87Sigfried87

As I know some ballet teachers are in this site....i need urgent information about ballet masterclasses anywhere in Europe,Russia or NY.If you know a summer intensive or a meeting for teachers of ballet,or a masterclass at high level tell me for next year,i'd be very grateful.I took a look at something on the net but there's much more about summer intensives or masterclasses for ballet students;and actually don't know where to search---Thanks in advance.

We're just one step away from adding the new category "ballet" to the sports field. As i stated in a previous post, i can't wait to see the black swan in the future Olympic Games...and with no tutus...maybe they are soon to be considered too old fashion and an obstacle to show off the next world goal: 88 pirouettes..how does that sound...? What do you think Taglioni, Pavlova, Fonteyn, Danilova, Makarova, Alonso, Farrell...? Well,i guess it's the same with the hyper extended legs of gymnasts....fascinating....I'd like to have such legs and such pirouettes...i would be a very good dancer,but i wouldn't maybe be an artist,if i didn't have something else.Etoiles are not famous only for the techinque or for their bodies or gifts...If you pay for a ticket you want to see something else a part from legs and turns(imagine 3hours of turns and legs!!!!),but if you have a big gift in something it makes the difference between being a normal dancer and an special one.Do you think Guillem would have become what she is now,without her 200°legs or Tamara Rojo without her pirouettes etc?ballet is not a sport only because there is(fortunately!) a lot of importance focused on the artistic part. Comparing the old type of ballet to the new one is always senseless.Taglioni did 45° arabesques because the technique was so...But would you like to see her arabesque in a performance nowadays?I'd not. I posted this because i was quite shocked by her pirouettes...this doesn't mean that i consider her a great dancer and that i'd pay to go and see her ;-)

I supposed it was made with a turnboard...i use it myself but I can get to 10 pirouettes...my friend,who's very good at turning can get to 22 pirouettes with it...but 36 it means that she has 15 turns at least without turnboard!!!!

I was watching some ballet videos on you tube,always surprised of the big amount of them available,and got shocked by the video of this GIRL doing 36pirouettes.They say it's not fake and it's the world record.They are not perfect pirouettes,they're not with passé endehors but....36!!!and I've always thought that boys are more gifted in pirouettes!I also wonder if she dances somewhere,in a company or what else and what type of training she follows to have such turns('cause i'd follow it myself;-))....she is not human maybe

I have this ballet.It's very nice,not boring at all and the choreography is well done,especially the dwarfs' variations and the grand pas de deux at the end;then Tamara Rojo is a great dancer with amazing pirouettes!!!

Didn't Lopatkina get the title of "best swan of the century"?I have her "Dying Swan" performance and I can say she's just...perfect!and from the interpretative point of view is even better!

Roberto Bolle seems very concerned about advertising his image in the last period.He started posing for "Tissot",then he did some spots for water,the Italian campain for D&G....everybody knows him now because of his appearences on tv and advertisment.It's been a good choice;-)

French is not the problem itself.I can speak Italian,English,French,a little Spanish and a little German:-)....but the problem is that i never buy tickets on the net cause i don't want to give credit card number....Calling could be an idea.I'll try,although i think there won't be many tickets still available.Queueing for hours is not for me.I'd just go mad!Thanks for the information.

Ah you see....you had a good arch.Do you still have it?I think this thing lasts for all life.I was not talking about the talents one has in his life in particular,i was more concerned about physical gifts for ballet non-dancers have.I was also wondering if somebody who loves ballet but doesn't practice it as professionist,ever has the will to try to repeat the movements he has seen...i don't know,maybe point his feet at home,try a pirouette or try and raise a leg....and doing so,he/she can discover to have a physical gift or attitude that would be good in ballet.It's that i could never imagine me still,if a music is playing.I am just oblidged to move and i couldn't imagine me after a ballet,not trying steps i've seen....i'm trying to imagine what is the reaction a non-dancer has after watching a performance....if i weren't a dancer i would maybe go home and act like a dancer and try some steps...just to laugh,but wonder if it's common or absurde among ballettomanes...:-)

I heard that on the 12th of december there will be in Paris the performance of the ballet school and i'd like to go as i know how good these young dancers are and are taught.Do you know how to get tickets(whether they still are available...)?thanks.

I am always amazed by gifts such as good arch,open legs, X legs,natural endehors etc on non dancers.As many people in this site are actually non-dancers i'd like to ask you some questions...have you ever verifyed if you have natural gifts for ballet?have you ever tried to point your feet and see if your arch would be good if you were dancers,or tried to do a split and see if you have it or not? i would be curious to know if i could be talented in fields that i like but don't practise as a professionist.For example,i liked drawing very much when i was a child and when younger i gave an art critic some drawings to know what he thought about them and discovered that i could have become a very good cartoon maker...the same for singing...they told me i had a tenor voice....not that i use such "gifts" but i am curious enough to ask. Getting back to ballet,i've seen many non dancers who had incredible gifts.The arch is a common example.Maybe they have difficulties to point the foot first,but when they do you discover very good arches on people who have never danced at all.It always surprises me. What about you?did you discover to have a gift?and which one? waiting for your answers.

A real genius in the world of ballet is gone.We'll all miss his works,his masterpieces.Wondering who's gonna take his place...not that someone could take his place,but i wonder who's gonnA lead his CDB....a sad news yes.

thanks again to everybody for supporting me:-).If i become a "big" in ballet i'll remeber you and this site....yeah but that's impossible ehehehehe.See you soon.

We have many members of Ballet Talk who are dancers and former dancers. Often, as I read what they post, I am aware of insights and points of view which they bring to ballet-watching that the rest of us (who do not have stage experience) cannot possibly have. It would be wonderful to hear from our dancers and former dancers -- those with stage experience (professional or amateur): How does your experience (or past experience) change the way you observe and feel as a member of the audience or, generally, as an observer of the ballet seen? When you read a lay person reviewing a performance, do you ever with the review had been written by a dancer? Anything in particular you'd like to say to your non-dancing compatriots on Ballet Talk? I am quoted,so I answer.My old ballet teacher told me that it is scientifically proved that dance changes the brain in some way....as soon as you learn something new,you improve or understand a new thing about dancing,you brain sets up in a different way,taking into consideration the new discovery. Maybe yes,we see in a different way.What non-dancer friends or also my parents or anyone who doesn't practice this wonderful art tell me is that we're too critical and too fussy.This could seem a banal statement but it's not so.We are taught to look at a ballet and at a dancer in an extra precise way,we look and immediatly do a radiography,with the first eye blick,to the body of a dancer: feet,legs,proportions,beauty(why not?),to the gifts of the dancer with the second eyeblick,to the dancing and how he does every single step with the third eyeblick.It's not even a wanted action.It just comes up naturally.Sometimes it's surprising that you can see a few movements,maybe 8/8 of the piece to say if one is a good or weak dancer and understand generally how he dances.We can feel the littlest mistake or exitation.... This thing comes out also out of the stage.You stroll around the city and look at the people differently.Beauty is always the first thing.Aesthetics is fundamental for us.We look at people's beauty,not for everybody it is so,we long for beauty.We are addicted to it!Stay in front of a mirror for hours and hours in your life and then tell me if you can blame us.This doesn't have to be confused with superficiality.It's justa a different taste and a different way of looking at the world.We are just artistic in everything we do,in our personality too.Sometimes we look eccentric but we are just...particular. Sensitivity is another thing.We have a developed and amplyfied way of feeling emotions.Without it you can't be a dancer. Listening to music is also very different for us.Non-dancers listen to music and maybe move,maybe sing,maybe feel happy.I personally have visions in my mind.I close my eyes and see a whole world creating in front of me.Visions.Especially of choreographies.I don't have to think of any kind of step in particular.A whole ballet comes to my mind and if i try and remember it....i just can't!This is a unique peculiarity of our category. Then our relationship towards pain chenges:many people always comlain about having pain in the back,or at a leg....we live constantly,every single minute we share our lives with the pain caused by the work you do on your body...so we start not feeling it after a while.It really makes me laugh hearing people talk about soft pain somewhere because we'd have to complain every moment of our lives. Last topic: we live in our own world.I wake up in the morning(very early actually:() and do a piqué-arabesque towards the kitchen,a penchè to take my clothes,a pas-de-bourré towards the bathroom....stand in endehors on the subway....ehehehe.....we live our own fairytale,often contrasting with the real world,but we like it. To answer to your question if a critic made by a dancer would be better than from a non-dancer...i'd answer maybe.Maybe yes because a dancer is more precise and understands all the world behind a ballet,knows how the steps have to be made....is more fussy;-) but maybe no because dancers are sometimes TOO fussy and not very objective in their critics...and then let me say that ballet is made for non dancers;for the common people forming the audience.An opinion has then to be coming from a normal person watching the ballet and maybe even not understanding too much about it!For technical advices and critics we have the maitres,the directors.... It's hard anyway for a dancer to explain his way of living life because what's normal for me it's out of the world for somebody else.I don't have the real prospective as don't often have the chance to compare my lifestyle with non-dancers.It would be useful to take a non-dancer and let him try a whole day as a ballet dancer and see what's weird for him!

But it's just in a school.That's why i wanted to perform Tchaikovsky PDD in this occasion,because it's not a real performance but just a little show inside a school.I think in this case i can dance it but as i know about balanchine protection of the repertoire i'll maybe start from his steps to take inspiration for my own choreography.It would be a good occasion to show my talent as a choreographer,if i have....;-).Nutcracker PDD is one among the most difficult pieces I've ever seen and I don't have even the time to try and dance it.Same for Sleeping beauty PDD.White Swan and Black Swan,thinking of "tchaikovskian" PDDs,require a "physique du role" that my partner doesn't have....she's more appropriate for DonQui....Donqui is banal,Romeo and Juliet requires a hard job of interpretation especially for the girl,same for Dame aux Camelias.Manon is very beautiful but not so easy to put together on my own....it's a hard choice!Coppelia PDD...well....i don't remember.I'll watch it later.Hope in Roland Petit's version is nice.Snow White PDD is nice and not too hard,but the variations....especially because i have Tamara Rojo's version and my partner has not her pirouettes and fouettés;-).If i am in too much trouble i'll invent a PDD on a Chopin's or Mozart's piano concert...it won't be a piece of repertoire but at least it wouldn't be something already seen a thousand times...and for the audience of young ballet students will probably be alright. What about a PDD for two men?have you seen anything you remember about and not too difficult to find?waiting for your answers....

Talking about Christmas projects...I have to perform something as I'm invited in a school of dance in town as guest....I can bring anything,a pas de deux a variation.....whatever i want.I have no big ideas actually.I wanted to bring "Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux" as it's not too difficult to prepare it on my own.Could be an idea of pas de deux.Raymonda pas de deux is another possibility.I wanted to bring a piece that's easy to put together without a coach,as I don't need to show off too much in this occasion;i was also looking for a pas de deux that is not very often performed(i hate commercial things;-)).I was wondering if Midsummer Night's Dream pas de deux is a nice one.I seem to have forgotten about this ballet.If you have advices about a possibility please tell me.Then i was looking for a kind of PDD for two men.Something like Béjart or something like "My Way" performed by Simkin father and son.It was a project with a friend of mine, a very good dancer but i have no ideas and no time to invent the choreography from scratch.I have the gift of very open legs,especially the left one,good lines and arms;he has the gift of turns and of jumps,so we need a kind of "pas de deux" for two men that can show our gifts.If you have ideas on something similar and easy to find you're welcome again...

Thanks to everyone!I could't imagine this post would have been so interesting for you.Thought it was just the writing of a paranoic dancer before a performance;-).Now I have some new projects to work on....I'll ask you some advices in another post maybe:-).Thanks again.

Sorry if I disappeared for a while but I didn't have my web connection during the last week.I'll tell you now how it went the performance.I've had some troubles with finding a good costume,as this piece is not very much played.I've tried in many specialized places but,maybe i'm too fussy when it's about my job and the Aesthetic taste i pretend when i'm performing something.It's a vice,sorry.Not being able to find anything I had to order it. 85 euros and they had the courage to give me a whole tight suit,from the chest to the feet,skin coloured....without anything!Just a very tight suit.I don't even know why I paid it.Then,as usual I had to make the costume myself....at least I was sure about the result.I used the suit as the starting point.I had to add myself the petals of the rose around the neck,front and back,around the sleeves and around the left leg at the beginning of it.Then it stilled missed something.Like a thunder a genial idea came to my mind.Why not giving the idea of dewdrops on the petals?the problem was how to give back the illusion.How? light gluedrops on the external part of the petals covered in a few glitters,the most sober possible.The result was great,you should see it.Everybody said to me:"but you made it yourself?How good you are!you could have been a stylist!".I could maybe but i'm a dancer;-).Coming to the performance.I told you that i didn't know how to interpret the role and that the stage will let me know in the right moment.I just stepped on stage and become a spectre.I've found myself being softly seductive and a bit malicious in the moments of solo and when trying to wake up the girl,protective in the PDD moments.Don't know if this was the right way,but it was my way.The girl was perfectly in the role and pretty in her "degas".Everything went alright,but a moment in which I forgot a little part but nobody noticed...i just invented a few steps which i think worked.The only thing I didn't like was that it was an Opera gala and you surely know how the Opera audience is absolutely not interested or a little interested in watching a ballet moment.They asked me to go and bring a Waltz piece and i brought the Spectre but it wasn't the warm audience of ballet.They applauded very little and not very much concerned about what was going on.I could have danced better(as always...we can always be better!)but i'm satysfied,as i had only a week to prepare the piece and had also to make the costume on my own .

If You mean Aestethically talking,not talking about the beauty on stage,which is very different,you can't omit Roberto Bolle,our Italian étoile.I've never met a male dancer as beautiful as he is,also out of the stage.Anyway i've always seen many ugly male dancers.The majority of the great ones is so.Then on stage you'd say they're wonderful,but out of the stage...no way!Let's talk also about the girls;i'm more concerned about;-)....Ferri is as beautiful on stage as ugly off the stage.Guillem the same.Zakharova is a nice girl also in the common life...the same for Ansanelliand Lacarra....oh Lacarra is so beautiful!!!!

Yes.Misha is a real man;but this is not a piece in which you have to be very masculine.And anyway a ghost should be compared to a spirit,so not necessary sexually characterized.A more androginous look would maybe be better.The problem of his Spectre is not to me his way of being masculine;it's that if you continously put duble assemblé en tournant,pirouettes and too much technique,it becomes the Spectre of Turns.It deviates in a certain way and distracts.It's more a role of beautiful port de bras and style.Stop. Today I've ended to study the Spectre solo parts.I am still puzzled about the expression.I don't know whether to take example from Ariel in "the Tempest" by Shakespeare or Puck in "Midsummer night's dream"and make it as a fairy....so maybe a little childish and strange.Or again being sad as Malakhov's as the ghost doesn't have to look to much alive,or again being neutral-sweet and to guide the girl and protect her,or again being seductive.Being seductive anyway is not the attitude i like most in this piece.I am afraid it would look ridiculous and wrong.I'll probably do a mix of different attitudes depending on the difference between the solo and the PDD parts.The stage will let me know the right way.

I still have some doubts on the facial expression i am supposed to keep.During the rehearsals i found myself smiling softly at my partner and i'm wondering if I should keep a neutral/deep expression.In the videos i've seen they look kinda sad for the whole piece.That's i think not good in the pas de deux parts.Yes,he's a ghost and can't look to happy and too much "alive" but he's anyway dancing with the girl.This thing doesn't make me sad....I am wondering if a soft sweet expression on my face would be senseless....The coach is not yet worrying too much about the expression,but still on the technique.I'll ask in the right moment but before that tell me,as audience,if you'd think a not sad expression would puzzle you or not.Thanks.

Would you consider Balanchine as a contemporary choreographer?I'd not,if not for a time question.He's a modern-classical choreographer,but still classical.So far from being contemporary in the style!

dancerboy, I imagine very similar things were once said about The Ballet Russes and even Balanchine's ballets. I'll give you an example.The last performance of "Le Parc" by Preljocaj here at Scala was a flop.The audience said they had seen no technique,that it was boring,there were too may walks on stage,that the music was also boring and that it was maybe too particular to be well understood and liked by the majority of the people....I was the only one who liked it and found it very enjoyable.And this was a soft contemporary piece,as it was anyway very neoclassical.Imagine what the audience would tell if they saw Sagre du Printemps for the first time in their lives.

Is Misha usually considered 'earthy?' I hadn't thought so particularly, but the term may mean something in ballet I don't know about. I guess, but I don't know if I think the physique always determines that. I can't for the life of me see Anna Plisetskaya as ethereal in that tape of 'Swan Lake', but maybe she is considered to be to those who are looking more purely in a balletic sense. Most NYCB dancers haven't seemed to me to be particularly ethereal or earthy, but maybe I imagine more of the Russians to be ethereal. Ethereal are dancers who show much grace when dancing and usually have thin or anyway very lank bodies usually good at the role of the prince(ss),the fairy....very lyrical roles.I'd quote Zakharova,Legris,Bolle,Malakhov,Lacarra,Semionova.... Earthy dancers are the ones who are better at roles full of jumps,turns,great technique and not graceful roles.I call them "braggers",in a good sense.These ones are the ones good at Don Chisciotte,Diana and Acteon,Le Corsaire,Bayadère....I'd quote Zelensky,Matvienko,Misha,Guillem also(but she's able to do any kind of roles perfectly)... Usually if you are good at one role you aren't for the other.But there are also some exceptions.Malakhov makes me laugh doing le Corsaire as much as Zakharova and Bolle performing Don Chisciotte.The same for Baryshnikov doing "Spectre de la Rose" and Zelensky doing Swan Lake.You really feel they are in the wrong role;-).

I was forgetting the long walks on stage,very deep but just people walking,and moments of stillness created by deep looks between the dancers.Just looks....