2009-03-28

Ballet Music


'Ballet' as a musical form is a musical composition intended for ballet performance. The same music can be used for several different ballet choreographies. Until about the second half of the 19th century the role of music in ballet was secondary, with main emphasis being on dance, with music being a compilation of danceable tunes. Writing "ballet music" used to be a job for composers known as "specialists".

Famous ballet composers
· Cesare Pugni
· Adolphe Adam
· Léon (or Ludwig) Minkus
· Léo Delibes
· Riccardo Drigo
· Jules Massenet
· Pyotr Ill'yich Tchaikovsky
· Alexander Glazunov
· Nikolai Tcherepnin
· Igor Stravinsky
· Sergei Prokofiev
· Dmitri Shostakovich
· Reinhold Glière
· Boris Asafiev
· Aram Khachaturian

Ballet...If you Thought it was easy


Ballet If you Thought it was easy
…Think again….
The joy of Dancing
Is only felt by those who dance
But someday…
You’ll realize that it’s never enough
You’ll want more…
Unfortunately…
Ballet is never easy
It always gets harder
With desire……Determination…..
…. it’s still never easy….
It only becomes……possible.
That’s only where the journey begins…
Close your eyes
Your imagination is the only limit
Feel it from within..…and soar
Where dreams come alive
Where passion, lives forever….

2009-03-19

Tips for Ballet Company Auditions




Auditioning for a ballet company is the dream of many little ballerinas, but ballet is serious business. Treating your ballet company audition in a professional way can ensure fulfilling that dream of being a prima ballerina.
It's Different Than Ballet Class - An audition for a professional ballet company is different from just going to ballet class. While your teacher in ballet class will take the time to make sure you thoroughly understand a combination, a choreographer at an audition will not. Don't expect to be catered to as your ballet teacher does. Auditions are not classes. Auditions are job interviews.
Know the Dress Code - Just as with ballet classes, many ballet companies have dress codes for auditions and rehearsals. You may wear a long-sleeved pink leotard and pink tights at your ballet studio, but if the audition requires a spaghetti-strapped navy blue leotard, you may not be allowed to audition just because you aren't wearing the right dancewear. If there is no specific dress code required, go with a classic black leotard and pink tights.
Be Prepared - Know everything about the audition before you attend. Call ahead and ask questions so you will be prepared for anything. Check to see if you need to bring both soft ballet shoes and pointe shoes. Ask what other shoes you might need. You don't want to leave your tap shoes behind thinking it's only a ballet audition, just to have the choreographer ask everyone to tap. If you are supposed to perform a certain variation from a ballet, make sure you know it well and never assume the choreographer will go over it with you. Ask if you should bring a photograph, resume, audition fee, or anything else to the audition.
Arrive Early - Plan to arrive at the ballet company audition at least a half hour before the audition begins. This will give you time to check the place out if you are not familiar with the location. You will be more ready to audition if you arrive early than if you rush through the door at the last second. It also makes a better impression on the audition panel and it gives you a little time to network and meet important people.
Fix Yourself Up - Pull your hair back in a professional "stage ready" bun so you give the audition panel a good idea at what you will look like on stage. Wear makeup, but not heavy stage makeup. Just light daytime makeup is best. Since you will rarely wear jewelry onstage, don't wear earrings, especially not dangly ones. Avoiding jewelry altogether is best. Many dancers like to wear beat-up dancewear with holes because they think it makes them look like they've been dancing for a long time. Avoid worn out dancewear, but don't show up for the audition in a brand new pair of shoes. Make sure your shoes are "broken in," but not a worn out mess. If a knee brace is necessary, wear it, but if not avoid it since it sends up a red flag to the audition panel that you might be easily injured. Dress in your nicest dancewear so that you put forth a professional image.
Smile - Even if you are nervous, don't show it. The best way to handle showing your nerves is to smile. When you look like you enjoy ballet, it will come across to the audition panel. People enjoy watching people who are having fun. Smile and let your joy for ballet come through, no matter how nervous you are.
Warm Up - Don't sit around, talk, and laugh with friends before the audition. You are there for an important reason. Take the time before auditioning to warm up, stretch, and focus yourself. You will audition better with a warm body, especially if the choreographer doesn't lead a warm up before jumping straight into teaching the audition combination. Remember, the audition panel is always watching, even before the actual audition, so be professional the moment you arrive and warm up.
Thank Everyone and Move On - After the audition, thank everyone you can access. Don't make excuses for why you fell out of that triple pirouette or why your arabesque isn't so high today. Feel good about your audition and forget about it. If you aren't cast, take what you learned and move on to the next audition. Remember, the more you audition the better you get at auditioning.

2009-03-18

Dance Quotes

"Dance isn't a form it's a way of life."
"Dancers are the athletes of God." ~Albert Einstein
"We dance for laughter, we dance for tears, we dance for madness, we dance for fears, we dance for hopes, we dance for screams, we are the dancers, we create the dreams."
"Imagination is more important than knowledge"
~Albert Einstein
"To dance is to be out of yourself. Larger, more beautiful, more powerful. This is power, it is glory on earth and it is yours for the taking." ~Agnes De Mille
"If dancing were any easier it would be called football."
"Try to be fearless, because fear can inhibit you and keep you from a life." ~Miranda Weese "If ballet was easy then everyone would be doing it."
"Dancing with the feet is one thing, but dancing with the heart is another."
"The Dancer believes that his art has something to say which cannot be expressed in words or in any other way than by dancing... there are times when the simple dignity of movement can fulfill the function of a volume of words. There are movements which impinge upon the nerves with a strength that is incomparable, for movement has power to stir the senses and emotions, unique in itself. This is the dancer's justification for being, and his reason for searching further for deeper aspects of his art." ~Doris Humphrey
"Behind each victory is a long train of suffering!"
"I don't have an attitude, I'm just REALLY good!" ~Dance Caravan
"The people who do not dance are the dead." ~Jerry Rose of Dance Caravan
"You know you're dancing when tears of pain and happiness blend in with your sweat"
"Artists lead unglamorous daily lives of discipline and routine, but their work is full of passion. Each has a vision and feels responsibility to that vision."
~Merryl Brockway
"Dancers are an admirable bunch of people. The way they work. The stress is extraordinary. It's a difficult career. I think it's hellish; the fact that they are over the hill as they're emotionally maturing. That calls for a terrific strength of character." ~Lady D. MacMillan
Ballet is not technique but a way of expression that comes more closely to the inner language of man than any other." ~George Borodin
It's what I always wanted to do, to show the laughter, the fun the joy of dance." ~Martha Graham
"Life is a dance, from one stage to the next."
"Set yourself up for success and anything is possible."
"It takes an athlete to dance, but an artist to be a dancer."
"Dancers aren't made of their technique, but their passion."
"Your love for yourself is only shown when you are dancing freely."
"Dancers are instruments, like a piano the choreographer plays."
~George Balanchine
"When AIDS is stopped we will dance for joy. Until then we will dance for life."
"Dancers are among the most passionate and dedicated of artists and rarely take their work for granted."
"You can't see a painter or a writer or a musician if you just look at them, but you can see a dancer in a child if they've studied ballet for a year." ~"The Dancer and the Dance" movie "You can't make a pointe if you don't understand the details."
The teacher doesn't teach, not really. The teacher offers stimulation and ways in which the person can educate himself or herself. At best the teacher wakes up that person and makes a person hungry.
Dancers work and live from the inside. They drive themselves constantly producing a glow that lights not only themselves but audience after audience." ~M. Louis
"When in doubt......dance!"
"Why do I dance?.....Why do I breathe?"
"A child sings before it speaks, dances almost before it walks. Music is in our hearts from the beginning."
~Pamela Brown
"Tomorrow's success begins today."
"Then come the lights shining on you from above. You are a performer. You forget all you learned, the process of technique, the fear, the pain, you even forget who you are you become one with the music, the lights, indeed one with the dance."
~Shirley Maclaine
"You can dance anywhere, even if only in your heart."
"I see dance being used as communication between body and soul, to express what it too deep to find for words."
~Ruth St. Denis
"Dance for yourself, if someone understands good. If not then no matter, go right on doing what you love."
~Lois Hurst
"Dance is your pulse, your heartbeat, your breathing. It's the rhythm of your life. It's the expression in time and movement, in happiness, joy, sadness and envy." ~Jaques D'ambroise
“All there is to be said for work compared to dance is that the latter is so much easier." ~Heywood Brown
"Dance for life."
“Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance”. ~Dave Barry
“Dancing is like dreaming with your feet!” ~Constanze
“Dancing is wonderful training for girls, it's the first way you learn to guess what a man is going to do before he does it”. ~Christopher Morley, Kitty Foyle
“You can dance anywhere, even if only in your heart”.
“Dancing is the perpendicular expression of a horizontal desire”.
“Dancing in all its forms cannot be excluded from the curriculum of all noble education; dancing with the feet, with ideas, with words, and, need I add that one must also be able to dance with the pen?” ~Friedrich Nietzsche
“Great dancers are not great because of their technique; they are great because of their passion” ~Martha Graham.
“I do not try to dance better than anyone else. I only try to to dance better than myself.” ~Mikhail Baryshnikov
“The dance is a poem of which movement is a word”. ~Mata Hari.
“Dance is a delicate balance between perfection and beauty”.
“Dancers today can do anything; the technique is phenomenal. The passion and the meaning to their movement can be another thing”. ~Martha Graham.
“Ballet technique is arbitrary and very difficult. It never becomes easy--it becomes possible. The effort involved in making a dancer's body is so long and relentless, in many instances painful, the effort to maintain the technique so grueling that unless a certain satisfaction is derived from the disciplining and the punishing, the pace could not be maintained”. ~Agnes de Mille
“There are three steps you have to complete to become a professional dancer: learn to dance, learn to perform, and learn how to cope with injuries”. ~D. Gere
“Dancing appears glamorous, easy, delightful. But the path to paradise of the achievement is not easier than any other. There is fatigue so great that the body cries, even in its sleep. There are times of complete frustration, there are daily small deaths”. ~Martha Graham.
“One is born to be a dancer. No teacher can work miracles, nor will years of training make a good dancer of an untalented pupil. One may be able to acquire a certain technical facility, but no one can ever 'acquire an exceptional talent.' I have never prided myself on having an unusually gifted pupil. A Pavlova is no one's pupil but God's”. ~George Balanchine
“Dancing is just discovery, discovery, discovery”. ~Martha Graham.
“Beginning dancer: Knows nothing. Intermediate dancer: Knows everything. Too good to dance with beginners. Hotshot dancer: Too good to dance with anyone. Advanced dancer: Dances everything. Especially with beginners”.
“Dance first. Think later. It’s the natural order”. ~Samuel Beckett
“Why do I dance?....Why do I breathe?
“Dance is a song of the body. Either of joy or pain”. ~Martha Graham.
“The heart of the dance is the heart of the dancer”.
“When I miss class for one day, I know it. When I miss class fot two days, my teacher knows it, Whe I miss class for three days, the audience knows it”.
~Rudolf Nureyev.
“Ballet discipline: only the true believer would suffer the rigors it demanded”.
"The dance is simply the luminous manifestation of the dancer's soul, natural but not initiative speaking in movement out of himself, that which is greater than all parts of self."
"Then come the lights shining on you from above. You are a performer. You forget all you learned, the process of technique, the fear, the pain, you even forget who you are you become one with the music, the light, indeed one with the dance." ~Shirley Maclaine
“All the one that loves the ballet has strangers and wonderful dreams”. ~Jane Herman.
“It takes ten years, usually, to make a dancer. It takes ten years of handling the instrument, handling the material with which you are dealing, for you to know it completely”. ~Martha Graham.
“I see dance being used as communication between body and soul, to express what it too deep to find for words”. ~Ruth St. Denis
“I do not know what the spirit of a philosopher could more wish to be than a good dancer. For the dance is his ideal”. ~Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

2009-03-17

Top 10 Classical Ballets




1. Cinderella
Most people are very familiar with the rags-to-riches story of Cinderella. Although countless versions of the Cinderella story exist, the ballet is based on the one we all know so well. Cinderella is the endearing story of a young girl who finds love and happiness through her acts of kindness. The ballet is based on the fairy tale written by French storyteller Charles Perrault.

2. Coppelia

Light-hearted and entertaining, Coppelia follows the romantic games of sweethearts Franz and Swanhilda. This ballet classic, much like The Nutcracker, is a delightful performance for introducing young children to classical ballet.

3. Don Quixote

A historical ballet based on the epic masterpiece by Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote is a fiery tale of love, adventure and loss, sure to excite the senses. Don Quixote closes with one of the most popular pas de deux in dance history, the grand pas de deux for lead characters Kitri and Basilio.

4. Giselle
One of the most popular ballets of all time, Giselle is probably being staged somewhere almost all the time. The romantic ballet has attracted the best dancers in its leading roles since its creation. Giselle's ballet-blanc, or corps of women in white, has become a symbol of classical ballet.

5. La Bayadere

A story of eternal love, mystery, fate, vengeance, and justice, La Bayadere is an extravagant ballet about a temple dancer named Nikiya. (The word "bayadere" is French for an Indian temple dancer.) Nikiya is in love with a handsome warrior, Solor, who also loves her. But Nikiya is also loved by the High Brahmin, but does not love him in return.

6. La Sylphide

One of the earliest romantic ballets, La Sylphide is based on a rather silly, fantastical plot. James, a young Scotsman, runs away from his wedding to dance with his dreams in the forest. All does not end well, for either James or his dream, the beautiful Sylphide.

7. The Nutcracker
The Nutcracker is an annual holiday treat for the whole family. For many people, the holidays wouldn't seem complete without attending a performance of The Nutcracker. The Nutcracker Ballet is based on a story of a young girl who dreams of a nutcracker prince and a fierce battle against a Mouse King with seven heads.

8. Romeo and Juliet
Considered the greatest love story of all time, Romeo and Juliet is based on Shakespeare's classic tragedy of young love. Prokofiev composed the incredible ballet score in 1935 or 1936. The music has inspired many great choreographers to try their hand at Shakespeare's story.

9. Sleeping Beauty
The first successful ballet composed by Tchaikovsky, Sleeping Beauty was the first ballet seen by a sickly 8-year-old child named Anna Pavlova. After the performance she decided that she wanted to become a ballet dancer.

10. Swan Lake
Often considered the epitome of classical ballets, Swan Lake is a tale of love, betrayal, and the triumph of good over evil. Swan Lake tells the story of Odette, a young girl doomed by an evil sorcerer. A spell is cast over her, condemning her to be a swan during the day and a human only at night. Odette is the queen of the swans, the most beautiful of all. In order to break the spell, a young man must acclaim his undying love for her.

2009-03-16

The ideal ballet dancer.


Desirable physical characteristics for a ballet dancer include long arms and legs, a long neck, and a comparatively short torso. The ideal body for ballet is flexible, slim, and strong. Dancers cannot change their body proportions, but they can develop most other desirable physical features by proper training. Every great dancer began with a less than perfect body for ballet.

Ideal dancers also have certain mental characteristics. They have a feeling for rhythm and an understanding of music. They are aware of the relationships between objects in space so that they can move exactly in any direction on the stage. Like good actors, they can express a mood and make a character believable. Above all, they love ballet and dedicate themselves to it completely. Otherwise, they could not train their bodies to move beautifully and expressively in unnatural ways.

Some ballet schools do not accept beginners whose physical and mental characteristics differ too much from those of the ideal dancer. Most of these schools are operated by ballet companies, which train students for work in their organizations. The schools give children a complete physical examination to make sure nothing is seriously wrong with their bodies. Most of them also test the beginners' feeling for rhythm and space relationships. Expressive abilities are harder to discover.

The professional ballet dancer's ideal body is identified by the following:

· Proper proportions - Small head, long neck, shortened torso, long, thin, lean (not emaciated) and attractive legs. Less acceptable aesthetically is long torso, short legs, big buttocks, swayback, round shoulders, spinal curves, big heads and a short neck.

· Loose joints - This could be a matter of genetics or training, either way it is important for the dancer to have enough strength to control motion.

· Turnout of the leg - This is the cornerstone of classical ballet. The turnout begins at the hip and moves down to the knee, tibia, ankle then foot. If hip motion is limited then turnout comes from the floor up. This is more stressful to the knee and other parts of the leg and increases the risk of injury. The ideal dancer is "duck footed" (toes point outward) which is caused by femoral retroversion (leg is naturally angled outward) or anterior capsule stretching (extending flexibility through stretching). Hip version (ability to rotate at the hip) is probably genetically determined and set by age eleven. If it can be changed training needs to begin before this age.

· Slight knee hyperextension - When leg is straight the knee is bent slightly backward. This produces more visually pleasing "S" line of the leg on pointe. It also moves the center of gravity above the knee which gives the dancer's torso and upper body a forward and upward appearance. The dancer must have strength and proper technique to control the knee and avoid injury.

· Genu Varum (bowlegged) - Bowleggedness (riding a horse) is favored for the ballet dancer for both practical and visual reasons. External tibial torsion (outward rotation of the lower leg) is favorable in that it can increase turnout of the leg.

· Adequate plantar flexion of the ankle and foot - A dancer must be able to flex the foot far enough forward to be vertical from knee to toe while on pointe.

· Foot shape - The best foot shape for a dancer is broad and square. This allows forces to be shared by all the metatarsal (foot bones). The first toe must flex 80 to 90 degrees to allow a full releve (from tip of toe to flat foot) and from pointe (standing on toe tip) to demi-pointe (half toe). This flexibility usually results from dancing while the musculoskeletal system is forming.

2009-03-15

What is Ballet??


Ballet is a form of dancing performed for theatre audiences. Like other dance forms, ballet may tell a story, express a mood, or simply reflect the music. But a ballet dancer's technique (way of performing) and special skills differ greatly from those of other dancers. Ballet dancers perform many movements that are unnatural for the body. But when these movements are well executed, they look natural.

Ballet dancers seem to ignore the law of gravity as they float through the air in long, slow leaps. They keep perfect balance while they spin like tops without becoming dizzy. During certain steps, their feet move so rapidly that the eye can hardly follow the movements. The women often dance on the tips of their toes, and the men lift them high overhead as if they were as light as feathers.

The dancers take joy in controlling their bodies, and ballet audiences share their feelings. The spectators can feel as though they are gliding and spinning with the dancers. Simply by using their bodies, ballet dancers are able to express many emotions, such as anger, fear, jealousy, joy, and sadness. The lines of the dancers' bodies form beautiful, harmonious designs. Ballet technique is called classical because it stresses this purity and harmony of design.