The Phantom of the Ballet
Paris Opera refuses its caricature of dancers as anorexics "petits rats" clones. Maybe that´s not the case today but once it was surely known by this. Of course, it´s not all about the perfect physique. It´s even tragic to think of Ballet in such a way. It has much more a spiritual sense, all the atmosphere is involved in an air of pure delicacy and sense of beauty, more in an emotional touch than anything really physical. The etheral state is so permeated in my story so no one can even ask why my appeal to the "caricature of dancers portrayed as little rats" was even mentioned. And I tell you this: It´s a Historical Fiction and by such I am referring to a time where the mentality was different, where the epoch and the facts demonstrated this acknowledgement. Many things have changed, and thank God about it!
So here there are some more teasing matters still in Book 1, i. e. Pierrot & ColumbinePierrot & Columbine
Does that make you eager to go read Book 2 (The Phantom of the Ballet)? I bet it does:
1) "A princess falls in love with a witch.” In Italian it would be “UNA PRINCIPESSA INNAMORATA DI UNA STREGA”…So the Italian translator asks: "do you really mean that she falls in love with a woman?"A witch is usually depicted as a woman, but in this case it's a man, so it won't be strega but stregone. Funny though that the word in English makes it a double sense. Some words in English work perfectly well to add some mystery to the plot and pepper to the pot, isn´t it so??
2) (...)she had represented a terrible role on that whole chilling season with a cold presentation of the Ballet “Les Sylphides” performed by a girl from Iceland, who had as much hot blood as a cold icy day at the winter wonderland(...) Talitha was tired of dancing in small roles, having to see all the best parts played by and created for other ballerinas even from other countries such as Iceland, that meaning, that she couldn't stand being left out and more and more distant from her dream. It was a cold season, meaning not only the winter coming, as much as all the world of Ballet being so cold and giving her nothing more than aches and pains that she decided it was good for her to try something else that could send her away from that strenous life.
3) the little rats from the Opera House were there to show that these were more than a tendency: the little rats in this case are not the rodents, but that's actually how the ballerinas from the Opera House in Paris were called at that time, because they were mostly starving artists, who needed to be there to survive, so much different than nowadays where ballet dancers are mostly from rich and opulent families. So this again is just a very realistic portray, if you see the caricature of dancers, even drawings of them as rats.
4) "it was the first time she (Talitha) stepped in a celebrity toe": It was the first time that she would make a fool of herself when she stepped over the first ballerina, and made her stumble and fall, such a terrible mistake.
5) "At the Art's Column, there was an article on the glamorous night with a memorable line about her brilliant performance, about “A Ballerina's Routine”.
Does that newspaper really exist ? And have they really written an article titled “A Ballerina’s Routine” dedicated to Talitha.?Is this article ironic?
Totally ironic, I would say, but it was all taken from my imagination, althogh there existed a newspaper it was another one, it was called "Le Chat Noir" but they never wrote about Talitha, if there was never a Talitha in the first paper, I mean, place. Or was there??
6) "And she did not outlive her own friend's misfortunes, as she had declared to Talitha so many times before they even had thought of becoming ballerinas." So she is her dear friend who died in an accident while dancing Les Sylphides. It's Emma Livry.
7) When Talitha went to England and met her friend Emily she is already married. The part that time is passing by is in a subtle way revealed by the description of scenes and actions. There is a type of time travel throughout the story, you just have to let yourself be transported, because in the future Talitha will eventually meet Emily's son, who will be then gone, that's a somewhat Gone with the Wind type of story.
So Talitha is still with Giovanni when they both see a body emerging from the Seine, which is the sun, but in a literal sense it could also mean a body like a corps, so in Italian could be "corpo comme corpo celestial, mai si la scritura 'celeste' revela molto, miglior solo dire corpo. " It´s better to leave body, not a celestial body, for it has a double meaning. I like to make readers reflect upon the fact that nature is in sync with what´s developing in the scene (Seine) and make a little suspense for what's coming next.. because there will be also found in the river... a mumia (mummy or mum). Mamma mia! But that's for the next books.
Bon voyaggio!!
If you enjoyed this story, you might be interested in the following blogs:
Dance As One
Orbs
**************
Bestselling author of foreign Historical Fiction and Mystery/Suspense at the UK/Spain, Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Quaterfinalist, Ana works in publishing and communications for over 30 years, traveling around the world. She finished high school in the Mackenzie Institute, graduating in Translation and Interpretation in English, also has a diploma Degree in High Course in French at Alliance Française. She holds a Bachelor of Arts, studied Literature at the University Paris IV (Sorbonne in building), Theatre and Literature also in the Maison de la Culture du Monde and Meditation & Dance in the WAC (World Arts & Culture) from UCLA in Los Angeles, California. Her passion for other cultures leads to seeking out different perspectives and ways of life. She went to Australia, Tahiti, Hawaii, Bora Bora, Easter Island, Peru, Venezuela, Argentina, Paraguay, Canada, Switzerland, Italy, Malta, Croatia, Corfu (Greece), Bahamas, Turks & Caicos, Virgin Islands, Brussels, Portugal and Spain. She lived in England, France (Paris), United States, Chile, but she was born in Brazil. She specialized in Arts and all things related to multimedia features, also loves to travel and experience cultures from around the world. She writes from different genres, so that she easily goes to one genre to another type of literature and she is very eclectic and flexible (oh, those years as a Ballet dancer gave her longevity). Her short-stories and poems were first published in her sweet sixteen by Mackenzie Publisher. Ana translated and illustrated many books, magazines, such as Magie by Editora Ondas, a book by Sebrae: on crafts for the Chilean Council for Handicrafts. Books translated into Portuguese, such as How to Break In TV Writing, Como Irromper na Escrita Para TV with Gray Jones, Writing the Heart of Your Story Escrevendo o coração da sua historia and Filme Sua Novela with CS Lakin, Pense Como Um Genio with Raimon Samso, Relacionamentos Toxicos, Dicas de Autodefesa and A Esperança do Tibete.
Her books can be found on Amazon, also on Barnes & Noble, on Apple, Lulu and all mayor bookstores online.
Follow the author on Twitter:@AnaBowlova
So here there are some more teasing matters still in Book 1, i. e. Pierrot & ColumbinePierrot & Columbine
Does that make you eager to go read Book 2 (The Phantom of the Ballet)? I bet it does:
1) "A princess falls in love with a witch.” In Italian it would be “UNA PRINCIPESSA INNAMORATA DI UNA STREGA”…So the Italian translator asks: "do you really mean that she falls in love with a woman?"A witch is usually depicted as a woman, but in this case it's a man, so it won't be strega but stregone. Funny though that the word in English makes it a double sense. Some words in English work perfectly well to add some mystery to the plot and pepper to the pot, isn´t it so??
2) (...)she had represented a terrible role on that whole chilling season with a cold presentation of the Ballet “Les Sylphides” performed by a girl from Iceland, who had as much hot blood as a cold icy day at the winter wonderland(...) Talitha was tired of dancing in small roles, having to see all the best parts played by and created for other ballerinas even from other countries such as Iceland, that meaning, that she couldn't stand being left out and more and more distant from her dream. It was a cold season, meaning not only the winter coming, as much as all the world of Ballet being so cold and giving her nothing more than aches and pains that she decided it was good for her to try something else that could send her away from that strenous life.
3) the little rats from the Opera House were there to show that these were more than a tendency: the little rats in this case are not the rodents, but that's actually how the ballerinas from the Opera House in Paris were called at that time, because they were mostly starving artists, who needed to be there to survive, so much different than nowadays where ballet dancers are mostly from rich and opulent families. So this again is just a very realistic portray, if you see the caricature of dancers, even drawings of them as rats.
4) "it was the first time she (Talitha) stepped in a celebrity toe": It was the first time that she would make a fool of herself when she stepped over the first ballerina, and made her stumble and fall, such a terrible mistake.
5) "At the Art's Column, there was an article on the glamorous night with a memorable line about her brilliant performance, about “A Ballerina's Routine”.
Does that newspaper really exist ? And have they really written an article titled “A Ballerina’s Routine” dedicated to Talitha.?Is this article ironic?
Totally ironic, I would say, but it was all taken from my imagination, althogh there existed a newspaper it was another one, it was called "Le Chat Noir" but they never wrote about Talitha, if there was never a Talitha in the first paper, I mean, place. Or was there??
6) "And she did not outlive her own friend's misfortunes, as she had declared to Talitha so many times before they even had thought of becoming ballerinas." So she is her dear friend who died in an accident while dancing Les Sylphides. It's Emma Livry.
7) When Talitha went to England and met her friend Emily she is already married. The part that time is passing by is in a subtle way revealed by the description of scenes and actions. There is a type of time travel throughout the story, you just have to let yourself be transported, because in the future Talitha will eventually meet Emily's son, who will be then gone, that's a somewhat Gone with the Wind type of story.
So Talitha is still with Giovanni when they both see a body emerging from the Seine, which is the sun, but in a literal sense it could also mean a body like a corps, so in Italian could be "corpo comme corpo celestial, mai si la scritura 'celeste' revela molto, miglior solo dire corpo. " It´s better to leave body, not a celestial body, for it has a double meaning. I like to make readers reflect upon the fact that nature is in sync with what´s developing in the scene (Seine) and make a little suspense for what's coming next.. because there will be also found in the river... a mumia (mummy or mum). Mamma mia! But that's for the next books.
Bon voyaggio!!
If you enjoyed this story, you might be interested in the following blogs:
Dance As One
Orbs
**************
Bestselling author of foreign Historical Fiction and Mystery/Suspense at the UK/Spain, Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Quaterfinalist, Ana works in publishing and communications for over 30 years, traveling around the world. She finished high school in the Mackenzie Institute, graduating in Translation and Interpretation in English, also has a diploma Degree in High Course in French at Alliance Française. She holds a Bachelor of Arts, studied Literature at the University Paris IV (Sorbonne in building), Theatre and Literature also in the Maison de la Culture du Monde and Meditation & Dance in the WAC (World Arts & Culture) from UCLA in Los Angeles, California. Her passion for other cultures leads to seeking out different perspectives and ways of life. She went to Australia, Tahiti, Hawaii, Bora Bora, Easter Island, Peru, Venezuela, Argentina, Paraguay, Canada, Switzerland, Italy, Malta, Croatia, Corfu (Greece), Bahamas, Turks & Caicos, Virgin Islands, Brussels, Portugal and Spain. She lived in England, France (Paris), United States, Chile, but she was born in Brazil. She specialized in Arts and all things related to multimedia features, also loves to travel and experience cultures from around the world. She writes from different genres, so that she easily goes to one genre to another type of literature and she is very eclectic and flexible (oh, those years as a Ballet dancer gave her longevity). Her short-stories and poems were first published in her sweet sixteen by Mackenzie Publisher. Ana translated and illustrated many books, magazines, such as Magie by Editora Ondas, a book by Sebrae: on crafts for the Chilean Council for Handicrafts. Books translated into Portuguese, such as How to Break In TV Writing, Como Irromper na Escrita Para TV with Gray Jones, Writing the Heart of Your Story Escrevendo o coração da sua historia and Filme Sua Novela with CS Lakin, Pense Como Um Genio with Raimon Samso, Relacionamentos Toxicos, Dicas de Autodefesa and A Esperança do Tibete.
Her books can be found on Amazon, also on Barnes & Noble, on Apple, Lulu and all mayor bookstores online.
Follow the author on Twitter:@AnaBowlova
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