My fave video of the 1980's

Clearly, I favored dancers even back when I was 13-14 y.o

Men's Rhythmic Gymnastics- 10/2009

I totally found this on another person's blog and stole it for my own. Amazing synchronization, timing and choreography by this Japanese men's team and winners. As another blogger commented, I didn't know this existed outside of women or that there was even a group floor routine involved in rhythmic gymnastics. Another title might be "synchronized gymnastics" much like synchronized swimming.

Leonid Sarafanov- pirouettes a la seconde

Here's the amazing Leonid Sarafanov performing his pirouettes. I missed seeing these back in November 2006 when he left out the entire coda or solo variation in the Kirov's Swan Lake. This guy is a beautiful dancer so when he leaves out cor., it's only natural to feel robbed.

Joffrey's Affinity Night 10/20/09

Dylan Gutierrez, Yumelia Garcia, Amber Neumann, Tanner Schwartz, Jenny Winton, Kara Zimmerman, & Jaime Hickey. The hostess got cut out.

Tonight, I attended this informative Joffrey event as a benefit for being a series subscriber. Were were treated to the brief "Othello" clip starring Fabrice Calmels, April Daly, Matthew Adamczyk & Aaron Rogers. Then each new member was introduced by our host and sponsor from the Cafe Latino Magazine as followed: Dylan Gutierrez, Yumelia Garcia, Amber Neumann, Tanner Schwartz, Jenny Winton, Kara Zimmerman, and Jaime Hickey. You can sorta tell the dancers under the age of 25 yrs old just by their names alone b/c they're so catchy. The hostess read from scripted questions and then opened the floor up to an audience Q&A where anything from 'what each dancer's dream role would be', 'how they maintain their commitment to the profession', deal with injury', 'came to or heard about the Joffrey Ballet', to their dance backgrounds was discussed.


L-R Jaime, Kara, Amber & Jenny

I was fascinated to hear that Jaime studied Irish step for some years since I love that style, too. Who doesn't remember when the Riverdance phenomenon swept the Nation? Somehow, I hope we get to see that incorporated or blended into one of her performances or on the larger ensemble. Wouldn't that be interesting? Jenny has done a bit of choreographing for ABT II (?) back in NYC and may wish to explore that in her future. When asked about her dream role, she said she enjoys ballets with animals in them, which received a huge laugh from everyone in the room, but what she meant was ballets like Swan Lake or The Firebird. Dylan's mom owns a dance studio in LA so he naturally fell into dance then more specifically ballet under the encouragement of his non-dancer father. He auditioned for the Joffrey one day and was offered a contract right after; to dance as Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake is his dream role. Tanner got into ballet after a sports injury [gymnastics] where both his ankles were injured so he used ballet technique to build strength then fell in love with it since it didn't involve being upside down [you had to be there to appreciate that comment]. He, also, has apparently danced as an animal in many roles. We learned that Amber trained in a small studio in South Bend, Indiana then came to audition for the Joffrey one day where she was soon discovered and offered a contract. Amber's dream role would be a work by choreographer, Jiří Kylián; whereas, Kara's would be to have a new work created on her. Yumelia spoke no English when she first immigrated here from Brazil but soon learned that her ballet French would not be enough to get by with so she picked up English in no time at all while living and training with the Milwaukee Ballet; she was the most expressive out of the group and spoke for all as she described her love and passion for dance and life as a dancer. All the dancers expressed their appreciation for how truly demanding their chosen profession is, and how fortunate they were to be hired by a major company. They take nothing for granted and appreciate the tutelage of the more experienced dancers. For now, these young dancers are just happy to be in the Joffrey and be working on their current and upcoming performances like Othello and The Nutcracker. Next 3 lovely new dance portraits were revealed of Dylan, Yumelia, and Miguel Blanco before it was off for cocktails and refreshments in another room.

Another room for hors d'oeuvres

As usual, I attended this event alone b/c my friends are never available for this kinda stuff unless I give them a months notice, it's summertime in Millennium Park or involves Latin/Salsa dance. Where are all the balletomanes in the city? Needless to say, I felt right at home discussing my thoughts and feeling about the Joffrey Ballet and its artists with some of the new artists, older company member, Derrick Agnoletti, and fans over a plate of hors d'oeuvres. How freakin' cool is that! I cannot tell you how lucky I felt to be a part of this evening; however, my thoughts and prayers go out to Mr Miguel Angel Blanco, who could not attend tonight b/c of an injury. May he have a speedy recovery!


This one of the three studios on level 4 of the Joffrey Tower,
The Gerald Arpino Studio.