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

Chapter 8   Cinderella

Rehearsals started for 'Cinderella'. Lucie Manet had been given the position of understudy which confirmed my feelings that she was on a fast-track to great things. Together with Dame Monique, the choreographer and director, we started to learn the part of Cinderella. As I've already mentioned, it is a large part, so there is a lot to learn. Antoine de Vaux had been given the rôle of the Prince, and Jack was to be his understudy. I hoped that that might mean we did a performance together, but there were no guarantees. At least we got to rehearse together, including the beautiful 'pas de deux' towards the end of the ballet. It was hard work of course, it always is, but I hoped that the results would be worth it.

Both Jack's and my families and all our friends had been notified and all indicated their intention to come along to a performance. As usual I notified Miss Nightingale at the Marion Ladies' College and she was very impressed.

“Good heavens, my dear; you are doing amazingly well at the Ballet.” she said, and I confessed that I was reaching heights that I never expected.

“Nonsense, you are a fine dancer, and deserve to be a Principal. The Company wouldn't ask you to perform the rôle of Cinderella if they didn't think that you could do it.”

Rehearsals are hard work, but eventually the preview performances started. I confess that I love performing in costume rather than a black leotard, although Cinderella is in rather a plain costume for the first part of the production before the fairy godmother turns up and works her magic. Dame Monique performed the first preview, followed by me and then Lucie. Then we went through the rota again. I had established that at the second preview where I was Cinderella, Jack would perform the part of the Prince, so that was the one where Mummy, Daddy, my three sisters. Jack's parents, and Kate and Ben attended. They thoroughly enjoyed the performance and so did I. There is something very special about dancing with the man you love, wearing a gorgeous costume, on a stage with fairy-tale scenery, and the fabulous music of Prokofiev being played by a full orchestra. What could be better?

At the supper afterwards, Jack and I basked in our family's congratulations. Of course you might say they were biased, but I truly believed that we had put on a good performance, judging by the standing ovation at the end. Jack and I were the last to appear at the curtain call, and after I made a deep curtsy and Jack a deep bow to the audience while holding my hand, we spontaneously turned to each other and I repeated my curtsy and Jack his bow which he followed up by kissing my hand. The audience went wild. Mummy was sitting at the end of our group and told me later that the lady next to her had said to her. “Those two are married you know?” and Mummy replied: “Not only that, Antonette is my daughter and Jack my son-in-law.” “You must be so proud,” said the lady and Mummy replied “I'm proud of all my children, but I'm especially proud today.”

Most of the balletomanes in the audience, and there are always plenty of them, would have known that we are a married couple, since only a month or so prior to the performances, with the permission of the Company management, Jack and I had appeared in a feature article in 'Classical Ballet' magazine, and our picture had appeared on the front cover. There was much in the article about our 'romantic meeting' at the summer school and how we had both progressed up through the ranks to the point where I was now a principal artist and Jack was a soloist.

After it appeared, there was some good-natured teasing from other members of the Company, but not from Dame Monique who had been featured in the magazine herself, and on the front cover. We took it all in good part and told everyone that they were only jealous.

Finally, the evening of the First Night arrived, and of course Dame Monique was performing, so there was no real reason why I should be present at the theatre, but Jack had to be there as understudy for the Prince, so I turned up too. I watched the performance from the back of the circle, because, no matter how many times I see a ballet, I always pick up tips which will enable me to enhance my own performances. There have been times when I have slipped into the Royal Box after the lights are lowered, but on this occasion, some minor members of the Royal Family were present. The performance went very well and the whole cast (and the unseen crew behind the scenes) richly deserved a prolonged standing ovation.

At the start of a new season, we are always anxious to read the reviews in the newspapers. Anthony Ashton was the most famous and most fearsome of critics. It was said that his review could make or break a show, and we must never forget that it's the number of seats sold that keeps the company solvent or otherwise. Ashton always insisted on paying for his seat, saying that he never wanted it to be said that his review had somehow been 'bought'. I expected that he would write a good review and I was not disappointed, but as he had attended the Opening Night, I did not expect any reference to myself and in that I was wrong. His review commenced as follows:

I saw Miss du Pré dance.during a preview performance and was impressed by the fluidity and artistry of her dancing, which for the sake of continuity was based on Dame Monique's interpretation. The 'pas de deux' with the Prince, performed on this occasion with her, husband Jack French who is understudying the rôle, was as fine an interpretation as I have ever seen. Whichever of the two artists is playing the title rôle when you attend a performance, which I sincerely hope you do, you will not be disappointed.'

Mr Ashton went on to comment on the other principals whom he uniformly commended , along with the corps de ballet, the scenery, costumes and orchestra, so all in all, it was a very flattering review.

There were compliments all round, the day after the reviews came out. All the others were equally complimentary, but it was always Ashton's review that was most eagerly viewed. Seat sales, which were already very good, increased to the point where the 'house full' sign was often displayed.

I thoroughly enjoyed every performance and especially the one where Antoine wasn't feeling one hundred percent, and Jack performed the rôle of the Prince while I was performing Cinderella. Another very special night.

Every dancer has a favourite ballet and 'Cinderella' is mine. Perhaps it was because it was the first ballet where I performed the title role, perhaps because for the first time I had an opportunity to dance with my darling husband in a classical 'pas-de-deux' before an audience. The music of Prokofiev is special too. While not as famous as his countryman Tchaikovsky, he wrote some marvellous music and although he was much more contemporary, living from 1891 to 1953, his music is very melodious and often romantic.

While we were enjoying our Cinderella production, things were happening in other people's lives. Kate's divorce was finalised and she and Ben were looking forward to getting married. Now came the problem of where to hold the wedding when the two families were twelve thousand miles apart. Jack had been invited to be Best Man and I was to be Matron of Honour but even if the wedding was held in London, it would depend on whether we were performing if we could attend.

“It's not up to us to tell you when you hold your wedding, but the only day we can be sure of being free is Sunday,” I said to Kate.

“I don't see any problem about that as we are going to have a civil celebrant,” said Kate. “But I do feel bad if my parents and Gary and family can't be there, and I don't think they can afford to fly over. Alternatively, if we marry in Australia, there is the problem of Ben and Jack's parents and you having to fly there if it's convenient, and maybe it won't be if you are in the middle of a ballet season.”

I didn't say anything at the time, but I did mention the problem to Jack

“Do you think we should offer to pay for your parents to fly over, or Kate's parents and Gary's family to fly here? I'm sure we could afford it now.”

“I don't know,” said Jack. “They might feel embarrassed at being the 'poor relations' who have to be paid for.”

I saw his point of view. I didn't want to cause discomfort in the family. Then another thing happened that usually only happens in novels, not real life, but sometimes life does imitate art. From the time they had migrated to Australia, Kate's Mum usually bought a weekly lottery ticket. Sometimes she won a small prize, enough to pay for the following week's ticket, but now, just as the problem of where to hold the wedding seemed unsolvable, a small miracle happened; Marjorie White had quite a large win. It didn't make her a millionaire, but it was sufficient for her, her husband Bob, and Gary, Wendy and Anthony to fly Economy to England and even stay on for a few week's holiday, their first visit back to Britain since they migrated. They were also looking forward very much to seeing Kate again after a couple of years, and
also meeting Ben.

As soon as they heard that the Whites were coming over, Jack and Ben's parents offered to give them accomodation in London, since they had a four bedroom house and they were now the only ones living there. This was very generous, as accommodation in London can be very expensive. Mrs French said that they had been considering downsizing for some time, but now she was glad that they hadn't yet taken any steps to do so. The Whites still owned the house in London that they had rented out when they moved to Australia many years previously, but it was on long-term rental so not available for them to use.

In order to give the Whites time to organise their passports and also book their flights, Kate and Ben decided on a Sunday four months hence to have their wedding. The next problem was to find a suitable venue that didn't cost too much, but large enough to seat the guest list which was increasing thanks to the number of their friends. I had an idea, and with Kate's agreement, we went to see Miss Nightingale who was still the Headmistress at my old school, Marion Ladies' College, to enquire about the possibility of hiring their assembly hall for the ceremony and reception.

“Come and have a look at it,” she said, and as soon as she saw it, Kate said that it would be ideal, with its polished floor and a stage at one end. There was also a kitchen close by, and Kate had already sounded out the ladies of the local Women's Institute who often catered for weddings and at a much cheaper rate than professional reception centres.

'There's only one problem,” said Miss Nightingale. “I can't hire it to you.”

“Oh!” we both said, our faces falling, but then Miss Nightingale's face broke out into a smile.

“In the case of 'old girls', we will let you have it at no charge.”

“Oh, Miss Nightingale! How kind,” said Kate, and I said “Thank you so much Miss Nightingale.”

“It will be my pleasure,” she said. So that was one more thing settled, and as Kate and I agreed later, another person to be added to the invitation list, which she duly accepted.

One day when Kate and I were able to synchronise a day off together, we, together with my mummy and sister Jeanette, and Ben and Jack's mother, had a 'girls' day out' in the city in order to find a suitable wedding gown for Kate. We would love to have had Kate's mother there, but since she was arriving from Australia only a few days before the wedding, this didn't allow enough time to find such an important garment..

We spent an enjoyable morning visiting a number of boutiques, and finally found the perfect gown for Kate. It was a slim-line silk floor-length gown in pale cream, and set off her trim figure to perfection. By chance, they had another silk gown in a pale rose colour which was perfect for me as 'matron-of-honour'. We had a break for lunch at a very nice restaurant, and then set about finding some matching shoes, which involved a trip to about four shoe shops before we were able to buy what we wanted.

There was only one more thing to buy and that was wedding lingerie. Kate said that it might seem odd since she and Ben had now been living together for quite a while but she wanted to look extra feminine and sexy for him on their wedding night. We all agreed that it was a great idea. Fortunately she found a beautiful set in white silk with lavish lace trim, and we told her that Ben would be 'knocked out' by how she looked.

“Oh I hope not, I still want him to be full of vim and vigour,” said Kate and then blushed scarlet while we all laughed.

To be continued.

Several versions of the complete ballet can be found on Youtube.

Next time: Stravinsky and Spartacus