Bede's Legat Dance Academy students donned their ballet shoes for fantastic masterclasses with Sarah Wildor and Alistair Postlethwaite.
Sarah Wildor, former principal dancer with the Royal Ballet Company, visited Bede's to deliver a full day masterclass to all the Legat students on Friday 24 January.
Sarah treated all of the students to a ballet class warm up and then delivered a repertoire class from George Balanchine’s Symphony in C. The students thoroughly enjoyed this particular piece of repertoire which works with basic motifs and patterns for the corps de ballet, and is accompanied by Bizet’s incredible symphony.
Our Legat students were delighted to have the chance to work with such an experienced performer, with Phoebe Tucker, Lower Sixth, commenting, "Sarah’s workshop was fantastic! She taught in a very calm, gentle way but the exercises were fast paced and you had to pick them up quickly."
Antonia Clark, First Year adds, "It was the best masterclass I have ever taken part in, and I absolutely loved learning Symphony in C."
The next day, Alistair Postlethwaite, dancer with Matthew Bourne, K Ballet, Scottish Ballet and New English Contemporary Ballet, visited Bede's to deliver a morning ballet class with our Legat Enrichment Dancers and Legat Associates.
Alistair will continue to work with our Legat students for the next three weeks, and also will be putting together an original piece of work for the Legat Dance Showcase this summer, which will be held at The Attenborough Centre, Falmer in June.
The students found working with Alistair incredibly enjoyable, as he demonstrated the exercises with passion and enthusiasm.
About Sarah Wildor
Sarah Wildor trained at the Royal Ballet School and went straight into the company in 1991; she was promoted to soloist in 1995 and then Principal in 1999, dancing all the major classics and modern choreographies. In 1997 Sarah took leave from the Royal Ballet to play the lead in Matthew Bourne’s Cinderella in London and Los Angeles. In 2001 she left the Royal Ballet to freelance and expand into musical theatre and acting. She guest starred with Scottish Ballet, played the role of Madame de Tourvel in the newly-interpreted production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses. Her first role in musical theatre was in Susan Stroman’s dance musical Contact, for which she was nominated for a Lawrence Olivier Award for Best Actress. Sarah has also appeared in numerous theatre productions.
About Alistair Postlethwaite
Alistair Postlethwaite is most known for appearing in BBC TV series So You Think You Can Dance, where he reached the semi-finals. He has also toured the UK in Cabaret and most recently worked with Javier de Frutos in The Most Incredible Thing at Sadlers Wells.
