Still stitching...

I just finished a beautiful project this weekend while we were visiting Wenatchee. It is for my ANG Master Teacher project so, of course, I can't show a picture. :) It's called "Arabesque"...

I've been writing instructions, working on stuff around the house, and just doing a bit of traveling.

Victoria had a swim meet a couple of weekends ago in Pasco and did great. She's still about 10 seconds away from having a Bronze standard swimming time but she's trying! She finishes every race and does great in her relays. She's thrilled that this week is her last week of ballet for the year.

Today Madeline and I went to the Pacific Northwest Ballet's Director's Choice today. It was ok... I have mixed feelings about it. I loved the Balanchine / Stravinsky piece, Symphony in C I believe. Just smooth and so well done. The other pieces were just ok for me though. Also we were sitting next to an awful woman in the audience. She never learned her manners about how to behave in a crowd! I haven't resubscribed for this upcoming year but we will go see Coppelia for sure.

Travis is doing great - other moms will understand how thrilled I am that he weaned this last month *and* potty trained! Hurrah! I've been pregnant, nursing, or changing diapers for the last nine years and five months so I finally feel that my children are getting easier! Yippee skippy! :)

I'm headed to the Doctor later this week to get my neck and shoulder checked out again. It doesn't hurt as bad as when I first tore the rotator cuff in fall 2007 but it hurts. I keep thinking it will get better and it's just not.

Anyway, back to working on the MTP stuff. I have one more art class to take this year and just have to get instructions written. :)

PNB's "Swan Lake"...

I took the girls to see "Swan Lake" yesterday down at Pacific Northwest Ballet. It was lovely... I loved the swans! What a beautiful production. Not at all like this. (Although the girls would have appreciated more humor.) Victoria was pretty sad at the end... although I knew the story once I'd forgotten that he is alone at the end. Barbie did a disservice when they changed the ending!

I did mention I took both girls with me. It was more of a challenge. They're both well behaved but it requires a lot of my attention and I don't think I want to deal with that every time. Victoria likes more contemporary dance, of which PNB does quite a bit, and Madeline liked Broadway Festival (loved it actually). They were both interested in Swan Lake but Madeline did fall asleep halfway through the third act. So, I don't know who to take to the next one. It's director's choice, which is probably code for "Peter likes the unusual", so we'll see.

The music was wonderful. Victoria sang it the rest of the evening. We already have the CD
so I'm glad she likes it!

In the meantime I haven't been doing a lot. I made the girls some spring dresses on Saturday and we went to the zoo Friday. I have a ton of Master Teacher stuff waiting to get finished and mailed. I taught the Iris at our guild on Thursday. Through it all I'm fighting off allergies and waiting for the weather to warm up so I can plant my fuchsia starts. Madeline's favorite book right now is Fuchsia Is Now.

What a week...

It's been a busy, and tiring week. I have boxes of stuff to list on eBay. My house is a big mess. I've done pretty much no stitching, sewing, quilting etc. But that's ok! We had a friend come visit from Germany (stayed at a hotel) so we spent Sunday and Monday with her.

Monday night at swimming Victoria started feeling ill. She was sick Tuesday through Thursday and started feeling better on Friday. Saturday morning she had a swim meet... she did great for being so newly recovered and finished all her races. We popped into the Quilter's Anonymous show for about an hour on the way home and then I napped the evening away.

Today I took Madeline to the Broadway Festival at Pacific Northwest Ballet. I loved Carousel, Slaughter on Fifth Avenue, and Take Five. I wasn't thrilled with West Side Story.

Right now I'm watching Kings and am about to go clean up the kitchen. My darling mother-in-law gets here Tuesday and there is a lot to do before then. :)

PNB 2009-2010...

The subscription renewal form for Pacific Northwest Ballet came in today's mail. Upcoming pieces include:

Balanchine's Coppélia
Romeo et Juliette (Saw in Feb. 2008)
Artifact II
Mopey (chor. by Marco Goecke - see his unusual Nutcracker on Youtube)
Lambarena (1, 2, 3)
Waterbaby Bagatelles from Twyla Tharp
Balanchine in America Festival, including Serenade, Concerto Barocco, Square Dance, and The Four Temperaments
Also listed were new works from Ulysses Dove, Jiri Kylian, and Val Caniparoli.

I'm most excited about Coppélia. Léo Delibes wrote the score and it is, without doubt, my favorite piece of classical music. The plot, like most ballets, can be rather laughable, but oh - the music! Whenever I'm stressed while driving it is the piece I click my ipod to and then I swing away.

The Waterbay Bagatelles looks very interesting. I like Twyla's pieces!

Still to come this year is Broadway Classics. "Take 5, More or Less" is brilliant. I found this little bit online, but it's rather disappointing - SO much better in person and when you get to see the entire thing.

Youtube is always fun to watch ballet on - you never know what you're going to get. I love the comedic pieces - Go For Barocco I and II, for instance. My daughters LOVE this one from the movie "Center Stage".

Anyway, I do think I'm going to renew for the year. I have a few months before I have to do so (and pay!) and I will also be waiting for the final calendar to come out.

PNB Balanchine's "Jewels"...

I took Victoria today to see the "Jewels" ballet at Pacific Northwest Ballet. I do love ballet! We had seen "Rubies" during "All Balanchine" last year but this was my first time seeing "Diamonds" and "Emeralds" in person. There - I'm all done with the quotation marks. :)



Of course, I love the costumes. Truly 8 times out of 10 I love the costumes! They were glittery and floaty and just fancy. Very fun.



The dancing was mixed for me - perhaps most of the regulars just had the day off but honestly I wasn't impressed with Emeralds. I couldn't figure out if one ballerina was 1/4 count fast or if the other ballerina was 1/4 count slow.



Rubies was fun - bright and fast and sharp.



Diamonds was very elegant - floating dancing with great solos. The ending was a big whoosh!



This was the first ballet we attended in which Victoria has ever fallen asleep. Anyway, the next one is "Broadway Hits" so that should be more exciting. :)

New Works at PNB

On Sunday Victoria and I went to see "New Works" at Pacific Northwest Ballet. This is the first ballet where I actually felt "ho hum" about the performance.

The first ballet was called "In the Garden".
Music: Richard Strauss (Tanzsuite aus Klavierstücken von François Couperin, AV107, 1923) Choreography: Mark Morris
Costume Design: Mark Morris

I really enjoyed the music. The costumes were black and brown and just so bleh. I know that plainer costumes are meant to allow you to focus on the art of the dance but I find myself just redesigning them in my imagination.

Sadly, there was an AWFUL woman sitting next to me, on the right. She and her friend chatted throughout the overture. I shot them the evil eye. She wore a jangly charm bracelet and kept fidgeting around with it. Again, the evil eye. She removed the bracelet. Then, she picked up her enormous purse, placed it in her lap, and opened up a bag of Doritos. Cool Ranch, as I recognised the bag and the smell. Then she ate the entire bag. She ignored my evil eye, as well as the glares of the people in front of us.

When the intermission came Victoria and I got up, spoke quietly to the usher (who incidentially always covers the same spot so she recognised Victoria, at least) and moved up to a box. I LOVE my regular seat so I was irritated. Victoria was freaked out about the box and kept talking about earthquakes.

The next ballet was called M-Pulse.
Music: Cristina Spinei (2008)
Choreography: Kiyon Gaines
Costume Design: Mark Zappone
Lighting Design: Randall G. Chiarelli

It felt like two acts, or movements, within the one piece. I was then distracted by watching the orchestra, and they are just fabulous to watch. We can't see them from our regular seats but in the first box you can look directly down on them. They're funny, too - you can see them quietly whispering when they're not playing. When the dance ends and the applause is going on and on they are standing around or packing up instruments. When the conductor goes up and bows on stage they make no notice that the applause is for them as well.

Anyway, back to the dancing, the first movement was percussion and the second was instrumental. The lighting was really fabulous - dancers in squares and then moving in and out. Very fascinating how it plays a central part.

Next was Three Movements
Music: Steve Reich (Three Movements for Orchestra, 1986)
Choreography: Benjamin Millepied
Costume Design: Isabella Boylston and Benjamin Millepied, assisted by Larae Theige Hascall
Lighting Design: Brad Fields

This was my favorite piece of the afternoon. The costumes were gorgeous - teal and purple and floaty while still allowing you to see full leg movement. The pieces build on each other without being repetitive. Very fun and full of energy.

Another intermission (coffee and looking at the glass art with Victoria).

Last was One Flat Thing, Reproduced
Music: Thom Willems (2000)
Choreography: William Forsythe
Staging: Ayman Harper, Jill Johnson, and Richard Siegal Scenic
Lighting Design: William Forsythe
Costume Design: Stephen Galloway

We'd seen this in March. I enjoyed it back then and thought it was so vibrant. It was still full of energy but this time it just seemed to drag...

One last note - Hallie noted to me how she thought the dancing looked sloppy and she didn't know how they would be ready in time... I thought so as well. I don't know if it's part of the choreography to have one person off by a half count or if they're just tired from too much Nutcracker rehearsal... but it wasn't the precision you'd expect. This all said, I can't even do a cartwheel anymore so there you go. :-) Victoria's favorite piece was 3 Movements.

Twyla Tharp at PNB…

Victoria and I had two opportunities to see Twyla Tharp pieces at Pacific Northwest Ballet this fall. Earlier this year (or was it last year?) we saw “In The Upper Room” which was just excellent - I actually was inspired to create a needlepoint design based on that piece (no, you can’t see it, it is being used in the MTP) The dancing and the building of the plot and tension… so wonderful. A bit after that we looked up Twyla on google and watched some videos, etc. Victoria does still remember that piece.

Fast forward to a couple weeks ago. Twyla has been in Seattle for the last couple of months working on two new pieces for the PNB rep. She gave a lecture and demonstration and they were very interesting. The lighting was full on and there were no custumes (although with he-who-shall-not-be-outed’s pink hot pants it could have been a costume) but the dancers were light on their feet and the lecture was informational. She had a few slides to show how the dancing on the stage is layered out, another with the music score marked to show who should get the hell to their place now. What I found most informative is that she uses video recordings of her “units” which she can then pull from when she creates a new piece. Of course, there is always improvisation with her, she reminds the audience. The two pieces were then performed in their entirety, Opus 111 and Afternoon Ball. After a few closing notes the question and answers were brief and that was the evening. Someone did ask her if she draws inspiration from other choreographers… she monologued into her daily schedule of early rising, exercise, barre, work with dancers (getting brought lunch), then a strict regiment of reading classical books until an early turn in. It was very inspiring. To ignore all that doesn’t matter and only doing what you love and need to do. That’s it, I’m done vacuuming.

Yesterday we went to the actual showing of “All Tharp”. Opus 111 (Music: Johannes Brahms) was similar - I did notice the changes in lighting and when it became softer and warmer. The costumes were beautiful and floaty and shades of purple, brown, and orange.

Afternoon Ball (Music: Vladimir Martynov), however, WOW, what a difference. Now, I LOVED the piece before, mainly because I loved the music. The incredible charismaticism of the music as it slows and then speeds and then builds and then STOPS. It was truly amazing. Add in the costumes and the lighting and it was brilliant. Very gritty and beautiful blend of costuming. When lady death comes in the lighting is so focused that she truly appears to become a star. Just wonderful.

Lastly in All Tharp was Nine Sinatra Songs. I’m a fan of Frank Sinatra in that I hear him in movies and television shows and I wouldn’t turn the channel if he came on the radio. Goodness, I could even sing along in my head if needs be. But I will say that the first three pieces of this composition just weren’t that great. Dare I say sloppy? I’m also a big fan of “So You Think You Can Dance” and I saw better ballroom on their then yesterday. Yes, I know they weren’t doing ballroom, they were doing ballet, but ya know, it looked like they were trying to do ballroom. The fourth number (Something Stupid) introduced some levity and then it got better from there. The last number was pretty good. Of course, Victoria was just thrilled about the dresses and the colors. That was her favorite thing about “Take 5″ earlier this year, too.

A last note. yesterday I used my once-a-year free pass to “upgrade” our seats. We were able to get dress circle preferred, which usually sell for at least $160 a seat. I didn’t like them as much! We’d sat there before (a few years ago when we saw “Nutcracker”) and I noticed then you couldn’t see as much detail. Worst of all was the disco ball during the Sinatra songs - the glare was right above us and at eye level. It wasn’t just me that noticed, the senior ladies behind me couldn’t keep quiet about it. So I’ll be happy that those aren’t our subscriber seats. :)

All in all a lovely afternoon. (Food was great, too.) I’m looking forward to this year at PNB.

Life Marches On...

I’m starting to worry that my gladioli aren’t going to bloom this year. It would be very disappointing. *Everything* was late blooming, so I won’t be surprised. Just disappointed. The hydrangeas are blooming right now and they are lovely. The Scotchmallow looked great for about a week until the monsters in the yard stripped all three plants of their blooms. My lilies were lovely…. until stripped of their blooms.

Maybe the glads have already flowered and were just stripped before I got a chance to see them.

The girls start ballet today. Madeline is really looking forward to it. Victoria, not so much. It’s mainly because she is such a chatterbox (she comes by it honestly) and she doesn’t like not being able to talk for an hour. Madeline, I think, will have no problem being silent for an hour. I bought them both new tights yesterday. Victoria’s new leotard should be there to pick up and I’m crossing my fingers that it will fit. The girls are required to wear a certain color based on age. Last year Victoria’s was white and this year it is red. Madeline’s is white. Why on earth they put the little ones in white is beyond me.

With the first of the month I am back to stitching on Twister. I finished row 1 of the border and am halfway through row 2. My Fellow level materials for the Master Teacher program came yesterday - whew! This will be a busy year. Two new designs for submission to seminar, one to submit to the chapter project book, as well as things on continuing education. I’ve learned the important thing with the MTP is to NOT procrastinate. I’ll put it in a usable checklist this week and get going.

Romeo et Juliette

I took Victoria today to see Romeo et Juliette at the Pacific Northwest Ballet. http://www.pnb.org/season/romeo.html. It Was So Beautiful. I love the ballet, of course, and I hope that Victoria is learning to love the ballet as well. The costumes were lovely, of course. Very airy and full of movement and beautiful drape. We always sit up front so Victoria can see the feet and I can see the stitching. I’m amazed at the sheer amount of detailing that goes into each and every costume.

This ballet is a bit more contemporary than the other production in the reporatory. The lighting was very creative and definitely added to the mood. Lucien Postlewaite and Peter Boal were at the “informal Q&A” afterwards and as always it was very interesting. They talked about how in the street fight scene the lighting was changed so that the slow motion of the dancers would be even more accented. The balance of the dancers is always amazing, of course, but picture a man being hit in the face, flipping backwards across the back of another dancer in a backwards somersault and landing, all in slow movement as though everyone was moving through molasses. It was incredible.

The ballet itself was very passionate. You absolutely felt the instant infatuation of Romeo and Juliette when they met at the ball; as well as their joy and later deep grief. Lady Capulet was incredible as well. Something funny was during the Q&A when someone asked (not me!) if this was Lucien’s first “passionate” stage kiss and he said that although it was not his first stage kiss, it was definitely the most passionate… in that he got carried away and had to say “sorry I just gave you tongue”. Noelani Pantastico was amazing - she danced all nine performances, and the entire last act is in bare feet!

We did have brunch beforehand at the ballet cafe. It was actually really good - better than I had anticipated. We will definitely go there again. It was crazy crowded but we still were able to get a table right away and it worked out to be good timing.