Tiffany

I have thought this in the back of my mind for a long time. I am a dancer, not professional yet, and I have a passion for dancing that keeps me in class year after year. I have a need to dance. I get frustrated with dance but I also find it refreshing. I choreograph in my head when listening to the radio as I'm driving in my car. I am shy but I can talk for hours about dance. I used to think that everyone must be as passionate, driven, and focused on dance as dancers are, but I found out quickly that few people have a passion, strong interest, or love of something in their life comparable to how dance is for dancers. That is really cool that a study has been done on this topic. I'm thrilled someone was interested enough to research this "gene".

I've noticed that most names of ballet companies in the USA (I don't know much about ballet companies on other continents) are geographical. For example, New York City Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Sarasota Ballet, etc. Or there are companies named after their director; Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Jose Mateo's Ballet Theatre, Feld Ballet etc. And then you have ballet companies (though these are contemporary not strictly classical) that don't fit into either one of these categories: Complexions Dance Company, Ballet Deviare, Lemon Sponge Cake Contemporary Ballet, Verb Ballets, etc. Very rarely it seems that companies are named after anything but geography or their founder. I think that it would be great to see more companies with these unique names. Maybe names that described the purpose of the company-like Classicle Ballet Theatre or Fusion Ballet or Stretching the Limits Dance Theatre (sorry, these names are not very good).

So why are companies mainly named after geography or founder? Convenience?

Is there a precedent that has been upheld, are these ballet companies taken more seriously (well, I guess all of the big ballet companies in the USA are named after geography so we don't have a sample of big ballet companies not named after geography)? But if there were large ballet companies, I'm talking 80 dancers or more, named not for geography or founder, then do you think they would be taken as seriously? I have 2 degrees in psychology, which color my opinions as well!

What are some potential names that you think would be great for a company?

Okay, a little about me. I have a masters of science in psychology; graduate school changed my life in that I decided that I didn't love psychology as much as I thought I did, so I am now majoring in nursing, and will get my bachelors of science in nursing in Dec. 2006. I also work in a hospital and still think I will enjoy being a nurse, so this is a good sign. I don't post much over on this board because I am too busy reading the other board and too busy with school but I do enjoy this board when I venture to it. It is really great to find so many people so interested in ballet to discuss all things ballet with on the internet, because I just don't find nearly this many people in real life to discuss these things with. :rolleyes:

Irina also was featured in an ad for Movado in US Vogue; I'm not sure what year. I've also seen in US Vogue an ad for the tour of the Broadway show, Movin' Out, featuring Ashley Tuttle and a guy, not sure whom.

And then there are the Capezio, Bloch, etc. ads but those are dance ads, are we only discussing mainstream ads?

And then you could have the jewels sponsored by Tiffany & Co., Cartier, DeBeers, etc.

Aurora also needs a therapist/Fairy of Advice to guide her decisions about whether she should stick with Prince Desire or go for the Wolf or maybe even the Bluebird!! I guess the Lilac Fairy is supposed to fill this role, but I don't know if she is pointing out all of Aurora's options!

Yes, most dancers are not employed for a full year. In the U.S., I would definitely say that dancers dance for the love of it and nothing else, because they would certainly make more in other jobs. I think that the situation is better in Europe, where they have more respect, more touring (which could also be viewed negatively), and maybe more money proportionately though less than what they would make here. I know of a few dancers that have to have second jobs to make ends meet here in the states. I wonder if that happens as much in Europe?

there are also companies that provide a stipend once a dancer retires. I doubt that I will see that offered during my lifetime in the US, if it is EVER offered!

I constantly do this, especially to my favorite songs on 2 CDs that I have. I am dying to choreograph a piece by the band Bond and a song by Evanescence (sorry I can't remember the names of the songs). There are 3 piano pieces that I played while taking piano lessons a few years ago that I would love to choreograph too; those 3 pieces were my favorites of my 9 years of lessons. I can only remember one name, "Dawning", by Betty Colley.

My story is not really a story. I have always been obsessed with ballet. I vaguely remember seeing ballet on TV when I was about 3 years old and loving it and begging for classes. I started ballet classes in first grade and am still dancing 17 years later. I go to any dance performances that I can attend, which are few in my town, but there are more in cities that are within driveable distance. I love to read about dance and look at pictures of famous dancers. No one else in my family shares my love of ballet.

Reading through Boston Ballet's agreement (under agreements on the AGMA website, URL posted above by Major Mel), provided this information on page 25 (if you go by the Adobe Acrobat page numbers and not the numbers printed on the pages):

Boston Ballet, Pay per week:

New Dancer $697.52 (lowest pay)

3rd year principal dancer $1300.56 (highest pay)

and to quote the mastercard commercial-living your dream-priceless!

Salaries for all other levels of the company are posted as well.

Houston Ballet, pay per week, from AGMA website, p. 13 of HB agreement:

First year corps $685

Principal dancers $1125

Both companies also include extra pay for extraordinary risk, which is defined by each.

NYCB, p. 10,11

Pay by week:

level A corps $956

principal $1743 (rehearsal week)

principal $2060 (performance week)

ABT is not listed.

I got to see the June 11 performance. I loved Maninyas. I have not seen work by Stanton Welch previously. I especially enjoyed his use of the curtain/scrim (proper term?) at the back of the stage-dancers would slowly or quickly emerge from beneath it as they walked forward. I liked how the ladies, in second position grand plie, slapped the floor with their skirts, making a nice slapping sound. Maria Phegan danced Mireille Hassenboehler's place that night and did a terrific job. She had nice energy and personality in her dancing; I loved how she shook her head while jumping forward while in echappe second. Randy Herrera's jumps and tricks were great. The individual pas de deux work of each couple was very intimate, real, and enjoyable. I was so glad each time a new movement started (after a break in the music) and I knew that the piece wasn't over yet!

Giselle was lovely as well. Leticia Oliveira (Giselle) had incredible bourres at the beginning of act II. The wilis were in good formations 98% of the time. Myrtha was fantastic with her solid, 180 degree, smooth leaps. She was not quite cold or evil enough, though. She felt like a good person instead of the evil one she is meant to be. The dogs in act I were a nice touch, and perfectly well behaved, too.

This was my first chance to see Houston Ballet. I am impressed with them and hope to see more of Mr. Welch's work in the future.

Carbro,

thank you for pointing this out. I had not considered that aspect, but I definitely agree that training has changed and should play a role in the thinness, or slightly thickerness (sp) of dancers. good point! I was thinking more of the fact that our society has thinner people now than in the past, especially models, though we have more obese as well, too.

Ed-maybe what you are seeing is that dancers are thinner now than they have been in the past? The Bolshoi and Kirov ballerinas appear extremely thin. I haven't looked at their men.

Regarding Russian ballet arrogance--yes their training method is wonderful, yes to what Ed posted above, but....if those who teach Vaganova tech. feel the need to loudly proclaim that their style is the only, the best, etc., don't they sound insecure about the worth/value of Vaganova? I think that's what psychology would tell us anyway...people who are confident about their product/technique do not feel the need to win over everyone else.

My summer reading so far will include these books, which I own, with supplements from my library.

I just finished Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews. This book is about 4 siblings locked in an attic by their mother. One of the siblings reportedly loves ballet and practices on her own. This was recommended by a friend. It is written well but it is not pleasant to read due to the subject matter.

I have begun Class Act, The Jazz Life of Choreographer Cholly Atkins by Cholly Atkins & Jacqui Malone (2001). It is a bit difficult to read because it is written as Mr. Atkins would talk in first person, and in dialect at that. Its interesting but hard to keep my interest in it because there is not a strong plot, which usually doesn't bother me in a biography.

Waiting to be read:

The Shape of Love by Gelsey Kirkland (1990).

The Ballet Book by Nancy Ellison (2003) -there are a few words amidst the glorious pictures!

Yoga, Tai Chi, Massage, Therapies & Healing Remedies by Mark Evans (2004).

Edgar Degas by Trewin Copplestone (1999).

They are mainly dance related but also my summer reading (no summer school this summer!) so please move if necessary.

Thank you for appreciating a small, regional ballet company. I feel like on the other board small ballet companies get passed off as not being worth much. I live in Mississippi, USA. We have 1 professional ballet company, Ballet Magnificat!. I don't think we have even 1 professional jazz or modern company in the state presently, either. There are quite a few youth ballets & some college companies but they do not have paid dancers or a professional level of technique. I really appreciate the small companies near me-Ballet Memphis, Alabama Ballet, Mobile Ballet, Montgomery Ballet, etc. Sometimes big companies tour close enough that I can see them but that only happens once or twice a year.

Thank you for asserting that great dancers dance with small companies as well as large ones.

I wish that I could have seen Ms. Hampton dance. It is wonderful to see a dancer that always gives everything when they dance.

I've heard southerners pronounce ballet as balLET, and I've heard people from northern states pronounce it as BALlet. I like the BALlet pronunciation better, maybe just because its new to me. BALlet sounds more sophisticated after hearing balLET for most of my life.

Found some pictures of Dvorovenko in past Vogue issues, maybe April as well, not sure.

Vogue

She is listed under celebrities (wow a ballerina celebrity in the US???)! She is photographed with Maxim and they look fantastic, which is not a surprise.

Different brands of pointe shoes are notoriously loud or quiet, after broken in. All pointe shoes are loud before they are broken in.

Quiet: capezio, freed, sansha, gaynor minden

Loud: grishko, russian pointe, other russian companies

Sansha even pads the pleats of their pointe shoes to make their shoes quieter.

Re: earlier comments-some Russian dancers are not taught to roll through their feet; grishko makes pointes shoes designed for this-vaganova & fouette models-which are designed for springing onto pointe.

Yes, most dance students are told to make their pointe shoes quiet, but there is only so much that you can do with a hard, heavy weight, etc. shoe.

If you have never held a pointe shoe in your hand, or perhaps never compared a grishko and freed, then it is difficult to understand why some pointe shoes are louder than others. Even a well broken in grishko is going to be loud.

The loud shoes also usually weigh more than their quiet counterparts, have harder & thicker boxes, have a harder shank (don't know if this plays a role in noise level), and break down less quickly than the quieter shoes.

Do I find loud pointe shoes annoying? yes. Will I change the brand of shoes that I wear (grishko) to have quieter shoes? No. Have other dancers changed shoe brands to have quieter shoes? Probably. However, dancing on pointe is difficult enough without factoring in noise level as a part of the shoe decision process.

What size are Ferri's shoes?

There are a lot of autographed pointe shoes being sold on ebay right now, from a wide variety of companies. I looked at a few and among them were Sacramento Ballet, Ballet Memphis, Atlanta Ballet, & Milwaukee Ballet.

I believe she was scheduled to teach at Orlando Ballet's summer intensive 2004. I am not sure if she did or not because I did not attend. Seems like I've seen her name listed in some other SI ads this year, but I can't recall which ones.

No, it doesn't say what ballet or who the dancers are. It is in a photo spread showing designs from Chanel over the years that Coco Chanel was alive.

I believe there was a nice article about fashion designers designing costumes for ballet companies in Pointe Magazine in the last year or so?

This is my first post on this board after the board split but I post a lot on Ballet Talk for Dancers.

In an article about Coco Chanel there is a picture of 2 dancers from Ballets Russes wearing costumes from her house of design, on page 204.

I enjoyed The Company. It is plotless as has already been discussed. Warn your non-dancing friends before taking them to see it; I didn't warn my friend and perhaps she would have enjoyed it more if I had prepared her. To us dancers, anything with dancing is very enjoyable, but for those who don't dance, this movie may seem long and drawn out.

I was impressed with Neve in the dance in which she is wearing a grey dress; her early dance training is evident.

I saw this tonight as well! I learned a lot about Degas, and the POB dancers were lovely. What a nice surprise as I was flipping through channels tonight! I had no idea that his paintings were considered shocking, though I guess common sense would tell you that would be the case at that time.

Has anyone ever found a ballet 'engagement' calendar? That's the official name for a calendar that is about the size of a planner and has a week laid out per page along with other pages with just pictures/paintings. I ended up getting a Jack Vettriano (a painter) engagement calendar because I am unable to find one with ballet photos, other than one with Degas ballet paintings, which are nice, but I prefer photos, similar to the Balanchine or ABT calendars.

The NYCB calendar that I bought last year had pictures which were in focus at the top and fuzzy at the bottom. Is their calendar like that this year? I found it annoying.

I have read Tuesdays with Morrie and loved it. My sister had to read the summer before she entered college; she was given it when she went to orientation.

Some of the books that I like are based in the south, which is where I live. I have read John Grisham's books, A Time to Kill, The Client, & The Pelican Brief, and enjoyed all of them. I probably will read some more of his work over the holidays. I like books that are set in the south because they talk about places that I have been to so they are easier to visualize.

For some light, fun reading try Jill Conner Browne, who has written 3 books about being a sweet potato queen. She has a website, http://www.sweetpotatoqueens.com/spq/ Her books make me laugh out loud!

I want to read Nutcracker Nation that has been much talked about. Depends on if my library has it or not!

I've noticed this too! Also, some of the dance catalogues have models with sickled feet or in arabesque leaning too far forward, or not turned out... I guess they don't have the opportunity to get a person with good dance training to proof the shots. I do appreciate Discount Dance's catalogue-I don't think I've ever seen poor technique modeled on their pages!

I also won't buy ballerina Christmas tree ornaments that do not have correct technique-I always think "Why didn't they have a person who dances proof their design before they went to construction?" Or, scary though it is, maybe they did have someone look at their design, and no mistakes were seen.