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trog

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  1. trog
    I saw two performances of the triple bill, Friday evening and Saturday matinee. When I first saw Arcadia on the midscale tour, I thought it was OK but nothing special. It has grown on me somewhat. As Pan, Will Bracewell is more menacing than Brandon Lawrence. Of course, both are fab to watch. Samara Downs and Celine Gittens were both wonderful as Selene. Very speedy are Samara's pirouettes! I preferred the matinee performance, mostly because more of my favourite dancers were on stage. During the matinee I was sitting about half way back in the auditorium and I think the score sounds much better here than sitting in the front row. I loved Le Baiser de la Fėe, first time around and even more so now. It has been away too long. Both Celine Gittens and Jenna Roberts are wonderful to watch as the fairy. They both command the stage and you can't take your eyes off them. The very long pdd with the fairy and young man is heaven - it could go on all day as far as I'm concerned. The finale is a wonderful picture. I love the way the fairy "flies", the head dress really emphasizing this. Finally Pineapple Poll. Great fun.
  2. trog
    I have these http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Resistance-Bands-Exercise-Loop-Crossfit-Strength-Weight-Training-Fitness-/321359828166 The orange one is very heavy (it doesn't move when you try to stretch it) and the red one is very light. I think the orange one is 75kgs resistance and the red one 2kgs, with varying degrees for the rest. I have these too http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Resistance-Loop-Bands-Mini-Band-Exercise-Crossfit-Strength-Fitness-Toning-Physio/231972153249 but they are very short and they aren't suitable for leg work. Great for arm toning though.
  3. trog
    Have you tried searching here http://catalogue.nationaltheatre.org.uk/CalmView/Default.aspx? - it might jog your memory
  4. trog
    I saw it Friday night with Nao Sakuma and Joe Caley. Nao Sakuma is always fab to watch, but I think Swanhilda is her best roll. Both turned it to 11 and yet the made it look so effortless. Michael O'Hare gives a good turn as Dr Coppelius.
  5. trog

    An eye opener

    trog replied to Plie22's topic in Doing Dance

    If you're ever in Brum and go to the DanceXchange, just rock up in whatever you feel like dancing in. Nobody cares what you wear.
  6. trog
    The PE staff where I work say BMI has problems, especially if you are muscular. I come out at 30, which indicates obese, except I'm not - I've got big shoulders from literally thousands of pull-ups (I do 60-70 three times a week). The PE staff suggest this as a guide to fitness http://www.ntnu.edu/cerg/vo2max I like the results - I'm 60 and it says that I have the average fitness of a 21 year old
  7. trog
    Conducting for the ballet requires experience. The Swansea Ballet Russe mostly used to perform to recorded music. I saw one performance where they had a live orchestra and their leading lady came on stage and was standing there for what seemed an eternity before the orchestra started playing. After the show I asked her why and she said that in the matinee the orchestra started before her entrance and she was behind the music and had to leave steps out to get back in sync. For the evening, she wanted to make sure that she was dancing on the beat.
  8. trog
    We were doing an exercise with the arms in 4th last night and Miss wanted us to incline the head towards the high arm, "imagine you're letting water drip out of your ear".
  9. trog
    I know that Nike do narrow shoes but I don't know if they are available in the UK
  10. trog
    Starting Saturday 3rd June, a six part series (I think) in which Katie Derham explores the relationship between music and dance in a variety of genres. The first episode is about Ashton. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08thknr
  11. trog
    A quick google shows that Madame Bovary was done as a ballet in 1996 by Indiana University Ballet Theatre.
  12. trog
    I suffer in the winter with arthritis in my fingers. Sometimes it's so bad I can't hold things for long. The distinct lack of heating where I live doesn't help. I wear think woolen gloves inside which does help. They are thin enough so that I can still use the keyboard and sort of hold a pen. No pain killers though. My knees suffer too - too many motorbike accidents in my younger days. It's worse in the winter. I find keeping them moving helps reduce the ache and ballet class helps in this regard, although there are days I have to forgo the grande plie. I'm 60. Usually my knees are better than they were a decade ago and my fingers worse, although it can vary. I hate winter! I think I need to move to a warmer climate (like back home to Australia).
  13. trog
    Readers comment on the Birmingham Mail website "If it goes off it might cause hundreds and thousands of pounds worth of improvements!" The bomb disposal people are still working in it at the mo.
  14. trog
    Did the old software shorten links? Looking at some old posts, such as the one below, the links are very long. As John says, I use the link function. Something I hadn't tried before was a link to a posting on the site, which displays different - the previous version just displayed a url inline, not in an iframe as this does.
  15. trog
    Personally, I've always found thong back quite uncomfortable, A couple of years ago I switched to this one https://www.planetdancedirect.co.uk/Wear-Moi-Full-Seat-Dancebelt and I have never suffered from a lack of support in the right places.
  16. trog
    I've just received an email from BRB, which says in part "Tickets for our brand new production of The Nutcracker at the Royal Albert Hall go on sale on Friday 5 May 9am, not Thursday 4 May as previously stated. We sincerely apologise for any confusion caused by this error. "
  17. trog
    I use releve in fifth when I want to put something on the high shelf in the pantry
  18. trog
    Guy Fawkes had the right idea.
  19. trog
    I totally agree - he should stick to sport or Newsround.
  20. trog
    The director made a right hash of the csardas - they were far more interested in showing what was going on in the crowd rather than the dancing. The three principals - Ako Kondo (Swanhilda), Chengwu Guo (Franz) and Andrew Killian (Dr Coppelius) were great to watch, with all three really bringing the characters to life. I like the old fashioned steps in Coppelia. You can really see Cecchetti in the AB's version; of course van Praagh was Cecchetti trained.
  21. trog
    Me too (and given my views on Ashton ballets, this shows just how fed-up of the Westminster lot I am!)
  22. trog
    I think that is because they have too many cameras and the director insists on using every one. For this very reason, I find older recordings far superior to modern ones. The Bell Telephone Hour recordings aren't very crisp, but they only used two cameras, so you see the entire stage (or more accurately TV studio). There were about 20 in the Dudley Cinema last night. I think had they screened it at the MAC, which they did for Anastasia, there would have been a much bigger audience - Anastasia was almost sold out.
  23. trog
    Yes I wondered about that too. BTW Crime and Punishment might be another candidate. I read War and Peace once; I found it extremely well written but quite boring. Here are some illustrations of the actual gym equipment featured Dr. Zander's exercise machines
  24. trog
    I've done RAD to grade 6 and BBO to grade 8, and I found the longer sequences in BBO far more interesting than RAD. This was in the 1990s and it may all have changed now. I wonder what the teacher would think of a Cecchetti student. I had lots of trouble with the different names for the arms, especially as I was doing Cecchetti and RAD at the same time.
  25. trog
    Five people in Dudley yesterday for A Hero Of Our Time, although one left 1/2 way through the third act. I didn't really like this as a ballet. I found the story confusing and and I really didn't warm to any of the characters. There were some excellent moments, such as the drowning and having musicians on stage, but overall I found it quite dull. I think the second act was the strongest but I found the bit where Yanko emerges from the fat woman just plain weird. I very much liked the score. Perhaps the most interesting bit of the broadcast was watching the stage crew setup for act three. There was a lot of fake parquetry flooring to lay and it took them nearly all of the interval. Did anyone else think that Svetlana Zakharova looked a bit off-form? Maybe this role didn't suit her as she is fab in the classics. Ekaterina Shipulina I thought danced beautifully as Undine.
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