30 Sunday Jun 2013
Posted in Art, Dance, Design, Music, Photography
Tags
© Joan Currie – Figure sketch by Lauren DiMarco & Skirt by Joan Currie
The dance can reveal everything mysterious that is hidden in music,
and it has the additional merit of being human and palpable.
Dancing is poetry with arms and legs.
Charles Baudelaire
Sometimes you can’t help but dance to the music…
“Pitbull” dominates my fun summer playlist!
23 Wednesday Nov 2011
Posted in Art, Dance, Design, Photography, Reflections, Writing
≈ Comments Off on Thanksgiving…
© Joan Currie
Because we don’t know when we will die, we get to think of life as an inexhaustible well, yet everything happens only a certain number of times, and a very small number, really. How many more times will you remember a certain afternoon of your childhood, some afternoon that’s so deeply a part of your being that you can’t even conceive of your life without it? Perhaps four or five times more, perhaps not even that. How many times will you watch the full moon rise? Perhaps twenty? And yet it all seems limitless.
from The Sheltering Sky movie, based on the book by Paul Bowles
Thanksgiving is almost upon us – savor every sweet moment of it.
10 Monday Oct 2011
Posted in Art, Dance, Photography, Reflections
© Joan Currie - Blue Nude Standing, Charcoal on paper
See he takes his ease,
staking his easel so,
slowly sharpening charcoal,
closing his eyes just so…
from by Degas’s Laundresses by Eavan Boland
The model held this strong, exposed, warrior pose for twenty minutes.
18 Thursday Aug 2011
Posted in Art, Dance, Fashion, Reflections
≈ Comments Off on Red Dress…
© Watercolor by Joan Currie
You’re the girl with the red dress on
You’re the girl I’ve dreamed about…
LoveHateHero lyrics
I found a red satin party dress lined with a black tulle slip that belonged to my late aunt. It will be perfect for salsa dancing! (I think she would approve.)
02 Tuesday Aug 2011
Posted in Dance, Music, Photography, Reflections
≈ Comments Off on Ten Beautiful Summer Dance Songs…
© Lauren DiMarco
I would believe only in a god that knows how to dance.
Nietzsche
A local cover band had the entire crowd up dancing to these favorites:
1. Beach Boys – California Girls
2. Bananarama – Cruel Summer
3. Michael Jackson – Billie Jean
4. Sinceros – Take Me to Your Leader
5. David Bowie – Let’s Dance
6. B52’s – Love Shack
7. Patti LaBelle – Lady Marmalade
8. Black Box – Everybody, Everybody
9. The Bee Gees – Stayin’ Alive
10. Prince – Cream
Model: Lauren DiMarco
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08 Sunday May 2011
Posted in Art, Dance, Food, Photography, Reflections, Writing
≈ Comments Off on Ten Beautiful Things My Mother Taught Me…
Tags
beautiful, Mother's Day, Photography, postaweek 2011, Ten Things My Mother Taught Me, Tribute to my Mother
I never look back – life is too short. – My Mother
1. The basic ballroom dance steps at a very young age so that I would always feel at home on the dance floor.
2. Lyrics to practically every big band and show tune.
3. How to throw a large party and be a great hostess.
4. A glass half-full attitude that included not dwelling on the past and appreciating the here and now.
5. How to sketch, draw, and compose photographs.
6. The correct way to apply lipstick, eyeliner, and false eyelashes.
7. How to bake, especially pies, bundt cakes, and butter tarts.
8. A love of the written word – how to type, write copy, read a literary novel, and recite poetry.
9. How to finesse a trick in bridge and win at gin rummy.
10. How to pack for a trip, including – take your own brand of teabags wherever you go to ensure that you will always have a good cup of tea.
Thanks, Mom! Happy Mother’s Day!
29 Saturday Jan 2011
Posted in Dance, Photography, Reflections
≈ Comments Off on Bonfire…
© Joan Currie
Absence is to love as wind is to fire; It extinguishes the small and kindles the great.
Roger de Bussy-Rabutin
At nightfall I sat mesmerized by the flames’ furious flamenco.
22 Saturday Jan 2011
Posted in Art, Dance, Design, Fashion, Food, Photography, Reflections, Travel, Writing
Tags
Beach, beautiful, Beauty, Capitola State Beach, Photography, postaweek2011, Self-help, Sunset, Top 103 list, Word list, Words
© Joan Currie - Capitola State Beach
Part 1.
1. Watch a sunset – see the green flash.
2. Admire rainbows, jet streams, and beautiful cloud formations.
3. Look through a kaleidoscope.
4. Use your “good” china and silverware.
5. Take a road trip.
6. Decorate a birthday cake.
7. Blow bubbles in the sunlight.
8. Examine a postage stamp, dollar bill, or coin through a magnifying glass.
9. Buy a bird feeder or bird bath.
10. Walk in the woods.
11. Drive in a convertible with the top down.
12. Visit a planetarium, aquarium. or zoo.
13. Learn calligraphy.
14. Hold a baby.
15. Place photos of you and your loved ones at your happiest around your home.
16. Go to the ballet, opera, or theatre.
17. Create a secret garden.
18. Learn to dance the cha cha, tango, samba, waltz, or swing.
19. Read poetry.
20. Spend time with an octogenarian, nonagenarian, or centenarian.
21. Wear something red.
22. Light candles.
23. Ride a zip line, climb a wall, or jump on a trampoline.
24. Make a snow angel.
25. Visit an art museum or gallery.
26. Play catch with a dog.
27. Doodle.
28. Watch fireworks.
29. Paint one wall in your home your favorite color.
30. Volunteer.
31. Buy a couple of goldfish.
32. Forgive past wrongs.
33. Say “I love you!” more often.
To be continued…
05 Sunday Sep 2010
Posted in Dance, Fashion, Photography, Reflections
≈ Comments Off on Belly Dancing…
© Joan Currie
Great dancers are not great because of their technique;
they are great because of their passion.
Martha Graham
Classical Egyptian belly dancing is an activity that I have embraced for the music, choreography, tradition, community of women, and the costumes. It is important to shake and listen before choosing a hip scarf as each one makes a different sound depending on the number and characteristics of the individual coins and other embellishments. The black scarf has a heavier sound and is better suited to more percussive, tribal rhythms.
© Joan Currie
Model – Lauren Currie
25 Wednesday Aug 2010
Posted in Dance, Design, Fashion, Reflections
≈ Comments Off on Tutu and Tulle…
Tags
Ballet, beautiful, Beauty, Boston Ballet School, Fashion, Photography, Royal Academy of Dance, Swan Lake, Tulle, Tutu
© Joan Currie
Tutu (noun)
A short projecting skirt worn by a ballerina.
Tulle (noun)
A fine, often starched net of silk, rayon, or nylon, especially used for veils, tutus or gowns.
My parents took me to my first ballet – the National Ballet of Canada’s production of Swan Lake at the O’Keefe Center in Toronto. My love affair with the tutu began on that evening. I was drawn to the midnight black tutu of Odile more than the white tutus of Princess Odette and the corps de ballet – Tchaikovsky’s powerful musical score may have influenced my preference.
The ballet classes of my youth were based on the Royal Academy of Dance’s rigorous curriculum and strict dress code – tutus were not worn in class. However, my daughters’ early ballet classes were quite whimsical in nature and, until the older girls started taking lessons at the Boston Ballet School, they were able to dance in pink, blue, and even purple tutus – some embellished with lines or starbursts of sequins in the many layers of tulle.
