Friends!
Hannah Gordon has been in touch! Sadly not the luminous host of 'Watercolour Challenge,' just an ordinary person who has an extra-ordinary moniker.
She asks 'Is it true, Billy, that you once danced with the great Rudolph Nureyev?'
Well, Hannah, it is.
Rudolph, Margot (Fonteyn) and Christopher (Biggins) were great friends back in the days - all wonderful dancers. I do have a little piece of me dancing with Rudi which I'll show below.
It was an extraordinary experience to dance with my dear friend, Rudi, although the suit I wore was very hot and some of the throws really hurt. He is such a magnificent performer and I can only say that I learnt so much from him. If you click on the link below you'll see he pretends to be mad at me half way through the dance but I can assure you that shows just what a great actor he was.
A Moving Ballet with my friend, Rudi.
Yes that's me!
Rudi was so taken with my story - from mining village to Covent Garden, he wanted to choreograph a moving ballet around it.
One day we were wrestling together and he paused mid half-nelson to exclaim that he would call the moving ballet, 'The Dancing Pit Miner'. But he had me in such a headlock at the time and he squeezed with such force at his own genius that I passed out.
Work began straight away on the moving ballet.
Unfortunately Rudi had never seen a North Eastern English coal mine. But with his wonderful imagination he dreamed up a cornucopia of riches to litter the stage. His vision was a coal seam filled with diamonds and chandeliers in which the miners would be dressed in hard hats and black tutus.
I suggested that we should darken our faces with burnt cork (an old theatrical trick,) to represent the coal but Rudi preferred us to simply oil our torsos. He would spend hours liberally applying Johnsons Baby Oil over me to create just the effect he wanted. Often, after a show, he would come round and announce that I hadn't quite got my 'oiling' right and he would make me stay until the cuckoo sang, dousing me in more lotions and potions and, a few times, rubbing so hard I came out in slight bruising. But no art is made without sacrifice.
Rudi saw my story as an allegory of his own savaged homeland, Russia. His country emerging from the dark Stalin days into the light of Boris Yeltsin - a sort of Boris Johnson for the 90's.
Another Great Boris
Rudi insisted Christopher Biggins played my mam. Biggins representing the eternal enigma of Mother Russia. Rudi would weep through rehearsals when Biggins pliéd or did some slapstick with a custard pie.
Peggy from Kentucky has been in touch, again! If you remember I asked if anybody would want me to choreograph a special dance to a special piece of music for any special event.
Well Peggy told me that recently her pet Dolphin, Gandolph, had died and would I choreograph something moving for Gandolph's memory to the tune of 'Lady In Red' by the wonderful Chris de Burgh.
It seemed strange to me but she was insistent and knowing Americans, as I do, and that they have tamed a whole plethora of beasts from the animal kingdom for reasons known only to themselves, I agreed.
So I asked Peggy, from Kentucky, what had the dolphin died of? - not wanting to make a crass error of judgement when designing my dance.
She said' suicide'.
I said 'Suicide? '
She said, 'yes Gandolph could see no porpoise to life.'
I have blocked Peggy from the site.
Love one another
Billy x
P.S I have been inundated with requests (1 from Spain) saying 'Billy, how do I get your blog on a regular basis?' It's simple; put your email in the space at the top of the page and I'll come straight into your inbox.
Hannah Gordon has been in touch! Sadly not the luminous host of 'Watercolour Challenge,' just an ordinary person who has an extra-ordinary moniker.
She asks 'Is it true, Billy, that you once danced with the great Rudolph Nureyev?'
Well, Hannah, it is.
Rudolph, Margot (Fonteyn) and Christopher (Biggins) were great friends back in the days - all wonderful dancers. I do have a little piece of me dancing with Rudi which I'll show below.
It was an extraordinary experience to dance with my dear friend, Rudi, although the suit I wore was very hot and some of the throws really hurt. He is such a magnificent performer and I can only say that I learnt so much from him. If you click on the link below you'll see he pretends to be mad at me half way through the dance but I can assure you that shows just what a great actor he was.
A Moving Ballet with my friend, Rudi.
Yes that's me!
Rudi was so taken with my story - from mining village to Covent Garden, he wanted to choreograph a moving ballet around it.
One day we were wrestling together and he paused mid half-nelson to exclaim that he would call the moving ballet, 'The Dancing Pit Miner'. But he had me in such a headlock at the time and he squeezed with such force at his own genius that I passed out.
Work began straight away on the moving ballet.
Unfortunately Rudi had never seen a North Eastern English coal mine. But with his wonderful imagination he dreamed up a cornucopia of riches to litter the stage. His vision was a coal seam filled with diamonds and chandeliers in which the miners would be dressed in hard hats and black tutus.
 |
| Rudi's vision of a North East Coal Mine |
Rudi saw my story as an allegory of his own savaged homeland, Russia. His country emerging from the dark Stalin days into the light of Boris Yeltsin - a sort of Boris Johnson for the 90's.
Another Great Boris
Rudi insisted Christopher Biggins played my mam. Biggins representing the eternal enigma of Mother Russia. Rudi would weep through rehearsals when Biggins pliéd or did some slapstick with a custard pie.
 |
| Chriastopher Biggins as Mother Russia |
Well Peggy told me that recently her pet Dolphin, Gandolph, had died and would I choreograph something moving for Gandolph's memory to the tune of 'Lady In Red' by the wonderful Chris de Burgh.
It seemed strange to me but she was insistent and knowing Americans, as I do, and that they have tamed a whole plethora of beasts from the animal kingdom for reasons known only to themselves, I agreed.
So I asked Peggy, from Kentucky, what had the dolphin died of? - not wanting to make a crass error of judgement when designing my dance.
She said' suicide'.
I said 'Suicide? '
She said, 'yes Gandolph could see no porpoise to life.'
I have blocked Peggy from the site.
Love one another
Billy x
P.S I have been inundated with requests (1 from Spain) saying 'Billy, how do I get your blog on a regular basis?' It's simple; put your email in the space at the top of the page and I'll come straight into your inbox.
