At the Ballet: Polina Semionova

Polina Semionova is a Russian ballet dancer at the Berliner Staatsoper. A few years ago she recorded a video of her dancing which let me to discover ballet as the great form of art it is, and as something I very much want to learn more about in the future.

When watching the video, please of observe the following items. For me, they are very striking and admirable: the subtly defined musculature; the utter and seemingly effortless control over every movement of her body; the incredible grace and naturalness she is moving with despite that total conscious control; the powerful expression of her body language, of her gestures and facial expressions; the literal unfolding of all that beauty during the whole video, and her smile at 1:55.

This is celebrating the human body.

Michael Sands: Flirtation Waltz

“Value-sharing” is an important way of contributing to the creation of a rational counter-culture that will eventually replace the irrational, uncivilized culture we have today. To foster such a culture is necessary in order to facilitate the satisfaction of man’s spiritual needs, to facilitate the refueling of his soul. I am actively on the lookout for music, literature, art and other beautiful things, and I try to consciously evaluate those things concerning their merit. I think that this is helpful in a twofold way. First, you get to discover a lot of refreshing things that you might have overlooked otherwise. Second, you actively work on understanding and shaping your sense of life.

I would like to share some of my pleasant discoveries with my readers, and I am starting today by presenting you a piece of music performed by a talented young pianist that I very much enjoy. It fits into the category of ragtime music, which I love very much for its benevolent, free-wheeling and playful character.

Michael Sands has some other ragtime videos on his youtube profile, and I very much recommend listening to them all at http://www.youtube.com/user/kingofthekeyboard.