Week's End - Leetle Feet

Am attempting to redo Giulia Geranium's template. That scream you hear might be me. Anyway, on GG there's a post on New York City Ballet's website, the children's section. Wow. I just printed out pages from the coloring book. (No, I'm not coloring them in myself, I'm sending them to a niece. Well, OK, I did color one. Zen.) If any of you want to entertain your children or yourself for nearly-free (using the printer means not totally free) this weekend, especially someone who might begin to pester you soon about The Nutcracker, give these a try. Meanwhile, aren't these the cutest little feet?

Back later....Update, nope. That's it for today.

(little Italian tootsies by Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIFE Archives)

Liberty London Girl

Update/Explanation: I drafted the post below on 1 November 2009. It's posting today with no editing (until a point in abstract future) for a few reasons. 1) Whatever happened on Mad Men last night has even non-Mad Men posters busy as bees. So I'd best download it from iTunes & watch. 2) I feel like hell. More about which later this week (because I'll know something then). 3) I arrived home from my lovely house/cat sitting gig on Saturday evening....to open windows & the a/c chugging away. By the date on the "we're finished rehabbing your bathroom"slip (no you are not & I've busted you to the property manager), this state of affairs went on for at least 4 days. No money coming in & everything going -- literally -- out the window is causing huge upset. 4) Sasha, author of Liberty London Girl, is in the midst of blog troll visitation & it pisses me off. (I should explain that LLG was anonymous at the time of this draft; she has since popped out of her shell & is doing very well indeed.)

The Laura Burlton photographs (via here) reminded me of a sister who was a ballerina-in-training. And the sorts of things we used to get up to in old tulle & netting, as thunderstorms approached from Canada, on Lake Erie. It felt so wild & free. Very unlike today.

27 August 2011 Update - Laura Burlton, excellent photographer, stopped by with her new website address.

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I enjoy this compilation of tidbits on fashion & life (not really in that order) by an English fashion editor living in America. I don't go looking for blogs often as so many of you have great links & recommendations; that's how I came upon this one--sorry but I don't remember where (perhaps, Wee Birdy). I instantly visited as Liberty of London patterns & fabric (& the main store in London) have been important touchstones to another era. One is wrapped around my neck quite often, my grandfather's WWII-era silk paisley scarf. More about which another time.

LLG's post Ex-pat Friends reeled me in again yesterday (Saturday). I can identify, though I'm not an ex-pat at the moment, I know what she means because I could easily be one of the Americans in her group. LLG's LinkedWithin widget popped up a post called Why I Never Lose Hope In America. I was intrigued & clicked on the video. Along with a strongly brewed coffee, it provided the oomph to get on with it another day.

As I watched the video, I thought of the young man who asked me to talk about the Human Rights Campaign & gay marriage last week. I was on my way to arrange my local Amnesty International group's gift-wrap-for-donation gigs at a local bookstore. I was feeling mighty crabby but I know what it's like to pitch one's cause (though I've not done so on a street corner in a zillion years*).

I thought about him, standing up there in the rain, when I watched this video. (And a younger cousin, who is gay & married--& I'm not putting that in quotation marks.)

Thanks, Liberty London Girl. (And for all your excellent tips, too.)

*At 15 (1/2) years-old, I was surrounded, swarmed really, by the meanest bunch of capitalist hyenas in Pittsburgh. They yelled & cursed as I handed out flyers for a Democratic candidate near the plaza of the then-U.S. Steel Building. Two of them were from my church & I thought they were rescuing me from the pitchfork-wielding villagers. Nope. They were incensed that a "nice girl " of their acquaintance was doing this (outrageous, um, Constitutionally-protected) deed. I busted them--to our seminarian, a friend. They were lectured by our minister & shamed into apologies. I think they only felt bad that they swore at a girl from their church. (This was also the minister's opinion & it upset him very much.) Though many steelworkers & other union guys came to my aid, it was a traumatic experience. It felt imminently violent. I can't claim it for sure, but my successful plans to escape to another country for an unspecified amount of time might have been sealed that day.

Sylvie in Silhouette

Tina Tarnoff sent this original papercut of French ballerina Sylvie Guillem in a package as a surprise. Isn't it beautiful? (I don't know how Tina still has her eyesight.) More tomorrow night, but I thought this would be pretty for anyone wandering over here on a Sunday night. Then they can just wander on over to see Tina's blog & shop & exhibition news. I don't know if she is full-up with holiday orders, though she is really busy--that I do know. Ah, a new post on Thought Patterns is up, so signs of life in her San Francisco studio. (Thank goodness!) Good night...

La Danse, le ballet de l'Opéra de Paris

Just returned home from AFI where Frederick Wiseman's documentary is playing in the gorgeous Art Deco Silver Theatre. Now back to real life. [photograph via La Danse site on Facebook]

Sylvie in Black & White

..and one in color. I've been privileged to see most of the great ballet dancers (male & female) perform or rehearse, from the mid-60s through the present. (One of my sisters nearly went in that direction .The grueling Royal Academy examinations--yikes. My mother was nearly driven to her own mad Giselle scene dealing with the specs for examination tunic sewing.)

The Royal Ballet had not been to Washington, DC for at least 10 years (not looking it up) & I was so upset that I'd not seen Sylvie Guillem, French-born, prima ballerina of the Royal. When in London, not the season. Of course. So when word came of a tour stop here, I was very excited. The man in my life? Not so much. He was no slouch in the culture department, it just didn't get him (he said). So one asks, as one should, "Bad experience? Five thousand Nutcrackers your only exposure to ballet?" No. Never been. Aha! So you can't really say that you dislike it, can you? No, which one should we go to? I thought, OK, Swan Lake since it's important in the canon (though I'd seen 5,000 times) & because Sylvie Guillem was scheduled for several performances. I told this man that she was beautiful & French & he would be dazzled. Yeah, yeah.

We didn't take two pair of opera glasses to the performance. We were quite close, really; still, as soon as he laid eyes on Sylvie, that was it. Hogged them the rest of the evening. I don't think he's over it yet. I'm going through a clothes clear-out/reorganization & just found the pretty blue Royal Ballet sweatshirt he bought me that night. I thought they were too expensive but he wanted to thank me for his introduction to the ballet (read: Sylvie). A success.

By the way, AUREA has a good post on dance books; and artist Tina Tarnoff at Thought Patterns has a beautiful papercut of Sylvie in her etsy shop. Which I covet.

[Photographs of SG: 1) www.brisbanepowerhouse.org; 2) via www.dance.net/balletphotos; 3) baletinky.blog.cz/0708/4. Searching for original photographer names. I usually don't post unless I have them, but today, that's the way it'll have to be.]

Week's End - Zizi in Black & White

Do you know Renée Jeanmaire aka Zizi? What a life.

Since I'm going off to live mine & help a friend hand-write wedding invitations (packing a Waterman) tomorrow, there's no time right now. She was classically trained but also put her pointed toe into music halls & piped up to sing. She was decidedly not a typical ballerina. Famous for her Carmen, she worked with Roland Petit (& married him).There are many gorgeous photographs of her on artnet & everywhere I look. But they are copyright protected. These are from LIFE archives & the credits are below. I know the top one isn't a great print, but I like it. Maybe it's silly but I miss YSL.

bisou

[Dancer Renee (Zizi) Jeanmaire (L) embracing Yves Saint Laurent at fashion show, Paul Schutzer, 1962; Dancer Renee (Zizi) Jeanmaire performing in the ballet "Carmen." Gordon Parks, October 1949. Both in Paris, France.]

Pas de chat*

Guess which one I was today? Out & about all over Washington, knocking things over, upending a display at Utrecht Art Supplies. Turning around to catch something & knocking over whatever was on the other side . At the optometrist's I dropped all my bags & picked up my (big) purse the wrong way & dumped everything out onto the floor. In front of a lot of people. I did something at Macy's but I'm blocking it out. Stacks of pajamas or underthings involved. I left a wake of nonsense behind me & thought of Neil Young's Hurricane, & dancing ballerina-hippos.

I did laugh though...trouble is, I don't think anyone could tell I was thinking of a dancing hippo. I just realized it's good I didn't mention it; maybe they would think I claimed to see a dancing hippo. I just might as well go back to my coppery curls.

I shall spend the rest of the evening gracefully balancing a book on my head & channeling Sylvie Guillem. (I would include her link but it's crashed. Ha, her website fell over.) *'step of the cat' - a jump - there's a famous dance of four cygnets in Swan Lake, sixteen pas de chat...show-offs.

ciao

[Lucy at the barre, LIFE archives; lovely ballerina & her swain, Tamara Toumanova & Serge Lifar, Swan Lake, Sydney, 1939-1940 / photographed by Max Dupain/State Library of New South Wales collection which I adore.]

On the phone, wearing tulle

Hi Suzani. What? No, it's not that uncomfortable; it's quite breezy actually. Do I walk around DC like that photo of the Washington Ballet -- no, where did you see that? It's making the rounds? What a sec, let me bring it up (yes, I got a laptop, stop drooling). Oh, it's darling. Yes, I agree, Septime knows his PR. I think an international society of girls wearing tulle is a great idea.

Quit being so cranky, Susan. I know you've been ill for a while now but still...you were our Audrey. You don't want to be our AH anymore? OK, you don't have to shout. Are you sure it's not jealousy because of the computer, the no camera, rinsing out clothes in the tub? No? A little? It's been a long haul, I know.

Oh, you're upset because you tossed your tulle? You're going to 'toss your tulle'? Is this some sort of new phrase you've coined to drive people crazy? Ah. But you do have tulle. It's sewn into that French navy blue, dotted swiss poofy vintage dress you bought years ago at a marché aux puces...everyone who sees it wants to buy from you. Yes, there is. Go look at the underskirts. I'll wait......................aha, see? That counts.

This was inspired by Tina at the English Muse. I guess it is possible to wear tulle (in a non-ballerina way) & look /be comfortable, though that wasn't Tina's point. That French dress was comfortable--when it fit. Mimph. So want to return to Amalfi, the Tunisian desert, Roma, Strasbourg., even downtown DC. More photographer permissions coming in...[speaking of photograph via myvintagevogue/tumblr blog in sidebar]

What a wasted & crummy week. I'm sick of saying it. I feel like I'm grounded (as in a kid who did something wrong.) I'll post a nice week's end photograph by midnight. My way of forcing self to be positive. ciao, belle.