Company Class

I can only speak as an observer, although as the boyfriend and later husband of Charlotte Kirkpatrick, I did have privileged access.  Where I got to see and understand LCDT Company Class was touring with LCDT; unlike rehearsal time at The Place, or seasons at Sadlers Wells, there was no going home after the show, this was life in digs, on the road.  There was therefore a particular type of solidarity of LCDT on tour, the performances of course, and the eating together after the show.  But to me the essence of touring was Company Class, the morning after the night before.  This to me was the essence of LCDT, the discipline and ritual underpinning the Company's power and integrity.  No make up, no staging, no lights, no costume, just talented and professional dancers, hard at work, remaking the foundation for their dancing.  I felt privileged and moved to be able to watch each individual starting the day as if it was a fresh challenge, and absolutely understand the pride that Barry Pheloung described at the 40th Anniversary party at being invited to be part of it.  This was the Craft which complemented the Art, an investment of work and effort which paradoxically resulted in an apparent effortlessness on stage, but what seemed crucial to me was that Class was not just a means to an end, but it was valid in its own right.