Quintus

https://www.sfballet.org/explore/articles/Unbound-D-Program-Notes As a huge Bjork fan, this is pretty much my dream project. Please, please bring it over here!

This is currently available to watch on the BBC iplayer, for those in the UK, and is well worth a viewing. The contortionist segments should come with a "don't attempt this at home" warning, however! Enjoyed Alessandra Ferri, and I always find Fukiko Takase mesmerising - I'd say she is my favourite contemporary dancer.

I went to the full stage rehearsal earlier this week. The previous time I saw Fantastic Beings, I found it rather flabby and ill-lit; this time the whole piece felt tighter, pacier, better lit and generally really gripping - probably my favourite piece of the night. The young woman next to me found it so amusing that she had to keep up a non-whispered commentary to her companion all the way through (though he was distracted by his Apple watch lighting up with messages every few minutes). I found Sonata the least involving of the evening, though it was a delight to see Alina Cojocaru again for the first time in an age. The Cage was new to me and is certainly a piece I'd like to get more familiar with. It was well received, indeed aforesaid neighbours spilt their wine all over the floor in their enthusiasm. The high point for the audience at large was Playlist, which was applauded furiously. I didn't enjoy Track 1, partly for the lighting and partly the jazz funk lift music, but Track 2 was in a different league - the dancers brought a huge display of energy and virtuosity to the stage, and a big grin to my face.

This little fellow was outside our door yesterday looking frozen and forlorn - I warmed him up in my hands for a while then put him back, and his mother appeared after a while ad chivvied him into flight.. And no, I hadn't thrown a snowball at him - he face-planted trying to take off!

People who continue to drive at speed in the snow and ice. Yesterday morning there were three cars and vans in ditches within a mile of our house - I found driving at 15mph was absolutely fine and gave time to react to skids; but people were still trying to do 30mph. I don't care if they end up in ditches, but if someone hits you because they are driving like an idiot in the snow, even if you are not injured you can write off your insurance NCB, as the insurers will all go 'knock for knock'. Masses of snow here today - we're hunkering down doors!

I'm afraid the Winter Olympics leave me cold. see what I did there? 😆

It might be fanciful, but I think there was also 'fertile ground' in Japan for ballet as it has parallels with some cultural traits - attention to minute detail, acceptance of discipline over a long period of training / development time, an appetite for abstraction and symbolism. These are all reflected both in Japanese dance forms and in martial arts. As a karate practitioner, when I first became interested in ballet, I was struck by these parallels, and even by how class structure is similar. Having said that, my cultural preconceptions about Cubans are probably entirely different, so bang goes that theory!

Curious to get your perspectives. Ballet is of course well established where you might expect it to be, in the European and Russian / Eastern Europe historical heartlands, but also seems hugely popular in some other countries where perhaps it resonates with certain cultural traits - e.g. Japan, Cuba. In others it is absent - in some cases for religious reasons (struggles in most Muslim countries) but in others less explicably. I've just returned from one of our occasional months in Thailand, where there is a very strong indigenous classical dance tradition, and a widespread cultural appreciation of beauty and ritual - so fertile ground but a really minimal ballet presence. So why for example Japan but not Thailand? Why Cuba and not Jamaica? Is it some 'cultural alignment' or simply a reflection of historical efforts and contacts?

Have to say it's only the figure skating that I find watchable in the WO. Curling, for goodness sake... I'd prefer a version where they simply keep the main Olympic sports and the associated clothing but just do them on ice - imagine weightlifting on ice, the 100m sprint, dressage (OK, use seals if necessary), icekwondo...

we're going to that - I like to support Dance East as it's a nice venue and rather a lonely oasis of culture in Ipswich, but we sometimes struggle to find things we want to see...

I case it's of interest, tickets are now on sale for the pre-Wimbledon tournaments in Birmingham and Nottingham. We just booked the qualifier weekend plus first day of Birmingham - Edgbaston for a mere £25 each - good seats in the centre court. Last year it was a really nice, well run event - recommended.

Thanks Jan - one half of me looks like the skinless man in Hellraiser and my ankle is badly sprained, but it could have been much worse. To my wife's credit, as soon as she saw that I was still breathing she got off the phone to the life insurers and came to help...

Let me put "holiday brain" into Room 101. A condition where the euphoria induced by being somewhere totally relaxed and beautiful leads to abandoning any rational risk evaluation, and hence to a middle aged ballet lover on a month's holiday in Thailand abruptly parting company from his rental scooter and sliding down the filthy concrete road on his bare skin....

Cringe, how very 'corporate offsite'...

Oh they just keep coming. In Tham Lod cave grounds - which I highly recommend if you're ever near Mae Hong Son.

I'm currently in Chiang Rai and just walked past this. I'm still a schoolboy at heart

That’s ‘Our Kind of Traitor’; Bella Brouwers was one of the dancers - I remember it taking me by surprise!

I also saw it and was equally impressed with Tamara. The first time I saw Song of the Earth I was distinctly underwhelmed, but enjoyed it more this time - part of that might be familiarity, but I think Tamara did bring something to it that engaged me more. La Sylphide was new to me and great fun - Jurgita was a beautifully whimsical and ethereal Sylph, and Jane Haworth excellent as Madge. I'm disappointed that I'll miss Jeune Homme, which sounds fascinating, as I find myself obliged to take a month's holiday in Thailand from this weekend

I was watching the film 'Passion' the other day and was very pleasantly surprised to find a lengthy sequence where they split the screen between events in the film on the right, and a performance of Afternoon of a Fawn on the left. I lost track of the what was going on in the film itself as I was engrossed in watching the stunning Polina Semionova. The ballet sequence is on Youtube - I'd advise against watching the whole film as it's otherwise rubbish!

Yes I did, I took it at Morston, on the Norfolk coast - there's a big seal colony on the sandbars offshore, which there are boat trips to visit. Well worth a visit if you're ever in that area.

I haven't watched this show for what must be a decade, but I happened to be channel flipping last night and caught Mr S going in. He is one of the few people in there who ever had an actual talent, so will doubtless get voted out! The show is at its usual level - a drag queen 'accidentally' lost their skirt on the catwalk, and Amanda Barrie got embroiled in a long row with a sex change person over calling them 'he'. Meanwhile Ann Widdecombe sat and looked ever more horrified at each conversation and event. I think I'll have another look just to see how Wayne fares.

Some jobs or activities (typically those that already have their own industry medals and awards) seem to come with a guaranteed gong, so why not make the honours fit? Give the luvvies the Order of Old Entertainers, the Order of Political Donors to the rent-a-peers, the Order of PE to the Olympic medallists and retired footballers and so on. Save the OBEs, CBEs etc for ordinary people who have done something extraordinary outside their job...

Merry Xmas everyone, and wishing you all lots of great dance in 2018. I just got an early Xmas present (not that it's arrived yet) - unexpectedly won a pair of signed pointe shoes from Ekaterina Shipulina. They'll be hanging underneath the Frankie Hayward pair in our study!

Tamara Rojo and Irek Mukhademov's pdd as Frida and Diego in Broken Wings brought a manly lump to my throat, as did Alina Cojocaru in the Skeaping Giselle and Tamara in the Khan version. I've had the occasional manly lump watching Polina Semionova too, but that's best left for another thread.

depends on the job - if your clients are not there, then working is not an option