Tours en l'air organizes ballet-themed escorted holidays to see the best companies perform great ballets in beautiful places. You can join a trip from anywhere. A highly knowledgeable balletomane who has enjoyed 100s of performances in over 20 cities around the world,I speak English, French, and German, and am a Travel Industry Council of Ontario certified Travel Counsellor. I also teach ballet appreciation courses.
For a taste of what our trips are like, follow https://www.facebook.com/toursenlair/ on facebook.
Tours en l'air Ballet Holidays are offered in partnership with CWT Victor Travel, 101 - 8800 Dufferin Street, Concord, ON L4K 0C5, 416-736-6010, TICO # 1892647

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Wednesday, August 20, 2014

How to get more out of ballet

August newsletter. Don't miss out on the hottest ballet news! Join the Tours en l'air mailing list by entering your email address in the window to the right, then following the prompts.
Logo - enable picture display on your mailer  Tours en l'air

 Dear Balletomane, Once again I had an extraordinary time seeing New York City Ballet in Saratoga Springs (you really MUST go next year) and also enjoyed the international ballet galas in Saint-Sauveur (ditto).
 In this newsletter:
  1. **VERY IMPORTANT**: Tours en l'air 2014-15 season: PLEASE VOTE
  2. Ballet Appreciation Courses
  3. Tours en l'air EXCLUSIVE invitation from Ballet Jörgen
  4. Ballet Cinema Broadcasts
  5. National Ballet of Canada news
  6. Discounts on theatrical performances
  7. Rollicking Story of the English Language Course
  8. Videos
Tours en l'air 2014-15 season: PLEASE VOTE
Thank you to those of you who let me know which ballet trips you're interested in for next year. I still need many more people to express an interest in order to pursue any of the trips. Remember, you are not committing to anything. The trips may seem far off, but tickets have to be put on hold well in advance.
Please check out the full list of offerings and let me know which ones you might possibly be interested in/available for:
At the moment, these are the most popular:
Munich and Stuttgart end April 2015
London and Edinburgh February 2015
New York June 2015 (Royal Ballet and American Ballet Theatre)
I am actually surprised I haven't had more interest in the January trip to New York. Maybe you didn't notice that it's an opportunity to see three of the world's top companies in one week without having to cross the Atlantic:
Saturday 17 January - Saturday 24 January 2015
New York
5 performances
Royal Danish Ballet Principals and Soloists:
Bournonville Excerpts
New York City Ballet:
Serenade, Agon, Symphony in C (all Balanchine)
Symphonic Dances (Martins), The Cage, Andantino (both Robbins)
 
Cortege Hongrois (Balanchine) Donizetti Variations, La Valse, Chaconne (all Balanchine)  
Mariinsky Ballet:
Cinderella (Ratmansky) TO BE CONFIRMED
If you yourself want to go on one of these trips, try drumming up some enthusiasm amongst your friends. We had a group of four ladies who had been friends since university who used the San Francisco trip as a kind of reunion. If you have children or grandchildren who are into ballet, why not offer them a ballet trip as an essential part of their training?
Ballet Appreciation Courses
This fall I am offering ballet appreciation courses in Ottawa, Whitby and Toronto:
“Best of Ballet” survey course
Courses focusing on the National Ballet of Canada performances and Bolshoi and Royal Ballet live broadcasts
In-depth History of Ballet II – Fokine, Nijinsky, and Diaghilev's Ballets Russes course (no pre-requisite required) covers an essential period that all balletomanes should know about, and will help you get so much more out of John Neumeier's Nijinsky
For full details, please click here: http://toursenlair.blogspot.ca/p/ballet-appreciation-courses.html

Tours en l'air EXCLUSIVE invitation
Canada's Ballet Jörgen begins its coast-to-coast tour of Cinderella this September. 
As a special treat to thank you for being on the Tours en l'air mailing list, I have arranged for us to attend a free open rehearsal just for Tours en l'air on the afternoon of Monday, September 15 at their studios at George Brown College in Toronto.  Artistic Director Bengt Jörgen will speak on the ballet and its history. Please RSVP to me by August 30. Huge thanks to Ballet Jörgen for the invitation.
Ballet Cinema Broadcasts
For listings for the Bolshoi and Royal Ballet in Canada, as well as Matthew Bourne's Sleeping Beauty and the Royal Winnipeg Ballet's Moulin Rouge, click here: Bolshoi, Royal Ballet broadcasts in Canada 2014-15
For listings for the Bolshoi and Royal Ballet in the US, click here: Bolshoi & Royal Ballet Cinema Broadcasts in the US 2014-15
The Royal Ballet's The Winter's Tale will not be shown in Canada, but if you live near the border or are a snowbird, you may be in luck. Here's how to find a venue near you: Royal Ballet Winter's Tale cinema broadcast in North America
National Ballet of Canada news
Principal Dancers Guillaume Côté and Heather Ogden are expecting their first baby, due in December.
The company has made a programming change to its June mixed bill: Alexei Ratmansky's Shostakovich Trilogy (parts 1 and 3) will replace his Tempest. Also on the program is Guillaume Côté's Being and Nothingness, as previously announced.
Discounts on theatrical performances
As a valued member of the Tours en l'air mailing list, you are entitled to discounts on many productions in the Greater Toronto area, including Cirque du Soleil, Ross Petty's Cinderella family musical, Mirvish productions and more. Email me for details.
Rollicking Story of the English Language Course
This course, described by one of my students as "the best course I've ever taken", is a very entertaining and informative look at how English came to be the way it is. I am offering it in three venues this fall: Kitchener-Waterloo, U of T School of Continuing Studies, and the Goethe Insititute. For more information: http://katherinebarber.blogspot.ca/p/history-of-english-language-courses.html
Videos:
Vail International Dance Festival
This fabulous festival has been churning out so many outstanding videos featuring Tiler Peck, Robbie Fairchild, Herman Cornejo and others that all I can do is recommend that you subscribe to their entire Youtube channel and check them out:
And do think about whether you might want to go on a ballet trip to Vail sometime!

New York City Ballet promo video
Featuring some of the dancers and pieces the June Tours en l'air group enjoyed so much.
Nicolas Le Riche Farewell livestream
If you missed this live, you can still see it here:
Joffrey Ballet Swan Lake rehearsal live stream THIS THURSDAY
 Watch LIVE! Thursday August 21 at 11:30 am Central Time (12:30 pm Eastern) LIVE STREAM of Christopher Wheeldon rehearsing his "Swan Lake" with the Joffrey dancers. youtube.com/user/TheJoffreyBallet
San Francisco Ballet's Maria Kochetkova and Joan Boada
in Yuri Possokhov's Francesca da Rimini (which the 2013 San Francisco Tours en l'air group saw) as filmed by ... a robot: Ballet and ... robots?


And finally, for a laugh, the same diminutive Maria Kochetkova with Joffrey Ballet's 6' 6" Fabrice Calmels. Those of you who met Fabrice on our Chicago trip or saw Maria on one of our San Francisco trips will particularly enjoy this:


 Photo: Great time at Festival Ballet Gala here is a funny picture of me and Maria Kochetkova follow her she is truly amazing ��
Please forward this newsletter to a friend!
Sincerely,
Katherine Barber
Tours en l'air
201 Hanson St, Toronto, ON Canada M4C 1A7 416.693.4496
BALLET MAKES LIFE BETTER
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Tuesday, August 19, 2014

David Hallberg off for foot surgery

DAVID HALLBERG TO WITHDRAW
FROM UPCOMING PERFORMANCES WITH
AMERICAN BALLET THEATRE DUE TO INJURY


            Due to a recurring foot injury requiring surgery, American Ballet Theatre Principal Dancer David Hallberg will withdraw from upcoming performances with the Company this Fall, it was announced today by Kevin McKenzie, Artistic Director. 
            In addition to ABT’s Fall Season at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center, Hallberg was scheduled to perform on tour with the Company in Swan Lake at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre in Brisbane, Australia and in Fancy Free at the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago, Illinois. He was also to have danced with the Bolshoi in Moscow and on a Japanese tour in November, and he was to have been a guest at the Tokyo Ballet and at the Mikhailovsky Theatre in St. Petersburg. He is expected to return to performing in 2015.
            "It is with great regret that I have to step off the stage for this period of recovery," said David Hallberg. "But as an artist that relies on his body as his instrument, my main priority is to dance in full health and take the time needed to perform at that level again." 
            For more information on American Ballet Theatre, please visit www.abt.org.

If you love ballet, please check out my season of outstanding ballet trips by clicking here.

GET MORE BALLET OUT OF LIFE WITH TOURS EN L'AIR

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The long and the short of ballet


Photo: Great time at Festival Ballet Gala here is a funny picture of me and Maria Kochetkova follow her she is truly amazing 󾌰



San Francisco Ballet's Maria Kochetkova (5 foot nothing) and Joffrey Ballet's Fabrice Calmels (6 foot 6).


If you love ballet, please check out my season of outstanding ballet trips by clicking here.

GET MORE BALLET OUT OF LIFE WITH TOURS EN L'AIR

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Monday, August 18, 2014

Wheeldon Swan Lake rehearsal live stream from Joffrey Ballet

Watch LIVE! Thursday August 21 at 11:30 am Central Time (12:30 pm Eastern) Joffrey hosts a LIVE STREAM of Christopher Wheeldon rehearsing his "Swan Lake" with the Joffrey dancers. 
YouTube page: youtube.com/user/TheJoffreyBallet
According to Joffrey, this will be "available for a short time" on their YouTube page after the livestream.






If you love ballet, please check out my season of outstanding ballet trips by clicking here.

GET MORE BALLET OUT OF LIFE WITH TOURS EN L'AIR

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Follow me on twitter: @thewordlady
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National Ballet School offers free ballet classes for Culture Days

Culture Days

September 27 – 28, 2014
Every year Canada's National Ballet School has been a proud participant of Culture Days, offering Observation Classes and free dance classes to the wider community.

No need to register to observe these classes:

Betty Oliphant Theatre, 404 Jarvis Street

Ballet Classes on Sunday, September 28
10:00-11:00 AM Beginner Ballet – 6-8 years
10:00-11:15 AM Ballet – 9-12 years
11:30-12:45 PM Adult Ballet – 18+
11:30-12:45 PM Ballet Master Class – 13+

Registration for class participation opens August 11: Click here

 

If you love ballet, please check out my season of outstanding ballet trips by clicking here.


GET MORE BALLET OUT OF LIFE WITH TOURS EN L'AIR
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Friday, August 15, 2014

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland casting New York



Alice Jack/
Knave of Hearts		 Lewis Carroll/ White Rabbit Mother/
Queen of Hearts		 Father/
King of Hearts		 Magician/ Mad Hatter Rajah/ Caterpillar   Duchess
Sept. 9 @ 730 pm Jillian Vanstone Guillaume Côté Dylan Tedaldi Greta Hodgkinson Rex Harrington  Robert Stephen McGee Maddox* Piotr Stanczyk*
Sept. 10 @ 730 pm Sonia Rodriguez Naoya Ebe  Robert Stephen Svetlana Lunkina* Rex Harrington  Jack Bertinshaw Harrison James* Jonathan Renna
Sept. 11 @ 730 pm Jillian Vanstone Guillaume Côté Dylan Tedaldi Greta Hodgkinson Rex Harrington  Robert Stephen McGee Maddox* Piotr Stanczyk*
Sept. 12 @ 8 pm Sonia Rodriguez Naoya Ebe  Robert Stephen Svetlana Lunkina* Rex Harrington  Jack Bertinshaw Harrison James* Jonathan Renna
Sept. 13 @ 2 pm Elena Lobsanova McGee Maddox Piotr Stanczyk Xiao Nan Yu Rex Harrington  Robert Stephen Patrick Lavoie  James Leja
Sept. 13 @ 8 pm Jillian Vanstone Guillaume Côté Dylan Tedaldi Greta Hodgkinson Rex Harrington  Robert Stephen McGee Maddox* Piotr Stanczyk*
Sept. 14 @ 2 pm Elena Lobsanova McGee Maddox Piotr Stanczyk Xiao Nan Yu Rex Harrington  Jack Bertinshaw Patrick Lavoie  James Leja

*Debut
All casting subject to change.  
Updated September 6, 2014
All performances by the National Ballet of Canada at the David H Koch Theater, New York. To purchase tickets:
http://tickets.davidhkochtheater.com/single/psDetail.aspx?psn=3960


If you love ballet, please check out my season of outstanding ballet trips by clicking here.

GET MORE BALLET OUT OF LIFE WITH TOURS EN L'AIR

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4-week Ballet Appreciation course in Whitby this September

Durham Lifelong Learning is offering a 4-week lecture series Tuesday September 2 - September 23, at Whitby Public Library, Dundas Street, Whitby, in Conference Room 1B. Hours are from 1:00 to 3:00 pm. Fee is $75 and this also entitles you to attend any other Durham Lifelong Learning program.
To register, please follow this link:
http://durhamlifelearn.org/registration.htm

"A Look at Ballet" - Katherine will enrich your experience of the four very different story ballets in the National Ballet of Canada's 2014-15 season with insights into ballet history, mime, and the distinctive styles of their choreographers, all giants of the ballet world.
Week 1 - Impressing the Tsar: The Grand Imperial Russian Style (The Sleeping Beauty) When you think "ballet", you see a regal-looking ballerina in a short tutu performing feats of virtuosity, and you owe that vision to Marius Petipa and his late-19th-century ballets.
Week 2 - Nijinsky: Ballet Discovers Sex (Afternoon of a Faun, Le Spectre de la Rose, Scheherazade) At the beginning of the 20th century, the tragic figure of Vaslav Nijinsky wowed the world with his performances in ballets created for the famous Ballets Russes, before descending into mental illness.
Week 3 - The Dark Night of the Soul (Manon) The 20th-century British choreographer Kenneth MacMillan pushed ballet in new directions, exploring its ability, like all great art forms, to portray the darker side of the human condition, in ballets renowned for their heart-wrenching duets.
Week 4 - Down the Rabbit Hole (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland) The 21st-century British choreographer Christopher Wheeldon pays homage to his classical heritage while producing a highly entertaining take on Lewis Carroll. 


If you love ballet, please check out my season of outstanding ballet trips by clicking here.

GET MORE BALLET OUT OF LIFE WITH TOURS EN L'AIR

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Follow me on twitter: @thewordlady
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National Ballet replaces Tempest with Shostakovich Trilogy

Shostakovich Trilogy  (Parts 1 and 3) in 2014/15 Season
The Tempest Postponed
August 15, 2014… Karen Kain, Artistic Director of The National Ballet of Canada, today announced that the company will be performing Alexei Ratmansky’s Shostakovich Trilogy (Parts 1 and 3) May 30 – June 7, 2015 in Toronto at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. The work will replace Mr. Ratmansky’s The Tempest, which is postponed to a future season, and will be presented as part of a mixed programme with Being and Nothingness by Choreographic Associate and Principal Dancer Guillaume Côté.
San Francisco Ballet in Shostakovich Trilogy:
http://youtu.be/D_FM21sbxt8
 

If you love ballet, please check out my season of outstanding ballet trips by clicking here.

GET MORE BALLET OUT OF LIFE WITH TOURS EN L'AIR

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Follow me on twitter: @thewordlady
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Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Michaela DePrince memoir

 


http://image4.archambault.ca/3/5/B/4/ACH003519633.1400095348.580x580.jpg

Taking Flight: From War Orphan to Star Ballerina by Michaela and Elaine DePrince will be available as of October 14 through the usual outlets. Hardback and Kindle editions available. 

DePrince, a war orphan in Sierra Leone, was adopted by an American couple and came to public notice as one of the dancers in First Position, the documentary film about the Youth America Grand Prix. After a year with Dance Theatre of Harlem, she joined Dutch National Ballet's junior company.

I find the Dutch version cover much more elegant than the English version. The title in Dutch translates as "They called me devil child" (!!)

In German, meanwhile, it's "I came with the desert wind: How my dream of being a ballerina came true"
Ich kam mit dem Wüstenwind -: Wie mein Traum vom Tanzen wahr wurde 


If you love ballet, please check out my season of outstanding ballet trips by clicking here.

GET MORE BALLET OUT OF LIFE WITH TOURS EN L'AIR

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Monday, August 11, 2014

New York City Ballet promo video

I love this short video promoting New York City Ballet's 2014-15 season. And don't forget, you can see this extraordinary company on a Tours en l'air trip in January, along with soloists from the Royal Danish Ballet dancing Bournonville (!) and possibly also the Mariinsky Ballet (to be confirmed). That's the opportunity to see 3 of the world's most famous ballet companies in just one week!

http://youtu.be/ik7F2td1eh0



If you love ballet, please check out my season of outstanding ballet trips by clicking here.

GET MORE BALLET OUT OF LIFE WITH TOURS EN L'AIR
Use the buttons below to share this post on facebook, twitter, by email, or other social media.
Follow me on twitter: @thewordlady
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Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Watch Mariinsky class online

The Telegraph  will be live streaming the Mariinsky Ballet in class on Wednesday August 6. Live stream begins at 1055 am London time, but the stream will be kept up for 7 days afterwards, so no need to get up early if you're in North America. 
Here's the link:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/dance/11011335/WATCH-the-Mariinsky-Ballet-in-class.html
If you love ballet, please check out my season of outstanding ballet trips by clicking here.

GET MORE BALLET OUT OF LIFE WITH TOURS EN L'AIR
Use the buttons below to share this post on facebook, twitter, by email, or other social media.
Follow me on twitter: @thewordlady
You can sign up to have my ballet updates delivered directly to your inbox (and be entered in this month's prize draw) here.
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Thursday, July 31, 2014

Bolshoi & Royal Ballet Cinema Broadcasts in the US 2014-15

In the US, the Bolshoi live broadcasts are presented by two companies, the first being "Ballet In Cinema" and the second being Fathom Events. For each ballet you will have to check whether a cinema near you is offering it and if so on what day, because broadcast dates vary by venue.

A tip from Tours en l'air: I recommend the Royal Ballet's Swan Lake  over the Bolshoi's, which is quite ghastly in my opinion.
To find a "Ballet in Cinema" venue near you, enter your location on this website: 

http://www.bolshoiballetincinema.com/


First Screening and Varying Dates


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