It does not seem long since my daughters Chantal and Francisca Ellison performed on the stage of the Centro Cultural of Lagos with the Academia de Música de Lagos, and the Associação de Dança de Lagos. Those first encounters with the stage have led them on to artistic careers.
Firstly, they moved to Lisbon and their respective Ministry of Education articulated programs at the Conservatório Nacional, where Chantal studied the bassoon and piano and Francisca continued her dance training. Later both girls progressed to undergraduate level professional in the United Kingdom with scholarships.
Francisca has completed the Level 6 Diploma in Classical Ballet with double distinction at London Studio Centre, having received the award of the Brigitte Spinosa Scholarship on entry and now participates in the Capital Ballet performances in London, though simultaneously studying for a B.A. in Psychosocial Studies and the Principles of Psychodynamic Counselling at Birkbeck College. London.
Chantal is currently finishing her BMus. (Hons.) at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, with the bassoon as her principal instrument. The final recital will come in May and includes a homage to a Portuguese composer, Jorge Salgueiro, whose world premieres of his second and third symphonies, Chantal had the pleasure and privilege to perform here in the Algarve.
In the meantime, Chantal must create a special final project for other credits and she has chosen, quite naturally, to include the talents and expertise of her sister and Francisca’s colleagues from LSC and Capital. They are to design and perform an evening of music and dance of suites and variations adapted to Chantal’s wind quintet. The director of the Capital Ballet, Jamie Carter, has agreed to choreograph new works for the company which will be integrated into the Capital Ballet summer repertoire. The performance of The Knight’s Move in front of the college jury and a public audience will be at the Crescent Theatre in Birmingham on the 14th of February at 7pm. The title is significant of the theme that life is rarely a linear path and there have been many compromises, sacrifices and acts of serendipity that have occurred to arrive at this moment.
Should any of the readers of Tomorrow magazine who live nearby or have family in Birmingham be interested in attending, tickets will be on sale through the Crescent Theatre Box Office. The event can be followed on Instagram and Facebook
