visions of clarity...do as infinity

Monday, May 31, 2010

A Day of Culture

Hello

Just returned from dinner, and a free performance by the New York Philharmonic near the apartment!!! =D Free stuff is so awesome I swear. Haha...

バレエが久しぶりです~♪

It's been a long time since my last ballet performance [viewing it that is] and truth be told, I was pretty excited.^_^ When was the last time I had seen people dance...? Honestly, I can't remember. =( That's how long ago it was. Horrors.

So... my brother and I went to the ballet for a matinee performance of Don Quixote by the American Ballet Theatre. Truth be told, I wasn't blown away by the performance but it had a beautiful set and very nice costuming. =X The front focused way too much on storyline, leaving all the actual dancing [as opposed to prancing around stage swinging their skirts] for the end when there was this sudden overkill of solos during the last act. X__X And the principal dancer took an entire act to warm up. Hmm. Thankfully she was pretty good in the end so I wasn't completely underwhelmed ^_^"

I'm looking forward to seeing the New York City Ballet and Balanchine's last ballerina's final performance. =D

実は、クラシックも久しぶりで~す。

After dinner, we were walking home and suddenly heard strains of classical music coming from the direction of the park next to the cathedral! So we popped over to take a look and guess what, a free concert at the cathedral by the New York Philharmonic! =) Well, the cathedral was at maximum capacity so we settled outside, listening to the music being piped out to us via speakers in the gardens. ^_^" Amidst groups of other people, who brought chairs or blankets to laze on the grass and appreciate some music as the day turned to night.

To further culture myself, I've been watching あんどーなつ! It's a dorama about a girl who ends up working in a wagashi shop and loving it, learning more about Japan's culture on the way~ But at the same time, I've been unculturing myself by watching 月の恋人 which has the annoying presence of a certain Chinese actress..-_-" Still, both are equally interesting but truth be told, I'm liking 素直になれなくて the most this season!!! ^_^ It's honestly the best dorama I've seen this season and I think the Ueno Juri + Eita pairing is the best!~ ✩

まあ、日本語も久しぶり。

試験の終わりから、ぜんぜん使わなかったなあ~スナナレと言う通り「それがイケネー！」って。でも、使える場所がないし、チャンスもないから．．．難しかったわ．．．けど！ドラマやアニメをチャント見たから、聞く練習がしたよ~★

もちろん、書く練習が大事、話す練習が一番大切だけど．．．それは、頑張るしか出来ない！＾＿＾”そう言いたいけど、実際に大変だね。でも、教科書も持って来たから、勉強しなきゃ~（重いからね。）

では、そろそろお休みの時間！その前に、アニメの新しいエピソードを見てみるかな！~

じゃね~
*[-witchstone-]*

[music : many types X__X]
[mood : full...]
[food : Thai Corn Fritters!]

PS: Hipster HYDE in ANGEL TRIP. O__O!

Labels: ballet, drama, orchestra concert, thoughts

Thursday, October 12, 2006

da:ns 2006 Red Giselle

Hello

I just returned from Red Giselle, the opening performance to the da:ns festival by the Esplanade. ^_^ It was not what I expected at all, not being classical ballet but rather, a mix of classical and modern. There were some very gripping moments and overall, I enjoyed the performance but I was not particularly impressed with the principal dancer's technique in the first half of the performance.

The performance revolves around a Russian dancer who is handpicked by her teacher as a great talent. Along the way however, she falls for this.. Russian dude who works for the new Bolshevik government and she gets caught up in revolutionary fever. Eventually however, she realises that her love lay in dance and in attempting to return to it is caught in a flood of emotion. Before the revolution truly transforms all of Russia, her Russian lover dude lets her escape and she ends up in Paris. There, she's lonely and haunted by her past since she left on such a hurried note. She falls in love with her Parisian ballet teacher but is left with an unrequited love. Eventually, the story doesn't really have an ending [and I was peering blearily at the stage while trying to stay awake] so I can't tell you what happened to her.^_^"

It was not your conventional ballet with lots of modern dance movement and with such aggressive dance moves that suit the music perfectly. I loved the music though they had many Dramatic Moments. And while I usually enjoy pas de deux [pair dancing] very much, the modern dance element here unnerved me a bit.=S There was very .. distorted looking movements that added to the dystopia of the world that the dancer lived in. I can't think of any other word but aggressive for a lot of the movement and it suited the Revolution atmosphere well I thought.^_^

They used a lot of red in the performance too and I was like, Red For Communism! ^_^" Haha. Sorry. So I was like OMG IS THAT A HINT FOR COMMUNISM?! ^_^" I mean.. Bolshevik Revolution.. Communism.. Kinda ties in right? =S And there were a lot of "bondage" sort of scenes that was reflected in the costumes and stage setting so I thought that maybe it was a political message. Or maybe I'm just thinking too much.

While I enjoyed the dancing on the whole, the principal dancer was SO SKINNY it was scary. She looked like she was going to break all the time. And she was so skinny that when she danced in certain ways, the lines she created weren't nice. [Margot Fonteyn = Perfection in this area.^_^] Plus.. She looked like she was going to break.-_- I spotted another dancer, one of the soloists, who looks much better on pointe. And Miss Principal Dancer was rather weak in her pointe work in the first act though she improved dramatically in the second act. I mean come on. She was wobbly. *disdainful look* And she's supposed to be a principal dancer?! *rolls eyes* And I read in the programme that she played Odette/Odile in Swan Lake before. Like urh. HOW?! -_-" Anyway, she had wonderful expression and she improved by leaps and bounds in the second act so I forgive her.*beams* I'm so kind! xD

Anyhoo. I'm going to be bimbotic now. You have been warned.
Miss Dancer's love in Paris goes unrequited because.. her ballet teacher.. IS GAY!!! Ngyahaha!!! xD xD xD The mini yaoi fangirl in me squealed with delight. But the traditional ballet girl in me frowned at the unconventionality of it all. Two men? Doing a Pas de Deux? Traditional Ballet Girl was scandalised. Ahh.. the contradictions of life. Anyway.. Yes. So that was one highlight.xD Haha.
I thought the costumes were quite.. urm.. Not stunning. Although they had a lot of "drama" in the performance [very.. showmanship type of performance], they're costumes were rather simple. Otherwise, they were very weird. [Especially the ones worn by the Bolshevik revolutionaries.O.o] And Miss Principal Dancer was so skinny, you could clearly see her ribcage through her costume.O.o But! I loved the blue corset she wore at the end.xD xD xD BEAMS!

Yay! My mom told me that we'll be visiting my darling brother over Christmas and then.. and then.. We'll go to Japan!!! *BEAMS BEAMS!* Or something like that. She refuses to confirm it with me! (T_T) O well. In any case.. Japan!!! =D And my brother said we'll be visiting him for a really long time cuz they kick everyone out of the dorms over the Christmas Break.=P Wee! Can go to Chicago and Toronto.=D *bounces around*

Gosh I'm really tired. I didn't study!!! (T_T) Groan. My head really hurts though. Sigh.

Anyway, my mom was telling me about how the police are cracking down on people who download stuff off the net for free. So she was nagging at me to stop doing it if I'm doing it. My question is though: How do you get things that are NOT available in our sunny island? Like Inugami Circus-Dan! I'm almost 100% certain that none of their CDs are available in this country. Rentrer en Soi too. xP And I told my mom that I'd definitely buy their CDs if she'd allow me to order online. Then she kept insisting that there would certainly be a way for me to listen to my music without having to buy anything or I'd just have to give it up. Like, WHAT?! That's like telling her to give up her Chinese music.-_-" So... Issue: Unresolved.

I wonder though. Is it illegal to download videos of the artist? I mean, technically it's a TV show and they'd never release it on a DVD or whatever so.. Why would it be illegal? I understand that there are copyrights and all that legal stuff to think about but.. How else would people get their hands on these TV programmes? [They do realise that most of these shows are only shown in say, Japan.] And how can PVs be illegal? [Unless you're a crazy marketing maniac like Gackt and compile everything nicely on DVD.] How else can you get the PV? O.o

There are such fine lines to be drawn. Sigh. And unless our market expands and people bring in more stuff at more ethical prices [unlike the horrendous prices at HMV], I'll either have to BEG my mom to let me order online or.. I'll have to think of something else.xP I really want to support the artists I like but.. I can't find anything here. And even if I can, it's so bloody expensive. (T_T) It's like, 3/4 of the price [including shipping] if you buy it online. Tsk tsk.

*bleary eyed stare* Okay. Too sleepy. I still have to pack my bag in this zombified state! Rawr. And why is tagboard DEAD?! AGAIN?! -_-" I should just not use tagboard and find something else. Growls.
cheers
*[-witchstone-]*

[music : Red Giselle + Karasu iro no taiji Rentrer en Soi]
[mood : very tired]
[food : tandoori chicken + bird's nest!]

My maid made tandoori chicken for dinner. It was really good! ^_^ Beams. And I like my mom's bird's nest.=D Yay. My aunt's too. Yay. ^_^

Labels: ballet, performance review, Red Giselle

Welcome

visions of clarity...do as infinity
by witchstone

My Emotible!
starry-eyed: filled with such youthful hope and optimism that one's eyes twinkle even when it's dark

Wish List

ie: motivation to save money!
- clothes
- shoes [heels! boots!]
- the perfect tote
- coats/outerwear! [Soïa & Kyo, Burberry...]
- Gackt - nine*nine
- Gackt Photobooks:
1 The Gift The Sixth Day & Seventh Night Tour Document (2004)
2 Crescent Photobook (out of print)
- Cookbooks!
1 Thomas Keller The French Laundry Cookbook
2 The Nobu Cookbook
3 Emily Luchetti A Passion for Desserts
4 Alice Medrich Pure Dessert
- Anime/Manga
1 Rurouni Kenshin
2 xxxHOLiC
3 Tsubasa -RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE-
- Proficiency at Japanese!
- Learn French for Food!

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