Pamela Moberg

Yes Dirac, I saw it this evening actually - it was shown on Swedish TV. No need for me to elaborate, you already said what I thought. Frankly, I had expected a little more, yet I got some memories from my days in London revived, but then I have seen more illuminating programs about the fashion scene in London in the sixties. So, I was a little disappointed.

Surprisingly enough, Swedish Television showed SB with the Bolshoi and David Hallberg. What a guy! Naturally I took it on DVD, but as I am madly busy at the moment I have not seen the entire ballet, just bits and pieces. Planning to save it for when DD comes here for her holiday soon, we will see it together and rejoice. From what little I have seen of it, I can only say one thing: BUY IT, you will not be disappointed!

Yes, Alexandra, it is a very different Romeo and Juliet - in fact it is a Juliet and Romeo! I have a recent article about it here somewhere. Promise to dig it out so I can expand. If mem. serves it was something about the empowering of women and that Juliet is not a victim, but rather Romeo is. Will not babble any more now, must find that review!

DD kindly treated her parents to the movies on Easter Sunday. We saw Esmeralda and it was marvelous. What a production! Maria Alexandrova, Denis Savin, Ruslan Skortsov and Ekaterina Krysanova in the main parts. This was my very first experience of ballet in cinema and I must say I was impressed - up to now I had been a bit doubtful, but DD who has seen Coppelia, also from the Bolshoi has convinced me. I had feared that the movie technicians would demonstrate their camera skill by doing close ups of feet and faces. Nothing of the sort, actually after five minutes you stopped thinking that you were watching a screen, it felt more like a real live performance. I think this is really great, for us unlucky ones who hardly ever get to see any ballet at all, apart from the very boring stuff shown on Swedish TV and the Gothenburg Opera which is totally modern, now this is the chance to see classical ballet. Already looking forward to 12 May, Romeo and Juliet, also from the Bolshoi. As this distribution is world wide, did anybody else see it? I would like to hear your views.

DD just called to say that she had bought tix for Esmeralda on Easter Sunday (31 March) . Bolshoi is fine with us, the screening will be at 5 p.m. here, quite decent hour, whereas Met is not so convenient from our point of view. No way we would have spent money on Rite of Spring, if it comes to that we would be able to see it live at our opera house. But neither DD nor I are fans of Rite of Spring. We are very much looking forward to Easter Sunday and I do hope that everyone seeing that screening will post their impressions.

Such a wonderful evocative film, thank you so much for sharing this - it made my day!

Hello, my namesake! No, I cannot say that I remember having heard of Joan Davis. But I do remember 10 Great Newport Street - in fact the very first ballet class I did in London was there. I have no idea what there might be now, but in those days it was a building full of rehearsal rooms and studios which could be rented by the hour. Many independent teachers held their classes there - it was a fairly shabby building with absolutely no amenities, dont think there was a shower in the whole building. I then proceeded to dance with Rambert and with Cleo Nordi, whom I totally loved. Still, I think it is a great pity that Cleo Nordi never wrote a bio, she must have had a lot to tell.

Heavens, these "murmurations" really took me back a great number of years. When I went to school, we had a book with literally pages of all these English expressions - a gaggle of geese - a pride of lions etc. I think there was one of those words for about every animal on the planet. I do remember murmurations now, not a word one uses on a daily basis, though. But I will search for that book, it must be lurking somewhere here, having been carted around Europe as I found it worth hanging on to, and I will revive some old memories. It was real serious in my days, when I looked at my daughters' English school books I didnt think much about them. Except one which DD had when she was in Santa Barbara: Betty Schrampfer Azar - Understanding and using English grammar. Publisher Mary Jane Peluso - Longman 1999. I do recommend it to the serious student of English! Thanks, Dirac, for making me smile!

Thanks, Cristian, we did enjoy! Reminds me that I have this in my archives somewhere. Remember also that I first had it as a video, then transferred it to DVD. I think the actual dancing style is correct, not sure, but it could have looked something like this at the old Czarist Maryinski. But the goat, well behaved by the way, it is so cute. Kschessinska actually had a pet goat.

The Championships are over now, well, there is the grand gala tomorrow. I think it has been of a very high standard, many new kids on the block, some of them maybe a tad too young, a couple of Russian kids of 16 - but very competent. What emerged was that the total Russian dominance is probably over and new countries are coming to the fore. Spain f.ex. Javier Fernandez won the guy's event - well deserved, while Swedish Alexander Majorov came 6th - equally well deserved. It is especially nice that a Swedish guy got that far. Here in the Scandinavian countries guys should play hockey, period! Figure skating is considered a bit suspect, nothing for guys, leave that to the girls, that is the general idea. In Spain, when I lived there people did not know what "patinage" was even, I had to explain and people were dumbfounded. Look at them now! Well, nice that things change. The two Swedish sisters did very well indeed, 5th place for Victoria Helgesson and 8th for younger sister Joshi, well done, both of them! And of course Carolina Kostner took gold, again. That was kind of expected.

Today we have seen the guys, Alexander Majorov of Sweden 3rd! No, Hogner, Berntsson and Schultheiss are no longer skating. Anyway, Florent Amodio, (France) came first, Javier Fernandez of Spain 2nd and he was very promising, then Majorov. 4th was a young (17) Russian kid, Maxim Kovtun, he might be something in the future. Another newcomer looked promising, French Chafik Bessighier (sounds Algerian!) "Plushy" was unfortunately not good at all. Pairs: Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov Russia Alina and Robin - Germany, my absolute favorite couple for a long time now, they are divine Stefania Berton and Ondrej Hutarek -Italy. My other favorite, the doll like Kawaguti did not do too well, pity. She is so cute, like an elfin on the ice, but it didnt quite work out.

Well, the interview is in English - I will see what I can do, but I am not promising anything. Technical stuff is not really my forte!

The European Championships have just started in Zagreb, Croatia. Swedish TV will show something every day this week, but as we dont have the special sports channel, it might just be some highlights. Anyway, today it was ice dance and pairs. Some old favorites looked a bit off and there were no newcomers of note. Sweden will have Alexander Majorov and the two sisters Helgesson, but we havent been able to find a single pair. Poor show, indeed so as Turkey had sent a reasonably competent guy and girl - well, they finished as number ten or something. Even so, I really do think Sweden could put in some effort... One Russian girl in an Uzbeki outfit almost brought tears to my eyes, not only because she was good, but her name was Elena Ilinyhk - my eldest daughter's name is Elena and she was also a spitting image! Italy seems to be doing quite well - I will stay glued to the TV set for the remainder of the week.

The Royal Swedish Ballet is doing Sleeping Beauty - choreography by Marcia Haydee. Our one time poster Daniil Simkin is guesting. I do wish I could travel to Stockholm to see all this glory, but alas, there are too many commitments here, furthermore the weather is absolutely awful, so one cannot rely on transportation (I live on the west coast so it is quite a journey). Anyway, this evening Daniil was interwieved on the special culture program on Swedish TV and there was also a clip of him rehearsing. He spoke of ballet and his great love of all types of gadgets, and he urged ordinary young people to watch ballet explaining that it is not all all stuffy and dusty. He really did come across as a totally sensible and adorable person.

After a lot of disturbing news I am very pleased to report a piece of very good news. In another thread a few months ago, we were discussing what to do with our ballet books when we pass away/get too old to read/failing eyesight/donating to libraries that were almost unwilling to accept a gift/ etc. Remember? The Swedish ballerina Elsa Marianne von Rosen has donated the book collection belonging to her late husband, the dance writer Allan Fridericia. The donation was made to a new venture in Gothenburg called "3rd Floor". I take my hat off - even curtsey - to the officials of the Town Hall who have given an old building which was formerly the Carnegie Sugar Mill, to this Dance Organization which also houses a stage, studios, rehearsal rooms, an archive and now a library. Everything under one roof, wow! The von Rosen-Friderica book collection consists of 900 volumes. The inauguration was last Saturday and as soon as weather gets a bit better here (very cold and snowy now) I will pay a visit.

My very sincerest well wishings to Mr. Filin. Judging by other crimes of that magnitude which I have read about, I am afraid the road to recovery might be a long one. However, saving his eye sight is the most important concern, and I know for a fact that eye surgeons are very competent these days. Personally I dont really think it was a political act. Most probably just some thugs out to rob or cause damage, unfortunately these things seems to be happening all over the place nowadays. It will be very interesting to follow Mr. Filin's medical progress and I hope you folks will post any news items. I have a wonderful DVD with him dancing and I will watch it again tonight - will write more about the DVD which I received as a Christmas present, on the appropriate forum.

Well, yes, Chinese writer Mo Yan - I have heard about him, but I have not yet read anything by him. He is translated into several languages, Swedish, English, French and Spanish as well as Japanese. Two of his works are available in Swedish, "The red field" and "Garlic ballads". They might of course have other titles in English. Less than an hour has passed since the announcement - so far there has been a positive reaction - I saw several interviews on TV with book people and they seemed pleased enough. So Philip Roth has got to wait another year...

Mo Yan - China! Will be back soon.

Thanks, Dirac, for that article, very interesting. Dacia Maraini, no, dont think so, but it made me take out an old volume I bought while living in London "The age of discontent" 1963. Well, now we have to proceed by eliminating - wont be a Swede, that is for sure, and certainly not a poet. The Nobel Committee is not supposed to be political, yet they are accused of just that. Now, I want you all to think "Arab Spring". Then we have Adonis, the Syrian poet who has been mentioned for years. But think of the state Syria is in right now! Further afield in Arabland we have Algeria and Assia Djebar. That is the woman all right! No, I have not had inside info - in fact there have been a couple of scandals when the details leaked to the press, but not any more. Yes, it is rather like the Vatican... Or of course Murakami who is another possibility. Still, I think I place my money on Djebar. Lets wait for those gilt doors to open and Mr. Englund will announce ... Djebar! I will post the news immediately.

Indeed, next Thursday the secretary of the Nobel Committee at the stroke of 1 p.m. (local time) will open those doors and announce the name. Yes, but who? One thing is for sure, it cannot be a Swedish author this year as we had one last year. Have you guys any suggestions? Anyway, a couple of minutes past 1 p.m. your local Nobel reporter will tell you.

There have been various forms of address over the years, and they have been different in different countries. In the olden days in Sweden, an actress/dancer was always referred to as "Mrs" even if she was seventeen and unmarried. Why I do not know, was it supposed to give an air of respectability? In a Swedish text today, one would only use the name. First mention full name, then only surname. But I remember a TV film with and about Margot Fonteyn - she hosted it herself - from, if mem. serves, the late seventies. There she referred to herself as Miss Fonteyn. Though she was married then. And think of the late and much married Miss Taylor! But if I bumped into Plissetskaja, I think I would address her as Madame, considering both status and age. But "boys and girls", what a horror! Are we referring to pupils and end of term displays! Must show respect at all times

Thanks a lot for that lovely photo! There cannot be many photos of Emma Livry around, considering the infancy of photography and the fact that she tragically died at such a young age.

Indeed, kbarber, Gothenburg has been a contemporary company for years. It is still much too early to say what will happen, but I fear it will be like before. Time will tell...

It is no use I post a link as the article was in a Swedish paper. In stead I will give you the contents. The Gothenburg Opera Ballet is now the Gothenburg Opera Dance Company and Adolphe Binder is in charge. Ms. Binder is trying to find ways to invite the public and maintains that the dance has an important role to play in a modern and multi cultural context. The interviewer, Ms Hellström Svenningson icily remarked that fans of ballet in the future shall have to console themselves with the occasional guest performance or those digital transmissions to the movie theater Roy. Indeed. Of course digital transmissions are not exactly live in the real sense, but it is second best. Time though, is a bit of a problem. For us here, near Russia, there are one or two hour differences which is OK. Altogether different matter with the Met, who wants to get up at the crack of dawn, commute by train or car to see a performance early in the morning. The Roy has a very ambitious program, both opera and ballet from London, Paris, St. Petersburg, Moscow and New York and we are eternally grateful. This scheme has now been extended to, well not exactly villages, but even smaller towns throughout the country. Many cheers for digital technique!

All this talk about Raymonda inspired me to take out my old DVD with Bessmertnova and Gediminas Taranda. I just love it, the music is just to my taste - yet it must be said that Mme. Bessmertnova might be a tad old for this. She was a wonderful dancer, and I imagine that one would not have thought of her age viewing from a theater seat, on DVD it does get more noticeable. And I love Taranda, that guy just appeals to me and I have masses of DVDs from his entire career. Of course, the story might not be absolutely PC, I do agree with some posters' views. By the same token, there are so many fairy tales and old classics that are not PC at all, so why bother, sit back and enjoy and listen to the music - one cannot analyze everything to bits.