Tancos

Originally posted by vagansmom

I'm more of an Aolian and Dorian mode person myself, in music AND in reading.

"Dorian Mode" was my first thought. However, I was afraid that people would see "Dorian" and think "Gray" or "Green," which is not what I had in mind.

I did time in four grade schools and three high schools, and it would take too long to summarize the attitude toward books at each. In general, I would say that reading was encouraged at all of them to varying degrees. Even if the teachers had been Bradburian firemen, though, it would have made very little difference to me. Once I learned how to sound out words I took off on my own and never stopped.

I went to four grade schools and three high schools in four states, parochial and private, and none of them had much of an arts program. School #2 had "social dancing" once a week, taught by two old ladies who hated kids. I enjoyed it anyway: it gave me a chance to hold hands with my girlfriend. #4 had "note singing" once a week. All the grade schools had art class once a week, which was a pleasant break in the routine but otherwise of little interest. In high school I focused on math, science and languages and didn't have time in my schedule to try what arts courses were available. I suspect I didn't miss much. In general, what I know about the fine arts I've acquired on my own.

I did take piano lessons for a year or two, but they didn't take. (I've since remedied that.) Ironically, although my mother taught ballet, the one time I suggested that I take class, my parents said "no" so quickly I was startled.

Roughly in chronological order:

Dr. Suess

The Doctor Doolittle books

The Black Stallion books

Mark Twain

H.G. Wells

Jack London

Sherlock Holmes

1984, Brave New World and Animal Farm

Ray Bradbury

James Thurber

The Annotated Alice

The Lord of the Rings

Bored of the Rings

The Man Who Was Thursday

.... and many others. Generally, if I was awake and not in class, I had a book open.

Here's another tune for "La Volta". Thomas Morley (1557-1603) wrote this one. I've never done the dance, so I don't know what the proper tempo should be; this may be on the slow side.

When I'm in the balcony of a large venue, the question is, when do I not use the binoculars. Without them I can't see much detail. For large ensemble sections I take the binoculars from my eyes, but for dancing that doesn't occupy the entire stage, anything that helps me see more clearly helps. In small auditoriums or if I am close to the stage, of course, the binoculars stay in their case.

I did a quick search and found a couple of sites with information on Chaille Stovall:

http://www.mryak.com/W3SVC622/Talent%20pag...20screening.htm

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Print/0,3858,4406127,00.html

However, the film apparently isn't available as a tape or DVD. Amazon.com hasn't heard of it.

Just wondering -- what is the record for the longest thread on Ballet Alert?

I did a little searching on line for "Tolkien" and "ballet," and I came across this:

http://www.tolkienonline.com/docs/5282.html

Unfortunately, there were some difficulties getting permissions from the Tolkien estate, so it's not going to happen. Instead, Butler will present this, which might be fun, but I'd really rather see Beren and Luthien.

"9 Chickweed Lane" is one of my favorite comic strips. It's not carried by my local paper, so I follow it online:

http://www.comics.com/comics/chickweed/

One of its many virtues is that it features a dance student as one of the principal characters. Those who enjoy both dance and intelligent humor might want to check it out.

This is one of the better online quizzes I've come across:

Which Lord of the Rings Characters are most similar to you?

My results:

#1 Legolas

#2 Aragorn (Strider)

#3 Gandalf the Grey

#4 Frodo Baggins

#5 Elrond

#6 Samwise Gamgee (Sam)

#7 Faramir

#8 Bilbo Baggins

#9 Arwen

#10 Galadriel

Also, if you enjoyed Bored of the Rings, you might enjoy The Tolkien Sarcasm Page.

A reminder for the Tolkien enthusiasts here:

http://www.tolkiensociety.org/toast/index.html

I've never seen a balletic version of Carroll's books and I don't want to. Much of the pleasure of the Alice stories lies in Carroll's peculiar combination of whimsey, satire and remorseless logic. Unless the choreographer has a mind as rigorous as Carroll's, all that is likely to survive translation to the stage is the silliness.

Has anyone ever used Karol Symanowsky's music? I'm thinking particularly of his "Myths" and "Masques," but there's also the "Chant du Roxanne" from his opera "King Roger" that was effectively transcribed for violin and piano.

The seriousness with which the films of Miyazake and the novels of Neil Gaiman are taken suggest to me that the baleful influence of Disney is waning. The fantastic perhaps will no longer be regarded as mere entertainment for children and the maladjusted. If this is so, then it is just a matter of time until choreographers start basing substantial works on fairy tales and similar narratives.

I came across Ballet Alert while surfing ballet links. "Ballet Talk" caught my attention because it was moderated -- the other message boards I've come across for men who dance are the sort of sites I only visit once. BT is always a pleasure to visit.

I came across Ballet Alert while surfing ballet links. "Ballet Talk" caught my attention because it was moderated -- the other message boards I've come across for men who dance are the sort of sites I only visit once. BT is always a pleasure to visit.

How often do you see Johnny Rotten, Margaret Thatcher and Geoffrey Chaucer all in the same sentence?

Mercedes Lackey based _The Black Swan_ on "Swan Lake." In her version, Odile is the heroine, and there's a happy ending. As I recall (it's been a few years since I read it), it was better than I expected but nothing memorable. Lackey has also written _Firebird_, which I probably won't read any time soon.

Those who don't know French can translate the program notes with BabelFish:

http://babelfish.altavista.com/tr

Britons these days must be as illiterate as Americans. Off the top of my head I compiled a short list of artists and writers who have a better claim to be on a "100 Greatest" list than Bono:

Henry Purcell

Benjamin Britten

Margot Fonteyn

Evelyn Waugh

P.G. Wodehouse

Ralph Vaughn Williams

Lewis Carroll

H.G. Wells

Alexander Pope

George Orwell

J.M.W. Turner

Muriel Spark

W.S. Gilbert

Arthur Sullivan

Anthony Burgess

Samuel Johnson

Thomas Hardy

... not to mention Wordsworth, Coleridge, Keats, Shelly, Byron, Tennyson, Donne, etc., etc., etc.

I xpect that everybody here at BA can think of many more names to add to the list.

Originally posted by kfw

Also, I’m finally reading – and laughing my way through -- a “classic” I’ve been meaning to get around to for years, G.K. Chesterton’s “The Man Who Was Thursday.”

That's an old favorite of mine, along with the Father Brown stories. It's probably about time to re-read it again.

Originally posted by dirac

The Ring books are so famous that I would like to be more familiar with them, but try as I might I can never get past the first third or so of "The Hobbit."  I'm sure it's me.....

Skip _The Hobbit_ and go directly to _The Fellowship of the Ring_.

Originally posted by Nanatchka

But Wodehouse is the best summer reading--the Blandings Castle stories. The sun shines, the breeze blows, the heart lifts, and the old prose improves, by association. Blitheness is all, in August.

"The Crime Wave at Blandings" must be the most satisfying story written in the 20th century. I enjoy Wodehouse greatly during the summer. And fall, and winter, and spring.

The books currently beside my bed are Borges' _Collected Fictions_ and a collection of Lord Dunsany. After reading a Dunsany story I often have ideas for music or imagine ballets. This doesn't happen when I read Borges. This surprises me, because Borges is by far the superior writer.

Originally posted by ronny

For me, its is the tiny little feather that seems to get liberated with each Russian performance.  "OH!... they use REAL feathers!!".

Ever see the Trocks do "The Dying Swan"?