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Reality or fantasy – which one wins?

20th January 2008 by Helena 6 Comments  

It was one of those few moments in life when the reality was better than the fantasy. Yesterday the girls started their ballet classes. I was so nervous about arriving late we were there an hour and a half before the beginning. We wandered around for a while and then went to the school.

It is called the Skouratoff Studio and is in a small back-street in a part of Montpellier you have never heard of and wouldn’t really want to visit. It has two studios, one that looks out on the street. It was here I witnessed the obsession begin. Olivia and Bea stood totally transfixed watching a class of teenagers dance. It was a magical moment. I almost wept with joy.

Then it was their turn. They looked divine in their little pink tutus, hair up in a bun and ballet shoes. I wasn’t allowed to stay and watch but they came out beaming, telling me they wanted to join the more advanced class. Since coming home they have talked about nothing else and done practically nothing else. As I write they are leaping around upstairs. Bea incidentally is a very good jumper according to the teacher. I have to say the transformation in Olivia after just one lesson is astounding. She now looks like a ballerina.

As for me, well I did ask about the adult courses and there are lots of them, for all levels. I am sorely tempted but Rupert warns me that Zelda Fitzgerald tried to become a ballet dancer just before she went mad.

Maybe I’d better stick to watching the girls. In my case the fantasy is probably better than the reality.

Copyright: Helena Frith Powell 2008


Filed Under: Ballet, Children, blog --> Tagged With: fantasy, reality, which

6 thoughts on Reality or fantasy - which one wins?

  • Miko says:
    20th January 2008 at 4:20 pm

    I think it would be safer to stick with tennis Helena. Rupert may have a point. Hej hej.

  • Sharyn G says:
    21st January 2008 at 5:10 am

    Helena

    Bea and Olivia look like angels. I am so glad that they are enjoying the dancing experience. Even if they do not become prima ballerinas, they will always treasure these lessons. I agree that Olivia looks more like a young woman than a child in this picture. She is quite blooming and serene. A doctor once told me that ballet exercises were as good or better than army basic training exercises. For those who are trying to stay in shape it is a more pleasant way to do so than sit ups. I say go for it!

  • helena says:
    21st January 2008 at 10:29 am

    Thanks Sharyn, I am going to go for it, but behind closed doors, in the safety of our home where the men in white coats can’t find me!
    Hx

  • jules ritter says:
    21st January 2008 at 6:44 pm

    When it’s raining and I can’t go for my run I sneak down to our home gym and sometimes at around 9.30am they have on channel 197 (Living 1 I think), The New York Ballet work-out. It is the antithesis of those tightly smiling, muscle-clad frightening women bouncing around on a platform on a beach. Julesritter.com

  • Laura says:
    21st January 2008 at 9:04 pm

    Beautiful girls and they look so happy in their little tutu’s. I can imagine your pride.

  • Expatmum says:
    21st January 2008 at 9:48 pm

    Gorgeous girlies. I did adult ballet (beginners) a few years ago when my daughter was in her class and I have to say I was very toned because of it. It’s hard work and sometimes boring, but my those buns!!

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Helena Frith Powell was born in Sweden to a Swedish mother and Italian father, but grew up mainly in England. She is the author of eleven books, translated into several languages including Chinese and Russian. She wrote the French Mistress column The Sunday Times about life in France for several years. She is a regular contributor to the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, The Times, Daily Telegraph, Tatler Magazine and Harper’s Bazaar.

Helena has been the editor of four magazines, including M Magazine, a supplement for the Abu Dhabi-based National Newspaper and FIVE, a high-end fashion glossy, also published in Abu Dhabi. Helena was also editor-in-chief of 360 Life, a quarterly glossy magazine published with the Sports 360 Newspaper in Dubai, part of the Chalhoub Group.

Helena contributes regularly to UK-based newspapers and magazines and holds a Masters in Creative Writing from the University of Cambridge. She is working on a thriller set in Sweden as well as a novel about the relationship between Virginia Woolf and Katherine Mansfield called Sense of an Echo.

In 2022 her short story The Japanese Gardener came second in the Fish Publishing Short Story Prize. One of her stories was also shortlisted for the Bridport Short Story Prize. When she’s not writing, she works as a headhunter for the media and entertainment industry for the Sucherman Group. 

Helena, who was educated at Durham University, lives in the Languedoc region of France with her husband Rupert and their three children.

Bibliography

More France Please, we’re British; Gibson Square 2004

Two Lipsticks and a Lover 2005; Gibson Square (hardback)

All You Need to be Impossibly French; (US version of above) Penguin 2006

Two Lipsticks and a Lover; Arrow Books (paperback) 2007

Ciao Bella Gibson Square; (hardback) 2006

Ciao Bella Gibson Square; (paperback) 2007

So Chic! (French version of Two Lipsticks) Leduc Editions 2008 (also translated into Chinese, Russian and Thai)

More, More France; Gibson Square 2009

To Hell in High Heels; Arrow Books 2009 (also translated into Polish)

The Viva Mayr Diet; Harper Collins 2009

Love in a Warm Climate; Gibson Square 2011

The Ex-Factor; Gibson Square 2013

Smart Women Don’t Get Wrinkles; Gibson Square 2016

The Arnolfini Marriage; Amazon Kindle December 2016

Smart Women Don’t Get Wrinkles (paperback); Gibson Square spring 2018

The Longest Night; Gibson Square spring 2019

 

 

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