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vicarious

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  • Connection to/interest in ballet** (Please describe. Examples: fan, teacher, dancer, writer, avid balletgoer)
    fan and parent
  • City**
    Pittsfield, ME
  1. "The Christmas Sweater" by Glen Beck. Very depressing. I've stopped half way, PTSD
  2. There needs to be new ballets that appeal to all ages, especially children.
  3. Savannah Ballet Theater has been doing a Narnia ballet.
  4. Ha, Ha I should have checked if it had been done. Well, at least I know I'm on the right track.
  5. Here’s a link to my post when we previously discussed this subject. That post focussed mostly on children’s books. http://ballettalk.invisionzone.com/index.p...st&p=183900 Here’s another direction to go in. Regional folk tales coupled with living regional composers. This is a French- Canadian folktale. There are other versions. One has a bit of Cinderella twist, in that you may dance on the eve of Lent but not after mid-night or the devil will have your soul. I’ve also listed a French-Canadian Composer. There is also a Hispanic version of this tale. I got this summary of the story from http://cfmb.icaap.org/content/27.3/BV27-3art2.pdf Story: The Devil at the Dance “The story of Rose Latulippe, a young girl risks her soul and salvation through her constant flirtations and coquettish behavior, which comes to the fore at a dance to celebrate the beginning of the Lenten season. A young, handsome stranger catches her eye, and she totally falls under his sway. Only an innocent child and an elderly grandmother holding a crucifix know him for what he truly is, and it is only because Rose's fiance notices that the stranger's horse has coals for eyes and the steam beneath his hooves in the snow, plus the stranger's refusal to remove his hat and gloves, that eventually his true identity is revealed. The local priest intervenes to save Rose by tricking the devil, making him believe that Rose has given herself over to the Church, and the stranger eventually flees, though not before punching a great hole in the wall of the house where the dance is being held. The story hinges upon a the appearance of the devil in human guise to punish unseemly or haughty behavior on the part of a young girl, who was often described as very beautiful but very vain and proud, to the consternation of all her friends and family, and who tempted the very wrath of God Himself. Even the very end of the tale is often left into question, with a number of different endings suggested by the storyteller, including Rose's punishment by the devil, her salvation and eventual reform to better behavior, her salvation only to become a member of a religious order, or her punishment by never marrying her intended sweetheart and remaining a maiden the remaining days of her life.” Composer: Linda Bouchard French-Canadian, has composed for Washington Ballet http://www.composersforum.com/member_profile.cfm?oid=2180 Cast: Rose, fiance, Rose’s father, grandmother, innocent child, Corps before Rose sees the Devil, couple dancers, contra dancers, Priest, Nun corps,
  6. For most things I perfer audio books. I have to rest often and they allow my eyes to also rest. I primarily listen to fiction but I've also listened to non-fiction on parenting and self-help. I do not enjoy listening to religious materials however, because I don't have time to ponder what I'm "reading" so with that I stick to written material.
  7. First let me say, I don't know what I'm talking about. Just discovering here. Yes, I saw a couple of Pavlova videos on youtube. This may be heresy but I prefer Plisetkaya or Makarova. I didn't believe Pavlova's character, but maybe it was just the film quality. The other two though different from each other as well as Pavalova, left me with a feeling about the swan as well as the dancing. They weren't dancing as a swan they were showing me the swan's heart and mind. I do prefer Pavalova and Makarova's bourrees over Plisetkaya's. Theirs are tighter. Plisetkaya has a longer stride. I don't know what the time signature for the bourrees would be but it seems like Plisetkaya is doing a series of say a dotted sixteenth followed by a thirty-second. Where as the other two are doing all thirty seconds. Does what I'm saying making any sense?
  8. I hate the idea of it. If I knew a dancer had one, I think I'd be watching all performance to see if I could catch a glimpse. I think just knowing it was there would be a distraction. For the balding- a #2 comb on the clippers.
  9. My daughter is learning the Dying Swan and as a result I've gotten curious about it. I've done a bit of reading and watching. There seem to be a number of ideas on what the character of the dying swan is. I've read that Maya Plisetskaya danced it as an "old swan hanging on resisting death." The video I saw of her seemed more like a classy middle aged woman who is bound and determined to beat cancer but finally dies fighting. After reading the story of Pavlova on her death bed I thought the swan would have more of a peaceful resignation and acceptance of death. When I read the article about De Valois and the Dying Swan, I thought of a purely innocent, late adolescent that has become a tragic victim of circumstances (the current). The video I saw of Makarova seemed young and tragic. What other ways has the swan been depicted? Some lines from Tennyson's poem get me thinking about the character also are "joy hidden in sorrow," "low and full and clear," "prevailing in weakness," "awful jubilant voice", and "loudly did it lament." Now for the story. In your own story was the swan shot, caught by the current, dying of old age, injured or something else? If the swan were a woman now, who would she be? What would be her story? A teenager dying in a hospital after being in a car accident? An elderly woman on her death bed who had lived a full life? What do you think? By the way was the story about Pavlova on her death bed asking for her tutu and the music true? Why did she name her swan Jack?
  10. Angelina Armeiskya did teach during the Bossov SI several years ago. I know it was before 2003.
  11. What happened to Prayer? DD's teacher was explaining that when she learned this part (I'm not sure where in the USSR) it was called Sunrise (not Dawn, that was also taught) and she was like Mother Nature calling up the powers of nature for the day. I also noticed it wasn't in the 1993 Kirov video. Was this omitted because of keeping the video time down? Or are both of these changes the result of Communism?
  12. Though the US is a very wealthy country now it wasn’t a comparatively short time ago. This is a very young society. American pioneers for the most part didn’t have time for cultural things because of building homes, farms and industries. For the majority of the population a man was praised not for cultural sensitivity but for his work ethic and ability to protect and provide for his family. Even as most immigrants have come to this country, with rich cultural art heritage, the arts have had a lower priority because trying to get established took priority and working physically hard at manual labor was praised in men. As a family or community gets more secure they can persue the arts more. The Puritan religion also plays a part in this, because that society comparatively wasn’t that long ago. Currently there are religious groups that don’t allow dancing by males or females. Modesty beliefs also factor in here. There are of course exceptions to this. The Mormon culture is one. As the Mormon pioneers traveled west they were encourage after walking all day to have a dance after supper, if the group was well, to keep their spirits up. The first building in the Utah territory was a Cultural Hall. It was to be a temporary place for worship until church buildings could be built, but primarily as a place to have community meetings and dances. From this culture sprang the Christensen Brothers (descendants of Mormon pioneers). At Brigham Young University, while the dress code for girls is quite strict on leotard styles for modesty reasons, the boys are required to wear tights.
  13. Huh? Are you saying parts of these ballets were missing for decades and have been found? Is there a thread about this?
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