Mathias and Laura-Jane are interviewed for BRB's blog!

I love the fact that Birmingham Royal Ballet is using social media and blogging to promote their company, its productions, and their performances!  This past week both Mathias and Laura-Jane were interviewed! 

Laura-Jane's interview is called "The Quick Change Artist" and is HERE. 



Mathias' interview is called "The Multitasker" and is HERE.

Steve and I are both so proud ... and Steve is especially excited as he leaves next week to see the production of Aladdin while the company is touring to London!

Mathias as Aladdin

(Above:  Mathias as Aladdin and Maureya Lebowitz as Princess Badr Al Budar after their debut performance last weekend of David Bintley's Aladdin at the Lowry in Manchester, UK.  Click on image to enlarge.)

 

(Above:  Mathias as Aladdin and Maureya Lebowitz as Princess Badr Al Budar and James Barton as the magical Djinn.  Click on image to enlarge.)

I love it when Facebook opens to a photo of my son in a glorious costume with a smile (or smirk) on his face!  I hope the future brings more images, especially one in which Mathias is in the blue body paint!  Yes, for some of the shows, he's the genie!

Entrechat, Mathias Dingman's profile article

 

A couple of month's ago Mathias called to tell us that he'd be featured in a magazine that Birmingham Royal Ballet produces for members of a special group called "Friends of Birmingham Royal Ballet".  We were excited for him and excited to see this publication.  Of course, it took months before Mathias got the magazine and even longer for him to mail it. 

It was well worth the wait!  In fact, we were floored.  Everything about this magazine is first-rate and the photos are drop-dead gorgeous.  Naturally, we only got three copies:  one for my parents, one for my grandmother (Mathias' great grandma), and one for us.  This meant "sharing" the pages was problematic ... especially since scanning and posting is against copyright regulations.  So, I wrote a message to Rob Lindsay, the media officer for BRB asking for permission to "share" the article. 

Fabulously, Rob wrote back with a link to every page, page by page, and permission to post it!  CLICK HERE to read the words ... which are Mathias' personal account of his work, training, and life in the company!  (It takes a couple seconds for all FIVE pages to upload ... but this, too, is worth the wait!) 

THANK YOU ROB!

An Evening of Music and Ballet, gala performance in Birmingham

(Above:  Principal dancer Nao Sakuma and First Soloist MATHIAS DINGMAN in costume at Symphony Hall in Birmingham, UK.  Click on image to enlarge.)

Gotta love Facebook when you log on and find a photo of your elder son from the evening before ... in costume for the Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux that closed a gala performance called "An Evening of Music and Ballet" in Birmingham's Symphony Hall.  Don't they look wonderful!  Steve and I wish we could have witnessed the performance!  Fortunately, we have friends who did and Facebooked their cyber applause and congratulatory remarks!

Snow in Slippery Rock! Christmas 2012

(Above:  Female Downy Woodpecker.  Click on any image to enlarge.)

On Christmas Day Steve and I got up very early and traveled north through dense fog in West Virginia and all the way to Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania ... in time for Christmas dinner.  It was GREAT!  We opened presents afterwards ... including the one I bought for my sister Sonya and brother-in-law Vipin. 

Okay, I admit it!  This found-object artpiece was really bought for their little pup Lulu ... for this photo op!


(Above:  Lulu and the Christmas crab!)

The next day snow storm Euclid dumped plenty of the "white stuff" and we went for a walk by the ice covered lake and through the woods.  We also spent plenty of time watching the dozens of different types of winter birds eating at the feeders outside my parents' sliding glass doors.  A dozen turkeys wandered by as well.


(Above:  Snow covered cat tail reeds at the side of the lake.)

We are now officially snowbound ... and loving it.  It is an excellent excuse for staying inside and stitching!  I posted 29 photos on a Flickr! account ... HERE or HERE FOR A SLIDESHOW!


(Above:  View to my parent's house from the workshop/garage.)


(Above:  Me in my mother's winter coat ... the one she called Nanook of the North.)


(Above:  Steve ... as we approached the bird feeders ... where I took the photo of the woodpecker at the beginning of this post.)

(Above:  Mathias, age 17.  Summer of 2005.  ABT summer intensive.)

I have a "google alert" on my elder son's name.  Yesterday a message appeared and I found this photo of Mathias.  I knew he looked "young" ... or at least younger than his current age of 24 ... but WHERE was this photo taken.  I emailed Mathias.  His answer:  ABT summer program.  He also told me about a gallery of photos from last week's triple bill.  These great images are on Dance Europe's website.  They're embedded into the site in such a way that I can't "grab" them and post ... but here's the link! 

Mathias as Puck ... from the BRB Facebook Photo Album