A Maltese balcony
It’s been very strange going somewhere without having to play for class, as nearly every ‘holiday’ I’ve had in the last 10 years has had some element of work attached to it. I’d never been to Malta before, and the weather looked nice. Just my kind of place, and completely photogenic – see the Malta gallery. I could get used to this holiday thing..
Chelsea Reach at sunset
Popped into Tate Britain because it’s there. I still love Work No. 850 and wish it was permanent. I’m not sure why, or why I could talk elegiacly about it far more than I could of the Bacon or Turner Prize 2008 exhibitions which I breezed through somewhat dutifully. I rather liked Cathy Wilkes’ installation. It made me laugh, but I wasn’t quite sure whether that was the point, and that’s where so much contemporary art of any type loses me.
On the way back, the sun was doing its thing over the western end of the river, a Turneresque moment if ever there was one.
A Turneresque sunset
Every year on the August Bank Holiday this wonderful procession leaves the temple at the end of our road. I finally got my act together and took my video camera. It won’t make it to Cannes, but it gives you an idea…
Anenské Nam?stí from the ballet studios
The sixth year running, and the International Ballet Masterclasses in Prague are still as exhilarating as ever. Last night, Beatrice Knop told us the story of how she got through the preliminaries of the Prix de Lausanne before the (Berlin) wall came down, and how she didn’t know what to do when it was announced she was going to Tokyo – because she hadn’t got any money for per diems, quite apart from anything else. This was after the story of her first performance of Giselle, when she came up from the (trap-door) grave facing the back of the stage instead of the front because no-one under the stage could remember where front was. Yat Sen Chang arrives tonight, Tamara Rojo next week. It’s a hard life, eh? Pictures in the Prague 2008 gallery.
This week got better as it went on, and ended definitely upbeat with a visit to the education day at the London International Music Show at Excel. Music technology just gets better and better too: as Arthur C. Clarke would say, it’s advanced enough now to be indistinguishable from magic. Heartening to see just how vibrant and asborbing the world of music-making continues to be – I thought we’d become a world of consumers, voyeurs and record-collectors, but no, the place was crammed full of teenagers all doing stuff with real and virtual instruments, and the music publishers’ stands were heaving with new books, and instructional CDs & DVDs.
But the unexpected highlight was the keynote by Sir Ken Robinson . Entertaining, inspiring, mind-blowing, it was worth the trek to Royal Victoria Dock just for this short presentation. We sat, all of us, young and old, on the cold concrete floor of the cavernous ‘Festival Field’ for, I guess, 45 minutes, completely captivated. For a taste, read ‘Take a chance…let them dance‘, a short transcript of a similar address on creativity and education, which, it so happens, includes the most wonderful story about how Gillian Lynne became a dancer
As this end of London is so photogenic, I took a few pics for my LIMS 2008 gallery.
To Battersea Park for coffee. Plants and parks don’t make for terribly exciting viewing, but it’s difficult to stop yourself once you’ve got a camera and somewhere to stick the pictures afterwards. See the Battersea Park Spring 08 gallery.
I did get to see George in the evening, when I went to see Dan & Kei for dinner. Kei produced one of her fantastic nabe dishes. The last time I had this was in the Four Seasons in Tokyo, so it felt wonderfully decadent to be able to nip down to Raynes Park to do the same.
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