trog

We had some good imagary last night. Firstly, glisse are the height of a baked bean off the floor. Miss has said this before, and I've often been tempted to ask if that is with or without the sauce. Secondly, in arabesque to keep the hands alive, think of Dr Who regenerating, with Miss holding her hands in the correct position saying "pshhht, pshhht" which was supposed to be the energy coming out. Finally, in pirouettes pass an orange from one hand to the other. Pirouettes generally elude me but last night they were really good. When they don't work, I'll often say "Pirouettes must be in my other leotard" - I obviously found which one these are in yesterday

Here's an idea for you http://toroidalsnark.net/barre.html If you didn't glue the uprights into the T pieces at the bottom but rather stuck a suitable length of dowel in the T piece so that the upright could slip over it, and sanded down the bottom of the upright a bit, the feet could be removed so that it could pack flat. Don't be fooled into thinking PVC pipe isn't strong enough. As we know, standing at the barre isn't a white knuckle ride - you don't need to grip it hard, just rest you hand on it lightly. Still not convinced? Here are a couple of bits of weight training equipment made from PVC pipe - http://www.angelfire.com/ny5/shenandoah/Grunt/Perry.html and http://www.angelfire.com/ny5/shenandoah/Grunt/Turbo.html

Ribbett! Ribbett!

You're lucky - PBS American keeps falling off my FreeSat box (along with a bunch of other channels). Anyway, thanks for the info - I.ll have to try a retune and see if PBS comes back.

This DVD probably has the clips you've seen - it's a good one (I know 'cus I've got it) https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/DVD-Blu-ray/Rudolf-Nureyev-Erik-Bruhn-Complete-Telephone-Performances/B00006LPGS/ref=sr_1_3 There is a Maria Tallchief Bell Telephone Hour DVD too, which is also worth buying.

There is a promotional song (which is very funny!)

The Buchan Observer offers us some light relief with the headline Aberdeenshire business owner wins presidential election

Splendid interview. He can't half dance too!

It's new healthy less chocolate Toblerone

Thanks for the update - pinkies crossed the restore goes well!

There seems to be a load of posts from yesterday that aren't there today. Has anybody else noticed this or is it just me?

Totally agree about Brandon and delicious Delia.

And pretty fab she is too! http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-37876769

Actually, they isn't true. Her identity was positively established in 1927, but various people chose to ignore this, probably in the hopes of financial gain. Media frenzy helped keep the "mystery" a mystery. Stories of mental illness were always media fare - plenty of examples are to be found. As to the ballet, I liked the first two acts but I didn't think much of the third. It made no sense, other than to show somebody in an asylum. In it's original format, it would have made even less sense, unless you had read a complete synopsis first. Still, it was nice to see something that I haven't seen before. The MAC was almost full - maybe 375 people. When I've been to see the Bolshoi at the cinema, there are maybe 10 in the audience.

You cat buy silica gel from Amazon - 50 packets for under a tenner. There are also come cartridges for use in larger areas. When they change colour you bake them or nuke them in the microwave and you can reuse them.

£18 here in Brum, and it's not in a multiplex. If I go to the multiplex it's £12.50, but I'd have to go on the train, which means I wouldn't get home until who knows when. Supposedly, it is on at another multiplex, which is very easy to get to, but it isn't listed on their site.

"A record high 43 countries will participate in the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest in Kyiv, equalling the total set in 2008 and 2011." http://www.eurovision.tv/page/news?id=43_countries_to_participate_in_Eurovision_2017 Australia are in again too!

Kinder Surprize would be my guess

Been done already in the porno version that is available on DVD from Japan.

I was only thinking yesterday it's high time we saw her again - I guess I'll have to take a holiday in Canada...

Thanks for posting this - currently playing on my second monitor

Subtle is wasn't. It seems to me the designers went through the "How to stage a ballet" handbook: lovers - check rivals - check jester with bravura leaps - check corps marching about - check fouettes - oh no we've forgotten the fouettes - let's chuck some in at the end. With a few cuts, this could be a passable ballet, but as it stands it is quite dull in places. For me the highlights was the final pdd with Rita and Boris, and were the ballet should have ended. I thought Lyuska and Yashka had by far the best roles, and Ekaterina Krysanova really stood head and shoulders above the rest, although Mikhail Lobukhin wasn't far behind. Shostakovich's score is wonderful, although very loud in places. I don't know if other cinemas had this problem, but sometimes it was so loud that it hurt, and somebody from the audience went to tell the management, It made no difference though. The costumes worked really well. In one of the little films, the costume department said that they still had the full set of the originals and used this to make costumes for this new staging. I too was wondering (and dreading) when Pikachu was going to make an appearance. When Katya Novikova was speaking from the stage at the start, one of the chaps was practicing and nearly ran into her. He gave a really filthy look as if to say "Get out of the way". I with Novikova would slow down a bit! She is very skilled though - it can't be easy to give commentary in three languages simultaneously. What was good, was the decision to stage The Golden Age and transmit it to a world wide audience, rather than presenting yet another Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Giselle, etc.

"Equity and One Dance UK have joined forces to develop a new minimum standard for dance audition and rehearsal spaces across the UK." http://www.equity.org.uk/dance/fit-to-dance-space/ On this page there is a link to a list of the registered venues and two documents to download : the charter, which describes what each space should have dancer's first aid box, which describes what should be in a first aid box and how to treat common injuries

Obviously, I wouldn't know

Symphony Hall in Birmingham has a great idea to handle those pesky programs. There are bars that wrap around the back of the chairs and you can stuff your program in there and it doesn't fall out. They have a huge cloak room too - now if only it were free (it used to be).