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Ballet Book Club


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I received a notice today from SFB that they are starting a Ballet Book Club:

"Ever wondered about the literature behind the ballets? Or wanted an excuse to delve a little deeper into everyone’s favorite story ballets? We’ll do exactly that: read the story, compare it to the ballet, and, of course, have a glass of wine."

There are 4 meetings planned:

Don Quixote | Sat, Feb 2 at 5 pm
Snowblind/Ethan Frome | Sat, Feb 16 at 5 pm
The Sleeping Beauty | Sat, Mar 16 at 5 pm
The Little Mermaid | Sat, Apr 20 at 5 pm

Time: 5-6:30pm
Location: Dollar Board Room, Chris Hellman Center for Dance
Price: $20/$15 (subscribers and donors above $75)/$60 (package)

https://www.sfballet.org/season/events/2019-Ballet-Book-Club/

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After seeing Neumeier's The Little Mermaid on its opening night in SF and knowing how much he researches for a work,  I read The Little Mermaid in a collection with annotations.  This enhanced the ballet when I saw it the following season with both casts.  

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15 minutes ago, Josette said:

After seeing Neumeier's The Little Mermaid on its opening night in SF and knowing how much he researches for a work,  I read The Little Mermaid in a collection with annotations.  This enhanced the ballet when I saw it the following season with both casts.  

Good for you - Andersen's tales can be a difficult read. I attempted to read all of his "complete fairy tales and stories", but found much of it too depressing to get more than 2/3rds of the way.
Reading Ethan Frome to compare with Marsden's ballet might be useful though.

Edited by pherank
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1 hour ago, pherank said:

Good for you - Andersen's tales can be a difficult read. I attempted to read all of his "complete fairy tales and stories", but found much of it too depressing to get more than 2/3rds of the way.
Reading Ethan Frome to compare with Marsden's ballet might be useful though.

When I was a little girl I received a beautiful (probably abridged) Little Mermaid--the book was illustrated with sort of "puppet/doll" stagings that seem to have been photographed and had a shiny or possibly holographic image on the front. I loved the book--the physical book--and its illustrations as well as the little mermaid herself and was devastated when I got to the ending. Not all my older siblings' attempts to persuade me that the mermaid's final fate was "really" happy nor my own daydreaming attempts to arrive at the same perspective ever got me past the sadness.

By the time I read Ethan Frome I had somewhat better defenses.

Edited by Drew
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1 hour ago, Drew said:

When I was a little girl I received a beautiful (probably abridged) Little Mermaid--the book was illustrated with sort of "puppet/doll" stagings that seem to have been photographed and had a shiny or possibly holographic image on the front. I loved the book--the physical book--and its illustrations as well as the little mermaid herself and was devastated when I got to the ending. Not all my older siblings' attempts to persuade me that the mermaid's final fate was "really" happy nor my own daydreaming attempts to arrive at the same perspective ever got me past the sadness.

By the time I read Ethan Frome I had somewhat better defenses.

Studying literature and creative writing in school, I naturally spent time reading fairy tales and mythology texts. And old European fairy tales (and songs) are not the least bit happy and pretty. 
But that's part of the fascination - they teach a great many things, and sometimes in a subversive manner. Andersen's tales are plainly Christian in their bent, but it's not a warm and fuzzy approach. "The Little Match Girl" would be one example - maybe he was actually trying to drive people to Buddhism.  😉

Edited by pherank
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