(no subject)

[skygiants]

Tonight is Passover! I am having a mini-seder with my mom - my first actual seder in four or five years, since I was not so much a Hillel girl in college - which will be expanded into a slightly bigger belated seder this weekend when my dad comes up from Philly and we actually cook instead of making soup-from-a-box. I am kind of looking forward to both, really, and they are guaranteed to be more fun than the highly stuffy huge-extended-family restaurant seder I get to skip by being in New York! I enjoy some extended-family holidays, but this is a little too huge and formal for my tastes, and also most of those relatives are significantly more religious than my immediate, highly Reform family.

(Becca: All right, so we've got the matzoh and the parsley and haroset supplies and all, but do we have a Haggadah?
Beccamom: Yes! I downloaded one from The Velveteen Rabbi! :D
Becca: . . . seriously?

Sometimes, my mom is awesome.)

Other things that are awesome: dancing! After a regency/Victorian historical dance class this weekend I am yet again determined that I need to find a new dance class to take ASAP, because my last one was in November and that is too long ago. In honor of this I also read the ballet book that genarti lent me last time I was in Boston, for . . . . no reason at all and certainly not any reason related to a ballet-tastic anime um, Walter Terry's The Ballet Companion: A Popular Guide for the Ballet Goer. Um, I would probably not call it the definitive work on ballet - for one thing, it is very much an overview of the 'these are what tutus look like!' 'this is what a composer does!' 'there was one great ballerina and one great composer of this era and this is who they are!' type, and for another it was written in the sixties, and it shows to a hilarious degree. (The author is very proud of our great living composer Stravinsky, for example.) It is so cute how enthusiastic he is, though! My favorite bit is the one where he is like "and so sometimes, as a dance reviewer, I have to go to FIVE performances of Swan Lake in a weekend, BUT YOU KNOW WHAT, IT IS STILL AWESOME. Because all dancing is unique! :D :D :D"

Also, embarrassingly, I have learned that my Tutu obsession is still great enough that even a passing reference to certain pieces of music is enough to cause scenes like this to occur:

Walter Terry: And the ballet composed to "The Dying Swan" is a wonderful example of -
Becca: Ruuuuuuuuuue!
Irritated Subway-goers: Why is that girl too busy clutching her book with one hand and her heart with the other to keep her balance!

Comments

[nepheliad.livejournal.com]

I'm still so confused anytime anyone talks about Princess Tutu. Or Holly Black's "Kin." I have never known another Rue in my life.

[skygiants]

. . . oh man, I can totally see how that would be confusing! *sheepish* I mean, there are five million other Beccas and Rebeccas out there and I still jerk my head up every time I see someone mention a not-me Becca on LJ. (I think there is actually someone whose username is r_becca, too, and every time they post I go "wait, did I post there and forget about it? - NO WAIT NOT ME, NEVER MIND.)

I would totally recommend Princess Tutu though if the name-thing is not too weird! Not that I take every opportunity to pimp it out or anything >.>

[rushin-doll.livejournal.com]

Yes, watch it!

Helpfully,
Ana

[rushin-doll.livejournal.com]

Also! Keep me updated on dance class findings? A recent night of salsa reminded me how much I miss it. I haven't really danced in nearly a year!

Teh horror,
Ana

[skygiants]

Will do! And I know Gen and I have been talking about going to another one of the NY-area historical dance sessions in June (they're monthly) so you should totally come with us if you want - they're very beginner-friendly!

[dramawench.livejournal.com]

I hope you have a wonderful Passover!

[skygiants]

Thank you! :D It is off to a good start so far despite the amount of hilarious flailing around my mom and I were doing last night trying to get a seder together ("oh crap we are out of eggs!" "Mom, you realize you got matzoh ball mix, but we have no actual soup!" "- wait, we're supposed to light candles here? CRAP WHERE ARE THE CANDLES!") But I feel we made up for that by including "Ten Things I Hate About Commandments" and the Facebook Haggadah in the middle. :D

[dramawench.livejournal.com]

Hehehehe - sounds like our house on Christmas Eve :)

"The Ten Things I Hate About Commandments" - now this I need to see!

[skygiants]

Running around like a chicken with its head cut off is part of the holiday tradition!

:O You have not seen? For watching when you get home!

[genarti]

You have summed up my feelings on this book admirably. *giggling* But is it not fun, in its dorkily dated way?

(Also I love how hard the reviewer guy works to be like, "Turnout, once properly achieved and ingrained, is totally the most comfortable and natural position for the human body to do stuff in! :D!" Um, say I, and pat his head.)

[skygiants]

It totally is!

(Hah! Yes, that and the bit where he is like "I bet you think that snapping your Achilles tendon is a big deal for a dancer! BUT YOU WOULD BE WRONG. Dancers do not care about puny things like 'injuries!' :D")