 |
| The view from my room |
 |
| Street view |
 |
| Ah, summertime... summer in the city |
 |
| almost in the clouds |
 |
| puffy! |
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Apartment
I have a very lovely view outside my window here!
A drive into the city
 |
| View from the bus |
 |
| Moi... |
 |
| Skyline coming in view |
 |
| And there it is... |
 |
| A pretty stunning day |
 |
 |
| The fairweather city |
 |
| Tolls... |
 |
| (Gorgeous day) |
 |
| Back in the city |
Thursday, July 28, 2011
DanceQuote 21
"The most essential thing in dance discipline is devotion, the steadfast and willing devotion to the labor that makes the class work not a gymnastic hour and a half, or at the lowest level, a daily drudgery, but a devotion that allows the classroom discipline to become moments of dancing too."
-Merce Cunningham-
-Merce Cunningham-
Sleeping Beauty Fairies
I just began learning this variation - slightly different choreography - earlier this week. (This video features the beautiful work, as always, from the Paris Opera Ballet.) The "Zeal Fairy":
Also, the fairies' finale - gorgeous Classical Ballet!
Also, the fairies' finale - gorgeous Classical Ballet!
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Summer intensive time!
Summer is here! (with searing temperatures and hot sun, hope you're heading for the pool or air conditioning...)
I am excited to say that I am spending my main part of summer at the Gelsey Kirkland Academy of Classical Ballet's summer intensive 2011. So far it is amazing! I started on the 18th - earlier this week. I'm staying in Manhattan at a friend's apartment. It's really nice - I have a great little room that is graciously being shared by another friend that is not come back to use it until September. The friends I'm staying with have 3 cats - Clare, Patty and Emma - very sweet, well-behaved cats. Emma is much like a dog, eager for affection, always around with a ton of energy, and breaks stuff! (Her nickname is "the imp".) Her fur is very, very, very soft. She is a pale orange with slightly darker stripes. The other two are tabbies and a bit older (Emma is 4).
I have a really fantastic view from my room - and I am enjoying it during the short (ish) time I am there. (Photos to come shortly!)
As per the hot weather... it's been pretty hot in the city. There was one day in particular that was pretty miserable underground. It seemed as thought the air conditioning was not running in the subways at all! One station especially was SO hot that when I stepped out across the platform it felt literally, like an oven. I really wondered how everyone standing there was not keeled over flat on the ground. Yikes. And then, when I walked from the subway out in the open air, I realized that it was actually a nice and breezy day outside! Why so hot underground!? A mystery...
The program has been amazing and super intense at the same time. The people and fellow students are so warm and friendly. The work ethic of my fellow students is inspiring, and it is really wonderful to be around individuals that work hard and most importantly, really care. Our class the first 3 days or so were all friends and really bonded until leveling on the 4th day when we all mixed around again. It was hard to separate but we all got together during lunchtime anyway!
I'm so grateful to be able to go to this intensive. It's absolutely wonderful -- the first 2 days I was sure that I must be in heaven. I can feel the improvement by the day. It is a pretty sublime feeling to realize that one has never felt so happy - with their environment, personal progress (a dancer, actually happy with/recognizing their progress!?!), and really, just everything. It is extremely rewarding to work very hard and actually see the results and feel fulfilled in that work... coming home at the end of the day exhausted but ready to do it all over again in the morning... I'm looking forward to going back on Monday to another exciting week of putting out everything to utter exhaustion and complete soreness at the end of the day!
It's surreal, too, to be back in the city, but also really great - especially in the summer. There's a special magic about summertime in NYC. Hence, one of my favorites:
Sunday, July 10, 2011
War Wounds and Tutus
This is really beautiful...
Members of Royal Danish Ballet Use Pilates to Give Veterans Wounded in Afghanistan a Therapeutic Lift
 |
| Royal Danish Ballet Pilates instructor Jessie Lee and veteran Mark Peters watch a dancer using the fitness method developed by German Joseph Pilates in the 1920s to help injured World War I soldiers. Stine Larsen/Press Association |
At first glance, ballerinas and soldiers may not seem to have much in common. But an experimental program bringing together dancers and injured veterans of the war in Afghanistan is showing that, when it comes to determination and physical endurance, there are distinct similarities.
Josee Bowman, a dancer with the Royal Danish Ballet, and Jessie Lee, a retired Royal Danish Ballet dancer who has been the company's Pilates instructor for 15 years, are helping to rehabilitate severely wounded soldiers using Pilates—the fitness method developed by German Joseph Pilates in the 1920s to help recondition injured World War I veterans. Known for its ability to build long and lean musculature, Pilates has since become a favorite of dancers and Hollywood starlets alike. Now, Ms. Bowman and Ms. Lee are returning the practice to its roots.
Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304760604576427471519502358.html
DanceQuote 20
"Ballet is not just movement, not simply abstract. It’s something beautiful. Sometimes there’s this feeling in the movement that makes me want to cry."
-Nina Ananiashvili
-Nina Ananiashvili
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Technique My Way: Vanessa Zahorian
By Mary Ellen Hunt
It’s been a long rehearsal day at San Francisco Ballet. Vanessa Zahorian walks into the company’s conference room apologizing for looking tired and for the informality of the loose rehearsal clothes she’s thrown over her lanky limbs. But there’s no need; her bright blue eyes sparkle with the all-American girl freshness that serves her so well onstage.
Trained at Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet and the Kirov Academy, Zahorian is one of SFB’s most reliable principals—rarely injured and gifted with a solid technical facility that was evident from the time she joined the corps in 1997. She stays in top form through a mix of common sense and lessons learned over the years about what works best for her body.
Read more at Dance Magazine: http://dancemagazine.com/issues/July-2011/Technique-My-Way-Vanessa-Zahorian
 |
| In company class, 2008. Photo by Erik Tomasson, Courtesy SFB. |
It’s been a long rehearsal day at San Francisco Ballet. Vanessa Zahorian walks into the company’s conference room apologizing for looking tired and for the informality of the loose rehearsal clothes she’s thrown over her lanky limbs. But there’s no need; her bright blue eyes sparkle with the all-American girl freshness that serves her so well onstage.
Trained at Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet and the Kirov Academy, Zahorian is one of SFB’s most reliable principals—rarely injured and gifted with a solid technical facility that was evident from the time she joined the corps in 1997. She stays in top form through a mix of common sense and lessons learned over the years about what works best for her body.
Read more at Dance Magazine: http://dancemagazine.com/issues/July-2011/Technique-My-Way-Vanessa-Zahorian
How do you choreograph a fireworks show?
Not ballet, but fun!
How To Plan a Fireworks Show
Those big fireworks displays don't choreograph themselves.
http://www.slate.com/id/2144779/
Monday, July 4, 2011
4th of July
Happy Independence Day!
Had a nice relaxing day here at home - just hanging out. The day started with a several hour power outage that luckily was fixed before it interfered too much with the day! Took a walk this morning, enjoyed the main part of the day outside, made star-shaped, colorful-sprinkle-covered sugar cookies, watched a movie in the afternoon... it's been a good day. It feels different to snap from a regular schedule like I have during the week (more on that later!) It's a little buggy today after all of the thunderstorms and rain we had Saturday night into Sunday, but the temperatures are really nice. So now, just waiting for darkness to fall with chirping bugs of the night, fireflies, and sparklers/fireworks!
Happy 4th of July!
Had a nice relaxing day here at home - just hanging out. The day started with a several hour power outage that luckily was fixed before it interfered too much with the day! Took a walk this morning, enjoyed the main part of the day outside, made star-shaped, colorful-sprinkle-covered sugar cookies, watched a movie in the afternoon... it's been a good day. It feels different to snap from a regular schedule like I have during the week (more on that later!) It's a little buggy today after all of the thunderstorms and rain we had Saturday night into Sunday, but the temperatures are really nice. So now, just waiting for darkness to fall with chirping bugs of the night, fireflies, and sparklers/fireworks!
Happy 4th of July!
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Jose Manuel Carreño Retires
Jose Manuel Carreño retired last night:
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2011/07/02/arts/dance/20110702-lake-ss.html
Carreño’s Farewell: Bravado & Humility
http://dancemagazine.com/blogs/wendy/3897 |
| Jose Manuel Carreño takes his last curtain call as a principal dancer with ABT. Photo by Rosalie O’Connor, Courtesy ABT. |
‘Swan Lake’ at the Met - farewell performance photos of the principal dancer José Manuel Carreño. From the New York Times:
Friday, July 1, 2011
Alina Somova: the Russian ballerina takes on Manhattan
(Alina Somova is a Gaynor Minden artist, and about GM's Pointe shoes, she says:
"It's easier to point, easier to balance and turn, easier to jump - and I love the sleek, arched look they give my foot - I won't dance in anything else now. "
Go see her this summer in the Little Humpbacked Horse! (This past semester at school, the musical director and accompanist at GKA often played excerpts from the Little Humpbacked Horse, which was a favorite of hers...)
 | |
| Alina Somova as Tsar Maiden in Alexei Ratmansky’s Humpbacked Horse Photograph: N.Razina |
Alina Somova is remarkable, and here’s a story to prove it: After she performed The Little Humpbacked Horse, Maya Plisetskaya, the revered Bolshoi star, visited her backstage, took off her diamond earrings, and handed them over. As part of the Mariinsky Ballet’s season at the Metropolitan Opera House beginning Monday 11—thank you, Lincoln Center Festival—Somova will reprise her part of the Tsar Maiden in Alexei Ratmansky’s Humpbacked Horse (for which she, as well as Ratmansky, won the Golden Mask award). She doesn’t dance small. Beyond her astounding extension is an enticing duality contrasting fragility with force: At her core, she’s wild, and that’s a beautiful thing.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)