While The Coffee’s Still Warm
Life lately through rose-colored glasses…
Lately I’ve been thinking a great deal about; original sin, heaven, Eden, and the hedonistic implications of hell. I’ve also been thinking about the in between, and what it means to be responsible.
So here’s to the in between…
Art I am currently fixated on:
Women of Algiers in Their Apartment, 1834
Eugène Delacroix
Saint Catherine of Alexandria, 1606
Guido Reni
Picked up a gift for a friend:
What I’ve Been Reading:
Albums I’ve been enjoying:
Advertisements I Can’t Get Enough Of:
Choreography that’s had me in a chokehold:
Waiting Places
Five bodies share a room, bound by the act of waiting — each for a different longing. This dance-driven film explores the intersection of time, desire, and connection.
Watch the film free, streaming now nationwide on PBS.
Le Train Bleu
I recently watched the complete performance of Le Train Bleu during the English National Ballet’s 75th Anniversary Digital Celebration. The reimagined work choreographed by Stina Quagebeur, was comprised of nine phenomenal dancers, who performed in the newly opened V&A East Storehouse in London, the original knits were also reinterpreted and printed on a more comfortable Lycra by the ENB’s Costume Atelier with permission from Chanel. Le Train Bleu was an unsurprisingly luminous and decadent performance. Each couplet felt like well-written postcard from the Riviera; sun-drenched, self assured, and timeless.
This reimagining of the one-act ballet Le Train Bleu revisited a work originally presented by Sergei Diaghilev, at the Theatre des Champs-Elysees in Paris on June 20, 1924. It was choreographed by Bronislava Nijinska, with a libretto by Jean Cocteau, music composed by Darius Milhaud, sets by Henri Laurens, a curtain by Pablo Picasso, and costumes designed by Coco Chanel. Set at a glamurous Mediterranean resort, the ballet offers a satirical portrait of the Roaring Twenties’ fashionable elite, sunbathing, and flirting. It’s sport as spectacle, elegance turned parody. The title nods to the iconic night train that carried the wealthy south from Calais to the Côte d’Azur. Diaghilev’s original programme note stated, “The first point about Le Train Bleu is that there is no blue train in it. This being the age of speed, it already has reached its destination and disembarked its passengers.” Nijinska danced the role of the tennis champion, alongside Lydia Sokolova as (La Perlouse), Anton Dolin as (Beau Gosse- "handsome boy", the swimming champion), and Leon Woizikowski as (the golfer).
Lydia Sokolova & Anton Dolin in "Le Train Bleu" (1924)
Jean Cocteau with Dancers from "Le Train Bleu" (1924)
Podcast Episode I Thoroughly Enjoyed:
Some snapshots of life in the city:
Attended a screening of, It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley:
“To love another person is to see the face of God.”
Thanks for being here. Same time tomorrow?
xx,
Haley
If these notes brought a moment of clarity or charm to your day, you can keep the coffee warm and consider purchasing my next cup here.