We have just arrived back in London after a most amazing experience in China. The two weeks we were away for were crazy busy but Jenna and I agree two of the most rewarding and insightful weeks we have ever experienced.
We landed in 26 degrees of heat in Hong Kong after an eleven hour over night flight where Jenna spent the first three hours on the plane dancing in her seat planning more steps for the Chinese dancers! Our first day working on Swanning Around involved meeting with Ronly (CCDC Dance Artist), Kevin (CCDC) and Carlo (Hong Kong Ballet and Rehearsal Director for Ballet Sections). We spent a few hours teaching some of the unison sections and giving them a flavour of the work and also giving them the first listen of the music arranged by Sally. 
We took an evening flight to Beijing, 3 hours north of Hong Kong. We all slept most of the way as the previous few days and the jet lag had finally caught up with us. We arrived at our hotel at 11pm in snow and an outside temperature of minus 1 degree. It was certainly different from Hong Kong weather! The next day we were picked up and taken over to High School of Peking University. We met Wang Sizheng from National Ballet of China who is the Dance Artist and Mr Wang who is from the school and will be their rehearsal director. 
The students joined us following a two hour session with the artists. They performed a very beautiful traditional Chinese folk style dance and we all had a few tears in our eyes. Jenna worked very quickly to adapt some of the choreography to make use of their beautiful hand movements and to allow the choreography to be more reflective of them as dancers. The dancers in Beijing were excellent at working as a group and they had a real energy between them that kept them working together in perfect time. Our time in Beijing was brief but we really enjoyed meeting the students who worked so hard and gave all of their energy to us.
Following Beijing, we flew into Shanghai where we were greeted with rain rain rain. I don’t think it stopped raining for a minute we were there. I had my first day off since arriving in China which I was thankful for and it allowed me to reflect on what we had achieved so far. The work was finally making sense and Jenna’s intricate planning was allowing the dance to come together perfectly. We felt it was like a jigsaw and the pieces were finally fitting! Following our day off in Shanghai we had an early start to get to Suzhou.
In Suzhou we only had one day with the students to make sure they learnt all of the choreography and felt like they knew it. They had an important task of dancing cygnets so there was a lot to learn! Jenna and I worked very quickly that day and the students were very tired by the afternoon. The choreography for cygnets is very different to the rest of the work as it’s quite quirky and fun and with Sally’s music we saw a playful side to the piece. Stephen, the dance artist for Suzhou and Miss Liang the teacher did an excellent job of helping us put the work together especially as there is lots of counting and the front line and back line do lots of different things at the same time. Jenna and I tried our counting in Mandarin on that day, it was very important we could count to eight so the students could understand immediately. I think they may have understood our English more than our Mandarin though!! We left Suzhou with a real sense of achievement; we crammed so much into that day and really pushed the students who certainly rose to the challenge.
Our last two days in rainy Shanghai were spent with Xuhui High School. This was our biggest group of 48 students, 24 dancing the Prince and 24 dancing Odette.
Luckily we had a large enough space to accommodate both groups together but it also meant that Jenna and I had to be especially clear with the material that the students were learning. Ivy Huang who is the dance artist was excellent at assisting us with the groups and clarifying dynamic qualities and timing.
The students in both these groups were very enthusiastic and smiled a lot which kept Jenna and I going as by this point of the trip we were quite tired! Seeing two groups together gave us an increased sense of how the final piece would look and we were able to see the final pieces of the jigsaw coming together.
We flew back to London on the Sunday morning feeling a little dazed but extremely happy. We are confident that all of the rehearsal directors and dance artists will take care of the choreography that Jenna has produced and rehearse it so it looks the best it possibly can. We thank everyone who welcomed us in China, who looked after us and most importantly to the dancers who gave their full commitment and worked so hard to learn all of the choreography in such a small amount of time.
Coming home on the plane gave us time to reflect on our experience. I don’t think Jenna and I anticipated just how much of an impact China would have on us. We come back with a sense of achievement, lots of amazing memories, the positivity to move forward with the U.K schools and a sense that Shanghai Expo is going to be very special!
by rss