Contracts

Hi everyone,

It's been another fairly quiet week as I count down the days till I start work. Yesterday I signed my contract and dropped it off at the Royal Opera House's stage door. (Very Cool!) So with that one firmly in the bag, who should email me, but Panov Ballet. Remember that company in Israel that contacted me about a month ago? Well, they finally got around to sending me a second email giving me some further details on the contract. So I had to write back to them explaining that while still interested in working in Israel, I had accepted this offer from ROH and was committed to it.

So I don't know what they are going to do with that. They might still want me come December, but I find that a bit hard to believe.

Why is it that there is either heaps of work or none at all? It's ridiculous! Even work through the agency has been really slow. Nothing this week or last week, but I'm told that it will start getting busy. Too bad I'll have to be at the ROH! (Amazing!!!!)

Nothing else of major note to report really. Just been doing class at Pineapple and hanging around London. I went out to Holland Park in East London on Monday and shared my lunch with this fellow.

From Back Again

The boldest, smartest squirrel I have ever seen. He was climbing all over a pram that was left behind looking for the goodies. When he saw me with crackers he bounded over and stood on the seat with me. He was even bold enough to take the cracker from my hand while sitting on my leg! Such a cheeky little imp! I got some awesome photos which can be seen at the end of this album.

That's it for this week. Next week tales from the ROH begin!

Rodney Cuthbertson

DreamChaser

Ho Hum...

Hey Everyone,

Another week and another post and not a whole lot to report. Work has dried up because everyone is on holidays and I'm just marking time until my contract with Royal Opera House starts in two weeks. So not a lot happening at all really.

I have successfully moved houses. I'm now in east London at a place called Plaistow. It's not amazing but not bad either. It's just another chunk of suburbia. My room is basically a box, but it has a good bed, storage space and a desk for the computer. It will meet my needs nicely for the moment. My land lady is German and very sweet. She talks a lot but I don't mind.

The only other item of interest is that I took a very long walk to Greenwich Park. It's a section of London that has a largish hill overlooking the river. On this hill is the famous Royal Greenwich Observatory in 1675. The place that established and maintains the standards for measurement. It was here that British astronomers worked to discover a system to measure Longitude that would enable them to accurately map the world. Eventually the Prime Meridian (0 degrees) was established in 1851 and ran straight through the building. Today it is marked with a stainless steal strip in the courtyard and a powerful green lazer in the evening. Greenwich also gives it's name to Greenwich Mean Time, London's time zone. This time was based on observations made at the observatory till 1956, but is now outsourced to satellites.

It's pretty cool looking through the old rooms where men long ago established the building blocks for time and distance. That's one of the things that I just love about London. The history is so rich that you can see the foundations of how our world works embedded through out London.

That's pretty much it for this week. Hopefully I'll have something a bit more adventurous for next week.

Rodney Cuthbertson

DreamChaser

I Will Survive!

Hey Everyone,

A week is a long time in politics and show business. Last week I was a Billy Elliot reject getting desperate. This week I have secured a contract with the Royal Opera House! Remember the audition that I did for ROH a while back? I wasn't chosen, but they took my details just in case. Yesterday morning I got a phone call from the chorus master to say that one of the boys had dropped out and they want my services! The contract starts on the 31st of August and runs for just over a month. Plus, in early December the show travels to Luxembourg for a week and two performances. That was such an awesome phone call to get!

It wasn't a moment too soon either because I was really starting to get low on pounds. I have been working for two recruitment agencies, but at six pounds an hour there just haven't been enough hours going around. Plus I've figured out that the rent I'm paying is actually quite expensive. I'm paying 110 a week for a shared room. Yesterday I found and secured my own room for 75 a week. It's obviously no where near as nice as my current room and further out of town, but I will still be making a significant saving even if I'm paying for extra transport. Cheap and cheerful, but it will do for the moment.

So there you go! The Lord has provided again, coming through in the nick of time.

Even the recruitment agency's have been combining enough hours to pay the rent this week. I've been all over London with the Admiral agency working everywhere from a private dinner party to the London Transport Museum to the London Eye. The other agency, Blue Arrow, sent me out to work at Wembley Stadium serving over-priced beer and snacks. It was ok and not too bad. The only real problem was our team leader was a bit of sarcastic pain to work with. However, I get to show him how it's done when I become a team leader for a shift tonight. I'm actually a bit scared of this one as the whole operation is run very tightly and security is a big premium. But at 9 pounds an hour I'm not going to say no. Hopefully it's not worse than McDonalds.

There are some fresh photo up as well. Follow this link or check out the side bar.

That's all the good news from London, and more adventures next week.

Thanks for reading,

DreamChaser

Rodney Cuthbertson

but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint

Isaiah 40:31

Audition Love...

Hi Everyone,

Another week, another audition. Yesterday was the Billy recall where I had to sing, tap dance and use an Scottish accent. It wasn't a terrible audition, but it also was a long way from being great. It just highlighted the fact that I have very little experience singing and even less in tap dancing. So write that one off and move on the next one.

A slightly better bit of news is that I've have had a job offer from Panov Ballet Theater which is in Israel. It's a rather a small company that does a lot of traveling within Israel. I asked my friend Lola what she though and she was encouraging but had her doubts as to whether I would enjoy the professional level. I've sent them a reply email asking for further details, but as yet they haven't replied. I don't know if I'm ready to move back to a non-English speaking country yet anyway.

In other news I've got a bit more of the normal work on the horizon which is encouraging. It's just working for the London Eye, but at least its more pounds. I rang English National Ballet today and was told that my CV was being reviewed by the director. So hopefully there will be another audition in the wings.

I'm out of stories so I'll rap this up. Speak to you next week.

Rodney Cuthbertson

Dreamchaser