Like everything else, ballet always comes back to Sweet Valley

The Bolshoi Ballet is in town, at the Kennedy Center performing Coppelia. I'm somewhat tempted to see it; partly because I've become vaguely interested in ballet since seeing some during my Russia trip last summer, and partly because of Coppelia. I read a book that involved that ballet years ago. Of course, that book was...Sweet Valley Twins #2: Teacher's Pet.

I am high-class, all the way.

In the book, Elizabeth and Jessica are in ballet together, and their class is putting on part of Coppelia in a recital. Elizabeth gets the most coveted role even though Jessica is the better dancer. And Amy Sutton steals the doll (Coppelia, I guess?) because she sucks at dancing, and after stealing the doll, she took the role of the doll.

I confess that I'm kind of intrigued to see how the actual ballet lines up with the plot as I remember it. It's always bizarre when something completely low-brow teaches you about actual culture. Or, like with the Outlander series, when a trashy romance novel teaches me about Scottish history. Everything I know about the Jacobite rebellions, I learned from Diana Gabaldon.

It's encouraging, really. I'm not, like, killing my brain by reading stuff. It might spark a completely unexpected interest.

It's really not all about fashion...thankfully

I’m not big into fashion. (If you saw the way I normally dress, this would be readily apparent.) I’m not even that interested in celebrity fashion. Sure, I’ll look at the “Best Dressed” list for the Oscars and whatnot, but I don’t watch all the red carpet stuff.

Yet I am addicted to Go Fug Yourself. Less for the fashion, more for their awesome commentary. And for the fact that they have George Clooney as an intern. (I now exclusively think of him as “Intern George.”) I love the descriptions of soap opera plots and memories of tv plots from the early 90s.

And even though my love for that site was long ago cemented, they post an entry that includes the video of the big dance scene in She’s All That, which I love, to the point that if I see that SAT is on tv, I will make sure I am watching at the right time to see that scene. That scene really does make me happy.

The older "Dancing in the Dark"

I watched The Band Wagon tonight, starring Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse. Holy crow. The plot was, not surprisingly, not the most logical thing--but better than the show within the movie, which purported to be about a writer who writes both children's books (or something) and gory murder mysteries, but included a bunch of totally random songs (e.g., that triplets song, "Louisiana Hayride")--but it had Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse dancing, so I can't complain too much. I want to do this:



(And also, you know, have Cyd Charisse's body. They're about equally attainable.)

Oh, and kudos to the movie for acknowledging the age gap between the leads! Woo!

Gotta dance

I was sad to hear about the death of Cyd Charisse the other day. (Which, duh. I mean, who's happy to hear that someone died? Except, you know, for Osama bin Laden or someone.) There was a nice tribute to her in today's Post. My first exposure to her (...and Gene Kelly, now that I think about it) (well, except maybe on The Muppet Show) was the movie Brigadoon. Honestly, I remember more about an outfit she wore in that than anything else.

Then, at some point, I saw Singin' in the Rain. Which, my God. She's only in the "Broadway Melody" sequence, which has nothing to do with the plot of the movie but is an excuse for a 20 minute dance interlude. At first it kind of annoyed me, but I've really grown to appreciate it. This is the second part of the sequence, which starts with a lovely shot of those $5 million legs...



(And while not really on-topic, can I just say that the look Gene Kelly gives her at around 4:30 totally makes me melt? Holy crow. Seriously, in my version of heaven, I get to dance with Gene Kelly. And since it's heaven, I'm really good and can keep up with him. Love him.)

I'm happy to see the return of movie musicals, and am super excited for Mamma Mia this summer, but we'll never see the likes of Astaire, Rogers, Kelly, and Charisse again, methinks.