Queen at the Ballet #OutAndAbout

Sean Bovim's Queen at the Ballet... need I say more? Having friends of mine performing in this wonderful production and with my own background in ballet, it was such a privilege to be invited to both the opening and the preview for the Johannesburg season. Unable to attend the official opening on 27 April at the Joburg Theatre, we attended the preview the night before and I am so glad we got to see the brilliance of this cast and production.

Henk Opperman in Sean Bovim's Queen at the Ballet.

The first time I met Sean Bovim, was during a summer school program (or was it winter?) at the State Theatre. He was then still a part of the fantastic PACT Dance Co. and I was still very much a blushing ballet girl in awe of him and his colleagues. During the course of the program we would do joint classes with the Company, including body conditioning with the incredible and legendary Pat Gush. I will never forget being partnered with Sean for some random foot strengthening exercise, which to this day I can't for the life of me remember - as I was too busy worrying about the proximity of this incredibly hot and sexy male dancer, whilst forced to play a weird form of footsie with him and trying to be good at it at the same. Needless to say, I've been a fan ever since. Sean has done some incredible work, and I wish I had had the opportunity to work with him in the height of my contemporary dancing days.

And speaking of inspired young dancers, I met a beautiful member of the cast named Faye Dubinski, who happened to have gone to school with me at the National School of the Arts. And as we were introduced she tells me that I was her Gr12 senior and her idol at the time. I said 'really'? She replied, Yes! I looked up to you so much, I even named a bear after you. I wanted to be just like you.

Friends and leads Henk Opperman and Devon Marshbank

Well, my night and possibly my week was made. And as I had no clue about Faye, so I am sure Sean will have had no idea about my own awe and admiration. We have absolutely no inkling of the lives we impact in our day-to-day comings and goings... the ultimate life decisions or paths we influence or inspire, that's what makes what we do so powerful. Faye's name is one I will now watch with keen interest and hope to see in many programs yet.

And seeing as impacting lives are par for the course for us, hubby and I love to include our FADCreationS's Career Mentorship Students in experiences like these. Two of our students joined us for the evening, Roelien Prinsloo and Morne Vogel, both have recently finished Matric and are heading for studies or careers abroad in the US. We have the honour of guiding, coaching and developing them along the way. Here we all are at the Joburg Theatre.

With hubby, Roelien and Morne.

Some of my favourite numbers of Queen at the Ballet were Who Wants To Live Forever with the three incredible pas de deux couples and the Don't Try So Hard duet, danced by friends Henk Opperman and the beautiful Elzanne Crause. Sean's pas de deux's are just breathtaking.

I am so glad this production is being showcased in Johannesburg and hope that we will be privy to many more of Bovim Ballet's works up in Jozi in the future.
I am sure that their Opening Night must have been magnificent and wish the cast and company all the best for the run. The season only runs until 13 April, so make sure you do not miss it!

Tickets at http://www.joburgtheatre.com/. 

Here is a link to a 'taster' video for Queen at the Ballet. 

Lots of Ballet Love,

We Will Rock You - A Tribute #FlashbackFriday

I recently learnt that We Will Rock You UK will be playing to its final house on 31 March 2014. So I decided to reminisce and pay tribute to my own seasons of performing in this epic musical, in South Africa.
From the We Will Rock You FB Page:
"GOODBYE EVERYBODY...WE'VE GOT TO GO"
#WeWillRockYou to close on the 31st May 2014 at London's Dominion Theatre after a victorious 12 year reign! More Info & Tickets: http://bit.ly/wwryclosing
Co-creators Brian May, Roger Taylor and Ben Elton had this to say: "We want to thank every one of the many hundreds of incredible musical theatre artists, musicians and crew with whom we've had the privilege of working at the Dominion since 2002. And of course the incredible audiences who have rewarded them with over four and a half thousand standing ovations!”

It's truly special to be acknowledged by Queen and the creators in this way.
I was very blessed to be a part of the debut cast in South Africa in 2006, when we performed seasons of the production in Johannesburg's Civic Theatre (now Joburg Theatre Complex's Nelson Mandela Theatre), Cape Town's Artscape Theatre and Durban's Playhouse Opera. I also joined the New Zealand tour at the end of 2007. We Will Rock You happens to be the musical in which my husband and I got engaged (on top of Table Mountain, Cape Town) and also toured NZ together shortly after our wedding and honeymoon. So it is such a mile marker for me with many incredibly happy memories.
Here is a Wiki link if you would like to read more about the musical:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_Will_Rock_You_(musical)

That's me far right next to Galileo,
this was a press photo taken at
Auckland's Civic Theatre.

.

Here are the SA Galileo's Francois (1st cast Gal),
Ferdinand and Shaun. 

In the first SA season, Ferdinand (hubby) was one of the two Galileo understudies. He was lucky enough to perform the role for a whole month and later twice weekly, when our lead struggled with some vocal chord trouble, and he made a wonderful Gal.

Our SA Scaramouche's were Helen (1st cast Scarra),
Talia and Sivan (understudies).

My Bohemian character was called Jackson 5 and I was an ensemble member playing everything from a Gaga Kid to a Bohemian and a 'Yuppy' as they were dubbed - basically one of the Killer Queen's underlings.  I remember learning the Yuppy numbers for the first time and thinking - 'will my hamstrings ever be the same again?' My favourite number to perform was Fat Bottomed Girls, getting out of hand with a pink feather duster is always fun and I loved listening to the character Oz (or Meat) perform a Hand Above The Water every night. 

In the touring version I also played one of the 'Find Me Somebody To Love' Gaga Girls and even went on as a Gaga teacher a couple of times. 

Here are some 'behind the scenes' show pics..

The Gaga Girls who give Scarra a hard time...  

    ...and my Bohemian character Jackson 5.

The Alto's in the booth singing live along
with Oz and Brit on stage..
check out my stocking cap...sexy!

The Gaga kids during the costume
fitting (thus no make-up), those wigs are 
sooooo uncomfortable!   

...And a group of Bohemians in the dressing
 rooms at the Auckland Civic, such epic times!

                     

                                             

Baby and I, 

he was called Cliff Richard 

and Ferdinand was hysterical as Cliff... 

what a privilege to have been able to do so 

many shows together and tour 

to other countries, so blessed.

    

      

Me as teacher & hubby as student Gal..
 role-play?

       We Will Rock You will be a special show for many of the artists who were lucky enough to be cast in this show, to work with the creatives involved and to feel part of something that celebrates not only the theatre piece but all of the work created by Queen and the message it holds. It truly feels like you're part of something bigger than yourself and honouring the memory of Freddie and those lost along the way. Theatre has that power, to make you feel something significant - not only for audience members but sometimes even more so for those in the production of it, on stage and off.

With our touring Galileo Mig Ayesa on closing night in NZ. 

New Zealand was such an amazing tour, I loved the city of Auckland! In SA we don't walk anywhere, purely for safety and distances traveled. In Auckland hubby and I would go and do our grocery shopping at midnight after the show (because there places do in fact stay open that late) and we'd walk all the way there from the theatre through town. We lived on Burger Fuel burgers and sweet potato chips, (right around the corner from the theatre) oh my word yum! We even thought of bringing a franchise to SA at one stage. Another indulgence was TimTams of all flavours, it became like a cast ritual to drink hot coffee through the ends of a TimTam.

A couple of us were lucky enough to travel to Taupo on a day off and go bungee jumping! What an experience, I'd do it again in a heartbeat! We also got to see more of Auckland in a small aircraft flight and visited the Orakei Korako Geyserland, a valley of geysers and hot springs.

Getting ready to jump!

Travelling is such a love and indulgence for me and really is one of the incredible benefits of travelling in our line of work. I really hope to be offered (or create) more touring opportunities whilst doing what I love, and with the pre-requiste of having my hubby with me of course!

Here's to the fun of #FlashbackFridays and to building happy memories in life.. Never settle for less.
Love,