Wednesday Dance Video

Justin Peck and Janie Taylor, The Block Magazine from Justin Peck on Vimeo.

I watched this video a really long time ago and there is something about it that stays with you. Perhaps, it's her hair or something about her presence. It isn't perfect; the digital color grading bothers me a little or perhaps a lot. The feel that they are going for is interesting - I just miss when people use to do things in camera and I think they could have done this in camera with lights and it would have been better. Unconsciously color grading feels as though it isn't real and couldn't be captured with actual light. Even if something is meant to feel magical and mysterious it needs to be rooted in some type of reality or else it just feels false.

I understand that this is a fashion video and it, perhaps, succeeds in that way, but I have seen fashion videos or commercials that rise above their purpose and I wish this one was able to do that. I feel it is really close. The filmmakers are competent, but it feels as though they don't have a grasp on what they are creating. This is painfully obvious after reading this interview with Janie Taylor where she points out that they just wanted her to "dance around" and she had to bring Justin Peck into the production because she thought if she just danced around she would look stupid. I so love that the ballerina is the one who truly made this piece work and not only by her presence on film, but also her artistic knowledge and valuable insight.

To me the idea that it begins with the man being viewed as if he is merely a sculpture is really intriguing. The woman comes in and begins to interact with this object, she brings him to life, but then the piece just ends with no conclusion or understanding of the power of the choreography. That is the failure of the filmmakers because they had something that they could have really plugged into and created something amazing, but they don't appear to connect with what is going on in front of them. It is really disappointing when something has such great potential and it isn't realized.

Wednesday Dance Video

Awhile ago I was worried that all I would end up posting on a regular basis was dance videos and now it seems I haven't posted one for too long.

I became aware of these videos by the Royal Ballet after this post a week or so ago on this blog. I love Alicia Markova (I read her biography when I was in 5th grade and became obsessed with her. I tracked down every dance video I could find of her) so I was immediately intrigued by the post.

These videos seem to be from a lecture and there is nothing uniquely special about how they are filmed. Most live events are shot similarly. What I love about these is the purpose behind sharing them and creating each short video. So often dance companies seem to post random shots from rehearsals or a performances into a montage video and it is really boring to watch. I love how these videos are giving us information about pioneer ballerinas by showing us how and what they danced. It is such an interesting way to learn about ballet history without just spewing facts out at a viewer.

I really loved watching the Fanny Essler piece - the dancing so interested me. I also liked the dancing in the Anna Pavlova piece, but the costume was a bit too much.

Of course it would also be fun to do something of the same purpose by not just shooting a lecture, but making short films. Hmm...

Bluebird Variation

In my pointe class we are learning the Bluebird Variation from Sleeping Beauty. It's really hard. When I was fifteen or so I loved hopping on pointe. It always got a good "ohh ahh" reaction out of people and I never really thought of it as hard. I was pretty fearless when it came to my pointe class. I have always felt more comfortable in my pointe shoes than my soft shoes. I don't know why. Now that I am older and returning to pointe there are things where that I can't believe I used to do. Right now I don't believe I really will be able to accomplish this - our teacher is really confident in us. So we'll see; anything is possible right?

Day 20: Something that means a lot to me.

Here is another post where I want to say my daughter; I just thought I would put that out there. I had a hard time deciding what to write about, but today we had to re-arrange our schedule all around so that I could go to a dance class. Usually I go on Thursdays though since this Thursday is a major holiday class is cancelled. So I realized that ballet classes mean a lot to me. Particularly getting to go to Boulder Ballet with the same teachers I have had since I was a girl.

I had these great intentions of taking pictures in class today to post here, but I failed. Somehow I was distracted because I even had my phone out ready to go. With an internet search underway I came up with the above pictures. These pictures our of the studio where I danced so many years ago. Currently, Boulder Ballet is located at the Dairy Center for Arts, but it used to be here (it was also called Ballet Arts). It was above Tom's Tavern on the West End of Pearl Street. These pictures make me a little bit sad, but also a little happy because I can imagine being there, where I stood at the barre, being distracted looking out those wonderful windows, and the smell of fries wafting out of Tom's. The studio was on the second floor and to get there you had to climb a very steep and narrow stairway. Sometimes there would be violin music because there was a rehearsal space across the hall. This was such a special place to take classes.

Even though I am being flooded with amazing memories; I will share just one. It is an incredibly big deal when a young dancer gets to finally wear pointe shoes. If you wear them too early you can cause a lot of physical damage. It doesn't have so much to do with technique as much as it does with a child's development. Before we could take pointe class (which at first was 15 minutes at the end of our technique class) we had to have our shoes approved by our teacher and  I remember us all sitting around her (she was in a chair, placed to the right of the door in the top picture, and we all looked up at her with our eager eyes wanting so badly to put on our shoes and dance across the floor). She explained how to sew the ribbons and elastic onto our shoes, how to take care of our feet (blisters, ouch), and I remember very clearly being told not to dance around in the shoes outside of class (so we wouldn't injure ourselves before we knew how to dance in the shoes properly). It was a really good day.

Today as I was driving down the East End of Pearl St., I was thinking about how different it looks. I tried to think about what the old buildings looked like or where there used to be  dirt lots when I was growing up. Everything looks all nice and pretty now, but sometimes I miss when things aren't so polished, and shiny, and new looking.

Apparently this post is about two things that mean a lot to me: ballet and memories. Though, for me I guess those two things will always be intertwined.
(photos found at this photo stream)