Arak

I believe I read on their website that it's in the repertoire for the Richmond Ballet.

Well, if this bothered them, why would they give their support in the first place? It's not like men in tights is a new development. I don't buy it.

I don't live near any of those places! Grrr... Patience is not a virtue of mine.

And the saga continues... :rolleyes: What a diva. If I were in the position of having been rehired after being fired, I'd be happy being put in the corps de ballet. I don't care who "made" them rehire me; I'd simply be happy to have a paying job. I guess some people's priorities just lie in different areas.

I took some classes with her at a NYC Dance Alliance workshop a few years back. I don't remember much (it was probably five or six years ago), except that I enjoyed her classes.

Very true, very true. High discipline and good etiquette seem so commonplace to us dancers after a while; it's the rest of the world that has no respect or self-control! I've always said that ballet is something that everyone should experience, if only for that very reason.

It was wonderful. I remember Angelina Ballerina from when I was young (I still have a doll on my bed, actually). I'm so glad to see her becoming popular again. The dancing was lovely, even in bulky dance sneakers. Poor Tom Gold just couldn't quite manage to jump up on that wall in the end, though, could he? We'll forgive him. I wish we saw more of that kind of publicity for the dance world.

I know what I'll be doing Thursday morning! I am soo jealous of my roommate! She's going to NYC for Thanksgiving break. She'll be right there for the parade in person. :angry:

I just had a lecture on postmodern dance this morning. Never really got a concrete definition on it though. Then again, assuming the nature of postmodern dance, that probably is the definition... I would use the term "avant-garde" to describe postmodern dance. It involves the audience in the production prcess as much as, if not more so than, with the finished product. Personally, it doesn't do much for me. Give me a good story ballet any day.

Argh! Curse my immobility! Half my kingdom for a car!

The Shanghai Symphony Orchestra gave a concert here tonight. They played a program that involved not only the usual European classics (William Tell Overture, Polovstian Dances, Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 23), but more recent music by Chinese composers as well (Wang's Night of the Torch Festival, Zhu's Symphony No. 10, and Tan's A Love Before Time from the movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon). And as a special encore, J. P. Sousa's Stars and Stripes Forever. The music was absolutely wonderful; the audience just went wild for the pianist, Tian Jiang, and for the entire ensemble, really. Unfortunately, my experience was somewhat marred. There was a woman sitting behind me who, during that familiar movement in William Tell, began to laugh. Now, I understand that people enjoy good music. I also enjoy good music. But your enjoyment should not manifest itself in such a way as to disturb the people around you, as she was doing to me. I inclined my head slightly back and shushed her, and continued listening to the music thinking that was the end of it. As soon as the piece was finished, this woman leaned forward, glaring at me, and said very sternly, "Don't you ever shush me again." She informed me that she was not talking, but laughing, and laughing did not merit shushing, and that I had just ruined her evening by spoiling her fun. I apologized for offending her, and explained that I found it disturbing. She then proceeded to lecture me on how she had paid for a ticket just the same as everyone else and was entitled to enjoy the music however she saw fit, and how dare I have a problem with it. As soon as intermission came, I asked to be moved and finished watching the performance from the balcony next to this very sweet couple who weren't even upset that I sat in one of their seats (they came back late). So at least it was pleasant from intermission on.

I started a few days ago on The Diary of Vaslav Nijinsky. It is truly fascinating, entering the mind of an artist as he slips into psychosis. One thing I'm not quite clear on, though, is how he's writing. He makes very long run-on paragraphs, jumping from one idea to another completely unrelated. For example, one such paragraph lasts for about seven pages and covers his thoughts on Nietzche vs. Darwin, nature, ape vs. man, the fact that Nijinsky can multi-task (listen to a conversation in Hungarian while writing in Russian), working-class people, Parisian prostitutes, a complaint about his pencil, back to Parisian prostitutes, why he does not eat meat (and why he ate it today even tough he does not eat meat), some thoughts on God (including the declaration that he, Nijinksy, is God), the doctor his wife had observing him, a picture he drew, thoughts on medicine. Some of it does flow in a logical sequence, like going from Darwin to nature and apes vs. men. But what I can't decide is if his thoughts actually followed this sporadic sequencing, or if he simply returned to writing at a later time and didn't bother to start a new paragraph, or if he started a new paragraph for each day. Any insight?

Yes! that's him! Thank you Alexandra. Everyone spells his name differently, and I'm never sure which one is right.

One of my teachers was once a member of ABT - Joseph Carrow. I've only been here about a month and therefore I'm not terribly comfortable just yet asking him for his life history. But I'm still curious about it. All I know is that he was there around the same time as Alica Alonso (he speaks very highly of her). Anyone know where I can find what I want to know?

I just ordered a copy of Nijinski's diaries. Should be here soon... In the meantime, I have a copy of The Pricess Bride (who doesn't love that movie?) to tide me over. William Goldman is a very clever man; pulled the wool right over my eyes. Just finished up Le Reine Margot, one of Alexandre Dumas' lesser-known historical novels.

As close as I can get and not have the apron obstruct my view of the dancers' feet. In most cases I like the center, but the genius who built the auditorium here at ECU installed the center seats one right behind the other instead of staggering them. So I sit on stage right most of the time.

Yes, that sounds about right. I think that's the one I'm talking about. It's hard to describe music without using sound though...

No damage in my immediate area. I haven't ventured out of my little nieghborhood as of yet, though. The winds and rain, were, as expected, quite violent at times yesterday, and there is still a flood watch in effect for us through the weekend. I didn't even venture across the street to the dining hall until the evening when there was a break in the rain. I was pretty relieved when I found that the eye was over Martin County (north of me) and headed north, away from me. My parents live in the Northern Neck/Middle Penninsula area of VA, and they called me last night and said they had no power.

I say no, it's not. We've been pegged as being overly concerned about being skinny for a long time now. The baised coverage this story is recieving does nothing but reinforce that, at least in the West. Especially after the Today Show coverage this morning, people are sitting around their living rooms saying "See? I told you it was a bad idea to put little Suzy in ballet classes. They'll turn her anorexic." Not only is it giving non-dancers a negative picture of the ballet world, it's providing reinforcement for the eating-disorder epidemic that already exists in many younger dancers.

Coming out of a limo? Oh, give me a break...

I have to say that when I first heard about this little soap opera, the only aspect of the story I got was the ice cream. Not surprising, since I do live in America after all (cursed yellow journalism). Even then I didn't have too much sympathy for her (ice cream is not very high on my list of ballerina-friendly foods). And now that the truth comes out, well, I have to say it doesn't really surprise me. Just reinforces the concept that we are disposable, right up to the high-and-mighties. I'm afraid I burst a few bubbles when I brought up that point on a discussion of the situation on another website. But the little angels had to find it out sooner or later. I'm sorry it had to be me who told them so, but this is a vicious business. Being a world-famous prima doesn't exempt you from that.

I love on-campus cultual events. Especially when they're as out of the ordinary as a performance by the National Theatre of the Deaf. Oh, Figaro! is based on both The Marriage of Figaro and The Barber of Seville, and set in modern-day New York City. The deaf actors sign their parts, while the few hearing actors do voice-overs for them, as well as sign and speak their own roles. The acting was wonderful. Even if the hearing actors hadn't been there to interpret, I'd still have been able to follow the storyline pretty easily. The sound was a bit loud from my seat in the third row, but that's understandable, I suppose. One of the actors, so my program tells me, is also one of the founding memebers of The Wild Zappers, a deaf dance troupe based in Maryland. (I had a chance to see The Wild Zappers last summer; they are great.)

I took a workshop this summer from a teacher who is a particular favorite of mine. During variations class, he taught us a variation to music that I always identified as belonging to one of Kitri's variations, but he insisted it was from Paquita! The choerograpy was not that normally associated with Kitri (with the characteristic jump), so I wonder: is there a piece of music originally set in Paquita that was "borrowed" for Don Quixote?

Ah, money. Curse of the "real" world since time immemorial. And now it seeps into ours. It's such a shame that stars aren't being permitted to bask in the adoration the audience wants to give them simply so the management doesn't have to pay them for those few extra minutes.

Oh, if anything drives me crazy, it's bad theatre etiquette. I think I've mentioned this elsewhere, but it's relevant here, too. My high school's band and chorus took a trip to New York this past spring, and on the itenerary was a performance of Beauty and the Beast. During the course of the performance, no less than half a dozen of my classmates were snapping pictures of the stage. I stopped the ones near me with a dirty look and a hissed "Are you crazy?!" I tried to explain during intermission how distracting - and even dangerous - it can be to see all those little flashes in your face when you're onstage, but ninety teenagers aren't going to listen to one, unfortuantely. A cell phone also went off, from my group again, I'm sorry to say. I was so angry by the end of the performance that it took me about twenty minutes to unclench my teeth after leaving the theatre. I was so embarrassed even to be seen with them. People can be so rude and inconsiderate it's just unbelievable.