The London Ballet Circle

The London Ballet Circle offers informal talks by figures from the world of dance, visits to top ballet schools, and a range of other activities. 

All the funds raised are used to provide help for young students in their training, other forms of sponsorship, or support for specific projects.

> Find out more about The London Ballet Circle

FOR A SPECIAL "MEMBERS ONLY" OFFER to purchase tickets for The Fonteyn international dance competition (formerly the Genee) at the Royal Opera House in September 2020 nearly 4 months ahead of the general public, please go to ABOUT US  and click the News [Members Only] page.

MAINA GIELGUD "IN CONVERSATION" WITH GERALD DOWLER

       * THE FULL REPORT IS NOW IN THE REPORTS SECTION *

On Monday, 11th November, and following an extremely popular session two years ago, Maina Gielgud returned to talk about the many and various facets of her current career.

Over the last two years, Maina has worked with a number of prestigious ballet schools, including the Vaganova Academy, where she staged Serge Lifar’s Suite en Blanc, and she shared her impressions of the varying ways in which the different countries approached their student training. Maina explained in fascinating detail her approaches to coaching and to choreographing new work and referred to a number of highly talented young dancers who, she expected, would become household names in the near future.

Maina also spoke about her role with the Anton Dolin Foundation, her experiences of staging ballets all over the world, often with ‘famous names’, her new workshops focused on style, and the coaching film clip she had recently made for the Dance Europe website.

Afterwards, the room was ringing with comments such as these:

 “It was such a thought-provoking evening” 

 “It was a real insight into what goes on behind the scenes” 

 “It is really humbling to hear from someone like Maina who has been a prima ballerina, has directed companies and has, herself, danced with the ‘great names’ in ballet – but is still working so hard to help develop the next generation of dancers”. 

In addition to the report in the REPORTS section of this website, here will also be a longer account of this illuminating evening in the January Newsletter.

GARY AVIS "IN CONVERSATION" WITH AMANDA JENNINGS

     * THE FULL REPORT IS NOW IN THE REPORTS SECTION*

The LBC audience on 21st October had a very illuminating evening with Gary Avis, the Principal Character Artist and Senior Ballet Master with The Royal Ballet (RB). Questioned by the guest host, Amanda Jennings, of Dance Europe, Gary talked enthusiastically about how he had come to go into ballet, various aspects of his dancing career, his preparation for his roles and his work as a ballet master. He also gave some details of his charity work for the community in Suffolk, where he hails from, and about his involvement in the RB’s Create and Dance programme which is designed to reach out to, and involve, primary and secondary school pupils. 

Comments afterwards included:

“Gary was just as entertaining when speaking as he is on stage”

“No wonder Gary is such a popular figure in the ballet world”.

“I always smile when Gary’s name is on the cast  sheet and, tonight, he was making me smile all the time because he was so interesting”.

Gary found the time to come and speak at a very busy point in his schedule (he was regularly on stage as Monsieur GM or The Gaoler in Manon and was preparing to debut in two roles in Enigma Variations). The LBC owes him a huge vote of thanks and the conversation ended with a prolonged round of applause. 

The LBC is now on Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/londonballetcircle/

Please take a look!