Yesterday Bea and I had a ballet class. Well, I say class, but it was less professional than that. I taught her the steps and arm movements with the help of a book written by Darcy Bussell called The Young Dancer. As I moved with not much grace from first to second position I thought, as I do most days, about how much I regret not pursuing my fantasy and going for a career as a ballet dancer.
But there is hope for me yet. I read today that an 88-year-old-man is about to make his balleting debut on stage this Sunday. He has been dancing since he was 79 and will be performing in Prokofiev’s The Stone Flower, the composer’s last ballet, which premiered at the Bolshoi in 1954. Now it will be the talk of Ely, a Cambridgeshire city most famous (until this coming Sunday) for its Norman Cathedral.
John Lowe, as the new Nureyev is called, says he can’t understand why more men don’t do ballet. “I went to a dance school in the high street in Ely and asked if I could do tap and ballet and they said ‘well of course you can’ and I’ve been doing it ever since,” says the retired teacher and grandfather of 11. “I see these people crawling around , hunched over smoking a cigarette – they should be doing ballet.”
I couldn’t agree more. And I am going into training now. Covent Garden here I come. In another forty years I may just be ready for you.
Copyright: Helena Frith Powell 2008
Good for you! and him! I feel like that about ballroom…. if only I had the time – maybe I’ll wait till I hit my 70’s…
Get those dancing shoes out now. I have TODAY enrolled both girls for ballet classes in Montpellier, so they won’t have to be pensioners by the time they make their stage debut.
Hx
Helena
I took ballet lessons as a small child and again as an adult for the exerise. A less talented and coordinated student has never existed in the civilized world, but it was great fun and I participated with great gusto. I credit it with being able to chew gum and walk at the same time. Mostly I liked the tutu and leotards and thought I looked spiffy. It was kind of like tennis. I can’t play for spit but I looked great in the tennis whites!
Sharyn G.