Nouvelle

Hey everyone! This is sort of strange, but I thought this board would be my best bet... I know that there are makers (cobblers? craftsmen?) of pointe shoes with different ID numbers and that dancers sometimes request that their shoes come from this specific individual. Is there any way to find out anything about the person behind the number - if\when they retired, if they've been replaced (number), who they were\are, et cetera? I'm specifically interested in someone from Capezio (#53) who was making pointe shoes between the mid 1970s and into the late 1980s, possibly early 1990s. My odds of finding anything are slim to none, aren't they?

Okay, stuipd question (I'm blaming newbie status!) but here it goes: How do you know what's going to be performed when?

Last semester I wrote a brief (10 page) paper on the artwork of Degas inspired by the ballet of the Paris Opera. Here's a bit on how\why many entered: "Most of the girls came from parents of the poverty-sticken lower-middle class who enrolled their daughters at ages seven and eight with the hope that they would be hired by the company in a few years’ time and help bring money into the household. For three years these children, underfed and in cut-down clothing, would attend lessons from nine o’clock in the morning until four in the afternoons in the hopes that at age ten or eleven they would be good enough to begin earning an annual salary for their work. Sadly, most of the members were expelled with no other words while only a few from each class were hired by the Opera." I also found that after the girls were hired it was actually their mothers who would find "gentlemen protectors" for their daughters. So not only were these girls exposed to forced labor in order to (hopefully) help support their families one day, but they were pushed into prostitution by their mothers. "Unfortunately the families of the dancers were not the only ones to rely on the money of these wealthy patrons, but the Opera relied on them for financing productions as well, giving them a great deal of power. They bought their way into anywhere they chose to be in the Opera house (even changing rooms) at any time, could have scenes added to operas and ballets, and had a say in what would be chosen for the season." How I viewed Degas's work was totally changed after I learned those dark, looming figures were not actors or managers... Poor little girls.

Now I haven't really gotten the hang of the body type thing, as I'm rather new to the ballet world, so this may be rather boring or just plain silly for most people... Sorry! There was a comment or two about body type for "Turning Point" in the Anne Bancroft thread that made me rather curious about a few things... What non-dancer actors\actresses have played ballet dancers in films have done so convincingly without the body type? What about those with body type but didn't do such a great job in portraying a dancer (acting and\or technique)? Also, how has the body type evolved and how much is that change (if any) taken into consideration when looking at dance movies, especially those of the past? (I ask this because ballerinas from years gone by seem a bit, I don't know, a little less "lean" than some tody) P.S. - Sorry if this is in the wrong spot or has been discussed. I did a search and didn't really find anything besides a comment here or there with not much explanation.

The acting world has certainly lost one of it's greats! I could hardly believe it when my grandmother told me today... Thanks for posting the links to articles, guys. Her work, especially dramatic, is beautiful, seamless, and definitely something to look up to...