WEEK #1: Friday

It’s 3:00 on a summer Friday, which means we know just how motivated you are to actually get a ton of work done in the next two hours.  We have got you covered.  In fact, it was for such moments as 3:00 p.m. on a summer Friday that Coffee Break With the Ballet was invented.  On Fridays we’ll be sharing with you a weekly “dance break,” a fun YouTube dance video that relates to the week’s theme.  We’ll also have a fun Pop Quiz, with five questions about the posts from the preceding week as well as other trivia you’ll be able to answer online.  No prior ballet knowledge is needed to answer these questions, just a little Internet ingenuity!  You’ll have a chance to win awesome prizes – tickets, dinners, coffee treats and more!

Friday Dance Break

“The Dance of the Chickens” opens Frederick Ashton’s adaptation of La Fille Mal Gardeé (“The Wayward Daughter”), one of the oldest works in the classical ballet repertoire, shown here in 1980 at the Royal Ballet.  With impeccable technique from the point of the beak to the tip of the wing, these charming chickens are impossible to resist.

Pop Quiz

#1.  In Monday’s webisode, whose computer is different from all the others – Alyssa, Perry, Pat, or Tuong?

#2.  What year did women ballet dancers first perform onstage in Paris?

#3. TRUE OR FALSE: The regal posture we associate with ballet first came about because the earliest dancers had to stand perfectly straight and upright to balance in their enormous hats. 

#4. How many girl chickens are there in Ashton’s chicken dance? 

#5.  Where was OBT Principal Dancer Kathi Martuza born?

Post your answers in the blog or Facebook comments to win!