Sunday, November 29, 2015

Sylvie Guillem - A Life in Progress

Speechless.

On Saturday September 14th,  I was lucky enough to be able to see one of Sylvie Guillem's final performances ever!! I went with a few of my friends from Ellison Ballet. This show was her last performance in the U.S. I am a huge fan of her as a dancer and also as a human being. Sylvie is also a big supporter of Sea Shepherd, a non-profit that defends the oceans, and she is also vegan!!! Yay!! I have recently gone vegan but have been a vegetarian my whole life. She is an inspiring role model. Sylvie is now 50 years old and her career was about 35 years. I feel honored to have been able to watch her farewell.

Laurent Hilaire and Sylvie Guillem rehearsing at the Royal Ballet School in 1992. (Michael Ward/Getty Images)


 A quick pic before heading in.

My friend, Ashlyn, went to go see her perform on Thursday and I asked her how it was and she had a loss for words.  When I saw Sylvie perform her first piece, I felt the same.  The choreography of the first piece was so different and unique but it suited Sylvie very well and she performed it with perfection.  I could really feel her emotion of the piece too.  I mean it is so hard to explain any of these pieces because it was just so incredible.  You would really have to witness it live.

All dressed up and ready for the show

The next piece was a duo choreographed by William Forsythe with two male dancers, also contemporary.  It was quite interesting because it started out with no music; just the two men dancing with each other.  They connected their movements together nicely and it was almost like one did a movement and then the other would sort of react to it or continue it.  To me it seemed like that some parts were as if one was a shadow of the other.  Sylvie came on in this piece near the end for about 30 seconds or so.  Ashlyn said she didn't do this on Thursday night.

Brigel Gjoka and Riley Watts in Duo2015. Photo: Bill Cooper


Sylvie then did a duo (Here and After) with Emanuela Montanari (La Scala).  It was choreographed by Russel Maliphant. They danced so in sync and I really liked the choreography and music.  I couldn't see this from my seat, but if you sat a little higher you could see the lights on the floor.  The lights would go with the music or where Sylvie and moved across the stage.




During intermission we all met up and we were all in shock that we were actually seeing Sylvie perform live!!!


The final piece was titled "Bye" (choreo by Mats EK). It started out with this rectangle screen near upstage left. (If you are on watching from the audience it would be considered upstage/rear right)  It had a projection on it with Sylvie.  She would then dance with this projection. It was hard to tell if the projection was actually Sylvie in that moment or not because she was so in sync with it. In some points throughout the piece I thought that it was filming her and then projecting it onto the screen live.  Thats how in sync with it she was! Again, hard to explain but amazing to watch. If it comes out on DVD I would definitely buy it. 

After this piece was performed, Sylvie came out to bow and she got a standing ovation from the sold out theater!!! It probably lasted for about 10-15 minutes! People handed her flowers from the front row. I wish I was sitting there!


I then met my friends outside the theater and we headed to the stage door.  There was already a decent amount of people waiting.  Some of my friends were closer to the door, but Gillian, Claire and I stayed back a bit but were in the center facing the door where we thought she would exit. We had to wait for about 45 minutes, but it was definitely worth it!


There was a security guard there and they had this pretty organized. Sylvie stayed inside this area in the doorway. People were allowed through the doorway in groups and she took several group pictures.  If you wanted something signed you would just hand it to her and she would go through the pile signing everything. She already had a sharpie.  I had her sign my pointe shoe.





I am so grateful to have been able to see this idol perform and I am still in shock that I got to meet her.  Sylvie is a beautiful person and dancer.





Thanks for reading and keep dancing! 


Love,


Robbie




Wednesday, November 4, 2015

World Ballet Day 2015 Creates Ballet Addicts Worldwide!

The 2nd Annual World Ballet Day has come and gone!  I wish it lasted longer than just a day! Like many other dancers and fans I COULD NOT GET ENOUGH! This is the second year that they have done a live streaming of 5-6 major companies across the world.  World Ballet Day was born out of Royal Ballet Live, a nine-hour live stream on YouTube and The Guardian website in March of 2012. The event achieved 200,000 views of the live stream and repeat broadcast and over 2.5 million views on YouTube to date. 

Here is a video of inside class at the Royal Ballet from 2012 Royal Ballet Live.  



The companies live streamed for 2015 were, The Australian Ballet, The Bolshoi Ballet, The Royal Ballet, National Ballet of Canada, and San Francisco Ballet.  This year they also featured smaller segments of other top ballet companies such as ABT, Houston Ballet, Boston ballet, and many others. That's 23 hours of ballet, ballet, BALLET! More than half a million people watched last year's live stream. If you loved the behind the scenes, rehearsals, live classes and interviews be sure to mark your calendar for next year!

If you missed the live streams a link to watch archives is at end of blog.


For me, World Ballet Day started at around 10 pm on September 30.  I watched some of the Australian Ballet's company class before I went to sleep.  I also started live tweeting (@BalletBabble) and posting on my public snap chat. (@theballetbabble).  This kept me up until around midnight, it was so good I just couldn't stop watching!  I wish I could have stayed up to watch the Bolshoi rehearse but I had classes the next day.

When I woke up in the morning I turned on the lifestream to watch The Royal Ballet rehearse. SO GOOD!!!!  I absolutely love The Royal Ballet and it is so amazing to be able to watch them rehearse in the studios.  I continued to get ready for a day of classes as I watched the live stream.   Once I arrived to the studios I updated on snapchat and twitter.  I continued these updates throughout the day.


snapchatting

During our lunch break some of us watched the live stream. It was a segment of Boston Ballet rehearsing the Nutcracker.  We didn't have too long of a break so we couldn't watch The National Ballet of Canada. =(

National Ballet of Canada Artists in rehearsal. Photo by Karolina Kuras.

After classes I headed back to the dorms and turned on the live stream on my computer. The wifi was being difficult so I had to use my hotspot.   My roommate and I were able to watch San Francisco Ballet rehearse Giselle! We saw Yuan Yuan Tan and Tiit rehearse the second act. I also spotted Sasha de Sola in the Corps de Ballet. They then ran a second cast with Mathilde Froustey as Giselle. I love how World Ballet Day gives people everywhere a chance to see what it takes to be a dancer and to be in a professional company. I hope it inspires people to take ballet, stay in ballet or go to the ballet!



On the side of the live stream (on youtube) there was a live chat box where you could send comments. Whoever was watching the lifestream could see those comments.  I commented something and then Joy Womack responded to it! Also some people who follow my Youtube page also said hello! It was so cool to talk with Joy and others! I had so much fun!

I wish World Ballet Day would last so much longer.  Good thing we can watch the recorded version of it on Youtube.  I believe there is still footage from last year as well.



Here is where you can watch the recording of the Live Stream!!!!

http://worldballetday.com/2015-archive/

Thanks for reading and be sure to watch next year!

xoxo,

Robbie

More about World Ballet Day 2015 HERE  (Dance Informa Magazine)

You can get my merde shirt at www.balletfreak.com