Introduction and Welcome

Hi every one. Welcome!

Just a bit about me first and then I want to share some photos and clips of ballet things that have meant something (or a lot!) to me. I want to see how the blog evolves, rather than impose what it will be all about. This is so I can respond (by quizzes and your comments) to what anyone reading this would like.

The 'me' bit - short and sweet. I studied fine art, aesthetics and literature in my first degree and then went on to linguistics and semiotic theory (in philosophy) in post graduate work, taking a PhD and becoming an academic on post graduate programs at a university in Sydney.

As a pre-teenager and into my early twenties, I studied ballet part-time, principally at the Australian Dance Theatre and The Dance Centre, Sydney.

I later lived in Europe for a number years and voraciously watched a wide variety of classical ballet and comtemporary dance companies.

I would like to put things here about some of the performances and companies I was lucky enough to experience. Among many artists were Fonteyn and Nureyev, Carla Fracci, Carlo Bortaluzzi, Maximova and Vassiliev, Paul Taylor, Judith Jamison, Maya Plissetskaya and Alexandre Godenov, Mischa Barishnikov, Yvette Chavire, Natalia Makararova, Alexandra Danilova and Anton Dolin. Among the companies, the Royal Ballet, the Kirov Ballet, the Bolshoi Ballet,the Australian Ballet, the New York City Ballet, the Netherlands Dance Theatre, a Noh Theatre Company (Japan), ... .

I'd also like to talk about some of the extraordinary people I have met, some of whom were more than a little influential on this art form in the twentieth century. As well as including many of the dancers listed above, there were figures such as Fredrich Ashton, Ninette de Valois, Alicia Markova, ... .

Well, enough!

I just want to start posting and see how it goes!