Saturday, January 10, 2009

More from the Dancing Queen

Just one more Christmas memory, from the year 2000, before I let the season go. It's from a dress rehearsal for that year's Nutcracker. Elizabeth was 17, her partner was Bobby O'Brien, and the choreography, as always, is Russell Sultzbach's, former Joffrey star, and her most beloved teacher. This is the Sugar Plum and Prince 'variation', I think they call it. Larger version here.

12 comments:

Thomas D said...

One marvels at the skill and at the grace. And wonders how many hours (and hours!) of practice and training and exercise must have preceded what appears to be an almost effortless aesthetic excellence.

MamaT said...

So very beautiful, Bill.

Does she dance full-time now??

TS said...

Beautiful indeed. She looks like the Platonic ideal of a ballerina.

Anonymous said...

You ain't the only one who marvels, Dylan. Terry, yes, almost. She also teaches at a couple of studios. She will see all your comments eventually, but right now she's laid up with what sounds like the flu, largely unconscious. She said last night it hurt her eyes to look at the light in her cellphone.

Thomas D said...

Yikes! All best wishes for a swift full recovery to health!

Anonymous said...

I thank you on her behalf.

Lydia McGrew said...

The dancing is absolutely glorious. Do you think any of the rest of us will be able to dance like that in heaven?

Tell her to get her flu shot this next fall. October is the best time. It has made a huge difference to my life in January and February. Only colds now, not flu. Much better. It's even worth it if you have to pay for it.

Anonymous said...

I'll tell her. Maybe she'll see it herself if she deigns to visit this blog.

Do you think any of the rest of us will be able to dance like that in heaven?

That leads to another question: Will people still have distinctive talents in heaven, or does everything get leveled out? Will the guy who can't carry a tune get to sing with the choirs of angels, or must he forever listen?

MamaT said...

I HOPE I get to sing (and well!). But that does kinda go against the whole individuality thing, doesn't it?

Maybe we'll all sing (or dance or paint or whatever) well enough to enjoy it, but there will still be those who have great gifts.

Maybe with eternity to perfect things, those of us who want to *practice* something will have the time to develop the skill at it. And our natural inclinations will send us in different directions to that perfection.

I hope something good like that happens, since my only apparent talent now is setting up chairs and organizing files. And while I may do that for the Kingdom now, I certainly hope I'll have more to do *later*.

Or maybe I'll just finally see how important that chair setting up really is, and be glad to do it.

Anonymous said...

since my only apparent talent now is setting up chairs and organizing files


I seriously doubt that.

Lydia McGrew said...

Yeah, I probably won't be able to dance in heaven. I am inclined to think (speculatively) that differences of individual talent will remain noticeable in heaven.

Anonymous said...

It's hard to even think about. What good would Monet's painting talent do him in heaven? Maybe after he's done with purgatory, he'll be rewarded somehow for striving so hard to affectionately render the world God gave us. Which reminds me of a question a layman once asked him, to wit, how was he to understand his paintings? Monet said, "You don't have to understand. You only have to love." But what would his reward be? A set of paints and an easel? It would seem beatitude ought to suffice, and yet there are those choirs of angels. I've got to stop this.