luna

I just recently purchased a London Festival Ballet video--the ballet was staged by Makarova after Petipa. I haven't watched numerous versions of S.L., so don't know how it compares to others that were mentioned, but I really liked it nonetheless. The lead ballerina playing Odette/Odile is amazing!

Any of the L. Stanford cd's are straightforward.

Primapink, I've got a barely used one you can buy--send me an e-mail at difford@hotmail.com and we'll talk terms!

hello all of you readers out there-- I work occasionally at a bookstore, and one of my "perks" is to be given advance readers' copies by the publishers' representatives. I pounced on _The Four Temperaments_ because of the ballet references, but was disappointed when I read it. It revolves around an affair between a young rising star in a NY dance co. and one of the ballet's musicians (he's married). The actual references to ballet are few and far between and tend to reinforce negative stereotypes of dancers--they have no life, they're willing to sacrifice personal relationships to be successful, etc... It's an okay summer read, but not great literature that I'd read again. Borrow it from the library and take it to the beach with you, but don't pay for a new hardback copy--that's my advice! luna

Hi! I just went to Paris in December. While there I took two ballet classes at a studio specializing in adult students, although I know there are other studios which accept drop-ins. I loved the studio--a cat lived in the lobby--and the 2nd class I took there was a master class with one of the ballet masters from the Ballet Russe (can't recall his name just now). I also saw two performances--one a full length "La Bayadere" at the Garnier, and one a mixed program at the Paris Opera. I bought a book entitled _Danser a Paris_ at the tourist office to find the information about the classes. It's in French, though, so you'll need some fluency in order to decipher it! Let me know if you're interested and I can try to give you more information. luna