dragonfly7

Alexandra- the quote about getting you to "fall in love" with the company certainly held true for me! I saw them last year for 'Nutcracker' and that was a treat, but last night's performance of "Dream" though exceeded my expectations! Herman Cornejo as Puck was explosive with those jumps. Giannina, I was rooted to my seat during the final pas de deux, each movement seemed to be drawn out to its fullest expression (port de bras, etc). And I also agree that the Don Q section had unsure moments (I could see Paloma Herrera from where I sat and I saw the uncertainty on her face during some sections), though it ended on a high note with the fouettes. "Something" was my favorite in the GHarrison tribute. All in all a great show. :3dnod:

Hi,

I was able to catch the Joffrey's gala performace of the Diaghilev ballets last night and came away both inspired/awed and yet with some questions. I wonder if anyone had insights.

In "Rite of Spring", I noticed that most of the dancers had their feet obviously turned in, even maintaining this through curtain call. I understand that Nijinsky choreographed it - does anyone know if this had an explanation/philosophy, or that was just simply part of the dance and I'm trying to "read" too much into the dance? After noticing the feet placements, I started to pay attention to how it would affect the dancers' technique and started to see that some of them didn't really turn their feet in during some parts. That distracted me because it seemed like there was no uniformity in the execution -- some had slightly turned in feet, some had very turned in feet, others wavered between slight and not at all.

But since this was done during the dawn of modern dance, am I getting too particular about this? I don't know why, but it really bugged me! Also, there was a part where a whole section of female dancers did chaines two rows after another, and the ones in the last row had some girls crashing into each other! I keep telling myself that I can only DREAM about being as good as they are, but the sloppy turns kind of called attention to themselves. It's strange, because I am just a non-professional adult ballet dancer and should be more forgiving about the rigors of being on stage -- but, there's a "but still" lingering in my mind. Hopefully someone can dispel it!

All the other ballets were wonderful, though, and especially because I am taking ballet, I appreciate all the little moves much more. Like when the acrobats in "Parade" did royales looking like feathers, I wanted to say, "Did you see that!!!"

Thanks, anyone, for reading this ranting.

Forgot to add:

1) The God of Small Things, Arundrahti Roy (sp?)

2) Jaroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie (sp again?)

3) One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Hi,

Some suggestions:

1) The Last Time I Saw Mother by Arlene Chai

2) Eating Fire, Drinking Water by Arlene Chai

3) When The Elephants Dance by Tess Urize Holthe

Both writers are Filipina.

I also like Maeve Binchy - most of her novels are set in Dublin/Ireland.

Judy Blume, who is a children's book author has an adult novel called "Summer Sisters" which she might enjoy.

Fannie Flagg is a great suggestion too.

Frances Chung has a book of poetry called "Chinese Apple, Crazy melon", which is one of my all-time favorites, in case your mother likes poetry.

Hope this helped!

Hi everyone,

I seem to be big on diaries this summer. I am set to dive into Anais Nin's diary and Mary Karr's memoir - I am a big fan of her poetry.

Hi all,

This is a wonderful thread. I also read the Emily books, vagansmom. My best friend shared them with me. Has anyone mentioned the Fudge books by Judy Blume. My favorite one of hers is still "Are You There God, It's Me Margaret". I also read Nancy Drew (Mystery at Lilac Lane was my favorite) and did anyone ever read those Choose Your Own Adventure books? Those were fun. I also read Asterix (I hear there might be a movie coming out.)

My first grown-up book was Victor Hugo's Les Miserables and Gabriel Garcia Marquez' "One Hundred Years of Solitude".

I agree with all the positive feedback re:Moving Out. I was actually tired from all the energy it required from me to watch it! I can't wait to see it.

Here are two of the three I intended to post. I haven't been home for some time so I don't know if these are still correct. We have great dancers .

NAME: Ballet Philippines Foundation Inc.

ADDRESS: 4/F CCP Bldg. Roxas Blvd., Manila, Philippines

CONTACT NOS. Tel. 832-36-75/832-36-76/832-36-89/832-11-25 loc 253/254

E-Mail : balletphilippines@axti.com / Website: balletphilippines.com.ph

NAME: Ballet Manila

ADDRESS: #1865 Donada St. ,Pasay City, Manila, Philippines

CONTACT NOS. Tel. 512-50-31 to 32, 525-59-67 / 525-15-84

The third is for Philippine Ballet Theater (PBT), the info for which you might get from the schools above.

Hope this helped .