Arms Out Like Wings
Arms Out Like Wings
Glenda Taylor
Arms Out Like Wings is an anecdotal memoir about my seven years spent in a ballet boarding school from 1969 to 1976 aged nine to seventeen. A ‘Pygmalion-esque’ story that takes me from my crowded, loving council house home of siblings, cockney, lorry driver Dad and Italian seamstress Mother, to a Rolls Royce gliding through London, tinkling piano music in corridors and marquees on the lawn. This book will give you an insight into a young ballet dancers life. The initial spark, training, literal blood sweat and tears, close friendships, pranks, pain, disappointment, injury, romance and sacrifices.
The Spark - episode one
The very beginning of my story. Visit our family home and the warm chaos within. Meet my Mum, Dad, brother and sisters. A glimpse into life in the 1960's.
Jul 11, 2018
9 min
Toe in the Water - episode two
My first ballet classes as a six year old. How my mother saved the day.
Jul 10, 2018
5 min
Stage School - episode three
Things start to scale up when I go to Corona Stage School. I find a dance mentor and Dad becomes a grumpy hero.
Jul 9, 2018
5 min
The Audition - episode four
My Dad organises my secret audition for a professional Ballet School in East Grinstead. I then meet another influential lady in my life whilst I Polka in the biggest studio I have ever seen.
Jul 8, 2018
8 min
Uniform - episode five
My Italian family think I have been kidnapped, my Dad tells them where to go whilst I get turned down for a grant.
Jul 7, 2018
4 min
Arriving - episode six
A rather tense car ride to my new Ballet School. My little sister playing 'rag doll' with me, my brother giving me a whole Ten Shilling note and my mother sobbing and smoking like she would use every cigarette in Surrey. Meeting 'Nursey' and finding out that trendy, short skirts were useless for galloping like a horse around a dance studio.
Jul 6, 2018
11 min
The Contents of my Trunk - episode seven
How I yearned for winceyette pyjamas and boring old fashioned slippers.
Jul 4, 2018
3 min
The First Night - episode eight
Crisp and formal bedding, lights out and growing home sickness with an unusual approach to bed time.
Jul 3, 2018
2 min
Initiation - episode 9
Girls behaving 'sort of badly' at night. Strange rituals involving absent Nursey and Glito . . . . .
Jul 2, 2018
4 min
Rising Bell - episode 10
My first morning with a ridiculously early start, cold linoleum and myriad shoes.
Jul 1, 2018
2 min
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