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Family Matters:  Question: Want to give my niece something  |
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nubidane
True Blue Farmgirl
2899 Posts
Lisa
Georgetown
OH
2899 Posts |
 Posted - Jul 22 2008 : 7:08:18 PM
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Oh Shirley what an impressive resume you have. YOu need to come to OH & give me a private lesson. So neat that you know Suzanne!
I have a dvd about her life & she details her relationship with Balanchine. I relish photos & film footage of his rehearsals, & am especially fond of any time that he was with Stravinsky.. Two strong Russian artists, it doesn't get any better than that! I am also a big Gelsey Kirkland fan(LOVED her feet), but her & Suzanne are such opposite styles I started ballet at 35 but was a frustrated ballerina through my teens (figure skater)& young 20's & now would need to lose 40 lbs to even be in a respectable adult class WAH!
I am also lucky to be close enough to Jonni that we can occasionally socialize. She is a beautiful girl & if I can dump those 40 lbs she might even venture out into a class with me.. Wouldn't that be fun.
Here is a link to the lady I took classes from, Claudia Rudolf Barrett, http://ballettechohio.org She was also a good friend of Suzanne's (see the tribute link) She has a young little phenom dancer Serena Sovdnes who looks pretty impressive to me.
Jonni
Look what you've started!!! |
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KYgurlsrbest
True Blue Farmgirl
4853 Posts
Jonni
Elsmere
Kentucky
USA
4853 Posts |
Posted - Jul 23 2008 : 07:12:30 AM
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The Nutcracker!!! The score plays non-stop in the grocery at Christmas, in the elevator on muzak in the courthouse, and on the IRS EIN helpline, where I often sit for 30 minutes at a time awaiting assistance for our clients. I know it's my own private H*** :)
Jeannie, you have a wonderful background in the arts! I'm very impressed that you're affiliated with FSU, a very prominent program, for sure. And, that you are on the fundraising end--with all the cuts of arts programs in our schools, children have to be able to be exposed to dance, music, visual arts, etc...someway. The Sugarplum Fair sounds like a wonderful thing, for sure. If ever I am in Florida (I have an aunt who keeps demanding me to visit) I'd love to come...is it held near the holiday? Thank you, Jeannie, for the compliment about my dancers body--I still retain the great calves, feet and posture, but at 34, I've put on the 30 lbs. that eliminated the rest :) I'm very healthy though, and not disappointed in me (now) thought it took a bit of time to get there :)
Ms. Farrell, being from Cincinnati, has always been a favorite of mine, but I also love Violette Verdy (a lovely, bubbly French dancer of Balanchines), who taught me at Interlochen, and Allegra Kent (who my teacher, Mona, attended NYC's famed School for Creative & Performing Arts with--and consequently disliked GREATLY), who also taught me and staged a ballet on our level at Interlochen. She was...flighty, and difficult, but the piece was wonderful.
I didn't really know that I wanted to dance professionally until I was 11 or so...when I had begun taking class with Mona. She was a protege of Vera Nemtchinova, a Ballet Russe dancer under Diaghilev. I was instructed the way Mona was instructed--intense discipline, and very little outside influences. At one point in my young life, I was really spending more time with Mona both in and out of the studio that I was very absent from my own family life. Her approach to training wasn't just in the classroom, but it also involved taking me to the theater, introducing me to the "right" people, people who could help me or get me somewhere, teaching me how to dress for the theater and grand gala's, etiquette, etc...She was a mentor in every way.
I think now, if I ever have a little girl--would I want her to be a dancer? Maybe. Do I want her to have love for the arts--absolutely--but do I want her to go through what I did to get there...the self absorption, the backstabbing, the yo-yo dieting and self image issues combined with just-enough of an ego to spur that desire on to succeed, to be on stage. In the end, after I stopped dancing and my father passed, and my "world" as I know it sort of crashed, I realized what a masochistic narcissist I was--and I can only speak for dancers, I'm sure in other genres of the arts, it is the same, though. I even went through a period where I refused to go to the theater...thankfully that's over now, and I enjoy the magic like I did when I was small. Now, if I ever had a little boy--he'd be in a dance class in heartbeat! We were ALWAYS lacking in boys!!!!
Lisa, you are very sweet. And Linda, thank you so very much for your compliments. It means very much to me as I don't take these photos out very often....
*****Yes, Lisa, I still want to take class with you...and you're NOT going to have to drop 40 lbs to take a class!!! Here's a goal for us both: March 2009, you and me in a dance class. Cuz, I'm going to need it :)
Farmgirl Sister #80, thanks to a very special farmgirl from the Bluegrass..."She was built like a watch, a study in balance ... with a neck and head so refined, like a drawing by DaVinci"...
NY Newsday sportswriter Bill Nack describing filly, Ruffian.
http://www.buyhandmade.org/ |
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Miss Bee Haven
True Blue Farmgirl
4331 Posts
Janice
Louisville/Irvington
Kentucky
USA
4331 Posts |
Posted - Jul 23 2008 : 12:23:57 PM
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Wow, Jonni! Just plain, flat out WOW! Please post the Victorian and the 40's ones sometime, when you find them.
Farmgirl Sister #50
"If you think you've got it nailed down, then what's all that around it?"
'Br.Dave Gardner' |
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kelliraeb
Farmgirl in Training
29 Posts
kelli
Michigan
29 Posts |
Posted - Jul 23 2008 : 5:58:50 PM
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| I think that is a beautiful idea! Your pictures are gorgeous! |
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KYgurlsrbest
True Blue Farmgirl
4853 Posts
Jonni
Elsmere
Kentucky
USA
4853 Posts |
Posted - Jul 23 2008 : 7:01:40 PM
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Thanks, Kelli--what part of Michigan do you hail from? I went to school at Interlochen, near Traverse City. I surely love it there...
Miss Janice, thank you, kindly. Means a lot to me. I found the 30's-esque one, but the victorian still is somewhere in a box...like the rest of my life it seems :) Will post it soon.
Farmgirl Sister #80, thanks to a very special farmgirl from the Bluegrass..."She was built like a watch, a study in balance ... with a neck and head so refined, like a drawing by DaVinci"...
NY Newsday sportswriter Bill Nack describing filly, Ruffian.
http://www.buyhandmade.org/ |
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wooliespinner
True Blue Farmgirl
1311 Posts
Linda
Manchester
Ohio
1311 Posts |
Posted - Jul 24 2008 : 04:57:18 AM
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Jonni,
you look absolutely positively elegent !!! Beautiful pictures.
Whatever you decide to give her will be wonderful to her.
Linda
Raspberry Run Farm
Nubian Dairy Goats |
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Family Matters: Question: Want to give my niece something |
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Question: Want to give my niece something
