Ballerina Jewels

With CYC's Spring Showcase officially put to bed this past weekend, I've had the luxury of taking the past two days off.  Today I was meeting up with my friend Bree in downtown Walnut Creek and on my way I got distracted by the new huge Forever 21 that has gone up across from The Cheesecake Factory.  While perusing the trendy summer clothing flings, I found this cute ballerina necklace.

At $2.50 it was for sure a steal, the shoe itself is a pretty pink and the white pearl-like stone gives the necklace an extra girly touch.  Then I got to wondering about ballet inspired jewelry, and found some fun results.  Etsy has some beautiful Degas inspired brooches that I love.

Juicy Coture has a fun ballerina keychain charm, plenty of bling on this one (which could come in handy should you misplace your keys, just let the blinding-ness of the jewels lead you to them). 

And speaking of bling, check out these Swarovski silver ballerina earrings.  I found them at polyvore.com, and they come in pink and in blue (just in case you have a ballerina on your hands who prefers blue).

So if your tastes run the gamut from Forever 21 to Juicy, to lusting over Swarovski silver, like me, it's good to know that ballerina fashion can be found far and wide, and I have a feeling isn't too likely to go out of fashion anytime soon!

Illumination

While wandering around the beautiful streets of Charleston last weekend, I stumbled upon this beautiful sculpture in one of the many green, leafy, and fragrant alley ways of the downtown streets.

The sculpture is entitled 'Illumination', by Kenneth G Ryden, and I was struck by the whimsy of the dancer, her beautiful lines, and youth.  I always get excited when I see traces of dance and dance influences in everyday things, and this little dancer was such a pleasant surprise to find as I was discovering Charleston's many charms.  She reminds me a bit of Degas' Little Ballerina; the blue of her dress is reminiscent of the pink piece of ribbon that Degas used to polish off his famous sculpture.    It always amazes me how artists can convey movement through their art; it's something as a dancer that you would think comes easy, but I've always found that dance is deceptive that way.  To me, dancing is the framework that allows movement to happen.  The technique and the rules of dance are so demanding that actual movement can be lost in translation.  Accessing movement and investing in it to portray to an audience or public is a very personal, and often difficult thing.  I always admire artists who can show movement in their work.

I hope this little dancer has moved and perhaps illuminated you as she did for me.