Spring has never felt more welcome. And as sure as it has felt like spring for the past week we are evidently in for 50s, clouds and rain for the next. It's okay by me: there is no snow in the forecast, and I have noted very definite signs of thickening in the tips of … Continue reading Balance: Sunday Journal
Ballet
Spring is about renewal, right?
It all started with a shower curtain. Well, actually a shower curtain mishap a few weeks ago, which got me thinking about replacing the shower curtain rings. Thence to the liner--we really could use a new liner. One thought led to another and I soon found myself wondering, What's a groovy, designer shower curtain go … Continue reading Spring is about renewal, right?
Preconceived Notions: Expanding an Idea
Disclaimer: this is a post about ballet school. It is also the start of a conversation. Even if you know nothing of ballet or ballet school, this might resonate with you if you have ever had the joy and the challenge of parenting a young child. Read on. Last week a local magazine whose demographic … Continue reading Preconceived Notions: Expanding an Idea
Somebody Please Hand Me My Oil Can
Dancers have such ugly feet.--Anne Bancroft, The Turning Point Handsome Chef Boyfriend looked at that photo and said, Your feet don't look that bad in real life. Cheeky. I don't really care how they look (a benefit of age and wisdom, I think). They've served me pretty well for most of my life. Recently not so … Continue reading Somebody Please Hand Me My Oil Can
The Nutcracker is here to stay.
I like to think Peter (Pyotr for purists) Ilyich Tchaikovsky was a rock star in his day, but I can’t say for sure. He certainly was an attractive man. One thing I can say is that his Nutcracker score (penned not long before his death) is tacky ballet music through and through. There, I’ve said … Continue reading The Nutcracker is here to stay.
Going On…
Two simple words heard routinely in the context of the ballet studio during the learning process. Implicit in them is the notion that you have internalized one phrase or movement sufficiently to move ahead to the next. When I closed my small school in Knoxville two and a half years ago I (wistfully) left behind … Continue reading Going On…
My Ageing Dilemma
A friend snapped this photo of me last month at an event in Cambridge, New York at the home of writer Jon Katz and his wife, artist Maria Wulf. Confession: seeing it the first time gave me a little jolt. I think many of us carry around an idea of how we look in our … Continue reading My Ageing Dilemma
New World Order. Again.
I shot a couple of photos today on a brief outing through Shaftsbury to retrieve a particular young 'un from a day-long outdoor adventure. It is cool in Vermont and there is indiscriminate rain; a short time down the road the rain will be snow. Fall's vibrant colors abound, although the peak of the season … Continue reading New World Order. Again.
I Don’t Get No Respect
That's my mama, working one-on-one with one of my former students in Knoxville, Tennessee. That picture was made in June of 2012, days before the small ballet school I founded closed its doors for good, and only a couple of months before I relocated to Vermont. Mom will be seventy-three in December. She still … Continue reading I Don’t Get No Respect
And Away We Go!
Fall term began at ballet school yesterday; the school director caught me in a moment during my Level 4A barre with a very pointy index finger. I was urging the kids to "send the foot across the room," speaking metaphorically of course. And no, we are not in prison, but in a smaller interior classroom … Continue reading And Away We Go!
Sycamore Stories 