the mariinsky at BAM

 this evening we met friends in brooklyn to see the mariinsky ballet company from st. petersburg perform at the brooklyn academy of music.

 we saw swan lake with yekaterina kondaurova and timur askerov in the lead roles of odette/odile and prince siegfried. it was an incredibly lush and beautiful production. as you can see we were up in the nose bleed section, but i had my binoculars and so could clearly see the sparkles and the velvet on the costumes and the expressions on the dancers' faces. they had their full orchestra which is always so much more than our local orchestras (i think it's because europe is willing to pay for more musicians) and they sounded amazing! especially the harpist and the violinist. the dancers were all very tall and lean, even the men, and the lines they created onstage as seen from the balcony were incredibly symmetrical. the russians definitely prefer a particular body type. it's pleasing to the eye, but not as interesting for the story, i think. chanda and i had really wanted to see ulyana lopatkina dance; she has a lot of depth and strength and is exciting to see perform, but she danced when we were away for the weekend.

 chanda's lesson work from monday.

 and the finished map.

 she has chosen to write about italy . . 

so now she has several books from the library out in order to read about italian history, culture, and geography. she has a lot of writing to do for next monday.

a visit to park slope and BAM

 chanda and i headed over the bridge to our old neighborhood in brooklyn to visit our friends jeanette and radha.

 their holiday christmas tree looked lovely in the room and really made the day feel festive.

 here is a real tree outside their kitchen window. they're on the third floor and this tree is massive!!! the trunk was huge! i'm sure it's roots take up four or five gardens below. 

 jeanette making espresso in her kitchen . . i would so love to have a window in my kitchen!

 macchiattos, biscotti from veniero's and clementines. (jeanette made a delicious lunch for us of pasta e ceci - pasta with chickpeas).

 the beautiful tree outside their living room window! (you can see a neighbor's tree in the window across the street, and the reflection of their tree . . )

 at six pm we walked to the brooklyn academy of music to see american ballet theatre's nutcracker by alexei ratmansky. we especially went to see misty copland dance the lead dream clara role, us and all of brooklyn!! everyone was there to see her, and all stood for a standing ovation at the end. she is so beloved in this community. click here for an interview with misty talking about being the first african american woman at american ballet theatre to play the role of clara (in the spring she will be dancing in romeo and juliet!)

 the beautiful BAM opera house . . it's a gorgeous old new york city theatre. click here for a picture of the interior.

it was a special and fun night.