vagansmom

I just started rereading Paul Scott's The Raj Quartet . I first read the four books in this series at the time that PBS was airing its miniseries, The Jewel in the Crown (first book in the series).These books taught me all I knew at the time of British imperialism in India and I remember that I loved the prose. Now, all these years later, with many more years of Middle Eastern events having occurred and, hopefully, with my own increased awareness and perhaps some wisdom, I realized it's just the right time to revisit the series.

Some contemporary novels: The Confessions of Max Tivoli by Andrew Sean Greer - What a lovely book! It's a bit of a fantasy where a man is born physically old. His body grows younger, but his mind is chronologically normal. It sounds a little silly, but it's not. In fact, it's an homage to love over a lifetime despite the tragedy of having a body whose age doesn't match up to that of one's mind except for a brief few years in the middle of life. A very poignant book written poetically. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See. It's the story of two young girls in China growing up in the 1800's. Another poetically written book, this one's about the special "laotong" contract entered into by the parents of these two girls. Very interesting historical novel. A bit of a mystery runs through it. Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler. This one's a reread for me. I've read it twice before, the first time in a Russian history class in high school. Spine-tingling and sad. With all the talk about Russian books on the other thread, I've decided to reread War and Peace by Tolstoy. I have read it once a decade since I was about 21. Now that I'm in my 50's, it's a good time. It's a good book to grow up with. I read it more for the young romances than anything else when I was in my 20's. I went on, with subsequent readings, to enjoy the historical perspective, the descriptive passages, and now the older people. In fact, I read about them with gusto! Whodathunkit way back when? Nonfiction: Engaging Autism: Helping Children Relate, Communicate and Think with the DIR Floortime Approach by Stanley Greenspan. This one was my required summer reading since I do floortime therapy with a few kids. Fascinating read for anyone interested in autism.

LOL, but we teachers ban kids from wikipedia because of all its inaccuracies. Not the place for legitimate research.

I find the corps dancing in Act II of Giselle to be creepy. Every single time I see them, my spine tingles up and down when the corps of Wilis are dancing. The lighting, the white faces, the dead expressions on their faces, and the music all combine to make me feel unsettled. Interestingly, it's only the corps dancing in that act that gives me that feeling. I don't react the same way to the individual dancing. But first on my list, of course, is The Cage.

Mike, just saw your post. I couldn't get your link to work, but hopefully this one will: Alexandra Tomalonis's Review of 7x7

Thanks to all who posted. I am in the middle of this lovely book and immensely enjoying it. Does anyone know where I could find any photos of Schwezoff as a dancer? I googled Images but didn't come up with any dancing pictures.

My daughter just inherited a collection of ballet books, videos, and DVD's. One of them is Igor Schwezoff's autobiographical "Borzoi", published in 1935. I'd never heard of him before, so I did a google search and found this: Igor Schwezoff I did a BA search and didn't find any references to him. Has anyone read this autobiography? Long before I became interested in ballet, I already loved reading about Russian history, so I'm always thrilled to find books by Russian dancers. This one I'd somehow missed. Looking forward to the read.

From Jennifer Dunning's review in last week's New York Times: Momix review Momix will be performing "Lunar Sea" this week and next week at the Joyce Theater,

Just finished reading this memoir. Ms. Walls is a contributor to MSNBC and has written for USA Today, New York, and Esquire. I am noting this because, unlike a recent memoirist's background, she was already well-known as a professional writer before the publication of her memoir. It's a remarkable one, so much so that when I finished the book and decided to see what reviewers at Amazon had to say about it (most were glowing), a couple people had questioned the truthfulness of her writing. Fallout from the Frey debacle, of course. But the interesting thing is that Ms. Walls herself responded on Amazon to the charges brought against her by these readers. That itself is very much worth a read, although it gives away parts of the book so I'd advise to not look at it till you've finished the book. Walls writes her story in a very straightforward way. Her love for her parents despite their actions (had they been caught, their kids would've been taken away from them) comes strongly through. So does her frustration with them, and her embarrassment of them. She grew up in horrific poverty, self-designed by her parents. They were well-enough educated, mom held a teaching degree, for example. I forget the dad's education, it may have been some college, but when he worked at all, it was often as an engineer, obtained by supplying a fictitious resume. On the first page of the book, the reader discovers that while the author is living in NYC on Park Avenue, both parents are intentionally homeless. My husband likens her upbringing to that of a Montessori family gone awry. Self-sufficiency way out beyond the flashing warning lights. For all that at times I wanted to wring her parents' necks, I also fell in love with them. Their mental imbalance is clear, but so is their intelligence and even sometimes their wisdom, especially her mom's, who would remind her daughter at all times to find the good in people, and would explain why this or that horrible person behaved in such a way. As far as I can tell, she was spot on. I grew up in poverty myself, and as a result had certain somewhat shocking experiences common to kids living in poverty. My childhood was serene by comparison. Although my parents were not crazy like hers, (quite the opposite, they were stable, careful people), I find myself identifying with lots of what she has to say, especially when she mentions an encounter she had with a Barnard professor in a discussion of poverty. From my perspective, Walls' book rings true all the way. It's a primer about the gray areas of life - no patness allowed. I'm so curious to know, should Walls have or ever will have children, how she'd raise them, what degree of self-sufficiency she'd encourage, what degree of safety she'd require.

Luckily, I don't think that's true. Having recently retired from parenting a ballet student (she's now a professional dancer), my 14 years experence watching pre-pro students come and go has shown me that while some students are heartbroken initially when they discover they cannot have a career as a ballet dancer, they do return to the ballet as appreciative and highly knowledgeable audience members. It may take a few years, but the love for ballet that they carried with them through all those training years surfaces again. In fact, I'd say that they're among the most passionately appreciative audience members because, like Helene's art designer example, they're educated in the art. Music is yet another example. Symphony audiences are full of people who grew up playing an instrument and hoping they could have a career in the field. Their lives are forever enriched from the training they received earlier. But looking back at the original post here, I do think we're in danger of losing classical ballet regionally.

Cheers to Kirk Petersen! I still miss him here in CT.

Thanks, nlkflint. I still haven't seen the actual commercial on TV , so it was nice to get a peek at it online.

Watch for the new commercial for Hanes that features MOMIX dancers. I believe it was first aired this week during "Dancing with the Stars".

One thing I noticed about all the pairs except Totmianina/Marinin was their inability to synchronize their turns. Shen/Zhao were, I think, particularly off time with each other in their spins and assorted turns. I don't think I've ever seen an Olympics where the silver and bronze medal holders couldn't do this at least passably well. Add the inability to complete their planned jumps and what I think we ended up with was, aside from Totmianina/Marinin, the weakest field of pairs skaters I can remember. The silver and bronze medal winners are each capable of much better performances when they are healthy but on this particular day, even with all the mistakes, there was no else there to take advantage. I realize that both the silver and bronze medalists were fighting injuries and that Shen/Zhao's ice time this year has been limited. But what was notable is that there was nobody else who could take full advantage of this. Zhang/Zhang, of course, DID place second over them but it was despite her fall and their subsequent careful performance. In another year, that would've kept them off the podium. I would love to have seen a clean Zhang/Zhang performance though. Had they been able to do it, I think it would've been a brilliant second place instead of a questionable one. As it was, Zhang skated such a remarkable performance after that fall! Great kudos to her - I don't know how she did it! I agree about the Chinese choreography; it is quite lovely. And the Chinese pairs are rendering it with great expression and intelligence. Shen, in particular, skated with a balletic grace. She used her head beautifully, doing all the little things that a musical dancer - or skater - does. I noted especially that she, unlike any pairs skater I can remember, made certain that when she came off a lift, turned her body out to the audience with her head tilted with lovely expression. I don't know the ballet terms to describe this but it's something the very best ballet dancers do that sets them apart from others. Shen has this lovely quality. She draws the audience in to her. I disagreed with the commentators who felt that Totmianina/Marinin skated a safe performance. I thought it suited the music brilliantly. They skated fluidly and made something very hard look easy; perhaps that's why the commentator thought it was safe? In any case, they so deserved their gold medal and I'm delighted for them.

Dnznqueen, When you get to Ballet Talk for Dancers, scroll down to the Career General Discussion board to ask your question. I can then write a little reply!

Although her decision was the correct one, I am also sorry to see Kwan leave the Olympic stage. I will miss her terribly because at her best, hers was the complete program. But she would've been vilified had she skated at anything less than perfectly healthy. I'd have hated to see her taint her professionalism that way. I will always wonder how different her latter career would've been had she kept Frank Carroll as her coach. She had a couple critical years where she was floundering about and I think they affected her more than she'd ever admit. I don't believe she was psychologically ever the same on the ice. It will be interesting to see what Sasha Cohen can do but I will hold my breath as usual; I believe she's never yet put together an unmarred performance in a major event. I'd give anything for it to happen at the Olympics. That said, I think this is Slutskaya's year. I wish we'd hear more about her. I'm not fond of her style at all, but I have to say that I will not be unhappy if she wins. For all the talk about Kwan, this is a young woman who is defying the odds just by being out there on the ice with all her serious medical concerns and also her mother's very serious illness. And still she's the skater to beat. For that, she wins my heart.

Bart, I believe it was offline only to update it about the very sad news of Rebecca's Wright's passing. The website is up and running now.

I am using Firefox 1.0.6 on my Dell laptop and have never had any problems with it on this site. Like Alexandra, I HAVE had some occasional problems with Safari on my school Mac.

Thank you for posting that! FINALLY, there's a program I can get to

LOL, that's exactly it! And the truth is, it's never for naught, no matter how Tim Goebbels was feeling at the time.

I adored Rosenthal's program. Her Andean (?) music is perfect for a skating performance. It's driving, maintaining a certain amount of tension all the way through that propels a skater. I loved it that Rosenthal didn't skate a feminine routine. It's so nice to see a woman skate from her heart without it having to come from just one place in her heart. Women figure skaters are always supposed to perform prettiness; Rosenthal showed that a woman can do something else and it can be interesting - no, more than that, it can be ENERGIZING - to an audience, it can be thrilling and imaginative. Men have always had that possibility as an option to playing the macho personality; I'm so delighted to see a woman show us the possibilities for her sex as well. Kimmie Meissner was adorable! I'd never seen her skate before. There's lots to like and I do hope that she continues to improve. A little footnote here is that I think her costume was by far the most attractive of the night. That design in the waist area is a winner. So is the red. But in fact, just about ALL the costumes were really lovely. I don't usually say that. Emily Hughes: Well, I guess I've discovered that I'm not a Hughes family fan. What I DO like, a lot, is their energy. Emily has her sister's joie de vive on the ice. Actually, she surpasses her sister's energy level. And I like her skating even more than I ever liked her sister's (who, by the way, I thought deserved that Olympic gold because she DID skate the best on that given day when the better skaters didn't produce). Emily's skating has a wider range than her sister's, I think, another point in her favor. What she also shares, though, and it's what makes me an indifferent observer, are the hunched up shoulders, especially in her jumps, and an overall awkward look to her upper body. There's something about how she uses her arms and shoulders - I think it's more likely a case of not using her back muscles to support her arms but I'm not sure. Both Hughes dancers seem to have that awkwardness, and, to my humble taste, it's a big negative. Liang: What a disappointment! She's a skater that I HAVE seen several times in the past and I've hoped for great things from her. Her music, especially the first half, had great drive and tension in it, and Liang responded well to it. But once she fell the first time, she crumbled, lost heart, and that was it for the rest of the way. What a shame. Ditto for Czisny, a very lovely skater. I was so sorry to see that she, along with Liang, just doesn't seem to have the inner resources to manage a high-tension event. Speaking of lacking such inner resources, I've saved Sasha Cohen for last. For her, it was an inspired performance despite her being sick all week. How I wish she'd nailed all her jumps though. I have only seen her complete a flawless performance once, in a Grand Prix event. It seems that she jinxes herself time and again. Hard to know if this time was due to her illness or just yet another similar event. And so it makes me wonder, What if Michelle Kwan HAD been there? Would Cohen then, after the first de rigeur fall, have lost her heart? I hate to say it, but I think so. For all that, I'm a huge fan of Sasha Cohen's skating despite her disappointing me time and again. She's the Chicago Cubs of the figure skating world :grinning-smiley-001: , destined to disappoint time and again, but I keep coming back for more. I adore her Gumbie doll qualities, her passion, her clean lines, her "to die for" spirals, her music choices, costumes, her musicality, her overall classicism, etc. She exudes a ballet ethic (wasn't her mom a ballerina?) and of course I'm attracted to that. When she's on, she has those delicious speedy corkscrews in her jumps - she goes up and then poof! before you know it, she's completed the three revolutions - and back down. Each part - the going up, revolving, and coming down - are superbly distinct from one another, and oh, that straight controlled back leg and perfect upper body on the landings! - I LOVE that and rarely see it in a skater. I believe she is currently the most interesting female figure skater (hmm, but then Rosenthal's performance comes to mind) -with the greatest raw talent around - and so I continue to root for her and wish that she can find a way to subdue her nerves. And then there's Kwan: well, she USED to be the most interesting female figure skater - what artistry! - but she disappointed me the last couple times I saw her skate because she hadn't been able to keep up with the new requirements. I hope it's true that she's put together a performance that meets those standards. If so, then she's the skater to beat. Kwan's skating, even when she was a 13 year old, has always exuded a maturity beyond her years. As an adult, she's so often presented a work of art on ice that it's something I think we've all come to simply expect. I fear though that injuries and the newer jumping demands, may mean that her time is past. I hope it's not true. Kwan has her "bye" for the Olympic berth, the right decision, I think, especially since it's still contingent on her proving, on Jan. 27, that she can skate both her short and her long performances at Olympic-level quality. I don't think that Hughes, Liang, or Czisny have the ability to do better than a healthy Kwan (although Hughes could be the reincarnation of her sister). Final note on the men: Did anyone else read Timothy Goebbels' comment upon coming in 7th? What a heartbreak for him! I've never been a fan of his, although I did appreciate his jumping in his earlier years, which shares the same corkscrew qualities as does Cohen's when she's skating well. But still, it's hard to hear the defeat and sadness in his voice and not feel awful for him. Of course, he'll rebound. He's got a great career in professional skating should he choose to continue, and I'm sure that his celebrity will give him a nice life. Still, as the mother of a professional dancer, it reminded me of my own fears for my daughter when she declared she wasn't going to college "right away" - ballet students who've rejected college in order to continue their ballet studies years beyond high school, but for naught (in terms of pro dancing career). It's so difficult to know whether or not to give up, isn't it?

She announced her retirement in Sept. 05 and has begun to coach.

Matt Savoie won my soul. The music he chose, how his body, even his face, sung to it, the reverie he placed me in...I was swept away. I say this despite all the angles, the elbows, the sometimes pointiness of his upper appendages as he skated. Normally, I prefer the upper body maintaining more of a line throughout, ala Weir, for example. But it works for Savoie, works beautifully. His program was richly complete, a fully musical interpretation. Savoie reminds me of Toller Cranston, not in his style which is not at all alike but in his individuality, in his soul. It's so rare to find in these days, in any day, yet it's what I live for. I was disappointed in Weir. I confess I haven't been able to watch figure skating much at all the last two years so I'm not familiar enough with his history. I agree with Button's comments about his uninspiring music. He has a beautiful line but I felt like there was way too much dead time, in the first part of his program especially, unlike Savoie's program which sung all the way through. One of the commentator's remarks, "drama and poise" re Lysacek's program which also included that dead time, is apt here. This is my first look at Lysacek. I love his possibilities, love his dashing spirit, his upper body. I realized that he, Weir, and Weiss all use their backs very well along with their shoulders in their carriage. It makes such a difference. I don't know if that is also true of Savoie because his choreography was different enough to not give me a chance to notice. But I wish that Lysacek's program, as with Weir's, didn't include so much uninteresting stroking around prior to jumping. Savoie showed it doesn't have to be like that. In her best days, so did Kwan. For many years I've delighted in watching Weiss develop. Early on, in his junior years, I was most definitely not a fan of his so I'm happy to have my opinion so completely changed. There's so much to love about him. I feel sorry, indeed, if the standings hold towards the Olympic berths but then I am utterly delighted that Savoie will likely be going. I just wish it weren't at Weiss's expense. Helene, I too want to thank you for taking the time to give us such a complete history of these skaters. It prepared me very nicely so I do appreciate your taking what must have been considerable time to educate us.

I recorded the Farrell segment (all but the first couple seconds) on DVD as well as everything that came afterwards. Bart and Helene, I can send you each a copy if you really want it. I worried that the general audience wouldn't "get" Farrell's expressions and I'm sad to hear that some people found her cold. To me, she looked shy and maybe a little nervous. When she was watching her dancers, she was clearly concentrating hard as any consummate teacher would. To me, that was when it felt like I was really seeing her personality.

Actually, I thought that ending the article with that 14 year old girl's comments wasn't alarming but just plain silly. We all know that girls that age have opinions they're embarrassed about later.