Old dog, new trick!

32 x a certain pirouette, I think every ballet-inspired human knows what it is.

Fouetté en tournant

Last week we started doing a simple routine for prepairing them (barré), on Wednesday we did the routine in the center/middle floor! Woooooow and yikes x million! But I managed to keep my balance there, though there IS a lot to do with my core department. And the knees. And the balance... Anyway, yesterday we did the routine in 2 groups, standing around the "playpen" (a square-ish barré one can set up in the middle of studio). 2 x balance, then turn, balance (1), turn, balance, turn, switch sides. All in all, we/both groups did 2 rounds on both sides. And as the other group was in action, us others could just watch or practice by the side barrés (I chose to practice :)).

Let me tell you: I've tried fouettés only twice before and both times it was just like "let's try this for fun girls..." And it was not a pretty sight! :D This time (yesterday) my 1st round was miserable, 2nd much better! I did grab the barré too quickly after turning etc, but there were some almost clean turns. And our teacher saw them, gave immediate feedback (positive, yay). I'm hoping we'll keep them in repertoire for good, as they'll run away very quickly without practicing. And I'm Not dreaming of doing the turns in center for a while, I'm very happy & satisfied with the preparatory routines. Also the quantity will probably eventually be maybe 2 in a row, haha... :P 


To close this post, I'll present one of my favorite ballet bits via youtube. And it's my favorite because of the magnificent ballerina, Nina Ananiashvili. Her energy is unbelievable. It was amazing to see her live, even just sitting in the audience as a ballet competition judge! :D Unfortunately these particular videos can only be shared as a link, but do watch them. It's worth it.

Odile variation

Black Swan coda

p.s. 

My pirouettes en dedans & en dehors were quite clean (singles) yesterday. I've really tried to pay attention on the speed, knees, core and spotting. It seems to have worked, at least a little! :) Shall try to keep up working on them. Turning is so much fun!

Le Corsaire - 3rd Odalisque variation

Without realizing it, I've been practicing a variation from Le Corsaire for about a week now. Today our teacher said that we'll start doing it when she finds a good version of the music. I was making cartwheels inside my head, it's going to be sooooooo fun! Teacher didn't say exactly which variation, but said that we'll rehearse some steps already, just with different music. 

As I got home, I decided to look through some youtube videos, if it would reveal this secret. And it did, quite soon even. And I realized we started to work on it already last week, the diagonal part (in 5.22) with arabesques and pirouettes en dehors. 

Here it is -> starts at 4.54, danced by Gillian Murphy herself. Not bad, I think... ;)

p.s. We won't be doing it en pointe, but I don't mind - wouldn't be possible for me at least :)

Minus 7 by our National Ballet @ the Senate Square

As promised, here's rest of my photos from Friday 25th May. The work is indeed an excerpt from the fabulous 'Minus 7' by Ohad Naharin (music was a compilation). If you ever have the chance to see this, go! :)

The energy!

Getting ready... 

...to leave the stage...

...and mingle with the audience! 

Yay! :)

The girl (second from the left) was sitting next to me, wearing some supercool shoes!

Grand plié!

Some slow latin mood...

The girl with The shoes. (At this point she was the only audience member left on stage.)

Arabesques.

3 rows, each doing their own thing.

This was just before the final freestylish part! The dancers went crazy! :D No good photos from that part, sorry :)

National Ballet @ the Senate Square

Last Friday we had an amazing opportunity to see ballet for free, in a bit different environment. The Senate Square is located in the middle of Helsinki, on one side of it is the Cathedral - in front of which was the stage. People sat on the stairs and on the pavement, sun had heated them nicely. Me and my ballet geek friend got there 18.50 (19.00 was showtime) and it seemed that the place was Packed. But luckily we got good seats in the middle of the pavement. Well, they were very close to perfect! :) Some lady/-ies were handing out programme leaflets, but there was also a presenter on stage.

I had only my small digital camera with me, so the photos ain't that great or sharp. Sorry for posting them as a marathon... But they make me happy and that was the main purpose! :D

When we came, these 4 were already up there :)

Some people behind us.

Some (more) people behind them!

Dance Match (the first piece, by Tervamäki) was commentated by no other than Antero Mertaranta!! :D Sorry, no good photos of it :(

Next up was a waltz from La Bayadere (by Makarova, after Petipa).

Double Evil (by Elo, music: Philip Glass). Only an extract but WOW.

The photos really tell you nothing about it, but it was pure energy from start to finish.

The end.

You'll never guess what this is.

Yap...

The little swans.

They were as cool as ever. Got Huge applause! :)

Krakovjak (by Rostislav Zaharov, music: Mihail Glinka) was a new piece for me. Happy and characteristic :)

Romeo and Juliet (by Cranko) is back on in Autumn. Jani Talo with Tiina Myllymäki were beautiful together.

I give you my heart... :)

Only a fraction of a second later and this would have been a perfect photo of the jump.

Nice balance and a very nice retire! :) Etoile Salla Eerola.

Second row from the right - up in the air :D

Yes, this was the Finale from the Etudes (by Lander).

Summer night's waltz (by Soldan, music: Prokofjev). The ballet school kids :)

They all remembered to smile!

Ending pose :)

The Black Swan pdd (by Greve, after Petipa). Mihail Krcmar, Eun-Ji Ha (and Wilfried Jacobs?).

 

Haha, Rothbart is sulking! :D

Couldn't pick between this and the previous :)

Triumphant Odile.

Thank You!

Don Quixote: Fandango (by Udaeta).

Mai Komori with Jani Talo.

Passionate!

One of my favorites: The Sofa (by Itzik Galili, music: Tom Waits).

Linda Haakana with Samuli Poutanen.

And the roles changed! :D

Samuli Poutanen with Antti Keinänen.

People laughed! The piece is just hilarious! :)

Le Corsaire pdd (by Liska, after Petipa).

Hope the knee didn't punch his nose... :P

Petia Ilieva, Jaakko Eerola and Frans Valkama.

Ending pose :)

***

As this post is way too long already, I'll save the last photos for another post. They are from the final piece of the evening, 'Minus 7' by Ohad Naharin. A fabulous work that involved the audience a little... ;)