Advertise on podcast: Ballet Piano Podcast

On 10th July 2020 at 15:00 BST, the podcast team will be doing our first ever live stream. Sign up https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ek-XhA5ePOY to watch us do what we do and join in the laughs. We'll be answering some of your questions, reflecting on the podcast journey so far, playing the piano and there'll be surprises in store for each team member! See you there. 

Thursday can only mean one thing, and it’s a brand new Ballet Piano Podcast.  This week it comes in the form of an In Conversation with a current dancer of Sarasota Ballet, Andrea Marcelletti. Andrea we feel, is rather a special dancer with a more detailed appreciation for music than most, and in this episode, we talk about his life and career in ballet so far, and where his appreciation for music came from. Loving referred to as ‘ the assistant’, Andrea as a student was always one step ahead of the teacher and pianist, and was able to bridge the communication gap when things weren’t going smoothly. This episode is full of laughter and charm, as Andrea is beyond loveable and an adorable person. We hope you enjoy, and as always, let us know your thoughts by emailing the podcast and the social media platforms.

We have a fantastically funny episode for you today, with a rather tongue-in-cheek title.  In previous episodes, we have talked about introductions and what we need to get the exercise going, but what about our needs for the exercise coming to an end? In this episode, we talk a bit about the structure of exercises so that pianists can identify when the end is coming, and we talk in depth about the things to look out for from the dancers and teachers, so you can finish playing when the exercise has finished. There are various non-verbal cues that teachers use to signify if the exercise is about to come to an end, or if it’s repeating on the second side or in reverse.  As with most of these episodes, there is laughter in abundance, where as you can imagine, things haven’t always gone right. Let us know what you think about this episode by emailing the podcast on [email protected], or messaging our social media platforms!  We hope you enjoy it.

It’s In Conversation week again, and we have a special guest who we think is very important within the dance world.  it’s physiotherapist, Lorien Slaughter. Lori was a former dancer having trained at The Royal Ballet School, and in this episode we talk to him about his journey form stage, to dancers’ clinic, and how he uses his dance science knowledge and experience to help him in his other job as a ballet teaching. Lori also talks in depth about the various aspects of dance science and physiology, that can impact a dancer’s career, either in a helpful way, or not.  We discuss, sociology, psychology, weight training, and many other outside influences. Lori’s knowledge is vast, and we guarantee this episode is relatable for many people working in the dance industry, and well worth a listen.  We have a feeling this won’t be the last appearance for Lori on the podcast. Let us know what you think, by emailing us, [email protected], or by messaging us on social media.

This week’s new episode is a funny one, but with serious undertones.  And it’s all about studio etiquette, the do’s and don’ts of the ballet studio. Traditionally speaking, ballet is a physical art form, and a discipline, and over the centuries, how dancers, teachers, and pianists behave in the studio has evolved. We discuss in this episode what we think are the most important aspects of studio etiquette that enhance the art form, both at training and professional level. It’s quite a funny episode with lots of tongue in cheek stories with no offence intended whatsoever, but ultimately, it’s a look at how everyone can behave in the studio to make the experience of training and work, more fun and productive. We’d love to know what you think about this topic, and to hear your stories of studio etiquette.  Please do message us and we can share them on the podcast.

We have a fantastic new episode for you this week, another ‘In Conversation’.  We were lucky enough to get together with dance pianist and silent film composer, living legend John Sweeney. John has the most amazing career in dance accompaniment and silent movies, and we well and truly put the spotlight on him to find out about his life and career, from a person, who on the surface is rather understated. John is also famed for his extremely varied and sophisticated improvising and that is the life blood of his work as an accompanist, and we ask him in-depth about his training and education in music that has shaped him and the way he accompanies dance. We hope you enjoy this episode.  Please let us know what you think, by emailing us at [email protected], and if there was anything you wanted to ask John, you can email your question and comment to us for a future episode.

The whole team are back this week with the addition of baby Hazel, to talk about preparing for, and playing for ballet assessments.  It’s quite a niche topic within our industry, but it’s quite important and this episode is particularly insightful. How does David choose the steps?  How does he structure the class?  How does he best exhibit the dancers in their best light?  How do the pianists decide what music they are going to play?  How is the assessment finalised and rehearsed?  What happens on assessment day? The team talk openly and candidly about the process from initial thoughts, the collaboration stage of marrying music and choreography, the definitive assessment, to the finessing of the work leading to the assessment day. We hope you enjoy this episode, and as always there are some laughs!  Let us know your thoughts on this episode and any others you’ve listened to by emailing [email protected] or messaging us on our social media platforms. We’ll see you on the next episode!

We have another fantastic episode for you this week, an ‘In Conversation’ with enigmatic, charismatic, and all round creative human, Rose Alice, the Artistic Director of International Arts Collective. With an extreme physical ability and technique, she has captivated audiences all over the world from Europe, to China, and the USA. We hope you enjoy this episode with the spotlight firmly on Rose, who always keeps it real, and who talks candidly about her serious highs and lows as an artist, and what fuels her every day.  Listener discretion is advised, but nonetheless, you will love getting to know this very special “OG”! Get in touch via our social media channels, or by emailing us at [email protected].

Have you ever been on a first date and experienced the sort of nerves you get when you meet someone for the first time?  Well as a ballet pianist, and ballet teacher, working with someone you’ve never met before can feel just like that.  And that’s what this episode is all about. We discuss what it’s like to work with someone new for the first time.  The sorts of things you might anticipate in a new colleague, the sorts of things you bring to a new partnership, and the little idiosyncrasies you try to read in each other that make your class go as smooth as possible.  Of course there are funny stories, as you might expect from a ‘first date’, but we discuss the sorts of things you might want to look out for when working with a new colleague. Why not get in touch if you are a ballet teacher, or pianist, and let us know your thoughts on working with somebody new for the first time.  Message our social media platforms, or email us.

Another week, and another brilliant episode for you!  This episode is in response to a message that came in from a follower on the Instagram account, and she wanted to know about how we play for men specifically, and how David chooses music for his classes, and what he likes to hear from music in his men’s classes. We discuss as a general consensus that we would play a bit stronger, bigger with more space in the music to allow for the men to jump a bit higher, and execute more pirouettes, and to generally dancer bigger, as in general, men are known for that. We share our stories of times in the schools and companies were playing for men has been a challenge, because of the advancement in technique, and the real need for your “grandest” waltz, and then when choosing tunes for men’s class can really lift the mood to  juxtapose that heavy playing throughout. We really pull on our personal experiences in this episode to highlight what we mean, and we hope we’ve been clear enough

We bring you another gem of an episode this week, an “In Conversation” with the Artistic Director and CEO of Scottish Ballet, Christopher Hampson.  Recorded in November 2020 during the pandemic, and on Zoom, this interview is pertinent to that time and climate, but we hope you enjoy it nonetheless. We celebrate the life and career of Christopher Hampson, from fairly routine training at the Royal Ballet School, to landing a dancing job at English National Ballet, to freelance choreography and teaching, and finally being offered the top job at Scotland. We ask him about his process of creating a new ballet, from choosing music, creating movement vocabulary, to telling the story, and then onto his programming of works at Scottish Ballet, and how that goes hand in hand with the other side of his job where he leads many departments as CEO, such as Outreach and Education.  Chris is a wonderfully eloquent person with a measured manner, and you’ll love this episode.  We hope you enjoy it.

We asked you to provide some questions of ballet and music topics that you wanted answering, and we did!  We also ask questions of each other, things about ballet and music we wanted to know from each other’s perspective, and it is very revealing and insightful. As is often the case on the Ballet Piano Podcast, you can expect lots of laughter, and bickering from the Hobsons, but it’s all in good fun and light humour.  We answer your questions as honestly as possible, to the best of our knowledge and experience.