Now, This Post Will Definitely Not Be For Everyone - Not At All, At All!
This dance footage is so charming - in that gentle way of old-fashioned English children's storybooks - that I've found it impossible not to post and share it!
As you may well know, Beatrix Potter (1866-1943) ...
Beatrix Potter's House 'The Lakes', Sawrey, Hilltop, Lake District
The Lakes District, in North West England... self-published 'The Tale of Peter Rabbit' in 1901, producing both the text and illustrations.
This was followed by F. Warne & Co publishing 'The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin' in 1903.
And so on ... and so on .
In 1971, 'The Tales of Beatrix Potter' were choreographed by Sir Frederick Ashton for the Royal Ballet. And, as you'd expect, it's constructed of vignettes involving many of the characters that appear in the books, such as ...
Peter Rabbit
Mr. Jeremy Fisher
Mrs TittlemouseBy far my most favourite characters are the two naughty rodents in 'The Tale of Two Bad Mice' (1904) - maybe it's their very naughtiness I like best. In fact I'm sure that's it!
After arriving at the house ...
... our little friends do some reasonably conventional dancing round the living room ...
... which I do this myself, even these days, so it must be normal, yes?
Spotting the table set with food ...
... the Mouses naturally tuck in ...
It is then that the particular mayhem of this Tale seems to emerge - stimulated perhaps by some rather unconventional table manners ...
Ms Mouse seems initially unmoved by hubby's behaviour ...
... but after knocking the meal onto the floor ...
... she immediately understood the degree of fun that could be extracted from semi-orchestrated chaos, and happily began putting some of her own ideas into practice ...
... ideas appreciated by Mr M ...
As it does, plate smashing quickly turns to sword fighting with fire-irons ...
... which leads - as night does day - to broken plate pulverising ...
Such joys, of course, can only be concluded by table dancing, using remaining plates as castanets ...
But there's more ...
Totally captivating .. though I have the strangest feeling, Greg, that there'll be fewer comments for this post than the last one. What do you reckon?
Okay, bring on the deafening silence.
I am now thoroughly traumatized
ReplyDeleteSomeone has to break the silence!
ReplyDeleteThanks for resurrecting that ballet: it's years since I saw and enjoyed it, a brilliant piece of entertainment. You're not alone in appreciating it!
Any dance that requires the male dancer to wear a costume that hides his arms, legs and butt seems to miss the point of watching ballet.
ReplyDeleteshe's amazing. even when lame renee zelwegger plays her...
ReplyDeleteTotally charming! And I loved without reservation the movie with Renee Zellwinger playing Miss Potter.
ReplyDeleteCharm in buckets!!
Thanks for an off topic post.
John Burns
Thoroughly enjoyable - thanks.
ReplyDeleteOh! I love it.
ReplyDeleteThe costumes, with their tails conveniently tied at the waist, the food flinging, the music... I wasn't that impressed with their technical skill, but I'll give allowances for obstructive costumes.
Brilliant! So small. I wish I were clever enough to make it full screen. And I still like Jonas.
ReplyDeletewell, I will comment. I have never seen this, is the video available? beautiful costumes, and I have always loved the stories....I love you blog, lovely culture and lovely boys...I dream my life would be filed with these things. Thank You.
ReplyDeleteNWS,
ReplyDeleteperhaps I am now quietly ending the 'deafening silence' your mentioning Potter and her stories, brings back many, many but vague memories of my childhood,
Would love to see a play, ballet mentioned...
hey anon
ReplyDeletethere's an end to your traumatization - i'm doing a jay post later today - relief is in sight! LOL
hey sticks
ReplyDeletethanks fro breaking the silence - much appreciated
i lived in london as a kid in the 1970s and saw early casts - with fred ashton, wayne sleep and michael coleman - when i've drifted into a more cynical frame of mind this snaps me back
there's a lot of the ballet at this website if you're interested:
http://www.youtube.com/user/quillerpen
take care, nick
hey alan
ReplyDeletei guess you are more of the roberto bolle school of dancing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-n-hUnFt3U
i can happily do both - i am bi-balletic! impressive, yes?
hope things are good, nick
hey ber
ReplyDeleteyes, renee zelwegger did a good job - it would have been easy to sentimentalise beatrix potter and she avoided this
take care, nick
hey ber
ReplyDeleteyes, renee zelwegger did a good job - it would have been easy to sentimentalise beatrix potter and she avoided this
take care, nick
hey anon,
ReplyDeleteglad you enjoyed it!
take care, nick
hey john burns
ReplyDeleteexactly what i was saying in my last comment!
so back to on topic posts - jay is first off the rank!
yes?
take care, nick
hey derek
ReplyDeletei think they p[layed out fantasies we all have about chucking food about - well, every now and then!
as i mentioned a comment or two ago i saw original-ish casts as a kid in london - and have seen better dancing but the work holds up just by it's charm and beauty - thank goodness
take care, nick
hey anon
ReplyDeleteyeah, how do you make it bigger?
does anyone know?
cos blogger has the most pathetically small screens!
good to say it!
i must be dumbing out here but not sure what the 'Jonas' ref. is?
hey charles
ReplyDeletei just google checked and the video is widely available on DVD
and there are lots of the mostly early royal ballet version at:
http://www.youtube.com/user/quillerpen
and gals you like the blog - thanks very much for the appreciation
and back to normal business (jay and his like) - but planning excursions away soon!
best, nick
hey beaumac39
ReplyDeleteyes, i think the ballet is a conduit back to childhood - or one i imagined i had or would like to have had - well, had in part!
lots of the ballet has been uploaded here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/quillerpen
and thanks for adding to the noise in the potential of deafening silence!
best, nick
This is way, way, beyond GAY.
ReplyDeleteI can understand tramatized comment one moment your looking at mice doing ballet...... and then you see naked men
hey anon
ReplyDeleteyep, a big gear change - and then more naked guys again - like in life!
take care, nick
LOL Nick - looks like you were wrong about the deafening silence!
ReplyDeleteAll I can say is - errr .... kinda interesting. lol
Gotta go with the comment about the fella that proclaimed that any dancer that has his "goods" and man-ass covered so ya can't see it is NOT a good thing!
But I never did say I was cultured! lol
hey greg
ReplyDeleteprobably shuld start all posts with 'Now, This Post Will Definitely Not Be For Everyone - Not At All, At All'!!!
works!
or i'm getting sympathy comments, nah, i'm not such a pessimist!
cya, nick