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toursenlair

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Posts posted by toursenlair

    What do you look for in an adult ballet class?

    in Doing Dance

    Posted

    I also just want to elaborate, when I said "fun", I meant the emphasis should be on the joy of dancing. Also the atmosphere should be relaxed. My teacher cracks jokes a fair bit. But he's a really good ballet teacher, and my technique has improved a lot with him. Also I think adults like praise (well, who doesn't?). Ballet is such an intimidating thing for most people that they need reassurance that they are (sort of ) getting it. And if you are advertising your classes, make sure that everyone knows that all shapes and sizes are welcome, that it's not just for the very skinny and the very flexible.

    • Like 2

    What do you look for in an adult ballet class?

    in Doing Dance

    Posted

    Also on the practical front, and this has nothing to do with how you actually teach the steps, you have to acknowledge that adults have very complicated schedules, with work, travel and family commitments. One school I used to go to made students sign up for 13-week terms and you had to pay for the whole term whether you missed classes or not and they wouldn't allow makeup classes. This meant that the classes you actually got to ended up being very expensive. I am no longer there! The school I now go to operates on a drop-in class system, or you can get a reduced price on classes if you buy a 10-class or 20-class card good for 3 months. My current school doesn't seem to suffer from its more flexible signup system, indeed it has acquired some students who have left the other one out of disgruntlement.

    What do you look for in an adult ballet class?

    in Doing Dance

    Posted

    Hi Miss Pointe, I've been taking adult ballet for over 30 years (yikes am I really that old?). I would say definitely treat people like adults, ie don't make them wear black leotards and DEFINITELY not pink tights. The mere thought of pink tights would probably deter most adults from signing up for your class. You have to recognize that we are never going to be hired by a ballet company (and don't we know it) so we want the fun factor to be very high, while the technique should be challenging but within our physical limiitations. For instance I always find it intimidating when a teacher demonstrates a developpe and her leg's up near her ear. My current ballet teacher, whom I adore, gives very dancey floor exercises so we get to feel like a ballerina even if we don't look like one. Also I would say a good pianist is really important if possible. Just a few thoughts.

    • Like 4

    Ballet Films?

    in Performances seen & general discussions

    Posted

    Not ballet - and DVD acquired via Amazon France - Le Roi Danse - about Louis XIV and Lully - quite a bit of baroque dance and the most fantastic costumes. Directed by the same man who made the film about the castrato singer Farinelli.

    Yes I liked that one too. An insight into the origins of ballet.

    Ballet Films?

    in Performances seen & general discussions

    Posted

    Don't know if these are available in the UK but you might like Robert Altman's The Company. Also Centre Stage. An oldie-but-goodie is The Turning Point if you haven't seen it, and it's got Baryshnikov so what's not to like? Unfortunately I think White Nights DVD was discontinued some years ago. On the documentary front, I really liked Etoiles about the Paris Opera Ballet (more than the more recent La Danse, actually). Also, Ballerina, about 4 Russian ballerinas (Lopatkina, Vishneva, can't remember the other two). A very recent documentary with a lot of human interest is First Position which follows 6 participants in the Youth America Grand Prix. Not sure if it's been released on DVD yet but doubtless soon.

    I would second Janet's recommendation of Mao's Last Dancer, and I know she's not just recommending it because she's crazy about Chi Cao :) ! I also really liked Strictly Ballroom.

    • Like 1

    Audience Behaviour

    in Performances seen & general discussions

    Posted

    As we walked into the theatre 15 minutes before curtain-up we found a woman already on stage, singing jazz or something. She carried on, the audience were all talking, and at one point someone suddenly shushed someone in my group and said "Do you mind, the performance has started", or something like that. There had been no break in the singing that I could see, so how were we supposed to know when it started? (and I don't think it was at 7.15 precisely, either). It felt like being at an early William Forsythe ballet or something.

     

     

    Quite a few Neumeier ballets start like that, with the curtain up and stuff going on well before the official "start time". Seagull and Lady of the Camellias are two examples. It seems that he intends for artistic reasons for this to be going on while the audience are still talking and getting to their seats. Somehow (probably when the house lights go out), everyone realizes when it's actually "started" and quiets down.

    Audience Behaviour

    in Performances seen & general discussions

    Posted · Edited by toursenlair

    It's not the people in the front row, it's the people behind them who have to move their head because their view is obstructed differently depending on where the dancers are on the stage. I agree that if there's no one (or one of those short people whom we all are so grateful for!) in front of you , you can just move your eyes!

    I have a crazy dream about theatres assigning seats to people depending on how tall they are! 5 foot 2, you get the front row, 6 foot 6 you're at the back (sorry you beanpoles!) ;)

    • Like 7

    Audience Behaviour

    in Performances seen & general discussions

    Posted

    A close second for best audience behavior is The Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto.

     

     

     

    Wow Willie, who knew we Torontonians were so well-behaved! I'm glad you've enjoyed your visits here. I don't think our refreshments are Michelin standard though! And we have plenty of bobbing and weaving, because the auditorium isn't well raked and, staggeringly, the seats aren't staggered, so one ends up sitting directly behind the person in front of one. Plus we have our fair share of people arriving late, though mostly the ushers keep them out till a suitable break.

    Audience Behaviour

    in Performances seen & general discussions

    Posted

    I quite agree. Don't people realise that the overture is part of the performance and is meant to set the scene and get you in the mood

     

    Not to mention it's rude to the musicians. They are artists too. Even if the overture had nothing to do with the ballet performance following it, people should still respect the musicians.

    • Like 3

    Audience Behaviour

    in Performances seen & general discussions

    Posted

    I think they bob and weave because often the very tall person in the front row won't sit still (why!?) so the person behind doesn't have a consistent gap to look through. That means they bob and weave, setting off a domino effect behind them.

     

    Why the person in the front can't just sit still is beyond me. :-(

     

    It's because the dancers, drat them, do insist on moving about the stage, so your view is blocked differently depending on where they are in relation to the person's head in front of you. It's not the tall person initiating the bobbing and weaving.

    Audience Behaviour

    in Performances seen & general discussions

    Posted

    As for drinks in the theatre, our Sony Centre (not the opera house, thank God) had a recent refurbishment and helpfully included metal cup holders on the back of every seat to encourage people to bring their drinks in (and bash the shins of customers trying to get to their seat, or prevent them from changing their leg position while seated). I think the theatres make big bucks on drinks sales and that's why they encourage it.

    Did I miss something ... National Ballet of Canada in London in April?

    in Ballet / Dance news & information

    Posted

    Hello Meunier,

    Yes the NBOC is definitely going to Sadler's Wells April 17-21st with Ratmansky's R&J. They are not doing anything else. There was some talk of a second all-Canadian program with Crystal Pite's Emergence and Kudelka's Four Seasons but they decided to do only R&J as shipping it alone is a huge undertaking.

    I'll be interested to hear what Londoners think of the Ratmansky version. It was a big change for us in Toronto who have been used to the Cranko version for 40+ years.

    Mikhailovsky London Coliseum March 2013

    in Ballet / Dance news & information

    Posted

    We saw it two years ago too, on the night Tamara Rojo danced Odette/Odile. It was a memorable performance and a spectacular production. But is this going to be the same one or a reworking by Duato?

     

    The Swan Lake they have listed on their website for performances in Russia this coming season is given as:

    Choreography: Marius Petipa, Lev Ivanov, Alexander Gorsky, Asaf Messerer

    Revised by Mikhail Messerer

     

    Duato is doing a new R&J premiering there in December so I doubt he'll have time to tinker with Swan Lake.

    • Like 1
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