Shall We Pas de Deux?

ballet a theatrical artform using dancing, music, and scenery to convey a story, theme or atmosphere; also, dancing in which conventional poses and steps are combined with light flowing figures (as leaps and turns)

pas de deux a dance or figure for two performers; also, an intricate relationship involving two parties or things

The Nutcracker Ballet, seen by millions during the Christmas season, onstage or in TV reruns, is one of the best examples of the two definitions. Whether it is performed by a professional dance troupe or by hometown dancers, it is delightful. It tells the story of a young girl who has attended a gala family Christmas party, and afterwards falls asleep clutching her favorite gift, a wooden Nutcracker doll. In her dream, the Nutcracker comes to life as a handsome Prince and leads her to see a spectacular series of performances. When she awakens, the Nutcracker is once again her beloved wooden toy.

Professional ballet dancers, male and female, are well-trained athletes. The men appear to have superhuman strength as they perform their leaps, turns, and seem to hover in mid-air. They also lift and join the small, fragile ballerinas in dance - but it must be remembered that the "small, fragile" dancers are also athletes, feminine and graceful though they are. Every muscle in a dancer's body is strong as steel and flexible as rubber. Ballet is a strenuous discipline; its dancers may only perform at their best for a limited number of years.

The Chicago Bear's football coach, some years ago, sent some of his players to have
ballet lessons in order to better perform their maneuvers on the playing field, which leads to this vignette:

A ballet studio. There are twenty or thirty teenage girls, clad in black leotards and tights, wearing soft ballet slippers. They are practicing ballet positions. Among them is a huge Bear's football player practicing along with them.A waltz tune is being played by a pianist. Suddenly the huge man leaves the line, takes the hand of one of the girls and, side by side, hand in hand they dance a weaving pas de deux across the studio, ending at the feet of the annoyed ballet instructor who is standing arms akimbo and frowning. The music stops. The lesson continues.

That young girl was Odysseuse, who has never forgotten that glorious light-as-air minute.

Have you attended a ballet perfomance? Or a dance recital of any kind? Have you taken dance lessons? Do you sometimes wish you had?

William Butler Yeats wrote

O body swayed to music, O brightening glance, How can we know the dancer from the dance?

What Are You Thinking?

philosophy the most general beliefs, concepts, and attitudes of an individual or group

It is said that of the billions upon billions of snowflakes, no two were, are, or will be, alike. They do have two qualities in common: each is hexagonal, or six-sided, and is intricately beautiful. Of the billions upon billions of humans, no two were, are, or will be identical - even such twins have different fingerprints - but we share many more than two similarities. One of the most important is that we can think.

We can think about anything from what to have for lunch to trying to justify teaching calculus while wearing sneakers. Anything that comes to mind qualifies as thinking. Beliefs, concepts, attitudes - our thinking ranges far and wide among those topics and many more, and there are as many viewpoints as there were, are, and will be, human beings.

Philosophy is a difficult subject to write about as well as to study. Why? Because it presents ideas from centuries past up to the present, and its subject matter has no limits. The above definition was the simplest one found in a dictionary. "Love of Wisdom" would also define it. But a problem arises: what is wisdom? The answers rival the snowflakes for quantity. Philosophers, men and women, through the ages, have thought about and written about that question. There are no answers except the ones the individual thinkers believe.

When do you do your best thinking? Do you enjoy a good debate? Are you comfortable sharing thoughts and ideas? Do you have an acquaintance or friend whose opinions differ from yours, but whom you respect?

Rene Descartes said (in translation from the French)

I think;therefore I am.

Book Meme

A most unique and entertaining blog comes to us from Birdsong. Both her interests and her location are brought to us in writing and in photographs. Check out the burros!

She has asked for answers to several questions about books, so here are mine.

l. Total number of books in your house.

About 300 at present - there were more that were given away when a move from house to apartment took place.

2. Last book bought.

An Annie Dillard trilogy.

3. Last book read.

A Penguin Classic edition of Homer's Odyssey.

4. Five or six books you often reread or that mean a lot to you.

Jan Karon: At Home In Mitford - for calm bedtime reading.

P.G. Wodehouse: Uncle Fred in the Springtime - for laugh-out-loud pleasure.

Ngaio Marsh: Night At The Vulcan - for a theatre mystery with a great romance.

Jane Austen: Emma - because she is lovable in spite of herself.

Leon Lederman: The God Particle - a comical introduction to physics.

Charlotte MacCleod: Rest You Merry - a humorous mystery for those of us who like to decorate our houses and yards at Christmastime, and contains a great romance.

It will be interesting to hear how many books Stitches of Violet has in her home and what she prefers to read and reread.

Enter Stage Right

stage a raised platform
passion suffering (Biblical)

If a cartoonist were asked to produce a drawing representing Drama, imagine what it would look like. There might be two large heads, one with a grotesque turned-down mouth, frowning eyebrows over tear-filled eyes, labelled Tragedy. The other, with a wide open smile, upraised eyebrows over sparkling eyes, labelled Comedy. From both heads would dangle dozens of small headlets, some separate, some intertwined, indicating the various forms of histrionics, all resting on the massive shoulders of Theatre.

Everyone has attended parades at one time or another. The colorful floats roll by spectators who are standing still or sitting. The Middle Ages (13th, 14th Centuries)had a version of that in reverse. Small stationary raised wooden platforms, some on wheels, were lined up in church courtyards, becoming small stages facing the passers-by and congregants. Each of the wagons had actors, scenery, a continuing story to tell, and people would walk from one to another. The little plays were called Passion Plays, and then there also came Morality Plays. All of them were intended to instruct as well as to entertain the populace.

A bit before Shakespeare's time (15th, 16th Centuries)theatres, much as we now know them, came into being. Those small raised wooden platforms on wagons became one large permanent stage with little balcony stages above and to the inner sides of it, housed in a building. The subject matter became similar to what we experience in our contemporary theatres: Tragedy and Comedy, bolstered and augmented by their little headlets.

There are many thousands of raised platforms, all sizes, used for many purposes today.
Have you ever had reason to be onstage? What has a raised platform meant to you? Were you in the audience or were you a participant? Costumed? Were there doting relatives in attendance? Are you now happy with the memory?

Shakespeare said

All the world's a stage/And all the men and women merely players.

Exeunt Stage Left

A Tip Of The Hat To Technology

technology a manner of accomplishing a task esp.using technical processes, methods or knowledge

In the 17th Century, while sitting under a tree an apple fell on Isaac Newton's noggin. He made it his task to discover the reason it landed on his head instead of flying off into the air. The technology he used was simple logic that gave rise, we understand, to several equations describing the elements and characteristics of motion. Newton had something to say about acceleration - he would have understood what is happening now. There is no slowing down of technology's advances; every day it is gathering speed and there's no stopping it. Nor do we want to.

Think of the spectacularly beautiful images of our universe brought to us by the Hubble Telescope; the Mars terrain recorded by the twin rovers on the ground there; the views of our own lovely planet Earth, photographed from the Space Shuttles. In the last ten or twenty years, more or less, what effect has technology had on your life? What is possible now that once was impossible? And - what might the future hold?

Shakespeare said

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

Here's To Dick, Jane, Sally, And Spot

book a set of written, printed, or blank sheets bound together in a volume

They once taught a generation of children to read. As an introduction to Literature, they failed, but as a quartet of tools opening the way to literacy, they succeeded. It's probable no one has ever voiced a desire to read another book featuring Dick, Jane, Sally, and Spot. It would be interesting to know if anyone past the age of Kindergarten or First Grade kept copies of those books in plain sight on a bookshelf. Any existent copies are probably rare enough to be collectors' items - but certainly not kept for their entertainment value. Perhaps the illustrations, today, would bring back amusing and nostalgic memories of a simpler time. In speaking with someone who knows, it has been pointed out that the various characters were introduced gradually as the little pupil progressed in reading skills.

What was your first introduction to reading? Do you remember learning to read or are you one of those fortunate people who feels as if you were born able to read? Do you read for pleasure, for information, or both? Do you have a book or books that you like to reread at least once a year?

Francis Bacon wrote

Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.

Hop-scotch, Little Brother To Dance

hop-scotch a child's game in which a player tosses an object (such as a stone) into areas of a figure outlined on the ground and hops through the figure and back to regain the object

Oh the lovely Spring days when the clumsy footgear of winter is replaced by lightweight sneakers or sandals, freeing the feet and the spirit to be light as air. So games are played. The pattern of hop-scotch is a game and at the same time is an introduction to Dance. One foot hop hop hop, two feet twin hop, one foot hop hop hop, two feet twin hop - and reverse. Was the stone picked up? The grid may vary, sometimes outlined on a sidewalk, a chalk outline on gravel or asphalt, according to region and custom. What is permanent is the choreography, a prerequisite to Dance.

When a child, did you play a game like hop-scotch which involves a certain footwork? Were simple tapdances taught to you in school? Were they easy to learn? And fun? Did dancing become a pleasure for you then and on into adulthood?

Alexander Pope wrote

...those move easiest who have learned to dance.

Are There Designs On You?

designthe arrangement of elements or details in a product or work of art

The answer would be yes, even if you are wearing a burlap sack. There would be a hole center top for your head, holes on the sides for your arms. That sack has a double design and use history: someone came up with a practical sack shape made of durable material to contain something. Then someone cut three holes in it to make a garment for you, and aesthetics be darned. However, embroider it with an all over design of red roses and trumpet vine - it has become a work of art in the eye of the beholder, at least.

Design is found in many places. You have a certain hairstyle, designed in the latest cut, curl, or straight manner. You may be wearing earrings or other ornaments on yourself in various places according to the latest trends, either requiring piercing or not. Tattoos, plain or intricate are designs as well as products, and many of them are also art.

The utilitarian items we see around us at home, as well as the most complicated and beautiful ones that we see and use, or covet, anywhere, have been and are designed. What designed item in your living space most pleases your eye? What have you given or thrown away because you didn't like its appearance? What kinds of design catch your eye?

Design is everywhere, it threads its way throughout the Arts, together with its necessary sibling, Technology.

An Elephant Paints: Is it Art?

We've seen the end result: an elephant wielding a brush creates a painting. Let's examine what might have preceded that event. Someone realized elephants could be trained to use their trunks in fine movements by watching them reach for and eat peanuts. Why not teach them to use tools such as paintbrushes? Further, why not provide a large sheet of sturdy watercolor paper, furnish several containers of different paint colors, and train the animal to slosh paint at random on the paper and Voila! Art!

The elephant trainer was apprised of the task and chose the one elephant felt to be capable of the successful production of the proposed paintings. The paintbrushes and several bright colors of paint were chosen by the trainer. A decision about how to position the paper, flat on the ground or propped on an easel, had to be made. Using the paintbrush in a certain manner and alternating brushes and colors had to be taught or done by the trainer. Where in this does creativity, essential to any artwork, originate? Not with the elephant, which is simply following orders. Is the artist the person who thought an elephant could be a painter, or is the artist the trainer who used the elephant as a means of creating paintings? Perhaps there is no artist. What do you think?

I leave you with this, overheard in an art gallery,

My four year old can do better art than this stuff.

Perhaps, if the competition is an elephant.