First week of work…check.

I am back to my normal routine of a ballet dancer, with morning warm up followed by ballet class and a day full of rehearsals. It has been a week of meeting new colleagues and learning new steps, laughing with friends and learning more steps. My muscles have ached and my toes have hurt, but I have to admit it was not as bad as it could have been, as most days the work load was manageable.

We have had the pleasure of starting the season working with Peter Schaufuss, a world renowned dancer, choreographer and Director, who is here teaching his production of Bournonville’s La Sylphide. Peter and his son, Luke (a dancer with the Scottish Ballet, who has performed as ‘James’ in La Sylphide himself, just like his father), will spend some weeks with us passing on their knowledge of the piece and advice as dancer so by the end of November we can perform it as our first premier of the season.

It is always so nice to work with guests who come to teach the ballets. It is never the same experience twice, and they always have so much knowledge and experience for me to learn from. They are usually dancers or ex-dancers and they know the ballet back to front in order to teach every single dancer involved their exact steps, their exact character, and their exact musicality. I love learning roles with them. There are always so much care and detail given to things that so easily get lost. And this time will be no different.

So like I said, we have been learning a lot this week and without a cast list available yet it is a case of everyone learning everything, which can fry the brain a little. Luckily I have been able to relax the mind and body while sharing holiday stories with friends and family. With the sun still shining, having a coffee in the afternoon with the girls, or drinks in the evening with friends and even a Niece’s Birthday party on the weekend, it has been a pleasure to be back in Karlsruhe.

The mixture of work and play has been perfect. I start as I mean to go on, so may the rest of the season be just as productive and enjoyable as the first week.

With love,

Harriet