DAE News: December 20, 2003
Contents:
Happy holidays from Paris! I'm here on a working vacation, seeing and reporting on the Paris Opera Ballet and wanted to wish you all a joyous holiday season from the City of Light! Here's what's happening at Dance as Ever as the year comes to a close.
Learn to knit for the New Year, or treat someone to a new skill for the holidays and help to keep us dancing. We've got a beginner knitting workshop on Mondays beginning January 5, and two workshops, "Second Steps" (a simple baby sweater) and "Your First Sock" on alternate Wednesdays in January and February. We've also made one improvement to the beginner workshop; we've done all the shopping for you. All you need to bring is a pad and pen, and have a tape measure handy at home. All the information you need is at http://www.danceasever.org/DAEclasses.htm
I often do something other than choreography for a few months after the concert to recharge my batteries; this year a group of writing activities all came at the same time so you'll see a lot of me in print and online in the coming months. In print, I'm in my first book! Costas' book for the Balanchine centennial, Balanchine: Celebrating a life in Dance has just been published. I wrote the section on "Davidsbündlertanze"; I'm pretty awed by the company of writers and dancers I'm in. It's available at major bookstores and can be ordered online.
There's an article by me available freely online on Mariinsky and the Royal Ballet's productions of "La Bayadère" at www.danceviewtimes.com/intl/2bayaderes.htm. For print, I've just finished articles on the Balanchine Symposium held in Ann Arbor and the National Ballet of Canada's production of "Eugene Onegin". Both of those are headed for Ballet Review. I'm in the process of polishing an article for Dance View on recent activities of the Balanchine Foundation (Violette Verdy and Conrad Ludlow coaching, Maria Tallchief and Frederic Franklin at Works and Process) that should be in their next issue and there will be the article on the performances in Paris for Dance Now. I'll report when they've been published.
The shoe has been traveling mostly, writing and knitting. Plane rides are prime knitting time for me; I finished my brother's wedding afghan on time! I knit my fingers raw to do it, knitting it on the flight over, on busses across England, on the drive from Bristol to Devon, knitting for 16 days straight and finishing it and presenting it rather hyperactively at 7:30 am to my barely awake, still buck-naked and somewhat non-plussed brother the day before the wedding. My brother's wedding went beautifully, but I threw out the speech I had written. It was too valedictory; I realized that I had written the speech they expected from Julia's uncle. I made up a new one extemporaneously, cannibalizing appropriate bits of the old one. We all stayed together at a family resort near Salcombe. Three days on the Devon coastline is a lovely way of celebrating a wedding, and I am delighted to have acquired a sister-in-law and the attendant pack of relatives. The line I remember most from three days of English breakfasts, though, was someone earnestly saying to me, "You know, there is really such a thing as a good black pudding."
This trip got another afghan completed, for my friends Estelle and Philippe, who got theirs at dinner last night (I was attaching the fringe between courses!), but they managed to be dressed when I gave it to them. And with all this traveling, what is my advice for traveling well? Overpack. How can you be happy in Paris if you're not wearing the right outfit?
And so, another year! I hope 2003 was as rewarding for you as it was for us at Dance as Ever and I send you all my fondest wishes for the holidays and the New Year. Please stay in touch and let me know how you are as well. If you're one of the folks who've been meaning to help us out and just never got around to it this year, it's never too late and it's truly needed. You can even do it quickly and easily via credit card online by visiting our web site at http://www.danceasever.org. And don't forget that you can make your donation go even farther by checking to see if your employer matches contributions.
As everand all the best for the holidays!
LAW
Leigh Witchel [dae@panix.com]
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