballet class. I know that I’m very fortunate to be given this opportunity to learn by doing, and to gain vital experience while working with such a prestigious company.
And my most exciting project so far is still to come. I’ve just been told that I get to write an article that will go in the souvenir programme for Geometry and Grace. The programmes for the last few productions have all contained an article titled ‘A Day in the Life’, a series looking a working day with different departments in the Company, such as Technical, Wardrobe and Education. I have the exciting opportunity to write about members of the ballet staff: the ballet master Nicolas Blanc and the ballet mistresses Maria Jimenez and Hope Muir. These talented individuals teach daily technique classes and run rehearsals, among many other duties. Next week I’m going to interview Nicolas to find out the details of their roles and how their career paths led them to their amazing jobs with Scottish Ballet. I’m really looking forward to talking to him and finding out myself what it’s like to be part of the artistic staff of a ballet company, although I’m a bit nervous as well! Now I have to think up some good interview questions. Pick up a programme at Geometry and Grace to see what I found out!
Part two of Amanda Grimm's blog about working as an intern with Scottish Ballet.
A new week, a new project. After gaining experience last week of writing a press release, compiling a press contact list and nagging journalists and editors in order to publicise our summer workshops, I carried out a similar procedure this week for Scottish Ballet’s Up Close tour. This October, the Up Close tour will bring an exciting mixed bill to various locations across the country. The majority of Scottish Ballet’s performances are held in their four home theatres, in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Inverness and Aberdeen, so this tour will reach out to a wider audience, allowing those who don’t live near one of those four cities to see Scotland’s national ballet company closer to their home, and in a more intimate venue: in other words, ‘Up Close’.
In order to write the press release, I first had to learn a bit about each of the five pieces that will be performed on the tour. My supervisor Ann gave me some old programmes to look through, beautiful publications with really interesting information about the pieces, including interviews with the dancers and choreographers, and filled with gorgeous pictures. I also looked for information in the old press files. These big black binders contain every interview, review, story and mere mention of Scottish Ballet from any newspaper or website. They’re great resources for writing a press release, and also just really fun to look through.
After finishing the press release and compiling a list of local press contacts for each of the seven destination cities of the Up Close tour, it was time to start calling editors and radio stations about becoming media partners, which means we work together to let people know about Up Close through articles, radio shows, ticket competitions and advertising. You may come across the logos of our media partners on our website, on the Up Close page.
I’m about to go into a department meeting. I enjoy those, as I get to hear what everyone in the press and marketing team is up to. There’s so much going on at all times here, even now when the dancers are away. I’ve just learned that they’ll be back on the 12th of July, and I’ve been told to expect things to get even busier then! I think that this coming season is going to be packed especially full of press activity, as the Company will be performing not one but two productions: the Up Close Tour at the end of October, and Geometry and Grace just before that. That’s great news for ballet fans, and means that even more people can experience a high quality dance performance. I feel like I’m playing a small part, here in the press department, in helping the Company spread awareness of ballet, and the joys that it brings, to as many people as possible.
Hello, I’m Amanda Grimm, press intern at Scottish Ballet for the summer. I’m going to be writing a weekly blog, relating what I’m learning about the Company through helping out in the press department. Hopefully this will give you some insight into some of the many things that the Company does, other than dance.
I’m just finishing up my second week here, but I’ve learned so much already. I did ballet until I started university, so I already had extensive knowledge about the ballet world from a dancer’s perspective before I started this internship, but in my first week here I got to experience that same world in a completely different way. On my first day I met many of the thirty-some non-artistic staff, who work day in and day out to keep everything running smoothly, so that the dancers are able to focus on their dancing and give the best performances possible. I got to read through all the documents in the Marketing folder on the computer, which included a lengthy Marketing and Press Strategy, details about every ballet ever performed by the Company, and old press releases. But two events really stand out from my first week.
The first exciting event was a photoshoot, of principal dancer Sophie Martin. The photos are going to be used on the publicity (posters, flyers, programmes etc) for a new production, which we’re not allowed to reveal yet, but which, by the looks of the photos, is going to be beautiful and fun. My task at the photoshoot was to take behind-the-scenes photos. At first I was a bit nervous, and felt like a member of the paparazzi, going right up to Artistic Director Ashley Page and Sophie Martin and taking pictures of them, but I was assured that I was supposed to be doing just that, and was encouraged by everyone to get right in there and snap away. Once I got into it, it was really fun, trying to capture the atmosphere of the shoot (while simultaneously learning what was involved myself!). Here are just two (I can’t show many, as they reveal too much about the production!):
Tools of the trade...
Make up artist Ainslie Currie perfects Sophie's look.
The other highlight of my first week was sitting in on a meeting with renowned costume designer Sandra Woodall. Sandra is designing the costumes and sets for Val Caniparoli’s new piece, which is part of the Geometry and Grace programme. She showed us some of her drawings of the costumes (pictured in the previous blog entry), and explained her deep, philosophical ideas behind the designs. Sandra wants the piece to evoke the flux, change and movement between two periods of stillness, and the struggle that results from “that all-too-human refusal to accept things for what they are”. These ideas will be expressed through the costumes, sets, music and of course, choreography. It was amazing to me to learn how there is a common thread behind every aspect of the piece that holds it all together and contributes to the intangible feeling that the audience will get from it. Today was a great opportunity to dissect such a feeling and understand the ideas behind a piece in more intellectual detail. And it was interesting to learn that the costume designer can contribute so much to the overall idea. I’m learning that the creation of a new production is the result of a massive amount of thought and work from a multitude of talented individuals, more than I realised even as a dancer.
After my first week of such varied activities, my second week mainly revolved around one specific project. The Education Department is going to be holding a series of summer workshops in July, for children with little or no ballet experience, to learn about dance and explore the upcoming production of Cinderella. My task was to publicise this event, so that as many kids as possible will get to take part and be introduced to the wonderful world of dance. Therefore, my second week consisted of writing a press release, compiling a list with the contact details of local newspapers and radio stations, and then emailing and phoning them until many of them agreed to run the story. I also posted the event on many internet websites, such as Gumtree and Eventful.com, so maybe you’ll come across it! I was happy to see this morning that the workshops were already mentioned in today’s Daily Record. Life in the press industry moves quickly!
Well, that’s it for this week. Check back next week to see what else I, and the Company, have been up to!
Sandra Woodall is designing costumes and sets for Val Caniparoli's new work, which premieres as part of Geometry and Grace in autumn. She has been at Scottish Ballet HQ this week, working with our Wardrobe and Technical teams, and we can exclusively give you a sneak peek at one of her stunning costume designs:
Tama Barry on the last week of the Romeo and Juliet tour.
Sun glorious sun: finally the weather is brightening! I left my flat in Glasgow to head to the airport under the dazzling glare of a long lost friend, the sun.
We are off to Belfast today. The flight is like being shot across the sea by rubber band airlines - I had no idea we were so close! Arriving, the weather was just as nice, so after getting settled in my digs, I was off to explore the city. This is my third time here but the other two times have been in winter, which is not so conducive to exploration.
And so the last week begins, always a bit of a confusing time the last week. I feel excited to be moving on to the next challenge - we have now been doing the same thing, including rehearsals, for eleven weeks! - but at the same time, I am loath to leave behind such great characters and a gorgeous ballet.
The theatre here is very interesting. It is quite similar to Aberdeen in size, but here they have flattened out the rake. The auditorium is quite spectacular with a distinctly colonial India styled theme. And the audiences have been amazing, such a warm welcome. So here we have come to the end. Hopefully we have touched some hearts and entertained you all and we definitely look forward to seeing you again in the Autumn.
Tama Barry reflects on the performances at Eden Court Theatre, Inverness
Well here we are week four, and we are heading back up to the north of Scotland to the idyllic city of Inverness. Apparently the weather got the months mixed up as we traveled through a snowstorm on the way here. A little odd for May I would have thought?
Anyway back to the task at hand. We are performing at the Eden Court Theatre this week, which had a pretty major facelift about four years ago and apparently has caused some amount of debate with the locals, but I have to say I really like the angular modern feel of the new juxtaposing with the old Bishops House. I also like the cruise line-esque interior of the auditorium.
I really enjoy this theatre. I feel very comfortable on the stage here and for some reason my equilibrium is normally good. All these things together make for some fun shows. It’s strange how different theatres work for different dancers. I’m sure it has to do with the architecture and interiors that you initially trained in, I feel that the similarities between both must give an innate sense of confidence and stability. That’s how I feel here: there must be something antipodean about the theatre?
One of my favorite things about Inverness is it has a great live Scottish music pub. Gasp! A pub, you say?! Here lies one of the biggest secrets of the dance world; we are absolutely 100% normal people. And one of the aspects of traveling to the same venues is that you find places that become your regular. They give you the feeling that your kind of at home even though we have only slept in our own beds for six days in the last four weeks. So you can see how finding these places can make a big difference to your overall stability.
All in all I have once again had a ball in Inverness, the audiences were full and raucous and things went smoothly for us. A brilliant time had.
Tama Barry's tour blog - week 3, Aberdeen
Tama blogs as the Romeo and Juliet tour reaches Aberdeen.
Our third week of shows brings us to Aberdeen. His Majesty's Theatre has one of the smallest stages we perform on so once again as with Edinburgh there are some spacing challenges. The stage is also raked - a rake is when the stage is sloped towards the audience at a slight angle with the back of the stage being higher than the front, normally an angle of less than ten degrees. And while this doesn’t sound like much, it makes a massive difference to your centre of gravity depending on which direction you're facing. This affects turns, balances and all aspects of partnering, and also means that we are using our bodies differently.
His Majesty's is a beautiful old theatre and very intimate to perform in. Because the stage is smaller, your emotions feel more real in some ways: perhaps it makes you feel more comfortable and protected, allowing you a greater sense of freedom. You also feel very connected to the audience, and there is a real energy between you and them, which is lovely. The orchestra pit is further forward so we can see the musicians and they can see us, which is nice because you really feel like one company working together.
I had the pleasure of performing Romeo on opening night in Aberdeen which is always a thrill, and the audiences on this night and throughout the week have been lovely.
Principal dancer Tama Barry blogs about the Edinburgh run of Romeo and Juliet.
For the first week out on the road we hit the Festival Theatre in Edinburgh. This will be our largest stage for this tour and as such proposes new challenges as well as new freedoms. It reminds me a lot of the modern theatres in Australia so I feel very comfortable here, it is a great feeling to be able to dance with copious amounts of space and not have to constrict your movements to a small space.
We started the Edinburgh week with a full run onstage with the opening night cast before performing that night; this is a fairly tight schedule, as it doesn’t give you much time to re-acquaint yourself with the new surroundings.
Thursday was a particularly special day for me as it was my birthday, but to top that of I have breached a new decade. 30 brought a lot of reflection on my life and career. At the end of all that, it makes me so happy that I have chosen to be a dancer, it has seen me work all over the world and live a very full life. And to top it all of on my 30th birthday, there was a matinee and an evening show, so not only did I play Tybalt (an immense blessing on its own), but I got to perform as Romeo. So thank you to everyone who came and enjoyed my shows on Thursday, it was lovely to share such a great moment in my life with you.
Tama as Romeo and Tomomi Sato as Juliet. Photograph by Andrew Ross.