How time flies! It seems like yesterday that we kicked off The Ballet Bag (then in WordPress.com) with a totally fangirly post about Alina Cojocaru’s return to the stage in Giselle. We had no idea anyone would pay attention to our dance musings, but soon after, we started tweeting and discovered many other like-minded ballet enthusiasts who were instrumental to the way our online project has evolved. Two years later and we truly wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for all of you.
We have enjoyed the opportunity to take a peek at the ballet world from both sides of the curtain, hearing fascinating stories from choreographers, performers, historians, company directors, connecting with ballet goers and industry professionals. We thank you all for your support and trust. It has been a lot of hard work but we continue to have fun and to broaden our horizons, which is very rewarding.
To commemorate our two years online, we decided to create two separate word clouds (thanks Wordle!), each featuring five of our favourite articles/features from the archives. Curiously, we thought the results were an appropriate representation of what interests, drives and inspires us to keep giving ballet a new spin. We hope you agree:
(Click on images to download or view our Wordles in higher def. / PDF format)
Emilia’s Wordle
Tell Me What You See: Dance Criticism Today and Tomorrow + Cherry Blossom Girl 2: Tokyo Ballet Fashions + Ballet in Peril: a Conversation With Jennifer Homans + Thrills, Chills and Spills: Black Swan Review + Ballet Meets Pop (guest blog for Dance Pulp) =
Linda’s Wordle
Grace + Edward Watson & the Way into MacMillan + Frederick Ashton: One Step Closer + Rambert Dance Company in Rehearsal: Monolith + Bridge Over Troubled Water: Ballet on YouTube =
Over to you: what are your favorite posts over here, what should we do more of/less of? Your feedback and suggestions would be really helpful.
Leave a comment below or, if you have a few minutes to spare, create and share with us your own Wordle!
Emilia
Hi Teri. We accidentally shared the link to this post on Twitter (meant to share another one) last Friday, so that’s probably why paper.li picked up on it! In any case, many thanks for your lovely comments. We’d like to reciprocate the wishes and we’ll be pleased to share Odette’s Ordeal’s launch with our readers so yes please do keep us posted! All the best, E&L
Teri McCollum
Thought you might like to see this ballet article feed which is dated 10/15/11, but features your anniversary post from 5 mo’s ago; it’s very strange that it is showing up as ‘new’ today:
http://paper.li/Dancewear/ballet/~list?tag=%23ballet
Teri McCollum
Ok-I feel like an idiot; this happened 5 mo’s ago but is just now showing up in the Ballet Daily news. :/
Teri McCollum
Happy Anniversary to one of my favorite ballet sites! I can only hope Odette’s Ordeal will be as popular to ballet fans over there as your terrific site is here in San Francisco. I will officially ‘launch’ soon and will make sure I give you a shout out; your site should be on every balletomane’s radar! Congrats!
The Ballet Bag talks Social Media & the Arts at B-Hive
[...] “wordles” (playing with word [...]
sionan
Happy Anniversary! Thanks for providing lots of wondrous news and videos from across the big pond!
Rachel Handshaw
Happy anniversary, Bag Ladies! And congratulations on creating a unique and insightful site.
Dody
Lovely reading everyone else’s! http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/3502889/Birthday_wishes
Johanna
Congrats on your terrific site, it´s my daily habit
And thanks for the wordle link, I used some of my personal favorite posts for this:
http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/3502865/PointeTilYouDrop
balletomane3
Isn’t it exciting to go from the first nervous day of “I hope that people like what we create” to “Wow!! We are connecting with people and they like us.” I can’t think of two other blogging ballet loving ladies that deserve congratulations more than you.
Vicki
Congratulations ladies!!
Emilia
Thanks for the lovely comments & feedback everyone!
@Lauren – RT & Twitter wordle, yay!
@Chantal – Your Wordle is so chic
@Henrik – Sylph-inspired Wordle, what a nice anniversary gift
Tim stirrup
Congratulations on your anniversary, your site has been an inspiration and a fount of knowledge as my wife and I have continued our introduction as parents, to the ballet world through our children.
Katherine Barber
Congratulations on your second anniversary. And many more!
Henrik from Tights and Tiaras
Cool!
I made one too, with the recent posts of Tights and Tiaras!
Happy birthday, ladies! You rock!!!!
H
http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/3500249/Tights_and_Tiaras
Jeff
Congratulations! I am an adult ballet soon-to-be beginner and have been hungrily reading all the ballet blogs I can. Cheers, and keep dancing/blogging!
mdrivel
Love how different your two Wordles are! Since I’m based in CA, I most love stories, links, etc about ballet in Europe. It’s hard enough from out here to get news out of NY let alone across the pond. I particularly enjoy ‘behind the scenes’ type stories, dancers working with choreographers, shows being put together, etc. Even some of the politics is interesting. It all gives a more in-depth picture of the dance world.
Keep it up ladies, and see you in the twitterverse!
Chantal
Here’s my Wordle, of all the dance shows I’ve seen since the start of last year!
http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/3456631/A_year_in_dance
A Thank You and a Wordle!
[...] I was inspired by the wonderful The Ballet Bag Ladies (congrats on your two year anniversary!) to create a Wordle – this is a cool little snapshot [...]
La Darina
That’s awesome ladies, here’s my Ballet Bag wordle to you (hope the link works?):
http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/3498602/Ballet_Bag_Wordle