Blog 21

It was boiling hot last Monday and Tuesday, it seemed like it was already summertime this week. After a cold period temperature was rising to 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit). This kind of change in weather is very Dutch. And your body has to adapt to varying types of weather in a short period. 

My body was battling its way through the lessons. Transpiration pearling down my face, and my back. Itchy back, steaming head. My experience is that my mind functions like a colander with this kind of sudden temperature rises.

So to be honest, especially the Tuesday lesson was a disaster. I wasn't able to remember the instructions. I even heard Lyda singing: "Always look on the bright side of life" (a nice way to grumble) when I was messing and stumbling my way through the lesson. 

While I was messing up my lessons, I observed how a few of my younger fellow students are in fact developing themselves more and more, some are even blossoming.

To be honest, that is a kind of consolation. At least they are doing fine. Next time it will be my turn.

Lyda gave me some extra homework. She wants me to practice the jeté with a stretched leg, knee, and foot. Say about 100 times left leg, 100 times right leg, each day.

Right now, it's Saturday as I'm writing this blog, the weather has changed dramatically again: a storm is passing our little country now, and it rains all the time. What a week.

By chance, I heard the Bolero from Ravel. This instantly brought back memories about a dance scene in the epical French film "Les Uns et les Autres," by Claude Lelouch. 

The Boléro dance sequence at the end of the movie is pure art.

The dance features a dancer on a tabletop, surrounded by seated men, who slowly participate in the dance, culminating in a climactic union of the dancers atop the table.

This choreography was a masterpiece, made by Béjart's, set to the music of Maurice Ravel's Boléro. (type in Google: "Les uns et les autres ballet bolero")

How I loved this film back in 1981. And I still consider it one of my favorites. 

The film follows four families, with different nationalities (French, German, Russian, and American) but with the same passion for music, from the 1930s to the 1980s.

The characters are fictional but loosely based on historical musical icons (Edith Piaf, Josephine Baker, Herbert von Karajan, Glenn Miller, Rudolf Nureyev).

(In the United States, it was distributed in 1981 under the name Boléro in reference to Maurice Ravel's orchestral piece, used in the film) 

In one of my first blogs, I wrote about Sylvie Guillem, a prima ballerina. I discovered this week that Sylvie's farewell gift to the public when she retired as an "étoile ballerina" was the performance of Béjart's Boléro, live on Japanese television on 31 December 2015. 

It was beautiful. (in Google just type: "Sylvie Guillem Tokyo ballet bolero")

It's up to you to decide what performance you like most!

How I would like to dance this dance!