DANCE MATTERS

During my days at ballet school, I took many black and white photographs. The chemist where I had them developed and printed once said I should consider photography as a profession. But I didn’t. Unfortunately my mother was not a pack rat. She threw away most of the pics and the negatives.

One of my fellow students (older than I) did follow this other path, and also married Lynn Seymour who was my friend and companion when we both arrived from ‘the colonies’ and stayed with the same family.

Take a look at this interview.

One of the dances featured in my story is that of the Little Swans, from Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake. So I thought you might enjoy seeing a performance… virtual, of course.

Also, dear balletomanes, you can be mesmerized by ‘World Ballet Day’ on YouTube. And early next year, watch the  ‘Prix de Lausanne’ competition. See some rising stars.

As with language, when it comes to traditional ballets, changes happen. Sometimes these creep in, at others a re-visioning is deliberate. I wanted to show you a version that was as close as possible to what I wrote about. This is why I chose the Bolshoi rather than, say, the Royal Ballet. One of the details is that the dancers are wearing the classical, short tutu, whereas the RB has more recently chosen to use the longer, romantic tutu. Plus, this performance took place in 1989, the exact year when my novel is set.

For snippets and info, follow the Royal Opera House on Facebook, see what’s on, and discover movies. I highly recommend ‘Romeo and Juliet’, filmed on site in Italy.

Enjoy!

‘Giselle’ is the featured ballet in my new novel, DANCE TO REMEMBER. Here are the wonderful partners, Natalia Osipova and  Carlos Acosta in a pas de deux from the second act, to which my heroine has an unexpected reaction!