My cat Zoe loves to come up on my table while I am working. Here she is purring very loudly, basking under my warm lamp. She gives me encouragement. That is her job and she is a good working cat.

I loved Frederick Wiseman's film LA DANSE about the Paris Opera Ballet but I loved it even better paired with his earlier and very different film BALLET, about ABT. In addition, to round things out, I think ETOILES: Dancers of the Paris Opera Ballet by Nils Tavernier needs to be included for a fantastic triple bill.

All three films are packed with rehearsal time and performance footage. In LA DANSE the world we see is very beautiful, very exact, very refined.  In BALLET it is a more nitty-gritty, even scruffy behind-the-scenes view. But finally ETOILES gives a voice to the dancers themselves, we hear them speaking articulately and revealingly and directly to us about their lives and work on so many levels. In Wiseman's films we are flies on the wall and we see the dancers, but we rarely hear them. Tavernier, it seems to me, focuses in on the world of the dancer more from the dancer's point of view. And in his film the dancers have lots to say. 

And aren't we lucky: Paris Opera Ballet Etoiles Aurelie Dupont and Mathias Heymann are going to be coming to New York and dancing on the opening night program of New York City Ballet on November 24. Films are fascinating, but live performances are best of all!

PS La Danse was originally only going to be showing in NY for two weeks, but I see the run has been extended. Here is the link at the Film Forum The page also includes a podcast of a recent Q&A with Wiseman and a little preview film. Etoile is available at Netflix and it is well worth putting in your queue!

West 69th Street, puts on a fantastic Halloween display. The brownstones and residents on the two blocks between Central Part West and Broadway get all dressed up and welcome trick or treaters. The street is closed off to traffic and fills with hundreds and hundreds of people, families and children in wonderful costumes. The fog machines (plus a natural mist in the air last night) added to the joyous and ghostly atmosphere. I heard someone from the block association roaming around telling everyone that they have been doing this for 40 years. What a great and generous tradition! 

We have just had visitors from Italy, who brought us a most delicious treat, Pampepato, a specialty of their town of Terni, homemade by D's Grandma.   I have never had anything like this: a delicious, dense mound of chocolate with hazelnuts, almonds, walnuts, raisins, and a mysterious combination of spices. I was trying to guess all the ingredients and then they gave it away when they explained that Pampepato means bread of pepper in Italian. Pepper?! 

I enjoyed reading more about the rich history of Pampepato on this official site here 

I'm savoring my taste of Italy.

On my Italian friends' last night in NY we went together to see the movie "New York, I Love You", a collage of short stories by 11 different directors. Enchanting, funny and poignant. We really enjoyed it! A huge cast, including Julie Christie, Natalie Portman, Ethan Hawke, Drea De Matteo (x-Sopranos and now in Desperate Housewives - she is good!), Carlos Acosta (in a non-dancing role) and many more...The series started with "Paris, je t'aime" and will include Rio, Shanghai, Mumbai and Jerusalem. I'm putting a vote in for one that takes place in Italy, in Rome, Florence or Venice.

I received a very special card from a young reader, Nora, aged 4.  She wrote: I love your books! My favorites are Crepes by Suzette and Color & Cook Cupcakes. I also take ballet lessons.

Her picture and her letter makes me feel happy! Thank you! 

Irving Penn's "Ballet Society" (1948) with Tanaquil Le Clercq, and (from right) George Balanchine, Vittorio Rieti and Corrado Cagli 

There will be many obituaries - Andy Grundberg wrote this one in today's New York Times

The NYCBallet dancers are on their way to Tokyo! My daughter was out the
door at 4:10 this morning to meet the bus that left the theater at 4:30 am to go to the airport. They have been traveling for hours and hours, and I know they still aren't there. I'm having trouble figuring out how long the flight actually is and what the time change is: they left NY on Sunday morning but they don't get to Tokyo until Monday afternoon?!

This is making me remember the trip I took to Japan over 20 years ago. The jetlag was bad: night in Tokyo = day in New York. I felt so topsy-turvy. But it was a fantastic trip. I loved Japan. I loved the mixture of old and new: I remember being at an ultra-modern, busy intersection (the equivalent of 5th Ave and 57th St) turning the corner on to a little road, and suddenly it was quiet, as if I'd slipped into the past, and I saw ladies dressed in beautiful kimonos going to a tea ceremony. I had been studying Japanese for four years and it was very exciting and rewarding to finally put it to some use. But sad, I think I have forgotten it all now.

Lydia tried to learn a few phases with her Berlitz CD. For many of the dancers (including my daughter) this is their first trip to Japan or Asia even. I hope the trip is a big success and that everyone has a great time! (I wish I could remember how to say that in Japanese!) They will be at the Bunkamura Theater in the Shibuya area of Tokyo for 7 performances from October 8 - 12. Serenade, Agon, Symphony in 3 Movements, Dances at a Gathering... are amongst the 12 ballets they are bringing - Ideal! Here is the link to the details.

And I just saw the news on SAB's website that auditions are going to be held at the theater in Tokyo on October 11-12 for Japanese ballet students to have the chance to come to NY for SAB's 2010 summer program! Cool!

PS - two weeks later. Lydia is back. She had lots of fun dancing in Tokyo. She especially loved dancing in Serenade - her first time in this favorite ballet. She said the shows were sold-out and the audiences were really enthusiastic. What surprised her was that lots of fans waited every night at the stage door for autographs and photos with the dancers! Sounds like NYCB had a big success!

Over on my website I have added some coloring pages that kids (or anyone!) can print out and color: Click here for the "activity" section

You will also find a bunch of recipes. I just made some apple muffins myself - with a bit of frosting they easily become cupcakes! 

And here is a link to Dover for more about Color and Cook Cupcakes and Pizza and Christmas Cookies

My computer is back - let's hope it is home to stay this time.  To briefly catch up, I finished my big job for the Korean publisher. With every last detail completed, all the illustrations for the two books went off in the mail. The package arrived safely early this week and my editor is happy with it all - Hooray! My class at SVA started this Wednesday - my students are all working on illustrations for some dinosaur poems I gave them: black and white sketch for next week and then the color final for the following week. I'm getting back to a new book I am writing and illustrating for Dutton (that I had to put aside while I was working on the Korean books) and I'm also starting another coloring book for Dover.  Busy, busy, busy - that's good!

On Sunday I will be at the Children's Book Day at Sunnyside, Washington Irving's home, in Tarrytown N.Y. There was a write-up about the event in the New York Times today here. There will be about 60 writers and illustrators signing books, reading books, and just generally doing lots of fun things with books. Here's the website with a complete list of everyone who will be there. 

I've been away from my blog for so long: I've been having computer problems. My computer has been back and forth to the computer" doctor" - I refuse to give up on my "antique" apple. So in the mean time I have to come down to the public library. But even that has been difficult because I am so busy with work. I have another big project for my Korean publisher, with a deadline of August 30th. Right now I'm at the library to get some more audio-books to listen to while I am painting.

How can this be? But I read it in the newspaper this morning: Payard closed last weekend, due to the recession. This bakery/patisserie and bistro has always been a little oasis of Frenchness. When I walked through the door I would feel like I was walking into Paris. I don't go over to the Upper East Side very often but when I did I enjoyed stopping by Payard for a croissant aux amandes or an eclair or a special treat of a little fancy cake. I really did think that they had the most excellent French-style pastries in all of New York. In the paper it said that on the final Saturday, June 29th, the owner Francoise Payard wept behind the the counter of macaroons. Here is a selection of patisseries I had two years ago with friends on my birthday. I have many fond memories of Payard and I am sad about this news. 

My favorite exhibition that I have seen in the last few weeks has been Avedon Fashion: 1944 - 2000 at the International Center for Photography. This is an extensive show with over 200 photographs of iconic models such Dovima, Dorian Leigh, Twiggy and Penelope Tree, originally published in magazines such as Vogue and Harper's Bazaar, capturing the glamour of decades past. I especially was mesmerized by the beautiful, elegant, black and white photographs from the 40's, 50's, 60's, so many of them shot in Paris. Here are just a few images. A visit to the museum to see lots more is well worth it! 

Dovima Paris 1955 

Dorian Leigh, Paris 1949 

Carmen, Paris 1957 

Suzy Parker and Robin Tattersall, Paris 1956 

Veruschka, 1967 

The International Center of Photography is at 6th Ave and 43rd St, near Time's Square, and the show is on all through the summer until September 20th.

It's time again to match the costume to the ballet! New York City Ballet's spring season has just ended and my daughter Lydia has kindly given me photos again of some of the costumes she was wearing. I think it is really fun to see the costumes close up. Can you guess which ballet these are each from?

1        2  

3       4

5     6     

                                                                                                                                                           7       8

 9      10

Lydia was in 16 ballets and so ...here is the list to choose from: La Valse, Coppelia, Firebird, Four Temperaments, La Stravaganza, Chaconne, Scotch Symphony, Romeo and Juliet, Simple Symphony, Swan Lake, Vienna Waltzes, Donizetti Variations, Glass Pieces, The Concert, Episodes and Sarcasms, Midsummer Night's Dream. To make this a little challenging! Some of the ballets have more than one costume and not all the ballets are represented! (Many of the costumes of ballets that she first performed in the winter season are here in costume game #1 )

This was a great season and I went to many, many performances.  To list just a few highlights: Janie Taylor and Robbie Fairchild in Opus 19/The Dreamer, Katie Morgan and Erica Pereira in Scotch Symphony,  Kaitlyn Gilliland and Sebastien Marcovici in Glass Pieces, Jenifer Ringer in Swan Lake, Tess Reichlen in Concerto Barocco and as Titania in Midsummer...and night after night, I loved especially watching the corps - an amazing group of beautiful, hard-working, dedicated, talented dancers. Each and every one brings something special and unique to the stage. Dancer's Choice on June 14th was a most wonderful celebration of the corps, from Dena Abergel all the way through to Stephanie Zungre. As many people know, a large number of corps dancers are being laid off because of cutbacks or are retiring. They will be missed and I am sad now that the season is over at Lincoln Center and will be soon for this contract year. But luckily I am going to go up to Saratoga to catch a couple of last performances. Hooray, I just made my reservation at the Adelphi Hotel!

Did you recognize all the costumes? Check your answers (all choreography by Balanchine unless otherwise noted) 1:The Concert (Robbins)  2:Swan Lake  3:Firebird (from the monster scene, which was choreographed by Robbins)  4:Midsummer (a hound of Hippolyta's)  5:Scotch Symphony  6:Donizetti Variations  7:Vienna Waltzes (last waltz)  8:Midsummer (Act II courtier)  9:Midsummer (a fairy of Titania's)  10:Vienna Waltzes (2nd waltz)

I love this sketch by Janie Taylor! She is also designing, and sewing herself, the costumes for the premiere of the evening: a new ballet choreographed by Ashley Bouder, to be danced by Kaitlyn Gilliland, Brittany Pollack, Amar Ramasar, and Sean Suozzi. I can't wait to see that and all the other exciting things on the program...just a few highlights: Serenade, with Maria Kowroski and Tess Reichlen in unexpected roles amongst the beautiful sisterhood of 17 dancers, Katie Morgan and Tyler Angle in the Sleeping Beauty excerpt, Episodes and Sarcasms, with music by Prokofiev (this is the piece my daughter will be in!) and excerpts from Union Jack for a grand celebration of the corps de ballet! Jenifer Ringer, this year's director and organizer talks about the event  here in TimeOut

Remember last year's wonderful keepsake booklet of photographs by Kyle Froman! This year Gwyneth Muller has been taking pictures behind-the-scenes with the dancers and we are each going to receive a gift of a packet of 20 postcards! Everyone has been very busy, donating their time, energy, and talents in the midst of the everything else they are doing (especially now as they are getting ready for next week's  Midsummer Night's Dream) Quite a feat that they are pulling this off!

Here is the program and casting from NYCBallet's website.  All those * are debuts - look what we have in store: All those * mean debuts! Look what is in store:

SUNDAY EVENING, JUNE 14, 7:30 PM
DANCERS’ CHOICE (Conductor: Karoui)

SERENADE (excerpt): *Kowroski, *Reichlen, *LeCrone, *Fowler
pause
THE WALTZ PROJECT (excerpt): *Ostrom, *Janzen, *Arthurs, *J. Stafford, *Pazcoguin, *Hall, *A. Stafford, *J. Peck [Solo piano:Grant}
pause
IN G MAJOR (excerpt): *Krohn, *Danchig-Waring  [Solo piano: Chelton]
pause
VALSE-FANTAISIE: *T. Peck, *Tworzyanski
intermission 
EPISODES AND SARCASMS (excerpt): *Applebaum, *Muller, *la Cour, *Schumacher, *Villalobos, *Alberda, *Paradiso [Walters]
pause
DANCES AT A GATHERING (excerpt): *Zungre, *Prottas  [Solo piano: Walters]
pause
THE SLEEPING BEAUTY (excerpt): *Morgan, *T. Angle
pause
NEW BOUDER BALLET (World Premiere): *Gilliland, *Pollack, *Ramasar, *Suozzi  [McDill]
pause
UNION JACK: ROYAL NAVY: *Laracey, *Laurent, *Peiffer, *Abergel, *Walker, *Schumacher, *J. Angle, *R. Fairchild,*Somogyi

Tickets are $25 - $45  click here   This is a great way to directly support the Dancer's Emergency Fund.

Come on Sunday, and tell you friends to come too - Let's celebrate the dancers and make this a sold-out event! 

photo of Serenade by Paul Kolnik of NYCB.

Serenity and energy are words for the beautiful SAB Workshop performance last night. The 17 dancers in the blue glowing light revealed when the curtain rises on Serenade are breathtaking. That moment is particularly special and poignant at SAB: the dancers are so young, they have been growing up together, as "sisters" - and after Workshop many in the group will leave for their first professional jobs. In Serenade the dancers really seem to come together in that "sisterhood", and everyone from lead to corps, no matter their rank, has special moments to sparkle. Emilie Gerrity was the Dark Angle, Lauren Lovette the Waltz girl, and Shoshana Rosenfield the Russian Girl. And not to forget the boys: Adam Chavis was the Waltz boy, Price Suddarth was Dark Angel boy. This being both the 75th Anniversary of the founding of SAB and of the creation of Serenade on SAB students, this was a very meaningful and glorious performance.

Peter Martins, Kay Mazzo, and Marjorie Van Dercook, began the evening with the Mae L Wien Awards ceremony. This year the awards were given to Emilie Gerrity, Ashly Isaacs, Shoshana Rosenfield, and Taylor Stanley. Ashly unfortunately came out wearing a boot. She was to perform the Stars and Stripes pas de deux with Taylor but injured her foot two weeks ago. How frustrating that must have been for her not to perform. But Peter Martins made the exciting announcement that we will be seeing Ashly dance with NYCB, and infact that all four award winners will be apprentices! (There may be some more apprentices but they weren’t announced last night.) The three girls have all been together for several years and are graduating from level D. Emilie is originally from upstate NY, Ashly from Florida, and Shoshana from right here on the Upper West Side.  Taylor grew up in Pennsylvania. Additionally it was announced that Violette Verdy will became a permanent guest teacher at the school and she was given the Mae L Wien Faculty award for distinguished service.

Also on the program was Harlequinade, with 32 young children from the school, impeccably prepared, as always, by Garielle Whittle. The children in the first section, the Polichinelles, were the tiniest things I have ever seen and were adorable. All the way up to the Scaramouches, the children were enchanting.

Next the high energy of Stars and Stripes began. The First Campaign was led by Emilie Gerrity, the Second by Cecilia Iliesiu, the Third by Price Suddarth, and the Fourth, the pas de deux was danced by Angelica Generosa and Taylor Stanley. Angelica on very short notice and only 15 years old, from C1 - these two seemed to love every moment together and were fantastic! This is the perfect ballet for the youth and enthusiasm of the students: everyone went all out and was magnificent.

I love going to Workshop! It is a most wonderful coming together of the school, on stage and off. EVERYONE is there! It is a huge reunion for everyone associated with SAB, and especially of dancers. I call myself a parent alumni and I had so much fun seeing lots of fellow parent friends. An altogether fantastic evening. Congratulations and thank you and good luck to all the young dancers, beautiful each and every one.

I like to keep an eye out for new books by people who have been in my class at School of Visual Arts at one time or another. I am a proud clucking mother hen! One of these is a debut book, one is by a veteran author, and the others are by people who now have a growing backlist of books. I hope you enjoy hearing about these new books by a very talented bunch of authors and illustrators.

I've posted about Selina Alko and her books several times.  Her newest book, I'm Your Peanut Butter Big Brother is very special because it is her first book that she has written as well as illustrated. She first started this book when she was pregnant with her first child, and when she was in my class. She is married to Sean Qualls, also an illustrator, and they are a biracial couple. A young neighbor's curiosity about what their baby was going to look like sparked the original seed of the idea.  But books can take a long time to grow: her second child was born last year! A lesson in patience and persistence (and revisions!) in the midst of deadlines with other books and illustration assignments, and a very busy family life!  In Selina's book a little boy wonders about the baby in his mother's tummy: "Baby brother or sister, will you look like me?" The mom and dad and little boy in the pictures look alot like Selina and Sean and their son and she has said she often has fun putting people from her life in her illustrations! With the jaunty and poetic text that perfectly matches the art in her personal story, she captures the universal curiosity and excitement that surely every soon-to-be big sibling has. 

Susie Lee Jin's Good Table Manners for Little Monkeys is a cute board book for toddlers. The lessons in the books, such as "First, wash your hands...Sit up straight in your chair..." are made appealing with the adorable pictures.  They are bright and colorful and the little, busy monkey characters are super-cute. Board books with stiff, laminated pages and rounded corners, are pretty indestructible for little kids who still put everything in their mouths. Actually I imagine that they might want to take this one to their highchairs where they can put the lessons into action! And nice news: Susie has told me she is at work with her publisher on more books to go with this one.

And it is especially exciting when someone's very first book is published! Joyce Wan wrote and illustrated her picturebook,  Greetings from Kiwi and Pear.  It is about two monkeys who travel the world, complete with a map and STICKERS - surefire road to success! 

Jeanne Betancourt has written many, many books, and her newest novel is Ava Tree and the Wishes Three for children aged  6-9 is about the power of wishes and magic.  When Jeanne took class she was working on a picturebook that she would illustrate as well as write. That project has not been published yet but some of the ideas seem to have worked their way into this novel. Ideas can take many different forms! Her book is receiving rave reviews!

Linas Alsenas is amazingly prolific with TWO new books. Recently his third picturebook, Hello My Name is Bob was published, by Scholastic, and his nonfiction book for teenagers, Gay America: Struggle for Equality was published by Abrams. Gay America has received excellent reviews and many important awards. In a starred review Booklist called it a "Landmark history...This first-ever book to cover this material for young adults is essential reading for all young people -- gay, lesbian, and straight." His picture book is about Bob the bear and Jack the panda who are totally different from each other, but best friends nonetheless. What a nice review from Kirkus : "The genius of this work is not simply in the contrasts, but that, in slowing kids down, Bob's visual narrative will make them see the beauty of such simple acts as looking at the moon. Stories of unlikely friendships may be a dime a dozen, but this duo is endearing. A simple lesson of celebrated differences."

CONGRATULATIONS to everyone!!! For more info, everyone has websites:

Linas Alsenas' website and his blog (he often writes about living in Sweden with humor and wit) and here is the link for my interview with him

Jeanne Betancourt's website

Joyce Wa's website

Susie Lee Jin's website 

Selina Alko's website  and her blog and here is the link for my interview with her

photo by Paul Kolnik

Last weekend I saw both casts in the current run of Romeo and Juliet at NYCB. It was really fun to see the production again - it has been two years since it premiered in spring 2007.  I remember the excitement  (and the fair bit of controversy) over the new stream-lined production with its young lead dancers. The big success of those dancers was not just an anomaly - they have all been dancing up a storm in a big range of roles ever since. It was wonderful to see then again as those still very young and fresh Romeos and Juliets. Katie Morgan is so lovely and sweet with her handsome Romeo, Sean Suozzi, that my heart goes out to them to them entirely.  Sterling Hyltin is so impetuous with her passionate Romeo, Robbie Fairchild, that even if I understand how they got themselves into so much trouble, I cry for them at the end. 

It is exciting that the performance tonight is going to be on TV on public stations around the country for "Live from Lincoln Center".  In New York it will be showing on Channel 13 at 8pm, and repeating on Saturday May 23 at 1:30am, and Sunday May 24 at 12:15. Here is the link to find local times elsewhere. (For our relatives in Grand Rapids, Michigan, it is showing on Sunday May 24 at 9:30pm on channel 35 and you may be able to spot Lydia in the ballroom scene!)

The costumes are very colorful, set against the grey unit that changes from village square, bedroom, ballroom...and with foreboding the entire time, to the tomb at the end. Yellow against purple as you see in the picture above is just one example of how the full spectrum of colors are used to highlight and dramatize the action and emotions. Since I've always seen the show from up in the 4th ring, it is going to be fun to see it from a different perspective, from the eyes of the TV camera and I'm sure at times very close up on the dancers. I'm guessing it is all going to look fantastic! Sterling Hyltin will be Juliet, Robbie Fairchild, her Romeo. Watch for Daniel Ulbricht in purple as Mercutio, Antonio Carmena in blue as Benvolio, and Joaquin De Luz in yellow as Tybalt as they are all fantastic too. Tune in!

I've known that a couple of my books have been part of Dolly Parton's Imagination Library but I didn't know very much about her reading program until I just read an interview with her in School Library Journal. Imagination Library was launched in her hometown in Tennessee in 1996: every child under five received a new book every month in the mail, getting off to great start their exposure to books in their earliest years. Over the last 13 years her literacy program has grown enormously so that now 6 million books are mailed each year to registered preschoolers in the US, UK, and Canada.

From the interview: Did you ever think you'd be called “The Book Lady?”
I have been called a lot of things but there was a time in my life when the Book Lady wasn’t one of them! Honestly, it is an honor to be called the Book Lady. There’s even a Canadian film out now about me called the Book Lady. They did a great job of capturing the essence of the Imagination Library and my role in it.

Why have you said that the Imagination Library may be one of the most important things you’ve done?
You never know what people are going to think about what you have done or just how you will be remembered. Some people come up to me and tell me how a song I wrote helped them through a desperate time or allowed them to see through all of the clutter in their life. Songwriting is special that way; you just never know what impact a song will have on people. The Imagination Library is the same way. The letters I receive will just bring you to tears 'cause they tell me how important the books are to their kids. So maybe that’s what doing something important is—it’s leaving folks with a song or a book or a kind word to help their light shine.

Why is early childhood literacy so important to you?
In the beginning, all I ever hoped to do was to inspire kids to love books, pure and simple. What I discovered is a huge group of people and organizations who are so committed to helping kids at an early age. I do what I can but in all 1,000 communities we work in there are hundreds of people in every community who raise money to pay for the books, register the children, and do so much more to give their kids the best start in the world. I stand in amazement of all of their love and dedication.

How do kids react to the books?
I always thought that if we wanted kids to think that books are special then the books have to make the kids feel special—and that is exactly what has happened. Kids love gifts and they love mail so when you put the two together you get what we hoped would happen—children are excited about books. Kids run up to me all the time and thank me for the books. It’s the cutest, sweetest thing in the world.

For the full interview at School Library Journal, click here

My books that are part of the program are Zinnia's Flower Garden and Ana cultiva manzanas, the dual language Spanish/English edition of Apple Farmer Annie.  It is gratifying to know that books of mine are   included in this program, to know that so many children who might not otherwise have books, now have growing libraries of their very own.

  photo by Paul Kolnik

I think many people have the idea that going to the ballet is really expensive and don't realize that actually it is incredibly affordable. Depending on your situation it is possible to go to New York City Ballet for as little as $12 (if you are a student). It is very easy for anyone to go for only $15. And there is even a way to get orchestra tickets for $25. 

In my early 20's I lived in London and it was theater that was so accessible. It was possible to get cheap tickets to fantastic plays for only a few pounds (about $5). But when I moved to NYC theater was out of my reach. Instead I figured out pretty quickly that it was dance that was affordable here. In my mid-twenties, in the 80's I was going constantly to the ballet - for only $5. And I've been going to NYCB ever since. The most frequent place I still sit is in the 4th ring - the price has gone up in 25 years, but at $15, tickets are still not a bad price at all! 

I think people just don't realize, so I want to spread the word: the best deal around is The Fourth Ring Society!

The spring season has started! Naturally I have already been to several performances. A highlight in the first week was La Valse with the superb and dramatic Janie Taylor. There is so much atmosphere in that ballet. I imagine everyone wearing perfume - French perfumes, of course. I have no idea if they do, but that is what I imagine! This coming weekend Janie is debuting in Concerto DSCH and I'm excited to see that, as well as Scotch Symphony, with Jenifer Ringer, Benjamin Millepied and Erica Pereira. A special treat for me this week is the program with 4T's, La Stravaganza, Chaconne - three ballets I love AND my daughter is in all three! (The photo above is by Paul Kolnik: the finale in The Four Temperaments - a ballet to see again and again and again!)

We had a young Indian friend visiting us this past weekend and on Sunday afternoon she went to her first ballet performance ever, in her whole life. She went to NYCB's Coppelia and absolutely loved it. She came back and was just bubbling over with how enchanting it was. I was thrilled that her first experience was so perfect!  (And as a student her ticket was only $12!)  She was particularly impressed with how ballet dancers are so light on their feet and she had a million questions about pointe shoes. Of course there is a long tradition of dance in India, but not at all of ballet. She told us about Nrityagram - an idyllic sounding dance village near Bangalore. Before long my daughter was thinking what an incredible experience it would be to take a trip to India and do workshops there! I see from their website that the dance ensemble tours worldwide, and has performed in NYC. I will be on the lookout for their next visit!

Here's the link at NYCBallet.com for info about tickets and prices and programs and by the way, the videos at the Viewing Room under "News" are great!

NYCB's spring season opens tonight. I can't wait. Favorite ballets such as Four Temperaments, Symphony in 3 Movements, Firebird, Coppelia, Concerto Barocco, La Valse, Chaconne... are all being performed in the first couple of weeks. What a great way to start!

Over at MoMA there is a wonderful little exhibition, Stage Pictures: Drawing for Performance, that ties in perfectly with ballet and NYCB in particular. The picture above is Marc Chagall's design for a ballet called Aleko (1942). He also did of course the beautiful sets for NYCB's Firebird. There are designs by Bakst, Benois, Sonia Delaunay, Leger and more. Many pieces were originally in Lincoln Kirstein's collection which he donated to the museum. 

Above is the original costume design (1946) by Kurt Seligmann for Melancholic corps in Balanchine's Four Temperaments - for Ballet Society. In Kirstein's book, Thirty Years, he writes, " Seligmann swathed our dancers in cerements, bandages, tubes, wraps, and tourniquets, so that dancing became more a dress parade than a display of human bodies in motion. They were soon rejected for practice dress." Just as well, and so they have remained.  My daughter got a kick out of this get-up since this is the part she dances herself!

This is the original set design for Serenade: by William B Okie Jr. for SAB, intended for the premiere in Hartford, Conn. in 1934, but pulled just before the performance by Kirstein. The spiral decor proved impossible to hang.  The beautiful blue lighting is really all it needs! SAB will be performing Serenade for Workshop this year (along with Stars and Stripes, and Excerpts from Harlequinade - May 30 and June 1).

What a striking design by Sergei Soudeikine, 1929 - for Les Noces. NYCB will be performing Jerome Robbins' Les Noces in June. 

Isn't this gorgeous! It's by Natalia Goncharova, c 1937 for Le Coq d'or, Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo production, choreography by Michel Fokine. This could make a good backdrop for Firebird too!

The dance part of the exhibition fills just two rooms but is well worth the visit! 

Links to New York City Ballet and Museum of Modern Art 

PS: Over at Oberon's Grove, Philip has written about opening night . Remember to check in there frequently throughout the season - his blog is the best place to get a first hand report of the performances!

My newest book!  

An excerpt from the Kirkus review: "Riki's passion for birds is evident, and likely to be contagious, in Wellington's latest. The precocious child is a diligent bird watcher who does all he can to attract and keep birds in his yard through all the seasons-from building a bluebird house and making his own bird food to putting out nest-building materials and growing sunflowers ... Bird lovers with young children and aspiring bird watchers are sure to want to emulate Riki."

From School Library Journal: "simple and appropriate for young naturalists" 

Here are a few pictures from inside the book. It begins: All year long many different kinds of birds come to Riki's yard:

Riki gets ready to make a birdhouse: 

Here he adds the finishing touches: 

In the winter he prepares special foods to put out for the birds:  (At the end of the book I include a recipe for yummy Bird Food Cupcakes!)

Later... in the spring Riki keeps a close eye on the birdhouse... there are going to be baby bluebirds soon: 

Coming around full circle, in the fall, it is time to get out the toolbox again: 

My cats Lola and Zoe inspired this book. I have a bird feeder on my fire escape. They spend many happy (and frustrating) hours at their "Cat TV". Mostly we have sparrows and finches. We have yet to see bluebirds but they are not unknown in New York City. After all they are the state bird of New York.

Here is the amazon link for more info

I've been working on a new series of coloring books for Dover Publications and the first one has just come out this week: Color and Cook CUPCAKES. This was a really fun project to do because of course everyone loves cupcakes! Doing a coloring book is very much like doing a "dummy", the 32 pages of sketches an illustrator draws when first starting a children's book. I planned out the coloring book just like I plan out a book, but in this case I didn't go to the next stage of working on the pictures in color. This time I'm leaving that for kids to do! 

Added bonus: at the end of the coloring book are my recipes for cupcakes: chocolate, vanilla, carrot, and applesauce along with 4 different frostings to go with them. I'm pretty proud of these recipes - they are easy and delicious, if I don't say so myself!

CUPCAKE Stickers will also be out any day now. Color and Cook PIZZA will be out in May. I've been working on more in the series, and sent in the black and white line art for another one about Christmas Cookies just this week.

Here are the links on Amazon: Color and Cook CUPCAKES and Cupcake Stickers  and Color and Cook PIZZA

I have quite a few projects coming out and being published all at once. It seems like I have been very busy (well, I have!) but actually on my end I finished them over quite a few months. It is the project I finished most recently in December that is ready the soonest. Here are the covers of the five books about a little girl and her dog published in Korea, in English. I did the pictures and the words were written by Lisa Thiesing, also an American living in upstate NY. Recently we "met" via email - I found her website  and contacted her which has been fun. Neither of us have any idea how our Korean editors found us - we both were contacted out of the blue. Luckily she likes the illustrations I did for her stories. Isn't that an illustrator's fear that the author won't be happy?! Now we are hoping that we might even work on something together again.

Here is the publisher's website: I can't understand a word - everything is in Korean - but it looks like these books are part of a whole English language program. 

It is fun having out-of-town visitors. I get out and do a few things that I might not do otherwise. My friend K came down to the city for her birthday - she wanted to go to a museum and her choice turned out to be a little unexpected and completely wonderful: the Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum.

This museum in the former Carnegie Mansion on Fifth Ave is small and doesn't display a permanent collection: temporary exhibitions are always on show. I was happy to catch Wall Stories: Children's Wallpapers and Books, just before it closed, and the one room exhibition of South East Asian artist, Shahzia Sikander's selections from the museum's collection. 

But the main exhibition FELT was the highlight. Who would have thought - it doesn't seem a terribly grand or splashy subject but I found myself totally immersed in the world of wool. The glass conservatory located in about the middle of the exhibition is given over to the installation shown above. Created by Felt Lady Janice Arnold it is a tent-like structure, beautiful, quiet and calm with light coming through the translucent felted patterns. At the end of the show there are some videos that are fascinating. One shows people in Tibet (I think) making felt just like it has been made for centuries: all you need is some clumps of wool sheared off the sheep, which are dampened with water, rolled up and attached by rope to a horse or camel, and dragged around: it looks pretty simple. Another one shows Janice Arnold at work in her studio making the pieces for the conservatory installation, a much more laborious process, as there are many layers to each piece to achieve the various effects. I really love seeing how artisans make things. Also at the end of the exhibitions are samples of various felt products that you can touch. I had spent most of the exhibition wishing that I could touch things, and I heard other people expressing the same frustration. My suggestion is to go to the end of the exhibition first, touch a few things, and get that out of your system. Then plunge into the experience of surprising felt products: furniture, objects, clothing and more.

On the Cooper-Hewitt's website, click here for more interesting info about the tent project, and for lots of pictures of felt products, click here.  But there is no substitution for going to the show: I recommend it!

Early this morning I woke up to the sound of my cat gagging. My cat Lola loves to eat thread, ribbon, shoe laces, string of any kind and we constantly are on the alert to keep anything like this out of her reach. But sometimes we slip up and I knew this morning right away that something serious was going on. My daughter spotted a color of thread in Lola's mouth that last night had been used for a sewing project. I strongly suspected that there was a needle attached to this thread and that it was down her throat.

Poor thing, with a struggle, I got her into her dreaded cat carrier and we went by taxi straight over to the Animal Medical Center at 510 East 62nd St. I knew that with an emergency at 7am on a Sunday morning this was the place to go. The moment we arrived, Lola was immediately seen by the triage vet. She was whisked off for x-rays, and sure enough, there was a needle lodged in her throat. Dr. Hezel explained that she was going to sedate Lola and try to open her mouth wide to try to get the needle out that way. Otherwise the surgeon would have to operate. Less than one half hour later our fantastic vet came out smiling!  She brought me the needle on a piece of gauze. The gory details: she said that when Lola swallowed the needle she must have then gagged it part way up because it had gotten stuck in the back of her tongue. The procedure had gone well and Lola was sleeping it off. I can't tell you how relieved and grateful I felt!!

Very quickly after that we were home and here is a picture of her, feeling a little under the weather but on the road to recovery. Lydia said our other cat Zoe walked around the apartment meowing the whole time we were away. But since we have been back, all she does is hiss at Lola. I guess she still smells of the animal hospital. I am just so thankful that this has turned out well, that our beautiful purring kitty is safe and sound.