"Shut up and let me see your jazz hands! Remember when you were a madman, thought you was Batman."

Did I ever mention that when I was a kid I really, really wanted to be a ballerina princess? (In my head, princess and ballerina always came hand in hand. Damn you Disney!). I also wanted to be a veterinarian who only worked with bunnies and a princess warrior who owned a magical unicorn, but ballerina was still in my top 5 career options. It's funny how things change; right now I'm aiming for zombie fighting House M.D.

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Monday evening I was lucky enough to attend the launch of the photography book Oglinzi/Mirrors by Razvan Mazilu at Odeon Theatre. Now, I think I must start this by saying that Razvan Mazilu is one of the most talented dancers I've ever seen on stage and I have been in love with his work ever since I saw his take on The Picture of Dorian Gray on stage. It was this perfect combination of theater and ballet with so much beauty and emotion that I remember not being able to applaud for a few seconds because I was left awed when the curtains closed.

And thus started my love. I saw Dorian Gray about 7 or 8 times on stage (I need to thank the kind lady at the ticket stand for giving me the opportunity to watch it the last two times for free after seeing me there too often. Thank you for fueling my obsession!) and tried to see every show he put on stage.

So now you understand why I was bouncing like a ferret on pixie dust when Monday came and I found myself on the stage where I had seen some of my favorite plays.

The book features photos from some of his best shows all neatly wrapped up for our enjoyment. A handful of talented photographers worked on this project along with Razvan Mazilu and friends and all the money made from the sales will go as scholarships to young and talented dancers who need financial support to continue doing what they love most: dancing. If anyone is interested, the book can be bought here.

The evening was absolutely delightful. Not only did I bump into Dada (and her practical yet still chic wellies; you can find her post about the night here), Julia and other stylish young girls, we also saw a live show from the young boy who will receive the first scholarship which just made my skin turn into goosebumps. The evening ended with The Boy and I enjoying a walk home in a city that got a nice wash after the pouring rain.

I might never object to spending my Mondays like this.

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We got to look up close at some of the costumes from past shows at Odeon theatre.



I wanted to steal anything velvet-y, The Boy wanted to steal the brogue shoes.




Fluffy hair, oh fluffy hair, when it rains you puff up like no other. At least you look nuclear red in the light, just like I like you.





So much talent in such a tiny body. Razvan Mazilu was right to say that talent is talent even when, ahem, height challenged. I mean, have you ever seen Mikhail Baryshnikov on stage?







She was gorgeous ♥

(photos by me)

I wish I could be more coherent, but by the end of the dance my brain went into ecstatic shutdown and even today all I can come up with is an astonished "Wow"!

Now excuse me, I need to have a long conversation with my family as to why oh why did they not sign my up for ballet and instead chose math tutoring instead. Because 15 years later I can't touch my toes and math still leaves me with the glazed, flabbergasted wide-eyed look of a squid faced with theoretical physics. Sigh, sigh, sigh.

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Song of the Day: My Chemical Romance - Na Na Na