Ha – another instance of the intersection of my two favorite pastimes… Have you guys seen this yet? I just saw it on the news. It’s Don Mattingly (former Yankee, current Dodgers manager), “dancing” the role of Mother Ginger in the Evansville Ballet’s production of Nutz. (Evansville, Indiana is apparently where he grew up.) I love the part where he gives all the signals! And how cute is the little boy in the baseball uniform…
Not to be melodramatic but waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.
Worst thing about last night’s Yankees / Rangers game: not going to be able to watch certain New York City Ballet dancers (no names mentioned 🙂 ) getting plastered at a certain Lincoln Center-area bar during the World Series.
Seriously, I am so upset…
Photo of Derek Jeter taken from here.
Last night my neighbors were really noisy so I recorded Dancing With the Stars and went out to a bar to watch the Yankees. While watching the game (which we won!), I chatted a bit with a guy I met, and throughout the course of our conversation I mentioned that I was a dance fan / former ballroom dancer and from Arizona. He asked me if I was a Diamondbacks fan, and I said no, I was horrendously upset when they beat us in the World Series in 2001, even though I went to high school with the then-pitcher Curt Schilling… I’d worked downtown and Lower Manhattan just desperately needed a parade – something happy – that year; I think the series just became a symbol of much more than what it was because of what had happened. Plus, the Diamondbacks are a newish team and didn’t exist when I was growing up in Phoenix, so I didn’t really have a connection with them.
Anyway, so the guy asked me if I was a Cardinals fan. And I’m such a dork, I know nothing at all about any sport but baseball. I said, “What, is that a minor league team?” And he started laughing. He said, “No. Football. You know, Kurt Warner, the Super Bowl?…” All I know of the Super Bowl is Mark Sanchez :S I laughed and said I didn’t know football. He said, “Well, you’re rooting for Kurt Warner, right? I mean on Dancing With the Stars?” And then I put two and two together and realized that the football guy this season is the guy he’s talking about. So, Kurt on DWTS played for Arizona, who knew 🙂 And, look, he had A-Rod’s number…
Anyway, so on DWTS, I thought Michael Bolton rightly went home last night, even though I felt badly for him regarding Bruno’s nasty comment, which I didn’t think he deserved. I didn’t think his was the worst jive ever in 11 seasons; there have been too many untalented people on the show (Kate, Cloris, Buzz) or contestants who refused to work (that guy who was partnered with Ashley several seasons ago whose name I can’t now remember) for that to be correct. But I think Michael was having a hard time, it would have been an uphill struggle, and someone had to go. He might have improved but I think I’d rather see if The Situation can.
And regarding that whole spiel about the audience booing: I hadn’t even known there any controversy as to whom they booed – I thought it was clear it was the judges’ relatively low scores for Jennifer and Derek. Apparently some thought they were booing Tom Bergeron’s interviewing Sarah Palin?… Did you guys think that?
Football photo by Rob Schumacher, taken from AZCentral. DWTS photo taken from ShowStalker.
Yankees had better be doing better when I turn back to YES Network after the show is over. I mean, they’re losing 6-0 to Toronto after three innings!
Rick and Cheryl, Jive: Okay, well this is a dance that definitely suits a smaller body. First, I thought his lifting her skirt to reveal the word “tush” and the spanking, were completely corny, but whatever. I thought his steps were way too far apart. I mean, he’s a large man so his steps are naturally going to be bigger, but it also just lacked polish. He tried though. So far he is much better at Standard than Latin. I still like him.
Now it’s 7-0! Come on!
Florence and Corky, Quickstep: Corky’s so cute 🙂 Well, she had all the footwork down. That pivot turn was gorgeous. The only thing that was a little messed up was the small Charleston section. She was on the wrong foot when they started, I think, and then she got confused and just flubbed it. If you’re on the wrong foot, just go with it – don’t look at the guy doing the opposite footwork as you and freak out; make it look like it was supposed to be that way; like you’re doing alternative steps and not identical! Besides that, she got all the hard footwork down very well. But she looked very stiff in the upper body though, notwithstanding the smile. She needed to arch her upper back a little more. It’s understandable that she’s nervous but it can be painful to watch if the dancer’s really not relaxed.
Brandy and Maks, Jive: I loved that crazy arm crossing sequence! Very cute, and went well with this dance since they were supposed to be struggling with each other. But it seemed like they were really struggling with each other, almost fighting each other, so I’m assuming their bickering in their practice session was for real. I liked watching him but she seemed to lack precision and sharpness, which she shouldn’t — she has a natural talent for dance and she’s too good for that. They need to stop fighting.
Wooo, we got 2 points somewhere! Come on Derek Jeter!
I’m really glad Lauren Froderman won So You Think You Can Dance last night. I didn’t think I had a clear favorite until it came down to the time when Cat Deeley was getting ready the winner’s name and I was practically falling off my couch, chanting, “Please Lauren, please Lauren, please!” in my head. I think one of the coolest things about the winner’s prize this time is that Gatorade ad. According to what Nigel Lythgoe’d said earlier, this season’s winner will get to be Gatorade’s very first dance athlete included in their advertising campaign. Very cool someone like this is finally recognizing dance as a sport. And very cool that that first athlete dancer is female 🙂 When it came down to it, I couldn’t see Kent or Robert in that role – either as an embodiment of dance’s athleticism or as the ultimate winner of the show. I really think the right person won. She was consistently better throughout than the other two and she has real star quality. So good for her and good for the show and good for dance.
Holy crap, I cannot believe these photos were taken four years ago, right after I’d just started this blog, actually.
Like a proper newly obsessed samba fanatic, I’d dragged my friends to a Sushi Samba restaurant in the Flatiron District to watch the final game, between Brazil and … I don’t even remember 🙂 I think we had a lot of caipirinhas… But we also tasted for the first time Feijoada, Brazil’s national dish. It was like comfort food to me, having grown up on Mexican, and I couldn’t get enough of it.
Alyssa and Kathy were very excited about the farofa, which we sprinkled over it. It looked like parmesan cheese but tasted like very buttery, finely-ground cous-cous. Delicious.
These shoes were, and probably ridiculously, remain, the only item of clothing I own that is either green or yellow (Brazil’s colors). I seem to wear all black and red… and it’s funny how in some ways you don’t change.
Anyway … how does four years go so fast?… That was really a blast though. This year, I think I’m going to try to get friends together and do the same — whoever wins, celebrate that country with … what else – food!
Will be hard to take a break from watching my Yankees, but that’s the way it’s going to have to be unless I want to watch them on my home TV which really just doesn’t appeal…
Ballet season is almost here in NYC! New York City Ballet opens April 29th with a program that includes two premieres — one by Benjamin Millepied and one by Alexei Ratmansky (now ABT’s resident choreographer). The Millepied ballet, set to music by Thierry Escaich, will star several SLSG favorites: Janie Taylor, Sara Mearns, Sean Suozzi and Amar Ramasar.
The Ratmansky, set to a score by Eduoard Lalo, will be danced by Wendy Whelan, Jenifer Ringer, Sara Mearns, Robert Fairchild, Megan Fairchild, Abi Stafford, and Daniel Ulbricht.
The two world premieres will launch this season’s Architecture of Dance – New Choreography and Music Festival, devoted to new work. Acclaimed architect Santiago Calatrava has created scenic designs for five of the season’s premieres, including opening night’s Millepied piece.
Go here for tickets and details.
Above drawing by Santiago Calatrava.
ABT, currently on tour in Chicago, opens its classical season at the Met, in honor of its 70th anniversary this year, later, in May.
ABT, NYCB, Yankees — CLEARLY the best time of the year 😀
Okay, I can’t really say “ever” since I’ve never watched the Superbowl before. But seriously, who is Mark Sanchez!
I’ve been hearing rumors about this for a while now, but now that the celeb gossip mags are starting to pick it up, I feel authorized to post about it. Millepied is doing the choreography for the upcoming film Black Swan, which Portman is starring in.
Ever since the World Series, I’d been secretly hoping for a Derek Jeter / Ashley Bouder romance (don’t know why; just thought they’d look so cute together — she seems to be his type and he needs an athletic woman to kind of play-rival him and to show him how to really jump 🙂 — and how fun would it be to see him at Lincoln Center all the time!) but, okay this will certainly do as well… 🙂
Photos above from The Hollywood Gossip.
I love it — crossover between my passion and favorite pastime! Derek Jeter was just named New Yorker of the year by the New York Daily News, who said:
“Throughout Jeter has conducted himself with grace, balletic grace in movement, a gentleman’s grace in life.”
And I recently found this on ebay.
(Derek Jeter photo taken from here.)
Okay I know this has nothing overtly to do with dance but I love these two and couldn’t help posting it anyway. So cute in their youthful innocence 🙂 And those voices! Seriously, don’t they sound like characters out of West Side Story?
Via The Score.
Sorry I’ve been so out of it again with blogging, you guys — I can’t believe how many little errors there are in my book to correct… So stressful!
Anyway, I managed to watch DWTS last night. Thing is, I’m really so not into it; even if I wasn’t busy with my book, I’m so not into blogging about the show this season. I think Mya is overall the best contestant on the show right now, and so she probably deserves to win. But she just doesn’t do that much for me. I liked both her Quickstep and 70s Samba last night — I thought her Quickstep was actually pretty basic and technique-focused so I’m not sure why Len didn’t like it, and the Samba was fun — a lot of people dance Samba to disco music since it’s so hard to find good authentic Samba music around here.
I think overall I like Aaron the most though, even though he’s not as good as Mya. Still, he’s getting less and less fun, for some reason, as the season goes on. His over-the-top-ness is not enough to compel me to watch the show anymore. I liked but didn’t love his 90s Latin routine last night — wait, was it Jive? I don’t even remember? But I was annoyed with Karina that she didn’t let him do his fun boy-band moves. Why did she cut him off like that — I think it would have been hilarious. And what is with everyone getting sick? (Both Karina and Aaron had the flu at various points this week apparently…)
I thought all the Standard routines were pretty bland last night. I thought Donny’s Viennese Waltz was the best, mainly because Kym was so beautifully fluid. But during the Latin round, his 80s Paso wasn’t all that interesting. The costumes and music (I used to love Spin Me ‘Round) were far more fun and flashy than the actual dancing.
And I feel the same way about Kelly as I do Aaron. I liked watching her learn and grow early on but now it seems she’s stagnating and it’s not that interesting anymore. I thought her 60s Jive was cute and I love that Louis, unlike Karina, let her put her own Monkees-esque moves in.
I feel like Joanna really dances like a paper doll. She has no grounding, no weight, no strength or firmness in her body. You need that for ballroom, even for the Standard dances. You need that for any kind of dance. You need that to do fouettes and pirouettes in ballet. Not that I don’t dance exactly like that — that was always my problem: I looked emaciated and completely substanceless. I used to think it was just about being thin, but it’s not. There are very thin dancers who are very rooted and have a great deal of strength in their bodies. She’s a really really pretty paper doll, but a paper doll nonetheless and I can’t for the life of me understand why the judges fawn over her so.
I know, as Katrina had commented earlier, that seasons may collide, but I still so want Yankees to be on the show. Come on, A-Rod can dance with Smirnoff and Derek with … Lacey maybe. The World Series was the most exciting thing to happen since Roberto Bolle (look look, new pic from Weber book!) came to town. I’ve been a bit bored and depressed since it ended… 🙁
One more thing about the Yankees: they had a little dance segment at the City Hall celebration — did anyone watch it? The dancers were teenaged schoolgirls, apparently, from Staten Island, called the LA Dancers — something like that. They were okay, but you know… Why don’t they have a real dancer, like Ashley Bouder? I think she’d be perfect — she’s cute and extremely athletic and would be very attractive to the average baseball fan. And she’s a NYCBallet dancer… Come on! Next year…
Photo of Bouder by Gene Schiavone, taken from Bailarinas; photos of A-Rod and Jeter taken from here and here respectively.
