Happy 2015: A new year’s ramble about Black Swan and other ballet anomalies
As it’s the first day of a new year, I’ve decided to do something about one of the greatest annoyances in my list of ballet-pianist anxieties: the Black Swan female…
Confessions of an anxious ballet pianist day #25: 9/8
I was tempted to put the ballet-class equivalent of the Holy Family on the 25th of this advent calendar, to finish off the series with a heart-warming sentimental twist that…
Confessions of an anxious ballet pianist day #24: Happy birthday
Special occasions make me nervous. Take birthdays, for example. It’s someone’s birthday, and so one of the dancers comes up before class and says “Can you play happy birthday for…
Confessions of an anxious ballet pianist day #23: Metre-less counts
An absence of metre is kind of cool. It’s like decorating a room white, having no books or furniture, and hanging Malevich’s White on White on the wall. You have…
Confessions of an anxious ballet pianist day #22: Inappropriate music choices
When I say inappropriate, I don’t mean in 4/4 rather than 3/4, or a barcarole instead of a mazurka. I mean inappropriate in the sense of “Oh no. Let the…
Confessions of an anxious ballet pianist day #21: The grand battement “march”
Ballet classes seem to be full of things that aren’t quite what they should be: polonaises that are really boleros, waltzes that are mazurkas, mazurkas that sound like minuets, rhumbas…