Visiting and Giselle

I went on a little trip to visit a school I would like to apply for. It was also my first experience using Rideshare. No problems, but it takes longer than a straight train journey, of course. Beauti- and painful journey back through storm, rain, down-under and through fog, smoke, night, ice, aquaplaning and traffic jams on the highway. My heart was very still. It probably will cost me a few minutes of my life, stressful thinking like that.

All in all it was important to go as not all contemporary schools would accept me with my pure Ballet BA. I will have to make my ongoing experience of contemporary very clear.
It's time to start thinking about a choreography that I can show at the audition!

This week, three very thorough and hard (for me) pilates classes with Hannah Ma at the 3CL.

What I saw in the school:

1. The BA classes reminded me of my time at Laban, how it is to come to contemporary class each day and how ballet is taught to contemporary dancers.

2. The MA class made me want to get up and hurl myself across the floor.
Here comes to mind: I hurl it through space
and put it on the floor
as in

My body is a mess
of pinks and browns and creams
Each day a little less
Or so each day it seems

I put it into place
Each day a little more
I hurl it through space
and put it on the floor

But my body is a mess
No matter what I do
Each day supposedly a little less
Each day a little older too

I feel a little blue
Each day about the same
It seems I felt this through and through
All the way I came

3. The MA dancers were beauti- and characterful!

4. The talk made me feel slightly pressured, impatient to audition, stressed, doubtful about my potential,

5. The teacher inspired me and made me laugh and wonder!

6. The country made me a little sad,

7. But also I see opportunities for long walks in the forest, which again calmed me. It's Heine's Willis:

"Es ist die Sage von den gespenstischen Tänzerinnen, die dort unter dem Namen »die Willis« bekannt sind. Die Willis sind Bräute, die vor der Hochzeit gestorben sind. Die armen jungen Geschöpfe können nicht im Grabe ruhig liegen, in ihren taten Herzen, in ihren toten Füßen blieb noch jene Tanzlust, die sie im Leben nicht befriedigen konnten, und um Mitternacht steigen sie hervor, versammeln sich truppenweis an den Heerstraßen, und wehe dem jungen Menschen, der ihnen da begegnet! Er muß mit ihnen tanzen, sie umschlingen ihn mit ungezügelter Tobsucht, und er tanzt mit ihnen, ohne Ruh und Rast, bis er tot niederfällt. Geschmückt mit ihren Hochzeitkleidern, Blumenkronen und flatternde Bänder auf den Häuptern, funkelnde Ringe an den Fingern, tanzen die Willis im Mondglanz, ebenso wie die Elfen. Ihr Antlitz, obgleich schneeweiß, ist jugendlich schön, sie lachen so schauerlich heiter, so frevelhaft liebenswürdig, sie nicken so geheimnisvoll lüstern, so verheißend; diese toten Bacchantinnen sind unwiderstehlich." Heinrich Heine, Elementargeister, 1837

And this story of course, for those non-dancers, has been an inspiration for the ballet Giselle!

Perhaps the most celebrated ballet of the Romantic era, Adolphe Adam’s intoxicating ballet Giselle is the dramatic story of a peasant girl whose betrayal by her aristocratic lover causes her to go mad before dying and returning as a ghost.

This is Natalia Osipova's (Bolshoi Ballet) interpretation of the Mad Scene:

Also see this video, where Giselle (Natalia Osipova) appears as a Willi (or Wili in English) from her Grave. She appears to be flying!

For any actors or otherwise interested in interpretation - see also Polina Semionova in the Mad Scene:

More links welcome in the comments!