5 on Friday -- Set 286

Spinning Friday tunes since 2010...

For anyone who wants to join in, simply choose five pieces of music and post them for other bloggers to enjoy. Then check out the set posted by the other 5 on Friday blogger -- you can sign in over at Golch Central's Rambling Stuff.

Yesterday, October 1st was the second annual World Ballet Day, bringing ballet lovers from all over the world together online as we were invited to take part in the daily class and rehearsal periods of five major companies.

For a ballet freak like me, World Ballet Day is like being a kid and waking up on Christmas morning, with all of your presents waiting for you, all of your family gathering around, and an endless feast going on for hours and hours and hours, with none of it ever ending.

It was like heaven.

For this week's 5 on Friday, may I introduce the five companies who shared their lives with us yesterday.

1 - Suite en Blanc - composed by Edouard Lalo

Australian Ballet

2 - Spartacus - composed by Aram Khachaturian

Bolshoi Ballet

3 - Manon - composed by Jules Massenet

Royal Ballet

4 - Sleeping Beauty - composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

National Ballet of Canada

5 - Romeo and Juliet - composed by Sergei Prokofiev

San Francisco Ballet

A to Z Blog Challenge -- I is for Prince Ivan from The Firebird

Welcome to Day 9 of this year's A to Z Blog Challenge.

Time for more ballet!

Remember, kids -- when you're a ballet freak, there's never enough ballet.
  

I is for Prince Ivan from The Firebird ballet

Prince Ivan is played here by Andris Liepa, former Bolshoi dancer and now an artistic director for the Russian Seasons 21st Century project, which reproduces the ballets of the golden era of Les Ballet Russes headed by ballet legend Sergei Diaghilev.

The Firebird is played by Nina Ananiashvili, also with the Bolshoi at the time this film was made in 1997. Andris and Nina enjoyed a 15-year dance partnership and it really shows in this piece. Their trust in one another allows for bolder movements than usual during steps that rely on one another for balance.

I suppose we could sneak another 'I' word in here, as the fabulous score is by Igor Stravinsky. At the time, Diaghilev tapped the young unknown composer for this initial collaboration which ultimately led to The Rite of Spring and the historic May 29th, 1913 audience riot when the public was confronted with a piece that became one of the most influential works in the 20th century.

  

Through the Opera Glasses - 35 - Spartacus Ballet

For today's Through the Opera Glasses, here are two scenes from Spartacus, performed by the Bolshoi Ballet.

This is part of the lead-up to Thursday's Blogblast For Peace event.

Spartacus tells the story of a Roman slave who leads an uprising against the empire. In the first scene, a duel between a consul and Spartacus results in a show of mercy for one who has never shown mercy to others.

The following scene shows how wounded pride can fuel not only personal vendettas, but often lead to full-scale war.

















On Nov. 5th I'm taking part in the Blogblast For Peace. Won't you join me?


"Where Mercy, Love, and Pity dwell
There God is dwelling too."

- William Blake