Sound and Vision, part Два (dva, deux, two)

One of the most fun elements of being here in Izhevsk has been the opportunity to attend a lot of different cultural events. I and generally Hannah, most often with Marina and Farida, have had the opportunity to go to the ballet, the symphony, piano exhibition, and Izhevsk choir. In addition, we've been lucky enough to catch several cultural presentations of traditional singing and dancing.
So, here's what I've got that can be shared! All the usual caveats apply--terrible video, sound not great, bouncing cinematography and fidgety photographer--but I hope you enjoy these brief clips nonetheless...
First, to the ballet. Izhevsk has neither a special ballet theatre (they share with the symphony)or a ballet school, but the nearby city of Perm has a school and Izhevsk's small troupe benefits from that experience. The night we went, they were doing a "Latin" night. The first half was very traditional classical ballet....

...as you can see in both the video and the still shot. I took the photo with no flash, which held the shutter open so the movement shows in the final shot. I kind of like it--with the colors and lights on the stage it looks a bit like an impressionist painting, maybe, if you squint....

The second half of the ballet was Carmen, and you just gotta love that!

Izhevsk has a famous choir, and we've been lucky enough to see them a couple of times. They alternate between classical (Bach, Brahms) and contemporary (Chicago, Elton John), but this particular concert was classical. They also vocalize symphonic parts, rather than just singing traditional pieces. Here's a little excerpt from the concert, where they do a bit from the Nutcracker....BTW no video, too dark!

Once again, they never learn....

We just finished an internat'l education conference at UdSU, and as part of one evening's entertainment, we were treated to jazz and traditional music and food. And yes, we had to participate...musically...at least it was just percussive and thankfully no audio. I was pleased, however, to play with new colleagues: Zoya, a former Russian Fulbright scholar, Olga, from the International Office, and Maria, the director of the International Office.

Just this past week, there was an amazing art opening (noted in previous post, Izhevsk Artwalk 2008) and as part of it, a wonderful Udmurt choir sang traditional songs and performed traditional dances. The women in particular were great. Go ahead and peer as best you can at the traditional costumes, they're really interesting. The two oldest ladies, too, are wearing traditional woolen socks and the woven shoes....

For the life of me, I just can't figure out how to flip these next two videos so they're right side up. So, please tilt your head at a 90 degree angle, clap your hands or sing along and enjoy!