Pamela Moberg

From you regular Nobel Festivities special reporter: I have just seen on TV the award ceremony from Oslo, Norway. President Obama was awarded the prize by the Nobel Committee and received it, as it is termed: "From the hands of His Majesty the King". He received a gold medal weighing 196 grammes and a diploma originally made by the artist Wigeland. (The sculptor who is responsible for the Wigeland Park near Oslo), The ceremony included the pianist Lang Lang playing Chopin, Esperanza Spalding sang and Wycleaf Jean was also in attendance. President Obama held a wonderful Nobel lecture - he is really the most fantastic speaker and he was widely applauded. The First Lady was stylish as usual. The President had brought with him an entourage of 700 people and the security arrangements were massive. This was Norway and this evening there will be the festivities in Stockholm which include physics, economy, chemistry and literature. Your regular Nobel reporter will report from that as well later tonight.

Duffster - there is indeed a good respectful docu about Nurejev and I have it At the moment I am in the process of changing literally everything in the way of computer - broadband - all electronic systems in the house so this is just a very brief post to let you know. I will look for it and give all details when I can lay my hands on it. Cant remember if I have already posted about it, though. I totally agree with you about the docu "Margot" and I suppose you mean the very long one. it was well over two hours.

Normally I moan loudly about the fact that the Swedish TV show ancient ballet programs (if they show anything at all) and that the culture channel show equally ancient stuff (in that case it might be understandable, they probably buy cheap sale packets at TV fairs). But I want to thank all previous posters for their views - this stuff is not worth waiting for five or six years for. I can relax and realise that I have missed nothing at all. All this said sarcastically. But one a more serious note. I am flabbergasted that some guys got their heads together, and got in their own opinion the very great idea to drag two persons' names through the mud, knowing that same two people cannot stand up and defend themselves. OK, it might not be that bad, but from your posts I gather that truth was not strictly adhered to. IMO, it would have been better to make a screen play based on the characters of MF and RN. Most probably I will not bother to see it when it comes along.

Probably the Kniaseff method would not work for everybody, but there is definitely something in it. When I was studying in London I met a few girls who had all studied in Geneva and they swore by the method. I never did it myself - wish I had - but I could clearly see great benefits, especially when it came to adagio and placing. For jumps and turns there were no such pronounced benefits, but of course good placing is good for everything. Why is that method not more widely spread? I think that today no one even mentions it.

This is indeed fantastic. Erik Näslund, curator of the Swedish Dance Museum, has written a biography of Rolf de Mare. Who is Rolf de Mare? I can almost hear you shouting across the ocean Well, de Mare was a Swedish Diaghilev, or thought he was. Well, both companies didnt survive for long, yet, both made a lasting inprint on the dance scene. There are indeed similarities between the two companies . I have put the book on my wish list for Christmas and I am sure I will get it. (Otherwise I wll buy it for myself ) I will want the book in Swedish - always better to read an original text if you can - but I learnt that it will be published both in English and French. Will tell you all about it when I have read it.

I just read an obituary in a very respected Swedish newspaper saying that Madame Söderström died from advanced dementia. How terribly sad and unfortunate. I will not here get into any medical details, but I happen to have personal experience of that disease and it is truly horrible - it is hard to know how much the victim suffers towards the end - but for the family it is indeed devastating and terrifying to see a loved one slip away, and then death can only come as a relief. I did not know this and the news was shatterring. However, she enjoyed a very long and glorious career.

Elisabeth Söderström, a much beloved Swedish opera singer has passed away. The Guardian has an article expressing her greatness much better than I could ever hope to do: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/nov/2...rstrom-obituary

A student at the Swedish National Ballet school - Ivan Palenskis. 15, will compete in Prix de Lausanne. The competition will be held end of January 2010. Lots of Best Wishes and Good Luck

Well, Dr. Coppelius - I gather that you werent too pleased with that evening of dance we were treated to so graciously by the Swedish State Television. As I am no lover of Ek I did not like the pas de deux with Laguna and Baryshnikov - two OAPs doing a stint to make some cash, or what? That Ballet Boyz stuff was interesting, but not being a fan of Wheeldon either I wasnt rolling on the floor. The outcome of the evening was that I had my DVD going, but in the end I doubt if I will burn any discs.

Yes, Nanarina, that is a good idea in my opinion. Donating to a museum or some research place if the object is of some importance. I myself donated an object to the Dance Museum in Stockholm, it was an ethnic object. Also, upon the death of my mother I donated some stuff to the Maritime Museum - my father was a sea captain. Having worked in a museum myself (British Museum Nat. Hist, no less) I also know that museums have too many objects to display, so dont hope to visit the museum in question to find your stuff prominently displayed! But sometimes they put on special exhibitions and dig into their stores to find suitable objects. Well, anything is better than land fill, there is too much of that already - I am an absolute devil at sorting rubbish!

Argyle was a great beauty and this photograph shows her impeccable profile. Just compared with a few old books I have.

Interesting stuff about memorabilia. Yes, I do have an autographed photo of Margot Fonteyn - by Houston Rogers, costume of SB. Very beautiful, I have it framed on my wall. Think I will hang on to it. Also I have an autographed photo of Svetlana Beriosova which I will keep forever. Also own the three books by Baron - Baron at the ballet - Baron Encore and Sadlers Wells Ballet. Interesting photo documents and will hang on to those as well, unless I get an offer that I cant refuse. But, I do have a program from Festival Ballet, late fifties (do not have it handy right now) with autographs of entire company including guest artists Alexandra Danilova and Michael Maule. That is something one could sell. OK, to be quite honest, the Danilova one - fantastic legs and all - is removed and framed. Want to keep that one. There is another take on this - I am no longer a youngster and I will not be able to take the stuff with me - children might think at one's demise "what kind of junk is this" and dispatch it to the nearest trash can. Therefore, by selling it one can make somebody else happy. Sorry, didnt mean to sound morbid, but those are the facts of life

Well, it has been announced and not that I am rolling on the floor with joy, but this was a bit better than previous years. This great event will take place next Saturday. Half an hour interview with Svetlana Zakharova - will get my DVD going Netherlands Dans Theater - DVD will take a rest Ballet Boyz at the Bolshoi - never seen them so naturally curious New ballet by Mats Ek with Baryshnikov and Ana Laguna - only seen photos of it so it is possible DVD will snooze "White nights" with Hines and Baryshnikov - seen that before.

Yes, Papeetepatrick, I do agree with every word you say. Problem with von Trier - my very own opinion, this - is that he thinks he is above such mundane things. Well it just isnt like that...

Remember him well. He had some question which I could answer. How tragic, he was still a young man. RIP

I have just learnt that Lars von Trier has been awarded a prize from the Nordic Council for his film "Antichrist". As my Jamaican friend in London used to say: "Weird, man, real weird". Well, one cannot but agree. Now, in all fairness, I havent seen the film, nor do I intend to, - but I have seen short clips of it on TV. Weirdness for the sake of weirdness, I would say and I will definitely not sit through that one. Is it art? Well, von Trier himself said it was great art when he was being interviewed.

Huh, saw that program last week and I have it safely on DVD It was good IMO. Of course, here we must take the facts into account. After having seen it I made the remark that it was rather like seeing another program about The last of the Romanovs. There are only so many film clips to go around, and there are only so many news reels etc. It is more or less a question of how you put them together and who you interview. I do have a few Nurejev DVD's in my box and I sat there thinking, Aha, now comes that bit. Seen it all before. Now dont get me wrong, I am not complaining, it was very good and well made and I really recommend viewing it. Here (in Sweden) I saw it on a commercial arts channel called Axess of which I am very fond. Trouble with this Axess is that they are apparently not rolling in money and mostly buy up some fairly old stuff like concerts by the Vienna Philharmonic from 1995 or so. Yet, I am happy, Axess is my sole source of ballet on TV. I can assure you all that you will enjoy it - especialy those bits from his youth - so if you have a chance, dont miss whatever you do.

The first book was called "The girl with the dragon tattoo". Here there are some problems with the film title - I believe there are different titles in England and the US. However, read the book which I liked, also saw the movie that I liked. Second book was called "The girl who played with fire" - same title for book and movie. Saw it the other day and if anything it was even better than the first one. I really recommend it Good acting, swift action, good dialog (at least in Swedish - translators can of course make a mess) and very violent indeed so not for the fainthearted. Couldnt honestly say that there were any tedious drawn out stuff at all. Bergman fans would probably wince at the whole concept, but I must admit that I enjoyed the movie immensely and I will not divulge anything here, but leave it to you to discover for yourselves. Third book was called "The girl who kicked the hornet's nest" and the movie will have the same title. It will be premiered around Christmas. Looking forward to that! By the way, the original plan was to only show the first movie in a theater, the remaining two were made for TV only. Seeing that first movie was a real blockbuster, the following two were put on general release. Very good indeed, because such movies need big screens. Noomi Rapace. the actress (hitherto fairly unknown) is absolutely perfect for the role. Wonder how long she will remain in Sweden - Hollywood will come knocking on her door any day now.

Thanks, Bart, for the news of the book about "The Pearl: A True Tale of Forbidden Love in Catharine the Great's Russia". When I was in St. Petersburg I saw in a museum two coffins with gold lids and they were the tombs of Sheremetev and his beloved and I can only assume that they contained the remains Kovalyova and himself. I will certainly order the book, read the reviews and they were not exactly rave, but never mind. I am very interested in the the Sheremetev as I remembered we had a descendant of that family at the theater in Gothenburg (and our teacher was a former princess Golitzyn). The wings of history... Now a question: When I order books I usually do it thru Amazon UK, well, for me it is closer, cheaper, simpler. But in these cases, do BalletAlert benefit or must one order from the US?

I fear that President Obama will not say anything at all in Stockholm as he wont even go there In the first post maybe, I explained that the Nobel Prize is divided between Norway and Sweden. History lesson follows: Until 1905 Norway and Sweden were one country, then they broke that union and it was decided that Sweden would take care of the science and literary prizes, whereas Norway would award the Peace Prize. That is why there is a bit of confusion But as he will be so close by, I think everybody would like a visit from the President, but it seems unlikely at the moment.

May I ask you folks, - you say you are quoting My Theatre Life. I have a copy (in two volumes) of "Mit teaterliv - erindringer og tidsbilleder". Yes, I read Danish. I only speak it though when I have had enough to drink, but my reading is always OK. I have learnt that translations are not always to be trusted, but when it comes to languages you dont speak, you simply have to resort to translations, be they good or plain awful.

Thank you so much for that, Dirac. Under no circumstances whatever did I have the desire to provoke a political debate with the pros and the cons or the for or the antis. Personally I am pretty disinterested in politics, I merely like to keep up with the news of what is happening in this world. By this I want to say that I have a genuine interest in world affairs, but little interest in local affairs. If the neighbour's outdoor loo burns down to the ground I couldnt care less. Hope you see my point. But, it must be said, I feel rather delighted that my initial post provoked such an avalanche of posts. Good, it shows that people are concerned about their lives and wellbeing and that is just fine. isn't it? The outcome of all this will be fine, I am sure, and on a lighter note I would like to offer some advice to the First Lady. I know she is fond of dressing well. Early December in Norway will be cold and possibly snowy, but not excessively so, indoor temperatures will be comfortable. so she neednt bring any outfits for arctic conditions. I think fun will be had by everyone and the welcome by the Norwegian people will be great

Sorry to sound like Queen Victoria - We are not amused. von Trier I am afraid is getting weirder and weirder just for the sake of it. I have not seen the movie, nor do I intend to spend my little hard earned cash on Mr. von Trier's infantile delusions. Have just seen part II of the "Millenium trilogy". When I have sorted out what the title of the movie would be in English - might not be the same in England and the US - I will write about it. Just a sneak preview here - yes, I liked what I saw!

Thank you Marga, for your reply. I do not in any way try to correct you, but people who are not familiar with the workings of the Nobel committee could be led to believe that Herta Muller was awarded the prize for her novel "Atemschaukel". This is not so, an author is awarded the prize for their collected works; the author's entire output is taken into consideration, a kind of life time achievement if you want to put it that way. That is also the reason why the prize is always awarded to people of a fairly advanced age, and in the circumstances Muller is regarded more or less as a sweet sixteen. A great many authors have been recommended for the prize but as they have only had one great work to their credit - although it might be a great book - they are not considered.

Dont know where to put this, but it certainly is an event of great magnitude It was just announced ten minutes ago (local time here) that President Obama has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Congratulations to all Americans.. Just a brief comment on the different Nobel Prizes here: The prizes for achievement in science and literature are awarded by Sweden, whereas the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded by Norway. There are some differences, but also some similarities. All prizes are presented by the King and in the presence of the Royal families, but the Norwegian ceremony is much simpler. No evening wear, no tiaras, no banquet. The event takes place in the daytime and is followed by a lunch hosted by the King and Queen.