Shannon Lilly at the Stage Door

Shannon Lilly and Mark Pace in the Ballet du Rhin's production of The Nutcracker

Shannon Lilly has enjoyed a remarkable career.  She was a principal ballerina in the San Francisco Ballet, America's oldest and arguably most prestigious ballet company.  She then joined Christopher Gable's Northern Ballet Theatre and later Bertrand D'At's Ballet du Rhin in Alsace. She then began a second career as a freelance teacher and choreographer creating among other things a critically acclaimed production of The Nutcracker for Manchester City Ballet, the performing company of the Northern Ballet School. Some years later she and Peter Parker burst onto the nation's TV screens in Britain's Got Talent where they reached the final.  She is now with Chantry Dance in Grantham.

Borm in Alexandria, Virginia where the US Patent and Trademark Office is located, Shannon grew up in Nevada. Several members of her family had been on the stage, so she was drawn to the arts naturally   I asked her what drew her to ballet in particular.  I had expected her to mention a Christmas performance of The Nutcracker or some other ballet.  She replied that it had been the film, The Turning Point which has inspired her to make a career in ballet.  That surprised me as the film does not glamourize ballet in the least. Nevertheless, it spurred here to train at the Contra Costa Ballet School in Walnut Creek near San Francisco.

She had attended performances of the San Francisco Ballet while she was growing up because an aunt who lived near San Francisco had been one of the company's subscribers.  I should mention at this point that American companies obtain much of their revenue from subscriptions or season tickets for a block of shows which are marketed before the start of each season.  Whenever Shannon visited her aunt she was treated to a performance at the War Memorial Opera House.   Shannon auditioned for the company and was taken on as an apprentice. She was laid off for a while but continued to attend class. A member of the company was indisposed one day and Shannon was asked to dance her role.  This time she was noticed by the new director, Helgi Tomasson who cast her in many of his productions, including The Sleeping Beauty in which she danced the bluebird solo and Princess Aurora.

Shannon progressed quickly through the company and became a principal at the age of 23. She danced leading roles in many of Tomasson's ballets as well as works by Balanchine, Morris, Robbins Tetley and many other choreographers.  I asked her whether there was a particular work where everything clicked.   She replied "Who Cares" and showed me a photo of her dancing in that production.  I replied that I had seen two wonderful performances of that work by the Dutch National Ballet at their gala in Amsterdam in September and also in the Hague.

One of the choreographers with whom she had worked in San Francisco was David Bintley.  She had enjoyed working with him.  She was attracted to England and joined Northern Ballet Theatre just at the time it was building a very strong following among critics and audiences.  She danced lead roles in all the company's productions including Odette-Odile in Michael Pink's Swan Lake and Kitri in his Amazing Adventures of Don Quixote.

Shannon spent the last years of her first stage career with the Ballet du Rhin in Mulhouse.  Like Northern Ballet it was based a long way from its national capital.  Just as the Leeds company had a towering genius in Christopher Gable the Mulhouse company had a similar figure in Bertrand D'At.  She appeared in all D'At's works including most memorably his Swan Lake.   Shannon also danced the title role in  Maina Gielgud's Giselle as well as works by Forsythe, Jiri Kylian and Hans van Manen.

After leaving the Ballet du Rhin she began to inspire coming generations of dancers as a teacher.  One of her pupils was Conor Walmsley whom I first met at the Dutch National Ballet's Junior Company's fifth-anniversary performance in Amsterdam in April 2018.  When Conor heard that I was to interview Shannon, he told me that she had taught him in Hull and York.  "I loved her classes," said Conor, "and I loved her."  It is easy to see why.  Shannon will give Powerhouse Ballet an online class on 11 July. We look forward to it very much.

Earlier I mentioned Shannon's "first" stage career.  I used that adjective advisedly because she has had another first on television when she and Peter Parker were invited to take part in Sky TV's Got to Dance and ITV's Britain's Got Talent.   As I have never had time or much incentive to update my telly when the analogue system was switched off I missed those programmes when they were first broadcast but I have recently seen them on YouTube,  The reaction of the audience and judges was extraordinary,  Shannon and Peter seem to have introduced ballet to a massive new audience.

I asked Shannon how the lockdown was affecting her.  A major disappointment has been the postponement of Chantry Dance's autumn tour until next year.  But she is keeping very busy with online classes and other activities,

Her chosen charity is Cancer Research UK, She lost her father to the disease as I did mine.   We both ask you to support that cause generously.

Our next guest at the Stage Door will be Sarah Kundi of English National Ballet.  This is a very special weekend for us as it marks the second anniversary of Powerhouse Ballet.  We have therefore invited a very special guest and we hope our members will share our celebrations.