I’ve recently discovered a YouTube channel featuring two sisters, dancers who speak about ballet. They are delightful as well as knowledgeable, in their very early twenties, and I’ve been having a good time watching their videos. I was going to … Continue reading →
[NOTE: Today is Presidents’ Day, and this is a repeat of a previous post.] I’m not that old, but pedagogical practices in my youth seem absolutely archaic compared to whatever passes for education these days. For starters, we had Washington’s … Continue reading →
Same scene, two versions of War and Peace. Hollywood, circa 1956. Ferrer and Hepburn were married in real life at the time: Here’s the Russian version made in the 1960s, which I saw in movie theaters long ago. I found … Continue reading →
This “Bacchante” variation from Walpurgis Nacht was Maya Plisetkaya’s forte, and nobody else is Plisetskaya or even close. But many give the variation a try, especially in dance competitions where they face a particularly daunting task: to perform the variation … Continue reading →
First of all, I dislike this particular ballet variation even when adult soloists perform it. It’s herky-jerky and show-offy in a sharp and to me unpleasant way. There’s a tendency for the women to look as though they’re ferociously looking … Continue reading →
… named Chloe Helimet has a lovely lyrical upper body for her age, and a calm presence. The variation she’s dancing is harder than it looks because the slow tempo requires so much control. Her feet are unusually flexible, which … Continue reading →
The outcome seems to me to be a foregone conclusion. But you can talk about it all here. Or the weather, which is very cold in Iowa today. Or this song: I saw the original Broadway production as a very … Continue reading →
Seventy thousand dollars or so? Someone shelled that out back in 2020. I looked that fact up because of this comment by “Oligonicella”: I have a long running joke of a habit as I paint. I clean my palette board … Continue reading →
Serenade is one of my favorite ballets. It was the first ballet Balanchine choreographed in the US – in 1934, ninety years ago, although it’s timeless – and one of his very greatest as well as one of the greatest … Continue reading →
Every now and then I get a commenter asking why I don’t write about a certain topic. But it’s often something I have written about. For example, today a commenter mentioned – perhaps tongue in cheek, so I’m not intending … Continue reading →
And me? Glad you asked. Nada, zip, zilch. Oh, I might visit a nearby friend for a short while and have a sip of champagne, a tiny toast to the end of 2023, a year I’m pretty sure most people … Continue reading →