Vale Mum

[jmb]

My Mum died last Sunday. She was 94. But why am I writing a memorial here, on the BalletcoForum website? Well, Mum was entirely responsible for my love of ballet. About 6 years ago (yes, so recent!), Mum could no longer follow the narrative thread in shows such as Midsomer Murders and New Tricks. Quite independently, I was given a ticket to The Australian Ballet's La Bayadere. Mum was very jelous, but given her very limited mobility, getting her to the Opera House, not to mention sitting through a three hour ballet, was just not on. So I bought a couple of DVDs. The first was a production of the then Kirov's Swan Lake. I have written elsewhere that this was not a success. Mum thought Seigfried was sulky and, worse, stupid. Anyone could see that Odette and Odile were not the same people. The second was different. Nureyev's Don Quixote. A lovely, light, fun-filled production. Mum loved it. And we watched it every night (except 5!) from November to January, by which time I had found other ballet DVDs. This second batch included Giselle, with Alina Cojocaru. And I was hooked. Fatally. So thanks Mum. She was a lively, laughter filled and feisty woman, a doctor, and you don't come across many professional women of her age, particularly in Australia. (My family emigrated from the UK in the mid-fifties. She never looked back.) She will be hugely missed, and not only by me. So Vale Mum. May you dance with the stars.

[Duck]

Incredibly sorry to hear the news. Sincere condolences. Thinking of you in these difficult times.

 

[Jan McNulty]

So sorry for you loss jmb.  Sincere condolences to you and all your family.

[Fiz]

I am so sorry and send my condolences to you and your whole family. 

[Kate_N]

Oh, so sorry for your loss, jmb. And many thanks for taking the time to tell us about her and her recent love of ballet. You make me think of how fragile life is and how we need to remember those close to us.

 

My mother is 10 years younger than yours - like yours, she emigrated to Australia (but about a decade later) and has never looked back. Sadly, my mother is slipping gently into serious old-age memory loss - in a sort of opposite process to your mother, she rarely watched things like Midsomer Murders, but now switches the television on at 5pm and lets it wash over her. 

 

But I think our mothers would have got along famously - particularly in love of ballet (my mother trained and worked professionally) and Australia!

Edited August 28, 2019 by Kate_N

[LinMM]

Very sorry to hear about the loss of your mum jmb. No matter at  what age losing your mum leaves a huge gap 

But you can treasure the memories of your mum and you enjoying the ballet videos together as I'm sure you did more than share the ballet. 

[Pas de Quatre]

Sincere condolences jmb.  I too lost my mother earlier this month, she was 97.  Throughout her life she loved ballet, music, theatre and all the arts.  She was enrolled in a teacher training college in London, due to start in Autumn 1939 and one of her greatest disappointments in life was that it was evacutated to Yorkshire, and so she missed out on all her anticipated cultural treats in the Capital.  She made up for it though throughout the rest of her adult life, and her support enabled me to train as a Professional ballet dancer, and later as a Ballet teacher.  She had many ballet books from the 1930s onwards, so together with those I have bought/been given, I now have a bookcase full! 

 

So everyone on this forum, lets raise a metaphorical glass to all the Ballet Mothers without whom nothing would be achieved!

[Pas de Quatre]

P.S. Any Ballet Dads please don't feel unappreciated - in those days it usually was the Mums! So we should top up our glasses and toast today's Ballet Dads!

[LinMM]

My dad drove me the four miles to class and later back again when things got more serious and teacher lived further away. He did this for about a year four times a week until I was allowed to cycle there on my own from the age of 12 

He did this inspite of hoping I wouldn't take up ballet as a career!! 

So yes here's to the dads and the mums!!

[bridiem]

What a beautiful tribute to your mother, jmb. And what a beautiful legacy she has left you. My sincere condolences on your loss.

[jmb]

A heartfelt thanks to everyone who responded to my post. You don't know me but you reached out to me and I can only say a very humble thank you. The support of people on this forum has been very important to me. So once again, thank you.

[Lisa O`Brien]

Only just reading this post, jmb, but my sincere sympathies to you and your family. I got my mum "into" watching and appreciating Ballet. She must have been about 50 I guess. It was thanks to me that she fell in love with Rudolph Nureyev. She absolutely adored him. If ever he was on TV she would literally crouch in front of the TV to gaze at him, like some love sick teenager !  She said one of the highlights of her entire life was seeing him dance in Don Q with the Boston Ballet at the Manchester Palace Theatre. My sympathies once again.

Edited September 28, 2019 by Lisa O`Brien