Ballet West Audition

Back at auditions again after two weeks of not having any. This one is the furthest I am going for any as Ballet West is located in a tiny village about 2 ½ hours north-west of Glasgow. It took me and my mum just over 9hrs to get there on the train! My mum came with me for this one as we thought it was a bit far for me to go on my own for the first time. The train ride was quite nice though and on the 2^nd train I watched DreamGirls as it was a virgin train. It’s such a great film, I told my mum that it’s one we have to go see the stage show!

Once we finally got to Taynuilt at around 7:20pm we were greeted by David who owns the Brander Lodge hotel which was where we were staying. He very kindly picked us up as otherwise we would have had to walk (it was about 2 miles out)! He was very nice and pointed out the different places in the village. Our hotel was nice and the people working there were too.

Our view at breakfast

The next day (Friday) was my audition. Ballet West said that they would pick us up which was lovely and take us back to the station after. To my surprise it was Gillian, the principal, who picked us up. We chatted with her as she drove us through the village to Ballet West. The school used to be a deer farm so it quite secluded in the hills. This also means that their view is gorgeous! We were taken inside he main building which is where the principle lives. My mum was able to sit in a cosy room with a fire while she waited for me. She was given the programs from their last few shows for her to read (we were allowed to keep them which was really nice!) Gillian took me over to a studio which is in a pre-fab building to the left of the house. There was a stretching/warm-up/pilates kind of class going on and so I was introduced to everyone then was left to take off the clothes I had over my ballet stuff and put my shoes on.

The class I was in was with 3 girls who turned out to be in their 3^rd year (the rest of their class was either ill, at a company audition or competition). This was a surprise to me as I’d expected to be in a first-year class! It was a hard class but I learnt from it which was a great benefit of it being in a normal class rather than a full audition class. Gillian came to watch part way through. We did a barre then centre then cam pointe which I was told I didn’t have to do but I said I would try. I opted out of full pirouettes though in the turns exercise as even though I can do them I was shaky due to nerves so thought it best not to risk it. After the turns exercise I was taken out, got my outdoor clothes back on and Gillian walked me back to the room where my mum was. We sat for a little bit while she went out. It turned out she has gone to talk to the teacher I had had and to one of the students from the class. Gillian then came back and had a chat with us about me and the school. With her she had an envelope…

Even the train station had amazing views!

Updates: I got a conditional offer from Surrey Uni for ABB which is great.