Momto6inIN Posted November 11, 2020 Share Posted November 11, 2020 Over quarantine we bought a ballet video to do some PE here at home, and the girls loved it. So then we got A Child's Introduction to Ballet for our morning meeting time and just got done reading that. I'd love to watch a good ballet online somewhere with them, but as an uncultured hick from the sticks, I have no idea what would be a good one to watch or what would be appropriate for young girls. I know operas can get kinda bawdy sometimes - are ballets like that? I also don't want to spend 2 hours watching it - a half hour or hour would be perfect. Any suggestions for me? Thanks! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little Green Leaves Posted November 11, 2020 Share Posted November 11, 2020 I don't have any links, but I'd say the Nutcracker, Swan Lake, and Firebird all have kid-friendly plots. I took ballet lessons as a little girl and I remember that we put on productions of each of those. They're all a bit long, but maybe you could get a picture book to explain the story, and then show your kids clips of the ballet? Sorry, I don't know if your kids are past the age of picture books. I guess I'm thinking out loud about what I'd like to do for my kids! Thanks for starting this thread. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted November 11, 2020 Share Posted November 11, 2020 There's a wonderful nutcracker version with McCauley Caulkin (Home Alone) that my ds LOVES. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Tick Posted November 11, 2020 Share Posted November 11, 2020 (edited) My suggestion is that you get something like The Child's Introduction to Ballet. It has summaries of the stories behind famous ballets along with music samples (on cd, might have to sit in the car to listen...) THEN find some specific dances on YouTube. for instance, the Cygnet Dance from Swan Lake is interesting and beautiful and clearly incredibly difficult! Another suggestion would be the Doll Dance from Coppellia. These are all just a few minutes long, but they give you a feel for the excitement and will help you build up stamina to watch the whole thing. 😄 My dd suggests that you might watch Carnival of the Animals, this version is just over 30 minutes. This time of year Nutcracker is popular. The story is thin, but the ballet is famous for the dances. The first act is mostly story and the second act is fantastical dances from the Land of the Sugar Plum Fairy. The Mother Ginger Dance is often performed by a male dancer which can add to the humor of it. I think you will find ballet not nearly as boring as you are expecting. I did! Ballet is not as bawdy as opera, although it is very physical and the customers are tight, so there is that. Edited November 11, 2020 by SusanC Doh! You already have the book! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momto6inIN Posted November 11, 2020 Author Share Posted November 11, 2020 1 hour ago, PeterPan said: There's a wonderful nutcracker version with McCauley Caulkin (Home Alone) that my ds LOVES. Macauley Caulkin does ballet??? Who knew! Lol 39 minutes ago, SusanC said: My suggestion is that you get something like The Child's Introduction to Ballet. It has summaries of the stories behind famous ballets along with music samples (on cd, might have to sit in the car to listen...) THEN find some specific dances on YouTube. for instance, the Cygnet Dance from Swan Lake is interesting and beautiful and clearly incredibly difficult! Another suggestion would be the Doll Dance from Coppellia. These are all just a few minutes long, but they give you a feel for the excitement and will help you build up stamina to watch the whole thing. 😄 My dd suggests that you might watch Carnival of the Animals, this version is just over 30 minutes. This time of year Nutcracker is popular. The story is thin, but the ballet is famous for the dances. The first act is mostly story and the second act is fantastical dances from the Land of the Sugar Plum Fairy. The Mother Ginger Dance is often performed by a male dancer which can add to the humor of it. I think you will find ballet not nearly as boring as you are expecting. I did! Ballet is not as bawdy as opera, although it is very physical and the customers are tight, so there is that. Yes, we googled for short clips after reading parts of the Child's Ballet book, and we really enjoyed those! But for a longer selection, I wasn't sure what to google and didn't want to miss any really great ones just because I don't know who/what to search for, iykwim. I will look at Carnival of the Animals, thanks! I'm ok with tights, but since so many of the story lines were romances, I didn't know how much the dancers play up the kissing scenes and whatnot. We watched a clip of Romeo and Juliet that was ... pretty steamy and passionate ... and I didn't want to stumble onto something even more so without knowing it! 😛 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
historically accurate Posted November 11, 2020 Share Posted November 11, 2020 My 13 year old really enjoyed a Romeo and Juliet ballet after she read a modern-day translation of R&J earlier this year. It was on PBS. We will be tackling the original later for two kids this year for 8th & 9th grades. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted November 11, 2020 Share Posted November 11, 2020 (edited) 2 hours ago, SusanC said: ...get something like The Child's Introduction to Ballet. It has summaries of the stories behind famous ballets along with music samples... THEN find some specific dances on YouTube. for instance, the Cygnet Dance from Swan Lake... the Doll Dance from Coppellia. These are all just a few minutes long, but they give you a feel for the excitement and will help you build up stamina to watch the whole thing... My dd suggests that you might watch Carnival of the Animals... Totally agree with @SusanC on how to approach classical ballet. 😄 You might also enjoy the very short (5 min) "The Four Swans," which is a comedic and athletic version of the Cynet Dance (linked by SusanC) performed by male dancers in female costume. Also, the very short (6 min.) Mistake Waltz. These are short, humorous pieces, and definitely show how difficult some of the moves are, and how difficult it is to perform in unison -- or to be the one performer purposely out of unison -- so that you'll really appreciate those aspects when you watch a full ballet. Edited November 11, 2020 by Lori D. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Publia Posted November 12, 2020 Share Posted November 12, 2020 My first thought on short ballets is one of the acts of Jewels by George Balanchine. “Diamonds” is probably the place to start if you’re just doing one. But there’s no story to Jewels, and I think that is a deficiency if you’re using it for an introduction to ballet. If you go for Jewels, the version that has Ulyana Lopatkina in it is excellent. Other short options might be a graduation performance from the Vaganova Ballet Academy or a production of Peter and the Wolf (which is pretty frequently done as a children’s ballet, although it was not written for that). If you might consider full-length options—it’s worth your time!—these are my favorites and they’re all fine for any age. I don’t think that any are available for free online, but maybe the library has a copy you can borrow: Swan Lake (Lopatkina) Sleeping Beauty (Hallberg/Zakharova) Marco Spada (Hallberg/Obraztsova) Don Quixote (Novikova/Sarafanov) Not a ballet, but Ballerina by Bertrand Normand is a well-done documentary. It follows around some of the principals at the Kirov (Mariinsky) and gives a taste of how hard dancers at that level work. This is a useful link to have for the story lines: https://www.mariinsky.ru/en/playbill/repertoire/ballet/ 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoo Keeper Posted November 13, 2020 Share Posted November 13, 2020 When my daughter went through her ballet phase, she watched these two from American Ballet Theater over and over and over... The Dream and Don Quixote (Baryshnikov is amazing! ) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted November 13, 2020 Share Posted November 13, 2020 Ooo! And don't forget the uniquely American contemporary dance/ballet: Rodeo (pronounced roe DAY oh), set to Aaron Copeland music. Here's scene 1 from a 1970s American Ballet production. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quarter Note Posted November 13, 2020 Share Posted November 13, 2020 I can't find this online, but if you can get this Royal Ballet production of the Nutcracker from your library, it's wonderful. We LOVE this production and watch it multiple times every Christmas. By the way, my kids (11 and 9) are crazy about opera. Not all are "bawdy". I hope you and your family will give opera a chance, too! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momto6inIN Posted November 13, 2020 Author Share Posted November 13, 2020 I envy all of you with good libraries ... we live in a small rural town of about 1100 people and the library is pretty good at keeping stocked with James Patterson and Danielle Steel, but that's about it 😉 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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