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Critical Dance Goes Backstage – A Daily Diary July 4, 2002 Chalnessa Eames took some time after an afternoon run-through of some of her
roles to chat about herself and the week. She studied first at a private ballet
school Harid Conservatoire in Florida and then spent 3 years at the Royal
Winnipeg School followed by another three in the Company. The Winnipeg provided
lots of opportunities for touring and China and London were just two of the
destinations. She remembers seeing Manuel Legris partner Evelyn Hart in our
Peacock Theatre and being blown away by the quality of his dancing and
partnering, as most of us are. This is the end of Chalnessa’s first season with PNB and the pace is a lot
quicker than at Winnipeg with some 8 programmes in the season and lots of new
parts to learn. I asked if she was a quick learner and she replied with a laugh,
‘I’m learning to be quick!’ The Company dances a wide range of ballets and
although the Balanchine tradition is important, it is only one of the threads.
She is more used to the Russian style of the Winnipeg classes and the PNB
classes are more Balanchine based, but not exclusively. Next year in fact PNB
will only perform one of the Master’s works and will be focussing on the
full-length classical rep including “Paquita”. She told me that it’s nice to be in London, but there has been little time
for sightseeing. Chalnessa’s parents are across too and they have been out and
about daily. They all went to do some shopping on Sunday after class, but jet
lag eventually defeated her and she had an early night. And since then it’s
been non-stop, although there was a first night reception for the cast, friends
and sponsors. She loves Sadler’s Wells as although it’s a 1,500 seater theatre the
audience seems close and she likes the way that the staff are so friendly. In
common with all the dancers she has several roles in “Silver Lining”, which
sure gets everyone on stage. In addition she is in ‘Divertimento’ and is
standing in at short notice for someone in ‘Fearful Symmetries’ which, with
its pace and rapid entrances and exits, is really tricky with everyone counting
like mad. This is the end of the year for the Company and after the week here Chalnessa
is heading off to Jamaica to get some sun after the wet conditions of Seattle….and
London, of course. Then it will be seeing some old friends in Winnipeg and back
to Seattle. She was brought up not far away from Seattle and finds the City a
good place to live with the Pacific views and the attractions of the downtown
area. And then our time was up and Chalnessa had to prepare for the Mixed Bill in
the evening. One of the considerate points of PNB is that all the dancers get a
mention when they are on stage and their photograph in the programme, so look
out for her if you go to Sadler’s over the remaining days of the visit.
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The
company performed the Mixed Bill for the first time last night and is settling
into the London season with the routine of a ballet dancer’s life such as the
daily classes at Sadler’s Wells and hunting out the local restaurants and
shops that are open after performance to grab some food.