toursenlair

Chi Cao, eh, Janet?

Giselle in both cases. But they weren't dancing it together!

about time that someone mentioned the Sadler's Wells discount on the forum, in that case! Sometimes really useful info like this fails to get mentioned simply because people think everyone knows already. But they don't necessarily. Are there other discounts that are "pretty much standard" that it would be worth posting about?

Just noticed Sadler's Wells is offering 20% off if you book 2 performances of SFB. Here's the link: http://www.sadlerswells.com/page/whats-on-multibuy

... and if so ... WHY???? Find out in my ongoing series of word histories of ballet terms : http://toursenlair.blogspot.ca/2012/08/between-cats-history-of-word-entrechat.html

Paris Opera Ballet has just announced its season of 3 live broadcasts. For details, click here.

as we North Americans like to say... doctorate schmoctorate!

cookies (biscuits) will definitely be ok for a couple of days but they're more time consuming to make than cakes are. Carrot cake keeps really well. Here's my recipe (in North American style, using cups rather than weights, sorry). It has half the fat of regular carrot cake recipes but is just as good! Also more fibre if you use whole wheat flour, and I swear people will never know. 3 eggs 1 cup sugar 1/2 cup (4 oz) oil 1/2 cup plain yogourt 1 tsp. vanilla 1 1/2 cups (200 g) flour (all whole wheat, or half and half whole wheat and white) 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon 1 1/2 tsp baking powder 1 1/2 tsp baking soda 2 cups finely grated carrots. Beat eggs and sugar together till light and fluffy, beat in oil and yogourt and vanilla. Beat in dry ingredients just till blended then stir in carrots. Add 1/2 cup walnuts and/or 1/2 cup raisins if liked. If it's looking too runny you might need to add some flour (carrots can vary quite a bit in moisture content). Bake at 350 degrees in a 9 inch square pan for 45 minutes or until done. Or you can put it in muffin tins and call it muffins. For a time when you have way more time on your hands and you need something ballet-themed, check out my pointe shoe cookie recipe: http://toursenlair.blogspot.ca/2012/08/pointe-shoe-cookie-recipe-how-to.html One thing definitely not to bake in advance is scones, because they're really only good on the day they're made.

Second post in my "etymology of ballet terms" series: http://toursenlair.blogspot.ca/2012/08/history-of-word-fouette.html

I believe Finnish National Ballet uses the designs created for the National Ballet of Canada's last production of Cranko's Romeo (before it switched to Ratmansky's new version last autumn). Sets and costumes are by Susan Benson. Is that correct, Willie?

also, Making Ballet with Karen Kain documents the creation of James Kudelka's The Actress.

Bringing Balanchine Back, about NYCB's 2004 tour to Russia, is also good. Includes footage of Robbins' Glass Pieces which isn't available on video.

And another thing on the music front. I would think that a lot of adults taking up ballet are people who are ballet fans and so know it from the audience viewpoint. As a result,I always find it particularly inspiring when the music is something I recognize from a ballet: plies to the Shades entrance, grands battements to the Dance of the Knights from R&J etc etc. In my head I see those beautiful images or pretend I'm Juliet or whatever and I find that I work harder without it feeling like work.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

Hello, since many of you seemed to like my post about the history of the words "dance" and "pirouette", I have started a weekly series of ballet etymologies on my website. Today we start with "adage", and you'll be surprised to learn where it came from! http://toursenlair.blogspot.ca/2012/08/history-of-word-adage.html Enjoy! Katherine

The last bit of it is here (but not the dramatic entrance): http://deadspin.com/5934166/nbc-cut-nearly-an-hour-from-its-closing-ceremony-telecast-heres-everything-they-didnt-show-you-including-the-kinks-ray-davies

backstage rehearsal video here: <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/OGkPAsCXQos?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> ok why didn't embed work this time? Here's the link

only for those in the UK alas.

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.

obviously it worked!

Ballet de Santiago (Marcia Haydee's company) has put together a photo and video montage here: I am going to try embedding this here but not sure if it works: <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/KhTE6Y88NTc?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>