Ballet class in Paris: I dare you

Interested in my ballet fiction? Check out Off Balance  and the award-winning Outside the Limelight, as well as my newest,  A Dancer’s Guide to Africa. Just click on their titles! The dare, of course, was to me, thrown out by me. And once the thought had been floated out there, I sensed I had to do it. … Read more

Cojocaru has landed: the English National Ballet

In my blog, “A Royal Exodus,” (https://www.theclassicalgirl.com/?p=487), I elaborated on some of the changes taking place at the Royal Ballet over the past twelve months. Prima ballerina Tamara Rojo off to serve as artistic director (and principal dancer) for the English National Ballet. Longtime principals retiring. Last month, Alina Cojocaru and Johann Kobborg’s shocking, unexpected … Read more

Thank you, Dance Advantage!

I’m a meditator as well as a ballet dancer, as you might have surmised, if you got the chance to read my “Silent Retreat” entry a few months back. ( https://www.theclassicalgirl.com/?p=355) Following that retreat, I dove back into life, but continued to apply the precepts and techniques I learned during those three days of wrestling with my … Read more

Popping into Palais Garnier

So, I was in the neighborhood of Paris’s Palais Garnier the other day—you know how that goes, just a weekday drop-by on a free afternoon—and I decided to invest in the 10 euro price to tour the opera house and its museum, since odds are low I’ll be attending a performance of the Paris Opera … Read more

A Royal Exodus?

Earlier in the month, the first bit of news reached my ears: principal dancers Alina Cojocaru and Johan Kobborg were leaving the Royal Ballet at the end of the season. Noooo! I am such a huge fan of this couple, partners onstage and off, even though living in California, I harbor little chance of seeing … Read more