kbarber

I recently ran my spellchecker over a course I was preparing about the Ballets Russes (or the Ballets Wusses, as the spellchecker would have preferred). For the hilarious results, please see my blog post.

Broadcasting live from Company rehearsal! Tune in at 12.30pm (7:30 am Eastern Time in North America) Wednesday 26 September when we will be broadcasting live from the Peter Darrell Studio. Join us for a sneaky peek of 5 Tangos, a brand new addition to Scottish Ballet's repertoire and one third of the Autumn Season 2012 triple bill. Scottish Ballet's new Artistic Director Christopher Hampson will lead us through the rehearsal, giving an insight into 5 Tangos. This will be followed by a Q&A session in which you will have the opportunity to put your questions to our Artistic Director - don't miss this exclusive opportunity to quiz Christopher on Scottish Ballet's Autumn Season. Get in early - you can send us your questions NOW via Facebook and Twitter #SBAutumnSeason. Click here on September 26 to watch Scottish Ballet's dancers in action!

In addition to the National Ballet of Canada, Toronto has a small touring company, Ballet Jorgen, which has been around for 25 years now. They take live ballet to the smaller stages and towns that can't host Canada's bigger companies. I recently attended their 25th anniversary launch and posted about it to my blog. http://toursenlair.blogspot.ca/2012/09/ballet-jorgen-canada-swan-lake_24.html

In view of the paucity of Balanchine ANYTHING on commercial DVD, I suspect rights issues are involved. VERY frustrating.

I have posted to my blog my thoughts about this year's choreo lab, which I saw last night: http://toursenlair.b...graphic_23.html

That's not true, Nanarina. Ms. is a title used by women of any marital status. In French (certainly in Quebec French) the default term of address for women is Madame (someone tried "Madelle" as a Ms-equivalent but it never took off), which means that many francophones default to "Mrs" in English.

"ONLY" doesn't seem to be the right word, somehow.

Whitsun Festival in Salzburg is May 18 and 19, program is: IGOR STRAVINSKY • Les Noces (The Wedding) featuring the choreography of the world premiere (1923) by Bronislava Nijinska (1891-1972) with stage sets by Natalia Gontcharova (1881-1962) IGOR STRAVINSKY • Le Sacre du printemps (The Rite of Spring) featuring the choreography of the world premiere (1913) by Vaslav Nijinsky (1889/90-1950) with stage sets by Nicholas Roerich (1874-1947) IGOR STRAVINSKY • L'Oiseau de feu (The Firebird) featuring the choreography of the world premiere (1910) by Michel Fokin (1880-1942) with sets and costumes based on designs by M. Fokin, A. Golovin and L. Bakst

Latest in my series of etymologies of ballet terms: http://toursenlair.blogspot.ca/2012/09/history-of-word-ballotte.html

Getting back to the ballet companies.... Northern Ballet goes straight to "Pippa", while the Royal Ballet just uses "he" or "she". Maybe that's what bugs me about NBOC practice. Why, in a short facebook post like the following: Dancer Spotlight: New Corps de Ballet member Francesco Gabriele Frola. Born in Aosta, Italy, Mr. Frola trained at Professione Danza Parma in Italy and at the School of The Hamburg Ballet in Germany before becoming an Apprentice with The National Ballet of Canada in 2010 and joining the company in 2012. In June, he won the Silver Medal at the Helsinki International Ballet Competition. do they have to introduce "Mr. Frola"? In this case, because he goes by Gabriele rather than Francesco, it would be all the more useful to call him by his preferred name.

Even dropping the "Mr" and "Ms" though, and using the surname by itself, seems to me to make it less stuffy, if one doesn't want to go the whole way to first names.

At the National Ballet of Canada, the publicity department always refers to its dancers as Mr X and Ms Y after the first time they mention them with both their first and last name. "Giorgio Galli.... Mr. Galli..." Personally I find it a bit odd to see an 18-year-old referred to in this way rather than by their first name. I notice that NYCB does the same thing ("Mr. Angle, Ms. Bouder") and of course the NY Times does it. At Boston Ballet, SFB, and ABT they just use their last names in second reference . At Birmingham Royal Ballet they use their first names in second reference. "Jamie Bond.... Jamie...". Using Mr and Ms strikes me as old-fashioned and stuffy, and in this day and age when ballet companies are always complaining they can't get enough young people to buy tickets, I think this is offputting to younger people. What do you think?

I'm planning a ballet trip England: 4 performances in one week. Please check out details here and let me know if you're tempted!

The Paris Opera set up an official ticket exchange last year (to avoid scalpers). Here's the link: http://boursechange.operadeparis.fr/ballets-onp looks like there aren't any available at the moment, but by clicking on the "Soyez alerté par courriel" link ("receive alerts by email") presumably she will get an email the instant someone returns their ticket.

the latest in my series. Goats are involved. http://toursenlair.b...d-cabriole.html

Great article on the Australian Ballet's blog about the genesis of this all-American ballet: http://www.behindballet.com/ballets-cowgirl/ Katherine Barber www.toursenlair.blogspot.ca

I think the decision is less to do with the Bolshoi and more with the cinemas showing them. Here in Canada the Sylphide broadcast is on the 30th. Not strictly live, as that would be 11 am in the eastern time zone, and they are actually shown at 1 pm. I expect the movie theatres found that attendance is better if they start after lunch.

The next in my series of ballet term etymologies: http://toursenlair.blogspot.ca/2012/09/history-of-word-bourree.html

Hasn't Gothenburg been a contemporary company for quite some time now? In which case the name change would just reflect the reality rather than announce a change of direction (although possibly putting a nail in the coffin of ballet lovers' hopes).

Hi Amy, I was a dictionary editor for 20 years, so when I talk about words, these are the sources I rely on, though I may not mention it.

That is what the respectable etymological dictionaries like the Oxford English Dictionary and the Larousse etymologique and the grandaddy of all French etymological dictionaries, The Franzosiches Etymologisches Worterbuch say. The earliest attestation in French is from 1609, and no phonological relation to cats is possible. But I like your description of cats batting at one another! The slippers with the embroidered cat's heads, now that's fanciful! Hey whatever works for the students.. Actually I have watched my cat jumping and they do kind of bend their legs as in a pas de chat.

Fantastic picture of Damian sharing the joy of dance (as he did so well as a dancer) with a young boy at this year's Vail Festival, on the Vail International Dance Festival's facebook page:

Does it mean "between the cats" and if so... WHY???? Find out in the latest post in my popular series of ballet etymologies: http://toursenlair.blogspot.ca/2012/08/between-cats-history-of-word-entrechat.html

In a lighter vein, I'm sure you will all get a laugh out of this video in which Dawn French "teaches" Darcey Bussell how to dance, with Anthony Dowell looking on.

Berkeley Swan Lake casting: http://toursenlair.blogspot.ca/2012/08/mariinsky-swan-lake-casting-berkeley.html