So much can be compressed into a week . After five days filled with auditioning actors for the audiobook, a first marketing meeting, and the cover reveal of* Feel the Floor: Restoring the Life and Legacy of jazz choreographer Buddy Bradley* it is fantastical to think I was in Bordeaux last weekend. It’s interesting to consider,too, how interwoven western history is. Bordeaux it turns out, owed its wealth, cultural capital, and architecture largely to the Triangle Trade— as did Boston, Newport, Salem, Hartford, New London, directly or indirectly.
I’ve spent the past couple of hours pouring over the audition tapes for the audiobook of Feel the Floor. Every voice is beautiful and each actor brings a different nuance to the reading. It is not an easy choice! When I wrote the book, I heard the words in my head, often I would even read out loud to make sure the text flowed , now it is surreal to hear my words interpreted by another.
#buddybradleyjazzchoreographer
#jazzdance
#jazzdancemoderndance
#feelthefloorrestoringthelifeandlegacyofjazzchoreographerbuddybradley
#feelthefloor
#buddybradley
@beaconpress
A weekend in Bordeaux. The stately city owes much to its proximity to Saint Emilion, whose limestone rich soil produced the stone that built the 18th century city . (2). In a case of perfect symbiosis of architecture and oenology those excavations also gave rise to naturally insulated caves for maturing wine (3)- .
#bordeaux
#wineandarchitecture
#travelsinfrance
#saintemilion
#buddybradleyjazzchoreographer
#harlemrenaissance
#tapdance
#jazzdancetapdance
#feelthefloorthelifeandlegacyofjazzchoreographerbuddybradley
@beaconpress
Party is over—but blooms last!— back to work correcting galleys. Buddy Bradley appears this spring.
#feelthefloor
#feelthefloorrestoringthelifeandlegacyofjazzchoreographerbuddybradley
#buddybradleyjazzchoreographer
#jazzagejazzdance
#tapdancehistory
Still in the bubble of last night’s book party.Brava, Elizabeth Kendall for bringing obscure and fascinating Balanchine and dance history to the light!
#balanchinefindshisamerica
@ekendall7
Thank you dear Joshua @ladiesofmadisonave for snapping me with my fellow NYCB board member Brynn Putnam and best ballet bud @edku212 at the @nycballet Fall Fashion Gala. It’s always a lovely party with you!
#fallfashiongala2025
#valentino
#dior
Went for the Balmains, stayed for the architecture. When finance was glamorous and banks were jewel boxes, woman muralist Hildreth Meiere created a carnelian tile mosaic with gilded web for the 1931 Irving Trust Company (1 Wall Street)banking hall. It now serves as a temple of 21st century commerce ( shopping !) , so you can purchase your dancing shoes in all this splendor in its new guise as the French department store, Au Printemps.
More of Meiere’s genius can be seen at Radio City Music Hall, Saint Bartholomew’s church and Temple Emanu-El.
#newyorksplendor
#landmarksofnewyork
#newyorkcitylandmarks
@printemps @printempsnewyork
#newyorkglamour
#hildrethmeière
Honored—well, ELATED might be the better word—that Dior has used my text from “Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams” for a series of shoes, scarves, handbags,and small leather goods to celebrate its splendid new New York store. The book recounts how Dior enchanted New York (and brilliantly innovated rtw and business structures ) and now the story comes alive from head to toe!
#christiandior
#christiandiordesignerofdreams
#thenewlook
#thenewlookofluxury
#maureenfooter
#jadior
#jadiorshoes
Perceived from vignettes on coveted pieces of porcelain or exported lacquer, amplified by information from one of the few westerners to set foot in the China (architect William Chambers who published in 1757 Chinese Buildings and Furniture ) gave way to a fantastical idea of a land of happiness and harmony. Chinoiserie, this delightfully skewed Western perception, ignited Europe. Here the Chinese Pavilion at Drottningholm. When gifted to young Queen Louisa, her 3 year old son , the future Gustave III, popped out in Chinese costume. Is it inevitable that he would swerve to the coolest, most rational neoclassicism 20 years later?
#chinoiserie
#drottningholm
A breathtaking production of Nozze di Figaro —flawless acting—in a Swedish jewel box of an opera house. Who would be surprised to know a huge portrait of Jenny Lind hung on the staircase?
Libraries of Sweden. Haga (1) and Drottningholm (2). Always my happy places.
#library
#librariesofinstagram📚
#drottingholmpalace
#haga
#booksdofurnisharoom
#booksmakearoom
#sweden
What is it about the light in Sweden? Two different days at Drottningholm Palace, two breathtaking skies.
Gustave III’s pavilion at Haga, where landscape seamlessly meets interiors . The light, the sky, the foliage are unlike anything I’ve seen.
#sweden
#gustavianstyle
#romanticgardens
Obsessed with Gustave III’s neoclassical pavilion at Haga.
Matthew Rooney had an extraordinary gift for friendship, nurturing his loved ones with disarming personal revelations, exquisite flowers, and wonderful sequin-covered surprises in the mail. He built communities among disparate people, finding commonality with everyone. He was so generous and an inspiring vice chair of the Allegro Circle at his beloved New York City Ballet. He had an artist’s eye, seeing things in ballet as no other. His writing was just as extraordinary as he—profound, true, and revealing. I mourn what we lost of his future work.
I was lucky to have been touched by Matthew’s magic, however briefly.
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