Posts by Hila Shachar

Jean-Baptiste Lully

When the French King Louis XIV appeared as Apollo, god of the sun, in Le Ballet de la Nuit (1653), he not only earned himself the lasting title of the “Sun King”, but also symbolised a new era of ballet and dance in the French royal court of the 17^th century. This era saw some of the most significant and interesting developments in the history of ballet, which often involved the Italian-born composer and dancer, Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687), with whom the king performed in Le Ballet de la Nuit as a teenager. (more…)

16 April 2013

Share | Be the first to comment

Mona Inglesby as Odette in Swan Lake
Mona Inglesby

Mona Inglesby: Wartime Ballerina

By Hila Shachar

Behind Ballet

We all know of famous English ballerinas like Margot Fonteyn and Moira Shearer, but how many people can say they’ve heard of Mona Inglesby? When dance critic Ismene Brown stumbled across the story of this forgotten heroine of English ballet, she revealed a tale intriguing as a wartime novel. Picture this: it’s 1940, and a young ballerina is caught in a black-out while driving an ambulance during the Blitz. In the darkness, an idea forms in her mind: under the heavy cloud of war, ballet will uplift the public spirit and offer something beautiful and something life-affirming to cling to. So sprouted the seeds for Inglesby’s new company. She borrowed money from her father for sets and costumes, and hired dancers and an orchestra, convinced that the public would flock to dance in the face of wartime uncertainty. And she was right. Her wartime romance was ballet itself, and she brought this love to the English public. (more…)

8 April 2013

Share | 3 comments

Hila's vision of Turning Point chic
Leslie Browne and Mikhail Baryshnikov
Leslie Browne
Shirley MacLaine and Anne Bancroft

Styling dance films: The Turning Point

By Hila Shachar

Ballet V Fashion, Behind Ballet

Hila Shachar styles her favourite dance films.

There are few ballet films that inspire such a sense of nostalgic glee as The Turning Point (1977). Although failing to win anything out of its 11 nominations in the 1978 Academy Awards, it has definitely won its way into many people’s hearts as a classic ballet film. One of the reasons for its cult status is of course the performance of Mikhail Baryshnikov, who spends much of the film looking dreamy, wearing tight tops, or sweating shirtless while seducing pretty ballerinas. (more…)

11 February 2013

Share | 4 comments

From the shelf: Nureyev

By Hila Shachar

Behind Ballet, From the shelf

Hila Shachar talks up her favourite ballet book.

As an avid Rudolf Nureyev fan, I’m yet to find a photographic tribute that compares in style, content and tone to Phaidon’s immensely impressive coffee-table book. The beauty of this book lies in many aspects:

Size
Most other Nureyev books I’ve encountered tend to be modestly sized. In contrast, Phaidon’s Nureyev is a huge tome that sits heavily on your lap, reminding you of the dancer’s powerful presence. Large and thick, it is the best kind of bold coffee-table book that immediately draws attention to itself and compels a reader to open its cover and peek within. A startlingly beautiful black and white image of Nureyev features on the cover, with large gold letters spelling his name as decoration. From the outset, it is clear that this is a grand statement of a book. (more…)

7 December 2012

Share | Be the first to comment

Styling Dance Films: Suspiria

By Hila Shachar

Ballet V Fashion, Behind Ballet

Hila Shachar styles her favourite dance films. Scroll down to see the look she’s put together for Suspiria.

Dario Argento’s Suspiria (1977) is part horror flick, part dance film. Its plot is encapsulated by the opening voice-over, in which we are told that our heroine, Suzy Banyon, decides to leave New York to study ballet in a renowned German dance school. Suzy soon discovers that her new school is run by a coven of evil witches. But Suspiria has achieved cult status primarily because of its aesthetic rather than its horror plot.

In Suspiria, Argento cleverly combines the menacing undertones of many fairy-tales with a garishly beautiful horror landscape. Suzy takes on many roles, embodying in various scenes the persona of Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Bluebeard’s last wife, and of course, a combination of Sleeping Beauty and Snow White (in the film, a poisonous sleeping potion is administered by an evil doctor). And she becomes an archetypal fairy-tale heroine via the theme of ballet, which often uses such heroines in its own narratives. The music which accompanies the opening voice-over resembles the music found in little girls’ ballerina music boxes. Only here, it has a sinister edge, as the lovely ballerina will not simply be dancing fairy-tale roles, she will also be living them in the most nightmarish of settings. (more…)

24 August 2012

Share | Be the first to comment

What ballet classes taught me about writing

By Hila Shachar

Behind Ballet

Lots of people stop taking ballet classes, for various reasons. For me, classes stopped when my PhD took over my life. It was a frantic time, and when I finished I felt a deflated sense of anti-climax. I returned to ballet hoping it would distract me from my feelings of thesis-loss. Little did I know it would become something far more meaningful. I had always loved ballet classes as a little girl, but I never saw them as anything other than fun. It was only when I returned to ballet after a prolonged break that I began to see what it was teaching me about the great love of my life: writing. (more…)

1 August 2012

Share | Be the first to comment