Rehearsing Don Quixote

Tags

Ballet, Ballet Photography, Don Quixotte, Photography, The Bolshoi

Ivan Vasiliev and Natalia Osipova are two of the world’s most exciting and in demand Ballet stars. The former Bolshoi Principles are seen here rehearsing their signature role; Don Quixote, at the Royal Opera House at Coven Garden, London.

Don Quixote is a ballet originally staged in four acts and eight scenes, based on an episode taken from the famous novel Don Quixote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes. It was originally choreographed by Marius Petipa to the music of Ludwig Minkus and was first presented by the Ballet of the Imperial Bolshoi Theatre of Moscow, Russia on 26 December 1869. Petipa and Minkus revised the ballet into a far more expanded and elaborated edition in five acts and eleven scenes for the Imperial Ballet, first presented on 21 November 1871 at the Imperial Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre of St. Petersburg.

Copyright © Rola Yousef. All Rights Reserved.

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The Quintessential Romantic Ballet; Giselle

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Ballet, Ballet Photography, Giselle, Photography

One of the most celebrated romantic endeavors in Ballet history; Giselle continues to challenge generations of iconic Ballet dancers with both its interpretive complexity and  wealth of technical nuances. The Bolshoi Ballet had offered the audience of the Royal Opera House a memorable show lead by two of their most acclaimed stars, Natalia Osipova and Ruslan Skvortsov.

Giselle is a ballet in two acts with a libretto by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges and Théophile Gautier, music by Adolphe Adam, and choreography by Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot. The librettist took his inspiration from a poem by Heinrich Heine. The ballet tells the story of a peasant girl named Giselle whose ghost, after her premature death, protects her lover from the vengeance of a group of evil female spirits called Wilis. Giselle was first presented by the Ballet du Théâtre de l’Académie Royale de Musique at the Salle Le Peletier in Paris, France, on 28 June 1841. The choreography in modern productions generally derives from the revivals of Marius Petipa for the Imperial Russian Ballet (1884, 1899, 1903). This production for the Bolshoi Ballet is by Yuri Grigorovitch with designs by Simon Virsaladze.

Copyright © Rola Yousef. All Rights Reserved.

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The Versatile Blogger Award

I have been nominated for the Versatile Blogger Award by Stephanie, her blog Certainly not lost down under is a beautiful world filled with selectively chosen links to Classical music and Opera videos coupled with lyrics and explanations that would make these Art forms approachable to everyone. She also shares beautiful poems in a variety of languages. Thank you Stephanie!

 The rules:

1. Thank the award-giver and link back to them in your post.
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Pass this award along to 15 recently discovered blogs you enjoy reading.
4. Contact your chosen bloggers to let them know about the award.

Share 7 things about yourself:

1- I am a fourth year medical student.
2- Medicine has always been my first love, I was literally raised in that world and actually have very fond memories of it.
3- I find Ballet, Opera and Classical music to be among the most beautiful things in life, I was first introduced to this world in high school, and I don’t believe I looked back ever since then.
4- I come from a country which has no support of these kinds of Art; that can be very difficult because I don’t know many from around who can share my interests with me.
5- My Mom has always been my biggest support, buying me countless recordings and DVDs, and taking me around the globe just to watch my favorite Opera companies in live action. She is truly one of a kind.
6- I have a cat, called foxy; and no, its not some dirty nickname I gave him, he actually does look like a miniature fox.
7- I don’t smoke, drink coffee, tea, or any soft drinks for that matter, and I don’t know why every one thinks that’s odd.

Pass this award to 15 recently discovered blogs that you enjoy reading:

1- Certainly not lost down under.
2- The Well Tempered Ear.
3- Classical Life.
4- Notes on the Arts.
5- Constant e-motion.
6- Kurt Nemes’ Classical Music Almanac.
7- Literalab.
8- Simon Read. 
9- Cecile’s Writers.
10- Written Words Never Die.
11- A Love Affair with Art and Design.
12- My Medico-Social Eye.
13- Waleed Fareed.
14- Wind Against Current.
15- Travels with my Camera.

Vakhtang Chabukiani’s Laurencia

Tags

Ballet, Ballet Photography, Laurencia, Photography, Vakhtang Chabukiani

Laurencia is a Soviet era ballet created by legendary Georgian dancer and choreographer Vakhtang Chabukiani. It is based on the Spanish playwright Lope de Vega’s Fuente Ovejuna. The first premiere of Laurencia was in 1939 in the Kirov Theatre. Leading roles were performed by Natalia Dudinskaya (Laurencia), Vakhtang Chabukiani (Frondoso) and Tatiana Vecheslova (Pascuala). In 1956, the ballet was staged at the Bolshoi Theatre where Vakhtang Chabukiani partnered Maya Plisetskaya. In 2010, after decades of absence from the Russian stage the ballet was revived for the Mikhailovsky Theatre by Mikhail Messerer.

Dress Rehearsal 19th of July, 2010 at the Coliseum Theater, London. Copyright © Rola Yousef. All Rights Reserved.

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Little Young Harmonies…

Tags

Poetry

Sunset near Mont-St-Michel, Normandy, France. Courtesy of Marc Haegeman.

Little young harmonies arose with morning’s tender breath, caressing the lucent glass, singing a long for a one silly morn; of where they may flutter among the playful nuances of her ardent stare, to sleep upon her traveling rays and soar the milky murkiness of an early sky.

- Copyright © Rola Yousef.

How can life be pictured so beautifully?

Tags

Poetry

Chinese Temple Garden located between the the famous Seefeldquai and the Bellerivestrasse, Zürich, Switzerland. Courtesy of Marc Haegeman.

Threads of yellowish shimmers soured the milky sky, blazing as they danced with joy, I let out a cheerful sigh.

I sit upon the shady river wearing that peaceful thought. Pronouncing the welcome of a sudden shiver, the wind whispered so soft.

A delicacy that you and I are prone to devour; how fragile is this leaf, how beautiful is this rose.

Drinking from the scenery I call life, It flourishes and ignites.

A dilemma framed this fairy-tale scene; How can life be pictured so beautifully?

- Copyright © Rola Yousef.

Mourning Festivities

Tags

Poetry

Source Unknown

Alas the world has rendered thee
a sound that persists to follow
in solemn hours a tune
of a speechless melody.
It seeks the damned echo of a song
to sing the floret rose to freeze!
A chant for the mourning festivities.

- Copyright © Rola Yousef.

A Taste of Nature

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Nature, Photography

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- Copyright © Rola Yousef. All Rights Reserved.