Ballet II

I watched a short documentary on sky arts recently, about Marcia Haydee's sleeping beauty. What attracted me was the performance of the 'male' Carabosse. So strange to change a female villain into a male. I'm more familiar with the sleeping beauty of the disney versions, so it was an intresting change! remember maleficient? now think of her as a guy :D.

Right now my book focuses on gender and how we percieve it, so it was intresting to watch something where the gender of a traditional character was switched as it is in my own book. Characters as I portray them in the beginning turn out to be the complete opposite as the books progress, gender roles switch and change and I try to challenge what we assume about gender in our own society. I owe alot to my studies of Dr Kimmel's book, Gendering Society which I recommend if you want to expand your horizion on the concept of gender.

I couldn't find the original to show you, the first one I saw with Richard Craygun but this one from the Flander's ballet website isn't bad:

http://www.koninklijkballetvanvlaanderen.be/Site/video_en.htm

Sorry I couldn't embed, but I emplore you to follow the link.