Happy New Year

Greetings readers,

Welcome to the new year! Hope you all had a good time welcoming in 2011. My New Year's was one of the quietest on record. I just stayed at home, played computer games, skyped the family and watched movies. I did consider going into town and taking some photos, but then I considered the crowds, the bloated public transport and the general chaos. Staying at home was definitely the better option in this case I concluded.

Anyway, you'll all be wondering how the audition of English National Ballet went! I did class with the company on the London Coliseum stage last Wednesday. The stage is wide and the floor had a lot of bounce in it. Definitely an awesome venue. Class was short sweet and crowded; the standard sort of thing for company classes. I was one of three boys who they were auditioning that day. My nerves where very awake, but eventually I was able to settle down into a rhythm and enjoyed it. After the class, Wayne Eagling came up to me and asked if I would be able to come to class the next day. Of course I said yes, and spent the rest of the day chilling out and fighting nerves.

The next day class was at the English National Ballet's studios in Kensington. Wayne Ealging was taking the boy's class that I was to join. So yeah, there was just a little bit of pressure! Half way through Mania Geilgud walked in and started watching! This woman is incredibly famous in the ballet word. In a previous life, she even was director of the Australian Ballet. That was a dream come true right there, because I never thought that would be good enough to have her watching me in class. Despite the pressure and nerves, I felt as if I had a good class, and actually really enjoyed it. Taking class with a high class company like that always inspires me to work. The technical standards of the company are very impressive and definitely give you something to aspire to.

However, down to the bottom line. Wayne Eagling came up to me after class, said that he would be having a conference with his secretary and the ballet staff when they where all back from holidays and would let me know. So its a case of don't call us, we will call you. Situation normal. I'll give it until the end of this week, and if I don't hear from them, I'm going to write it off.

Even if I don't hear anything back from that audition, I'm really glad to have done it. It was one of the major things I wanted to do while here and now I can know definitely if God has shut that door or not.

I've spent the last couple of days organizing my trip to Poznan in Poland for the next audition. I got some cheap flights and accommodation and it's going to be a good short trip.

Having said that, these auditions are not going to be cheap and work has dried right up. I think this January, I'm effectively going 'all in'. I've got my flight back to Australia booked and paid for so that's my 'get out of jail free card'. If nothing comes of Peter Schaufuss, English National Ballet, Poznan Theatre or the upcoming Bostson Ballet audition, I will be more than ready to go back to Australia. With my visa running out in May, there won't be any point in staying here. All I would be doing is waiting tables, random class and being incredibly bored. I would much rather be back in Australia where I can at least start rebuilding my life with a decent lifestyle and nice weather.

Having this live or die strategy is rather terrifying. Actively choosing a path that probably will end in failure is not for the faint of heart. Just walking out in blind faith like this is definitely one of the most scary things I've done. Praying does help though and I've been doing more than the normal amount of that lately. I believe that God is in the midst of my decisions and whatever the outcome it will be for my good and God's glory. At least with this way, I'll definitely know where God wants me to be for the next bit of my life.

So that's the plan for the start of 2011; get by till mid February and see what happens. If nothing does, its definitely time to pull the plug and go back home.

That's all my news for this week. Hopefully, life will chuck something up this week for me to write about next time.

Rodney Cuthbertson
DreamChaser