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thewinelake

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Posts posted by thewinelake

    Organising masterclasses

    in Doing Dance

    Posted

    Just wondering, how likely is it that RB (or would it be RBS?) or BRB or some other world-class ballet organisation would be on for sending one of their top dancers along to a University Ballet club to do some kind of masterclass? Would they expect payment beyond expenses? I guess some here must have organised such things in the past?

    EYB Coppélia Rickmansworth

    in Doing Dance

    Posted

    Yes!

     

    BTW, AdageKitty, I was missing the obvious answer with my post above. The easiest way to see the difference in quality of different resolutions is to look at a video on YouTube (eg. https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=5UCm6bmEGiA and use the quality selector to flip between 480p (roughly DVD quality), 1080p (HD, Blu ray) and 2160p (4K). The files being referred to would have resolution equivalent to the middle one (but the contrast and colour should be more accurate than mine).

    EYB Coppélia Rickmansworth

    in Doing Dance

    Posted

    ...however, I just did a test with a 4K still from my recent shooting of Swan Lake, and the difference isn't as pronounced as one might think - particularly if your TV/DVD player has a good upscaler.

     

    See this: https://thewinelake.prodibi.com/a/yl0l6rqy07rdl0/i/drjr56gvm8q5y6

     

    The top image is 720 x 576 and the lower one is 3840 x 2160. The limiting factor in the second example is the resolution of the lens, maybe combined with some motion and focus blur. The cameras they use for the EYB recording have much better lenses than mine (which is a humble Panasonic VX870) and so you may find that from a comfortable viewing distance, it's not that bad.

     

    However, if you're viewing on a computer and get really close, there's a huge difference that shows how clever (or stupid?!) the human mind is when viewing from a distance.

     

    See here: https://thewinelake.prodibi.com/a/yl0l6rqy07rdl0/i/05x5vkm8ky759g

    • Like 1

    EYB Coppélia Rickmansworth

    in Doing Dance

    Posted · Edited by thewinelake

    720 x 576 - so not great. Roughly a quarter of HD. I really like being able to see their faces!

     

    Talking of which, did anyone get any good pics of Morning Hours? I was unable to make the photoshoot, as I was rushing down from Cambridge, but sent Granddad, whose camera wasn't quite up to my normal standards, so this is the kind of quality we got (and whose idea was the crazy stage lighting for the photos? This one is tweaked a lot, but that makes it extra hard to get a sharp image)....

     

    Morning Hours

     

    EYB Coppélia Rickmansworth

    in Doing Dance

    Posted

    Agreed! Polished is the word. Quite a leap (one of which Osipova would have been proud) from run-through to Saturday evening's performance. Bravo to all (especially Pointetoes Jr!). DD sad it's over; she's had a great time and made some new friends. I think that's it from us now, although if EYB do a show nearby (how about Stevenage?!) we would come to watch....

     

    BTW, I was talking with Gary the cameraman who said that those fussy people (like me) for whom DVD resolution is annoying,  a extra few quid (£35ish?) can get you a high def version on a memory stick, suitable for plugging into most Smart TVs.

     

    Oh, and if the family responsible for hosting the EYB top brass at their home during the beastly times are here - chapeau!!!

    • Like 1

    Cambridge University Ballet Club does Swan Lake

    in Performances seen & general discussions

    Posted · Edited by thewinelake

    Just a quickie for now - maybe will add to it later, but this was (I thought!) a fabulous show.

    The usual 4 act version, with choreography all by the students - although some dances pretty true to the original. Odette and Odile were played by ex-professional (but still young) dancers who live in Cambridge - Odette's hoping to get a place there to study veterinary medicine, and Odile is a PhD student studying Scandinavian rock art! But the strength in depth from the mostly undergraduate dancers never ceases to astonish me.

    My highlight was the Russian dance. Not sure if I've ever whinged here about it, but I have always loved the music but have been bored to death by the tedious character dance. I know some people love it, but I most certainly do not! Anyway, what they did with it here was quite extraordinary - turning it into something slightly burlesque, slightly tango. Building on Joanna Lawrence's smooth yet spiky angular geometry to give a sense of witchcraft and devilry - I'll upload a link to a clip soon. Probably most of you will be disgusted, but if even just one or two like it half as much as I did, I will feel it time well spent!

    More conventional (and closer to home, as DD1 is in it) was the cygnets dance. A couple of small cock-ups, but generally pretty impressive again, considering how little time they had to put it together...

    I suppose my only minor criticism would be that I wanted to see more of Odette and Siegfried together - there was a real chemistry there, and Odette (Emma Laister) has such grace I could watch her all night, but I think the director had to keep the length down.

    Anyway, one of the reasons for posting this was to suggest that there might still be a couple of seats available (and I have 2 spare tickets now as in-laws are stranded in North Yorkshire) for tomorrow's matinee and evening shows. If anyone lives nearby and loves ballet, they should really be there. The audience could do with beefing up - they were a bit rubbish this evening in terms of applause timing and volume!

    Hopefully Terpischore will post a proper review if she managed to get someone along?

    • Like 7

    The big freeze 2018

    in Not Dance

    Posted

    Enough now! In a crazy weekend of ballet, I'll be rushing between Cambridge and Rickmansworth in an attempt to watch (and film the former) CUBC's Swan Lake twice and EYB's Coppelia once respectively. Too much snow and ice could be very bad news... Wish I'd fitted winter tyres now. Fingers crossed.

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