The Extreme Staycation

Location: London, UK  COVID-19 / Coronavirus Outbreak September - how is it already September? September was the month when everyone really tried to "go back to normal" Started off the month with a cast screening of Love & Information which we decided to really go for big style - everyone dusted off their black ties and ballgowns and we had a fabulous evening! It was my birthday - celebrated with a family walk and  Papa John's vegan pizza  which was great!  Lockdown birthdays kinda suck but also I feel like people make more of an effort to reach out as the circumstances are so strange. I went back to weekly ballet classes, first since March.  It has been lovely to stretch my muscles and my dance brain. Went to the cinema for the first time - my cinema of choice is the BFI, partly because I'm a member and partly because I like the way they do things.  Saw two excellent films (in a socially distanced cinema where masks were required through...

Location: London, UK  COVID-19 / Coronavirus Outbreak Lockdown I have taken ballet classes since I was about 3 years old.  In that time I have had many pairs of ballet shoes.  I'm remember the excitement of graduating from elastics to ribbons and then getting my first pair of pointe shoes - these are seminal moments for a dancer. I recently came across this item on the BBC news from 2018:  https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/entertainment-arts-46025716 I found it quite astounding that black dancers have had to cover their ballet shoes in foundation to get them to resemble their skin tone until very recently.  It took until 2018 for Freed's, one of the best known dance shops in the world, to produce a pointe shoe not in satin pink. Whilst it's great that they are doing it, why on earth has it taken this long?  I'm honestly gobsmacked and saddened for the many dancers who possibly felt that ballet was not a world for them, because literally, the shoe didn't fit. Im...

Location: London, UK COVID-19 / Coronavirus Outbreak Self-Isolation Today I was supposed to be working for my dance teacher, operating the music for her kids taking their RAD (Royal Academy of Ballet) exams.  They have of course been post-poned but this is just one of a myriad of things, small disappointments, something so many have worked towards that now are up in the air, all that work, seemingly for nothing. Coming from an acting background, I have a lot of friends and associates who were in shows, opening show this week, in rehearsal, about to start filming something and it's all been paused.  It's quite difficult to get your head around actually - one moment it was all there or a clear goal and end in sight and then not. I was slightly concerned looking at the TV guide the other day as Miss World 1970 was about to be broadcast... have we run out of tv already?! Nice thing of the day: Gary Neville & Ryan Giggs donating hotel rooms to NHS staff who may wa...