This makes my heart so happy!! The Red Shoes is my favorite ballet ever!!! I did a solo in an aerial pole art competition based on the ballet, but the floor was super slippery and it didn't turn out as planned at all. I've been wanting to compete it again, thank you for the inspiration to create again!
I love that you analyzed this video for us! Question: Since Donald had never choreographed a ballet previously, was he familiar with the names of the steps, etc? Did you have input when it came to the choreography... meaning, did he maybe provide the artistic vision for the story and you chose the steps (since you're familiar with ballet) that would suit his vision? I hope that made sense, haha... I would never have believed he never choreographed a ballet before!
The great Leonide Massine played the role of the shoemaker in the Moira Scherer film version of the Red Shoes. Massine's performance of the shoemaker was intriguing. And it was a double role for Massine because he also played the role of the choreograpger Grisha in the film. Massine was such an incredible performer and also a great choreographer. When George Balanchine left de Basil's company in 1933, Massine replaced him as resident choreographer. Also, British ballerina Moira Scherer worked with Balanchine and admired him greatly.
Definately love the annalyzing videos! And it would be great for you to do the old videos too! With voiceover etc. In short, everything you suggested you could do I would love for you to do it! And I like that I can see the performance just for itself and then see a separate video with the commentary. Thank you for not wearing red ribbons! Even when just the pointe shoes are red the ballet foot looks less arched so the red ribbons would make it even worse! The Red Shoes film was a big part of my childhood. I am so thrilled you have taken it on. We all love you!
I love you in the red shoes!!! You are a brilliant dancer and a very inspiring figure for aspiring dancers! That's why I promised myself that once I go on pointe, the first choreography I am learning is the Red Shoes! Thank you!
This was absolutely beautiful! As you stated in the video, the part that jumped out of me was that I knew exactly where the girl realizes the shoes have a mind of their own. He did brilliant things with the choreography! Between the carefully controlled chaos in the choreo and your facial expressions, it really carried the wearer's terror all the way to my core. I got chills! Please, PLEASE post more videos of your dance with the commentary (I especially loved the ones where you pointed out your mistakes or where you had less than ideal lines... makes me feel better about my dancing when I slip up, haha!).
Love the analyzing videos. I'm fairly new to ballet so I appreciate all of your videos. After I saw your video of the red shoes, I researched the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale about the demonic shoemaker and that was pretty dark. When we watched the show Dance Academy and she did the red shoes I didn't know what it was all about. Your version is so much better.
+AriRHen agreed! If you could do a commentary while the performance is playing, we could see what your insights are and what corrections you would give yourself!
AriRHen emmmm Mathew Bourne made sleeping beauty ballet swan lake ballet and now he made the red shoes so I think the red shoes is made by Mathew bourne but if this is in a small theatre it is not him
I'm in love with this "analysis" series idea you were talking about, I even love the idea of the voiceover on past performance posts - I always wonder "What's the dancer thinking at this/that particular moment." Plus I'd just love your breakdown and your explaining the depth of the story, the meaning behind certain steps....I think that's an excellent idea and would be very grateful to hear your thoughts opinions and explanations in your own words, being that you are very well spoken. Having said that: I LOVED your performance of "The Red Shoes"! You should be SO proud - you have every reason to be! I was immediately pulled into the story, and your dancing just absolutely had/has me enthralled - what a performance! Your technique is always pristine, plus your general artistry in this piece (atop the fact that you can convey an expression/emotion with such intelligence via small nuances)...I have tremendous respect for that. You're a true artist, Katie. Thank you for sharing all that you do with us. Your channel truly is priceless. Best wishes!
I love the analysis video! You are so talented Katie, please continue to make these type of videos! I would love to see you analyze a video from when you were young. Thanks for your amazing and helpful videos!
LOVED this! As a professional, you have so much valuable knowledge. Hearing your analysis of your performance really helped me understand and notice more details re-watching it. I would be so grateful to watch more videos like this one.
Wauu, you are so so beautiful and talented!! I love you're videos and yours tutorials truely help me a lot! you are amazing!! Sorry for errors, English is not my language.
i really loved the lightness of your dance and the choreography was incredible! Thanks for sharing!! And keep doing the analyzing videos because as you said it's a nice way to get to know a little bit more about the work behind the piece and those little details that one doesn't get to know just by watching the video 💜☺️
I really loved this kind of a video, it is informativ, helpful and very interesting, especially when you are about to have a lot of different upcoming performances like I have. Your videos are so very special, thank you very much and please never let anything stop you Katie
I love hearing the backstory about your performances! I think a voice over would be cool, but the way you did this video is really nice, too, because your editing is so great! The clips were really well placed!
I have two questions for you! 1: Have you ever coloured your pointe shoes? If so, what is your preferred method? I had to colour in mine for my centre stage piece at my dance concert and it took hours of colouring in and I used three whole fabric markers by colouring my shoes, ribbons and suede tips! 2: What is your personal opinion on suede tips? Is there a certain situation you prefer to use them in like a particular floor or during performances?
I loved this idea! Your performance videos are incredible - specially those you did in a videoclip format, love full and the red shoes - and I would love to see your feedbacks! PS.: I'm really curious to see the final result of this costume, I really think that if you change the upper body for something with a better fit, this would be perfect and you could really consider doing a partnership with ballet in the city for it to be one more of your products, I would be the first one to buy it!
Hi Katie This was just wonderful. I think its a great idea to analyze and how to improve artistry physically as well often times i struggle with that and not sure how to express myself through dancing in a right emotion. Like most fairy tales are extremely horrifying. Im glad that this ballet is more focused on the basic story than the oscar winning classic film which by the way confused me lol
Hi Katie! I love the analyze performances videos! I would love if you would go back to analyze your other performances that are already up on UA-cam! Especially your sleeping beauty!
Great video Katie!! I would love to see more videos like this! I was wondering, are the red shoes t-shirts that you talked about in the Kennedy center packages going to be available for people who aren't going to the show online? If so that would be awesome! 😊 Thanks!
Hi Katie!! :) Could you please analyze the role of Clara if at all possible? My director already told me that I would get to be Clara in our 2016 nutcracker and I am so excited and want to do it as well as possible! You are beautiful and I loved The Red Shoes!! Thank you so much!
Re the dress for the costume, the skirt is perfect! The bodice wouldn't work even if it fit perfectly, though, because the fabric is too stiff. Instead of looking for another dress with a skirt like that, would it be possible to take the skirt off the dress, using part of the bodice for the waistband and finding a matching leo for the top?
Hi Kate! I was just wondering if you could help me. Last night in ballet class we were doing an arabesque at the barre. My teacher told me that I shouldn't use my back flexibility to get my arabesque higher because I could injure myself. So my question is how do I get a high arabesque without using back flexibility?
Love this idea :) I've got a little question: My boyfriend (also a dancer) said that I should look at myself in the mirror durin dance class but I think it's so complicated. I just can't look at myself in the mirror. Do you have to? I'm just going by my feeling mostly and critics . Do you have any tips to look more at myself in the video? I'm so unsure
Hi! Can you help me? Im 15 years old and I want to be a ballet dancer for NYC Ballet! I live in the Uk but i want to audition when i am 17 or 18. Do you know what standard i need to be at for the video audition (like; how many pirouettes should i be able to do on pointe? Do you have to take grades to audition? etc..) THANK YOU SOO MUCH!!!! i really do want to follow in your footsteps.
I heard in the story she has a woodsman chop her feet off, she dont cut off her own, the legs leading thing yea I got that part, did you deliberatly let your eyes water or is this make up.when you look like your are reaching out and cant stop. Dearest Katie, thank you for explaining this breakdown, I dont often get ballet movements telling the story like what means what, unless the emotion shown is blatent like you did here but you also did it very real, and not just acting
I have a minor obsession with "The Red Shoes" theme (dunno why, but hence the pseudonym), and since you're doing a public analysis (and it was very good), I figured I'd contribute my own thoughts. 1) I actually bought that they were ballet flats, so nice job with the ribbons. I don't agree with the line concept, but I don't have that kind of visual sense. 2) I didn't really pick up on the vanity of the first part. That's difficult to make clear with just dance, though. (Esp. when you're very good) 3) You had a very good concept on establishing the loss of control, for the most part. It does get a little difficult to maintain as you go faster. But a few notes to maybe sell it better: - When you react to something, like the leg lifts at the start of the "cursed" section, you really want the reaction to not be synched with the action. This is super-hard, especially for a dancer, because normal dance needs everything to be smooth. - One of the additional ways to sell it is to drop many of the arm movements. I don't how feasible that is for a ballet dancer, of course, but it's more difficult to sell cursed shoes when it looks like regular ballet. There's a jazz version here: watch?v=m3IceIFJrXw that demonstrates what I'm talking about. - Another thing is weird or seemingly counter-intuitive moves, like steps with a lot of motion below the ankle. Harder on stage, of course, but establishing one style of dance for the dance (maybe softer and flowing), and another for the shoes (sharper and more aggressive) would also help divorce the "two" Some of that here: watch?v=zCBCxt5tDUs (Note the alteration of walking in the beginning - goes from a more normal step to a stuttering, balls-of-her-feet step) 4) None of which is to say this is bad. In fact it's one of the best interpretations I've seen. But I figured maybe my thoughts might possibly be helpful. 5) Regarding live recordings - always good to have, just make sure they have better stage lighting to avoid the washout effect. Higher-end cameras can help compensate for that too. (ie, not smartphone.) I hope my commentary was worthwhile and didn't sound dismissive or pompous. You really did a brilliant job.
LOVED this! As a professional, you have so much valuable knowledge. Hearing your analysis of your performance really helped me understand and notice more details re-watching it. I would be so grateful to watch more videos like this one.
LOVED this! As a professional, you have so much valuable knowledge. Hearing your analysis of your performance really helped me understand and notice more details re-watching it. I would be so grateful to watch more videos like this one.
This makes my heart so happy!! The Red Shoes is my favorite ballet ever!!! I did a solo in an aerial pole art competition based on the ballet, but the floor was super slippery and it didn't turn out as planned at all. I've been wanting to compete it again, thank you for the inspiration to create again!
I love that you analyzed this video for us! Question: Since Donald had never choreographed a ballet previously, was he familiar with the names of the steps, etc? Did you have input when it came to the choreography... meaning, did he maybe provide the artistic vision for the story and you chose the steps (since you're familiar with ballet) that would suit his vision? I hope that made sense, haha... I would never have believed he never choreographed a ballet before!
The great Leonide Massine played the role of the shoemaker in the Moira Scherer film version of the Red Shoes. Massine's performance of the shoemaker was intriguing. And it was a double role for Massine because he also played the role of the choreograpger Grisha in the film. Massine was such an incredible performer and also a great choreographer. When George Balanchine left de Basil's company in 1933, Massine replaced him as resident choreographer. Also, British ballerina Moira Scherer worked with Balanchine and admired him greatly.
Oh I love this idea and your candor with sharing your experience and artistic decisions! I would definitely love to see more of these types of videos!
I think not having red ribbons also made the shoes stand out more. Like everything is a neutral color and then bam! Red shoes.
Yes yes yes!!! Thank you so much Kathryn I want to dance a small solo from the red shoes and you helped a lot!!! 👠❤️
Definately love the annalyzing videos! And it would be great for you to do the old videos too! With voiceover etc. In short, everything you suggested you could do I would love for you to do it! And I like that I can see the performance just for itself and then see a separate video with the commentary. Thank you for not wearing red ribbons! Even when just the pointe shoes are red the ballet foot looks less arched so the red ribbons would make it even worse! The Red Shoes film was a big part of my childhood. I am so thrilled you have taken it on. We all love you!
I love you in the red shoes!!! You are a brilliant dancer and a very inspiring figure for aspiring dancers! That's why I promised myself that once I go on pointe, the first choreography I am learning is the Red Shoes! Thank you!
This was absolutely beautiful! As you stated in the video, the part that jumped out of me was that I knew exactly where the girl realizes the shoes have a mind of their own. He did brilliant things with the choreography! Between the carefully controlled chaos in the choreo and your facial expressions, it really carried the wearer's terror all the way to my core. I got chills! Please, PLEASE post more videos of your dance with the commentary (I especially loved the ones where you pointed out your mistakes or where you had less than ideal lines... makes me feel better about my dancing when I slip up, haha!).
Love the analyzing videos. I'm fairly new to ballet so I appreciate all of your videos. After I saw your video of the red shoes, I researched the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale about the demonic shoemaker and that was pretty dark. When we watched the show Dance Academy and she did the red shoes I didn't know what it was all about. Your version is so much better.
yes you should definitely analyse the videos!! it is sooooo interesting to hear it from your perspective!!
I'd love to hear your commentary about the other dance videos you posted while its playing :)
+AriRHen agreed! If you could do a commentary while the performance is playing, we could see what your insights are and what corrections you would give yourself!
AriRHen emmmm Mathew Bourne made sleeping beauty ballet swan lake ballet and now he made the red shoes so I think the red shoes is made by Mathew bourne but if this is in a small theatre it is not him
I'm in love with this "analysis" series idea you were talking about, I even love the idea of the voiceover on past performance posts - I always wonder "What's the dancer thinking at this/that particular moment." Plus I'd just love your breakdown and your explaining the depth of the story, the meaning behind certain steps....I think that's an excellent idea and would be very grateful to hear your thoughts opinions and explanations in your own words, being that you are very well spoken. Having said that: I LOVED your performance of "The Red Shoes"! You should be SO proud - you have every reason to be! I was immediately pulled into the story, and your dancing just absolutely had/has me enthralled - what a performance! Your technique is always pristine, plus your general artistry in this piece (atop the fact that you can convey an expression/emotion with such intelligence via small nuances)...I have tremendous respect for that. You're a true artist, Katie. Thank you for sharing all that you do with us. Your channel truly is priceless. Best wishes!
I really like the analyzing! Do more :) I feel like I was able to really learn a lot from it
So excited to hear more about your analysis of the different dancing videos you show us!! Such a great idea!!!
I love the analysis video! You are so talented Katie, please continue to make these type of videos! I would love to see you analyze a video from when you were young. Thanks for your amazing and helpful videos!
Love this idea of video analyzing, thank you !
yes, please! I love these analytical videos. Thank you so much for your time! :)
LOVED this! As a professional, you have so much valuable knowledge. Hearing your analysis of your performance really helped me understand and notice more details re-watching it. I would be so grateful to watch more videos like this one.
Wauu, you are so so beautiful and talented!! I love you're videos and yours tutorials truely help me a lot! you are amazing!!
Sorry for errors, English is not my language.
So happy you are going to keep posting the performance footage.
i really loved the lightness of your dance and the choreography was incredible! Thanks for sharing!! And keep doing the analyzing videos because as you said it's a nice way to get to know a little bit more about the work behind the piece and those little details that one doesn't get to know just by watching the video 💜☺️
You look so gorgeous Katie
I really loved this kind of a video, it is informativ, helpful and very interesting, especially when you are about to have a lot of different upcoming performances like I have. Your videos are so very special, thank you very much and please never let anything stop you Katie
I love hearing the backstory about your performances! I think a voice over would be cool, but the way you did this video is really nice, too, because your editing is so great! The clips were really well placed!
Since Balanchine choreographed for elephants it makes perfect sense that Donald can choreograph for ballet!
Your hair looks so much better!! I'm so glad!
Great video - I'm not a dancer but the insights make viewing more pleasurable.
more, More, MORE!!
Cool style of video. Love the way you analyzed it
You're so amazing Katie! love your videos:-)
yes! love this type of analyzing video! :)
I have two questions for you!
1: Have you ever coloured your pointe shoes? If so, what is your preferred method? I had to colour in mine for my centre stage piece at my dance concert and it took hours of colouring in and I used three whole fabric markers by colouring my shoes, ribbons and suede tips!
2: What is your personal opinion on suede tips? Is there a certain situation you prefer to use them in like a particular floor or during performances?
I love this video idea!
I loved this idea! Your performance videos are incredible - specially those you did in a videoclip format, love full and the red shoes - and I would love to see your feedbacks! PS.: I'm really curious to see the final result of this costume, I really think that if you change the upper body for something with a better fit, this would be perfect and you could really consider doing a partnership with ballet in the city for it to be one more of your products, I would be the first one to buy it!
Hi Katie This was just wonderful. I think its a great idea to analyze and how to improve artistry physically as well often times i struggle with that and not sure how to express myself through dancing in a right emotion. Like most fairy tales are extremely horrifying. Im glad that this ballet is more focused on the basic story than the oscar winning classic film which by the way confused me lol
Hi Katie! I love the analyze performances videos! I would love if you would go back to analyze your other performances that are already up on UA-cam! Especially your sleeping beauty!
I really liked that you chose not to dye the ribbons.
Great video Katie!! I would love to see more videos like this! I was wondering, are the red shoes t-shirts that you talked about in the Kennedy center packages going to be available for people who aren't going to the show online? If so that would be awesome! 😊 Thanks!
And I'm excited for more performance type videos too!! Yay!
Loved this video!!
Hi Katie!! :) Could you please analyze the role of Clara if at all possible? My director already told me that I would get to be Clara in our 2016 nutcracker and I am so excited and want to do it as well as possible! You are beautiful and I loved The Red Shoes!! Thank you so much!
Re the dress for the costume, the skirt is perfect! The bodice wouldn't work even if it fit perfectly, though, because the fabric is too stiff. Instead of looking for another dress with a skirt like that, would it be possible to take the skirt off the dress, using part of the bodice for the waistband and finding a matching leo for the top?
Hi Katie! Could you make a video on improving cabrioles?
I would love an analyze type video on your sleeping beauty performance you posted!! that would make my year.
Hi Kate! I was just wondering if you could help me. Last night in ballet class we were doing an arabesque at the barre. My teacher told me that I shouldn't use my back flexibility to get my arabesque higher because I could injure myself. So my question is how do I get a high arabesque without using back flexibility?
Use your back strength! A strong back is really the secret of an arabesque!
+Lygia Moura Ok thanks! I will try that! :)
Check out her arabesque tips video. She explains that it's not about flexibility but about strength in back and hips :)
Leah Rose ah thank you! I will check it out now! Thanks :)
Kathryn, you should've danced the lead in Bourne's Red Shoes!
Do you think you could do a video about being patient when waiting to get on pointe
I'd love to hear your comments on the older ones, especially the Nutcracker one when you're Clara at only 14 I think it was?
can you make a video on how to wing your foot? it would be SO SO helpful
Love this idea :)
I've got a little question: My boyfriend (also a dancer) said that I should look at myself in the mirror durin dance class but I think it's so complicated. I just can't look at myself in the mirror. Do you have to? I'm just going by my feeling mostly and critics . Do you have any tips to look more at myself in the video? I'm so unsure
Hi! Can you help me? Im 15 years old and I want to be a ballet dancer for NYC Ballet! I live in the Uk but i want to audition when i am 17 or 18. Do you know what standard i need to be at for the video audition (like; how many pirouettes should i be able to do on pointe? Do you have to take grades to audition? etc..)
THANK YOU SOO MUCH!!!! i really do want to follow in your footsteps.
The Ballet Page Katie has never done ballet grades so I don't think you do?
Please do a voice over! ❤
great video as usual :) could i suggest more instructional videos? They help so much. Thanks!
+Kathryn you look more beautiful than ever! Thank you for all the help!!!
I heard in the story she has a woodsman chop her feet off, she dont cut off her own, the legs leading thing yea I got that part, did you deliberatly let your eyes water or is this make up.when you look like your are reaching out and cant stop.
Dearest Katie, thank you for explaining this breakdown, I dont often get ballet movements telling the story like what means what, unless the emotion shown is blatent like you did here but you also did it very real, and not just acting
A lot of fairy tales are pretty creepy! Thanks for offering this analysis. Great idea!
I have the same carpet as you 😂
I have a minor obsession with "The Red Shoes" theme (dunno why, but hence the pseudonym), and since you're doing a public analysis (and it was very good), I figured I'd contribute my own thoughts.
1) I actually bought that they were ballet flats, so nice job with the ribbons. I don't agree with the line concept, but I don't have that kind of visual sense.
2) I didn't really pick up on the vanity of the first part. That's difficult to make clear with just dance, though. (Esp. when you're very good)
3) You had a very good concept on establishing the loss of control, for the most part. It does get a little difficult to maintain as you go faster. But a few notes to maybe sell it better:
- When you react to something, like the leg lifts at the start of the "cursed" section, you really want the reaction to not be synched with the action. This is super-hard, especially for a dancer, because normal dance needs everything to be smooth.
- One of the additional ways to sell it is to drop many of the arm movements. I don't how feasible that is for a ballet dancer, of course, but it's more difficult to sell cursed shoes when it looks like regular ballet. There's a jazz version here: watch?v=m3IceIFJrXw that demonstrates what I'm talking about.
- Another thing is weird or seemingly counter-intuitive moves, like steps with a lot of motion below the ankle. Harder on stage, of course, but establishing one style of dance for the dance (maybe softer and flowing), and another for the shoes (sharper and more aggressive) would also help divorce the "two" Some of that here: watch?v=zCBCxt5tDUs (Note the alteration of walking in the beginning - goes from a more normal step to a stuttering, balls-of-her-feet step)
4) None of which is to say this is bad. In fact it's one of the best interpretations I've seen. But I figured maybe my thoughts might possibly be helpful.
5) Regarding live recordings - always good to have, just make sure they have better stage lighting to avoid the washout effect. Higher-end cameras can help compensate for that too. (ie, not smartphone.)
I hope my commentary was worthwhile and didn't sound dismissive or pompous. You really did a brilliant job.
tats seior solo
LOVED this! As a professional, you have so much valuable knowledge. Hearing your analysis of your performance really helped me understand and notice more details re-watching it. I would be so grateful to watch more videos like this one.
+Kathryn you look more beautiful than ever! Thank you for all the help!!!
LOVED this! As a professional, you have so much valuable knowledge. Hearing your analysis of your performance really helped me understand and notice more details re-watching it. I would be so grateful to watch more videos like this one.