Freestone was offered a full scholarship to the Bournonville workshop that Imagine Ballet Theater hosted in Ogden. He was recommended by his favorite teacher, Mr. Jeff, so it was thrilling to be invited. Plus, what would he have done with that week in between the BW season and the BW summer intensive had it not been for this workshop? Every day, he was in class from 10 am to 5 pm, with a half hour for lunch.
The Bournonville style is the Danish form of ballet. It features very fast footwork and a strong element of mime. There was a lot of work to do in a week, to prepare the dancers for a performance at the end of the six days. Some of the boys who came from Salt Lake spend a few nights at our house so they wouldn't have to make the long commute every day. The boys had a ball. Mac and Freestone helped me in my ballet class and wowed my dancers with their turnout, jumps and extension.
The night before the workshop, there was a fabulous reception at the home of Carol Browning. She and her late husband Val have been ardent supporters of the arts in Ogden. They are the holders of the Browning rifle fortune. They built the Browning Center at Weber State that has housed so many of our ballet and theater performances. It was delightful to meet Carol and be welcomed in her beautiful garden for amazing food, and to meet some of the other dancers and the teachers. The teachers were all from Denmark and often spoke to each other in Danish in the classroom. The Bournonville style also incorporates team teaching, so the students got a lot of instruction.
The Saturday performance was so fun! The first half was demonstrations of the classwork, showing barre combinations and grand allegros, narrated by one of the teachers with a Danish accent so charming, I turned to Ruby and whined, "Why aren't we Danish?" The second half of the show was a Bournonville ballet called "Konservatoriet." I loved it! Freestone was onstage for the whole thing, along with the other boys that we really got to know over the course of the week.
After the last performance, I was hanging out outside the Peery Egyptian Theater with some of the boys' moms. We were all kinda waiting for Henry Winn, a guy who has been a big monitor to Freestone and the other boys. My kids met him several years ago, the first time Clytie brought him in from BW to be the Nutcracker prince. He landed a trainee position in Boston so this was the last time the boys would see him. We all ended up going to dinner together, which was the best. I wish I had a picture of the whole group. I got lots of good advice and information from Henry's mom regarding having a son dance. I love the whole thing.
Bournonville week was also Peter Pan week, as well as girls camp. None of our kids were in Peter Pan because we decided (a decision I regretted all week) to send Xanthe to girls camp instead. I probably would have felt bad if she'd missed girls camp for Peter Pan too. You can't win! But Scott still agreed to do the spotlight for Jana at ALL of the performances. He's just a good guy. I think he secretly or not so secretly likes being part of the play. I must like it too, since I agreed to help with mics one night. The Scheuller kids were all in it, and Henry was Peter Pan himself. He did so well! All of them did! What a fun production. Xanthe says that she's trying out next year no matter what. :) I agree.
I picked up Freestone and his friend Carter after Bournonville Thursday and we all went to The Pie, then to see Peter Pan. Tziporah helped me backstage with mics.
