Word of warning, I already went for a drink with James.
Oh, let's go get fruitishes. Hello and welcome to Drinks at
the Bar, a podcast where we breakthrough the 4th wall and
discuss everything about dance and the theatre industry.
My name is Paul James Rooney, a dancer, choreographer and dance
teacher based in Copenhagen, and I am your host.
Drinks at the Bar. Today I am joined by the sleek
and fabulous. It is a crime that she has never
danced the Arabian dancing Nutcracker.
It is Damien Lee Sturk. Hi everybody, I'm Damien Lee
Sturk and it is a crime. Director of the Dancers Studio,
London, classical ballet teacher and actor with the Royal Ballet.
Here we would discuss everything from hearing backstage stories,
touring shenanigans, to deeper issues like body image training,
the reality of being a freelance dancer, and much more.
With guest professionals, we're here to share our knowledge,
experience, and to help you with any questions or problems that
you may have about dance and navigating the dance world.
Hi, Denise. Hi darling, how are you?
I am really good so peek behind the curtain at time of
recording. I have just done the final day
of preparation with James for My Fair Lady.
Oh well done. So we did the final day of prep
today, went out for one drink and then on Monday we start
rehearsals. Gosh, that's gone so fast.
We have prepped, we have, we have done our groundwork because
he is very much like me in that he doesn't want any surprises or
there's always going to be surprises in a rehearsal period.
But like, I think we're in a good place that we are very,
very prepared. We have all the choreography
done, we have written down who is who and where everyone cross
all pathways, everything. So you can throw anything at us
now and we will be calm, he says.
I believe you. I believe you because I've seen
the backstage footage that you've been sending me of the
two of you in the studio. Yes, I'm always the woman.
That's OK. I think it's, you know, maybe
next season James can you can take it in turns when?
We do carousel or something. Exactly, just quickly, before we
get too involved in this episode, although one might say
we can never be too involved, I really appreciated the
introduction and one other listener, Kirsty, she will also
appreciate it. So I just want to say hi.
Kirsty But it is, I feel like Arabian would be very suited to
you. Yes, I think so too.
I'll see what I can do with that.
Watch this space. Let's get Humpy back on the pod
and see if he can create you a little masculine solo from
Arabian. Like just a little excerpt that
you just drop into like a little triple bill every so often.
And Arabian by Damian Lee Sturk. And 300 backing dancers?
Why not? Well, how are you?
What have you been up to? What haven't I been up to?
It feels like I've just finished teaching for Dancers Studio.
We had our Nutcracker the Sugar Plum experience on Sunday which
was a huge success. Thrilled that everybody came.
It was a packed out event and we have the lovely Marico Sasaki,
first soloist of Royal Ballet. She came in and danced her
Sugarplum Fairy, which she's performing this season with the
company. So it was a really, it was a
beautiful way to finish the season for us.
And so now I'm technically, I guess on vacation on, on
Christmas holidays until the 25th of January, which is when
we start back again. So yes.
And is Christmas in Scotland or in Bradford or London?
Where is Christmas for you? So I was in Yorkshire last week
visiting my family before Christmas, which was lovely.
And we'll be home in Scotland next week and then possibly
we'll take like a little mini holiday, but we haven't booked
anything. And I've just been a little bit
reluctant to kind of investigate, which is very
unlike me because I love travelling.
I love planning as you know. But with all the touring and the
teaching, I I'm just enjoying being in one place at the
moment. So you may end up being away,
but I'd be quite happy to stay put.
So yeah, we'll see. So I don't know yet.
Watch this space Follow Denise's social media to see what happens
this Christmas. It's exciting.
Well, love I have actually, because I went for a drink with
James earlier, so I'm sticking with the beer.
So I have a lovely Danish tubor. Oh lovely, I'm on the gin and
tonic classique. No twist, no, no civilian
oranges. Cheers love.
Well, actually before the I would just say that I before
rehearsals start on Monday. So peek behind the curtain
again. Today is Thursday.
I'm going to Paris tomorrow. Oh my gosh.
So I fly to Paris tomorrow with tolls and we are there Friday
night, Saturday, come back Sunday morning before we start
rehearsals on Monday. But it's the last like trip or
holiday we can have until May next year, so we're popping over
to see a friend and ex colleague from Anastasia who is now in
Chicago. The musical in Paris, Brilliant.
Chicago in French on. Saturday, fabulous.
I'm so excited for you and I love Paris and if the weather is
like anything, it's been today here in London, beautiful blue
and crisp weather. I hope the weather is going to
be the same in Paris because it's so lovely to stroll around
and just everything will be festive and it's so elegant in
Paris. It's understated festivities.
So it's just so chic. And you know, take off the crap,
take off the macaron, take off the gift shop at Opera to Parry.
Or two legs. Cheers.
Cheers to that, I wish I was coming with you.
Surprise, I am. I only have hand luggage.
OK, so I have to clear up something.
I have lied not on purpose. I have lied to you listeners.
I have lied to Denise. I lied to myself.
So when I told the story the other week about the autographs
in this in this old ballet book and Margot Fontaine's autograph.
Yes, I. Misremembered, if that is a
word. I remembered incorrectly the
story, so I said that my granddad had gone up and
sketched the dancers and then got them to sign the book.
That is a fallacy. That is a lie.
That is incorrect. So the story is even better than
that. Oh.
Great. So the story goes that my
granddad was 19 years old at the time, 19 or 20, his mother.
So my great grandmother, basically my great grandmother
was friends with some hoity toity woman who was something
like, you know, one of maybe an investor or friends of the Opera
House or something like this. And Margaret Fontaine was about
to do a very important performance and she asked my
great grandmother, oh, your son's an artist, isn't he?
Would he be able to paint an egg?
Not Faberge egg, but like, you know, an egg.
I don't know when Austria said he can do some artistry,
artistry. He can do some art on a drawing
or painting, whatever. Would he be able to paint on an
egg for Margot Fontaine as a present for this special
performance? Whatever.
And so he did. And then as a thank you, this
lady got the company to sign the book and gave it to him.
Oh wow, how lovely. So Margot Fontaine, I know she's
not with us anymore, but Margot Fontaine or the estate of Margot
Fontaine or somewhere in the world, there is an egg painted
by my granddad for Margot Fontaine somewhere.
Oh. We need to find out where that
egg is and it needs to be in your apartment.
So listeners yet again, if you could write, but isn't that
crazy? Margot Fontaine had AI.
Don't know if it was like an emu egg or whatever it was but I she
had this present painted by Margaret Fontaine had a present
in her house painted by my granddad I.
Love that for you. I love it.
It's. Incredible.
So yeah, sorry for lying, but I didn't know I was lying at the
time. Exactly.
So we can't hold hold it against you.
However, if that egg doesn't make it back in the next three
weeks, they'll will be consequences.
So before we dive into today's theme and subject, I just wanted
to quickly talk about our two hour extravaganza with Dina
Bjorn, Oh. Yes, interesting woman so.
I was lucky enough to actually this interview.
We're both in the same city, we both live here, so it seemed a
little bit silly to try and do it over an app.
So it's the first interview that I've done which hasn't been over
Riverside, which is what we used to do this.
She was in my apartment, so I sat her down, she was opposite
me on the sofa and we were drinking Chablis together and it
was absolutely fantastic. And I haven't seen her now for,
I don't know, maybe about eight years or six or eight years or
something like that. And it was lovely to catch up,
but I did not know half the stuff she was talking about.
Like I knew that her dad had been director of Pantomime
Theatre. I knew that she had been a child
at Pantomime Theatre, so and then I then worked with her.
She was the choreographer of the the ballets at the Queen of
Denmark, design costumes. And that was kind of about it.
I, I had heard little stories here and there about her.
But again, all that hearsay and you know, you never know Lost in
translation and you never know what is actually true and all
that kind of stuff. Just stories.
I mean, the fact that she ended up being who she is and she
didn't get into the Royal Danish.
She went to the audition, didn't get the job.
And then a couple of months later some people got pregnant.
They call her in. And then on that tour she was
hired to do she become, she does like a soloist role by Jerome
Robbins. Like what on earth is that life?
That's incredible to think that someone's life can be changed so
quickly. I mean, we all we've spoken
about it many times on this podcast about right place, right
time and all that kind of thing. But it's incredible that she
wasn't supposed to do the job and then suddenly did the job
and ended up then being a lead in one of the ballets.
Like, that's incredible. And.
Also, it's, you know, it's interesting to consider perhaps
if she'd have been successful the first time, would her track
have grown in the same way she may have been in the quarter
ballet for the rest of her career and never done a solo
whiz track. You know, it's just, it is a
case of right place at the right time and, and some of the, some
of the things that we can't control end up being the most
special and important moments in our careers.
It's so, it's so interesting. I loved her talking about her
family and her history and and her father still performing into
his early 80s is just phenomenal.
And just could really feel, I mean, what is lovely is that she
mentions her father a lot because obviously he was an
important man in the, in the Danish ballet history world,
what have you. But also you can just hear that
he means so much to her. And that's really, really,
really lovely. Yeah.
It was a really great episode and how lovely to be with your
guest because the energy is different and the conversation
must feel different and it's but it's a lot of pressure for you,
I imagine, because you know you're having to keep tapped in
and and with her on her journey because of course they're her
memories, but you're having to just absorb everything and not
and not get too carried away with the listening because you
have to be respond with a question.
But that's the thing, like you sit there just really, Oh, wow,
that's incredible. Oh, wait, what was I supposed to
say? What was I supposed to say?
Are we recording? Is she holding her mic
correctly? And are we connected to the
Internet? Are we doing like and then
trying trying to do everything And also be pleasant and polite
and listen and pour the. Drinks.
Pour the drinks, pour the Chablis, you can come in.
But I have to say it was it was Tools, my partner who said to me
he was like, so when she comes over, make sure there's some
white wine. And I said, no, I remember, I
remember she likes, she likes a nice glass of white wine.
And then Tools said straight away he was like, bring in the
good Chablis. Oh.
Yeah, excellent. So we had.
We had a lovely, lovely Chablis and you can't hear any episode,
but I did pause to fill up the glasses.
Good girl. But no, I'm, I'm really happy
that we, I managed to speak to Dina and hear all about her life
and, and also talk about, you know, what she's doing now with
going around the world and her thoughts on teaching Bonneville
and the legacy of Bonneville and hearing from the horse's mouth
what it is like and what it's like going to these other
countries and companies and what she has to the differences of
different companies. I was very happy to speak to
her. So cheers, Dina, and thank you
for being a guest. Yeah.
Cheers. Wonderful, wonderful opportunity
to hear about her life. Yeah.
So cheers. So today as we are heading into
the Christmas period, I wanted us to talk about breaks and
holidays and keeping in shape during breaks and resting during
breaks and all of that. And when, yeah, when you should
use your break as a break and when actually you need to
actually keep your body going because you're performing on
Boxing Day. And the first thing I would say
is that every company, again like we always say, every
company, every job, every contract is different.
And again, listen to your body. But there are moments when you
are on a break. For example, if you are off just
the 25th of December and then you are performing again on
Boxing Day, enjoy the 25th and be off.
You don't have to do anything exactly.
Like we did with Swan Lake at Sadler's Wells, we had literally
2 days off and 32 shows the week before and 32 shows the week
after. So those two days we could
afford to rest and just recover. But every country is different,
as you know, like I just said, every company contract
production, but also every country is different.
And some countries will give you, I don't know, six days off
for Christmas or a week off for New Year's or whatever that
specific country celebrates or their rules and regulations are
for bank holidays and such. And that's when you need to
start being a little bit careful with your body because let's
just take an example. If you are off an entire week in
the middle of an intense performing week, like you're
doing Nutcracker or Swan Lake, whatever it is, and they because
of public holidays, they give you an entire week off, you
can't really afford to do nothing for that entire week.
No. Because you can't be off, you
know, Monday to Sunday and then on Monday you do a double show
and expect your body to just jump back into action.
It's dangerous. And even not taking age into a
factor, like even as a young person, it's not, it's not safe.
You can't sit on your backside eating quality streets for seven
days in a row and then do a show straight away.
You do. You do have to do something to
keep yourself keep, you know, rest for a day or a day and 1/2
day or two or whatever. But then you need to keep
yourself going a little bit. Keep the fire burning, yeah.
I think it's smart, it's wise to have a plan.
If you have those seven days free.
You may wish to rest the first day, rest on Christmas Day if
you're celebrating, or Boxing Day, whichever way you want to
celebrate. But then you have to reactivate
the body to gear up for that pending show, don't you?
So it's important to think about it because also you, you may
have a very busy week, you might be out and about, you might be
going ice skating, you might be going caroling, you might be
having multiple Christmas lunches or dinners with friends
and families. So you've got to navigate
through your downtime, but always keep in mind you still
have to be performance ready even though it's important to
rest. So I think it would it would
certainly matter how many days you have free, what kind of show
you have to go back to to allow for how much you can rest and
how much you need to keep on top of being ready to dance and.
It's always hard because the majority of families, you will
be the only one in your family who is a performer or a dancer
or what have you. So everybody else will be
probably sitting on their ass for seven days and it doesn't
matter. They go back to work after
sitting on their ass for six days.
It, it doesn't affect anything. But for you jumping into Swan
Lake on Monday after not doing anything for seven days, it's
very easy to, I mean, everybody's body is different,
but for me, for example, it's lower back Ding like goes or
ankle goes because you're not, oh, your body's not awake, your
body's not ready to, you know, catch itself if something goes
wrong or whatever. So it is very important to rest.
Listen to your body, however, keep things ticking over because
you're not at the end of your contract.
Just because there is some time off doesn't mean it's a holiday.
Yes. I mean for me right now.
I just finished teaching on Sunday and I ended up booking an
appointment with Leon in Covent Garden for a reset.
So I had an hour's treatment just to keep my body kind of
working even though I'm not teaching or on stage for the
next 5 weeks. But it's important to be able to
maintain because from experience, once you stop,
whether it's for three days, four days a week, two weeks,
it's so much harder to come back to where you need to be for
performance. So even though I'm off, I'm off
for five weeks, technically I'm still going to the gym.
I'm still doing my exercises, I'm still doing, you know,
working on my feet. I've got my theraband, I've got
my foot roller, I've got my tennis ball.
And not everyday, you know, I'm not crazy.
I it is. Chris especially, you have to
enjoy yourself, of course. Exactly.
But I I don't want to find that in by the 25th of Jan my body
feels horrendous because I've been on holiday mode and I
actually can't point my feet without cramping because I
haven't done anything. So I'd rather just maintain and
sustain than risk it all for the sake of like, the festivities, I
mean. And that's a that's a perfect
segue. When you said you have 5 weeks
off, it's a perfect segue into finishing a contract and being a
freelancer. Yeah, you say you said you have
5 weeks off. You're.
Next thing that you, you know, in your schedule is in five
weeks, however, tomorrow JoJo could call you tomorrow and say,
can you teach San Francisco Ballet on Monday because we're
on tour and I would like you to teach company class.
Your body needs to be able to get up and go and go do that.
Especially as a freelancer, you have to be ready all the time.
And again, yes, you need to be able to have your Christmas
holiday and enjoy yourself a blah, blah, blah.
I'm not saying you need to do a ballet bar at home every single
day, but exactly what you just said, Denise, you're just doing
a plank here and there or, you know, keeping yourself alive so
that when that random teaching gig happens, you don't go over
your ankle demonstrating a double ensemble or whatever.
Exactly, And I'm giggling because that would never happen
because a double assemble. Are you mad?
Oh, I like a. Double assembly and a Glissad
assemble and a toned queen. Absolutely, but I thought you
meant on Tono. You meant a.
Double I was like are. You mad?
Oh. God no.
No. Double as some blazer.
Catchy Allegro, yes. Like I really push through that
floor and really get some of that foot on that floor.
It's for the pressure. It's for the pressure.
Agreed, Absolutely agreed. And and as we've discussed a few
weeks ago, my last two contracts were out of the blue.
So it does work because I was still in shape, thankfully.
If I'd have thought, oh, I don't have anything coming up until
December, you know, with a workshop I can chill a bit, a
little bit. I'd have been, I would have felt
awful because they were very high profile productions.
And thankfully, yeah, because as we've discussed, I'd maintained
and sustained and I could go in and feel, feel good about myself
and my body. So it's really, really
important. And it doesn't take much to
sustain a good core. And you've already mentioned
planking. You only need the amount of as
the length of your own body, right?
So in a hotel room or if you're going home to your parents or
you're staying away, you can easily find a little corridor
may not be the most comfortable or the most glamorous, but you
can find a little strip of floor where you can plank, do
abdominal exercises, do your stretches, do your back
mobilization. And of course, going to the gym
is a great treat because for me, I like having some like an
action, waking up and having an action.
I like to get up and think I'm going to a destination.
I'm going to the. Yeah, I like to.
Leave exactly. It offers a little bit more.
Motivation because other people are working around you, working
out. But during the holiday season in
particular, it's, it can be difficult, can't it, to find or
to have access to a gym or to, to those spaces that you're used
to. Oh, look at you.
Segwaying again. Denise, you're on fire today.
I really am I. Really.
I really AM. Because I was, I was literally
going to say, so if it is regarding going to your parents
house for Christmas or even if you were going to, I don't know,
Gran Canario on a week summer vacation and then you have to
come back and do straightaway into a summer gala or whatever
it is. You know, we, we do have, again,
can't say enough. You do also need to rest or
whatever. However, if you are in a
situation where let's just say I've just done a show of Romeo
and Juliet, I have a week and a half off and then I come back
and I go straight into another show that week and a half.
I want to be off and I want to enjoy my week off that I have.
So I'm going to Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, whatever.
And yes, you can calm down the intensity and you can inverted
commas relax. However, personally, I wouldn't
recommend stopping because you're going to have to do a
performance on Monday in a minute.
What are some things that you would do, for example, Denise,
if you were in, let's just say, parents House Hotel room without
a gym in a lovely Hut in the middle of the Maldives?
What are some things you can tell our beautiful listeners
that you would do to keep the body going and in shape?
Yeah, OK. So I would definitely pack
wherever I was going, pack my foot roller, my theraband and my
tennis ball because they don't take up any space.
They barely weigh anything. And that means I can take care
of my body. I can roll out, I can work on my
feet, I can keep the muscles feeling good.
And as we discussed abdominal exercises and planking really to
keep the core strong and engaged.
I have been known to kind of join a gym if I go home to visit
my parents in Yorkshire, if I go to their home.
But sometimes that can take too much time out of the day when
you're you're trying to celebrate the festivities with
your friends and your family. So it's much easier for me, I've
discovered, to wake up, have coffee, get my exercise routine
out of the way. Because the longer the day goes,
the less motivated I am to then take 40 minutes, 45 minutes or
even half an hour to do that workout.
But even walking, walking is great.
Yeah, that family. Christmas walk is actually very
good. Yeah, make the most.
Of it, you know, get out there, get walking because it's still a
form of exercise. It gets the heart rate going if
you're walking for long enough. And also if you have access to a
swimming pool, like your local, local swimming baths, you know,
depending on how rural you're going, you may not be able to do
that. But swimming is also fantastic.
And I think just doing something, but not every day.
And if you do it in the morning, you've then got the entire day
to do other activities like meeting friends, like catching
up with family, going to the cinema or having a lunch,
enjoying the holiday. Yeah, exactly.
What about you? Well, I mean, I'm.
I'm. Kind of the same I want to over
and done with. And again, we're not talking
about trying to get in shape or increase technique or be better.
It's kind of just relaxing, but keeping the body going.
And let's just take. If I was on holiday in Gran
Canaria, whatever, I would be swimming every day.
I know everybody does. But I think consciously in my
mind, because that's the way I'm built #trauma, yeah, you know,
lying there by the pool, sunbathing.
We all jump in the pool to cool off when we're sunbathing.
But I consciously would be cool. I've now jumped in the pool.
Let's do 10 lengths or whatever. Yes, for sure.
There is also eggs, I mean a. 100% the same issue planking
because again, it's core, but planking is also working the
rest of your body. If you're really if you're
planking correctly and you were thinking about pulling through
your spine and the whole body being engaged, you are engaging
your calves, your thighs, your hands, your pollutes, your back,
your everything is is engaged. And again, we're not saying that
we're there to build muscle. It's just to keep the body
alive. Keep the body kind of Oh yes, I
I do have muscles like keep the body awake yes.
So I would plank. I would summer holiday.
I'm just talking now. I would plank, I would swim.
I would probably do you know what I actually do do because
usually most hotel rooms would have one shower while tours is
in the shower, I would do some press ups and then I would then
take my shower. No, before dinner or in the
morning or whatever. It is like shoving some press
ups every so often. And the thing that I would say
is probably the most important for me personally cuz how what
my body tells me is stretching. I need to stretch my thighs and
my hips, do a little hamstring, do a little downward dog.
Again, not crazy. I'm not shouldering my leg and
doing like crazy, crazy, crazy stuff.
But just like, you know, and not even every day.
If I'm on holiday for a week, every second day or whatever,
just a little stretch here and there so that I am ready when I
come back from this holiday to go straight into work.
I haven't had a whole week off not stretching.
So yeah, stretching, planking, swimming, press UPS.
If I'm off for maybe longer than a week, I will grab a bookcase,
grab a mantelpiece, grab a whatever and Tondus Glue says.
Because as someone who is now not ballet world anymore and
musicals, I think it is so important for anybody, any
dancer, to be honest, whatever genre you're doing to keep
ankles awake and strength in the ankles.
Because if you're a girl in a musical, you're going to be
wearing heels the entire time. You're going to go over that
ankle. You are.
If it's relaxed and not strong enough, keep the strength in the
ankles. Face the bar.
Do 884422 11 a couple of times every single day.
That's enough. Do some relevase facing the bar.
Do a couple of quick and easy tondo exercises.
It literally takes 10 minutes. Put on like Hampi said in his
episode which he put on some music and do club class as he
calls it. Put on some basement jacks and
just keep one track going and just do tondos to the right,
turn around, tondos to the left. The easiest exercise in the
world. One slow 2 quick front side
back, turn around, face the bar 88442211 that is it that's all
you need to do It's not again, it's not about getting better,
it's not about increasing your technique or increasing
strength. It's about keeping what you have
and keeping your body awake. So just those just a little
simple Tondo here and there. If I had more than a week I can
you can do a week without doing tondo that's fine.
But like more than a week I would.
But again, it completely sorry to go back on myself.
But again, if I'm going from this is not from experience, but
if I'm going from playing Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake at the
Paris Opera, then I have four days off and then doing Prince
Siegfried in Swan Lake on the 5th day.
Maybe I would do my tondos facing the bar and do some kind
of stuff because I don't think I probably I could sit on my ass
for four days and then suddenly throw out a principal roll out
of the out of a hat. Yeah, I think you know you have.
To be responsible for yourself. And in those moments where I'm
feeling tired or there's lack of motivation or I'm eager to do
something else that day, I have to remind myself this is for my
own benefit. Like I'm doing it and I'm going
to benefit from this, so why wouldn't I?
But sometimes, especially after a busy season, you do feel a
little bit like, I just don't want to have to think about it
in those moments. Just remind yourself it's better
for you. Hopefully you'll create some
endorphins and you'll you'll be feeling better after doing a
little bit of exercise and you'll be grateful and thankful
when you do get back on stage and your body doesn't hate you,
you know, for taking through and that's and that's actually.
The best time to then do the swimming, the I don't know if
there's a little yoga class at your hotel, in your all
inclusive resort or whatever it is to do something that is not
dancing. Yeah, because just because it's
not dancing doesn't mean it's not helping you.
Of course it's it's also exercise, it's also
strengthening. So if you are feeling really
anti ballet or anti dancing, you need a break.
That's when the swimming that's when the the yoga class at your
all inclusive Tui resort or whatever will help you and
provide my. Friend had a Really.
Bad ankle. This is now throwing back to
like 2006 or something. My friend injured her ankle and
her rehabilitation. Her doctor and physio told her
to go walk on the beach. Her rehab was walk in wet sand
slowly because that's going to, like, you're going to be very
controlling on, you know, either side of your foot and going
through the ankle and what muscles and, you know, rolling
and all that kind of stuff. So, yeah, her rehab was go to
the beach and walk in wet sand. OK.
I wish that was my rehab. Cool.
Does it matter what? Beach definitely long.
Haul, I think it definitely has. To be at least 18 hours away.
I would say this whole. Conversation does also loop
round again to our freelance keeping in keeping in shape as a
freelancer and stuff like this. And I can't say enough that
being an unemployed dancer or being a freelance dancer or
being in between contracts, however you want to word it,
it's expensive going to class, it really is.
And whether it is you don't have any money to go to class,
whether it is you are in the middle of nowhere on holiday,
you can't get to class, or you're at your parents house and
you can't get to class, whatever it is, you were big enough and
ugly enough to know how to do a ballet bar by yourself.
So don't feel stupid. Don't feel less than.
Don't feel any which way about it of holding onto a bookcase,
ironing board chair, whatever it is and doing a little ballet bar
for yourself. Because you do not need a
Harlequin dance floor. You do not need a ballet bar at
home to be able to do a bar. I am 40 years old and I have
done that throughout my career and I have only just got myself
a floor at home. I have been holding on to chairs
and bookcases and walls and whatever on a wooden floor on a
carpet or whatever to keep myself in shape.
So do it. Don't don't feel that you need
to go to class to keep in shape because those things that we've
mentioned about holiday things that you can do are also things
you can do to keep yourself in shape as a freelancer who
doesn't have enough money to go to class because let's face it,
pineapple dance works. Whatever place you're going to
is expensive and we, no unemployed person can afford to
go to an open class every single day.
That is impossible. That is financially not a
realistic thing to say. So grab that bookcase or
windowsill and remember what your dance teacher did at
school. Copy those exercises.
You don't need to be doing complicated exercises to keep in
shape. The complicated exercises at
school were there to train your brain to pick up and all that
kind of stuff. Right now we're just talking
about our body. There is no no difference
between you doing 4 to the front, 4 to the side, 4 to the
back, and one slow 2 quick pretty different bit.
You don't have to do a complicated exercise to be in
shape. 4 in each position, turn around second side.
Am I right or am I right? Yeah, I love that.
Because I'm a firm believer in teaching, of course, it can be
exciting and it's great to keep a balance of simple exercises
versus quicker, complicated exercises.
However, I always say to my dancers, the simpler the
exercise, the less space you have to hide.
So you have to focus on pure technique.
And I think sometimes that's why we enjoy those quick exercises
because sometimes we can or we may fudge a little bit some of
the technique to get through the exercise.
However, when I'm giving an exercise, when I'm setting an
exercise, I like to keep it interesting.
But the focus, the whole point is to improve and understand
classical ballet technique. SO4 to the front, 4 to the back,
four to the side, Demi plier, whatever it is, the focus is
pure technique. And that may be boring for some
dancers who like quick footwork and that may come later on in
the class. And it should if you're evolving
through the class, we've got, you know, pedi, allegro,
etcetera, etcetera. But but it's just as.
Beneficial more It's far. More beneficial to do, do simple
exercises. And I think you'll find, and I
discovered this during COVID when I was giving myself bar
most days just to keep me sane when we weren't allowed to be
outside. I certainly it's a different way
of working because you're setting the exercise and you're
then demonstrating the exercise. So certainly for me, I was
basically just having an internal conversation because
I'm talking myself through the exercise, because I've set the
exercise. Also I'm pressing play.
Oh, this teacher is. Awful.
Oh, it's me. But you also have to be
responsible for not being lazy and it is hardest part it's.
It is. Because also like with running,
you can stop any time, right? So you could just say absolute
I'm bored of this rendezvous exercise that I've just said
I've made it to the. Bakery.
I'll stop running now, yeah, but I'm.
Exactly the same. Like if I, if I'm, you know,
you, you do the right side 1st and I've done like fondue CUDA
PA, Demi point, fondue extend, Demi point and I get to the
second side. I'm like, oh, you know what?
I went to Demi point on this side.
Oh, even worse. You do the right side and then
the novelty is already worn off by the second side.
But in that case, actually do your plays on the right side,
turn and do your tondos on the left, turn and do your glisses
on the right turn and do your rondejean.
I mean, that's another way to get through, and it's better
than nothing. And it's better than nothing.
Something is still better than nothing.
Yeah. Yeah.
Also, this might be might be radical, it might be
controversial, but no one is there apart from you.
Start on the left. How dare you.
But I no one is there. Throw something in.
If you were getting bored and you're trying to motivate
yourself, do different stuff. Start with the other leg.
But if we can go back to the point yet again.
A. Simple exercise.
If you can't think of something you're trying to keep in shape
at home, a simple exercise is just as beneficial as a
beautiful choreographic exercise.
The beautiful choreographic exercise is lovely to do and has
its benefits. They both have a million
benefits. However, if you were just trying
to keep in shape and you're not the best teacher or the best
choreographor, whichever it is, 4 to the front 4 to the side is
going to do exactly the same as some beautiful choreographic to
exercise. I am such a stickler for facing
the bar 88442211 Repeat on the left, then let go of the bar and
do the same thing. It is.
I'm sorry. Firstly to warm up, it's a great
thing before a show. 8 lease is 8 lease is 44422211 Again, we're
not retraining our body, we're not trying to get better.
You're just trying to keep the body awake and keep it going and
doing doing a simple 88442211 repeat on the left, simply a
relevase. We all know how to do it.
Just do it at home. You don't have to pay £100
million to go to a pineapple glass to keep your toddus in
shape. You can do it at home and also
if you're. Not so choreographically
inclined. Like if the idea of setting even
a simple bar is demotivating for you, then get on YouTube and
just find a class that you like the look of.
There's plenty to choose from. And in some ways it's it's more
similar to being in the studio because you're watching somebody
else set an exercise. There's definitely ways around
it. If you're not so into setting
exercises, you and I as teachers, it's just second
nature. So of course, and are currently
talking about. Stuff that makes us unemployed.
That's the home guys. Don't come to my class.
However. Our classes are the best.
No, but we're talking. About people who are
professional and need to keep them, their bodies in shape,
yeah, if you want to learn what to be honest, not even no joking
aside, if you want to learn how to dance.
If you are not a professional and know your body and know what
you're doing, by no stretch of the imagination should be you be
following something online and doing at home yourself.
You should not have the safety blah blah blah.
You should be going to a class and having a professional
teaching you right now. I'm talking about someone who
has graduated from a professional school or someone
who is a professional dancer and they're trying to keep
themselves in shape for a week or two.
Yeah, because they're making their living.
From performing professionally on stage, yeah, it's very, very
different so. 88442211 Repeat on the left, then take your hands
off the bar and do the same thing.
You're good to go. She's really.
Trying to sell that combination. Five and a six and a seven and
an 8. Then what?
But I, I, I do, I do literally. I'm again age and change of
career is a factor, but nowadays to keep technique in shape I
don't do more than a ballet bar because I'm trying to keep my
ankles strong and my legs strong and the height of my legs and
all that kind of stuff. As a musical theatre dancer, I
do not need a full professional level ballet class every single
day. When I worked in a ballet
company, I needed that. Right now I do not need that and
I do not see myself needing that in the future.
What I need right now is a ballet bar to keep that
technique maybe 3-4 times a week and then going to the gym and
keeping myself in shape as in aerobically or strength wise and
lots of that ballet bar stuff. The majority of time of the time
nowadays I'm doing it myself. I'm either going to work and
doing the ballet bar or I'm doing at home.
I am a professional dancer working in musicals and I am
doing my ballet bar at home. So it is, it's nothing to feel
bad about or nothing to feel degraded or less than because,
oh, I'm dancing at home. I don't have enough money to go
to the studio. Do it at home.
If that's what you need to do, do it at home.
Like there's nothing wrong with it.
Because lots of people do feel like a kind of stigma about
doing class at home. And I, I mean, I personally
don't feel any of that, but that's maybe the guy from
Sandhurst within me. Like if I can save some money.
No, but it's true. I mean, there are occasions when
taking taking class is great because it's social, it gets you
out of the home, it gets you to a place with other dancers so
you can monitor, see what kind of the working level is in your
area, etcetera. But it's all circumstantial.
If taking class at home has massive benefits, but it's also
equally important to be in a studio space and and you have to
be responsible for your own actions.
If you're working professionally and you have some time off, not
taking a bar at home because it's not in a studio environment
is not a good enough excuse not to keep active if you need those
classical ballet technical exercises.
So you just have to do it because it's just not worth how
the body and the mind will feel when you get back on stage and
you just feel horrendous. Because we tend to over indulge
during the festive season, for example, which we are allowed
to. Do everybody, and we must.
And we, yeah. But.
Alcohol dehydrates you, so you have to counterbalance the
enjoyment factor beeping in business mode if you haven't
finished your contract or your series of performances.
So, and this is talking from yes, we.
Sound like we're the goody 2 shoes of the industry or
whatever, but this is coming from two people who have done
it. We go out, we will go drinking
on Christmas Eve, the 24th. We will then lay in our pajamas
all on the 25th and whatever. And then on the 26th I will
plank. I remember being told at school
by Andre de Villiers and it is true to this day and will always
be my mantra. Work hard, play hard.
If you're going to play hard, you need to work hard also.
It works the other way around. Work hard, don't play hard like
you need life to help you in your performances.
I know I'm spiraling now, but if you're going to, if you're going
to play hard, you need to also work hard.
So enjoy your holiday, enjoy everything, but remember your
contract is not over. You have not retired, you have
not stopped that Swan Lake, that Nutcracker, that Miss Saigon,
that fame, that whatever it is you're performing on Monday is
still going to happen on Monday. And you have to be able to do
Monday's performance, but also Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday,
Friday. So look after your body now.
I'm going to sound like Jerry Springer.
Look after yourself and each other and you know.
Every audience deserves the same standard, the same level of
show, and if you're dialling it in because you've had an
overactive festive season then you've probably been the wrong
business because you've got to give that audience what they've
paid for. And it's yes, sometimes we feel
more tired than other days and performances.
You may need to do, you know, 90% instead of 100% or if you're
recovering from an injury or you have a little bit of a niggle in
the neck or something, whatever it is, but nobody should be
dialling it in it it. It is a privilege to do what we
do. And I think what we're getting
at is make the best of it. Don't be guilty about enjoying
yourself over the holidays. But you have a job to do and
it's a fantastic job. So just keep yourself in shape,
keep in tip top condition, have that second Sherry and Ferrero
Rocher and get bed by 10. Literally eat all.
The Turkey eat all the sausages wrapped in bacon, have the red
wine, have the box of celebrations and another mince
pie and another mince. Pie, but then the next morning
just bloody. Do the plank, Yeah, and 8844221
but seriously, it does not like, like Denise said earlier, like,
do it as soon as you wake up, then it's over with.
And then you can enjoy your hoogly time with Auntie Tracy or
whatever. You can drink your cherry on the
porch with Uncle Jeffrey or whatever.
But you've already done your planks and your press ups and
your sit ups or whatever you need to do, and then you can
enjoy the rest of the time. Just get it over with.
It takes 10 minutes. Yeah, plank #plank.
Well, my. Denise, we are taking a little
break. I'm starting rehearsals on
Monday, as I said, which is going to take all my brain power
and my free time. However, I think that we should
pop back on here randomly and throw out an episode Willy
nilly. I think so too.
That's a great idea. And our lovely listeners deserve
some little surprises sprinkled in. 100% so as.
Denise and I are heading into a busy period.
We may not be able to give you an episode every single single
week, but sporadically we will drop little presents in for you
all now and then. Yes, so our darling.
Listeners, make sure you're following us on Spotify or
wherever you listen to our episodes so that you can be
notified and updated when these random episodes drop.
Denise, it is always a pleasure and of.
Course we will talk to each other.
Our listeners may not be aware, but we do talk to each other
without it being recorded. Thank God, because we wouldn't
be. Able to air those anyway.
But thank you for listening to another episode of Drinks at the
Bar Season 3. Unbelievable.
We enjoy every single moment and we hope that you do too.
So all that's left to say is wishing you a very Merry
Christmas and festive season and we hope that you'll be hearing
from us again very, very soon. Couldn't have said it better
myself, thank. You all for listening keep your
eyes peeled on social media and wherever you are listening to
us. Thank you for joining us and
listening to yet another episode and another season of drinks at
the bar. And all that is left to say is
Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night, Denise.
Cheers, cheers, cheers, everybody have a.
Fantastic festive season, Merry Christmas.
Love you lots. Love you too.
I love that. You were like, I couldn't have
said it better myself. I was like, yeah, you wrote it.
I didn't even. Think of that.