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Xena

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About Xena

  • Birthday 08/04/1975

Registration Profile Information

  • Connection to/interest in ballet** (Please describe. Examples: fan, teacher, dancer, writer, avid balletgoer)
    Adult Ballet student
  • City**
    Manchester, UK.
  1. I have to ask this question, naive as it may seem, especially after having danced ballet for absolutely ages. I was having a discussion with a friend who is a musician, and we were talking about the French language and I ended up talking about how ballet is expressed in French terms. So I rattled off the following: barre, adage, allegro, petit allegro, grand allegro as examples of what I do in class. At which point my friend, rightly pointed out that allegro is Italian. I am now confused as to why? I know adage is French and that petit and grand are French, but allegro is Italian, isn't it? The French for allegro is allègre, but we definitely don't use that term. Could somebody please explain? as I couldn't. Thanks Jeanette
  2. Well, I am from the UK, born in London, cor blimey gov'nor. I am half Hungarian...so I have Hungarian blood in me, and I spent two years living in San Francisco. So any other Hungarians whole, half or quarter out there? in Balletalertdom? :grinning:
  3. I think it's because of Ballet Alert that...I have managed to keep in touch with all my ballet pals on both sides of the world. There is always ballet alert on any computer that has an internet connection, and its like a favourite security blanket. I think it's because of Ballet Alert that...I realise how much I love ballet. I think it's because of Ballet Alert that...I am in a continuing quest to find adult ballet classes no matter where in the world I am. I think it's because of Ballet Alert that...I have such lovely friends such as LolaDoggy, Beckster, Mr Robin and Skippy (but i knew her before). I think it's because of Ballet Alert that...I know I am not alone in my ambition as an adult ballet dancer to try and do better and to become the best I can, despite not having that 'ideal ballet body..'
  4. Stave is the name for the five parallel (as Grace says '5-line music " ) , equally-spaced, horizontal lines. Also called a staff. Not sure what it is in French.... Jeanette
  5. Hi Susanne I have moved your post to the Discovering Ballet board as it is more suited to that forum:D I do agree with you, with regards to differences in dancers bodies, and yes probably none of those dancers would make it in the more prominent ballet corps of today, which I guess is a great loss, but times do change. Exactly when did the dancers body become so different, with my limited knowledge my answer would be Balanchine. I am sure if I did more research I would find it wasn't, hopefully someone on here can point the right way I know he chose dancers specifically for a certain look that he personally liked to see in a woman, and that made his visions come to life.
  6. Oh and get hold of books on choreographers and by choreographers. Their biographys and autobiographys. Its great to actually get near enough inside their head, I found it gave me such a boost Try second hand bookshops and libraries.
  7. Get a group of good ballet dancing friends together and choreograph a dance for them. It only has to start off small, a couple of minutes at first, then a few more dances. Try and video them when they are ready to perform, and try and get them to be performed at the end of class perhaps? but working hard during ballet class and aspiring to be the best dancer you can be, really absorbing what your teacher says and watching others in class, the way they dance, how they dance, picking up little things like that as well as learning how your teacher teaches and choreographs, the best and worst of it, will all help you. But the most important thing, I think, is having a core group of very good dancers to work with, even just two. You need them to be good enough to understand what you want and to give you that beautiful extension to second, or to be able to do very fast steps when motivated! and to just watch them improvise.
  8. If you could ask any question to any ballet dancer/choreographer/ballet composer living or dead what would it be? I would for sure ask Balanchine " Did you really train your cat to peform jetés and tours en l'air?" Jeanette
  9. There has been a Madame Butterfly? How did that one turn out? I would have thought Don Quioxte would have made a great opera or operetta at least. And yes, Ari, why can't the score of an opera be adapted for use in ballet and vice versa. Classical music is adapted to an extent when it is used for a ballet, do people complain about that. Ok its not as drastically changed as taking out the vocals and replacing them with instruments. I guess its similar to someone taking a great classic novel and adapting that for screenplay. In some cases it has worked and in others it hasn't. La Boheme seems a great tragic ballet waiting to be choreographed though. Yep, I would do that and The Magic Flute in my virtual ballet world
  10. oh good grief, there I am reminding people who post threads to read past messages, and then I go and post one without reading them! slap slap. Feel free to move/delete this
  11. I love ballet, and I love the great classics such as Swan Lake and Giselle and The Sleeping Beauty, and the big N (too early to mention that one yet!), but I sometimes long for a new, fairytale/theatrical/magnificent ballet to appear. Then I was listening to The Magic Flute and I read the story as I listened and I thought 'wow, now that would make a great ballet'..why has no one turned this story into a ballet? Or have they? and if not why aren't operas turned into ballets and vice versa, they all contain great story lines. Afterall, books are turned into films and vice versa, why is there no crossing over with regards to opera and ballet, when most Opera houses have ballet companies associated with them? Probably an extremely naive question, but had to know why not? Jeanette
  12. here here Watermill. But we also have to accept everyone is entitled to their opinion, and its up to the individual to seek more knowledge in order to see whether they want to change that opinion or not. Experience plays a great part in this. If you liken the great art of ballet to the great art of music, have you ever heard of anyone even attempting to describe music as a sport? I haven't, (which doesn't mean that it hasn't been?). Ballet dancers use their bodies as instruments, musicians use themselves (opera singers) or their fingers/toes whatever as an extension of theirselves. Have you ever done barre work and not thought of your body as an instrument being finely tuned? and fine arts, is that a sport? here artists again use their bodies as an extension of themselves in order to portray a particular emotion at that time. Gymnastics is a sport, as I watch the floor exercises, I can feel nothing about the individual, his/her emotions. Yes they perform great athletic feats,but I do not shed tears. Some of the great ballet dancers are capable of emoting tears. I cannot say that of any sport (cheerleading/ice skating/cricket/rugby) I have ever watched.
  13. Xena

    Xiomara Reyes

    Xiomarais her name Medora , and from what little I have seen of her, I think she is so sweet and beautiful when she dances. I think she comes from Cuba?? But who said she was annoying? what as a dancer? if so in what role? or as a person? Jeanette
  14. Cell phone jamming systems have been tried http://asia.cnn.com/2001/BUSINESS/asia/03/...a.cellphonejam/ but its illegal in the US to use a jamming device. Mobile phone etiquette is the answer...but obviously only the conscientious actually make an effort in this area. Hands up who doesn't own a cell phone? I don't..and I'm able to live my life effectively.
  15. Again, I would say no, because it is subjective. You have a panel of judges marking you on how your dance felt to them. Do they take marks off for each time you wobble?, or don't turnout properly? these things you cannot measure empirically. If your dance inpsired them then you will win, if it didn't then you won't. How can you define inspiration?
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