CSR paper. Check.
Anna Karenina dance review. Check.
Doing business in China paper. Check.
Survived and singing ... DONE diddy DONE diddy do ...
10kg FedEx box for LA session .... Che...eck!
Los Angeles, here I come ...
Monday, June 15, 2009
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Of Untamed Passions that end in tragedy
It was easy to attend the ballet, a seemingly airy fairy affair in comparison to the heavy segment and finals of Corporate Finance at the National University of Singapore. Yet, it took me awhile to adjust my mind to appreciating the arts that evening and equally difficult to churn out a review for Asia Dance Channel in the midst of corporate work and studies.
I just submitted my second dance review, two weeks after the performance and overdue in the midst of juggling facts and writing a paper about doing business in China. If only I could tell stories in the latter ... I would be able to sleep better.
The ballet, choreographed by Alexei Ratmansky - former artistic director of Bolshoi Ballet, is an adaptation of Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina novel. Performed by the Finnish National Ballet during its Asian Premier on 29 and 30 May 2009 at the Esplanade in Singapore, the ballet focuses on Anna’s life - her passions, family and societal obligations – and how passions unrestrained, albeit sweet and fulfilling for various moments in time, can lead to a contrived life of guilt, insecurity, dissatisfaction and ultimately death.
The ballet begins with a morbid scene with a nice play of silhouettes of Anna’s (performed by Petia Ilieva) lifeless body and those who mourned her death - her lover Count Vronsky (Nicholas Zieglar), husband Alexei Karenin (Henrik Burman). At her death, close friends and family within the aristocratic society in St Petersburg show their last respects.
The story unfolds with Anna’s lover Count Vronsky reminiscing the days when Anna was still alive. She was young, beautiful, aristocratic … and married. He was an officer - a Count and a good catch for young debutantes.
By chance, they met for the first time at a train station in Moscow. Their eyes lock and a certain attraction drew one to the other. A train accident claiming a victim disrupts their gaze and Anna is quickly diverted back to the obligations of life and society where she attends to her husband and son. She accepts her responsibilities as a wife, mother, and member of the aristocratic society.
They meet again later at a party, where Vronsky was “pursued” by a young debutante, whom he rejects as his affections for Anna grow at this second meeting. Vronsky begins to pursue Anna. She is embarrassed by the outward affection and struggles to remain composed. She succeeds in avoiding Vronsky’s advances and returns home.
Up to this point (after the prologue and in Act One), the ballet and its characters came across as rather constipated. The scenes dragged from one to the other as the choreographer builds the storyline. Unfortunately, the movements appeared constrained, as the lines of the dancers’ bodies, while depicting strength and sound classical ballet training, did not extend their energies beyond the confines of the stage.
As Anna’s affection for her lover Vronsky builds, so did the dance … thankfully! I was beginning to wonder if I should have stayed at home and watched a ballet video instead. Albeit technically excellent as principal dancers of international ballets should be, the ability to transform the beautiful stage sets, costumes, props and choreography and bring the whole ballet to life calls for rare artistry and technical brilliance coupled with freedom – this was missing from the ballet that evening.
The story continues with Anna feeling deprived the love and affection at her home. Her husband Karenin, a dispassionate civil servant, buries his head in work. He ignores Anna’s attempts to “tempt” him with her beauty and sexuality. She, in turn, expresses her love to her son by being the doting mother. However, Anna’s basic, yet desperate, need to love and be loved finds its way beyond her home and into the arms of Vronsky.
Anna falls into the arms of the dashing Vronsky at another social meeting; her husband disapproves of this conspicuous courtship and demands that Anna returns to her home and resumes her societal obligations as a wife and mother. Anna defies as she had fallen in love with Vronsky.
She reluctantly leaves her son behind as she realizes that she cannot live a life without passionate love … and without Vronsky, who loves her deeply. Her passion and irrationality direct her to go away with Vronsky to Italy to begin a new life.
Here I witnessed the saving grace of the Finnish National Ballet’s performance that evening. Perhaps the most spell-binding pas de deux between the lovers and much like the lovers’ duet between Romeo and Juliet, both Anna and Vronsky danced with great passion that transcended the invisible confines of the stage. The lovers’ love and lust for one another were apparent. Their attempts at unabashed displays of their passions were constricted by the limitations of their thinly clad physical bodies. Their bodies intertwined between huge extensions and brilliant lifts and twirls across the stage. The lovers ultimately consummate their relationship drawing the breathlessly beautiful dance to a standstill.
Ah, the taste of “forbidden fruit” was sweet and explosive to the sense, but Anna’s face revealed a deeper emotion – a shadow of remorse as her body sat motionless for a split second next to her lover’s. The realization that she had finally committed the once unthinkable act of adultery and journeyed down a path where there was no return sinks in. She had torn the veils of aristocracy and proper conduct in exchange for a moment of untamed passions and pleasure. That would be the beginning of a life tormented by faded memories of her life in St Peterburg and her duty as a wife and mother return to haunt her.
Torn between her love for her son and her newfound life with Vronsky, Anna makes an attempt to visit her son. She returns to her busband’s home in St Petersburg. Though she was overjoyed to see her son, she was greeted with contempt by her husband.
She then unsuccessfully persuades Vronsky to go to the opera with her and ends up attending on her own. At the opera, she was again shunned by the aristocratic society. Rejected, she returns to Vronsky to seek comfort but senses his feelings for her have changed.
The realization of having lost everything - the love of her family, of Vronsky and the approval of society – Anna was destined to live a life as an outcast. Distraught, Anna calmly stands before an oncoming train and commits suicide. The ballet ends with parallels to the stranger killed by a moving train at the beginning of the ballet.
A moving plot with moments of brilliance, Anna Karenina is a ballet that has the potential of taking you and your heart on a roller-coaster ride with moments of breathtaking beauty, great passion, explosive energy, and yet disappointments of a judgmental and unforgiving society that does not allow second chances for those who have made mistakes in life. The ballet reminds all that there is indeed a heavy price to pay for going against societal norms.
http://www.asiadancechannel.com/AnnaKarenina.cfm
The ballet begins with a morbid scene with a nice play of silhouettes of Anna’s (performed by Petia Ilieva) lifeless body and those who mourned her death - her lover Count Vronsky (Nicholas Zieglar), husband Alexei Karenin (Henrik Burman). At her death, close friends and family within the aristocratic society in St Petersburg show their last respects.
The story unfolds with Anna’s lover Count Vronsky reminiscing the days when Anna was still alive. She was young, beautiful, aristocratic … and married. He was an officer - a Count and a good catch for young debutantes.
By chance, they met for the first time at a train station in Moscow. Their eyes lock and a certain attraction drew one to the other. A train accident claiming a victim disrupts their gaze and Anna is quickly diverted back to the obligations of life and society where she attends to her husband and son. She accepts her responsibilities as a wife, mother, and member of the aristocratic society.
They meet again later at a party, where Vronsky was “pursued” by a young debutante, whom he rejects as his affections for Anna grow at this second meeting. Vronsky begins to pursue Anna. She is embarrassed by the outward affection and struggles to remain composed. She succeeds in avoiding Vronsky’s advances and returns home.
Up to this point (after the prologue and in Act One), the ballet and its characters came across as rather constipated. The scenes dragged from one to the other as the choreographer builds the storyline. Unfortunately, the movements appeared constrained, as the lines of the dancers’ bodies, while depicting strength and sound classical ballet training, did not extend their energies beyond the confines of the stage.
As Anna’s affection for her lover Vronsky builds, so did the dance … thankfully! I was beginning to wonder if I should have stayed at home and watched a ballet video instead. Albeit technically excellent as principal dancers of international ballets should be, the ability to transform the beautiful stage sets, costumes, props and choreography and bring the whole ballet to life calls for rare artistry and technical brilliance coupled with freedom – this was missing from the ballet that evening.
The story continues with Anna feeling deprived the love and affection at her home. Her husband Karenin, a dispassionate civil servant, buries his head in work. He ignores Anna’s attempts to “tempt” him with her beauty and sexuality. She, in turn, expresses her love to her son by being the doting mother. However, Anna’s basic, yet desperate, need to love and be loved finds its way beyond her home and into the arms of Vronsky.
Anna falls into the arms of the dashing Vronsky at another social meeting; her husband disapproves of this conspicuous courtship and demands that Anna returns to her home and resumes her societal obligations as a wife and mother. Anna defies as she had fallen in love with Vronsky.
She reluctantly leaves her son behind as she realizes that she cannot live a life without passionate love … and without Vronsky, who loves her deeply. Her passion and irrationality direct her to go away with Vronsky to Italy to begin a new life.
Here I witnessed the saving grace of the Finnish National Ballet’s performance that evening. Perhaps the most spell-binding pas de deux between the lovers and much like the lovers’ duet between Romeo and Juliet, both Anna and Vronsky danced with great passion that transcended the invisible confines of the stage. The lovers’ love and lust for one another were apparent. Their attempts at unabashed displays of their passions were constricted by the limitations of their thinly clad physical bodies. Their bodies intertwined between huge extensions and brilliant lifts and twirls across the stage. The lovers ultimately consummate their relationship drawing the breathlessly beautiful dance to a standstill.
Ah, the taste of “forbidden fruit” was sweet and explosive to the sense, but Anna’s face revealed a deeper emotion – a shadow of remorse as her body sat motionless for a split second next to her lover’s. The realization that she had finally committed the once unthinkable act of adultery and journeyed down a path where there was no return sinks in. She had torn the veils of aristocracy and proper conduct in exchange for a moment of untamed passions and pleasure. That would be the beginning of a life tormented by faded memories of her life in St Peterburg and her duty as a wife and mother return to haunt her.
Torn between her love for her son and her newfound life with Vronsky, Anna makes an attempt to visit her son. She returns to her busband’s home in St Petersburg. Though she was overjoyed to see her son, she was greeted with contempt by her husband.
She then unsuccessfully persuades Vronsky to go to the opera with her and ends up attending on her own. At the opera, she was again shunned by the aristocratic society. Rejected, she returns to Vronsky to seek comfort but senses his feelings for her have changed.
The realization of having lost everything - the love of her family, of Vronsky and the approval of society – Anna was destined to live a life as an outcast. Distraught, Anna calmly stands before an oncoming train and commits suicide. The ballet ends with parallels to the stranger killed by a moving train at the beginning of the ballet.
A moving plot with moments of brilliance, Anna Karenina is a ballet that has the potential of taking you and your heart on a roller-coaster ride with moments of breathtaking beauty, great passion, explosive energy, and yet disappointments of a judgmental and unforgiving society that does not allow second chances for those who have made mistakes in life. The ballet reminds all that there is indeed a heavy price to pay for going against societal norms.
http://www.asiadancechannel.com/AnnaKarenina.cfm
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Corporate Social Responsibility
The propensity towards becoming a socially responsible corporate citizen rests upon one's ability to recognize how much he/she has received and the power that has been bestowed upon him/her.
With great power, comes great responsibility - Uncle Ben in Spiderman.
The price of greatness is responsibility - Winston Churchill.
In a democratic world, as in a democratic nation, power must be linked with responsibility - Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Luke 12:48 (New Living Translation)
48 But someone who does not know, and then does something wrong, will be punished only lightly. When someone has been given much, much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted with much, even more will be required.
With great power, comes great responsibility - Uncle Ben in Spiderman.
The price of greatness is responsibility - Winston Churchill.
In a democratic world, as in a democratic nation, power must be linked with responsibility - Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Luke 12:48 (New Living Translation)
48 But someone who does not know, and then does something wrong, will be punished only lightly. When someone has been given much, much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted with much, even more will be required.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Church Bulletins
I received the following from a friend. This has circulated for many years as I remembered receiving it more than 10 years ago. Albeit having circulated on the net for so long, it continues to bring laughter and smiles today. Enjoy!
Thank God for church ladies with typewriters -- misspellings, bad sentence construction or choice of words all made for fun reading. These sentences actually appeared in church bulletins or were announced in church services:
The Fasting & Prayer Conference includes meals..
The sermon this morning: 'Jesus Walks on the Water.' The sermon tonight: 'Searching for Jesus.'
Ladies, don't forget the rummage sale. It's a chance to get rid of those things not worth keeping around the house. Bring your husbands.
The peacemaking meeting scheduled for today has been canceled due to a conflict
Don't let worry kill you off - let the Church help.
Miss Charlene Mason sang 'I will not pass this way again,' giving obvious pleasure to the congregation.
For those of you who have children and don't know it, we have a nursery downstairs.
The Rector will preach his farewell message after which the choir will sing: 'Break Forth Into Joy.'
Irving Benson and Jessie Carter were married on October 24 in the church. So ends a friendship that began in their school days.
At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be 'What Is Hell?' Come early and listen to our choir practice.
Please place your donation in the envelope along with the deceased person you want remembered.
The church will host an evening of fine dining, super entertainment and gracious hostility.
Potluck supper Sunday at 5:00 PM - prayer and medication to follow.
The ladies of the Church have cast off clothing of every kind. They may be seen in the basement on Friday afternoon.
This evening at 7 PM there will be hymn singing in the park across from the Church. Bring a blanket and come prepared to sin
Ladies Bible Study will be held Thursday morning at 10 AM. All ladies are invited to lunch in the Fellowship Hall after the B. S. is done.
The pastor would appreciate it if the ladies of the congregation would lend him their electric girdles for the pancake breakfast next Sunday.
Low Self Esteem Support Group will meet Thursday at 7 PM. Please use the back door.
The eighth-graders will be presenting Shakespeare's Hamlet in the Church basement Friday at 7 PM. The congregation is invited to attend this tragedy.
Weight Watchers will meet at 7 PM at the First Presbyterian Church. Please use large double door at the side entrance.
The Associate Minister unveiled the church's new tithing campaign slogan last Sunday: 'I Upped My Pledge - Up Yours! My sentiments entirely.
Thank God for church ladies with typewriters -- misspellings, bad sentence construction or choice of words all made for fun reading. These sentences actually appeared in church bulletins or were announced in church services:
The Fasting & Prayer Conference includes meals..
The sermon this morning: 'Jesus Walks on the Water.' The sermon tonight: 'Searching for Jesus.'
Ladies, don't forget the rummage sale. It's a chance to get rid of those things not worth keeping around the house. Bring your husbands.
The peacemaking meeting scheduled for today has been canceled due to a conflict
Don't let worry kill you off - let the Church help.
Miss Charlene Mason sang 'I will not pass this way again,' giving obvious pleasure to the congregation.
For those of you who have children and don't know it, we have a nursery downstairs.
The Rector will preach his farewell message after which the choir will sing: 'Break Forth Into Joy.'
Irving Benson and Jessie Carter were married on October 24 in the church. So ends a friendship that began in their school days.
At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be 'What Is Hell?' Come early and listen to our choir practice.
Please place your donation in the envelope along with the deceased person you want remembered.
The church will host an evening of fine dining, super entertainment and gracious hostility.
Potluck supper Sunday at 5:00 PM - prayer and medication to follow.
The ladies of the Church have cast off clothing of every kind. They may be seen in the basement on Friday afternoon.
This evening at 7 PM there will be hymn singing in the park across from the Church. Bring a blanket and come prepared to sin
Ladies Bible Study will be held Thursday morning at 10 AM. All ladies are invited to lunch in the Fellowship Hall after the B. S. is done.
The pastor would appreciate it if the ladies of the congregation would lend him their electric girdles for the pancake breakfast next Sunday.
Low Self Esteem Support Group will meet Thursday at 7 PM. Please use the back door.
The eighth-graders will be presenting Shakespeare's Hamlet in the Church basement Friday at 7 PM. The congregation is invited to attend this tragedy.
Weight Watchers will meet at 7 PM at the First Presbyterian Church. Please use large double door at the side entrance.
The Associate Minister unveiled the church's new tithing campaign slogan last Sunday: 'I Upped My Pledge - Up Yours! My sentiments entirely.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
My first dance review ... of Men in Tutus
http://www.asiadancechannel.com/Men_in_Tutus.cfm
"... The performance that, perhaps, stole the show that afternoon was The Dying Swan, a famous solo first danced by legendary ballerina Anna Pavlova in the late 1800s. Trevino’s version, a parody of the original dance filled with lyrical movements and the intense emotions leading to its death, was filled with great humor of a swan shedding lots of feathers as it first appeared and glides across the stage en pointe. Technically excellent with an amazingly feminine built that exuberated strength and effortless grace, Trevino’s interpretation of a dying swan was one that was intentionally cheeky displaying bushy underarms and arms waving frantically in the air to depict a badly injured or perhaps aging swan that really did not want to die. Trevino’s rendition of this supposedly intense ballet solo had the audience in stitches when the occasional hip gyrations, the lifting of the tutu to see what was underneath, and the wink made visible by the three-inch eye lashes popped up at the most unexpected moments. Trevino’s performance brought the dance to an entirely new level and paved the way for the second half of the show – the Act Two of Swan Lake ... "
"... The performance that, perhaps, stole the show that afternoon was The Dying Swan, a famous solo first danced by legendary ballerina Anna Pavlova in the late 1800s. Trevino’s version, a parody of the original dance filled with lyrical movements and the intense emotions leading to its death, was filled with great humor of a swan shedding lots of feathers as it first appeared and glides across the stage en pointe. Technically excellent with an amazingly feminine built that exuberated strength and effortless grace, Trevino’s interpretation of a dying swan was one that was intentionally cheeky displaying bushy underarms and arms waving frantically in the air to depict a badly injured or perhaps aging swan that really did not want to die. Trevino’s rendition of this supposedly intense ballet solo had the audience in stitches when the occasional hip gyrations, the lifting of the tutu to see what was underneath, and the wink made visible by the three-inch eye lashes popped up at the most unexpected moments. Trevino’s performance brought the dance to an entirely new level and paved the way for the second half of the show – the Act Two of Swan Lake ... "
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