High Line and other Highlights

For the last few days I have been a tourist in New York with my friends visiting from London. It was the first time I had been to the High Line. The Empire State building was to the north, Statue of Liberty to the south and lovely spring blossoms in between.

 

 

I loved going to the Brooklyn Museum to see the exhibition of Sargent's watercolors.

(We included a stop at the Lady Bird Cafe for Chocolate Black Out Cake: Yum!)

And at the Metropolitan Museum, the video Street by James Nares was mesmerizing. 

We went to New York City Ballet (of course!) at Lincoln Center and listened to music at Carnegie Hall ...  busy, busy, busy!

COLORS for ZENA

COLORS for ZENA won't be published for months still (not until July), but I just got my first advance copy from my editor! I feel happy!

NYCB in Copenhagen

My daughter is dancing in Copenhagen and took this picture.
Wishing I was there!

A trip to DC included cupcakes and...

A short but perfect trip to Washington DC included NYCBallet at the Kennedy Center,  the Pre-Raphaelites at the National Gallery, Degas at the Phillips Collection ...

...and cupcakes at Georgetown Cupcakes...

My selection, Lemon Blossom, was excellent!
And a good book, Facts and Fancies by Paul Taylor, made the bus ride home go a lot quicker!

Lookee!

Love when I hear from a friend that she has made a book sighting, especially when books by both of us are there: Fran Manushkin's  The TUSHY Book and my Mr COOKIE Baker. Love West Side Kids at Amsterdam and 84th St here in NYC!

Spring Dance

I'm missing NYCB - the winter season ended just a week ago. Here is a picture of some of the Sleeping Beauty Fairies that my daughter sent me. (She is amongst them!) Spring season doesn't start up until the beginning of May. In the meantime I've got a few things I'm excited about dance-wise:

First - Paul Taylor at Lincoln Center from March 5- 27. I love Esplanade and Company B, and Le Sacre du Printemps is on my list to see. Schedule: http://www.ptdc.org/nyc

At the same time I will be reading Paul Taylor's book, Fact and Fancies, which has just been published - perfect timing! Info: http://www.delphiniumbooks.com/factsandfancies.html

Next - Dance Theater of Harlem at the Rose Theater (at Columbus Circle) from April 10-14. Here is one reason I'm very much looking forward to going:

"The Lark Ascending"  Dancers: Gabrielle Salvatto, Fredrick Davis
Schedule: http://www.dancetheatreofharlem.org/company/ny-season

On April 4th previews start for a new play at Lincoln Center,  "Nikolai and the Others",  the "others" including Balanchine, Stravinsky, and Maria Tallchief, and Nicholas Magallanes. It sounds intriguing: http://www.lct.org/showMain.htm?id=216

Spring is in the air!

Illustration on the Run...way

A young and talented illustrator, Danielle Meder, is staying with me for Fashion Week. This photo of her painting backstage with watercolors before one of the shows is in the New York Times today - Cool!

(Photo credit: Richard Drew/Associated Press)

In Rehearsal

On my way to the theater to buy my last ballet ticket of the fall season, I stopped at the library to see the exhibition of photographs: "Martha Swope In Rehearsal."

The NYCB program tomorrow is Apollo, Agon, and Rubies. How perfect to see photos, including the one above, of Balanchine and Stravinsky rehearsing Arthur Mitchell and Diana Adams in Agon. 

The Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center has acquired the archives of Martha Swope which consists of over 1.5 million images!!!  It was a lovely little exhibition (in the downstairs gallery) leaving me with the wish to see lots more - it is on until January 26, 2013. 

Maison Kayser: Mmmm, c'est bon!

My favorite bakery in Paris has just opened in New York: makes coming home from my summer travels not so difficult!



My friend and I walked across Central Park to Maison Kayser. S is helping me in an important way with my Crepes by Suzette app project. What better way to rev up than to enjoy flavors of France together!

Here in the New York location (74th St and 3rd Ave) there is a cafe connected to the bakery: Mmmm, c'est bon!

http://www.maison-kayser.com/

Summer Travels #4 - Paris and London

I was in Paris collecting sights and sounds ... for my Crepes by Suzette app project!

Paris was hot:  it hit 100F while I was there. Otherwise wonderful!

Now in London: I helped my friend with her beekeeping.

She is feeding her bees extra sugar to help them get ready for colder weather ahead:

Sadly summer travels are shortly coming to an end and I'll be heading back to New York.

Summer Travels #3 - Colorado

First stop in Colorado was Denver. With the city up a mile in the air, I definitely noticed the change in altitude. I enjoyed a walk around the neighborhood where we were staying, the Highlands. I loved the mix of architecture: cute folk art style buildings

 

 and Lego style buildings, right next to each other.

The next day we went to Vail, a few more thousand feet up in the Rocky Mountains. The air was lovely and cool and dry, but thin. I never felt like I was getting a full breath of air. Strange feeling. I was there to see NYCB's MOVES (and my dancing daughter!) perform at the dance festival. What a beautiful outdoor theater nestled in pine trees. 

 

Alot of people were bicycling up and down the mountains around Vail, but I didn't quite have the energy. I would need more time to acclimate to the high altitude. 

 

 

Here is the view from 14,130 feet, from the top of Mount Evans. I didn't climb all the way up there - just the very last bit. But even that felt like an accomplishment!

And here is a video from Vail about Jerome Robbin's Moves. It is a ballet in "silence" but not at Vail. What a sensational setting!

Summer travels #2 - Saratoga

I am just back from seeing excellent ballet in Saratoga. NYCB of course!

And I explored the town more than I ever have, from one end to the other - on bicycle. I became fascinated with porches! All the houses, little, big, simple, fancy and everything in between, have porches.  I wish I could bring one back to NYC, so instead, I took lots of pictures. 

 It all started with this one, in desperate need of repair:

It was interesting to see the porches being worked on:

 

And then so well maintained:



Like a dollhouse:

 



I admired many of the color choices:

 

 

And was impressed by some very grand houses with fancy porches



But at the end of the day, this is one of my favorites:



Hopefully someone will soon be taking care of this little house with it's crumbling porch.


I wish it could be me, I love Saratoga!

Summer travels #1 - Michigan

I'm looking forward to a lot of traveling this summer!
I just got back from Grand Rapids, Michigan where I was visiting my relatives.

I love this picture of my grandmother and her twin sister, circa 1900. I think they would have enjoyed hearing that my aunt and I made many, many jars of strawberry jam from the most delicious strawberries I have tasted in years.



Even after all these years of many visits to Grand Rapids I never knew about Frank Lloyd Wright's May House in the Heritage Hill Historical District. If I had planned things right I would have loved to have taken the tour inside, but at least I got a view of the outside.

And around the back:

And in this area of grand houses, right across the street from the May house, is this odd little one. What is it doing there and is it lived in?

A highlight: we got to see my daughter dance with Satellite Ballet. It is great seeing NYCBallet dancers doing new projects in new venues.  A trip to Saratoga is next!

Cool Days of Summer!

From  Vogue: 30 Days of Summer

Day 19: Photo by Paul Kolnik of Justin Peck and my dancing daughter!
In July New York City Ballet will have their annual visit to Saratoga Springs in upstate New York. On July 14, Justin's ballet to Philip Glass music will have it's premiere. Cool!

For New York City Ballet: nycballet.com

For Saratoga: spac.org

SCHOOL ART PROJECTS: mouth watering! 

When I visit schools, I love seeing the children's art in the classrooms and halls.
Here is a project that is close to my sweet tooth!
In White Plains, the first graders were inspired by Wayne Theibaud's cake paintings.

   

Take a look at this delicious video: Talking with Wayne Theibaud

CHILDREN'S BOOKS and BALLET Pas de Deux

I love when two of my favorite things, children's books and ballet, come together, and best of all when New York City Ballet is in the mix. And so I am excited about Allegra Kent's new picture book, BALLERINA SWAN, illustrated by Caldecott winner Emily Arnold McCully. Allegra Kent was one of Balanchine's greatest dancers. Her autobiography, "Once a Dancer..." is one of my favorites.

Here is an interview with Allegra about her newest book.



Sophie Flack, a former corps de ballet dancer with NYCB, wrote BUNHEADS, a teen novel published a few months ago. A behind-the-scenes ballet story, it could have only been written by someone who has been there. I loved it and couldn't put it down!
You can listen to an interview with Sophie here.

For children's books check out the wonderful Bank Street Bookstore at Broadway and 112th St.

NYCBallet's spring season starts next week on May 1! In the first two weeks alone I  have plans to go numerous times: to see favorites like Robbin's The Cage and Wheeldon's DGV, and great Balanchine ballets like Serenade and Symphony in C... (and triple bills for my dancing daughter!)
Info here: New York City Ballet

Colorful Cookies and Cakes are always good for holidays!

SCHOOL VISITS: Cherry Lane and Roaring Brook

I had so much fun visiting two schools this past week. Two very busy days talking with many classes of kindergarten, first, and second grade classes about how I work on books. I hope I inspired them as much as they inspired me!

Here is just one of the classes I met:



I was so impressed with the artwork I saw - a sampling:



And here a beautiful ceramic flower garden: