The Oscars is my second-favorite night of the year, after Christmas Eve. I'm still feeling the buzz!
Not only does it celebrate one of my favorite art forms - film - but I love the marriage between the film industry and the fashion industry: The Red Carpet.
For someone who doesn't bother much about what I look like day-to-day, I am someone who loves to dress up for special occasions. And I love haute couture. Oscar Night sends me into paroxysms of glee.
For today's Through the Opera Glasses, here are my personal favorites among the gowns that appeared on the Red Carpet Sunday night.
1 - My favorite: Evan Rachel Wood is stunning in this sculpted cream-colored Elie Saab gown.
2 - Natalie Portman is radiant in her pink strapless gown by Rodarte.
3 - Nancy O'Dell in a graceful white grecian gown by Pamela Rolland.
4 - Virginia Madsen in a dramatic red Kevan Hall strapless gown.
5 - Daniela Barbosa de Carneiro, Lady Kingsley with her husband Sir Ben Kingsley. She wears a frothy orange grecian gown whose designer I couldn't identify.
6 - Alicia Keyes in a beautifully-draped lavender Armani Prive gown.
7 - Diane Lane with her husband Josh Brolin. So elegant in a black strapless Dolce and Gabbana gown.
8 - Producer Susan Levin with her husband, Robert Downey Jr. She wears an artfully-draped red strapless Blumarine gown with a rhinestone belt detail.
9 - Taraji P. Henson glows in this white tiered Roberto Cavalli gown.
10 - Amy Adams is bold in a classic red strapless gown by Carolina Herrera.
Both Diane Lane and Amy Adams made my list last year. You can check out my 2008 picks HERE.
My fellow missmakeamovie blogger, Ramona Barckert just posted a challenge to name our favorite female film characters from the past ten years.
This is a response to a Top 100 Movie Characters list she found at Empire Magazine online. There were only 12 women on the entire list.
My favorite character is actually The Bride (Uma Thurman) - Kill Bill Vol. 1 & 2, 2003/2004. But she was already named on Empire's list. She placed at #66.
Here is my response to Empire's list.
1 - Galadriel (Cate Blanchett) - Lord of the Rings, 2001
2 - Fox (Angelina Jolie) - Wanted, 2008
3 - Gail (Rosario Dawson) - Sin City, 2005
4 - Svetlana (Mariya Poroshina) - Night Watch and Day Watch, 2004
Welcome to the second posting of my new arts feature, Through the Opera Glasses. Today I have a review for the HD broadcast of La Fille Mal Gardee, a comic ballet performed by the Royal Ballet of England and shown at select Empire Cinemas across Canada, for one matinee only.
I am eternally grateful to Empire Theatres for starting this program. Having had the pinch-me-am-I-dreaming pleasure of working at a performing arts theatre in Toronto for eight years, I miss the access I once had to world-class ballet and opera.
And since I am a confessed ballet freak, it was a very, very long eight years after I left that job until Empire Theatres offered this fine arts program.
My mom remembered seeing La Fille Mal Gardee on one of her trips to see my sister and me when we lived in Toronto, so she joined me this past Saturday for the matinee. The ballet tells the story of young lovers Lise and Colas, who determine to outwit her mother. She plans to marry her daughter to the son of the local vinyard owner, but the townsfolk conspire with the lovers to ensure that true happiness wins out over a financial match.
Colas is danced by Cuban sensation Carlos Acosta. In the dance world, national companies are filled with residents from all over the world. Exquisite talent does not recognize borders. The particular style of each company attracts specific dancers who embody that style, and Carlos Acosta's magnificent technique fits beautifully into England's Royal Ballet Company.
Here's a variation from Act I that showcases his breathtaking virility, height and flawless technique.
The theme of 'ties' abounds in Sir Frederick Ashton's charming choreography. Ribbons are used to great effect to join the many relationships in this rural setting: family ties, romantic ties and the ties of the townsfolk to one another.
In the first act pas de deux (or dance for two, one of the main choreographic forms used in ballet,) Lise and Colas entwine themselves in the ribbon she left for him as a love token. They end up creating a cat's cradle after several intricate steps.
Osbert Lancaster’s original 1960 designs echoed the ties theme, mirroring the crisscrosses of the cat's cradle by having front-lacing bodices for Lise in all three costumes. The windows of Lise's home also have an X design, and the townsfolk gather in Act II to form a maypole dance.
Here's the first act pas de deux with the lovers delighting in their irresistable connection to one another.
Lise is danced by Argentinian marvel Marianela Nunez. She has a lively, flirtatious rapport with Carlos Acosta, and matches his bravura dancing with strength and fireworks of her own. Yet she never loses a delicacy that is somehow never at odds with her power.
She absolutely shines in this wedding pas de deux from Act III.
If you live in or near one of these Canadian cities, I invite you to join me later this month for Manon:
Bolton, Ontario - Empire 7 Cinemas
Burlington, Ontario - Empire Showcase 6 Cinemas
Calgary, Alberta - Empire Studio 10 Macleod Trail
Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island - Empire Studio 8
Edmonton, Alberta - Empire City Centre 9 Cinemas
Fredericton, New Brunswick - Empire Studio 10 Regent Mall
Halifax, Nova Scotia - Empire 8 Park Lane
Kingston, Ontario - Empire Capitol 7 Cinemas
Kitchner, Ontario - Empire Studio 12 Gateway Park
London, Ontario - Empire Wellington 8 Cinemas
Mississauga, Ontario - Empire Studio 10 at Square One
Moncton, New Brunswick - Empire 8 Trinity Drive
North Vancouver, British Columbia - Empire Esplanade 6 Cinemas
North York, Ontario - Empire Empress Walk 10 Cinemas
Ottawa, Ontario - Empire 7 Cinema
Richmond Hill, Ontario - Empire Elgin Mills 10 Cinemas
Saint John, New Brunswick - Empire Studio 10
St. Catharines, Ontario - Empire Studio 8 Pen Centre
St. John's, Newfoundland - Empire Studio 12
Sydney, Nova Scotia - Empire Studio 10
Vancouver, British Columbia - Empire Granville 7 Cinemas
Victoria, British Columbia - Empire Capitol 6 Cinemas
Champion of the Arts - I write historical and paranormal fiction, as well as poetry. I love to showcase creative works by artists of all stripes. Blogging from Nova Scotia, Canada
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