Category: performance review

Class notes

So since the last dance diary entry several weeks ago, Level 2 of the absolute beginner workshop wrapped up at LINES. After the first few meetings I was starting to feel like the class was in a slow rut, but past the midway point the pace picked up nicely. Not only that but in the last two classes we’ve had live piano accompaniment, which is quite blissful.

At the final class this past Sunday I had some encouraging chats with a couple of the other students and the teacher about what to take next. It turns out that our teacher might not be teaching Level 3 until early next year, so in the meantime I’ll go to drop-in classes and may branch out and check out other schools in the city as well. She mentioned an advanced beginning class at ODC, which I had thought I might not be ready for, but she said that I had been dancing well in class and to check it out. Yay for confidence!

By the way I’m going to be on vacation in Anaheim starting tomorrow, so I’m going to try and carve out some time while we’re there to take a class at Anaheim Ballet. I’m totally excited about the idea of taking ballet class wherever I am, even on vacation.

Dance gear

I bought some new shoes. Thanks to Endless’s free shipping and free return shipping, I just ordered a few pairs in a range of sizes, kept the ones that fit, and returned the ones that didn’t. I ended up getting a pair of Sansha Pro 1 in black canvas. The Capezios I used previously were just a little too big. They were the smallest size in their men’s line (yes, I have relatively small feet, for a guy) so I needed to go unisex. So far, so good.

With my new Under Armour compression shirts (which are kind of flattering if I do say so myself; my workouts during the week are paying off), the dance belt, the tights, the shoes… I am looking very much the real deal.

Around town

Last week I saw a concert by Man Dance Company, an LGBT-focused dance company in San Francisco. This was my first time seeing them, and they seem like a good group of talented dancers. And let’s face it, you just don’t see male couples a lot in ballet or in mainstream dance for that matter, so their dances are kind of refreshing. The highlight for me was several pieces set to songs inspired by Brokeback Mountain. Singer Ryan Harrison and composer Shawn Kirchner were there to perform the songs live. I’d heard a couple of these songs at the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus concert earlier this year and really liked them. So it was neat to see them danced to.

I can’t find any video of the dance performance yet, but here is one of the songs, “Meet Me on the Mountain,” as performed by Ryan and Shawn at a Man Dance concert a few years ago:

Class notes

Not much to report on the class front: so far, so good. My July 10 class was my tenth consecutive class, yay.

So it’s funny (but probably not surprising) how sometimes steps that you can do with no problem in one direction are another story in the other direction. Last class (July 17), my teacher combined two steps we’ve been doing (polonaise, I think that’s what it’s called but I still haven’t confirmed, and balancé). Going to the right (diagonally downstage right), no problem. Going to the left–even though these are basically the same steps, just in reverse order–I was all awkward limbs everywhere. Kind of amusing. Ah well, something to work on.

Around town

Universal Ballet, based in Seoul, is on tour in San Francisco right now, and I went to see them last night at the Opera House. (I hadn’t heard any buzz about it beforehand, but $30 center orchestra seats from Goldstar made it hard to pass up.) The program was Shim Chung: The Blindman’s Daughter, a three-act story set in ancient Korea. For some reason going in I was afraid it might be a bit heavy-handed or cheesy, but overall it really is enchanting. (I will try to forgive the improbable, deliriously happy ending. Improbable, even given the already fantasy-laden story.) The dancing is entertaining, and the sets and costumes are impressive, especially in the underwater kingdom scene.

Shim Chung plays again in San Francisco on Sunday afternoon, July 24, then the tour continues in Vancouver.

Class notes

Last Saturday (May 28) was the last class in the four-week “absolute beginner” ballet workshop I’ve been taking. New stuff:

• cambré
• fondu
• balancé: we actually started balancé in the previous class, but this time added the arms, changing from side to side
• across the floor: polka steps (step, step, step, hop; most of my background is in jazz dance, but there’s a lot of crossover… I wanted to be all, “Oh, so chassé, hop?”)

As I mentioned last week, my teacher is on a ballet-related trip to Saint Petersburg, Russia, so I have a couple of weeks coming up without a regular class. She suggested a particular intro class, which I plan to drop in on tomorrow and the following Sunday. Then on June 19 she returns to lead the the next phase of her ballet workshop. I’d gone online yesterday to register for it and was disappointed to see it was already full. So I called the dance center, and apparently they’d gotten similar inquiries about it; they got back to me and said they would let a few additional people register, so I’m in. Yay!

Dance around town

San Francisco Ballet: I renewed our subscription for the 2012 season. I’m especially looking forward to Onegin and Don Quixote, as well as Chroma, which we didn’t see last season. We’ve been doing a partial-season subscription (five of eight programs) for the last few years; we’re doing the same for next season but we decided to forgo the LGBT Nite Out receptions. I appreciate them, but for us it just wasn’t worth the added expense for all three receptions as a package. We’ll maybe go to one à la carte, if friends are going.

Royal Danish Ballet: The RDB is currently on a U.S. tour and we saw them last week in Berkeley performing The Lesson and La Sylphide. They’re also performing a more modern program on other nights, but after reading about August Bournonville and the RDB origins of La Sylphide, I definitely wanted to see it, one of their signature works. They did not disappoint. Both pieces were lovely and entertaining, and I wish I could’ve come back to see their other program as well. During the Sylphide Act I reel, I leaned over to Thom and asked, “So when are we having our Scottish Highland-theme wedding party?”

Men in tights? No, men in kilts! (Photo: SFGate.com)

Shoe business

If I’m going to dance again, I need new shoes, right? A few weeks ago I bought a couple of pairs of ballet shoes: black Capezio split soles, one pair in leather and another in canvas. I love how Capezio’s main men’s ballet shoe is called Romeo. It’s all very “I’ll be doing pas de deux in no time!”

My previous shoes, which are several years old from a ballet class I took in college, have full soles and are kind of beginner-y. So with my new split-sole shoes, I feel like I’ve “graduated.” In any case, they conform to your arches and show off your feet better. Here you can see the difference between my old shoes (leather full sole) and new shoes (canvas split sole):

Side note while we’re talking about shoe photos: For my Stanford application (lo, those many years ago), the main essay prompt was to take a picture of something important to you and write about it. The subject I chose was my jazz shoes. I guess quirky does indeed help.

OK, curious Tiki kind of photobombed this one:

I sewed the elastics on the canvas pair–not rocket science, but I was proud, since I sew so infrequently–and wore them for class the next day. I definitely like the look and feel. Pretty feet! I mean, strong, manly feet!

Another wardrobe change: I haven’t quite made the leap to tights, though I did buy a suitable pair of thin Adidas pants apparently meant for soccer, but they work well for class.

Class notes

This was the second meeting of my beginner ballet workshop, and most of it went over the previous class’s steps, plus a few additional things:

• toe and pointing exercises
• rond de jambe à terre
• more work from 3rd position
• across the floor: turning waltz steps, basically like ballroom turns
• more step combinations, like one that starts with plié, tendu side (still in plié), straighten/close, then repeats with the final step changing to relevé, then again changing to jump/changement

Stuff I need to work on:

• arms: rounding arms more in 1st and 2nd position, hands closer to chest in 1st
• turnout: though like flexibility, this is more of a long-term goal of course

And with that, the four-week workshop is already half over! I definitely want to sign up for the next phase, which is thankfully more substantial at eight weeks long.

Dance around town

Last week I went to see Smuin Ballet‘s spring program, a mixed bill of three pieces: Momentum by Choo San Goh, set to Prokofiev; Mozart Requiem, a world premiere by Amy Seiwert; and To The Beatles by Michael Smuin. I think my favorite piece has to be the Requiem. It was totally mesmerizing. (Though I have to admit a kind of soft spot for Mozart’s Requiem; Thom and I once sang it at a choral society sing-along at National Cathedral, and it kind of kicked my ass so I give it respect.) I especially liked how the choral movements with the four vocal soloists corresponded to four dancers in the choreography. Here’s a Facebook album I found with some great shots of the piece by photographer Keith Sutter.

The next performance to see on my calendar is the Royal Danish Ballet, which is going on a four-city U.S. tour and will perform in a couple of weeks at Cal Performances in Berkeley.