The other day I was watching a video about Margot Fonteyn, the most famous British ballet dancer of the mid-twentieth century. The video featured a few seconds of her dancing in Fokine’s Les Sylphides. It was a role I immediately … Continue reading →
I read Aldous Huxley’s dystopian Brave New World shortly after I had read Orwell’s dystopian Nineteen-Eighty-Four. I was around thirteen years old at the time, and I didn’t quite get Brave New World although I did finish it. In my … Continue reading →
Such a funny guy, with his very own deadpan style. RIP Bob Newhart. Greatest last episode of all time:
Continue reading →Here he is, Fabrice Calmels, at over 6 feet 6 inches tall: Here’s a short article about him. He’s a fairly good dancer, too, although his feet are a bit scrunched in the toes rather than in the arch. A … Continue reading →
And that means I finally signed off on the proofs. Proof-reading is one of my least favorite occupations, and at a certain point you just have to say enough, because it seems it’s always possible to find mistakes. I still … Continue reading →
I finally turned in the PDF of Gerard’s book to the printing company. I had long been formatting and fixing things and proof-reading and fiddling with this and that. There are a nearly infinite number of decisions to make when … Continue reading →
For most of my blogging career, I’ve had the category “evil” on my right sidebar. As I write this, there are only 118 entries there. Ordinarily, I’ve kept the designation for things like the Holocaust or terrible crimes rather than … Continue reading →
I highlight this not because of Maher, who doesn’t especially interest me. I think the clip is worth watching because of what it says about the way we get information and form our opinions these days. Maher isn’t exactly on … Continue reading →
Gillian Murphy has been with American Ballet Theater for about 25 years. She’s getting close to retirement age (she’s 45), but this video was made at least fourteen years ago. Murphy is exceptionally strong and she is also tall for … Continue reading →
My goodness. Take a look at Charles’ portrait (copying it seems to be blocked, but if you click on the link you can view it): The bold portrait, painted by British artist Jonathan Yeo, is the first official portrait of … Continue reading →
The male ballet dancer’s name in this video is Vasiliev, but I don’t think he’s any relation to the other Vasiliev: Vladimir, whom I highlighted last month. This Vasiliev is Ivan, a much more recent dancer. I believe this performance … Continue reading →