Pamela Moberg

The Polar Prize (aka Nobel Prize in music) was announced this evening. American winners - again - Chuck Berry and the theater director Peter Sellars. Very pleased about Chuck Berry, I have been a great fan of him since I was a kid. Before he was famous, he toured Sweden in the fifties, playing band stands in municipal parks. I was on that circuit myself as a youngster and I can assure you that it is a very tough life. But Chuck Berry was a no nonsense guy, he hired a Volkswagen and drove around the country never complaining about the conditions. Peter Sellars' work I do not know much about, but no doubt he is a worthy recipient. The prize sum is not to be sneezed at either, one million SEK (Swedish crowns) per recipient. There will be a gala in August and H.M. the King will present the awards. Chuck Berry has already answered that he will attend - not bad, the guy is 86!

I have a copy of this book, it was first published in 1930 and then reprinted in 1977. It is a lovely little volume with many illustrations, very well worth having.

The very fine Spanish flamenco guitarist Paco de Lucia has passed away. A great artist, he did much to revive flamenco - I will treasure for ever meeting him in person while I was living in Spain.

I am very sad to know that Carbro is no longer with us - always kind and welcoming. As long as I have posted on this board - since 1999 - I have read her posts Unfortunately I never met her in person, but sometimes one gets this feeling: this person I would like as my best friend. That is just how I felt about Carbro. May she rest in peace. My condolences to her family.

I remember Sheilah O'Reilly well. In 1957 when I was a pupil at the ballet school of the opera house in Gothenburg, the late Leonid Massine was contracted to bring some dancers and stage some ballets, Les Sylphides and Gaite Parisienne amongst others. Ms. O'Reilly was one of those dancers, I remember her as a very lovely and friendly person. I think she was just recovering from some illness - believe that she had polio - and she was working her way back. I would really like to know what happened to her and if she could manage a career in ballet. Maybe Mathilde could throw some light on the subject.

This time of the year there are the European Ice Skating championships - this year held in Budapest, Hungary - to be followed by the World Championships. I have always looked forward to these occasions. Not so this year, the Swedish TV is not going to broadcast a single minute. One is reduced to watching Eurosport or some other sports channel which is only available for a fee. As I never ever watch any sports I feel it is too much to fork out hard earned cash for a few days - there is no such thing as pay per view, I would have to have a subscription for half a year. Is anybody watching the European championships? In that case I would be grateful for opinions, any new talent emerging? I do feel that I have been robbed of some good entertainment here!

Where I live in Sweden there is hardly any classical ballet to be seen live. The opera ballet of Gothenburg is totally modern, but there are usually guest performances once a year. Last Summer Dutch National Ballet visited and did Giselle. This years offering will be Swan Lake with the Portuguese National Ballet. The only reference I can find on Balletalert is from 2007 - much can have changed with a company in seven years. Are there any European posters who have seen this company and what can one expect? I would be grateful for any views as DD and I plan to attend.

When I was a kid I saw Margrethe Schanne live. Some soloists from the RDB used to visit Gothenburg every summer - they danced in a local concert hall so the surroundings were not ideal, no ballets as such, just solos and pas de deux. Yet, it was a wonderful experience and I remember those performances well, even if it was many years ago. The other dancers I saw were Inge Sand, Frank Schaufuss and Mona Vangsaae (parents of Peter S.) And also Kjeld Noack, husband of Margrethe Schanne. Not being a stamp collector. but I have the stamp that Anne mentions. Ballet stamps are fairly rare in this world, there are some fairly garish Chinese ones. Sweden did issue a stamp a few years ago showing Romeo and Juliet with Annelie Alhanko and Per Arthur Segerström.

I am always thrilled when ballet gets some recognition outside the closed ballet community. I hardly believed my eyes when I saw that Carlos Acosta has been created a Commander of the British Empire. That I can tell you is quite an achievement, OK, Sir Frederick Ashton was one, but he did not get it for dancing, nor did Sir Kenneth Macmillan. They both got their titles for services to dance. Monica Mason was created a Dame a few years ago for services to dance. Another choreographer who became a Dame this year was Gillian Lynne - she started as a dancer with the then Sadlers Wells Ballet. but soon turned to choreographing musicals - "Cats" is her creation. I remember her well when she came to Madame Nordi for class. It took her quite some time to get this recognition, but better late than never.

Every year I have written something about the Nobel Prize ceremony. It was yesterday and I do hope you all have seen something on TV. I did not, unfortunately. We had a storm and no electricity for five days (got by with a wood burning stove and candles). Alice Munro did not attend, but her prize was received by her daughter. Ms. Munro was not the only one not to attend, the Crown Princess had gone to South Africa for the memorial service of Nelson Mandela, and Princess Madeleine, Mrs. O'Neill, had to remain in N.Y. owing to her pregnancy. Still, there will be another glittering feast next year...

Answering Writer here: Yes, it is very common that teenagers marry in Russia. Why it is like that I don't know. It is certainly not to get away from parents, as many newly weds have to live with their in laws. Maybe it is just a local custom, like here in Sweden people tend to get married very late and first time mothers are getting older all the time - I think average age of a first mother here is about 35.

pherank, thank you for your kind comment, unfortunately I have never been to a Nobel function and I don't think I will get an invitation either. But must confess we have a tradition at home. On the day I always serve a very elaborate dinner, sometimes we have friends in, sometimes we are alone, but it is always the best of everything. Good heavens, you just cant sit there with something mundane and watch the TV! And I always dress up to the nines as well! If you are interested, there is a very good website - www.Nobelprize.org. Apart from historical facts and all the laureates, it also has menus from way back and a gallery of what H.M. the Queen has been wearing over the years. I am more impressed by the jewels than by the gowns, I must admit. The jewels. by the way, are not hers, but belong to the state.

RIP Ms. Lessing. A very fine writer, a long time now since I read her. She did not attend the ceremony in Stockholm, but I remember a very interesting interview the Swedish TV had done with her in her home in London. Ms. Munro is not going to attend either, her reason being that it will be too strenuous at her age. That is understandable with such a long journey. I happen to know a bit about the rather heavy program the laureates are having. Each one has a special guide for the week - that guide is someone who is very familiar with the laureate's country. My late brother was once a guide for a Canadian laureate (my brother having lived in Canada for a few years) and he told me that after that week he certainly needed a week off himself! My brother had to be on call to the whole family 24/7. If it wasn't symposia, it was shopping and then the accompanying children to be entertained with suitable activities for kids. But the most interesting news came today. Government ministers and party leaders are always invited, same procedure this year, except that one party leader has not received an invitation. Reason: his party is considered anti-democratic and not in the spirit of Alfred Nobel's wishes and ideas about humanity. I do agree...

It has been announced that Ms. Munro will not be able to attend the award ceremony and the following banquet. This is a great pity, but also understandable, she is not a young person and it is first of all a long journey and then a very busy week with a lot of functions. Someone will receive the prize on her behalf - might be the Canadian ambassador, and her Nobel lecture could always be relayed by link from Canadian Broadcasting. The reason given was that her "health is frail" and that was quite accepted. But I remember the uproar in the media when Elfriede Jelinek did not attend the ceremony because she said she was too shy to appear in public. As the press remarked, there was no shyness about accepting the cash!

Diane, may I ask you when you were studying there? I was there in the late fifties. The teacher I liked most was Eileen Ward.

I watched the press conference afterwards and everybody seemed very pleased. Alice Munro has been on the list for many years, and now finally! I think it was very well received indeed. There was an interview afterwards with a panel of literary experts and her publisher here in Sweden, everybody was jubilant. As she is something of a recluse, the question is, will she be coming here for the award ceremony? The Nobel committee hadn't been able to reach her on the phone, so they had sent her an email. Now we must keep in mind that it is night in Canada now, so what an awakening when she checks her mail first thing in the morning!

Alice Munro!!! Will be back with commentaries soon.

I was a bit too fast here. you shall have to wait until Thursday, sorry about the whole mess. Then to correct, it is Randy W. Shekman and nothing else. More apologies.

Oh dear, the Nobel Committee has changed the order of presentation. There was indeed a presentation, but today there were the awards for medicine and it will be shared by three Americans, all from Yale (I think): James E. Rothman, Randy W. Sherman and Thomas Sudrot. Sorry to have to keep you guessing about the literature prize, but I will be back with the news when it is announced. Dirac, I fear you might be right again!

Very sad news, she was still young and had so much more to give. Sadly, I never saw her perform live, only on TV. Thank you, Alexandra, for posting the obituary from Berlingske Tidende. RIP Fru Ryom. Condolences to her family, friends and colleagues.

Well, that time of the year is coming up again. Personally, I am clueless, I can only say who will NOT be awarded - it will not be a Swede as we had Tomas Tranströmer, it will not be a woman as we had a couple recently and the time has come round for prose, hence no poet. Yet, who knows... If you want to have some fun I urge to have a look at the long list of possible authors which Ladbrokes (the betting people) always make. So, look up: www.Ladbrokes.com. Go to Betting A-Z, Awards/Nobel Prize in Literature. Have some fun and you will be guaranteed to find authors you have never even heard about! Any ideas, or who do you think deserves it? When the day comes for the Swedish Academy to announce the laureate, I will sit here glued to the TV and you will get the news with a delay of only a minute or so.

I wouldn't say that the Daily Mail is the sharpest knife in the drawer - in fact it is a paper I would not be seen dead reading in public; come to that, I don't read it in private either. They have a way of twisting things into something quite different, rather poor journalism. Always beware of a newspaper that has a busty blonde on page three! But I feel sympathy with Rojo's argument - still in this day and age it is much more difficult to achieve something as a woman.

Thank you so much for your kind words, Helene! Well, to call it a book might be to glorify it a bit, I actually refer to it as my leaflet. What I really wanted to do was to give a concise and truthful description of the theatre in Sweden during that era. The country was desperately poor and in many ways rather backward, situated on the northern fringe of Europe. Yet so many iconic stars emerged. And the great tradition goes on, at least as far as singers are concerned, there are usually a couple of Swedes at the Met!

Wonderful to see those clips from the competition, I was overjoyed- they do keep the flag flying for classical ballet in Russia. To compare, there was the EBU (European Broadcasting Union) ballet competition the other day and it was totally modern - and very boring. I do think that contestants should do one classical solo and one modern.

Yes, Karinska's book is rather hard to get hold of these days. I am still mad with myself as I saw the book in an antiquarians window some years ago, but being in a hurry to catch my train, I didn't do anything about it. A few days later the book was gone. Could have entered, bought the book and taken a later train! No ballet library is complete without a copy. However, now I have contacted a few second hand book stores and placed an order, we will see what happens, hope I get a copy. Ballet books are not much in demand here, so I hope it will be rather on the cheap side. Thank you all for reminding me of this! By the way, I have a book on Amazon. "The history of theater and dance in Sweden 1600-1900".