‘coppélia’ is the story of a lifelike doll who attracts the attention of a village boy franz who forsakes his love of swanhilda. the story is a little macabre, especially in the second act when doctor coppéllius’ lifelike dolls come to life.
sabt’s production of ‘coppélia’ was a breath of fresh air given their previous productions. michael revie danced in the role of franz and bernise silvius danced the role of swanhilda. i have seen revie in better form but his performance was still captivating. silvius’ strong technique and performance quality really shone on stage which was unfortunately soundtracked by a recording and not a live orchestra. the corps really pulled themselves together although there is still a need for the company to focus on technique classes.
given this improvement i am looking forward to the next production of giselle due out in august, i will hold off further judgement until then.
sabt’s production of coppélia scores an animated 3 out of 5, mostly for the improvement of quality.
(i couldn’t find a video of the sabt performance but here is a video clip of michael revie ‘getting his freak on’)
’sunshine cleaning’ is a feel good movie (of sorts) about a down on her luck mother of one who decides to start her own bio-hazard cleaning business. amy adams and emily blunt star in this movie and their striking character portrayals pull you into the story.
i must say that amy adams is slowly entrenching herself as one of my favourite actresses of the moment. her portrayal as rose is engaging and testament to her ability to ‘be’ real in her roles. emily blunt is also proving to me to be able to hold her own, her quality and sincerity are a pleasure to watch and she brings a witty edge to her role as rose’s sister norah.
’sunshine cleaning’ scores a polished 4 out of 5. i am definitely going to be keeping an eye on amy adams and emily blunt.
1. he must be the same height or taller than me. taller than 177 cm that is…
2. has blue or green eyes.
3. preferably of mediterranean descent and from a large family so that he understands my family dynamics and he is also as close to his family as i am. he must also be fluent in his mother tongue (preferably a romantic language).
4. a happy and positive person.
5. driven and passionate.
6. has healthy teeth, a great smile and is a great kisser.
7. is sexually compatible with me. (not that i base relationships on sex or anything, it’s just that it helps)
8. is kind, compassionate and tolerant.
9. is affectionate.
10. is intelligent, witty and well read.
11. is a good cook.
12. is self-supporting.
13. is committed and serious in our relationship.
14. is light-hearted and funny.
15. wants to settle down (marry) with me and have children.
16. enjoys physical activities and likes spending time outdoors, he is a man’s man…
17. is attractive in my opinion (looking like jesse bradford is essential here) and has a great ass! (i need something superficial!)
18. is supportive and understanding of my dreams as i will be of his. (implying he has dreams and goals see point 5.)
19. is cultured and enjoys the fine arts, although he does not need to be fanatical about it after all he is a man’s man.
20. enjoys reading and has read the harry potter books.
21. must love me as much as i love him.
(’21 things i want in a lover’ is sung by alanis morissette and is taken from the album ‘under rug swept’)
‘drag me to hell’ is really one of those aptly titled movies. the only terrifying about this movie is the fact that it is 99 minutes long!
sam raimi’s attempt to instill fear into the viewer employed cheap attmepts at loud scares and overuse of the ‘gross’ factor. after about the 10th time of shoving something disgusting into alison lohman’s character’s mouth you sit there in the dark theatre thinking to yourself, “all right, i get the point”!
the plot centres around christine brown who offends an old gypsy woman who proceeds to curse her and sends a demon (lamia) to drag christine to hell. the cheap tactics and poor attention to detail really make this movie painfully grotesque as all it offers is the gore factor. not surprising though as sam raimi is better known for his venture into zombie flicks (evil dead 1 and 2), where cheap scare tactics are better appreciated.
not much else can be said about the movie other than the poor plot that failed in it’s attempt to scare and the predictable moments coming from it made it an unexciting experience.
sitting at work and waiting for more work to come my way and feeling uninspired to go find some work to do. not in the mood for being proactive. ballet on the brain at the moment and all i want to do is dance every day.
the last two weeks have been interesting.
found out last week that i will be finished with my student loan in july! this is such great news as it is a sign that my financial plan is finally starting to take shape, only 3 months behind the initial plan but i suppose that it could be considered as teething problems. i am so excited to be removing this financial burden from me and then i can focus on the remaining burdens. this time next year i will be saving money instead of paying lenders!
i have now sent out the ‘call’ for medi man to come into my life. i have been attaching much positive thought to the call and it feels good. it is only a matter of time… nas and hans have been helpful in strengthening the images for me. i have even gone as far as planning my wedding. hehe. it’s all part of ‘the secret’ and cultivating positive imagery and feelings towards my desires.
my brothers, nas, hans, pooky, my aunt, gabs and my gran got to see me dance this past saturday. vix did another special class for me to showcase my dancing to my family, they were really happy to finally see me dance and i am glad that i was given this opportunity. bumblebee was also there to see me dance which was nice and then afterwards we went to see ‘coppélia’ performed by sabt, and i am glad that the performance was better than their previous attempts. gabs was supposed to come as well but with her fiancé fabs out of action with the flu she skipped on the show to go look after her man. i can appreciate that, but it didn’t do much for the disappointment of her not being able to come. next time… which so happens to be ‘giselle’! looking forward to that, and also glad to see that there isn’t much word on ‘dracula the ballet’ coming to a theatre near me soon!
i received my dvd ‘the male ballet dancer’ on saturday and now i just need to sit down and watch the full dvd. it isn’t as instructional as i thought it would be, but it has me thinking that i will have to take the examples (shown not explained) in the dvd and make them work for me. i am really looking forward to pulling off some of the moves shown, it is exciting but daunting all the same. i am living the dream so it’s a good feeling.
life is good at the moment, even with the current speedbump (read work) slowing me down to reaching the summit. it’s all good and now i try keep focus on the bigger picture. nas introduced me to the concept of the summit, each of us is on a journey to the summit (our goals/dreams/inspirations) and so we need to keep focus on that, taking into account that it is never a straight and easy path but a scenic and challenging one. if it was too easy then we wouldn’t truly appreciate the challenge and experience to achieve.
light and love to you all…
(’feel good time’ is sung by pink and is taken from the album ‘try this’)
