Shame to my thoughts

Monday is my busy day - reviews to edit for The Tablet, as well as a review I have still to write about Thursday night at the Opera House, but I find time for two ballet classes in the morning. Marguerite's is at 12.30, but the first one is at Rambert at 10.00 taught by Donna Schoenherr. At some point I have to make a call as to whether my body will 'take me there'. But today, the answer is 'yes'', just about, despite the sleeplessness of the bright early mornings.

It keeps me alert to go to classes taught by different teachers, with subtly different barres and differences in the centre. Today I was daydreaming: I remembered the Middle Irish poem we learnt in school. "Mo naire mo smaointe a mheid ealaid uaim ..." "Shame to my thoughts; How much they escape from me."

Donna is a bit like me, rather INFP and unpushy. But she is very meditative in her approach to class and some of the best body images, ones which have helped give me stability in a pose, have come from her classes. I enjoy the people in her class, even if I haven't built the same easy friendships as at Marguerite's. Sometimes we get to use the company's studio on the top floor - and I absolutely love it. There are windows all around and on a good day it is bathed in heat (Twyla Tharp in her biography is eloquent on heat as a source of security for the dancer). Also I feel I pick up something of the Rambert karma.

The other good thing about mixing and matching classes is that I can use something I have learnt in one setting to build my confidence in the other. Between Donna and Marguerite I dash home, sort out a quick Tablet chore - then onwards to Richmond.

Later: Two classes was definitely a mistake and I need to be realistic about my stamina. Note to myself: echappe, pas de bourree, sissone over, sissone over, temps de cuisse, failli. I really envy people with young bodies - I'm thinking of young Natasha, who's hoping to get into drama school, who has a huge ability to take new material on board. And yet...and yet: I think middle aged people who take ballet classes must have a range of mobility jut not found among those who don't.

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