Ep. 6: Victoria Marr

*All podcasts formerly on SoundCloud have now been redirected to Anchor.* This episode is a little different to the previous ones. If anyone can talk better about the connections between music and dance, it surely has to be the dancers themselves because they have direct experience of the music, by internalising and emoting it through their amazing movements and physiques. I recorded a conversation with one of Britain’s former leading ballet dancers. In this podcast, Victoria and I talk about her formative training at the world-renowned Elmhurst School for Dance and the Royal Ballet School. We also discuss her experiences of working with live musicians, rehearsal pianists and the orchestra, and the need for ballet dancers to be musical, perhaps to have some musical training. It was so intriguing to talk to someone working in another art form and almost share something of a common language. Enjoy this conversation, occasionally interspersed with the delightful noises of Victoria’s seven-month old! Originally published on 19th February 2019. Conversation recorded on 8th February 2019 via Vidyo. Victoria trained at Elmhurst School for Dance and the Royal Ballet School before being asked by Birmingham Royal Ballet Director David Bintley to join the company in 1996. There she quickly rose through the ranks to First Soloist and during her, 17 year career danced lead roles in a wide variety of the companies repertoire the world over. Victoria has worked with some of the most renowned directors and choreographers in both classic and modern works - from Sir Peter Wright's Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty and ever-popular Nutcracker to Bintley's Carmina Burana, Van Mannen's Grosse Fuge and Twyla Tharp's In the Upper Room. After a final performance of Giselle in 2013 Victoria retired from full time performing to set up her own online ballet fitness business sleektechnique.com with fellow dancer Flik Swan. The Sleek method (an accessible, fun and effective blend of authentic ballet technique and fitness) has quickly caught on and after glowing reviews in publications such as Vogue, Women's Fitness and Elle Magazine, there are now women joining Sleek classes online from over 45 different countries. "Doing something that stuck close to my classical roots has always been the aim with Sleek. I still get to dance, be creative and spread the mind and body benefits of dance to an even wider audience"