This weekend I spent 90 minutes flirting, along with 18 other women and two men, with a man who’s been with The Australian Ballet since time began (1962). That he joined the company in his twenties will give you an idea of his age.
We longed for his attention. We looked coyly in his direction. We desperately wanted him to pick us for his hands-on demonstrations.
Colin Peasley is a master teacher. I know so, because I’ve just taken part in the adults only Chance to Dance class at The Australian Ballet’s headquarters. Designed for people who haven’t had the pleasure of nailing first, second, third, fourth and fifth positions before, it’ll have you positioning your bodies in ways you didn’t know possible.
I haven’t seen a group of strangers smile so readily in years. And laugh. Not just at the man with an eternal flow of gags up his sleeve, but at ourselves. We may have clomped our way through our grand jeté’s and slipped on our pirouettes (true story, we did both), but as a collective we did so like a pack of hyenas.
I learnt that the French bloke who invented the five positions of ballet came up with first, named it First Position, scratched his head and struggled with what to call the next one. I learnt that men used to wear tights as everyday attire and that an arabesque a day makes your bottom look really good.
I do hope we get to see the photos that were taken (and that the ones of me aren’t of me slipping out of pirouettes) !
Thankyou Colin for such a wonderful experience – I’m wondering who to bring along next year…
Wish more writers were like you. This is pretty exciting stuff.