Ballet4Lifer-of-the-month for October is finally ready to relevé!!! We welcome rising Dancer Rani Singh.

Rani shares her very interesting tales of adventure, life experiences, and her joy of life and movement with us.

Rani performing with the Katy Anne Robinson School of Dance a while back

When did you start dancing?

My parents had a Punjabi dance teacher visit our house in Acton and teach a group of us young children each Saturday. Sometimes we rehearsed in the garden. A lot of traditional Punjabi dances are about farmers and farming, so when performing in public, we would wear traditional Punjabi farmer-style light turbans, shiny black decorative waistcoats and baggy cotton trousers. We would paint black moustaches on with make- up. In one dance I mimed holding the reins, driving a bullock cart with two of my friends mimicking bullocks, their hands sticking out either side of their heads.

 

Rani with her parents at an event at EMI.

She shared with us "My father Harbans Singh was an officer with the Indian High Commission in London and my mother Parsan, though an Education Welfare Officer and later a JP, also trained in traditional Indian dance and performed a couple of times for the Queen Mother. I remember watching her, fascinated, as she twirled candles right round in her hands. She was also a beauty queen, as you can probably tell."

https://www.shutterstock.com/editorial/image-editorial/parsan-singh-who-is-a-former-beauty-queen-and-film-actress-and-is-now-londons-first-sikh-indian-lady-justice-of-the-peace-pictured-with-husband-harbans-son-kaka-daughter-rani-and-grandson-jairaj-1542484a  - Link to Rani with her family, years later. Copyright and property of Shutterstock.com. 

I started learning Ballet as a child with Mrs Parker in the prep department of Haberdashers Aske`s School for Girls.

The Ballet continued as we progressed through our education. At home in Acton, my Godmother, Auntie Brady, would play Tchaikovsky and other classical composers while cooking dinner or washing up in her kitchen, and I would leap around in abandon behind her, pretending to be a ballerina.

Later on at school, we were given Ballroom Dancing classes. I remember careering at speed round the school hall doing the Foxtrot or the Waltz. Habs has a tradition of taking exams in this dance form so we each came away with a clutch of small blue pin medals in little boxes. I was generally among the taller girls back then so often took the boy`s role.

After I left, during my gap year trying out for Drama School, I cycled to and from weekly Bharatnatyam class taught by a light-eyed, lively Parsee teacher, Sunita Golvala, in a hall in Tottenham Court Road. Bharatnatyam is danced mainly upright with a straight torso. The arms and legs tend to move in an angular way. I found it vaguely comforting, adopting a several thousand-year old choreography where I flung my arm behind me at 45- degrees, before promptly bringing it back into my chest, level with my other arm. It was satisfying to stamp my feet with several rows of ankle bells attached to wide yellow ankle bands, along with the other girls, ending class dancing behind each other in an energetic, jingling, tinkling, circle.

I chose to do my drama training on the pioneering three- discipline BA Performance Arts Degree at Middlesex University, after a year on a similar degree at De Montford, Leicester. We each majored in Drama, Dance or Music, and I was fortunate enough to be in a highly talented year of creatives. We took modules in our secondary disciplines, and since I was the first South Asian on the degree, I was encouraged to deploy my ancestral heritage where I could. So instead of just being examined in Ballet, I was assessed in Indian classical Dance. Instead of only learning Western instruments like the drum, a Sitar teacher taught and tested me. This was aside from our Writing, Directing, Improvisation and Mime classes. We studied Mime and Mask with John Wright and Acting with tutors like the late Director, Charles Marowitz.

 

Rani with her Auntie Brady visiting during her Acting years

What makes dancing so special to you?

I like the focussed discipline of learning patterns and choreography and the joy I feel when I get just one pattern right!

When did you start with Ballet4Life?

I started with Ballet4Life online during lock-down 2020, taking live classes as soon as we were allowed. I have also attended class with other teachers in various venues from my gym with former London Festival Ballet ( now ENB)  Dancer Liz Jenner, to Surrey.

What makes Ballet4lLife so special for you?

Everything! The studios are big, light and airy, our school Director Donna Schoenherr and her teaching staff are inspirational, and class always transforms my mood. 

With Ballet4Life at Donna's Pliés- in- the- Park Series of free Classes Summer 2021 

Do you get to see dance performances regularly? If yes, any favourite companies, dancers, performances you have seen recently?

I would love to see more performances but ever since I discovered Matthew Bourne a few years ago I love watching his work live as there is so much nuance, humour, storytelling and action on each part of the stage. Chris tells us the Australian Ballet Dance Science is pioneering so I intend to watch and study that online.

What do your ballet classes do for you?

They give me friends, and they give me a safe, supportive, encouraging environment, where I am never, ever judged, -so different to the rest of my life! And Donna is a lifesaver for me in a time of turbulence.

Do you have a favourite Ballet4Life class?

All of the ones I attend with Chris Christodoulou, Johanna Saarinen, Mark Kelly, Beatrice Ghezzi and Donna, give me so much.

Rani after class with Johanna at Arts Ed, Chiswick 

Is there any dance style you wish to study but we do not offer presently?

Ballet4Life offers all that I like- I attend four classes a week!

What do you do for your “day job?” and/or what were you educated/trained to do as a profession?

I directly took my Drama degree training into my career, starting as a children`s performer using masks and puppets, then a children`s TV presenter and TV actor. I switched and became an independent Broadcast Journalist/Producer, mainly with the BBC. I always use some aspects of my performing background in my work today.

I have made several dance reports for BBC News; one on a dance collaboration between Tap and Kathak exponents- it made great sound for radio! I now have my own two- hour radio show on River Radio called The Miss Singh Question on which Donna regularly guests, spectacularly. I also write books and columns. My passion is adventure journalism-especially in the Himalayas in sensitive conflict zones.

Rani and Donna after a Sunday "The Miss Singh Question" River Radio Show.

They have had Dance Artists Chris Christodoulou, Mark Kelly, Alina Luts, and Matthew Hawkins on as guests.

Rani, Donna, and Matthew on air in July.

Do you have any tips for someone wishing to start dance training as an adult?

Just do it please! It will transform your life. Donna has hand-picked some of the best international dancer teachers in the world, and our classes are very international too.

Do you have a favourite part of class/ ballet step you love?

Each part of class has its place in my heart and my favourite step is the pirouette (I find it challenging to execute well). Ballet4Life teachers break the steps down so we become familiar with each micro-step.

How has Covid-19 changed the way you have dance in your life?

I relish the live experience, but have found it is possible to dance at home with the help of mirrors and a barre of my own.

I am now more passionate about Ballet than I ever was, thanks to Ballet4Life!

 

 In Pointe Work class with Beatrice, working extra-time on ankle and core strength.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CjGP0I1I13G/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=  - Link to view snippet of Rani in Chris' Dance Piece, created for Ballet4Life's Fundraising Dance Showcase for Move into Wellbeing, May 2022, at Watermans Art Centre.

All images and content are copyright Ballet4Life or Rani Singh aside aside from the Shutterstock link.