giselle

the crowd cheered as the curtain was raised and julie kent appeared to take her bow with marcelo gomes at abt's giselle last night. then, from probably row E in the orchestra or so, someone [unexpectedly] chucked a bouquet right at julie. she stumbled slightly and lunged forward to catch it and the entire crowd broke out into laugher and applause. as soon as the laughter subsided, a second bouquet was thrown at marcelo. perfect catch. more laughter. more applause. oh gee, it was one of those moments.

dilemonade

instead of thinking about the pulled a muscle in the back of my leg (must google this) from ballet class tonight, being on day 7 of a nasty cold, or about the paper bowls scattered around my apartment that are filled with coffee grounds to cover up the unbearable stench of a deceased neighbor that wasn't found for a few days (very sad/disgusting), i am going to think of happier thoughts. my leg will fix itself within a few days and so will my cold. i am lucky to have an apartment, especially in this weather. my senior year of college, i participated in BOX CITY to raise homelessness awareness. we slept in cardboard boxes on the campus green in chilly, chilly november. did i mention that i went to school in vermont? brr. throughout college, i was super-involved with the homeless community in burlington. i volunteered three times each week providing childcare at the local shelter. but it wasn't until i spent one night in the cold that i realized, even the littlest bit, what it feels like to not have the option of a warm home. so i am thankful for all that i have, even with my patch of bad luck the past few days, which as my mom said, isn't all that unlucky to begin with.

darci

i was lucky, lucky, lucky enough to go to darci kistler's farewell performance today. darci was the last of the balanchine ballerinas. she was also the youngest to become a principal dancer in nyc ballet's history. i bought my ticket months ago. as soon as i found out she was retiring and as soon as tickets went on sale, i knew i could not miss this performance. she danced several excerpts from balanchine's monumentum pro gesualdo, movements for piano and orchestra, a midsummer's nights dream and ended with the final act of swan lake. it was perfection. 

and then for her farewell bow! it was absolutely indescribable. bouquet after bouquet was brought out to darci from those involved in the ballet, from those who love her. the entire theater was filled with emotion. wild admiration. the confetti fell and the audience threw their bouquets on stage. by the end of it, she must have received a thousand flowers. at least. it was incredible and i even had tears in my eyes! i can't really describe how completely adored she is or how this performance felt. it was magical.

a sunday afternoon performance and a completely full house. pictures are not allowed during performances. but during her final bow, that rule was clearly ignored. flashes were going off from everywhere. wish i didn't only have the camera on my phone with me, but i'm glad i was able to capture a bit of it. look how the flowers cover the stage! 

farewell, darci!

ballet slippers

a new pair of ballet slippers
trusty ol' blochs.
classes start in two weeks
(for the first time in eight years!)

sleeping beauty

last night was ABT's sleeping beauty performance. this is my favorite ballet. by far. i would see it just for the glittering costumes. or just to listen to the exquisiteness of tchaikovsky. i could watch hours of the winsome, flitting fairies. and the wedding scene! everything about this performance was spectacular. the gorgeous and graceful veronika part was the lilac fairy and gillian murphy was aurora. i love learning about the dancers. reading their interviews. their journeys to becoming the best in the world, where they find inspiration. ballerinas are my 'movie stars', they are the true celebrities in my life. monday nights at the ballet are my favorite. being at lincoln center instantly makes me lovely and whole. i can't think of anything that gets me nearly as excited as the orchestra beginning to play and the curtain rising.

i know i always say it, but, i feel so lucky to live in this wonderful city, where such loveliness is so accessible.

lady of the camellias

last night, i attended to ABT's performance of lady of the camellias. a terribly romantic and sad story. as always, the ballet was lovely. the music (chopin), the costumes. i have a season seat and it just makes me happy to be there. i go by myself and it really is a few hours of my week to just completely enjoy myself. when i can just sit down and be in the midst of everything beautiful. and it makes me just feel lovely being at lincoln center. especially after the performance, walking out with the audience at night and to think that we all just enjoyed the same thing, all at once. and how we can all say how beautiful our evenings were!

jewels

last night, allison and i went to the new york city ballet performance of jewels. jewels is a ballet in three parts, choreographed by balanchine in the late-ish 60s. emeralds, rubies, diamonds. each set to different music. fauré, stravinsky, tschaikovsky. each having a completely different style and each absolutely stunning. i love, love, love this ballet. it has a wonderfully romantic history about it, too - balanchine was inspired by van cleef and arpels - and the (impossible) love between him and suzanne farrell (he created diamonds for her!) each jewel is represented so differently, the mood certainly changes with each. diamonds is by far my favorite. classic and grand. allison's favorite was rubies--sharp, lush and elegant. i saw one of my favorite dancers perform rubies during the opening night performance of the season, aurelie dupont. it was a dream.

every time the curtain is drawn up in the beginning of a performance, i feel an overwhelming rush of loveliness. there is so much involved in a ballet. there is so much to experience. so many directions to look and so many sounds to hear. the dancer's shoes moving across the stage during quieter moments, seeing the orchestra turning the pages of their music, the harp and the harpist, the opulent scenery, the divinely glittering costumes, the reactions and appreciation of the audience. be still my heart!

and then we all left the theater and scrambled out into a slushy and windy blizzard! it's easy to forget the outside world while attending a ballet. le sigh.

opening night

last night, i attended the opening night performance of the new york city ballet. it was magical. truly. going to the ballet is so romantic. a luminous celebration of art and beauty. everyone dressed for the evening. ladies and gentlemen. the feel of it all. one of my favorite ballerinas came as a guest dancer from the paris opera ballet, aurelie dupont. seeing her perform was indescribable. her artistry, energy, grace.

i managed to sneak a quick picture of the delicious jewel of a chandelier.

but, as i don't have any other pictures of the evening, i have this. here i am at age seven. in stravinsky's the firebird. yes, the one in the center, smiling with her eyes closed and completely out of the elaborate (and somewhat symmetrical) pose, is yours truly. precious and clever.

la danse

last night, i went to see la danse: le ballet de l'opéra de paris at film forum. it was a two and a half hour glorious journey behind-the-scenes of the paris opera ballet. i had waited and waited for this film. and it certainly lived up to everything that i had dreamed of. they said that the ballet is a present to the audience. and everything that leads up to that fanciful gift was shown in this film; the costumes being sewn, the props constructed, the music being practiced, the meetings with the artistic director, the endless, endless rehearsals.

they quoted maurice béjart saying that a dancer is "half nun. half boxer." that is the perfect description. so much work goes into each performance. so much thought. dedication. diligence. to result in effortless beauty.

oh and the film even showed the beekeeping above the palais garnier.

annie rescued a heap of old photographs out of a trash can in uruguay. she let me take these two home. love!

hannukah/christmas gift this year: a 2010 abt subscription? i can not think of anything that i would greater adore.