victoriapage

I recall seeing Mayerling at the Metropolitan Opera by the Royal Ballet, and remember only Alessandra Ferri and Georgina Parkinson and my generally favorable impression. http://www.nytimes.com/1983/04/25/arts/ballet-mayerling-a-triumph.html The review indicates that I saw Wayne Eagling, but it's no insult to him that i don't recall him, I know he was a very nice dancer.

Hairbelles I know of a Boston Ballet principal who tore her Achilles tendon in the middle of a diagonal of jetes across the stage - of course being in Boston is a coincidence only as we're speaking of things that have happened over a number of years. Boston is lucky to have an incredible Sports Medicine department a local hospital that also specializes in ballet. They were focused on getting the dancer back on stage if that is what they wanted, and didn't spend time trying to convince them not to!

I know of a dancer who fractured his lower leg in mid-career, had a steel rod placed into the middle of the bone and spent about 10 months recovering and was quite brilliant still afterward. It can be done! (though carefully).

I can only interject here that one thing I've seen have an encouraging effect sometimes is when a child gets a good glimpse of what the unfamiliar or difficult is leading to. When the young ones see, for instance, an advanced class or a live performance and recognize what they have done in their class as part of it, that can be exciting and give them another perspective.

There was a dancer at American Ballet Theatre, Amy Blaisdell, who was in the corps from about 1963 to 1981. She was a nice dancer; I don't know her or how she felt about being a long-term corps dancer. I know she taught after retiring. Although it may or may not be a comfort, certainly one has to be one of the best just to get into a great company.

This is a film of the speech Lou Gehrig gave when he was forced to retire. Only a small portion of it was recorded, so they've intercut it with footage of Gary Cooper in a film that was made about him.

I was standing in line at the Metropolitan Opera waiting for the ticket window to open many years ago when we spotted a bus stopping in front of the plaza. A group of Japanese tourists and their guide ran across the plaza and into the lobby area, stood in front of the staircase, sang a song, and ran out. We figured it was because they wanted to say they had sung at the Metropolitan Opera.

Now now, Superman has to eat as well...

March 31, 1872 - Birth of Serge Diaghilev. March 11, 1818 - Birth of Marius Petipa.

As a point of interest, one film of Act I of Miss Page's Nutcracker in rehearsal for its first performance in 1965 (without costumes and with piano accompaniment, on stage with sets), for which her first Drosselmeyer was Anton Dolin. I am not sure if this film shows him or not, but I am going to ask someone who was dancing that day if Drosselmeyer had an alternate, as he usually did not, and they did not do nearly as many performances as they tend to do now. http://www.chicagofilmarchives.org/collections/index.php/Detail/Object/Show/object_id/8720

Not recently, but some years ago I saw a man on a bicycle in Manhattan in a full gorilla suit with a whirligig on his head.

Sad but true, and I've been on it since 1999; it's gotten worse and worse.

Indeed! But when in doubt about a message from "Ebay" in your email, just go to your inbox at Ebay and see if the same message is there and act from that message.

Oh dear, it appears Mr. Circle with a Triangle on Top is no longer making shoes ...

In the coda of this video, a series of consecutive double fouettes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Xa-CD86FmM

Can you detach the bodice from the skirt and reattach it after it's cleaned/repaired? I've done that but I don't know how yours is constructed.

And last for today but not least: A 12-year-old Joyce Cuoco circa 1966. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7v8VcRAaBo

Thirty two (!) years ago: Katherine Healy, age 13: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSpOBdwCQ18 And skating at Madison Square Garden, 7 years before: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPcDRxkR8es And also skating age 10, a piece called Papillon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_FafLL1Dnc And finally, age 16 in Coppelia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ah8QTrYgzA Sorry, but once I get started....

Perhaps this short film of a series called Strictly Ballet, which focuses on life for boarding students at SAB, would be of some interest. https://celebrity.yahoo.com/video/strictly-ballet-strictly-ballet-episode-040000246.html

Actually I'll correct myself; he danced in March 1962 with them at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in the pas de deux from Don Quixote with Sonia Arova. He also did Miss Page's Merry Widow and appeared in the Opera's production of Prince Igor. I don't know how much of the rest there is but we will find out. If you can imagine all of these films sat in a closet for over 30 years!!

Very kind of you! Only about 75 are on line now, as I said, and there are hundreds. None are thoroughly labeled and some are actually mislabeled. For instance, one labeled "Romeo and Juliet" actually starts with some of Nutcracker with Kirsten Simone and I think Henning Kronstam and a dancer in the lead of the Waltz of the Flowers named Dolores Lipinski doing fouettes and then segues into two separate casts of her Romeo and Juliet with first Charlene Gehm and Dennis Poole from the 70s and then Patricia Klekovic and Kenneth Johnson from the 60s, and is also printed backwards (making everyone left turners!) But they are trying to make headway and will eventually get it all labeled right! I am waiting for film of Nureyev's American stage debut! (The Merry Widow).

P.S. The Madge in the film is Frederic Franklin, who was the company's balletmaster at the time.

Hello all. This is an interesting film that is legally on line. Ruth Page, the Chicago based choreographer, had all her films donated to the Chicago Film Archives and they are gradually digitizing them and placing them on line. There are hundreds, some of which go back as far as mid 1920s, and as far forward as the late 70s. This is a film of a rehearsal of La Sylphide with the Chicago Ballet about 1978, and the guests were Lynn Seymour and Peter Schaufuss. If you want to watch it, you must be using a browser like Chrome as it will not play with Explorer. Additionally, the sound is a bit low; there was an orchestra, but put it as high as you can. Just thought you'd all like to see, as it is kosher . http://www.chicagofilmarchives.org/collections/index.php/Detail/Object/Show/object_id/9202

Your daughter writes very nicely! I wanted to point out; her page on British students at the Bolshoi doesn't mention Richard Collins? He was a little older than the average student when he went to Russia in 1968 or so, but I'm pretty sure he can be counted; he even wrote a book called "Behind the Bolshoi Curtain".

I may be wrong but it is my strong impression that in the US, a student who wants to dance is usually pretty anxious if they don't have a job by age 17 or 18 and doesn't generally consider college as a springboard to a performing career. And I must add my voice to say that everyone has a right to an opinion, "newbies" should stick around!