London - The Royal Ballet & more

In December 2024 I spent a couple of surreal weeks in London working at the Royal Ballet and Opera with Loughlan Prior. When something like this comes up you drop everything and fly to London! It was very special to be there for the beginnings of what will be an amazing ballet project..

At dusk (at 3.30pm!) each day, we could look out from the top floor of the opera house at the lights of the covent garden beginning to twinkle as the last rays of sun disappeared on the city horizon.. The hallways of the opera / ballet backstage are lined with portraits of famous dancers and dance-masters. We rehearsed in the ‘Fonteyn’ dance studio even. There’s always a rack of costumes or dancers with tutus waiting for the elevator.. there’s timpani and xylophones shoved into stairwells, stage managers constantly calling for ‘Hansel and Gretel’ or ‘Pene Pati’(!) over the intercom. Bizarre and surreal to be working for two weeks at one of the greatest venues for opera and ballet in the world.

Phenomenal dance talent from Edward Watson, Liam Boswell, and Marco Masciari.

Just breathtaking to observe their dancing.  Watch this space for updates on this ballet.. Have a sneak listen to one of the tracks I demo’d for the ballet below..

Whilst in London I caught up with my agent George, amazing screen composer Nainita Desai, and my old friends. I also caught norovirus which knocked me down for a good few days! Such are the joys and unpredictability of travel. The photo of me with the pink restaurant was the last time I ate for the next three days.. haha!

On my last night in London I caught Matthew Bourne’s re-staged classic ‘Swan Lake’ at Sadler wells with all male swans. (It was amazing.) It was surreal to sit in the box seats overlooking the orchestra and imagine my own music coming from the pit in little over 12 months time with Gentleman Jack!