Monday 26th March, 2007

Crown Court Church of Scotland Hall, London W.C.2

We welcomed as our guest this evening Philip Mosley, Artistic Co-ordinator and Character Artist with the Royal Ballet, who was interviewed by Tim Rooke.

To begin with, Philip described his duties as Artistic Co-ordinator of the Royal Ballet, as members were not clear about what his job description covered. He is responsible for the rehearsal scheduling for all 96 dancers and explained that in accordance with their union contracts they are allowed to work 6 hours on a normal rehearsal day (besides class), on a rehearsal and performance day they are allowed 6 hours, and on a stage call and performance day they are allowed up to 8 hours. He calculates each dancer's individual hourly entitlement and this can lead to complicated situations, due to last minute changes in schedules for the dancers. He also arranges times for fittings for new productions, for which dancers are allowed 2 extra hours a week besides dancing hours. He collaborates with Jeanetta Laurence to schedule stage calls years in advance, gets out the contracts, and explained that in accordance with union rules, dancers have to have breaks if they are in costume and makeup and all this has to be worked out. He also calculates overtime for each dancer (daily rate/weekly rate), which involves much office time in organising and typing up the schedules.

He deals with union contract negotiations. and as he had previous experience as the company union rep, when he joined the management he was able to advise them and make useful suggestions on negotiations with the company. His job can be quite stressful as he has to make sure timetables are correct so that all dancers are fitted into the rehearsal schedules and he does his best to keep them happy!

In addition to the demanding requirements of his office job, Philip continues to dance character roles and at present is one of the elderly guests at the ball in "Onegin". He has mastered the art of high speed makeup, as he has very little time between finishing administration work and the evening's performance Quite often he spends the whole day in the building from morning to the end of that evening's show.

Philip spoke about company touring, and how different union hours apply in other countries and have to be taken into consideration. There may be language problems and lack of studio space which can complicate rehearsals and involve longer hours for the principals. He has learnt how to deal with the demands of dancers, and since he has been a company member himself, he understands their problems and always tries to help.

He told us about the circumstances which led him to retire from dancing and join the management, though he continues as a Character Artist. This happened at a time in his career after some serious injuries and he was thinking about his future. He has been with the company for 21 years and is happy now doing roles which don't require him appearing on stage every evening, and at last has some free time to relax at home. He stopped doing class about 5 years ago as a full time classical dancer and the last ballet he appeared in was "La Valse" - as a replacement at short notice! He enjoys character roles and is very fond of the Step-Sister in "Cinderella II which he hopes to continue for a long time. He has done this role with Alistair Marriott and really enjoys it.

Philip then told us about his early life and how he went to White Lodge. He went to a local dance school in Barnsley with his sister when he was very young and his parents would have liked him to go to a stage school, but didn't have the finance. He entered local competitions and as a result of this, was sent for an audition to White Lodge. He comes from a big family and when he eventually was accepted at White Lodge, he found it very difficult to adjust to the parting from his family, and especially from his twin brother. He was very homesick and became best friends with Viviana Durante, who was in his year and was just as homesick as he was. It was a culture shock to him because he had not done much ballet, but mainly tap and used to win tap competitions at home. He is very close to his family and loves to visit them in Barnsley when he can, and has become a local celebrity, mainly due to the "Billy Elliot" film which brought him a lot of press attention, not only in the UK, but on tour in Mexico. Philip explained that the screenwriter had interviewed him and used quite a lot of his family background and circumstances in the film, and the dance teacher in the film was very like his own teacher. Philip's name was not shown in the credits for the film, though the writer did mention what he owed to Philip at the premier. He hadn't seen a ballet until he went to White Lodge and always saw himself as Gene Kelly or Fred Astaire and never imagined he would be a ballet dancer. He doesn't think his singing voice would be up to appearing in musicals, and loves being in the Royal Ballet which is his life and doesn't think he could go anywhere else. He has made lifelong friends there from his days in White Lodge and he considers the Opera House as his home.

When the Opera House was closed Anthony Dowell offered him a job as assistant to Christopher Newton and he applied for the Company Manager's job but didn't get it, although it led to his present position. He is grateful to Jeanetta Laurence for all the help she has given him. He has never had a wish to teach or be a choreographer and prefers what he does, and at last he is now getting an assistant. Organising the use of five studios to full capacity is what he does best!

Tim asked about the lack of full evening ballets and Philip explained the difficulties of scheduling the length of time required by a choreographer to work with the company, combined with producing the current repertory. Answering questions from the floor: numbers of performances, the problem of allocating roles between established principals and up and coming dancers and the planning of the repertory was discussed. More choreographers are being invited including Kim Brandstrup, and Wayne McGregor will continue to work with the company. Philip once appeared in a number with some of the "The Trocs" in a night club in New York - as a break from classical ballet. The Royal Ballet are moving towards high-tech filming/DVD productions, which is necessary nowadays, though Philip thinks there is nothing as good as a live stage performance. He paid tribute to the wonderful character actors of the Royal Ballet, which is unique among companies. He played Dr. Coppelius after a long break and found it really hard to remember the part, but his favourite role is Widow Simone in "La Fille". He spoke about the wonderful new studios and commented that though the school is next door, they don't see the students as they used to when they were all in the same building in Talgarth Road. He has heard about Sergei Polunin but hasn't seen him in class yet. He would like the students and company to have more opportunity to see each other at work. Talking about his family, all Philip's brothers and sisters have played musical instruments even though they have regular non-theatrical jobs and he is the only dancer.

The evening ended with many thanks to Philip for giving us such an interesting insight into his working life, and the presentation of a gift from the members.