Author Archives: Geraldine Spiteri
When is World Ballet Day?
We are always in a flurry of activity and sometimes we are suddenty faced with a post of sorts – World Ballet Day, International World Ballet Day …. but many of you will ask, “When is World Ballet Day?” How do you know to celebrate it if you were not aware?
We’ve looked around and it seems that in 2022, it will be held in October.
“World Ballet Day is celebrated every year in October. Ballet, which can be traced back Read More...
Grooming and Discipline – at the Heart of Dance
When I was a little girl, I remember my first ballet mistress, Mrs Lilian Attard, telling me that a good chunk of the exam marks, in a ballet exam, was the grooming. How you dressed, how your hair was groomed, the ribbons on your ballet shoes (yes, we had ribbons then)…
The proper presentation is what makes the dancer attractive, young or older. The fairy-like quality cannot be achieved if the dancer’s hair is all over the place, or the Read More...
I’ve Never Had Pointe Shoes Before!
We often get this comment when people are starting out with their pointe shoes.
Incidentally, they are not ‘point-ey’ shoes: ‘pointe’ is a French word meaning tip, because you stand on the tip of your toes (‘en pointe’) so you do not pronounce the last ‘e’. It’s pronounced like the English word, ‘point’,
In any case, these are very special shoes made of layers of glue and satin. A few layers of these are placed on to a mould, and then Read More...
Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, 2022 !
We wish our esteemed clientele, family and friends a very happy Christmas, and we also hope that 2022 will be an even better year.
2021 started under a rather dark cloud – we did not know when, and how, we would reopen our stores to you and while you have continued to be our loyal customers, we must admit that we have struggled.
We want to thank you for your continued loyalty and for the support you gave us. Further, we Read More...
Back to school – autumn is here!
Schools in the performance / arts communities are reopening in Malta and this is such a relief. Although children have to wear masks, which can be a bit difficult when the activity involves strenuous exercise, it is always better than not being able to continue with tuition at all.
At The Ballet Shop, we have stocked up for all forms of dancewear for different forms of dance, but remember that if you have a uniform requirement for a particular school, Read More...
Bouncing Back – Life after COVID-19
I have not written here in a while, the confines of trying to keep busy during the last one and a half years while locked inside having driven me crazy.
My COVID journey was long. Less than one week into the dreaded limited human contact (not a full lockdown but schools and offices and everything else, were closed on 17 March 2020), I fell of my bicycle and went into 6 weeks of using a steel brace and crutches as Read More...
COVID and the Arts
A year has passed since COVID has hit the island here in Malta. We followed suit after a number of countries did.
The arts were among the biggest sectors to suffer – dance not being the least. We’ve not only had theatres close, but dance and other performing arts schools were closed, alongside ‘contact sports’. Recent articles have attempted to justify the lack of business sense, giving little recognition to the artists’ needs to express themselves.
So far, we have only Read More...