Pas de Deux A novel by Bronwen Welsh A Sequel to 'Antonette's Story' Copyright 2021

Prologue

Dear Reader, This is the second volume of my memoirs following on from 'Antonette's Story', which, if you haven't already done so, I respectfully suggest that you read first, in order to acquaint yourself with all the people mentioned in this new memoir. In my first book I recounted how, after being born with the body of a boy but definitely the brain of a girl, I finally transitioned in my late teens soon after I joined the Imperial Ballet Company as a member of the 'corps de ballet' At the end of that volume, I had just been informed that I had been promoted to 'Soloist'. Now my story continues

Chapter 1 The Nutcracker

When Miss Higgins, the ballet mistress told me that I had been promoted to 'Soloist', I confess that I almost skipped out of her office, anxious to find my husband Jack to tell him the good news. Jack had already been appointed Soloist, so now I had caught up with him. He was thrilled for me and grabbed me in a bear hug that almost knocked the breath out of me. Sometimes he forgets how strong he is, but I wouldn't have him any other way!

The news seemed to travel around the company very quickly and everyone came up to offer their congratulations. Even Monique de Valois, the company's Prima Ballerina, came up to me and said how pleased she was to hear of my promotion. This was heady stuff; However, I realised that with the promotion came new responsibilities. There was a chance that I would be appointed to understudy some principal rôles and I would certainly be dancing some minor solos where all the attention would be on me. I knew that many in the audience are experienced balletomanes, would be looking at my performances with a critical eye. Nevertheless I looked forward to the challenge.

It's been pointed out to me that I haven't mentioned the 'home theatre' of the Imperial Ballet Company, probably because I assumed that everyone reading my memoir would be familiar with it, but that is not necessarily so. It is the New Imperial Theatre in London's West End. When I say 'New', that is of course relative. The original theatre burnt down, which was the fate of many theatres back in the days before electricity, and the new one was built back in 1903. It is a lovely old theatre seating 1856 patrons. It has a large stage and orchestra pit, suitable for the biggest ballets, a large proscenium arch with red velvet curtains, and comfortable seating in a matching colour in three tiers, the Stalls, Dress Circle and Upper Circle, sometimes colloquially known as 'The Gods' since it is the highest area of seating and not recommended for people who suffer from vertigo.. There are large rehearsal rooms within the building Most of our productions are held there although occasionally we perform at such places as the Royal Opera House, home of the Royal Ballet, and theatres throughout Britain when we go on tour. There are also occasional overseas tours.

We were coming to the end of the year, and around this time, the Company always presents a season of Tchaikovsky's 'The Nutcracker'. This is the ideal production to introduce young people to classical ballet, and since it is set on Christmas Eve and Night, what could be more appropriate for that time of year? If you look at the audiences, they are at least ninety percent women of all ages, from grandmothers down to tiny tots wearing their tutus and no doubt imagining themselves dancing on the stage one day, and who's to say that some of them won't?.

The story of 'The Nutcracker' is quite complex by ballet standards – can I describe it in a nutshell? (Sorry, I couldn't resist that!) Originally written and performed in Russia, with choreography by the legendary Marius Petipa, there are many minor variations of the story, and for Western audiences, the characters' names are sometimes anglicized. It is performed to the enchanting and very familiar music of Pyotr Tchaikovsky.

The story starts on Christmas Eve when a teenage girl, Clara, her brother Fritz, and the rest of the family are hosting a party for their family and friends, gathered around the Christmas tree in their home. Clara's sister Louise and her boyfriend arrive. It will be noticed that in the second act, the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier look amazing like them! Clara's godfather, Herr Drosselmeyer, a toy-maker and magician arrives and presents the children with toys including Harlequin and Columbine, two life-size dolls which dance to entertain the company. There are presents for the children including a Nutcracker doll for Clara which her brother jealously breaks but is magically repaired by her godfather.

After going to bed, Clara sneaks back to the Christmas tree where the Nutcracker is lying to check on it, and she falls asleep with the doll in her arms. As the clock strikes midnight, things change; the Christmas tree grows or perhaps Clara shrinks in size and the toys come alive. A wicked Mouse King arrives with his army; the Nutcracker doll, wakes and leads an army of toy soldiers to fight them. He is almost overcome when Clara intervenes by throwing her slipper at the Mouse King, hitting him on the head and stunning him. The mouse army carry him away in defeat.

The Nutcracker turns into a handsome prince and rewards Clara by taking her to the Land of Snow where they are welcomed by dancing snowflakes, and then they go to the Land of Sweets where they are welcomed by the Sugar Plum Fairy.and entertained by a series of dances, Arabian, Chinese, Russian and Spanish and the Waltz of the Flowers. Finally, the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier perform a beautiful pas de deux The scene fades and suddenly we see Clara waking from sleep at the foot of the Christmas tree, still clutching her Nutcracker doll. Was it only a dream?. We are left to wonder.

My elevation to 'soloist' couldn't have come at a better time, since 'The Nutcracker' has a number of solo parts. It was the practice of the Company, for the Artistic Director, the Ballet Mistress and the Choreographer to meet and decide on who would be offered each part or to understudy it, and once accepted, to have a general meeting of the company to announce the casting.

We all met in the rehearsal room for the big announcement. As each casting was revealed, everyone politely applauded. As was expected, Monique de Valois was to be the Sugar Plum Fairy, Alfredo Ashton the Cavalier and Antoine de Vaux, the Mouse King. The Nutcracker and Prince were played by Kal McBride, a very handsome young man and a recent arrival at the Company When it came to the smaller solo parts, Jack was announced as Harlequin, and I was to be Columbine the lifesize mechanical dolls. Charlotte de Tomas would perform as 'Dewdrop' in the Dance of the Flowers. Finally the big announcement was made, that Lucie Manet had been given the part of Clara. I heard a few girls gasp that someone from the 'corps' was being given such an important part, but I would have been surprised if, with her obvious talent, she hadn't been given it.

Lucie was a charming girl, very pretty with long blonde hair and only eighteen, but she looked younger, so she was the ideal choice for Clara who was supposed to be fifteen. Not only that, but she was an excellent dancer and I knew would inevitably be appointed a Principal Dancer within a year or two; she might even be accepted as such at the Royal Ballet if she chose to apply, and that would be our loss.

We are great friends and I will take a few minutes to describe how it happened. Although not officially appointed to do so, I had taken on the rôle of welcoming new members of the 'corps' into the ballet if they seemed to be having trouble integrating; Jack did the same for the young male dancers. I think my experience of being a new girl at Marion Ladies College made me sensitive to how it feels being the new entrant into a group where everyone knows each other.

A few days after Lucie arrived at the Company, I came into the café and saw her sitting by herself, so I walked over and sat down beside her.

“Hello, I'm Antonette, and you're Lucie Manet I believe?”

Lucie blushed. “Yes, that's right.”

“Well, I'm not doing this in any official capacity, but I'd like to welcome you to the Imperial Ballet Company and hope you enjoy working with us.”

I could see that Lucie was on the brink of tears. “Thank you so much,” she almost whispered. My heart went out to her. I reached out and patted her hand. “It's alright, we were all new here once. Tell me, are you at all related to Édouard Manet the painter?”

“There is a family story that we are in some way related,” she replied. “Most people think that my name should really be Monet because he was the more famous painter.”

I smiled. “Manet was a very good painter too.”

Have you ever met someone with whom you instantly 'clicked'? It was like that for me and Lucie. As we chatted I gradually learned about her life story so far. She was born and brought up in the little village of Bitterley in Shropshire. It is only about four miles from the historic town of Ludlow which is fortunate, as Bitterley doesn't have a shop of its own. Lucie went to school in Ludlow and at an early age was taken to see a performance of 'The Nutcracker' and instantly fell in love with ballet.

She spent some years at the local ballet school run by a retired dancer from the Northern Ballet. Miss Blanchett, who saw Lucie's potential and told her parents that she had sufficient talent to pursue a career in ballet. They sensibly insisted that she complete her schooling first so that she had something to all back on if her attempts to join a ballet company failed; then she attended the summer school at IBC where I first saw her and was impressed by her talent, and she was invited to join the company.

If you want to know if someone is any good at ballet, ask someone who has danced with them as I subsequently did in the corps de ballet. It was obvious to me from the start, and I'm sure to Miss Higgins too, that Lucie had serious talent and was destined for great things, so now you know why I wasn't in the least surprised when she was chosen to play the part of Clara.

I have been thinking that ballet and other forms of dance are a universal art in the way many others are not. Performed in silence to a musical accompaniment, the stories can be seen and understood anywhere in the world, a bit like the original silent movies. When sound and speech came to the movies, it was hailed as a great step forward, but suddenly you had to understand the language spoken to make sense of the plot, so in that respect it was a step back. There is another similarity between silent movies and ballet; non-dancing 'Character' rôles, of which there are quite a few in 'The Nutcracker', are acted with the same flamboyant gestures. Do excuse me, sometimes I go off at a tangent.

I nearly forgot to mention that I was given a second rôle in the ballet. The Harlequin and Columbine dance is near the start of Act 1, and we would then have to wait for nearly two hours to appear at the curtain calls. You may wonder why we just didn't change and go home, but in ballet companies that is 'not done'. Then Miss Higgins called me to her office and said they would also like me to understudy a part in the Waltz of the Flowers which happens close to the end of the second act. There is a character called 'Dewdrop' who dances with the corps, but as a soloist with different choreography.There was plenty of time to change my makeup and costume if needed, so I was happy to accept the second rôle. Jack, unfortunately, was not offered another part and I was disappointed for him, but then fate took a hand.

Ballet dancers are undoubtedly athletes, and like athletes they are subject to having accidents. I've had one or two myself and so has Jack, but fortunately they were only minor ones, usually sprains. In the ballet's second act there is a Russian Dance for male dancers dressed as Cossacks. It is very short, less than two minutes but very energetic. Just before rehearsals started, one of the four men involved, Eddie, was having a fun game of football with some friends when he became a little over-enthusiastic, and tripped over an opponent lying on the ground, breaking his leg. Disaster! There was no way Eddie would recover in time to perform, so Jack was called into the office and asked if he would take over Eddie's spot and of course he agreed. A post script on Eddie; he was called up before the board when he was well enough to hobble around on crutches, and given an ultimatum, no more football or instant dismissal from the company. A chastened Eddie immediately agreed, a wise move. Watching Jack rehearse the Russian Dance, I was glad that it occurred near the end of the ballet. All of the men were panting after they finished it and no wonder, it's more exhausting than a hundred yard sprint.

Rehearsals began. Anyone who has seen several productions of 'The Nutcracker' will know that every one is different to a greater or lesser degree. You can find some extracts and even several versions of the complete ballet on YouTube, and see how different they are. Jack and my featured solos as Harlequin and Columbine are a case in point. In some productions the two dance quite separately despite being on the stage at the same time, whereas in others, they almost perform a pas de deux, it all depends on the choreographer and we were fortunate to have one of the best in Kenneth Bourne. After consultation with the director, he devised a sequence where Jack and I each did a mini-solo and then performed a brief pas de deux. I have always loved dancing with Jack, so for me this was the perfect outcome.

As soon as ticket sales were announced, we let our parents know that there would be strong demand for them, so they took our advice and booked early for themselves and my sister Jeanette, and managed to get five seats together in the mid-stalls on Opening Night. The rehearsal time flew by as it always seems to, and in no time it was the dress rehearsal, held before a number of local school children, including some from my old school Marion College, and then it was time for the Opening Night.

Standing in the wings listening to the orchestra play the Overture is a thrilling experience; the music is so familiar and yet to hear it played live is so special. The cabinets from which Jack and I would emerge had a false back that opened, so that we didn't have to stand there for about ten minutes until we appeared on stage during the Christmas Eve party, presented as life-size mechanical dancing dolls by Clara's godfather.

Jack was the first to be brought out of the cabinet onto the stage, wearing a costume with multi-coloured diamond-shaped designs and a black mask, a typical Harlequin costume. I appeared after Jack did his solo, wearing a multi-coloured tutu matching Jack's costume, , white face makeup with a bright red spot on each cheek and a bright red wig. As mechanical dolls, our initial movements were rather stilted, as though we were 'cranking up' to start dancing, but gradually our steps became more fluid. We finished to a round of applause and were then ushered back into our cabinets. Coming out of the back of them we gave each other a hug – it had gone very well. Then we went back to our dressing rooms for Jack to change for his appearance in the second act. He had plenty of time, but it always pays to get ready early.

The second act were even more successful. Jack and the other Cossack dancers received wild applause after their high energy performance with the famous squat kicks. I'm glad women don't have to do them! The 'Waltz of the Flowers' in which Charlotte played 'Dewdrop', was equally well received. The costumes the corps was wearing were just beautiful, masses of tulle in layers of different shades of pink which floated out as they spun around; together with the music, the effect was just magical. Charlotte's costume was also pale pink but with a much smaller skirt. The music is just amazing, very well known and so enjoyable for a ballerina to dance to. Although I was only understudying the rôle, I did get a chance to perform it in some of the matinees.

All too soon, the performance was over and we were gathering for our curtain calls. Jack was wearing his Cossack costume, and I appeared in my Columbine costume between the four men, before stepping back to let them have their own curtain call. There was a standing ovation for everyone, and the Cossacks received a special cheer. It was obvious that the performance had been a great success.

Afterwards we met up with our parents and Jeanette for supper to celebrate, and received many compliments on our dancing. I think Jack was the star of the evening for his Cossack dance and I think it was well deserved, but the family insisted on complimenting me for my 'Columbine' performance.

The rest of the season went very well; we played to full houses almost every night, and the final performance was only two days before Christmas Eve. I think we could have gone on for another month!

My parents invited Jack's parents. Jennifer and Michael, and his brother Ben to join us for lunch on Christmas Day. My twin sisters, Celine and Justine were also there.

Celine surprised me when she told me that she and Justine had attended a performance of 'The Nutcracker'. “Don't look so shocked, sis,” said Justine, laughing. “We're not total Philistines you know?”

I could feel myself blushing. “I didn't really think ballet was your 'thing',” I said.

“Well it isn't really, but when your baby sister is starring, we are prepared to make an exception.”

“I'm not a star, although it was my first production as a soloist,” I replied.

“And you did very well, not that we are experts on ballet, and as for Jack's Cossack Dance, that was amazing.”

“It certainly was,” I agreed.

I had a second surprise when Ben asked me how Kate was going, since he knew that I frequently corresponded with her.. She seemed to have made quite an impression on him, although he knew that she was married. To be honest, I was a tiny bit worried about Kate; I had told myself not to be surprised if I didn't hear from her so frequently now that she was married, but her emails had certainly diminished in frequency, content and size. There was nothing in them to suggest that she wasn't happy, indeed she hinted that she hoped she would soon have good news to tell me, which I interpreted to mean that they were trying for a baby. Despite this, there was something, call it female intuition if you like, that made me feel that there was a dark cloud on the horizon.

To be continued.

Next time Kate

A youtube video here: gives you an idea of the Waltz of the Flowers as the company performed it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKcZL8q1eBw&list=RDLKcZL8q1e...

There are a number of variations of the Harlequin and Columbine scene. Here is one of them

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCBd2Zkb4o0&list=RD3oj9ISIlUJ0