Hello, everyone,
It was nearly seven years ago, as an adult, that I began ballet lessons. I believe it is the loveliest, most demanding of arts, and, while I must be satisfied with baby steps of improvement, I feel privileged to be part of it. I spend lots of time watching recorded performances - I love tutu ballets best of all - reading about it, and I try to get to see the ABT every year. Mst weeks I have a lesson, although it is about 70 miles one way, and I try to practice an hour every day except the one following a lesson. Here at home I have a 16 x 22 foot studio with one shorter wall all mirrors and a barre.
I'll probably have lots of questions for you, and I may as well begin with one about ballet composers/scores.
Benoist wrote the music for La Gypsy, Paquerette, and Le Diable Amoreux; G. Costa, for Alma; B. Shell, for Petipas' Cinderella; and C.M. Widor, for La Korrigane. These were all popular ballets, and I suspect the music was terrific. Has anyone heard any of it or know much about the composers? I have a suspicion I would like Shell's effort better than Prokofiev's.
Lorenzo Verlaine
