trog

I didn't have a problem. It might be worthwhile adding 8.8.8.8 to your DNS list. That's google's DNS and this will allow your system to go to another provider if there is a problem with your ISPs DNS.

How does someone move Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book from the printed page to a visual experience? There are several film adaptions and now Akram Khan brings it to dance, changing to a post-apocalyptic setting, reimagined characters and a multi-layered production, transforming the children’s tale into an urgent call to action.

As the curtain rises, the silhouette figures of the dancers stand posed against a green backdrop on an otherwise empty stage, while snippets of radio broadcasts fade in and out warning of drought, flood, fire, rising sea levels and the impending destruction of civilisation. The scene is set in a drought.

The rain comes; an animated tempest projected onto the front of the stage, while the backdrop projection we see this is not set in Kipling’s jungle, but a post-apocalyptic cityscape surrounded by rising seas. The stormy sea grows deeper and we see refugees clinging to flotsam tossed about on the waters. The primary focus is one makeshift raft, that carries a mother and her daughter. The child falls into the ocean, is rescued by whales, and we are transported with her into the aforementioned post-apocalyptic city, where a wolf pack finds and presents her to the animal council which decides to let her stay, giving her the name Mowgli.

The characters from Kipling's book are present, but changed to facilitate the story. Baloo is an elderly dancing bear who escaped from his captors, and provides comic relief from the bleak setting. Bagheera the panther was also a prisoner as a palace pet, while the Bandarlog are former lab monkeys. The dancers portray each of the individual characters, although without the narrative identifying them might be difficult. Of course, some have been omitted; in his book,Kipling created a cast worthy of Cecil B DeMille. I wondered how Kaa the python would be envisaged. It is amazing what a few cardboard boxes can do.

Also we learn that fire, is the most feared possession of mankind. Animals can’t control this, only mankind can.

The piece ends with the elephants offering advice on how the animals can survive, and Mowgli returning to the ruined city, to stand up and fight for her newfound friends. There is no advice on solving the climate crisis depicted throughout the work.

The blend of dance, spoken narrative, animated projections, music and sounds, is superb. Everything works together seamlessly. There are some wonderful effects. I especially liked Mowgli shooting the arrow from the bow. This is an unbelievably good watch.

Me neither what I logged in.

Adelaide is home to one of the largest annual arts festivals, with this weekend being the conclusion.

Entering the auditorium to see Streb Extreme Action, there was a voice-over running, which is Elizabeth Streb speaking, and/or another voice talking about her personal history in the arts. This dialogue was largely pointless, because as the audience grew in number, it just became part of the background noise you experience in a theatre before the show starts.

The lights dimmed and the curtains parted to reveal a rather large semi-circular device, with some young acrobats dressed in tight-fitting outfits, who began climbing upon this rocking prop, all the while yelling out positions. This consisted of standing, squatting, crouching, lying down, etc and announcing their next moves as if they couldn't see each other. As the semi-circular prop got to vertical, the whoops of the audience grew louder, as the apparent danger increased. With plenty of hand-holds on the prop and very thick crash mats, it was all perfectly safe. It was fairly standard tumbling, but the participants whooped and yelled as if they were doing something extra special.

Next the Streb Extreme Action group went through a few spots which drew inspiration from silent movie slapstick routines. Firstly a chap with a ladder on his shoulder who turns around and narrowly misses decapitating someone, except it wasn't a ladder it was a bar. When I first saw it, I thought "Ooh nice, Russian Bar"; I was disappointed. Also there was the falling wall with the open window trick, which Buster Keaton made famous, all performed to whoops and yells, ignoring the sublime nonchalance of Chaplin, Keaton etc.

We where then treated to some simple pole turning and two people walking on a 6" diameter pipe. The voice over mentioned that originally the latter was done on a hard floor. Now it is done on a thick mat, which makes it very easy indeed.

Finally came some trampoline, with all members of the company leaping high and landing on crash maps. Nothing we haven't seen many times before.

I felt it was trying to be Cirque du Soleil; it failed. On the cast sheet, the performers are billed as "Action Hero", in a typical over-hyped American attitude. Overall, I felt the performance was uninteresting. The opening spot was the best visually and it went downhill from there.

There was a Q&A with Ezliabeth Streb and the cast. Streb said something about music getting in the way of dance. What rubbish!

Link to cast sheet with a picture of the opening https://www.adelaidefestival.com.au/digital-show-programs/time-machine-show-program/

I found the opener on youtube

Have you tried the Brave web browser?

Check out TPTVs "Look At Life" shorts https://www.tptvencore.co.uk/look-at-life and find Glamour Gets A Passport. This features a fashion show from Covent Garden, with some of the RB's dancers. Available until 11th Feb. You'll need to register to watch it.

The Arts Desk https://www.theartsdesk.com/ has a section with dance reviews

2 hours ago, Sophoife said:

Miranda the mermaid.

With tail by Dunlop

Having moved back home to Australia, ballet is thin on the ground in Adelaide. The Australian Ballet are here in July with Jewels. We also have Akram Khan with Jungle Book Reimagined in March. That's it!

https://www.vice.com/en/article/dy3kav/how-to-break-in-your-shoes-like-a-ballerina

Warning! Other articles on this site NSFW

A huge gallery of the silver screen's biggest star!

https://reprobatepress.com/2023/12/18/the-godzilla-film-and-tv-gallery/

Warning! Some of the images at the very bottom of this page NSFW

My Websters Dictionary (sadly not Morocco bound 🙂) says:
bumboat (noun): a boat that brings provisions and commodities for sale to larger ships in port or offshore

probably from Low German bumboot, from bum tree + boot boat

As to blackface or the moor mentioned above, that's the way the story was written, and I think these elements should remain. Should we ban R&J because Juliet is 13?

Where do we stand with the Chinese dance in The Nutcracker? I know some American companies don't mention Chinese for it.

You might be interested to know Talking Pictures TV censors Kind Hearts and Coronets. What is wrong with this lovely film? https://www.melonfarmers.co.uk/tp.htm#Kind_Hearts_and_Coronets_bowdlerised_when_broadcast_on_Talking_Pictures_8910 Strangely the same station does not censor To The Devil A Daughter - Nastassja Kinski was 14 or 15 when she did her full frontal nude scene.

I am completely against Damaging works of art (even Tracey Emin's bed 1), but I think disrupting events such as Wimbledon or the snooker is fine. Peaceful protests are rarely effective. Don't forget the Suffragettes employed extreme measures, and are now lauded as heroines. Instead of gluing themselves to the road, JSO would have more impact if they glued themselves to an MP or two.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cai_Yuan_and_Jian_Jun_Xi

In the winter I go for leggings or a long legged leotard, in the summer either shorter leggings or a short legged leotard. Other chaps in class go for shorts and a tee shirt. Wear whatever you feel comfortable in. Your teacher should be able to see the line of your leg. As Kate said, get a proper dance belt. Most are thong backed, but you can get ones that cover your bum, which I think are far more comfortable.

I saw this last night and I thought it was a bit dull. I found the first and third acts dragged a bit, with the second act being the strongest. The pdd in the middle of act 2 is very good, although there might be some bias slipping in here, as I saw Celine Gittens and Tyrone Singleton. I think Tyrone really shines with modern choreography, such as this and The King Dances. There is no denying he is a great dancer, but I never thought the classical roles such as the Prince in the Beauty or Sigfried in Swan Lake suited him. As far as Celine goes, I could watch her putting the rubbish out, and be very happy!

Like Janet, I was never a Black Sabbath fan. I wonder if the music of other Birmingham bands such as The Moody Blues, The Move/Wizzard/ELO, Duran Duran, The Au Pairs, UB40 or Slade (OK so they are from Wolverhampton) might have been a better choice. Perhaps there could be a whole suite of new ballets to come. If so, can put in a suggestion for We've Got A Fuzzbox and We're Going To Use It?

Of course, there were lots of people who had never seen a ballet in the audience, and hopefully they might be attracted to return. Bums on seats are the lifeblood of a ballet company.

I haven't seen much opera, but I suggest Carmen - plenty of music we all know. I also like Orpheus in the Underworld.

Karis is teaching at the DanceXchange (or Fabric or whatever it is now named) in Birmingham. Far cheaper than the Maldives.

When I started watching ballet in the 1970s there were stories that Russian and Chinese dancers and gymnasts had their legs broken to improve their flexibility. Whether true or not, I don't know, but it hasn't affected my enjoyment of watching ballet and having a go (very poorly).

I also enjoy watching body building competitions. Steroid abuse is well known in the body building circles and that really does mess up your body. I lift regularly and I'be never been tempted by roids. Everyone's hero Arnie took PEDs and I dont' think he lost many fans.

14 hours ago, Shade said:

The news about Birmingham is very concerning for culture. Is the museum and art gallery where the Pre-Raphaelite paintings are displayed?

Sure is, probably the best collection in the world. It is a shame that like most galleries they can't display all they have. You could request to see anything in their collection and I've seen some wonderful paintings that are never on the wall.

The Core Theatre in Solihull is closing because of RAAC

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/solihull-core-theatre-closes-after-27657953?utm_source=mynewsassistant.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=embedded_search_item_desktop

Also of worry is Birmingham City Council issuing a Section 114 notice, being "in a negative General Fund position" according to Fiona Greenway, the council's interim finance director and S151 officer. What can't she just say they have no money? Only essential services such as rubbish collection will be provided. This probably means no more funding for the Birmingham Royal Ballet, Birmingham Museums, etc. The Birmingham Museum and art Gallery is closed until 2024 for maintenace work and I'm guessing this will stop with immediate affect.

An excellent idea for a thread. I was wondering where to post this slideshow video I found last night. It should start at a picture of the RAD from 1949. There are lots of other interesting pix too

The government is, on one hand, keen to stop "cancel culture" and on the other they are planning to limit what people can study.❓

When Arnold Schwarzenegger was competing in body building competions, he took ballet class to help with his poses. Here is a DuckDuckGo search showing some pix https://duckduckgo.com/?q=schwarzenegger+ballet&t=ffab&atb=v210-1&iar=images&iax=images&ia=images

You can make your own loop bands, which enables you to have them a custom length. I have some similar to those mentioned in Jan's post, although mine have 9 in the set. I also have some longer loop bands, from light to very heavy.

Make your own resistance bands If you are going to buy a 10m length of tubing from Amazon, beware that it might be tightly bundled which leads to kinks. Mine was. Kinks are bad and almost impossibel to remove. Dive shops are a good source of tubing and there are places who will sell by the metre. Google is your friend.

A one man homage to the film https://www.instagram.com/reel/CpqO_84InPA/