5 ballet clips to brighten your day

Ballet where you least expect it can be a very fun thing and bring scads of life and levity to an otherwise mundane Monday. Take a peek at these and have a ball. 1) You may be familiar with this first one, circling the Internet for a few months now, starring ABT principal Daniil Simkin, … Read more

Haunted by St. Saens’ Organ Symphony

Being haunted by music sounds like something I should be blogging about in late October, but with the sunlight growing autumnal, here in September, and nights growing longer, cooler, I think it will still work. And there’s no better way to describe the hold that Saint-Saens’ Symphony no. 3 has on me right now. Perhaps … Read more

10,000 Views for my Birthday

Today, September 17th, is my birthday. I am no longer that milestone, easy-to-remember “fifty years old,”  I am now “over fifty.” Which, in truth, doesn’t bother me. I am healthy; my body and I get along well. I can still dance, jog, kick-box and pretzel around in yoga. I remember as a kid, how “old … Read more

The Story Needs Music

So, I fired my characters the other day, the whole lot of them. They stood there, dumb with confusion, as I raged at them. “You’re dull, you’re cardboard cut-outs, you’re not revealing anything to me, no matter how many hours I sit at the computer or in front of my notes. I’m here, floundering, and … Read more

Artist’s Spotlight: Yuan Yuan Tan

Story has it, San Francisco Ballet principal dancer Yuan Yuan Tan’s career once hinged on one precipitous toss of a coin (ironically and coincidentally a Chinese yuan). She was ten, born and raised in Shanghai by traditional-minded Chinese parents. Her father was against the idea of her training to become a ballet dancer (too Western, … Read more