95 replies to this topic

[Farrell Fan]

I've rediscovered this thread (thanks, BW), and was surprised that I hadn't contributed anything. I was a subscriber to Dance View for some time and to Ballet Alert! from its inception. In the latter, Alexandra mentioned the website so I decided to give it a try. I'd come very late to computers and the internet, finally giving in to the entreaties of family and friends who wanted to communicate with me via email. Not till I started reading and posting on this site did I begin to fully accept the internet. It wasn't only that there were a lot of kindred spirits from all over the world -- it was that they wrote in English instead of computerese! Now if only I could remember how I came to subscribe to Dance View in the first place...

[skip]

i discovered balletalert about 1,5 years ago. not started another schoolyear yet, i was searching the internet for some balletsites. as i discovered a very nice address in the past (not a discussion board or whatsoever though) i hoped to find something new. how i got here, i don't know. it might have been with google, it might have been with cyberdance. it also might have been during a search for information for my final paper (which was about ballet).

i think that i lurked around here for less than a week and then subscribed. i really love it here and i got some very helpful information since my first time here.

since that time, i'm addicted and in the first few weeks, i signed up almost every hour (driving my mom crazy with it). now, that i don't have an internet connection in my room where i live during the week, i miss the site. but, it makes it even more fun to come online during the weekends and participate in discussions.

~SKIP~

[Pamela Moberg]

I can even give you an exact date: 23 July 1998!
How's that for memory? If anybody would be interested I could supply details to as how this came about. Bumped into Estelle's site that same day as well.
Then I tried to post for the first time in November 1998 - I was very saddened by the death of Svetlana Beriosova. That post never got through - I must have done something wrong...
Anyway, after that there are very few evenings indeed that I have not visited BalletAlert.

[BW]

Thank you FF for reviving this thread and for filling in with your own particulars, as well! Skip, I can understand the "addiction" to reading Ballet Alert and Ballet Talk...but it is probably good that you can't do it too much while in school...  Wow! Pamela, you do have a good memory.  Sparkle J - have you seen the Adult Forum? There are quite a few people that have either come late to ballet or have returned to it...

You know, I'm going to have to go back to the home page of Ballet Alert! to see when the site first began... I know I read some information about the different countries that are represented by registered posters... It is a far reaching community, that I do know.

[BW]

Thank you FF for reviving this thread and for filling in with your own particulars, as well! Skip, I can understand the "addiction" to reading Ballet Alert and Ballet Talk...but it is probably good that you can't do it too much while in school...  Wow! Pamela, you do have a good memory.  Sparkle J - have you seen the Adult Forum? There are quite a few people that have either come late to ballet or have returned to it...

You know, I'm going to have to go back to the home page of Ballet Alert! to see when the site first began... I know I read some information about the different countries that are represented by registered posters... It is a far reaching community, that I do know.

[BilboBaggins]

I was introduced to this site a few months ago, by my 13 year old daughter, who began posting before the "no posters under 13" rule came into effect and is now in Bronze Circle (no wonder she never has time to call me!!!).

She sent me a page from the Boston discussion, because we were going to Boston and she wanted to get to some of the shops that had been highly recommended ... and now, she's hooked on ballet ... and I'm hooked on Ballet Alert (as well as ballet!!).

"... even the smallest of creatures can do great things in this world ..."

BB    ;>))

[BilboBaggins]

I was introduced to this site a few months ago, by my 13 year old daughter, who began posting before the "no posters under 13" rule came into effect and is now in Bronze Circle (no wonder she never has time to call me!!!).

She sent me a page from the Boston discussion, because we were going to Boston and she wanted to get to some of the shops that had been highly recommended ... and now, she's hooked on ballet ... and I'm hooked on Ballet Alert (as well as ballet!!).

"... even the smallest of creatures can do great things in this world ..."

BB    ;>))

[Basilo]

I found this site while doing a Google search for "Adult Summer Ballet Intensives".  That was just a few days ago and I have already found a wealth of helpful information on many boards besides the original one I landed on.  My thanks go out to the entire BalletTalk community for building and maintaining such a wonderful resource.

[Doris R]

Like many others, I found it while "surfing".  I was looking for ballet sites and this one came up.  If I remember correctly, I lurked for a while before becoming a member.  
This site has not only helped educate me but has given me such wonderful articles and reviews to read in the "links" section.  
I realy enjoy being a part of these forums.  Its a great outlet for someone who loves going to the ballet, but has little opportunity to "talk dance".

[su-lian]

I just discovered ballet alert on the links of ballerinagallery and at first I wondered what this site could be with such a name, and I found it so wonderful that I straight away joined!

[BW]

Thanks so much Bilbo (BB), Basilo, Doris R, su-lian, and glissade_jete for telling us how you discovered this site. I hope that those of you who have not yet started a thread (topic) won't hesitate to do so if the spirit moves you.

In quickly scrolling through this one thread I've noticed so many different countries represented here - I wonder how many countries we do have represented by different posters here?

Again, thanks to all who've added their own discovery here.

[BW]

Thanks so much Bilbo (BB), Basilo, Doris R, su-lian, and glissade_jete for telling us how you discovered this site. I hope that those of you who have not yet started a thread (topic) won't hesitate to do so if the spirit moves you.

In quickly scrolling through this one thread I've noticed so many different countries represented here - I wonder how many countries we do have represented by different posters here?

Again, thanks to all who've added their own discovery here.

[Ed Waffle]

I discovered Ballet Alert through alt.arts.ballet, which I discovered through an article in "Dance" magazine sometime in 1996 or 1997.  Since I didn't have access to newsgroups then, I spent a few months reading the aab archives that were then on a server in NYC--perhaps the NY Public Library?

Alexandra was a regular poster at aab and she wrote about reviving BalletAlert--which was, I think, first written about in a tongue in cheek article in the NYT or Washington Post. There may be a pointer to that article somewhere.

One of the nicest small details  of BalletAlert was our "guardian ballerina" (Sylvia, I think) who still graces most pages. There was a very well mannered but very determined revolt when Alexandra eliminated her during a site redesign.

The first BalletTalk board that I recall was PostCards--there were probably fewer posts in a week at that time then there are in a day now. But they worked and grew into this.

I was very much taken by the attitude here from the beginning. Just to name  a few, Leigh was and is a working choreographer; Victoria had been a soloist with the ABT; rg is one of the most respected dance writers in the country as is Nanatchka. What was most surprising was that people who were real experts, who had spent years learning about ballet were also often the most patient in dealing with questions they might have heard hundreds of times or with outrageously incorrect statements by people who thought they knew something. Like me, for example. Not at all like th cut and thrust that characterizes the opera boards.

While BalletAlert has evolved one thing that hasn't changed has been the dedication, unfailing good humor and quiet intelligence of Alexandra. I imagine running an operation like this is difficult, time consuming and often quite frustrating--but it is has been here day after day and year after year, possibly to the surprise of its founder.

One way to thank Alexandra is, as has been noted here, to subscribe to both publications, give subscriptions to favorite teachers, to students who many not know about them, or to local libraries. Or just send a donation.

[BilboBaggins]

Ed, if I can carry one of your comments a bit further ... this webiste isn't Alexandra's full-time job (although some days it must feel like it is!!) ... this is what she does in her "spare time", around the tasks that "pay the bills", because of the passion she feels for ballet ... it truly is a labour of love and one which no amount of money could buy (but which we all really should support, because it takes real money to provide the access, equipment, etc.).

My hat's off to all the moderators and participants, but especially to Alexandra and the local staff who keep Ballet Alert running ...

BB