Don Quixote [Full-Length Ballet]

May 2, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Cuban National Ballet Don Quixote with Viengsay Valdes and Romel Frometa

How about a steamy ballet for a warm (almost summer) evening? Get out your favorite cold beverage and red fan, because tonight's Thursday at The Theater presents: Don Quixote, full-length ballet with the Cuban National Ballet! Don Quixote Mr. Rossini, the uploader of this fantastic hour and a half production writes of the two principal dancers, Viengsay Valdes and Romel Frometa: The two key dancers representing Kitri (Viengsay Valdes) and Basilio (Romel Frometa) dominate as they should with … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Classical Ballet, Osiel Gounod, Viengsay Valdes Tagged With: , , , , , ,

How To Find Pointe Shoes That Fit Correctly

April 21, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Ballet Pointe Shoe

Whether you're a student approaching that exciting time of getting your first pointe shoes or need to get a better fitting than what you have now, it's important to understand how each part of a pointe shoe should fit for optimal performance. Bare in mind that you must also reassess your pointe shoe's fit periodically, so that your dancing reflects your complete abandon to your role (and not to an ill fitting shoe). In addition, your feet change constantly and so do the roles you might be … [Read more...]

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Misty Copeland Will Dance The Dying Swan [Video]

April 17, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Anna Pavlova - The Dying Swan

I'm excited to pass on this news: Misty Copeland announced on her Facebook page she'll be dancing The Dying Swan tonight at BAM Fishman Space. Misty Copeland Will Dance The Dying Swan The Dying Swan was a role first danced by Anna Pavlova in the early 20th century. The Dying Swan (originally The Swan) is a ballet choreographed by Mikhail Fokine in 1905 to Camille Saint-Saëns's cello solo Le Cygne from Le Carnaval des Animaux as a pièce d'occasion for the ballerina Anna Pavlova. The short … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Anna Pavlova, Ballerinas, Classical Ballet, Misty Copeland Tagged With: , , ,

Maria Tallchief, American Ballerina Has Died [Videos]

April 13, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Maria Tallchief in Million Dollar Mermaid (1952) with Ester Williams

She is considered the first American prima ballerina, when Russian and European dancers prevailed. A trailblazer with a stage presence and energy never seen before on U.S. stages. I've become fascinated with her story. Her father was Native American and her mother was of Scottish-Irish descent.  Her mom started her on piano lessons at three, dreaming she would become a concert pianist, but destiny had other plans for Maria. As a farewell tribute to this highly musical and energetic … [Read more...]

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Sesame Street Visits New York City Ballet Ballerinas

April 4, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Sesame Street Visits New York City Ballet Ballerinas

Who are the people in your neighborhood? Sesame Street's Murray Monster and Obejita (Little Sheep) learn about their dancing neighbors or "peeps in our hood," to quote Murray! Sesame Street Visits New York City Ballet Ballerinas What do ballerinas do? What is a barre and what is it for? Murray Monster asks Kristen Segin, Alina Dronova, Callie Bachman, and Sara Adams what is the first thing they were taught in ballet school. The five positions of the feet! Watch the video below, it's … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Ballerinas, Classical Ballet, New York City Ballet Tagged With: ,

Ballerina Sara Mearns Shows You How To Apply Stage Makeup [Video]

March 30, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Backstage Beauty at The New York City Ballet

I recently featured New York City Ballet principal dancer Sara Mearns. I shared her video blog that ran for several days where Sara filmed herself in her dressing room before and after rehearsals, and before and after performances. She also documented herself recovering from a couple injuries. Now... Ballerina Sara Mearns Shows You How To Apply Stage Makeup Sara's recently uploaded a video tutorial that I know you're going to enjoy, where she shows step-by-step how to apply stage makeup like a … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Ballet Stage Makeup, Sara Mearns Tagged With: , , ,

Happy Birthday Nina Ananiashvili

March 29, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Nina Ananiashvili

Nina Ananiashvili was born in Tbilisi, Georgian SSR, Soviet Union on March 28, 1963. She began her training in 1969 when she entered the Georgia State Choreographic Institute (prior to that, she was practicing figure skating and had become a Georgian State champion in the junior division). In 1976 she entered the Moscow Choreographic Institute where her main teacher was Natalia Zolotova. In 1980, she made her stage debut in a school production of Coppelia. She graduated and entered … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Ballerinas, Classical Ballet, Nina Ananiashvili Tagged With:

Dance Quote by Anna Pavlova

March 24, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova as The Dying Swan

  Why do we love dance so much? We love to watch it on stage, or on TV (Dancing with The Stars, So You Think You Can Dance, Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers), we even secretly dance when we're alone. Professionally or not we dance before we learn to talk or even walk. Why? Because it brings us pleasure...pure joy! In honor of that joy you and I feel when dancing privately or in front of an audience here's a lovely dance quote by Anna Pavlova, one of my favorite … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Anna Pavlova, Classical Ballet Tagged With: ,

Ulyana Lopatkina L’ame de la Danse [Short Documentary Film]

March 14, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Ulyana Lopatkina of the Mariinsky Ballet in Swan Lake at the Royal Opera House. August 7, 2009. Source: Own Work. Author: Scillystuff. Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

Thursday at The Theater presents the Documentary film: Ulyana Lopatkina L'ame de la Danse (The Soul of The Dance). Ulyana Lopatkina L'ame de la Danse You may be wondering, who is Ulyana Lopatkina? Ulyana Vyacheslavovna Lopatkina [was] born [on] October 23, 1973, [in] Kerch, Crimea, Ukrainian SSR, USSR. [She] is a Prima ballerina at the Kirov Ballet/Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg. She studied at the Vaganova Academy with Natalia Dudinskaya. Upon graduation Lopatkina joined the … [Read more...]

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Featured Ballerina Sara Mearns [Videos]

March 11, 2013 By Leave a Comment

After eight months of recovering from back injury, principal dancer with the New York City Ballet and featured ballerina Sara Mearns, shares with us behind-the-scenes (literally) footage through her video blog: Barre None. Featured Ballerina Sara Mearns Sara Mearns was born in Columbia, South Carolina, and began her dance training at the age of three with Ann Brodie at the Calvert-Brodie School of Dance, also in Columbia. At the age of 13, Ms. Mearns trained with Patricia McBride at Dance … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Classical Ballet, New York City Ballet, Sara Mearns Tagged With: , ,
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