Adventures of a Gringa

Collapse

I've kept in touch with the Ballet de Santa Teresa, where I was a volunteer while I lived in Rio. They send me updates and keep former volunteers in the loop, which is nice to be able to see how things are going. But last night I received really bad news. 

The staff sent out a series of images to the listserv, and this was the first one:

See where the blue table is? There used to be a wall and a hill back there. Apparently, the wall completely fell apart and there was a landslide, bringing down so much debris that the school had to be closed.

Classes are temporarily being held at a local cultural center, but they're hoping to find a facility to move to until they figure out what will happen to the wrecked school. Since as usual, funds are extremely low, they are currently looking for help, so the kids still have somewhere to go.

If you know of a potential facility that the ballet could use (ideally in the vicinity of Santa Teresa or Centro), or advice about how they should proceed, please email balletdesantateresa at hotmail dot com. I'm sure they'd welcome donations, too. Now more than ever, they are in desperate need of help.

Only When I Dance

I'd seen a preview for this documentary awhile back and put it on my list of movies to see. Then, a reader sent me on the videos below that just came out, and I started doing some research. The film combines some of the things I'm most passionate about, and I was getting teary just watching clips.

Only When I Dance is a film about two teenage ballet dancers from the slums of Rio de Janeiro trying to make it in the professional dance world. Though part of the film takes place in favelas, the plot centers on the two dancers and their families, and the families' struggle to help their children pursue their dream. According to the website, the movie is being screened at various film festivals around the world, including my beloved Rio film festival. (I am so sad to miss it this year) The bad news is, there's no date set for a US release, since it appears it hasn't been picked up yet. Get on it, guys! I beg of you. This movie looks amazing!

Hope, from Rio to Miami

Naturally, I'd find out about this amazing school after moving back from Rio, but I'm glad that it's now at least on my radar. Thanks to Kacie for sending this to me!

UPDATE: The Miami Herald published a second story about the program today with a photo gallery of the kids here.

The Miami City Ballet has a scholarship program for children from the Escola de Dança Alice Arja, a professional dance school near Barra that trains a combination of paying students and favela kids. Alice Arja was trained in Brazil, the US, and Cuba, and has run the school since 1989, producing students who have gone on to join major companies in Brazil and Europe, and to study at professional schools around the world.

Ms. Arja sets aside half of the spots at the school for scholarship students, and has set up a partnership with the Miami City Ballet to send the most talented students to the US to take a summer intensive there. This year, 23 of her students were accepted into the program, a sizable fraction of the 215 total students in the entire summer intensive from all over the US and the world. One of the Brazilian students even won an apprenticeship with the Miami City Ballet, and will stay in the US to dance with them.

While the video feature from the Miami Herald drums away at how "needy" the children are (they live in cardboard boxes! without water! or electricity!), the bottom line is that this is an amazing and unique program that allows kids with no financial resources to have the opportunity of a lifetime to train in another country. [Check out the full story from the Miami Herald here, and watch the accompanying video below.]

The MH video wasn't spectacularly done, but what I really loved was finding videos of one of the Brazilian students dancing at the program this year (with hushed, awed commentary in Portuguese). See parts 2 & 3 of the piece here and here.

the worst place to be

After the past few weeks, I've decided my favorite place to people watch in Rio is the international arrivals gate at the airport, and the absolute worst is at the city's professional ballet school.

I've been volunteering at a ballet NGO since I moved here, and I've been training a group of kids since last March to audition for the state ballet school, one of the best in the country that feeds right into the city's ballet company. This week they're holding auditions, and one of my students asked me to go with her, since her mom couldn't go. So it began.

in memorium

I found out by way of a Facebook message last night that one of my favorite ballet teachers from when I was growing up passed away at age 42 on January 10th, after complications from heart surgery.

Jonathan was one of my most influential teachers, who not only taught me an entirely different style of ballet but a new outlook on life, especially since my high school years weren´t the best of times. He was always a breath of fresh air, was always smiling and positive (how he managed that teaching a bunch of hormonal high school girls, I´ll never know), and always seemed to be at peace with the world. Oh, and of course, he was a beautiful, beautiful dancer. He used to dance for Alvin Ailey.

My heart goes out to his family, friends, and students. We will all miss you so much.

like the good old days

Today I went into the city with my mom and aunt in a tradition we usually do several times a year, so we had some catching up to do. We went out to lunch and then went to the ballet, as per usual. This time we went to Rosa Mexicano, which I have to say was surprisingly beautiful with amazing food, even though it's a chain. Then we saw American Ballet Theater do "La Bayadere," a kind of cracked-out full-length ballet that takes place in India. It had some of my favorite dancers, like Paloma Herrera, who has the most beautiful feet I've ever seen, and Angel Correa, a tiny Spanish man. I haven't been to a weekday matinee in a long time, maybe never, so I was a little surprised by the zillions of "ladies that lunch" who showed up, most of them over the age of 50 from the suburbs. I was also surprised by what a dump Lincoln Center is at the moment, since they're renovating and it's basically a big construction site. Anyway, we had a good time.

As it turns out, I really am going to be a New York girl this summer, since I just got a temp job in the city. I will not be discussing it here as I cannot afford to be dooced, but it is for a really great NGO in one of my favorite neighborhoods in Manhattan. So I'm actually really excited, even though it is an office job. I'm going to suck it up so I can afford to go back to Brazil.

The Brazilian Nutcracker

I have no single word to describe Rio's Ballet do Theatro Municipal's Nutcracker other than lovely.

Eli and I got all dressed up and went to the theater, undoubtedly one of my favorite places in the city (though it's currently under construction in some parts) and as I expected, though I was really dressed up I wasn't overdressed--Brazilians go all out, especially for a special occasion. There were tons and tons of kids who were pretty annoying, but I guess that is true of any Nutcracker.

The production itself was really geared towards kids, I thought, but it was a really beautiful production with great sets and stunning costumes (I don't think I've ever seen such elaborate gowns for the party scene in any other production. Even in pretend life Brazilians have to go all out with their clothes). The staging was based on the original choreography, albeit with a few tweaks (the Snow Queen danced a pas de deux with some dubious lifts that showed her crotch far too often to the audience. It's kind of an unspoken rule in ballet that female crotch display should be kept to a minimum).

Anyway, it wasn't New York City Ballet but it was really really lovely. Clara was played by this super carioca morena, who was probably no older than 14 with the most incredible extension in the world. I believe the Sugar Plum Fairy and her cavelier were played by two guest performers, who are Brazilian but dance for the Royal Ballet in London (the cast changes every day and you have to buy programs which don't list casts by dates). As in soccer, ballet dancers tend to go abroad to be able to make a living. Anyway, if they were in fact who we saw they were gorgeous; the Sugar Plum was the most amazing turner and did these insane foutees without opening and closing her arms. Also, a lot of the soloists had ridiculously beautiful feet, and even the men, like the Cavelier, had incredible feet.

I spent the whole time in a happy daze, and Eliseu seemed to enjoy it to (he discovered that the drummer from "Brazil's most famous rock band" was sitting next to him and made friends).

I especially liked how they used the children from the professional school in the production, though I was a little dubious of putting the 12 and 13 year-olds on pointe for the party scene, but OK. The mice were the cutest ones I've ever seen and were absolutely tiny and Eliseu giggled through the entire battle scene. Mother Ginger had a huge scary fake head but was pretty fun-looking and her Polischenells (?) were dressed like gumdrops, which were possibly the cutest costumes ever.

I was also a big fan of the Russian dance, which had a huge cast dressed in actual Russian peasant costumes with--wait for it--fluorescent blue and orange character BOOTS. Oh Brazilians.

The ballet was really true to the original production and I loved them for that, since I hate productions that mess with the story (even ABT's version is a little annoying). It was a real, amazing, traditional Nutcracker.

To me, the Nutcracker never gets old. It was the perfect night.