Back by Popular Demand

Yvonne Charlton's repertoire class at Z Studios in Liverpool

Author Gita Mistry
© 2018 Gita Mistry
Licence Reproduced with kind permission of the author pursuant to her commission

Our ballet mistress is not known for lavish praise or exaggeration so when she says someone is good you can be sure that she means it. Beverley rated Yvonne Charlton as our best instructor ever.   Before I had even left  Liverpool I was mobbed with requests to bring Yvonne back to England as soon as possible.

We have listened to your requests.  Yvonne returns on 23 and 24 Feb to run our company class as guest ballet mistress and to teach us as guest choreographer at least one and possibly two of her works to add to our repertoire.  As we still do not yet know the terms upon which we can hire teachers from EU member states after brexit, we had to invite her well before 29 March.  We are making full use of Yvonne's time while she is here.

I shall meet her flight at Ringway airport.  The moment she emerges from customs and immigration I shall drive her to the Dancehouse studios in Manchester where she will give us a full 90-minute class exactly like the one that she gives her students in IJsselstein.  If you have not already signed up for that class you can register here.

Yvonne has to catch the last flight home from Leeds-Bradford International at 18:00 on 24 Feb but before she leaves she will give us a full 5-hour workshop at Dance Studio Leeds between 09:00 and 14:00.   I know that 09:00 on a Sunday morning is an uncivilized hour.  I am sorry.  But think what you will get.

• A full warm-up class; 
• An opportunity to learn properly the Don Quixote piece that  Yvonne started to teach us in Liverpool; and
• A chance to learn a new ballet called provisionally Morning Mood that Yvonne has created to the music of Edward Grieg from Peer Gynt.

To give you the best possible experience, we have hired Northern Ballet's accompanist, Alena Panasenka, to play for us and Fiona Noonan to learn the choreography and coach us afterwards.

Yvonne will bring some fans for Don Quixote and she asks those of us who are trained and experienced in pointe work to bring pointe shoes.  As happened at Terry Etheridge's workshop last year, champion chef Gita Mistry, winner of BBC's Eating with the Enemy will be in charge of the catering.  And you know the best bit?  The whole event will be sponsored by my practice, NIPC Law, so the whole 5-hour workshop won't cost you a bean.

So, what are you waiting for? If you have not already done so you can register here.