Monday, January 31, 2011

New Faces -Demy Ben Yanes






Demy start last season on Top Model Of Colour Holland,she walked for the Amsterdam Fashion Week
and several designers.
Demy is undeniably beautiful, with a memorable profile, elegantly long limbs and a delicate air that shifts to hard edge in a blink. Bring on the shows!

Naomi Campbell covers British GQ Magazine March 2011


In the issue Naomi talks about blood diamonds,

life lessons,people’s perceptions of her and interviewing Hugo Chavez.

The Model says, “I don’t read the papers… I sell papers”.



Burberry - Childrenswear Spring/Summer 2011 Campaign



MOSCHINO - Editorials 2011 Madame Figaro "Février" France February

adidas Originals Blue Collection Spring/Summer 2011 Printemps/Eté




















BEHIND THE CURTAIN with The Pennsylvania Ballet

Pennsylvania Ballet principal dancers Zachary Hench and Riolama Lorenzo in Christopher Wheeldon's Swan Lake. (photo: Paul Kolnik)
We sit in the audience, and the show onstage enthralls us:  the swirl of costumes, the pulsating music, the mystery of lighting in the darkness of the theater.  Astounding moves look effortless and dancers seem to float on air.  A world of fairy tales and feathers and thwarted romance unfolds and we are transported.

Ah, but what drama unfolds behind the curtain?

Perhaps I’ve seen too many movies, because what I expected was not at all what I found when I got to peek into the studios of one of the world’s premiere ballet companies, The Pennsylvania Ballet.

TOP: Principal dancer Arantxa Ochoa. MIDDLE: Arantxa with soloist Francis Veyette and (2nd row) soloist Barette Vance with corps de ballet dancer Andre Vytoptov. Artists of The Pennsylvania Ballet. (photos: Alexander Iziliaev)  BOTTOM: Soloist James Ihde in rehearsal with corps de ballet dancer Evelyn Kocak and onstage with principal dancer Riolama Lorenzo in Jerome Robbins' In The Night. (left photo: Doreen Creede / right photo: Paul Kolnik).

My first surprise was the athleticism behind the artistry.  Up close, in the bright lights of the rehearsal studio, you see the sweat streaming down Barette Vance’s smiling face as she flits through Balanchine; feel the reverberation of Francis Veyette’s muscled legs pounding into the floor, with the thinnest slipper as “protection;” wince as James Ihde’s rippling arms swoop a sitting Evelyn Kocak straight over his head, as if she weighs no more than a pillow.  You think back to that awkward ballet class you took at the age of six, and realize that for every million little girls who dream of being a ballerina, perhaps one actually makes it her career.  Or to put it in terms my husband would relate to: this is the NFL of the dance world.

My next surprise was what I didn’t see:  No drama.  No divas.

During rehearsal, when a “take” [my word] didn’t work, the ballet mistress and dancers had a calm, collaborative discussion.  At a reception after an In-Studio Show, dancers ranging from veteran principals to new young corps de ballet members got along as though a happy family and made us visitors feel like welcome friends.

Perhaps the camaraderie is because company dancers spend more time together than most families, training nine hours a day, five days a week, 10 months a year.  Or perhaps it’s that a quarter of the company literally is family:  three couples in the Pennsylvania Ballet are married, one engaged.

But I think it’s something else.  I think it’s the joy that comes from making a living by every day doing the thing you truly love. The positive energy in those unadorned rehearsal rooms--lined with storage boxes, lights glaring overhead--was simply infectious.

(photo by Alexander Iziliaev)

AT THE MOVIES: The Black Swan Connection
Given the hype, you probably think the movie Black Swan inspired this post.  In fact, it was a letter from my friend Janis Goodman, chair of the board of trustees, that piqued my interest.  Not until later did I discover that 14 of The Pennsylvania Ballet’s dancers appeared in the movie and that the Company will perform Swan Lake this March, followed in April by the premiere of a new work by Benjamin Millepied, Black Swan’s choreographer and Natalie Portman’s fiancé.

ONSTAGE: The Pennsylvania Ballet's Spring 2011 Season
(Unbelievably, tickets start at just $20.)

February 3-6  Classic Innovations
(includes: The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude; Polyphonia; In The Upper Room)

March 3-13  Swan Lake

April 14-17  Building On Balanchine
(includes: Agon; a yet-to-be-named world premiere by Benjamin Millepied; and Who Cares?)

June 2-11  La Fille Mal Gardee

Artistic Director: Roy Kaiser  |  paballet.org  | 215-893-1955


BEHIND THE LENS
The contrast of Paul Kolnik’s flawless performance pictures and the natural beauty of Alexander Iziliaev’s studio shots completely captivated me.  Then came my third surprise of this post: photography is a hobby for Alexander.  His longtime "day job" is principal dancer with The Pennsylvania Ballet.  

That's him, at left, in Balanchine's Agon.  Talk about talented!
(Alexander's photo by ... you guessed it ... Paul Kolnik)

SAO PAULO - maria eugenia, thassia & paola, fashion week inverno 11, 01/29-30/11






Sunday, January 30, 2011

Sofia Vergara 17th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards


Barranquilla Colombian Actress, Model, and Entrepreneur
Sofia Vergara is wearing a blue dress by Roberto Cavalli
with jewels by Chopard.

free as will

still busy doing fashionweek, even have no time to relax a bit in this Chinese New Year holidays.
a month to go, but quite exciting about everything!


Bad Angels Numero #85 August 2007

model : unknown leather man & Masha Novoselova
photographer : Greg Kadel
stylist : Bill Mullen

SAO PAULO - fashion week inverno 11, day 2, 01/29/11








More photos of SPFW day 1 on my visual diary.