Alvin Ailey

(Promo poster)

Alvin Ailey, the New York dance company, is touring in Europe at the moment and last week I finally got the chance to catch the group in Paris, and for those of you who happen to be in the French capital this week (until Saturday), I recommend you check it out – if you can get your hands on some reasonably priced tickets!

The company delivered a good performance, although the constant bowing in between segments did, after a while, begin to annoy me. Aside from that it was a solid, sexy show guys and gals.

If you’re not familiar with the group, check out the video below and if the spirit moves you, head down to the Théâtre du Châtelet.

Soundtrack to Life

It’s no secret that the king of pop is no more, but instead of harping on about his many personal, debatable misdemeanors, i’m just going to dedicate the July Sountrack to Life to MJ. Whatever his crimes, the man was another godfather of music, and we should all, just for a few minutes at least, let his music do the talking, and our feet do the moonwalking (see what I did there!). You’re not the only one who can play with words reverend Al.!

N.B. dance sequence 3.15. Usher, Chris Brown, Timberlake et al., you can’t tell me nothin’!

Scream

Fashionista vs Gladiator Round 3 – Federer

Congratulations Federer, you’ve done in. You’ve beaten Sampras’s record and have acquired the record-breaking 15th Gland Slam title. My condolenses do however go to Andy Roddick, who had my support. It was a tough match, but as the tired and clichéd saying goes, someone had to lose, and fashion-conscious-Fed wasn’t going down twice in a final at his beloved Wimbledon.

The Williams war was won yesterday by Serena, and all eyes were firmly fixed on centre court this afternoon, and on the man Nike has labeled ”RF”. The mood was set. The retractable roof ready. Pete Sampras, Rod Laver and Bjorn Borg – all the men whose names have been tossed around the table in the heated discussion to decide who is, once and for all, the greatest player of all time – were all there, along with Federer’s seemingly close friend Gavin Rossdale, to witness the occasion. And the occasion didn’t disappoint – well, Federer at least.

After 4 hours and 17 minutes (including a 5th, 95 minute, 30 game set), Fed was crowned champion encore une fois. And what better way to celebrate than to don a ”here’s one Nike prepared earlier – just in case” sweater with “15″ goldy stitched on the back. Yes Roger, we noticed! Very fitting (Andy looks pleased!).

But all jokes aside, it’s a job well done and the Fashionista is a master at what he does, although I don’t believe he’s the greatest man to have ever graced the tennis courts – yet.

Moving swifty, but only briefly, on to women’s tennis. As usual, the Williams sisters dominated the fortnight and, as usual, cleaned up at the event, with Serena taking the ladies’ singles titles away from her sister, before joining Venus to destroy two Australian girls, whose names I can’t mention (because I don’t know them), in the doubles final.

The Williams sisters aren’t really given enough credit for what they do, and so I’d like to give them a shout out – only a small one mind you! There have been many discussions over the past few years about the state of the ladies’ game, and how it’s not as engaging as men’s tennis. But when you think about it (leave a comment if i’m wrong), if not for the top 3 male players (Federer, Nadal and British Murray), who would tune in to watch the male game? People are quick to jump on the bandwagon and attack women’s tennis, but the Williams sisters are the only two holding it up right now – to the point where they can go off and pursue comical fashion ventures and pop back to the court whenever they feel like it! I’m sure if someone were to carry out a survey to find out how many female players the common man knew, Venus and Serena’s names would probably be the only two with a tick beside them. And although Tom, Dick and Harriet may know a few more male players (aside from the aforementioned three), how many are we actually really interested in? One more than the Williams sisters makes [the top] 3!

p.s. what has happened to the Gladiator (Nadal)? To say Fashionista vs Gladiator hasn’t been the contest I anticipated would be an understatement!