Terpsichore Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 The cricket season is about to start which is for me a cause for celebration. I have had a passion for cricket for even longer than I have had a passion for ballet. It all started in 1959 when my father took me to see the first day of Middlesex's match against India at Lords and I saw a splendid century by Abbas Ali Baig who was still an undergraduate at Oxford. Though India lost the test series that summer it had some inspiring crickets like the bowler Surrendranath who devastated Middlesex's batting order and batsmen like Contractor and Umrigar. Although I was born in Manchester of a Lancastrian (now Merseyside) father and a Yorkshire mother I always supported Surrey (where I spent my childhood and adolescence) with such great names as Laker and Barrington. My fellow Mancunian, Neville Cardus, was equally passionate about music and cricket. Is there any correlation between cricket and ballet? My conversations with fellow cricket fans are very similar to conversations with my fellow ballet lovers. Just as ballet lovers have their favourite ballerinas and premiers danseurs nobles - Acosta, Rojo and Osipova - cricket fans have their favourite batsmen and bowlers. Both venerate the greats of the past - Pavlova, Karsavina, Nijinsky for ballet lovers and Grace, Hobbs and Bradman for cricket fans. As a child I had equal piles of Dance and Dancers and Wisden annuals. If there is a correlation between the two temperaments it may explain why Diaghilev regarded the English as second only to the Russians in their receptiveness to ballet. Having two great passions is very convenient because the cricket season begins just as the days lengthen and ballet companies wind down for the summer. The Royal Opera House opens in Autumn just as our cricketers depart for the tropics or antipodes where they nowadays seem to get a thrashing. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisa O`Brien Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 Don`t understand the game at all,I`m afraid. Think it might be more appealing if it didn`t go on all day!! Having lived for the first six years of my life in Old Trafford,I can still remember the usually one day of the year when the area is just choc a block with people.There is almost always one day when there is both a cricket match at Lancashire County Cricket Club`s Old Trafford ground,and another match at the football ground with the same name. I remember just being astonished at the amount of people.Just thousands and thousands of them. I enjoy the tennis when it starts off again every year. I really get into Wimbledon,especially the men.Don`t care much for today`s female tennis players. But then i was spoiled with Martina and Chris Evert,etc. Federer is probably my all time favourite tennis player,although sadly,he`s not what he used to be. As for the correlation between cricket and ballet;well i wouldn`t know. Definately think today`s soccer players can appreciate the technique of a ballet dancer though. Or at least they should do.! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAB Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 No interest here I'm afraid, however if anyone wants to dicuss Formula 1............. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
florence Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 son - cricket mad daughter - ballet mad I stagger between the 2 trying to work out the finer points (or pointes) of both!! 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porthesia Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 Sorry, its Rubgy Union for me - well the 6 Nations OH is a cricket fan and sometimes subjects me to listening whilst in the car - I prefer Planet Rock. He also likes Formula 1 and rugby DD is a Formula 1 fan MAB, she's up at all hours to watch it Non-dd not a fan of any particular sport 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinMM Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 Unfortunately Cricket is a bit too slow for me! Not as bad as Golf but nearly! After my mum died I used to make a great effort to watch Golf tournaments with my dad (although he was a great football fan really) and if you really follow something from the beginning you do end up getting into it and starting to root for certain players etc so was quite enjoyable in the end ......but I wouldn't have watched on my own. I quite like Formula one and my partner is a fan. Once in France went to the 24 hour race in Le Mans. I must say being actually there was not that a pleasant experience the smell of fuel and oil was horrible and the noise terrific.......so definitely better on the tv!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hfbrew Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 I come from a cricket mad family. Although I have to say I was not as enthusiastic. Nonetheless my brothers ensured I could play and understand the game. I always enjoyed playing and tried without success to get my school to allow girls to participate in cricket, not just the boys. Years later the county cricket secretary who also was ordained, conducted my wedding- his first! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisa O`Brien Posted April 3, 2014 Share Posted April 3, 2014 I too like Formula One. But just even thinking about it makes me feel so sad for Michael Schumacher`s family. We keep hearing so many different stories about his progress too;whether he is waking up or not at all. Obviously for the family him waking up would be what they wanted i`m sure. But is it what he would want ? If he is never going to be the same again? I think if that was to be the case it might be better and kinder if he was allowed to pass on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisa O`Brien Posted April 3, 2014 Share Posted April 3, 2014 Just read that back to myself. Sorry if i`ve depressed everyone.!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAB Posted April 3, 2014 Share Posted April 3, 2014 From what I have read the waking up period for someone in an induced coma is very lengthy, but I believe his life is no longer in danger. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinMM Posted April 3, 2014 Share Posted April 3, 2014 They may not know till he actually wakes up exactly what the true extent of the damage is. Hopefully it will not be too bad but if he were to wake up with very severe disability that might not be a good thing for him at all. However on the bright side many such people go on to make a more or less full recovery so let's hope that's true for him too. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted April 3, 2014 Share Posted April 3, 2014 Not me, I'm afraid. I just don't think I like sports where the score racks up on one side at a time. Like thequays, it's tennis for me, mainly. (Davis Cup starts tomorrow!) I enjoy the tennis when it starts off again every year. I really get into Wimbledon,especially the men.Don`t care much for today`s female tennis players. But then i was spoiled with Martina and Chris Evert,etc. Me too! I can't keep track of a lot of the women players these days (although I am pleased to see Venus Williams getting back into some sort of form after her long battle with illness). I look at the rankings and think: "Who's that?" about, say, the 10th-best female player on the planet. The men are a bit easier: they're that bit more distinctive, or at least fewer of them have long blonde ponytails! Federer is probably my all time favourite tennis player,although sadly,he`s not what he used to be. Oh, I'm starting to wonder: if I had a pound for the number of times I've heard a commentator this year exclaim: "Vintage Federer!" since he started using the new racquet I might be getting quite well-off (and bearing in mind that I scarcely see any tennis unless it's on free-to-view TV ...). He's definitely my favourite current player, but I think Edberg might still edge it in the all-time rankings (you can imagine how thrilled I was to hear about Federer's new coaching arrangements ) Sorry, Terpsichore, we're totally derailing your thread here 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terpsichore Posted April 4, 2014 Author Share Posted April 4, 2014 (edited) ............................... Sorry, Terpsichore, we're totally derailing your thread here That's all right, Alison. At least I have an answer to my question which is that I am probably the only cricket fan here. But it raises another another questions as to why that should be because the qualities that I appreciate in a powerful and accurate fast bowler or a masterful batsmen are very similar to those that I appreciate in a ballerina or a great male dancer. Lifting a ballerina and scoring a 6 over off a fast bowler engage similar muscles and probably require the same concentration and accuracy. Ballet may not be a sport but it requires a similar level of fitness, stamina, self-control and determination to anything in the Olympics or indeed at Lords or Wembley. Also, as I have already observed I could transpose a conversation about a county's performance in a match for a company's performance in a ballet with the substitution only of terms of art. There is the same passion and the same observation of detail. This is all the more remarkable because most of my friends who love ballet are women (though not exclusively) and most of my friends who love cricket are men (though again not exclusively). On just about everything else my conversations with men and those with women are very different in vocabulary, length of sentences and tone. The only lady other than me who had an equal passion for both cricket and ballet was my aunt but unlike me she never tried either. I played a bit of cricket as a child and still pick up a bat from time to time to make up the numbers. I also do a little ballet at the Northern Ballet Academy and elsewhere but with much less confidence or ability. However, I do find some of the things I learned in cricket come in useful in ballet. Watching and positioning oneself for a catch for example I think has helped me to spot and arrange my body in the right position for a turn. But perhaps it is a misconceived correlation which explains why I am such a hopeless dancer. Oh, by the way, Alison, I have also picked up a racket once or twice in my lifetime and actually played quite a bit of tennis when I was a graduate student in LA. I seem to remember a ballet about tennis - or at least connected with it. Jeux I think it was. Edited April 4, 2014 by terpsichore 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisa O`Brien Posted April 4, 2014 Share Posted April 4, 2014 We were talking about Schumacher[well I was!]and he is Trending right now on Twitter.According to his agent he is showing small signs of consciousness.Thank God. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted April 4, 2014 Share Posted April 4, 2014 Ballet may not be a sport but it requires a similar level of fitness, stamina, self-control and determination to anything in the Olympics or indeed at Lords or Wembley. Also, as I have already observed I could transpose a conversation about a county's performance in a match for a company's performance in a ballet with the substitution only of terms of art. There is the same passion and the same observation of detail. I totally agree - although my chosen references tend to be tennis But I was on the train once, coming back from a ballet performance, and there were some football fans in the seats opposite me who were discussing the football match in pretty similar sorts of terms to the ones we used for ballet. I realised that we were less different than a lot of people might think. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted April 5, 2014 Share Posted April 5, 2014 I worked mostly with man, who being from Liverpool were football mad! They used to find it hilarious that I would go to more than one performance of the same production. I always asked them if they would go to see Liverpool vs Everton every day for a week if they were playing. The answer of course was yes, but they could not see that every performance I would see would be different in a similar way to each football match being different. It's interesting how similar ballet and sport watching can be. I know we've gone o/t but what a good topic Terpsichore! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terpsichore Posted April 5, 2014 Author Share Posted April 5, 2014 Janet McNulty Although Liverpool may be more famous for its fine football clubs it also has many cricketing connections. Its Bishop, Lord Sheppard, played cricket for Cambridge, Sussex and England. Also, several famous footballers from your city also played for Lancashire. Southport (my father's birthplace) which is now in Merseyside hosts first class fixtures for Lancashire. Liverpool College, which my uncle attended, is a fine cricketing school. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hfbrew Posted April 27, 2014 Share Posted April 27, 2014 Terpischore, was just telling dh that you are a cricket fan. (He supports Lancashire.) He said did you post the names of your brothers' actionmen? Well of course I hadnt but the names might mean something to you. One brother called his actionman Jon Snow, the other Basil D'Oliviera (it had a beard) ! Oh the joys of "not dance" for facilitating random posts! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terpsichore Posted July 31, 2014 Author Share Posted July 31, 2014 A win at long last and we are at least temporarily top of the medals table in Glasgow. If this is a revival of our sporting fortunes it has come not a moment too soon. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terpsichore Posted August 17, 2014 Author Share Posted August 17, 2014 And another win! The series is ours. Yippeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! It makes up for the all the sporting disappointments of these previous months in Brazil, Wimbledon and the Tour de France. Tout vient à point à qui sait attendre. It's not been a bad few months for my other passion either: the Dutch Junior Company at the Linbury. Ballet Black's new triple bill everywhere, Northern Ballet's mixed programme in Leeds, a fine Beauty and the Beast by the Welsh. three brilliant but very different productions of Romeo and Juliet by the Scots, English National and the Maryiinsky with Xander Parish on home turf, Sarah Kundi safely at English National and lots more besides. And now that I am a Friend of the Dutch National Ballet I look forward to their Swan Lake, Cinderella, Jewels and Cool Britannia (that is if there is any Britannia left by the time they run that show) as well as our own Northern Ballet's Wuthering Heights and another Romeo and Juliet and my first love Scottish Ballet's Crucible and Dylan Thomas not to mention Darrell's Nutcracker. Not long before our over 55 ballet class starts up again in Leeds either. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted August 17, 2014 Share Posted August 17, 2014 A terrific afternoon at the European Athletics championships too! Poor Chunkydog went into hiding (well into her favourite spot in the porch) as I was yelling encouragement at the TV! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terpsichore Posted August 17, 2014 Author Share Posted August 17, 2014 Indeed. Farah and Rutherford did well. We mustn't forget our women's rugby team's success in Paris. Not often we have such good results in three major sports evens in the same day. Dies mirabilis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terpsichore Posted July 31, 2015 Author Share Posted July 31, 2015 While I congratulate England on a well deserved win this afternoon I am slightly disappointed that there will be no play over the weekend when I would have had the time to watch it. I doubt that the Australians will take this defeat lying down so we can all look forward to exciting matches at Trent Bridge and the Oval. Let's hope the weather is kind to us, 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SMabbutt Posted July 31, 2015 Share Posted July 31, 2015 I don't follow cricket much directly, but I try and show an interest in the test match because I have a husband and son who enjoy it. For the last few years they have gone with my father-in-law to watch at Trent Bridge - very convenient as we live in Nottingham. Like you I hope the weather is good, or they will be very disappointed. We were saying today that it's a good job they're booked for Saturday, or on current form they might not have seen much play on a later day. It's a good day out for the 3 generations to bond, and thankfully they've had good experiences in previous years. They used to go to the snooker, but after a couple of very disappointing sessions at the crucible, particularly one in 2006 when Ronnie O'Sullivan fell apart and walked out in the 6th frame. With 4 boys, now grown up, I've had to learn to look enthusiastic about football, cricket, rugby, formula 1 and golf. It's quite a nice change to have daughter who is very girly and loves her dance, though her hobby is turning out to be far more expensive than the lads' football & swimming sessions. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terpsichore Posted July 31, 2015 Author Share Posted July 31, 2015 (edited) ................. With 4 boys, now grown up, I've had to learn to look enthusiastic about football, cricket, rugby, formula 1 and golf. It's quite a nice change to have daughter who is very girly and loves her dance, though her hobby is turning out to be far more expensive than the lads' football & swimming sessions. There are some who like both cricket and ballet. Xander Parish, for example, was a promising cricketer (see The ballet dancer who could have played cricket for Yorkshire 11 Jan 2015 Yorkshire Post) and Benazir Hussain is the sister of Nasser who was captain of England (see Benazir bowls over dance fans as brother aims to bowl us out 6 Nov 2002). Edited July 31, 2015 by terpsichore 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hfbrew Posted July 31, 2015 Share Posted July 31, 2015 There are some who like both cricket and ballet. Xander Parish, for example, was a promising cricketer (see The ballet dancer who could have played cricket for Yorkshire 11 Jan 2015 Yorkshire Post) and Benazir Hussain is the sister of Nasser who was captain of England (see Benazir bowls over dance fans as brother aims to bowl us out 6 Nov 2002). Wow I've never made that connection before! (About the Hussains that is!) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarahw Posted August 1, 2015 Share Posted August 1, 2015 Yes a super result but like terpsichore I feel cheated of the last 2 days. I usually spend such weekends plugged into my digital radio........ I agree that Aus will likely win the next with a decider at the Oval.... Such a shame about Anderson. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terpsichore Posted August 6, 2015 Author Share Posted August 6, 2015 Not a bad start to the fourth test but we should never underestimate the Australians. They have good bowlers too. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/live/cricket/32809885 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vonrothbart Posted August 6, 2015 Share Posted August 6, 2015 I think they'll need more than good bowlers with a score like that terpsichore. Come on England! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vonrothbart Posted August 6, 2015 Share Posted August 6, 2015 The gods did smile on England today I suppose, but surely the Aussies can't find an excuse for being shot out for 60. They always say the sun shines on the righteous, and it certainly did that when Lyth and Cook came out to bat. All we need now is more cloud when Australia bat again, as they can't handle swing it seems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarahw Posted August 6, 2015 Share Posted August 6, 2015 I think I'm going to have a radio free sunday again. .... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxi4ballet Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 I know nothing about cricket, but dh likes it, and we watched the highlights programme last night, and I really enjoyed it (to my complete surprise!). 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarahw Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 Cricket is very under rated...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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