FNB & Hartwall Arena

Last Saturday was just Grrrreat! :) I'm not talking about us losing the hockey game against Sweden nor the fact that our song in Eurovision contest got only 13 points... Instead, I'm saying it was just superduper awesome that 9000 people got to see our national ballet company perform - for free. There were seats for even more people, but in my opinion, that was a good result already!

A poster at the railway station.

Me and a ballet geek friend, her 2 daughters + one of their friends and her mom + my friend's sister and her husband all met outside the Hartwall Arena in Pasila (Helsinki). There was enough time to check out the powder room, stand in a que for a while and then, get in & choose seats. Most people had these advance tickets that told which area one could sit in, but no precise seat number. We found a nice place, right opposite the stage.

A panorama photo, taken from my seat (45 minutes before the show began).

Although we had to wait quite a "while" for the evening to start, it didn't feel that long. It was fun to look at all the people, try to spot familiar faces, catch up with the friend etc.

The host of the event was Marco Bjurström, former dancer himself, a choreographer and teacher. He's also been a host of a very popular music game show in tv, these days works also as a news reporter on channel Four (Nelonen). Sometimes I find his energetic style a bit overwhelming, but this evening it was ok. He introduced the works and some dancers interestingly, though I'd have preferred to hear All the soloist names... But you have to keep up with the time, that I understand :)

Mr Bjurström with a dark background.

Marco.B. with Mr Greve and 2 hockey players from the team Jokerit.

After a short speech by himself, Mister Bjurström invited FNB's artistic director to the stage, Kenneth Greve that is. They chatted for some minutes, thanking a lot of people, telling how the idea of this event came up and finally also introduced the 2 other tall men on stage. They were players from the team Jokerit, whose home arena this was/is. (They didn't have much else to do than just stand there and smile, the be swept away by some ballerinas.)

As it was forbidden to take photos of the works performed, I only have some shots of the final bows. But maybe they give some idea of how fabulous all of it was! :)

"It all" began with some scenes from the 3rd act of Swan Lake. This is the ending  pose. Eun-Ji Ha with Andrew Bowman, Nicholas Ziegler as Rothbart (on the right).

A very dusty pic... The end of Jorma Elo's Double Evil. Don't know who were dancing... But they were Great!

These cuties were butterflies from The Sleeping Beauty :)

Opera singers Helena Juntunen and Jyrki Anttila sang a duet from La Traviata. I missed the name of the accompanist, but he & the accordion were very nice indeed in this number!

Next up was the cool (and sweaty/hot) sauna scene from The Snow Queen. Mr Bjurström introducing it in this one.

After sauna it was time for Snow Queen herself & underlings team up - right in the middle of the floor!  Too bad the camera man was so close to them, we missed the most cool part... 

A big fight scene between snow queen folks and the goblins, ended with peaceful bows... ;) Mai Komori on the righ as the Queen, Wilfried Jacobs in the middle as the "main goblin" (sorry, don't remember the correct role name!!). Terhi Räsänen was the lynx maiden, on the left.

Can you guess what was coming up here... :)

Yes, The Sleeping Beauty - roses... :) So lovely! Also there was a hunting scene. This is from the end, they're about to bow. The tutus are gorgeous. 

All the folks! 

Maki Nakagawa (I think...) on the left as Carabosse, Michal Krcmar as the prince and Petia Ilieva on the right as... The lilac fairy? (I'm embarrassed, I'm really not sure :D)

Okay, there was this forbidden photo... But as a punishment my camera's battery died Right after taking this. 

I tried to take some pics with my phone, but they were super messy and well, not good. But here's one of them anyway.

The dancers of Walking Mad, one of my favourites (as all the others... :D).  Tuukka Piitulainen had a solo in this, he's a name to remember.

The last works we saw were a song by H. Juntunen (from the Monty Python -musical 'Spamalot'), a hilarious number! Then a comic bit called The Sofa. I've seen it twice before and still it made me laugh. On stage were Linda Haakana, Samuli Poutanen and Antti Keinänen, a trio that amused us last May, too.

Final number was an extract from Minus 7 (by Ohad Naharin). It really is something else. Also some members of the audience got to take part in it, yay! :)

Then it was time to leave, go home. I managed to fell in the stairs = one bruised knee. It still hurts, but we had a lot of fun, so I don't mind :) Tomorrow I'm going to Helsinki again, to have 1 (or 2) ballet classes. It's my final chance to experience Madame Greve's wonderful teaching, as the classes next year will be on Wednesday's and I'm working till evening. So, tomorrow it is. And now, some sleep!

Music that SHOULD be choreographed

...unless it already is and I just don't know about it... :D

I've had this idea for a long time now, maybe I've even mentioned it here, linked some videos. Here it is, anyway. It came to my mind again today, as we were talking (in fb) about Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty, particularly the music. We're going to see it on stage May 30th, with Eun-Ji Ha as Aurora.

Soooo. I mentioned that my favorite work from Piotr is actually his 4th symphony. We played it in Liminka music camp (this one time... :D :D) and I still remember the 1st flute part quite well. 4 movements, all very typical (in my opinion) to P.T. but still interesting. First part begins super-dramatically, pompous even. Second part starts at 22 minutes in this version, with an oboe solo that could bring tears to someone's eyes. Third part with pizzicatos at 33.15 and finale at 39.30, with a Russian folksong as the main theme. (Btw, they used the same song in Anna Karenina, the movie).

I really urge just anyone, do listen to this. Even if this wasn't written by Tchaikovsky, the ballet composer, it would bring some sort of storyline to mind. Some steps and combinations too, though I've never made a choreo myself.

Myself, I wasn't going to listen the Whole work this time but well, it just happened... :D (I also wasn't going to watch the Russian ballet movie from 1953, but couldn't stop after I started.) My feet still hurt from yesterday, but now I have to try and get some fresh air. 

Get on stage - tomorrow!

It's Monday evening and I'm sitting in the kitchen, with ALL my make-up on the table. Have to figure out what eyeshadow will be on my eyelids tomorrow. Also my hair is almost un-naturally tidy-looking, combed all very neatly and close to my skull, put together with masses of pins and bottles of hairspray. My hair is too short to make any kind of bun at the moment, but if you look from the front, you Could be mistaken. I Could have a neat bun, somewhere back there. Had to try it (all the combing and pinning) today, just to see if it's even possible and how it'll hold (we had an hour long rehearsal).

So, I should put all my things together for tomorrow. By this time (I've been home a bit more than 2 hours now) I've managed to eat, update my facebook a little and bring all the mascaras etc. here. So, I still have some stuff to do... :D Luckily I've got all of tomorrow off from work. So I can pack in the afternoon. Have to be at The House about at 4pm, on stage at 4.45pm. But I'll probably go even earlier, just to see others rehearsing on stage, it's nice to sit in the audience for a change :)

These days I'm using -> http://fi.rimmellondon.com/tuotteet/silm%C3%A4t/extra-super-lash-waterproof-mascara

This is the palet, but my color choice is Twilight Zone -> http://fi.rimmellondon.com/tuotteet/silm%C3%A4t/glameyes-trio-eyeshadow-luomiv%C3%A4rikokoelma

My favorite for a long time :) ->  http://www.lumene.com/fi/tuotteet/meikit/silmat/sensitive-touch-silmameikkikyna-0

My color is number 15 - Vintage Red. ->  http://www.lumene.com/fi/tuotteet/natural-code/huulet/natural-code-smile-booster-huulipuna

Really, I have to admit that I'm probably one of the laziest women to wear lipstick. I do like it, but a) my lips are for some reason super sensitive and get sore so easily... and b) I can't (don't like to) wear any when playing flute. That's why I buy quite cheap ones.

I'll have powder and blush and other skin-coloring stuff too, but don't have the energy to dig those photos up.

So. What do I have to remember, besides make-up?

• the black leotard
• 2 pairs of ballet pink tights (make sure they don't have unnecessary holes)
• bottle of light pink nailpolish (IF the tights get holes, both pair I mean)
• the yellow "gown" for P's number (Peter Pan, the 2nd star to the right)
• the golden star -headpiece, also for P's
• the flowery dress for L's number (Schindler's List)
• black small cardigan, also for L's
• maybe a small scarf (-//-, but not mandatory)
• one pair of soft ballet slippers, pink ones (or maybe 2 pairs? well... what could happen to the first ones...)
• legwarmers, shorts and some warm-ish shirt (maybe also woollen socks, I'm too lazy to put shoes on and take them off, to put slippers on and take them off)
• pins and hairspray, comb
• make-up bag
• something to drink
• something to eat
• something to knit (if there's spare time)
• (Do I Really Need All Of This???)
• (Yes.)
• cards etc. to give to the teachers
• camera (optional), phone (mandatory!), wallet (yes!)
• ...and finally - lots of joy and happy spirit! I love being on stage! :)

Photo by Tristram Kenton -> http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture-professionals-network/culture-professionals-blog/2012/may/31/dance-arts-motherhood-having-children-rights

More Alice!

Just bumbed into some video clips by Royal Opera House that were new to me. They are about two of my current favorite "things", Wheeldon's ballet Alice's Adventures and the crazycool dancer Zenaida Yanowsky. I still find Queen of Hearts as one of the roles I'd dance, if I was to choose. I'm not the most princessy type, nor maybe the delicate spirit floating in the woods. But then again, these aren't any Definite Opinions... ;)

Back to business. Here are the videos! First the one I noticed when flipping through ROH's page in youtube.

I love seeing how such artists as dancers & singers & actors work on their role. Too bad there isn't more material like this available, or too much of it, to be exact. But you know what is "the best" part here? I've got the same legwarmers as she does! :)

This second bit tells more about creating the whole work. I have heard (and watched) in another clip Mr Wheeldon telling about his part, but this one has also some interviewing of the composer. And as a musician I'm very interested in that point of view, too. 

Have to go now, to put some Red in my hair... ;)

You know it's Spring when...

...the dance recitals are coming closer and closer! My first one (of the 2 I've got) is this Sunday, yikes... Well, not in a bad way, it was a happy yikes :)

This week we'll be on stage with one ballet class (the Friday group) and one jazz class (Sunday folks). I like both choreographies, especially the latter. The music is by Feist, a song called The Bad In Each Other. We're not doing the whole song, only about 2 minutes of it. I'm sorry I can't share our training video here, but we have a cooool lift in the end - 4 girls lifting, 1 going up, all quite dramatic... :) But here's the video of the song:

With the ballet class we're doing a waltz from the 3rd act of Sleeping Beauty (the beginning of pas de quatre, the jewel fairies). The choreo is by our teacher, but if I remember correctly, she said it's reminding (a little) a version she performed in her active days as a dancer. 

About the costumes...

For the jazz number we have Black. All of it, pants/leggings/tights (which ever one is wearing) and tops/shirts. Jazz slippers/shoes or these "ankle-high" socks (well, the very low ones :D). 

For ballet - we all have a leotard of lilac, long sleeves and a bit shiny material, ballet pink tights, soft slippers (I'm hoping everyone has pink ones), and 2 knee-length tutus (lower one is this kind of peachy color and on top it's white with 2 satin ribbons on the hem). I think it'll look quite nice, as the leotard is high enough in the front (covers my cleavage ;D) and the tutus flow like cotton candy! Hmm... Not the best image, maybe. But they are quite fluffy, "ma non tanto" (but not too much). Whirly (as we do soutenus and pirouettes) like a happy Spring brook. 

A photo from our dressing room :)

I'm not wearing those Elastosplit-slippers on stage, been saving a pair of quite new Pumps for the recitals. But I like them in studio, they fit nicely and show the arch properly (if it's there or not).

I like our costuming, but have to say that it feels funny to be in ballet pink tights again. I have nothing against them, nope, but I've been wearing these different colored leggings almost all year. But I like to think that it gives a small extra feeling (boost) to the show, when Even the tights are different from usual. 

Tomorrow we'll have the final/adieu class with Madame D. There's going to be a new teacher giving her classes in Autumn. I will miss her, the classes have been a strict and clear experience, with good advice on movements (from the very base of them). She's been emphasizing on how important it is to know Why things are done as they are, why we practice certain things on barre - what's the use later on (in jumps etc.). So, a bit of sadness in the air, too. But you give and you get. I've been working hard in her guidance, and so have the others. Madame D gave as a (rare) compliment last week: "It is so great to look at you!" ...after a well-done tendu routine (or plies, don't remember exactly). 

I hope to meet her again somewhere.