Archive for history
September 30, 2007 at 2:20 pm · Filed under SLOAN, dance, architecture, history, new york city, city center, iphone, fall for dance
I was so blown away by the fact that City Center opened up the top balcony for the Fall For Dance Performances! In my limited experience with CC, I have never seen it open for ballet. The only time I’ve been up here was for a Harry Connick Jr. Christmas concert!?
Anyhow, it’s actually a very interesting perspective, much like being up in the fourth ring of the New York State Theater, minus the horizontal distance from the stage. One of the most interesting things about being up here though, is that you can really see and appreciate the interesting architecture and decorative elements of the space.
For those who may not know, City Center is actually in a building that was originally created as the Mecca Temple, where The Shriners would hold their meetings (according to wikipedia). All the moldings and light fixtures have a middle eastern flair (evidently it was built in the Neo-Moorish style), and on the left side of the house at the entrance to the lower mezzanine, there is a preserved splotch of amazingly colorful and intricate wallpaper, which has been painted over in the rest of the space.
Perhaps some of you out there know even more about it??
Recent Posts by kristin sloan
August 21, 2007 at 4:31 am · Filed under ballet, dance, teaching, history, abt, teacher, ballerina, style, steps, baryshinkov, TAYLOR
Posted by Taylor Gordon
(I’m a little late with this post seeing as Gelsey’s guest teaching finished last week, but forgive me…things have been crazy.)
One of the best (and sometimes worst) things about the ballet world is that it is so small. Especially in American ballet history, it’s easy to trace a lineage of teachers and see where we fall in the “family tree” of ballet education. With so few professional dancers and even fewer notable teachers, ballet is one of the few art forms where we can truly learn from the legends in a personal classroom setting.
I’m writing about this because recently Gelsey Kirkland spent 3 weeks teaching open classes at Steps on Broadway. Regarded as one of ABT’s finest dancers while under the direction of Mikhail Baryshnikov, she has been out of the limelight until recently. This past spring she helped to restage The Sleeping Beauty for ABT and also performed the role of Carabosse in the production.
And from July 30-August 17 she taught Professional Advanced level open ballet as a substitute for her mentor, David Howard.
First of all, it is ironic that she was teaching in the place of her former teacher, a legend in his own right. But besides that I think it’s wonderful that she, and many other brilliant dancers and coaches, dedicate their post-performing careers to passing on the traditions of ballet. It’s nice that there are well-trained dance educators in regional areas to provide solid training to aspiring dancers, but there is something truly special about learning from ballet “stars,” if you will.
What struck me most in Gelsey’s class was her unbelievable, purely classical porte de bras. Every combination she demonstrated was mesmerizing because of her upper body. She spoke a lot about the focal points a dancer should use, referring to the level of the eyes going up to the balcony, straight ahead, or into the orchestra pit, and emphasized their use even during barre exercises.
Though she taught in a more strictly classical style than I am used to, she wasn’t overly pushing for the class to maintain her specifications. Her hard-to-work-with reputation preceded her, but she was nice and a very effective teacher! I found myself deliberately trying to recreate the shapes she made with her upper body, no matter how unnatural they felt to me. I guess it’s something you learn by osmosis after a while: there are some things in ballet that just can’t be taught, but hopefully after observing that “special something” for a while it will rub off and in sink in to your own technique.
I was only able to take her open class twice, but I’ve found this to be true with other “legends” with whom I’ve worked. Cynthia Gregory, another ABT prima ballerina, was beautiful in her porte de bras as well when she set the 2nd Act of her Swan Lake on us at Ballet Academy East. Nikolaj Hubbe set a section of Bournonville’s Napoli on us as well, and from him I took away a strong sense of character in the Danish style. Both of them worked with us over a year ago, but it is their unique outstanding characteristics that keep the lessons I learned from each clear in my mind. Another, more recent experience was with Christopher D’Amboise, who gave me a new understanding of how to interpret movement and “make it your own.”
What is significant about Gelsey as compared to these others is that she taught open class, meaning that basically anybody could take it (though it was advanced level). That means that even those who are no longer in a pre-professional school with guest and master teachers could still have such an important experience. I think it’s so great that so many people could benefit from her wisdom in her class over the 3 weeks, and I hope she and other respected “stars” continue to offer the wider ballet community that opportunity!
Recent Posts by taylor gordon
July 23, 2007 at 3:11 am · Filed under SLOAN, dance, travel, boston, teaching, photographers, history, photography, iphone, ballet theatre of boston, harvard
Posted by Kristin Sloan
It’s OK. I’m from Boston. I think that gives me liberty to poke a little fun at the accents 
I arrived in Boston tonight (Harvard Square to be exact) to teach for a few days at the summer program at José Mateo’s Ballet Theatre of Boston.
This is the ballet school I went to before coming to SAB. In fact, I participated in this exact summer program a few weeks before leaving for New York for my first year there. Back then the studios were on Mass Ave, but now they are in a beautiful church at Harvard Square. This is also where the company does there performances. It’s an incredible space. You’ll see it tomorrow!
Gary Sloan Studios | Boston
I drove in with my parents. My dad is a commercial photographer who works out of both New York and Boston. He has a big studio outside the city, so we stopped there first to drop a few things off before heading to dinner. This is only less than half of it! He also does a lot of the photography for Ballet Theatre of Boston.
We ate at Grafton Street. I had the cod. It was lovely.
Across the street from the restaurant was what looked like Harvard dorms. I love the engraving in the marble.
ENTER, TO GROW IN WISDOM
At my hotel they have actual pages from George Washington’s diary.
They even had a diorama entitled “Washington Takes Command” July 3, 1775, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
History is fun, especially in diorama form.
Recent Posts by kristin sloan
May 24, 2007 at 3:51 pm · Filed under SLOAN, history, research, new york city, mobile, dance/nyc, census, economics, dance companies
Posted by Sloan | via mobile phone
Recent Posts by kristin sloan
January 28, 2007 at 10:05 pm · Filed under architecture, CATHY, brazil, history, opera house, sao paulo, city tour
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| Posted by Cathy
Dear readers, I invite you all to join me on a tour around old São Paulo. As this big and cosmopolitan city has turned 453 years old on Janurary 25th, why not visit where it was born?
So, as I am sure most of you know, the Portuguese were the founders of the city, as they ‘’owned'’ Brazil at that time. Specifically, Portuguese priests, who came here to convert the Indians to Catholicism. Therefore, the first building in the whole city was a church and a school, that we call “Pátio do Colégio”, which translated means school’s yard, or something like that (unfortunately I don’t have pictures taken by myself, but you may open this link and see an official picture, found in the city hall’s website).
Of course, this is not the original building from 1554, it has been rebuilt in the past, but there you can still see some old walls preserved. Something curious about this place is that in the past you were able to see the sea, as it is located in a very high place (the city is over a mountain and therefore kind of far from the beach itself). Nowadays, unfortunately, that isn’t possible anymore, due to several reasons that you may guess (stuff built in front of it, pollution, etc etc).
Now that you know a little bit of the history (I’m not sure if you all already know this, but I’m a bit of a history geek, so I’m stopping here because otherwise I’d get very happy writing and this would turn into a monography 
).
Shall we see some of the beautiful old buildings then?
So, I got the subway in the station near my house, and got down right in front of the Mosteiro de São Bento, after around 15 minutes. This church and monastery was built in 1598 and it’s one of the oldest in the city. Its interior is VERY beautiful, too bad we aren’t allowed to take any pictures. Nowadays the monastery still works and they also have a university in which they offer theology courses.
Now, a block ahead we have an important place in the city. The very beginning of Avenida São Jõao (avenue).
This is Edifício Martinelli. By the time it was built (1922 to 1930), it was the biggest in the city. Nowadays this is not true, of course. A curiosity: the person who built it (the Martinelli guy, a rich italian), had a house on the top of it (a mansion, actually). No, not as a penthouse, but literally, a big house built over the “edificio'’. He did that so that he could prove it was safe.
New Yorkers, can you guess what the inspiration to this ‘’edificio'’ was?? Anyway, it’s not as big as the ‘’original‘’, but it also used to be one of the tallest of the city (it has 38 floors). A bank works there.
Looking at the opposite side of the same avenue, this pic shows the Post office. This building has just been restored. You can also see some old fashioned street lamps.
If we walk some more blocks… we end up in the very famous “Vale do Anhangabaú” , or “Anhangabau Valley”. See the thing with the green roof resembling a little bit L’opera de Paris?
Let’s take a closer look.
My favorite spot in the city! The THEATRO MUNICIPAL. Or, translated, Municipal Theater. Guess you can figure now why it’s my favorite!
And, if we take a walk inside of it… look who has been here!
Hey, Paloma! Too bad I was very young when it happened, it was in 1996.
Anyway let’s go back to the ‘’valley'’.
Here we are on the top of “Viaduto do Chá“, a bridge. Translating: “Bridge of tea”. And why is that? Well, back in the past, there used to be a plantation under it. And yeah, it was a tea one.
Now let’s look at the other side, opposite to the theater’s one:
That white short building is the city hall.
Wingers, our trip is over. I hope you have enjoyed it. This is just a small part, because I haven’t shown the cathedral yet, for example. But this will be some other time, another part of the ‘’tour”!
Recent Posts by kristin sloan
December 3, 2006 at 11:52 pm · Filed under SLOAN, ballet, dance event, lincoln center, history
| | Posted by Sloan
For those of you who are in NYC…
At the New York State Theater at Lincoln Center tomorrow, there will be a tribute to Melissa Hayden with Jacque D’amboise, Francis Mason, Suki Schorer, Gillian Murphy and Megan LeCrone.
Monday December 4, 2006. 6:00pm-7:30pm
Recent Posts by kristin sloan
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