The Royal Beginning 1581-1681

Catherine de Medici, born in Italy in 1519, was a member of the Italian nobility but became Queen of France when she married Henry !!. Catherine is known to have been an excellent dancer and is said to have commanded the first ballet - the Ballet Comique de la Reine. This first ballet, performed in 1581 for ten thousand guests, was not what we now think of as ballet, but it was the beginning. Queen Catherine separated the eating from the watching, and her dance told a continuous story - that of Circe, the pretty witch. It took five hours to play this tale in dancing, music , and poetry.

It always fascinates me to hear how things came about..don't you agree? Can you imagine sitting through five hours of a performance? I wonder how many intermissions they had?

One of my pieces also incorporates the love of music.. It's entitled "The Song of the Reine Daughters" It's an opera by Wagner. I felt the decorative metal element that the images are staged on gave the impression of a musical score. The images depict the 3 Reine daughters and their pot of gold. The fourth framed image is a musical score from the Opera and completes the story.

This is one of the images showing the pot of gold..

All of the Giclee images have been printed on fine watercolor paper and then layered

with layers of glazing to give them a luminosity.

Limited perspectives.....

LIMITED PERSPECTIVES...

“And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.”

-- Friedrich Nietzsche

Do you hear the music in your daily life?

Happy Halloween...

I hope everyone enjoys the evenings festivities..

I so enjoy assuming another identity. Last year

I was Mozart..

this year..

I haven't decided yet..

What will you be?

Kakijiku - hanging scrolls

I always marvel at the color of the trees each fall..

Do you have a favorite image of your garden in the fall..?

Might you like to display it in a way that will allow you to

admire it for years to come..as a keepsake ..! One of the formats that I offer to my clients is

to take an image of theirs and make it into a scroll.

This image above is one taken in a clients garden. The image is printed on Japanese rice

paper, aged and then layered with glazes to enhance the colors.

I find the most appealing images are the simplest ones...

This is from my front yard. This is a Japanese Maple. It's really

beautiful all year round...

Take a look out your window..you might see something

that really catches your eye...

Come take a seat and watch this amazing production. I love the unsuspecting audience and the cast of characters...

http://darynkagan.com/artists/stories/ar_090415_dancers.html

Shall we dance?? What fun...

The Romantic Age of Ballet

Did you know that it wasn't until the nineteenth century, Greek myths and classical opera

provided the main source of stories for ballet. Thus this early era is sometimes called the Classical age of ballet. The Romantic age marks a turning-away from such overworked pieces to more familiar books and tales which were called "romances." In these, the world of the imagination was glorified.

Which world would you prefer to be in?

As for me, I prefer the Romantic age!

In Celebration...

we recognize Alan Woodard today..

Happy Birthday

and many thanks for all the never ending hours of dedication and

support you've shown over the years to countless dancers.

Alan Woodard, Director

Trained in London, England and danced with English National Ballet for six years. He was leading dancer and ballet Master with ballet Santiago, Chile, after two seasons as soloist with the National Chilean Ballet. He holds the Advanced Teacher’s Certificate (with honors) from the Royal Academy of Dance and has studied the pedagogical courses for teachers (6 year syllabus), Kirov method, in St. Petersburg. As teacher, director and choreographer he was formerly at Arts Educational Trust, Ltd in England; the University of Chile in Santiago and the Metropolitan Ballet company in Bethesda, Maryland. In Jackson, Mississippi, he was Artistic Director of the Company as well as choreographer and Director of Ballet Mississippi School. He became Director of CDS in June, 1993.

"The Nutcracker"

both

staged and choreographed by Alan Woodard.

will be presented by the

Ct. Dance School

Dec 13th 1:00 and 4:00 at the

Quick Center for the Arts

at Fairfield University

Fairfield, Ct.

The Queen of dance..

"The Queen of dance", or so they called her, was known by the name of

Lafontaine. She was a beautiful girl and her debut was in Paris in 1681.

Here's an image of another beautiful girl from the Ct. Dance School who

also makes the art form of ballet look effortless.

This image is entitled "Opal light"

and was created to appear as if she was apart of the sundial.

Le ballet dans le jardin

Caroline

Did you know that ballet is one of the oldest artistic expressions. The word ballet is traced to an Italian word, ballare, which means "to dance" and its root are in the banquet-fetes held by the Italian royalty to celebrate special occasions.

These fetes or "feasts" were large parties in which dancing was combined with serving food. Neptune, the ancient god of the sea, and his attendants would bring in the fish course. Diana, goddess of hunting, and her maidens would dance in with a huge platter laden with venison and wild boar to serve the guests. And so the celebration went, on through dessert. Everyone could look and eat at the same time...

Sounds rather spectacular don't you agree?

My most recent collection also celebrates dance and though I'm not a dancer

I am on the board of the Ct. Dance School. I offer "Sittings in a Garden" to the students there. The Ct. Dance School is a non profit organization founded by Elizabeth Gaynor.

Last year I was invited to participate in a wonderful annual fund raiser "Rooms with a View" at the Southport Congregational Church. The theme for 2008 was "Muse and Inspiration" and this was my muse.. One of the senior dancers at the school. I wanted her to look as if she

were at a masquerade..thus she's partially hidden by a dogwood blossom.

If you have the time you should plan to attend this year Nov. 5th -8th. Each year twelve interior designers are selected to create a vignette to reflect the theme of the event. Albert Hadley the esteemed Interior Designer is the honorary co-chair who's charismatic vision inspires all who are involved. The church is transformed for four days with twelve dazzling vignettes and then a marketplace of artisans and artists, it's truly a spectacular holiday event.

My dear friend Patricia vanEssche of PVEdesign will be exhibiting her work in a vignette designed by Eddie Ross. I'm sure it will be worth the trip!! You never know what treasures you'll uncover...