saturday show

 today was the first family matters show.

 the day began with a tech for the group pieces and then a runthrough of the final "review" where all the dancers walk through their dance at once (deychen had a fever and was very much under the weather).

afterwards, chanda and i stopped at the new french bakery store on eighth avenue: aux marveilleux.

 their pastries are delicious, and they also had a chocolate chip brioche which we bought for tomorrow morning. we also picked out pastries for dessert tonight.

here's a view of the kitchen where you can watch them bake from the sidewalk.

friday field trip, family matters tech and more ballet

 we saw another fabulous show at the new vic this morning: lionboy performed by the theatrical group complicite. they formed in 1983, and are based in london. you can read a new york times review here.

we were very impressed with the production. they had a percussionist on stage who interacted with them in all the scenes, two small screens on which a large eye was projected symbolizing the corporate "bad" guy, a fog machine, lots of sound effects and a simple set comprised of chairs and ladders. several of the actors played multiple roles so it was kept pretty simple which made it extra enjoyable for our group (we like things simple . . ).

hmmm . . yes, the days have been very grey again . .

 afterwards there was a tech for chanda's modern dance teacher's annual family matters show.

i was actually trying to watch without looking through the camera . . so got lost a little bit into the beginning . . 

 and then after dinner at home it was back to ballet . . 

 i always enjoy watching the classes . . i wouldn't mind sitting on the side every day with my knitting . . listening and watching surreptitiously . . 

grande battement in the center.

getting ready for grand allegro . . 

an allegro combination is jumps . . petit allegro would be a combination featuring small jumps and this is the grande with big jumps.

sometimes it's hard to stop . . 

ballet observation day

i'm putting up this post late on a tuesday night when i'm supposed to be sleeping since i'm driving to ct in the morning. oh well. it's been another week of procrastinating with the posting . . and then stubbornly getting the job done. 

i guess i'll include all the interesting tidbits about the steps when chanda is awake . . 

okay . . pirouette combination . . working on triples . . 

getting ready for pointe . . 

releveés on pointe in the center

grande sissone on pointe . . (scissor-like jump from two feet to one foot).

marking the repertory piece . . oceans and pearls from a little humpbacked horse.

it's a ballet from russia based on a fairytale by pyotr yershov. the original choreography is by arthur saint-léon, music by cesare pugni.

chanda worked on this piece during the gelsey kirkland summer intensive of 2011. she also got to see the mariinsky perform it that year, which she loved (not everyone did! we think gelsey and some friends were unhappy with story and choreography changes that were made). it was first presented by the imperial ballet in st. petersburg in 1864. if you would like to read more about it, check out the wikipedia page here.

working on the details . . 

chocolates and a latin lesson

i finished my last baci christmas chocolate this afternoon, with a glass of taylor's christmas spice tea, and chanda did a latin lesson and cosmic calculator math.

holiday

 well, it was a holiday for everyone in the big apple even though the storm spared us and left just a few inches. as you can see out the window, accumulation was quite low.

 chanda took advantage of the extra time to work on her report about italy and to catch up with math and latin.

 then we managed to get out for a walk before it got dark . . and saw several cold looking seagulls bobbing about on the river.

 it was very pretty out with lots of blues and purples again, reflecting our matterhorn painting that we did yesterday.

the snow was very powdery and you really couldn't make a snowball.

 the empire looking very grey and stern in the cold air.

 korrina studied all day and then went out to visit friends.

we had chicken soup for dinner and french chocolates (i made a new batch).

the blizzard and painting

well, we're in the middle of a snowstorm right now. it's really very quiet, though, not very blustery. the media and the city officials have made such a brouhaha over it, however, that it would be a shame for it not to intensify.

today was the waldorf coop where we painted in the afternoon . . 

while it calmly snowed outside . . 

my painting of the matterhorn.

svetlana had a photograph from which we all worked. she was excited to paint with blues and purples on such a snowy day.

janet worked on her's for a long time. she has a lot of patience.

chanda's . . 

svetlana, the teacher's . . everyone's paintings came out beautiful and it was very peaceful sitting in janet's kitchen and painting. 

afterwards, chanda and i walked home through the snow and then decided to go back out again.

i walked her over to chocolate bar so she could hear all about deychen's audition yesterday at julliard, where she was from 9 am to 10:30 pm. she worked on two monologues with them (and current julliard students) and then stayed in the night for an interview. julliard sees 1,800 applicants out of which they pick 18 grads and undergrads. deychen's group yesterday consisted of 25 applicants. it sounds like a very grueling process for the julliard people!

then i took a walk through the snow . . 

and met camille and janet and got very cold.

at home korrina was studying for her exam by cooking a special menu: steak with shallot red wine sauce, green buttered beans and parsleyed potatoes. 

it was an incredibly delicious dinner.

afterwards, we had rose petal tea . . 

and little meringue cakes filled with cream from the new bakery on eighth avenue: aux marveilleux de fred. i think it's a chain bakery from france. everything is a chain these days . .