trog

I too have a willing mind and a not so willing body. You would think that after 30+ years of thrice weekly weight lifting sessions and 20+ years of twice weekly ballet classes, that there wouldn't be any more aches. Nup! Still limp out after ballet class but I recover very quickly. I went to see the BRBs Sleeping Beauty the other day. It's not my favourite ballet (too long) and my mind tends to wander a bit. I notice the steps and think to my self "I can do all that", although, of course, no where near as well

I used to attend a ballet class in one of the most deprived (and depraved ) areas of Brum. Great class and several of the students went on to be professional ballet dancers. I've also done class in quite a posh area and in a very posh studio. When Elmhurst came to Brum, they moved into a very posh area.

Beauty & The Beast was last done in Brum Oct 2014. Coppelia, Feb 2015 and June 2017.

Lovely! I imagine they were very special together. Tonight I am seeing Momoko Hirata and Mathias Dingman with Yvette Knight (Lilac Fairy) and Nao Sakuma (Carabosse).

AFAIK, the key to soft landing is to work through the feet. Land on your toes and slowly lower the heels and demi-plies. On of my teachers once compared it to when a bus pulls up at a stop and the suspension goes pssssst and slowly lowers so that older people can get on easier. I think it was Merce Cunningham (a renowned jumper) who said the plie is key to everything. He had a very deep plie and he could really take off. Unfortunately, we're not all blessed with ballet legs. You have to make do with what you've been issued. Concentrate on the basic techniques (turnout, pointed toes, etc) and the rest seems to sort itself out.

Hooray! Beauty & the Beast.

I know that I'd much rather sit in a theatre watching people dance rather than watching a bunch of blokes running around a muddy field kicking a ball. If that makes me posh, then so be it! I started watching ballet in 1976 when I was at university. I was also (and I still am) heavily into punk. I also like early music, sculpture, paintings (especially pre-raphaelite) and wrestling. I see myself as well rounded.

I have several pairs. I have both of these https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/opera-glasses-Two-pairs-one-of-them-folding/222825500924?hash=item33e16f50fc:g:lJwAAOSwdoZaeC8Z the one on the left is very compact but uncomfortable to look through, while the one on the right is good to look through but quite large. I also have a Carl Zeiss pair which look like this https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3x25-Opera-Watching-Brass-Binocular-W-Handle-Glasses-Coated-Lens-Optic-Telescope/391837053798 Fantastic optics but a bit pretentious.

I made the break with my mobile about 15 years ago and I've never missed it. My landline phone doesn't ring (I disconnected the bell) so unless I'm in the room I don't know if somebody is trying to call me. The answering machine is broken too - has been for about 5 years. I try to avoid using the phone on my desk at work - if I need to talk to somebody, I'll trek off across campus to see them. As an added bonus, this get me away from the computer. I think both Alexander Graham Bell and Charles Babbage have a lot to answer for.

Last night we were given a very British tip on maintaining turnout in developpe. When the leg is fully extended, balance a cup of tea on it. If the leg is not turned out, the tea will roll off the shin, which as Miss said, would be disastrous. With the leg fully turned out, the tea can sit safely on the flat bit of the side of your calf.

As the ad says, "other forms of notation are available", such as Labanotation. I think Phoenix Dance use this.

I did ballroom very briefly, because the girl I was going with at the time wanted to do it, but I didn't like it. I've also done tap off and on over the years, but it isn't for me. A long time ago, the DX used to run days were you would go and try a dance class and then watch short performance given by the teachers. These were great fun and at these I tried (amongst others) capoeira, jazz fusion, swing and contemporary. I wish they would run these days again. Mother tells me that I learned to walk doing the twist. I used to pogo a lot in 1976 - does that count?

It will never be as bad as when the Lowry first opened. They were still sticking signs on the doors on the morning of the performance. You went in the door printed on your ticket, only to find that you had to go to the other end of the row. I don't know if they stuck the signs on the wrong way around or if the ticket sales system was programmed wrong. It was chaos! Also, the kitchens weren't quite finished, so the sandwiches had been made off site, and the delivery van got stuck in the football traffic. Still, POB were brill!

Interesting article in The Guardian - Caravaggio killed a man. Should we therefore censor his art?

I did. I thought both pieces were very dull. In the prologue to the ice skating, the speaker said they had placed a camera at the end of the ice and decided that should be the view point of the audience, except the broadcast showed many different angles. It seemed to be the usual "let's use a different camera every three seconds" rule.

I have a theory about why certain sports are shown on TV and others aren't. Snooker, motor racing and football are sports that people can relate too. Most people have kicked a ball at some point in their lives and many people drive. Quite a few have had a go a snooker. However, the main reason they are shown, is that these sports are slow and confined, and the TV camera can follow the action. Tennis and basketball are other examples. You'll never see lacrose on the TV. The ball moves too fast (about 200 kph) and the play can change ends in less than a second - the camera can't keep up. Several of my friends used to play lacrose and it was a thrilling sport to watch live. Golf is an intesting example. For most of the time the ball in on the green and the camera can follow it, however you do get a lot of shots of just the sky, which I'm sure makes compelling viewing for some They try to make snooker look more interesting than it is. If you watch the opening credits for a snooker broadcast, they'll try to jazz it up by showing flames coming from the ball and other gimmicks. Actually, I think snooker would be far more entertaining if that annoying bloke stopped putting the balls back on the table.

Create your very own before the real one arrives - click me

I found this on the BBC3 website http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree/item/bc89f5e9-651a-4ada-86a7-bce244cf45e4 and it is on youtube too. I think it proves what I've longed believed; doing ballet is good for you. She reminds me of my own aged teacher.

One thing that annoys me are those who decide to put on their coats and hats during the final applause. What can't wait to get out quick enough? The fidgeting is annoying and people behind can't see the dancers. Last time I was at the Brum Hippodrome, the lady next to me put on a tall hat. If I was behind her, it wouldn't have been on for very long!

I'm seeing him tonight - I feel very lucky

On a recent trip home to Australia, Mom gave me some old pound coins and paper tenners which she had. I tried the pound coins in the tills in Tesco (other supermarkets are available) and it rejected them. The nice lady in the bank was more than happy to take them. When I gave her the tenners, she asked "What's wrong with these?" I didn't know paper tenners were still acceptable in shops. They seemed to have vanished over night, unlike the pound coins and fivers which seemed to hang around forever.

When I used to swim lengths, I would back stoke up and breast stroke down. My crawl was slower than my breast stroke. My swimming technique is rubbish, even though I just about lived on the beach in Australia. You're in good company (Muhammad Ali) training in water. OK so he didn't really - http://hoaxes.org/weblog/comments/ali_underwater

I first started dancing when I was a uni. My girlfriend wanted to do ballroom and I tagged along. I didn't like ballroom. I also did a bit of tap then too, but it wasn't for me. I have returned to tap off and on over the years, but it still isn't for me. My doing ballet was started by loneliness. When I lived in Australia, I was involved in motorbike racing, firstly as a competitor and later as an official. When I came to Blighty, I wanted to continue as an official and the controlling body said they would recognise my qualifications and that I might be called upon once or twice a year. Back in Oz, I had been track side once or twice a month; I was looking to do something to fill in time. I saw the MAC (Midlands Arts Centre) were running juggling and unicycle sessions and I thought that might be fun to do. A bloke I shared a house with in Australia learned to juggle, which I thought was interesting. So off I went and founding juggling and unicycling to be quite easy at the basic level but there is loads of scope to spend the rest of your life learning. Through this, I got involved in a part time circus. They had loads of jugglers, but were looking for a trapeze artist. After 15 years of weight lifting, I figured that I was probably strong enough and I started trapeze lessons at Circomedia in Bristol. While I was there, I took up tightwire too. I got pretty good on the wire and I wanted to learn to skip rope. The wire teacher suggest a term or two of ballet lessons would help achieve this, so I started ballet lessons at the DanceXchange. I have been watching ballet since I was at university, but I had never considered doing it. After a term of ballet, my wire technique improved dramatically (yep I could skip) and I decided to carry on with the once a week ballet lessons. After that, it was just part of my routine. I live most of my life on autopilot, going to work, going to the gym and ballet classes without too much thought. Next I took a job in Bristol, to be near the circus school and my then girlfriend. I was spending so much time running up and down the M5 (I live in Birmingham) that it made sense. I gave up the ballet lessons as there was no time to fit them in, and I couldn't find a school in Bristol. After 7 or 8 months, the job was crap, Emma was off to the US, having been offered a chance to work with the Ringling Bros (she couldn't take her wire any further in the UK), so I left the circus school and did a bit of trapeze in Brum. I also went back to the DX and discovered how much I had missed the ballet classes. The trapeze didn't work out, so I did more ballet classes. I used to do three a week and three weight lifting sessions, but it's only two classes a week now as one of my teachers retired. So after 23 years of ballet classes, I intend to carry on until my body gives up or until another obsession takes over. What ever happens, I'll carry on watching ballet and pumping the iron.

The only time that I have changed seats during a performance, is when somebody I know leaves early and offers me their seat if it is better than mine. I general I don't see any problem with somebody moving to an empty seat but the ushers have the final say.

Here is a photo that I took of Harriet Toby's grave in Père Lachaise. I wandered passed it when I was there and I was struck by the headstone. She was an American dancer, who was killed in an aeroplane crash in 1952, near Nice. There is a photo of her in Baron Encore.