BACKSTAGE PASS: In the first of a new series, Tara Bradygoes behind the scenes with a photographer. First up, rehearsals for Ballet Fusion's production of 'The Nutcracker'
THE TROUBLE WITH tutus, as every dancer knows, is slippage. That's why a ballerina knows the value of body tape, and that's why the Ballet Fusion School for Kids and Adults needs an entire studio for its dress fittings. The only way to legislate for what Janet Jackson's publicist once called a "wardrobe malfunction" is by pirouetting furiously before a watchful costume department. Even with one of the larger spaces in Dublin's Dance House at their disposal, our valiant hoofers are rather hemmed in by their garments. These are the first dress rehearsals for that dependable seasonal favourite The Nutcracker, and rails of relevant raiment – outfits for Mikado geishas, matadors, snowflakes and sugar-plum fairies – occupy every available corner.
Happily, slender physiques and precision of movement en pointeensure that most of the performers do not require a great deal of room to strut their stuff. We should think so too. They do, after all, constitute one of Ireland's most prestigious ballet schools.
Company founder and teacher Hilde van den Bergh hovers nearby as flowers are pinned on to skirts, hair is scraped back into buns, and steps are practised until exhaustion kicks in. Only someone with her decades of experience could hope to bring order to this whirl of activity. Van den Bergh's teaching methodology is, unusually for the unforgiving world of ballet, entirely democratic. Ages among the troupe range from three to dancers who'd prefer not to say. This is the only school with a reputation for bringing adult beginners up to a performance standard and the company's rendition of The Nutcrackeris the only production where an audience can watch adorable tots perform alongside such sublime soloists as the Irish Youth Russian Ballet Company founder Monica Loughman, and the Rambert's Claudine Isabelle Cooke.
"Anyone can dance," says van den Bergh. "And anyone can start dancing at any age. There's a popular misconception that you have to start as a toddler to do ballet. It's true that you have to start early if you're hoping to become a professional. But beginners of any age, even adults, can be brought up to excellent amateur levels with enough work. I have a 54-year-old beginner at the moment and that's not unusual. You don't have to aim for the coda of Swan Lake. Ballet can be used to improve posture and general wellbeing. And it's a terrific way of making new friends."
Instructions vary from “horsey gallops and smiley feet” for baby ballerinas to precise anatomical direction for grown-up learners; it takes a great deal of biological and kinesthetic understanding for adults to make up for all those lost years, and the Belgian-born and Dublin-raised teacher’s understanding of all things muscular is seldom less than breathtakingly comprehensive. Ballet Fusion’s inclusivity is what lends its stage productions their razzmatazz. For all the star quality offered by, say, the Bolshoi on tour, even this most celebrated Russian company could not hope to match this bunch for invention and variety.
Everybody is invited and everybody helps out. Hotly tipped young vocational dancers such as Isabelle Eugenie Cooke (sister of Claudine) emerge from the wings to ensure that gorgeous wee creatures, only recently enrolled in national school, can execute perfect turns and maintain proper turn out. We bet they’ll sleep tonight.
The Nutcracker
is at the O’Reilly Theatre, Belvedere College, Dublin 1 on November 21st, 2.30pm and 7.30pm. Tel: 01-8586644, http://balletfusion.weebly.com
