Tom47

The saddest moment in ballet, at least for me, is the mad scene at the end of the First Act in Giselle. After this comes the act which contains the ballets Ballet Blanc. The part of this act that I prefer is the approximately 18 minutes long section between the time that Hilarion first leaves the stage and when Albrecht first enters. I consider this section to be a “pure” Ballet Blanc, without either male dancer, where the Wilis happily dance and welcome Giselle into their group. It's not that I dislike male dancing. I enjoy the dances of the Bluebird in The Sleeping Beauty, Ali’s dance in Le Corsaire and dance of the Rose in Le Sprectre de la rose for example. But to me Ballet Blanc is primarily about the corp de ballet and in this case the male dancers distract me. Furthermore, I strongly dislike the character of Albrecht. What was he thinking? Did he really plan to marry Giselle? It is his actions and his deceit that lead to the death of the young woman. This link goes to a 15 minute long video that shows most of what I referred to as the “pure” Ballet Blanc. It starts as Myrtha rises out of a grave, through a trap door, dances across the stage and then appears to fly back the other way. The Wilis have wings. Soon the other Wiis enter and dance, but it ends before Giselle enters. See here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhSbSRVzDZM. A second video (2 minutes) shows Giselle also rising from a grave. See here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_luX9icoT5w. And here is a “spooky” Giselle in the forest (2 minutes). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DP_9t96h8o. Tamara Lee Gebelt has included the original libretto in her thesis in appendix B, page 153. It’s dated to 1841 and described as having been translated from the French by ballet historian and scholar, Cyril W. Beaumont. The ballet is set as “Dawn is breaking on a pleasant village in Germany, a rural community flanked by the Thuringion Hills.” The Thuringian slate mountains (spelled with an “a” instead of an “o” near the end) is located in the central area of the current country of Germany, to the south of the city of Erfurt. At the end of the First Act, according to this libretto when Giselle learns of Albrecht’s (Lors’) deceit “Giselle is horrified, and as her brain reels, delirium seizes her. She grabs the sword and begins to draw a desperate cabalistic circle on the ground around her. In her anguish, she pierces herself with the sword. She then imagines she hears the love theme melody, and tries to dance again, but her strength is failing. She falls to the ground in death.” Did she pierce herself on purpose or was it a result of her delirium? For the second act the setting is described as “. . . .a dark forest late at night. A moonlit lake is just beyond.” The Wilis, which appear after the striking of the midnight hour, are said to be “will-o’-the-wisps, or ghosts of women who have been rejected by their suitors.” This last part is not in Heine’s inspiration for the ballet, as shown below and thus appears to have been added by the men who wrote the ballet. The reference to “will-o’-the-wisps” seems to be the reason why in some versions small lights seen in the forest herald the coming of the Wilis. This act ends with Albrecht surviving the night and with Wilfrid, the prince and Bathinda entering. “As Giselle begins to sink into her grave, she tells Albrecht to go to Bathinda and love her, for she can no longer love in the human world. She gestures farewell, and vanishes into the ground.” Notability there is no mention of her being free of the power of the Wilis here. One of the inspirations for this ballet and the inspiration for the Wiles was a short comment in Heinrich Heine’s 1835 De l’Allemagne (Of Germany). Two versions of this translation can be found here: https://www.jstor.org/stable/40837168?seq=1 and here: https://petipasociety.com/giselle/. According to these translations the Wilis are young women who were engaged to be married (affianced/brides to be) but “who died before their wedding day” and they “. . . cannot rest peacefully in their graves” as they still have a (passion/love) for dancing that they could not satisfy during their lives. This is the reason given as to why they come out of their graves to gather together and dance. In neither of the translations are they described as being vengeful toward young men and there is no indication that they were rejected by their suitors. Men who meet up with the Wilies “must dance” or are “forced to dance” until he “drops dead” or “falls dead.” But remember there is no indication that the Wilis are vengeful toward young men and no indication as to why they would want young men to die. The death of the young men may only be a side effect of the Wilis being “irresistible.” What is clearlest is that the Wilis come out of their graves to satisfy their desire to dance that was unfulfilled when they were alive. That is, the Wilis are poor young creatures who cannot rest peacefully in their graves, because of their desire to dance and come out at night to satisfy that desire and have fun with their sisters. Thus the Wilis could be minding their own business when a young man may come across them and due to their irresistibility he joins them and dances until he dies. This is the interpretation that I prefer. Also, there is an interesting image at the Petipa site labeled “Lithograph of Act 2 - Giselle appears to Albrecht (1841),” which shows Giselle flying. Also, it may be that Wilis is pronounced with a “V” sound instead of a “W.” Tom,

In reading Tamara Lee Gebelt’s “The Libretti and Enchanter Characters of Selected Romantic Ballets From the 1830s Through the 1890s,’ I came across the following comment: “So successful was La Sylphide, that a sequel, ‘Fille du Danube’ and other revivals followed. . .” This sparked my interest. Information on ‘Fille du Danube’ can be found at The Marius Petipa society website here: https://petipasociety.com/la-fille-du-danube/. The world premiere for this ballet was at the Paris Opera on September 21, 1836. In reality it was not a sequel, but was choreographed by Filippo Taglioni and starred his daughter Marie Taglioni as Fleur des Champs (Wildflower). It is also another example, one that may not be that well known, of a Ballet Blanc. In the story Fleur des Champs was, as a baby, discovered on the banks of the river and was raised by humans, but in reality she is a water nymph, the daughter of the Danube. So, in La Sylphide Marie portrayed a being of the air - a Sylphide - while in this ballet she portrayed a being of the water - a undine. Eventually the water nymph and a human - Rudolph - fall in love, but a Baron tries to force Fleur des Champs to marry him. In order to avoid this forced marriage the nymph jumps into the Danube to return to her father’s kingdom beneath the water. Believing her to have killed herself Rudolph goes mad with grief, however, Fleur des Champs appears to him in spirit form and the young man jumps into the river after her. It is here that, according to Petipe website, the white act occurs, when Rudolph is tested by the water nymphs. Thus this is another ballet that can be considered to be a Ballet Blanc. The ballet was not that successful when it premiered in Paris, but was more successful when it premiered in Saint Petersburg in O.S. 1837 and there was a revival in Russia in 1880. About the same time that this ballet premiered in Russia, Hans Christan Andersen’s story The Little Mermaid (1837) was published. The Little Mermaid is a being of the water and thus could be considered a water nymph or an undine. While not having the happy ending that the Disney movie has, Andersen’s story is not as tragic as some people might believe, as at the end the little mermaid becomes a “Daughter of the Air” that is a Sylphide, so this story combines a water elemental and an air elemental. If you are interested he is a link to the Little Mermaid story, it is not very long. The ending of the story is a great description of a Sylphide. See here: http://hca.gilead.org.il/li_merma.html. Also, I highly recommend Tamara Lee Gebelt’s thesis for anyone interested in the history of 19th century ballets. See here: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=7011&context=gradschool_disstheses, Tom,

The Ballet of the Nuns led directly, less than four months later, to the Paris Opera’s March 12, 1832 premiere of La Sylphide. The Sylphide was danced by Marie Taglioni, who first danced the role of the Abbess Helena, the ballet was choreographed by her father Filippo Taglioni and the Libretto was by Adolphe Nourrit who portrayed Robert in the earlier opera. Further, August Bournonville choreographed a somewhat different version with different music which premiered on November 28, 1836 in Copenhagen. This is the version that is generally performed nowadays. A good source for the libretti of a number of 19th century ballets is The Evolution of the Romantic Ballet. The Libretti and Enchanter Characters of Selected Romantic Ballets From the 1830s Through the 1890s” by Tamara Lee Gebelt, see here: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=7011&context=gradschool_disstheses. In it the author writes “La Sylphide’s libretto by Charles (often called Adolphe) Nourrit, as adapted for the Danish stage in 1836 by August Bournonville, appears in Appendix A of this study.” The libretto in Appendix A starters on page 145. It is dated 1832. This libretto provides interesting information which I did not realize when I first saw the ballet. At one point in the first act the Sylphide tells James “she loves him and has ever since the first moment she saw him. Her fate is joined to his, but now he is about to marry another. The hearth, she reveals, is her favorite place of refuge. Further, she tells him she is always with him, whether or not he can see her; she even sends him gentle dreams at night.” Further it is noted that “Despite his love for Effy, he [James] is enraptured by the Sylphide and does not understand what magic is controlling him.” Then comes the following: “But James cannot stand the thought of leaving Effy, and manages to spurn the beautiful creature. When the Sylphide wraps herself in Effy's plaid, however, James softens. Unable to resist anymore, James presses her to his heart and enthusiastically kisses her.” Just before the end of this act when the ceremony begins “James is melancholy and stands apart from the others with the betrothal ring in his hand. Suddenly, the Sylphide emerges from the fireplace, snatches the ring from him, and gives him a look of utter despair that she must die if he marries Effy.” It is at this point that James runs after the Sylphide. During act two “The fog disperses and the sunrise bathes the landscape in cheerful light as the Sylphide leads James down from a steep mountain path.” It is noticed that “He is enraptured with the Sylphide, but is frustrated because everytime he tries to ardently embrace her, she eludes him and flits away. He follows her in easy flight, though, and they dance together in harmony.” “But James remembers his Effy and the injustice he has inflicted upon her. When he becomes melancholy and drained, the Sylphide calls her sister Sylphides to come and cheer her beloved.” Here we see the entry of all the Sylphides. Toward the end of this act: “James returns without the Sylphide. Filled with guilt and regret, he realizes he is not strong enough to tear himself loose from her. . . . The despairing young man tells the hag [Old Madge] everything and offers her all his possessions if she can help him capture the Sylphide.” This is when he receives the tragic scarf. Originally I saw the sylphide as impulsively falling in love with James on what happened to be the young man’s wedding day. Thus, I saw the sylphide as maybe not really caring too much for James, but the liberotto shows that she is always with him and that she sends him dreams. This 2 minute video explaining a mime scene in the first act supports this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=728TQeVyIJk. Based on this video the sylphide has loved James and cared for him since he was a boy. Also, as she has been protecting him since he was five. It is a touching scene and is another reason why I do not like the ending. Further, James’ actions appear to be impulsive and irrational at least to the others. He runs out of the home, is gone overnight and he attacks an old woman who was trying to warm herself. It is possible that he chased the Sylphide only because she took his ring, but the libretto shows him beginning to fall in love with or at least become infatuated with the Sylphide, despite that being his wedding day. Another thing is that this ballet is an exception to most Ballet Blanc as the white act takes place during the day, at dawn and not at night. An article at this link http://www.theballetbag.com/2010/02/10/la-sylphide/ reveals some variation between the original Paris premiere and the Danish one. Bournonville danced the role of James in the Danish premiere and “. . . he wanted to take some emphasis out of the ballerina and put her on equal footing with the male dancer.” Also in that later production “. . . the witch Madge is a more important figure.” As what I like most about this ballet is the white scene I feel I would prefer the original Paris version. What I don’t like about either version is the ending. Here is a 30 minute long video for the most parts showing most of the Ballet Blanc from La Sylphide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30ePH3mkbf4. (This may be from a reconstruction of the original Paris premiere.) What I particularly like about this, other than it being primarily a white act, is that Sylphides come “flying” across the stage starting 30 seconds into the video. The Sylphides in this scene dance happily as I imagine the nuns do in the Ballet of the Nuns. I can imagine them being friends, a community and a sisterhood. The 1822 story Trilby, ou le Lutin d'Argail (Tillby, or the Imp of Argail) by Charles Nodier, was one of the inspirations for this ballet, however, in the story it is a male Imp that falls in love with a human woman. It also was set in Scotland, but as I remember it was darker than the ballet. Do people think that James is a flawed character? Tom,

Quiggin, thank you for the link regarding the Ballet of the Nuns. I appreciate any information on this ballet. Degas’ paintings show a wild, energetic dance by nuns who still may be dressed in their white habits. In the video of the opera you linked to the Ballet of the Nuns starts a little after 53 minutes. However, it is not what is described in the book by Ann Hutchinson Guest and Knud Arne Jureensen. During much of it “nuns” torment a young woman dressed in white. I put “nuns” in quotes because they seem, both in the way they look and in the way they lift and toss the young woman, to be male dancers in habits, plus they don’t remove their habits. It seems to me that if anyone would be tormented it would be Robert. Some of the other dancers, female dancers, do remove their habits. Also on the second level of the stage there are women who may be nude or dressed in full body tights to appear nude. To All, I noticed that some of the nuns in the image I posted are entering through trapdoors and there are many nuns in the courtyard. Given that the nuns have just entered, the male figure would be Bertram. The reconstruction of the ballet given in the book is a compromise between showing the choreography of the ballet as a work in its own right and showing the ballet’s role as part of the opera, so Robert is present, but does not sing. ` I was initially surprised by the music for the ballet of the nuns (beginning just after Bertrain commands the nuns to seduce Robert), as it seems light and happy instead of being gothic, dark and slow as I expected, but then I thought the nuns are happy and celebrate being out of their tombs. It is called a Bacchanale. Also, I don’t see the nuns as being evil. They just want to have fun. The opera is set during the early eleventh century, a time, as I understand, when younger children of the aristocracy would have to choose between poverty and a religious order. The star of Ballet Blanc is the corp de ballet, women dressed all or mostly in white. This I feel is the essence of a Ballet Blanc These scenes are generally shown in a mysterious setting in nature or in a ruined structure which nature is beginning to reclaim. To add to the mystery they tend to be set at night and the dancers in the corp de ballet portray mythic beings, such as deceased Nuns, Sylphides, Wilis, Shades, Swan maidens and Snowflake fairies. Many times there is a male participant who is portrayed as flawed in some way, as well as a main female protagonist. I see the corp de ballet in these white ballets as a sisterhood. Kindly comment with information on this mysterious Ballet of the Nuns. Thank you. Tom,

The above image is the set design for the “Ballet of the Nuns” from the five act opera “Robert le Diable'', which premiered at the Paris Opera on November 21, 1831. It is considered to be the first Ballet Blanc and the first Romantic Ballet, however it is also the most difficult to find information on. (Mashinka, I did read your thread on this ballet and your reference to “Shaun of the Dead.”) The original choreography, by Filippo Taglioni has been lost, but recently, notes on the choreography made by the Danish choreographer August Bournonville, in 1841 and 1847 have been discovered. In their book “Robert Le Diable, The Ballet of the Nuns” authors Ann Hutchinson Guest and Knud Arne Jurgensen have provided this information. I don't know if others have read this book, but for those who have not the following is provided. Let me know if you have read it. Based on this book the finale of Act 3, which takes place in the ruins of the convent of St. Rosalie in Sicily, starts when Bertram summons the deceased nuns from their tombs. These are nuns who during their lives were unfaithful to their vows. At this point “The tombs open. The Nuns emerge from them, covered with their shrouds and silently move forward in a procession to the front of the stage.” (Page 24.) At some point in this finale “They [the nuns] retire into the wings, in an instance removing their habits, and appear in simple muslin skirts and bodices, their legs and arms covered with skin coloured flashings and their hair disheveled and loose.” (Page 27.) My guess is this happens just after the procession of the nuns and just before the beginning of the Bacchanale (the beginning of the ballet proper). The above indicates that the nuns at first may be dressed in either shrouds or habits. In Production Notes (page 28) it is noted that “The effect of a cloister needs to be established by appropriate drops and backcloth. The tombs can be open at the back if the effect of the nuns rising from these tombs needs to be established. This is the case if meas. 1 - 148 with the so-called Procession des Nonnes is performed as a prologue to the actual ballet.” The information in the above paragraph appears to be for the original Paris premiere, except for the Production Notes which are suggestions for a contemporary performance. The following information is from the “Study and Performance Notes” (pages 31 to 53), There are five sections to the ballet described there. First The Bacchanale (112 measures), next the Allegro Vivace (55 measures), followed by the First Air de Ballet - Seduction par l’ivresse (drunkenness, 56 measures), then Second Air de Ballet - Seduction de jeu (game, 67 measures) and finally Third Air de Ballet - Séduction de l’amour - Pas seul d’Helena (55 measures). The Bacchanale begins as though answering a call 16 dancers enter the stage (8 from each side) with swift, light running steps. (In the Paris premiere there were more than 30 in the ballet de corps.) Soon comes a mime sequence, expressing the thoughts of the nuns. They mime “here and here” and then touch their wrist pulse, their temples, their heart as they breathe in and out and nod their heads saying “yes” indicating that they are remembering that they once had a pulse, a mind and a heart. After some additional dancing there is another mime section with some of the nuns expressing the thoughts “We - There - Slept” and following this the other nuns expressing the thoughts “From these graves we arose.” Then all mime “We, here and here, these graves renounce (defy).” Finally they all mime “Here we will dance.” Afterwards they dance the remainder of this section. With the start of the Allegro Vivace Abbess Helena enters swiftly from upstage right (danced by Maria Taglioni in the original Paris premiere and possibly entering from a tomb in that premiere). She dances before miming to the others ordering them to dance themselves. This leads to Helena’s Solo afterwhich Robert enters. The Abbess greets him and leads him in. Robert does not dance and by the end of this section is sitting on a tomb. The purpose of the nuns is to seduce Robert into taking a talisman, a green branch, which will lead to his damnation, from the tomb of St. Rosalie. In the First Air de Ballet - Seduction par l’ivresse, they try to seduce him with drunkenness and offer him goblets to drink from. Helena leads Robert to the tomb of the saint, but when he comes close he recoils with horror thinking that he sees his mother’s face in the effigy. Next the nuns try to seduce Robert with games, gambling and greed in the Second Air de Ballet - Séduction par jeu. The greed of the nuns repulsed him. As the Third Air de Ballet - Seduction par l’amour starts the music changes to an adagio-like 4/4. Much of the dancing is done by Helena as she looks at Robert. Near the end she “blows him a kiss” and points toward the branch. Robert returns her kisses at the end “‘runs’ slowly past her to St. Rosalie's tomb and picks the branch [talisman] from it.” He turns and triumphantly waves the branch above his head as the curtain falls. This is the end of the ballet as given in Study And Performance Notes. Elsewhere in the book (page 25) it is noted “At the moment when Robert plucks the branch, thunder breaks out, the Nuns change into spectres, and demons rise from the depths of the earth, all forming themselves into a group around him, dancing in a disorderly chain. He makes his way through these spectres, brandishing his branch. The chorus sings. . .” Here is a 26 minute long video of the music for the finale of the third act of the opera. Listed here, as far as I can determine, are the time points various parts of this finale: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0r4YUglAmD4 0.50 Bertrain summons the nuns from their graves. 3:40 The procession of the nuns 7:30 Bertrain commands the nuns to seduce Robert into taking the green branch, the talisman. 8:40 This begins the ballet proper with the beginning of the Bacchanale. Toward the end of this section the Abbess Helena enters and after she dances for a time Robert enters. 13:00 Robert sings of the horror of the place and his terror. 15:10 The start of the seductions of Robert 24:20 Robert snatchs the branch and the spectres and demons celebrate. 25:50 End I do not understand the lyrics and know little of music so if I am in error kindly let me know and forgive me. Tom,

Dirac, thank you for your reply and for the link. It is brave people like Ms. Littlefeather who engage in seemingly, at the time, frutle actions who bring about progress. The article at the link suggests that progress is being made regarding this issue. Also, thank you Canbelto for your reply. I am struck by how polite Ms. Littlefeather was on that night in 1973. She didn’t insult anyone, nor did she threaten anyone. On a related note, according to CBS news, Nicole Aunapu Mann, will be the mission commander on a NASA mission to the International Space Station this fall. She will be the first Native American woman to travel to space. Tom,

Most Best Picture winners have been about male characters (see earlier post in this thread). However, not only have the last two had female protagonists, but both of those films have been directed by women. “Nomadland” won for 2020 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sxCFZ8_d84, 2 minute trailer) and was directed by Chioe Zhao (born in 1982) (https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2125482/) and “CODA” won for 2021 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pmfrE1YL4I, 3 minute trailer) and was directed by Sian Heder (born in 1977) (https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1571761/). In 1973 Sacheen Littlefeather appeared on the stage of the Academy Award show on behalf of Marlon Brando. Brando had sent Ms. Littlefeather to the ceremony to refuse the Best Actor award that he had just won for his role in “The Godfather” in order to protest Hollywood’s portrayal of Native Americans in film, as well as the recent happenings at Wounded Knee. Just recently the Academy issued an apology to Ms. Littlefeather. According to a CNN article the former Academy president wrote in a letter that “The abuse you endured because of this statement was unwarranted and unjustified. The emotional burden you have lived through and the cost to your own career in our industry are irreparable. For too long the courage you showed has been unacknowledged. For this, we offer both our deepest apologies and our sincere admiration.” See here for article: https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/15/entertainment/sacheen-littlefeather-oscars-apology-academy-cec/index.html. Here is an 11 minute clip showing the event and Ms. Littlefeather reading the full statement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_Da21Jpguk. Also, here is an 8 minute video of Brando talking about this rejection of the award: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcCKczj4aK4. Sacheen Littlefeather was born on November 14, 1946. Here is a short biography: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0514693/. Tom,

The name Mavka refers to a mystical female from Ukrainian folklore. For some time now an animated film entitled “Mavka, The Forest Song” has been in production in the nation of Ukraine. The story of the film can be seen as an analogy of the current war with the female protagonist, Mavka, being a symbol of Ukraine, fighting to save her land from a vicious outsider. Here is a video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eszfyg2lSbU, 7 minutes long, showing a trailer for the film, as well as many of the people producing the film describing the extreme difficulties caused by the war. The film is now expected to come out by the end of the year and I am very anxious to see it. Also, here is a short excerpt from the film (2 minutes) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-tlAJq5iNc. This video (3 minutes) is of an Ukrainian folk song. The flowers that some of the women in the video wear on their heads also seem to be a symbol of Ukraine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7w9Cy2eIRqQ. The animated film “Mavka, The Forest Song” was inspired by a play entitled “Forest Song” written by Lesia Ukrainka in 1911. The story of the play is not the same as the story of the film, but for those who are interested here is a transcript of the play: http://sites.utoronto.ca/elul/English/Ukrainka/Ukrainka-ForestSong.pdf. Sadly it seems this terrible war will continue for years, but I hope it will eventually undermine the Russian government in the same way that the war in Afghanistan contributed to the undermining of the Soviet Union. Tom,

Terez, thank you for your comment. It is always nice to hear from people. This article from National Public Radio highlights the Voloshky Ukrainian Dance Ensemble. It is reported that “The Ensemble, which turns 50 this year, sees its role combating Russian aggression as diplomacy through dance, teaching U.S. audiences about Ukrainian history and culture. See here: https://www.npr.org/2022/05/01/1095228083/a-ukrainian-dance-troupe-in-the-u-s-fights-disinformation-one-high-kick-at-a-tim. Talking about Ukrainian dance, the Trepak from the Nutcracker Ballet is also called the Russian dance, but a Trepak is actually a Ukrainian dance. Originally it was performed by a group of male dancers dressed as candy canes. My favorite version of the dance is from the 1940 Fantasia. Here is a clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LO0wdLqtADA. This article is entitled “How Swan Lake’ became a symbol of protest in Russia,” https://abcnews.go.com/International/swan-lake-symbol-protest-russia/story?id=84401801. According to the article, Soviet state TV interrupted programming by showing Swan Lake continuously when various dictators of the Soviet Union died and during a failed coup in 1991, making it a sign of political instability and upheaval and a way of telling the current dictator of Russia to go away. This form of protest includes depictions of the four ballerinas from the “Dance of the Cygnets. Tom,

CNN reported that on Friday, April 29. The National Opera in Lviv performed the ballet Giselle. Lviv is a city in the western part of Ukraine. As reported this announcement was made just before the ballet began: “Dear guest, our event will be suspended in case of air raid alert. Dancers and spectators must go to the bomb shelter situated in the theater.” See here for the article and pictures: https://www.cnn.com/style/article/lviv-national-opera-first-full-performance-intl-cmd/index.html. While the ballet is set in the Rhine Valley of Germany, The mythology of the Wiles (pronounced Viles) is from the Slavic culture. A being similar to the Wiles is the Ukrainian Mavka. The Ukrainian author and playwright Lesya Ukrainka wrote a play entitled “The Forest Song” (1911) with a Mavka as the protagonist. Tom,

Quiggin, I don't know anything about Monica Vitti and I don't think I saw any of her movies, but I will look up information on her. Tom,

One of my favorite short ballets is Le Spectre de la rose. First, while the poem that inspired it is clearly from the point of view of the male rose, I see the ballet as being from the point of view of the young woman. It is her dream and the Spectre is a figment of her imagination. We can see her pleasure in remembering her evening at the dance and her desire for the Spectre de la Rose symbolizes her desire to retain the memory of that dance. The ballet is about her emotions and happiness, her desires and feelings, not that of the male. Second, the short ballet contains a great male dance and this male dancer is presented in a manner that counters the gender norms and stereotypes of our current culture. That is he is dressed as a rose, is wearing a tight body suit and many of his movements are expressive and emotional. It is not that he is supposed to be female - he is clearly supposed to be male, from the poem, from the “Le” in the title of the ballet and that the costume emphasizes the physical male characteristics of the dancer's body, as distinct from the normative gender characteristics assigned by society. The problem for me is that it ends so soon. I want to know more about the young woman. So, here goes. The ballet currently ends with the rose leaping through a window and the young woman waking. An alternative could be for the audience not to be sure whether she is still dreaming or not and that in this possible dream she goes to the window and steps out to follow the Spectre. This ends the first scene. From here on we watch the young woman “travel“ through various short, mystical scenes from various established ballet, starting with A Midsummer Night’s Dream, staged based on the following dance scenes from the 1935 film which I understand were choreographed by Bronislavia Nijinska. See here (3 ½ mins): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlZ5oGibiDc and here: (2 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4S-eNAWitE. Then it would be on to an excerpt from the second act of La Sylphide with flying sylphides, followed by Marta and her Wiles, then enchanted snowflakes courtesy of Pyotr Tchaikovsky. This brings us to the intermission. The second act is introduced by the Entrance of the Shades, after which we see Swan Maidens from the Petit Swans to when the Swans take flight, again courtesy of Pyotr Tchaikovsky, the Dryads and their Queen come next along with Kitri and Eros, then the Firebird without the Tsarevich and lastly the “loose hair” witches from Walpurgisnacht. I understand there is more than one choreography for Walpurgisnacht, the one that I mean by the “loose hair” witches can be found here (11 ½ minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Q3mTBtTOZ8. These settings are all fantasies, fairy tales or in other ways unnatural tales and generally are ballet blanc. They are or could be set at night. Since they could all be set in similar wooded landscapes scene changes would be minimal and could be done quickly with dimming of the lights followed by the entrance of the corp de ballet to indicate a change in scene. The conclusion of the ballet comes with morning as the young woman, disappointed at not finding the Spectre returns to her room only to find a male visitor, the rose, but now dressed as a gentleman of the early nineteenth century waiting for her. They embrace as the curtain falls. The feeling of this would be close to the second act of The Nutcracker where Clara and the Nutcracker travel through the land of sweets, but instead of Clara and the Nutcracker traveling together it would be the young woman following (chasing) the rose through enchanted lands that are connected only by the journey of the two main characters. The rose might only be briefly seen at the beginning of each scene, with the young woman remaining longer on stage as if searching for the rose and possibly interacting with the other dancers. These scenes could last ten minutes on average which would make the entire ballet one hour and forty minutes. A problem with staging this is that as most of the scenes require a corp de ballet, there may have to be two corp de ballets, one preparing while the other dances. Le Spectre de la rose poem was posted by Cuban Miami Boy and can be found here: https://balletalert.invisionzone.com/topic/32331-ballet-and-poetry-le-spectre-de-la-rose/#comment-273409). Tom,

This post deals with four rather unique female photographers. The first is Julia Margaret Cameron who was born in Kolkata, India on June 11 1815. She spent portions of her life in India, France and England. Her career as a photographer started on Christmas 1863 (age 48) when she received a camera as a present from her daughter. Within 3 years she started to exhibit her work around England and in Paris and the Netherlands and went on to sell her photographs. As can be seen in the accompanying video (7 minutes) for the most part the artist’s photographs had a delicate, fanciful nature: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqnVLwRagbs. The photographer Dorothea Lange was born in Hoboken, New Jersey in 1895. Growing into adulthood she studied photography for a short period at Columbia University and then moved to San Francisco. It was during the depression of the 1930s and while she was working for the Resettlement Administration and the Farm Security Administration under the Federal Department of Agriculture that the artist made some of her most moving images. On top of the financial crisis was another disaster which consisted of the great sand storms that plagued the center part of the United States, an area then called the Dust Bowl and which forced many to migrate to other parts of the nation. Perhaps the best known of Dorothea’s photographs is her “Destitute peapickers in California a 32 years old mother of seven children” or as it is better known “Migrant Mother.” (Below) Florence Owens Thompson (age 32 at the time) was the actual mother in this photograph. It was taken in the early part of 1936. In February of 1942 Executive Order 9066 allowed for the internment of approximately 110,000 American citizens (approximately two-thirds) and residents of the United States who were of Japanese descent. Many of Dorothea Lange’s photographs are of these internees. Here is a video (10 minutes long) showing Dorothea’s Lange's photographs, including both those taken during the depression and dust bowl as well as those taken of the interned Japanese-Americans. Not only are her photographs a historical record of a disastrous period in history, but are, from an artistic point of view great studies of faces. A photograph of a woman sitting on top of an automobile near the beginning of the video is of Dorothea’s Lange: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fw1AZkvdC8k. This is a quote by the photographer: “The people who are garrulous and wear their heart on their sleeve and tell you everything, that’s one kind of person, but the fellow who’s hiding behind a tree and hoping you don’t see him is the fellow that you’d better find out why.” To me Dorothea Lange took photographs of the people who were “hiding behind a tree.” The next two photographers are women who took photographs of the nude. I see them as being artistic representations. At times the nude, both the male and female nudes have been important subjects in the arts. There is no reason for female artists to be excluded from this form of expression, whether it is in the field of painting, sculpture or photography. The first such photographer is Jennette Williams, (b. December 17, 1952 in Forest Hills, NY). Her work The Bathers, which consists of photographs of nude or semi-nude women in Hungarian and Turkish bath houses, is in the permanent collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and is the 2008 winner of the Honickman First Book Prize in Photography. The photographs of The Bathers were done in the platinum printing process. See here for a 4 ½ minute video of the artist Jennette Williams talking about her project along with Mary Ellen Mark, who judged the First Book competition. Also shown are photographs of nude and semi-women from the project. At one point in the video the photographer says “The Bathers questions what makes for beauty in women.” And I feel that this is one of the importances of the work: https://vimeo.com/31513663 and here is a video which includes more of the photographs from The Bathers (4 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GC9fgyoiLDM. The second of the two women photographing the nude is Dianora Niccolini who was born in Florence, Italy, in October 1936. Her book Naked Splendor appears to be primarily about the male nude. She came to the United States with her family after the Second World War. In a web article entitled "My Photo History" (http://www.dianoraniccolini.com/history.html) Dianora Niccolini clarifies why she has specialized in the male nude for over a quarter of a century. The following quotes illustrate the three reasons she has identified: “In photographing gorgeous naked men. I can safely look at young (21+) handsome naked hunks without getting involved . . . It is much more acceptable to be a voyer (sic) with a camera than without it!” “Growing up in Florence (Italy), gave me a very different perspective on nudes than most Americans. The streets of Florence are filled with statues of both naked men, women and even children (as cherubins etc.) The museums house most of the great art of the renaissance and Michaelangelo’s work was my favorite! I loved the statues of men with their powerful muscular bodies. It is no wonder, then, that I chose and still choose to photograph muscular men in their prime. I love to make them look like statues.” “My third reason is political. I couldn’t believe that exhibiting photographs of the male nude was a taboo. This was America, after all, the land of the free!! The sexual revolution had already happened. So what was the problem???? It was HOMOPHOBIA!!! I became determined to bring about change.” In this 9 minute long video Dianora Niccolini talks about her book Naked Splendor. During this she shows photographs from the book, most of which are of the male nude and also recites the poetry printed alongside the pictures: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_kCpgwuMD4. Here is a series of photographs taken by Dianora Niccolini. They are all of nude males similar to the ones from the book “Naked Splendor.” Clicking on the right arrow just under the artist’s name advances the picture to the next page. There are 12 pages in total: http://www.thefrasergallery.com/artists/DianoraNiccolini-artwork1.html. Tom,

Cuban Miami Boy, thank you for posting the poem that inspired Le Spectre de la rose, it is one of my favorite short ballets. Tom,

After I first saw the Diana and Acteon pas de deux, I looked up the myth and found that it didn’t fit the ballet. According to The Marius Petipa Society website (see here: https://petipasociety.com/le-roi-candaule/) the history behind the Diana and Acteon pas de deux, starts with the 1868 ballet Le Roi Candaule and particularly with the Pas de Diane or Les Aventures Amorouse de Diane from the fourth act. Further, it is noted in the website that: “The version of the Pas de Diane widely known today was choreographed by Agrippina Vaganova in 1935 when she staged a new production of La Esmeralda at the Kirov/Mariinsky Theatre for the ballerina Tatyana Vecheslova. For this revival, Vaganova resurrected the Pas de Diane and inserted it into the second act as a show-piece for the young Galina Ulanova and Vakhtang Chabukiani. She rechristened the Pas de Diane as the Diane et Actéon Pas de deux, changed the lead male role to the hunter Actaeon and removed the role of the Satyr.” So, as pointed out by the Marius Petipa Society website “The Pas de Diane, is known today as the Diane et Actéon Pas de deux.” But, what was the Pas de Diane. Well again according to the Marius Petipa Society, “The original scheme for the pas is that it reflects the myth of the passion between Diana and Endymion . . .” The Marius Petipa Society website goes on to report that: “However, Diana was not a Greek goddess, but a Roman goddess (her Greek counterpart was Artemis), nor was she the Goddess of the Moon and romantically involved with Endymion. The Greek Goddess of the Moon was Selene (Luna in Roman mythology) and it was Selene who was in love with Endymion. Therefore, the goddess featured in this pas should have been Selene, not Diana, and the pas should perhaps have been called the Pas de Selene, or Les Aventures Amorouse de Selene, with it reflecting the passionate love of Selene and Endymion.” So, based on this information the Diana and Acteon pas de deux, aka The Pas de Diane, aka Les Aventures Amorouse de Diane shows the myth of Selene and Endymion and not the myth of Diana and Acteon.” (Amy’s May 29, 2015 post The Diana and Acteon Pas de deux (Traditional vs. Notation) also deals with this.) I feel that the Diana and Acteon pas de deux fits the myth of Selene and Endymion better than the myth of Diana and Acteon, but there are still some issues. The myth of Selene and Endymion was this: One night as the goddess of the moon, Selene, also called Luna, was traveling across the sky she spied the beautiful mortal Endymion asleep and instantly fell in love or at least fell in lust with him. Each night she would return, but there was a problem, since he was a mortal he would eventually get old and die, so she had, in one version, Zeus put him into an everlasting sleep, a sleep in which he would never grow old and die. Eventually they had fifty daughters. Here is a 3 minute, light hearted video explaining the myth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KL6o6glC6Fg. One possible scenario for a Selene and Endymion pas de deux would start in the manner of Le Reveil de Flore with Endymion asleep on a small mound in place of Chloris. A light (the moonlight) would shine on Endymion and then as the stage brightens Selene would dance in. Eventually she dances with Endymion who is "sleep dancing." It would continue something like Le Spectre de la rose, but with other dancers, some nymphs, as in the current Diana and Acteon and possibly Cupid or Eros. A second source of inspiration would be this pas from La Sonnambuia (6 ½ minutes), with Endymion being Le Somnambule and his partner being Selene/Luna. (Is Mikhail wearing pants): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LpmL_NeiAU. As I have mentioned in other posts I like the idea of gender roles being switched such as in the myth of Selene and Endymion with the female character being the more active and assertive and the one doing the viewing and the male character being the passive one that is being looked at. Tom,

I have never been a fan of “County Music,” but I came across Lucinda Williams' Car Wheels On a Gravel Road and liked it. Lucinda (born in Lake Charles, LA, on January 26, 1953) both wrote this song and was the first to record it. She has written at least 21 songs and in most cases she was the solo writer. Here is a video of her singing Car Wheels On a Gravel Road (5 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgnnrZfoZS0. This link goes to the song’s Lyrics. Clicking on the highlighted parts of the song gives an explanation. I don’t know if Ms. Williams actually provided the explanations, but they fit and give a poignant feeling to the song: https://genius.com/Lucinda-williams-car-wheels-on-a-gravel-road-lyrics. It’s uncommon for me to see a woman conducting an orchestra. The following videos show three female conductions. The first is Natatlia Luis-Bassa (b. July 13, 1966, Caracas, Venezuela) conducting the National Children’s Orchestra of Great Britain in a performance of Sunrise from Also sprach Zararhustra. (2 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9bF176Lp5I. Next, in two parts is Nazanin Aghakhani (born In Vienna, Austria on April 22, 1980) conducting the Kuopio Symphony Orchestra of Finland in the Firebird Suite 1919. Part one (14 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5_2A8uI1Cw. And part two (9 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9cdBLDpyy0. Watching her conduct it seems she is “dancing” with her hands. Nazanin Aghakhani has also conducted in Iran. There is an earlier mention of the Afghan Women’s Orchestra “Zohra” in this topic, but because of their particular situation here is another of their videos. In this case the orchestra is being conducted by Zarifa Adiba. The music is Sakina, arranged by Allegra Boggess (3 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QkRwG89fP4. Here is a short statement by Zarita Adiba: https://serenademagazine.com/author/zarifa-adiba/. The band “Band-Maid” was formed in 2013 by Miku Kobato who had the idea of combining the innocent “Maid Cafe” look with Hard Rock music. She had been working as a “maid” in one of those cafes. Not all of the band’s members choose to dress in “maid” costumes. Current members are Miku Kobato, rhythm guitar, backing and lead vocals (b. October 21, 1991), Kanami Tohno, lead guitar (b. September 28, 1991), Akane Hirose, Drums (December 14, 1990), Misa, Bass (October 15, 1992) and Saiki Atsumi lead vocals (b. February 8, 1994). In 2016 Band-Maid started to compose their own songs as a joint venture, although with Kanami Tohno as the key composer and Miku Kobato as the key lyricist. Here is the song Daydream from the 2018 album World Domination: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCaeUkrItyY (4 minutes). Hazel Scott was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago on June 11, 1920 and four years later traveled to Harlem with her parents. She was a classical as well as a jazz pianist. Here she is performing in a video (2 minutes long) entitled Female Flying Fingers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RINO48yHpQ8. Tom,

Treemonisha In 1911 Scott Joplin published a 230 page score for piano and eleven singers for his opera Treemoisha. It was performed in 1915 without costumes and without scenery in an unsuccessful attempt to get financial support for a full scale production. The setting of the opera is 1884 in the area surrounding Texarkana. Interestingly Scott Joplin would have been 17 or 18 years old in 1884, about the same age of Treemonisha, the work’s title character, although Treemonisha was a young woman and Joplin was born in the area surrounding Texarkana. An important point is that all of the characters in the opera are African-American, the good characters, the villains, the smart and heroic characters and the not so smart characters. It takes place on an abandoned plantation, operated by sharecroppers. Treemoisha was finally staged in its complete, orchestrated form in 1972. Here is a 5 minute long video of “Delores Ivory as Monisha explaining [in song] how Treemonisha was found abandoned under a tree.” It is from a 1982 performance staged by the Houston Grand Opera: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3hsbvX3So4. In this video and the next Treemonisha is played by Carmen Balthrop. This next video, 6 minutes long, a Real Slow Drag is the finale to the opera. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukgWU6JCZkg. Also staged by the Houston Grand Opera. Here in three parts is the full performance of the Houston Grand Opera’s Treemonisha. Very worthwhile viewing for the music and dancing as well as for the historical significance. Part One: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6ynOUAFIG8 (26 minutes). Part Two: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHG6PMUUHOA (30 minutes) Part Three: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Sr5AokEGGg (30 minutes) In addition to the singers mentioned above, Obba Babatunde danced and sang the role of zodetrick and Cora Johnson danced and sang the role of Lucy. Scott Joplin also wrote The Ragtime Dance that was staged in 1899 and an opera entitled A Guest of Honor in 1903. It is believed to have been about Booker T. Washington's 1901 official visit to the White House. That opera did tour for a couple of months, but since then the score has been lost. Tom,

The word “burlesque” as a noun goes back to the 1660’s and meant a “piece composed in burlesque style, derisive imitation, grotesque parody.” It was earlier used as an adjective meaning “‘odd, grotesque’ (1660s), from French burlesque (16c.), from Italian burlesco ‘ludicrous,’ from burla “joke, fun, mockery.’” See here: https://www.etymonline.com/word/burlesque. Lydia Thompson was born in London, on February 19, 1838. When she was 14 years old, she left home to dance with the corps de ballet at Her Majesty’s Theater and soon began dancing solo roles. Within a few years she left England to perform on the European Continent and in 1866 she came with her own Burlesque ensemble, called the “British Blondes” to the United States. The historical significance of Lydia Thompson in this regard was that she ran her own dance company, her own entertainment business. In addition the women of the company wrote their own scripts and portrayed both female and male roles. One of the “British Blondes” Lisa Weber was born c. 1844 She played the role of Mercury in the 1868 performance of Ixion or the Man at the Wheel. Here is a 2 ½ minute video showing images of the performer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFpKORfAbs4. Eliza Weatherby was born in London in 1849 and joined the “British Blondes” in 1869. In the statement below this 2 minute video it is noted that “Eliza played supporting roles, sang naughty songs and was a favorite with the critics.” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVU6jmBAxIk) From what I can tell this is a photograph of Lydia Thompson and six of her “British Blondes” (I believe there were originally only six), the larger photo to the left: British Blondes. And here are images that show up when doing a google image search for “Lydia Thompson’s British Blondes” Google Image Search. This link goes to a web page entitled “Vintage Burlesque Photos From the 1890’s.” Given the date it’s unlikely that any of them were “British Blondes” Between the 16th and the beginning of the 20th century a major part of “western” women’s fashions was to make the waist look smaller, not necessarily by constricting it, but by emphasizing the hips and the upper torso sometimes with the use of padding and bustles. An exception to this was during the three decades or so after the French Revolution. The photographs of many of these burlesque performers fit this style in that they would not be considered to be skinny. That can also be seen in some of the female nude paintings during that period. Neo-burlesque is a relatively recent phenomenon. In this video Ginger LeSnapps, the “headmistress, owner, producer, choreographer,costumer, mother hen” of Cin City Burlesque explains that the dance troupe was “built out of a woman’s party production company” that was doing bachelorette parties, birthday parties for women, as well as some burlesque striptease classes. They then expanded into shows. See here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3NnUgVZi-M. As an example of Neo-Burlesque are the students of “The Bombshell Burlesque Academy” from Bisbane, Australia, in March and April of 2020 dancing to My Boy, by Billie Eilish in this “body positive” performance. Choreography by Lila Luxx. The costumes consist of bras and panties with various degrees of coverage. Some backside nudity. I get the feeling that the women expose as much as they are comfortable with (6 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykgbgFLNUp0. This article, from Huffpost, is entitled “Why Burlesque is Empowering, Not Demeaning, to Women.” It is written by Zoe Charles, the founder of “The Cheek of it! School of Burlesque and Cabaret.” In the article she writes “Women usually take burlesque classes for one of three reasons: they want to feel cheeky and have fun, they want to improve their body confidence and how they feel about themselves, or they want to become a professional burlesque performer. When asked about their experience of learning and performing burlesque the majority of our students will use the word 'empowering' in their answer.” Also, “. . . that over 50% of the audience are usually women . . .” and she indicates that women from size 6 to size 20 can be performers. (https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/zoe-charles/burlesque-women_b_4759076.html) Another article, this one by Magan Henshall, is entitled “Why are women attracted to burlesque?” and then states “burlesque performer Dita Von Teese draws a mostly female audience to her shows.” Later in the article it is noted that “The most recent revival of burlesque is very much mainstream and dominated in all areas by women.” (https://clclt.com/charlotte/why-are-women-attracted-to-burlesque/Content?oid=3233049) Now some readers might feel that Burlesque is Demeaning and not Empowering to women, (being male I cannot be the judge of that) but what is most important to this post is that women such as Ginger LeSnapps, Zoe Charles and Dita Von Teese run neo-burlesque dance companies. Up until the 1970s the idea that there might be male stripers for women would have been considered prosperous, but then it happened. Not only did it happen, but there seems to still be an interest in it among women. According to this article by Pamela McClitock, 73% of the audience for the first Magic Mike (2012) movie was female and for the sequel Magic Mike XXL (2015) the audience was 96% female. See here: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/box-office-terminator-genisys-magic-806707/. Here is a video (6 minutes) showing six male stripers on the Dutch show “Holland’s Got Talent.” (Only go down to “short shorts.”) The disagreement among the four judges - two women, a straight male and a gay male is interesting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpI4pWRIzEs. Pole dancing is considered a sport as well as entertainment. Here is a video (3 minutes) the title of which translated into English is “Carlos from Brazil in Miss Pole Argentina 2012, Category Men 1st Place.” (Wears “short shorts.”) HIs strength is impressive and the performance along with the music is sensitive: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FerVRgeDido. Tom,

With technical innovations come new occupations and a relatively new occupation is computer coding and since one can talk about writing a computer code I decided to add this post to the topic of Women and Writing. Plus I feel the information in this post is pertinent. One because of the lack of women in STEM and two because it deals with the addressing of a common stima, taboo and a source of unnecessary shame for girls and women. This post will be about two young women, who are computer coders (programers) Sophie Houser and Andrea Gonzales, who, as teenagers developed, wrote the code for, Tampon Run, a computer game in which a female character throws tampons at menstrual shamers, tampon haters, male characters. Here is a video of the young women giving a TED talk in which they first speak about their own experiences and then talk about the lack of women computer coders (7 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJUIX-pLoVk. This second video shows the young women talking about the game they created and the book they wrote, Girl Code - Gaming, Going Viral and Getting it Done (2 ½ minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uubiZQYQ0U. Sophie Houser and Andrea Gonzales meet while at a “Girls Who Code” summer program . See here for the Girls Who Code website: https://girlswhocode.com/. According to what I have read, many girls throughout the world miss school during their periods and it appears that many times this is due to menstrual shame and the inability to obtain menstrual products. These links are to keep me honest, so that those who doubt my claims can check them. (India and Kenya, Africa, Globally and In General.) But this is not only in less developed nations. According to this article “nearly 1 in 5 American Girls have missed school due to lack of period protection” In the USA and according to Teen Vogue “Researchers for Always, a menstrual product company, found that of 500 girls aged 10 to 18 polled [in the UK], 7% had skipped school because of their period and lack of access to products.” A solution to girls missing school because of a lack of access to period products would be to provide them for free at schools. What adds to the problem is that according to a 2019 article by Natasha Bach “35 of the 50 US states charge a Tampon Tax,” that is tampons are treated as a luxury by those states. (See here: https://www.yahoo.com/now/35-states-u-still-charge-170021575.html.) Then there is the issue of menstrual shame, something that Sophie and Andrea are fighting against. See here: https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/03/1034131. I remember seeing in a National Lampoon magazine a cartoon showing a woman President starting a nuclear war because she was menstruating and I thought it was particularly strange given that, at least in our current society, men are much more likely to engage in irrational, violent or criminal behavior than women are. There is a book called “The Red Badge of Courage” about war and a bloody wound. Well menstrual bleeding is a red badge of honor since it is the result of women ovulating and without women ovulating there would be no new humans. There seems to be at least one culture that honors the beginning of menstrual bleeding. According to this site: https://www.friendsofunfpa.org/left-in-the-dark-how-period-taboos-put-women-and-girls-at-risk/, “ In Sri Lanka, for example, girls have a poopunitha neerathu vizha [puberty function] when they begin menstruating. The party is akin to a Sweet 16, Bat Mitzvah, or Quinceañera celebration and includes ceremonies, gifts, and the girl’s family and community.” Thinking about euphemisms for words involving menstruation and menstrual products. The term sanitary pads or hygiene products seem to me (maybe because I am a man) harmful as they suggest, incorrectly as I understand it, that there is something necessarily unsanitary or unhygienic about menstrual blood. Then there is the phrase that starts with “She is on the . . . “ that I see as being insulting. Others I feel are somewhat cute, but evasive. I remember seeing a movie set in the 1920s where menstrual pads were called “mice beds” and in the movie Grease when Rizzo said “I feel like a defective typewriter” and explained “I skipped a period.” Tom PS, From my experience I have found that the people on Ballet Alert are always kind and respectful of my feelings unlike some on other websites I have contributed to. I don’t expect everyone to agree with me and I appreciate and learn from respectful disagreements. So, I thank the members and the administrators of Ballet Alert for this.

Recently I came across an article with the headline “Geena Davis reveals she once lost out on a role because a male actor 20 years older than her said she was ‘too old’ to play his love interest.” See here: Geena Davis Article. Geena Davis is now 65 years old. The article doesn’t say who the male actor was or what the movie was, but statistics show not only a bias against actresses, but in particular older actresses. This table reflecting the number of words spoken by actresses and actors is compiled by information found at the following link. The percent is the percentage of words spoken by actresses or actors for each age group and the numbers are the amount in millions of words spoken by each age group. Age group Actresses Actors Under 21 8% 5M 4% 6M 22 to 31 38% 21M 20% 28M 32 to 41 32% 18M 32% 44M 42 to 65 20% 11M 39% 55M 65 + 3% 2M 5% 7M Total 56M 140M See here for data and then scroll down to “Percent of Dialogue by Actors’ Age, among 2,000 screenplays, all genres, all years” https://pudding.cool/2017/03/film-dialogue/ Notice that according to that website actresses aged 65 and more have the worst of worlds as there are fewer actresses than actors, but also because the roles there are for actresses tend to go to younger actresses. Because I like to look at the positive side, here are some very good actresses who are close to or over the age of 65, Sally Fields born November 6, 1946 is a very good actress. I particularly liked her in My Name is Doris (2015), she was 69 at the time of the film and her “love interest” was 35. Tyne Daly born February 21, 1946, also 69 at the time of release of the film, co-starred. Goldie Hawn born November 21, 1945 was in the 2017 film Snatched when she was 72. The Studio originally didn’t want Goldie in the film, but Amy Schumer insisted and even threatened to quit if Goldie was not cast. The Book Club (2018) starred Jane Fonda (age 81), Diane Keaton, (age 72), Candice Bergen (age 69) and Mary Seenburgen (age 65). The average age for the 5 male love interests, as I remember who they were, was 69, while the average for the 4 female stars was 78. Ages in 2018. Queen Bees (2021) starred Ellen Burstyn (age 89), Ann-Margret (age 80), Jane Curtin (age 74) and Loretta Devine (age 72). I was very impressed with Ellen Burstyn’s acting. She was 8 years younger than her character's love interest in the film. The TV show The Golden Girls (1985 to 1992) stared (with ages in 1985) Betty White (63), Bea Arthur (63), Rue McClanahan (51) and Estelle Getty (62). Betty White, recently passed away, 17 days before her 100 birthday I liked the TV show Mom (2013 to 2021). Not only was it funny, but also had a serious side dealing with women in alcoholism and drug addiction recovery and the five stars were all women. The oldest of the women, Mimi Kennedy was 65 or just about when the show premiered. Many of the “mature” female characters portrayed by the actresses listed above, in the films and shows listed above, show interest in romance and sex and Mimi’s character Marjorie, was no exception. One episode had Marjorie watching gay male porn. I’ve been watching Grace and Frankie (2015 to 2021) on Netflix, with my wife. Currently Jane Fonda (Grace) is 84 and Lily Tomlin (Frankie) is 82. The actors playing their character’s ex-husband are both younger than the female stars. I like that the two women, the two title characters, started off disliking each other intensely, but then grew together to care deeply about each other. The mature female characters in this show also show interests in sex. Other older actresses still going strong are Judi Dench (age 87), Maggie Smith (87) and the baby Helen Mirren (76). Dame Judi Dench is currently filming in Allelujah, Dame Maggie Smith is to be in Downton: Abbey A New Era and Dame Helen Mirren is to be in Golda. In 2010 at age 65 Helen Mirren portrayed Prospera, (a female Propero) the title role in the Tempest and in 2003 at age 58 as a woman who posed nude in Calendar Girls. Julia was a groundbreaking TV sitcom (1968 to 1971) starring Diahann Carroll (b, in the Bronx on July 17, 1935) in the title role character. This is a worthwhile show to note even though the title character was only 33 at the time the show came out. It was about a Black, young mother, whose husband had died in the Vietnam War and who was working as a nurse. This show did not shy away from racial issues, it didn’t stereotype Blacks and Julia was presented as a hardworking, responsible, caring mother of a young boy. Here is a video of the first episode (26 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77Pc-J9ofgk. It deals with racial discrimination in a responsible manner and in addition to being funny, also is emotional. Tears started to come to my eyes in a number of places while watching it. Tom,

Interesting point Helene. I don’t know a lot about Flamenco. Such a “teasing” at the end of a sorrowful dance would add fun to it - sort of a musical “wink” saying “I will nonetheless get by. A favorite piece of music I associate with Flamenco is Habanera from “Carmen '' although it's my understanding that the music, in some form, existed before the opera. Tom,

This article from the Smithsonian magazine is entitled “Ancient Women Artists May Be Responsible for Most Cave Art - Previously most researchers assumed that the people behind these mysterious artworks must have been men, but they were wrong.” Rachel Nuwer, the author of the article, goes on to note that “Since cave art often depicts game species, a subject near and dear to hunters, most researchers have assumed that the people behind this mysterious artwork must have been male. But new research suggests that’s not right: when scientists looked closely at a sample of hand stencils, a common motif in cave art, they concluded that about three-quarters were actually drawn by women.” See here for the article: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/ancient-women-artists-may-be-responsible-for-most-cave-art-1094929/. In the article it is noted that a modern sample was 60 percent accurate, which is better than guesswork and I don’t know if it can be assumed that tens of thousands of years ago a teenage boy’s two favorite topics were big powerful animals and naked ladies. Girls seem to be more interested in riding horses than boys are and horses are big powerful animals and if we found pictures of naked gentlemen would it make sense that they were made by girls because naked gentlemen are one of teenage girl’s two favorite topics? It seems to me that people tend to make arguments that support what they are used to and we are used to there being more male than female artists in museums and galleries. Not quite as old as the oldest cave art is the “Venus of Willendorf” (see here: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e3/A_female_Paleolithic_figurine%2C_Venus_of_Willendorf_Wellcome_M0000440.jpg) dated 24,000 to 22,000 BCE. It is not known whether this statuette or 40 similar ones, mostly of female figures, was produced by a female or male artist or even why they were produced. That is, with current knowledge they were just as likely to have been done by a female artist than by a male artist. Just because we are currently more familiar with male professional artists doesn’t mean Venus was created by a male. This is an important point. A possible reason given for its creation was that it was seen as a fertility or mother goddess. The features of the figure emphasize reproduction and child care. In my opinion in a culture where there is no bias for male or female leadership, unlike our own, people would be more likely to imagine a creator “god” as being female, as a mother “god” instead of a father “god,” as women are more obviously creators of life and that the members of earlier cultures may not have fully understood the role males play in reproduction. Here is a link to a Roman fresco of a woman painting a statue of Priapus from the Casa del Chirurgo [House of the Surgeon] in Pompeii. What is most interesting about this is that it depicts a female artist at work and is clear evidence that there were women artists at the time of Pompeii’s destruction (79 CE). See here: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/Pompeii_-_Casa_del_Chirurgo_-_Paintress_-_MAN.jpg. In myth Priapus was a minor Greek fertility god and an apotropaic symbol meaning “supposedly having the power to avert evil influences or bad luck,” so in a way the female artist is painting a good luck charm. Considering how he is normally (always?) depicted, it's not likely that his image would be found in a modern house, but was quite common in Pompeii. Next is a detail from a red figure kalpis (water jar) showing a female artist applying decoration to the handles of a volute krater, dated 470 to 450 BCE. Clicking on the arrow to the left will show more of the water jar. This shows the existence of women artists, at least in the decoration of pottery, at that time. See here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/69716881@N02/37550586230/in/photostream/. This is a list of eight female artists from between the 6th century BCE to the 1st century CE. As the information on these artists is not always certain I feel it is better that one reads from the web pages listed at the bottom instead of me rewriting in my own words. Aristarete (dates unknown) Timarete (or Tamaris) (5th century BCE) Iaia of Cyzicus (1st century BCE) Eirene (1st century CE) Information on these women can be found here: https://greekamericangirl.com/four-ancient-greek-female-artists-you-never-knew-existed-because-they-never-taught-you-eirene-timarete-aristarete-iaia/ Irene Archos, the author of the web page reframed the question “‘Why haven’t there been more great women artists throughout Western history?” into ‘Why haven’t more women been considered great artists throughout Western history?’” Four other female artists from this time are: Kora (or Callirhoe) of Sicyon (650 BCE) Helena of Egypt (4th century BCE) Anaxandra (2nd century BCE) Olympia known by name only Information on them can be found here: https://honorthegods.tumblr.com/post/176297407861/women-artists-in-the-classical-mediterranean. Tom,

I am more interested in the similarities of cultures than the differences. For example cultures have various forms of music - there is a variety of songs, but all cultures have music, that is the similarity. Then there are more than 7000 languages, but there are also similarities among these languages so that they form into families. That is, languages within a family are similar. 65% of the world’s population speak languages that fall within the largest 2 families and 85% of the world’s population speak languages that fall within the largest 5 families. Furthermore, I tend to prefer songs sung in languages I do not understand, as then I enjoy the human voices as a musical instrument instead of something to intellectually understand. So, here I’ve posted videos of women singing in various languages (10), starting in North America and continuing westward around the world to New York City. The first is Jana Mashonee singing O Holy Night in Navajo. She was born on May 11, 1980 and is a Native-American of Lumbee and Tuscarora descent. Ms Mashonee has been nominated twice for Grammy awards, has provided scholarships for Native and Aborigial youths through her program Jana’s Kids and co-authored a Young Adult book, American Indian Story - The Adventures of Shakona, the story of a girl and an ancient secret. Jana’s album, American Indian Christmas, contains ten Christmas songs, each in a different Native American language. Here is Jana Mashonee singing O Holy Night (6 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2OPVhpsemQ. Miyuki Ishikawa was born in Honolulu on February 24,1982. Here she sings a song in Japanese (5 minutes long) entitled Love Song. Below the video are the lyrics to the song in Japanese, written in Romaji (roman letters) and in English: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVfOZUweFR4. This video is entitled Beautiful Chinese Music [6] Traditional [Meng Jiangnu]. I don’t understand the lyrics and while the video suggest a happy ending, Meng Jiangnu is an tragic ancient Chinese folktale dating back more than 2000 years, see here for the story: https://goglobalnc.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/theworldofchinese.com-The-Legend-of-Meng-Jiangnu.pdf. Tưởng Mộng Tiệp is either the singer or the actress in the video or possibly she takes on both roles. Here is the almost 5 minute long video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2D-l2r3oY0. Next we have Amika Shail singing, in Hindi, the song Boi Do Na Zara, which might mean “Please tell me” or something like that. If anyone can translate the title kindly let me know. She was born in Howrah, West Bengal, India on November 12, 1992. Here is the 2 ½ minute long video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dG1eXTghJ20. All I know about the following video is that it is entitled American girl singing Arabic and that it is 5 minutes long. I do not know the name of the singer. See here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYWFaiyAHO8. Hebrew and Arabic are closely related as they both belong to the same language family. Here is Yuval Dayan (יובל דיין) singing Ask for the Water (תשאל את המים) in Hebrew. Yunal Dayan was born in Ashdod, Israel on December 28, 1994. See here for the 3 minute video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPmOiRA5WrY. Beloe Zlato (White Gold) is an all female singing group founded in 2011. Here are four of the members singing (a cappella) За тихой рекой (Behind the Quiet River). In my imagination the women are traveling a long distance on the train, behind the quiet river, through the snowy landscape of Russia - beautiful. See here for the 3 minute video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANKjat2bj94. This link https://beloezlato.ru/page/artisty.html is to the group’s website and six portraits of current members. They are wearing what appear to be beautiful Russian and Ukrainian head coverings. Moving the cursor over a picture gives the singer’s name and for five of the six clicking on the picture gives a short biography for the woman. Four of these five were born in Russia and one in Ukraine. Those five women were all born within the years 1993 to 1997. Bulelwa Mikutukana is a singer and songwriter who was born in East London, South Africa on November 9, 1988 and goes by the professional name of Zahara. Her native Language is Xhosa, a Bantu language closely related to Zulu. She sings in both Xhosa and English. Here is a 3 ½ minute video of her singing the song Ndiza, which means “I Will” in Xhosa: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1CMWnxfFys. This next song is sung in Yiddish by Talila. Talila was born in France on February 3, 1946. The title Belz, Mayn Shtetele Belz translated seems to mean ”Beltz, my little town Belz.” It is about the memories of a childhood home town. Two lines are: Beltz, my little town! The little house where I spent my childhood! The poor little room where I used to laugh with other children! The other lines, both in English and Yiddish are below the video. See the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88pCBld3TVk. Ginger Rogers (b. On July 16, 1911 in Independence, Missouri) is my favorite all around entertainer. Here she sings We’re In the Money, from the 1933 movie Gold Diggers of 1933, in Pig Latin. It seems that during a break in filming, Ginger, just for fun sung in pig latin, when someone heard her they decided to put it in the film. The irony in the movie’s plot was that right after singing We're in the Money, the musical, within the movie, was shut down and the chorus was all put out of work. 1933 was the height of the Great Depression, with one-quarter of the nation unemployed. See here for the 1 minute video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUBftlqlF3w. Tom,

On Pointe, first, thank you very much for the link, I enjoyed it. "Nobody loves me but my mother - and she could be jivin' too!" is a great line. There are many characteristics to The Blues and the way I see it there may be no ideal Blues song that contains all of them, but the more characteristics a song may contain the closer to this ideal they can be considered to be, but still be The Blues. So, you’re correct Blues songs can be sexy, joyful and certainly humorous. When I first came to Ballet Alert I asked what ballet is. Since then I've begun to feel that an “ideal” ballet has certain characteristics, but not all “ballets” may have all of those characteristics and some “non ballets’ may contain some of those characteristics. I think of Blues music as being sung throughout, but there are instrumental Blues. For the sake of discussion (this is for everyone), while I enjoyed this B.B. King song and I felt happy listening to it. I prefer female vocalists, if only because through my life I’ve heard so many more male vocalists, because there are so many more male singers and I am now biased against them. Also, thank you Dirac for mentioning “Elite Syncopations.” I haven't seen it, but I enjoy Rags and in particular Joplin’s music so much I believe I would enjoy it. While there is a historical connection between Ragtime and the Blues as seen in the term Rhythm and Blues and that’s why I wrote about both in this one topic, Rags tend to be instrumentals and upbeat (joyous), while I think of Blues as tending to be sung and, with exceptions, tending toward heartbreak and sorrows. Tom,

Ragtime can be considered to be the “Rhythm” part of “Rhythm and Blues” (R&B) and of course “Blues” is the “Blues” part. Like Ragtime, Blues developed in the African-American community in the southeastern states and while I’ve read that it originated during the last third of the 19th century, it seems to me that its roots go back to to 1619, the date of the first African-American community in the American British Colonies and even further back to Africa itself. The use of the word “blue” to denote saddest, may have been European in origin, possibly from the bruised skin being “black and blue” (see here https://wordhistories.net/2017/08/18/origin-of-blues/) or West African as blue indigo was used in “death and mourning ceremonies where the mourner’s clothes were dyed blue to indicate misfortune and suffering” (see here https://santafe.com/a-history-of-blues-music/). My feeling is that red is associated with excitement, activity, liveliness and something one must be alert to, because of this blue being near the opposite end of the rainbow could have become associated with depression, sadness and inactivity. In any case “The Blues” is predominantly about heartbreak and sorrow although it’s not the only form of song which has that theme. According to the BBC Music magazine website “The main features of blues include: specific chord progressions, a walking bass, call and response, dissonant harmonies, syncopation, melisma and flattened ‘blue’ notes. Blues is known for being microtonal, using pitches between the semitones defined by a piano keyboard.” (See here: https://www.classical-music.com/features/articles/blues-music/). Further, according to this webpage (https://www.leadguitarlessons.com/guitar-lessons/scales/the-blues-scale.htm) “The blues scale is a 6 note scale that comes from the minor pentatonic [five note] scale. The reason the blues scale is different from other scales is that the note that’s added to the minor pentatonic scale to create the blues scale does not naturally occur in the key it’s being played in.” Twelve Bar Blue is a form that I particularly like. This is a lyrical form where the second four bars are for the most part a repeat of the first four and where the last four bars are in effect an answer to the first eight. As in Memphis Minnie and Kansas Joe McKoy’s When the Levee Break (1929): If it keeps on rainin’, levee’s goin’ to break If it keeps on rainin’, levee’s goin’ to break And the water gonna come in, have no place to stay This 12 Bar Blues song was inspired by the tragic Mississippi flood of 1927. Many people may be more familiar with the Led Zeppelin version. There is also a 7 minute vision by Zepparella, an all female band. Since I prefer female vocalists, that is my favorite version. See here (7 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xH-_9cwdLug. Christopher “W.C,” Handy was born in Muscle Shoals, Alabama on November 16, 1873. He was an early, influential figure in the evolution of the Blues genre. Interestingly Handy was born just 5 or 6 years after Scott Joplin, both to parents who had been enslaved and the birth places of each, Texarkana for Joplin and Muscle Shoals for Handy, (approximately 400 miles apart) that is East Texas and Alabama, can be seen as the western and eastern edges of where modern music was being incubated during the later part of the 19th century, with Saint Louis and New Orleans being the northern and southern points and Memphis, Tennessee being more or less the center. This link goes to a recording (3 minutes) of W.C. Handy’s 1914 Memphis Blues. The music, an instrumental, was recorded in 1914. I assume that Handy is playing along with the Victor Military Band, but that is not certain from the information given: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGqBmlZR3dc. A second major, early figure in the Blues genre was Bessie Smith. She was born on April 15, 1894 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. At age 11 or so she was singing on street corners for money. Later on she performed in tent shows, traveling minstrel shows and in vaudeville. Her first recording Down Hearted Blues was in 1923. In the following, 3 minute video, she sings Saint Louis Blues “. . . with Orchestra (Louis Armstrong -- cornet . . .:” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rd9IaA_uJI. It is not clear if the recording was made in 1925 or 1935. I like 12 Bar Blues. By the way the picture at the beginning of the last video is by the artist Tamara de Lempicka (b. 1898 in Poland). Tom,