Ballet and Women in Disguise

The History of Ballet

Ballet, where acrobatics meet dance and performance, has been practised worldwide since the earliest of times. However the origins of classical ballet can be traced back to the wedding of a prince. In 1581 Catherine de Medici, the French Queen, hired a group of performers to produce the first known ballet – The Comic Ballet of the Queen – for her son’s favorite friend’s wedding. Ballet became a favorite pastime for the French nobility, not only watching but also performing.

Women in disguise

During the early days, ballet was only performed by men, as were acting of any from on stage usually done by men. If a woman wanted to dance or to act on stage, she first had to disguise herself as a man, before she was allowed to perform. If a female role had to be performed, slender men or boys were dressed in ladies clothing, and wore wigs. Ballet dancer’s donned masks to portray their character further. The costumes were elaborate, and it is a wonder that the performers managed to dance in them at all. After that many more ballet schools were opened across the world. Ballet remains a popular form of art, and a popular sport. Many sportsmen and women use ballet in training for their actual sport. Pelé – a famous soccer player used ballet to warm up before matches. Many ice skating performers and gymnasts use ballet in both training and choreographing their sport.

What on earth is the Greenhouse Effect or Why Global Warming isn't happening

    Since carbon dioxide contributes to the greenhouse effect, if the greenhouse gas concentration was significantly lower, earth would be colder. If the concentration of greenhouse gas were much greater, the greenhouse effect would warm the earth up too much, causing problems with the ecological balance. This is what some environmentalists have termed global warming.

    Now despite the fact that you usually hear the terms “Global Warming” and “Greenhouse Effect” side by side, please realize that they are two completely different things. The greenhouse effect is a very beneficial physical process for us. Indeed, without it, life could not exist!

    Global Warming, however, is the result of too much Greenhouse effect. In other words, while the greenhouse effect is a good thing, Global Warming is too much of a good thing!

    If data seem to indicate that global warming is not happening, and if scientists agree that it has been much warmer in the past than it is now, why does the media seen to say that global warming is happening? There are a few possible reasons.

1.                  Most people who talk about the earth’s ecosystems really do not understand them very well. Thus, they tend to use their own personal experiences and attempt to relate those experiences to the earth as a whole. For example, a large ice sheet in the Antarctic Peninsula, the Larsen B ice shelf, has experienced a remarkable decline in size over the past few years. The problem is that the west Antarctic ice sheet has been thickening over the past few years. Thus, while the Antarctic Peninsula is getting warmer, the western part of the Antarctic is getting cooler. It turns out that Antarctica has actually been cooling since the 1960s. Does that mean global cooling is happening? Of course not! It just means that when you talk about global warming, you must consider the entire earth, not just one part of it.

2.      Another problem is that people who have a political agenda to push can often distort the facts in order to make their point more persuasive.

3.      Finally, to believe that global warming is occurring, you are forced to rely on the least reliable data and ignore the most reliable data. That is not good scientific practice. The best scientific conclusion to make, then, is that global warming is not happening, at least not in any significant way.

 (c) 2/4/12

Before the New World

Describe Fr. Serra’s priestly life before he arrived in the New World

Miguel Jose Serra made his Franciscan promise when he was just 18. He took the name Junipero, in honour of Brother Juniper, a close companion of St. Francis of Assisi.

Fr Junipero taught at the Franciscan Seminary, and preached at different parishes on the island of Mallorca. He was happy to serve God as a priest, but longed to be a missionary. He prayed for the chance to be received as a missionary, and at length his chance seemed to have arrived.

News came from New Spain* that more missionaries were needed; needed to preach to the Indians. Anyone who accepted this task would have to serve a minimum 10 years. Of course Fr Junipero requested to be sent, but (alas!) his superior was reluctant to lose such a good seminary lecturer. When the priests departing from Spain gathered at the seaport, Fr Junipero was not among them.

Five priests from Andalusia, an inland mountain region, arrived at port. They regarded the vastness of the ocean, which they have never seen before, were terrified of its immensity. They decided to remain in Spain. Now, there were five new openings. Fr Junipero’s superior gave him the required permission, and he prepared to depart to Spain. He did not return to his family to say goodbye. He knew they might waver him in his decision in leaving. He sailed from Mallorca to Spain then to the New World.

  *Mexico

26/10/11  © Sararose

 

St. Florian

St. Florian lived in the 3^rd century, and was commander of the imperial army in the Roman province of Noricum. The Roman regime sought to get rid of Christianity, and sent soldiers to persecute Christians. One soldier ordered Florian to offer sacrifice to the pagan Roman gods. Naturally, he refused, and cheerfully accepted the beatings of the soldiers, who used clubs, spikes and fire to torture him. He was executed by drowning in the Ems River* with a stone tied around his neck.

A pious woman buried him, but his remains were later moved to St. Florian’s Abbey, near Linz. Linz is a major city of Austria.

 Many cures were attributed to his intercession. He is especially invoked against dangers from fire and water, and is patron saint of fire-fighters.

St. Florian’s feast day is celebrated on the 4^th of May. Unfortunately, his feast day in not in the General Roman Calendar.

*Ems river, Northern Germany

Written by Sararose, 4/5/11 ©2011, All Rights Reserved

the Strauss Family

The Strauss family must be included among Vienna’s greatest

 and most important musicians. The ruling family and

 aristocracy of this city loved the arts, especially music.

 In view of this fact, Vienna produced the most magnificent

waves of musical genius anywhere

 over a span of three centuries.

The first wave included Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and the senior Strauss. The second wave: Brahms, Mahlar, Richard Strauss1, and the younger Johann Strauss. Finally the third wave: the twentieth-century geniuses – Schoenberg, Berg and Webern.

Johann2 Strauss, Sr. lived for his orchestra and sadly, not for his family. He was restless, demanding and tyrannical3. Even so, his sons idolized him. Strauss, Sr. created cheerful and happy music. His ‘Rachetzy march’ was his greatest success. It is the unofficial Austrian national anthem.



Johann, Sr. didn’t want any of his children to become musicians, but encouraged by their mother Anna; his three sons, Johann, Jr., Josef, and Eduard4, studied music and contributed more to the waltz 5 than their father did.

Strauss, Sr. was called the Waltz King. He joined Joseph Lanner, in 1826, and they began to formalize the Viennese Waltz that Lanner had created earlier. They formed this into the kind of waltzes that we know today.

After his father left his family, Johann, Jr. became the new ‘Waltz King’. He was already writing music, in ¾ time, at age 6. This is an amazing accomplishment, as it is an extremely difficult time to play, let alone write in.



Beethoven6 often complained that “the Viennese were Waltz mad!” Maybe he had a point. Many waltz enthusiasts danced through the night until early morning, and the large elegant dance halls of Vienna often over flowed. These magnificent dance halls could hold over 500 people.



It was not unusual to find Johann Jr. writing music at night and usually under stress. In ill health, and urged by his wife, Jetti, he handed over the responsibility of the family orchestra to his brother Josef.

Reluctantly, his brother, took over conducting, yet handled it with outstanding success. Josef also wrote beautiful waltzes and was called ‘the Schubert of the Waltz”.  Unfortunately, Josef died young of brain tumour. After Josef’s untimely and upsetting death, Eduard directed the family orchestra.

In Johann Jr.’s famous operetta masterpieces, “Die Fledermous” and “the Gypsy Baron”, he took ballroom to the theatre. Jr.’s music remained fresh and young. His genius went far beyond the realm of light dance, inspiring many great composers who wrote waltzes.

When Waltz King Johann Strauss, Jr. died in 1899, he had composed nearly five hundred works – waltzes, polkas, marches, operettas, and more.



Vienna and the world, owes much to the Strauss family. If it wasn’t for their passion and hard work we would not have the music we have today.

¹ not a relation; ² pronounced Jo-han, ³meaning bad, bad, and bad; ⁴Ed-r-ed; ⁵ wal-s;

 ⁶Bay-toe-van

The Wattle

The wattle has 600 different kinds of plants, grows in other countries, and flowers all year round.

The leaves can be bright, dull, smooth and waxy, soft and silvery, grey or brownish-green, but they are never, ever, long and flat. Phyllodes pretends to be leaves, but are long and flat. Because leaves let out a lot of water, the plant often has to get rid of them. But leaves have an important job, they make food for the plant, and without food the plant will die. Now, the plant doesn’t want to die, does it? But if it keeps the leaves, the leaves will let all the water out. So, the leaf- stems take the place of the leaves.

Flowers of the wattle are big, light and fluffy, and are white, yellow, and cream. They have showy stamens, long pistils, and the five sepals and petals are tiny in comparison.

The seed boxes are pods. There is something special about these pods – that, when they are dry and crisp, they usually snap open with a sudden twist, which throws the seeds out far and wide.