trog

The Peacock is not a very enticing theatre, is it?

 

The Wikipedia article about the Peacock is interesting. Did anyone hear the ghost of the dolphin when they visited? I didn't...

 

As to the ballet - superb!

I was watching FAB TV on FreeSat the other day and I saw a new ballet inspired workout Sleek Technique. There are several of these types of programs on the channel, but this one looked different. Checking their website, I found out that Victoria Marr, one of my favs from the BRB, developed it, with her friend Flik Swann. There are lots of nice photos on their website. The idea of doing a class via a Skype conference call is an interesting one, and this is the first site that I have seen that offers this. While obviously not as good as taking a class live, it should be superior to sticking on a DVD and following along. Since the instructors can see you via web cam, they could offer correction and encouragement. I assume they have a large screen which displays the web feeds from the participants in small windows. In schools that I have worked in, lessons in specialised subjects have been delivered by teleconferencing, and the students were not disadvantaged by the teacher not being physically there. I expect the remote delivery of excercise programs will increase.

 

Disclaimer: I am in no way associated with this company.

In fact I'd quite like a year dedicated to Shakespeare in ballet:

You should try and catch Ballet Cymru. Over the years they have done their own ballet versions of A Midsummer Nights Dream, Twelfth Night, As You Like It, The Taming Of The Shrew, The Tempest, Romeo & Juliet (two different versions) and Hamlet. Sadly most have gone by the wayside, but I think they still do A Midsummer Nights Dream and their new version of R&J. I do wish Darius would bring back Shrew.

"Photographs of the dancers in action, taken by portrait photographer Mark Salmon, are being turned into contemporary illustrations" Birmingham Post      Eye Candy Festival

 

(I'll have to pop in and see the exhibition when it opens)

I'm seeing this one http://www.ballettheatreuk.com/tour-dates.php next week in Reddittch

AG Jeans have a new ad featuring Laura Hand (Joffrey Ballet) and Samantha Miller (Princeton), with choreography by Jos McKain. I've found some stills on pinterest to go with the video on the advert page.

I found this school using google www.graceschoolofdance.co.uk There are a few others, but the appear to be only for children.

What about that ballet about Princess Diana?  And Midnight Express is fairly recent although last century.

The Australian Ballet "Swan Lake" pays "homage" to Princess Diana. Rothbart is the other woman in the relationship.

 

Kurt Jooss "The Green Table" depicting the peace negotiations of the 1930s, and would be relevant today.

A pretty good free resource is Brad Appleton's Stretching and Flexibility - this is quoted as a reference in a couple of books on stretching.

I've posted a couple of ideas on online security on the ebay hacked thread.

Beware if you access your ebay account from more than one computer. Here is what happened to me.Thursday of last week, I tried to login from home and I was presented with a message to phone customer support and quote a security code. Did this no problems. Next day, I came into work and was presented with the same screen. After 1/2 hour on the phone, they reckoned they couldn't grant me access to my account, as they couldn't prove who I was. I would have to phone in again later from home and they would sort it. I phoned in and they granted me access. In all three cases, they said I could get in using my secret question. Well you could if the system gave you the chance to do this. On Friday, their customer services bod said they were tracking machine id's from where you access your account. Can you see the problem here? If you access your account from many machines, which I do, I'll have to phone them for each and every machine, that I use. Friday, they said they had "cleared the flag" and I could access my account again. Yes, I could over the weekend, but yesterday morning at work, I again got the screen to phone them and quote the security code. When I phoned in, the system said "Please stay on the line and your call will be answered shortly. Your estimated wait time is 138 minutes." I missed out on an item I was bidding on too.
 
We are encouraged to use strong passwords, with a mix of letters and numbers. How can you remember them, without writing them down.  You can't, but you can "write" them down securely. Here are a couple of ideas :

• Install keepass on your system. It stores your passwords in an encrypted database. You only have to remember one password to access the rest. You don't even need to know what the password you are using for the website is, as keepass can fill the login boxes for you. Best of all, it's free and it works on Linux, MACs and Windoze. A similar option is lastpass which again works on all platforms and mobile devices too. I have used keepass at work for the last 5 years or so.
• Print out and laminate a password card. Keep it in a secure place (your wallet is good) and use it to generate passwords. If you do use a password card, be sure to follow the precautions on their site! We encourage the students at the college where I work to have one and I have seen them in use.

Martha Graham's Appalachian Spring - I own it on DVD but I know it's on youtube.

I see I'm not alone in receiving my form. I've managed to print the form off from the link above and I've sent it in. It is hard to select your seats when you print it in b/w. I don't like the new pricing scheme either. I managed to fill in the entire form with Nutcracker prices but luckily I spotted my mistake.

A couple of years ago, 26 of the Pilobus dancers climbed into a mini

(The record is now 28)

Trawling the lists at http://www.gg.gov.au/australia-day-2014-honours-lists I have extracted the following information, of which the final entry will be of interest to ballet goers.  I suspect some will know Street's works too.

 

OFFICER (AO) IN THE GENERAL DIVISION OF THE ORDER OF AUSTRALIA

Professor Susan Patricia STREET,
For distinguished service to the performing arts, particularly to dance education at a tertiary level, as a teacher and administrator, to professional organisations, and as a mentor.

MEMBER (AM) IN THE GENERAL DIVISION OF THE ORDER OF AUSTRALIA

Mr David Charles McMICKEN
For significant service to the performing arts, particularly through the development of Indigenous dance.

Mr Timothy Maxwell NEWTH
For significant service to the performing arts, particularly through the development of Indigenous dance.

MEDAL (OAM) OF THE ORDER OF AUSTRALIA IN THE GENERAL DIVISION

Ms Rhonda Suzanne BURCHMORE
For service to the performing arts, and to the community.

Mrs Leonie Ruth BURGESS
For service to highland dancing.

Ms Lucinda Joanne DUNN
For service to the performing arts through ballet.

As seen on HowStuffWorks

My two favourite ballet photos are :
Natalia Makarova http://oregonballettheatre.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/slmakarovaodette_odile.jpg (the left hand image - this is superb in the book I have)

Maria Tallchief http://www.ballerinagallery.com/pic/tallch02.jpg by Baron

 

 

In no particular order

• Black Tights (Cyd Charisse, Zizi Jeanmaire, Moira Shearer - what's not to like!)
• The Red Shoes
• Suspiria (tenuous I know, but it's a great film)
• White Nights
• Fantaia

Not the BRB, but if you don't mind an afternoon run to Buxton Opera House on 27 Oct, I can recommend "A Midsummer Nights Dream" by Ballet Cymru They are also doing their new "Romeo & Juliet" in Ludlow on the 25 Oct or Stourbridge on the 7 Dec.  I don't like the new R&J anywhere near as much as their old one.

I always enjoy the mixing of language in ballet class. We always hear "glissade under" and "glissade over" but almost never "glissade dessous" and "glissade dessus". I fully understand why this is. I had one teacher who used the French terms; she was Russian and her pronunciation was impeccable, so we never got confused. (OK so we did sometimes, but it was our fault!) Stranger is "demi plies" and "full plies" (sometimes "grand plies") but we always hear "grand battement". I've also never heard the French used for the positions, so we get “fourth ferme” and “fourth ouvert”.  I guess I need to go to France and take some classes there; I wonder how I would cope?

 

Of course, even more confusing is when I used to do Cecchetti and RAD, which have different names for the position of the arms (amongst other things).

 

Still, I only play at ballet, so it doesn't matter if I mess up a step (which I often do...)

I'll bow to your superior knowledge regarding BRB tours; you see them far more often than I do!  You're probably right about the stallion being in Fille too. 

I've always assumed they used a local horse when on tour.  Several times David Bintley has mentioned when somewhere in Europe, they used a one-eyed stallion, which got somewhat "excited" on stage, leaving the mothers in the audience to shield their childrens eyes.  When I was at the Hippodrome, I was a bit disappointed to see that the royal hunt didn't have the dogs like they usually do.

Has anyone seen the film First Position?  It's playing at MAC here in Brum next week, Mon 13 May - Thu 16 May. The trailer looks interesting (it's on the MAC link) if you want to watch it.

Does the new production use the three ladders as the set?  Their original production did (and that was all) and was amazing.