Ernestine Pastorello

Trailer: "The Centre" and behind the scenes with Ernestine

A little teaser of my most recent video "Ballet Class: The Centre"--in which I present tantalizing examples of my brilliance sans barre--and excerpts from the next video, my first "behind the scenes" video, which depicts what goes on in a shoot with Nefeli and I. Lots of anecdotes, philosphizing, and Ernestine-specific oddities. 

Enjoy!

Ballet class: "The Centre"

Two exercises from the centre portion of ballet class, "Tendu" (which you might remember from "The Barre"), and a waltz/pirouette, which is one of my very favorites in an entire class. 

And indeed, that is me saying "Yes!" when I land my double pirouette. It's funny to see the faces I make when I'm concentrating. I'm actually learning a lot through this project and seeing many things I can improve upon in my performance. 

There was this girl in class when I was a teenage...

Update from a train somewhere between Napoli and Rome...

My film editor Steven, a man with an impeccable work ethic, informs me that the recent spate of sunniness in the UK has confused everyone and dazed him into a bit of a slower turnaround than I have grown accustomed to.

However, I am assured that new videos are coming down the pike.

He is pushing through, alarming as it is for an Englishman to have all this sun in his face.

Your patience is appreciated.

Fondly,

Ernestine

Coming soon... "Ballet Class: The Centre"

The sun is setting over the Sicilian countryside, and from poolside at my villa (rented, people), I have just sent off the last of the instructions to Steven, my tireless editor, for the next video! 

There was so much fun behind-the-scenes footage from this shoot; my more generous patrons will get access to multiple fun videos of me flitting around the dance studio and talking about some of the more ridiculous moments of my dance career thus far, including an over-sharing ballet te...

Glimpses of things to come

Hello my somewhat neglected friends! It has been a busy month; I am preparing for a month-long tour of Europe including Sicilian weddings and German bordellos.

As you await my next video (Coming soon! This week!), please enjoy a compilation that pulls from all we've shot so far. 

I hope to send you all little nuggets of dance from my travels; simultaneously, through the magic of the internet, I will be in almost daily correspondence with my film editor Steven, who is hard at ...

The Red Umbrella

The Barre: Grand Battement

When you arrive at grand battements--usually after a painfully slow adagio--it is a fantastic release of contained energy. In the beginning of studying ballet, students are focused on the muscular effort of kicking their legs up as high as they can. Older, wiser dancers know that if they maintain the strength of their center, there is one initial "whoompf!", and the rest is all momentum. It is hardly any work at all.

The Barre: Battement Fondu Développé

It took me about ten years to get this one right. As a young dancer, I used to watch the older dancers who "got it" very closely, trying to understand how they navigated the push and pull, the plié and then the extension. When you do fondus right, it should look like you legs are moving through water, not air. 

The Barre: Rond des Jambes

My second-favorite barre exercise, this one is deliciously slow. The movements become more difficult, legs are longer, higher, and everything must be done with juicyness. The slowest things are often the most difficult in ballet.

The Barre: Dégagé

Here the barre gets even quicker, and it becomes even more important to keep all your bits in place so that the legs and feet can move with the utmost efficiency! 

The Barre: Tendu

This exercise is all about feet. It is the foundation of all the quick things that feet will later be asked to do, including pointe. Tendus must be sharp, quick, and one must keep one's posture the same, no matter what's going on underneath!

The Barre: Plié

Traditionally the first exercise in a ballet class, pliés are also my favorite. It is a slow and expressive exercise; it is the moment in class when you find your feet and your posture and get grounded for everything that is to come. Everything else you were thinking or worrying about when you walked into the studio fades away when the music begins, and you drop into the remembrance: "Oh. I'm a dancer. This is all that matters."

7 days, 7 videos

Hello, patrons! At long last, Steven, my amazing film editor and I have finalized an individual video for each barre exercise. So please enjoy, for the next 7 days, one new video per day of each traditional ballet barre exercise, in the proper order. 

If you haven't already, make sure to enjoy "The Barre," a video of all 8 exercises in succession. With my compliments.

Fondly,

Ernestine

By special request, for Mr. S

Thank you, sir, for your patronage! In response to your request, I give you this video for your viewing pleasure. 

(Don't you wish I could make a video for you? Quartermasters and Captains are endowed with this special awesome power.)

Watch my body speak its native language.

This video contains excerpts from every barre exercise in succession, giving you a peek of what goes into the creation of a ballerina. I have been doing these exercises since I was 7 years old, and they are the foundation of everything I do.

While they seem simple, the range of emotion that spills out into each of them reveals how I truly feel about dance: At its heart, before pain or money or attention or undereating or fame got involved, once upon a time, it was about pure, unadultera...

"The Barre" premieres! The first video: Étirement (stretching)

Super delighted to be bringing you, at long last, the first of several videos we are editing from the first official studio shoot of the Ballet Burlesque Project. While stretching is traditionally the final exercise at the barre, it seems like the one y'all might find to be the most enjoyable. Cheers!

Fondly,

Ernestine

Behind the scenes of filming "The Barre"

Two lucky patrons just received an e-mail full of photos like this one, documenting the most recent studio shoot! (Don't you wish that was you...) Hey. I came by these hips honestly. Might as well use them.

xo,

Ernestine

Coming soon! "The Barre"

Dropping momentarily and throughout the month, a series of videos of me back where I belong: at the ballet barre. Exquisitely filmed by Nefeli Forni and edited by Steven Mayfield, this is the heart of what I do; the barre is the foundation upon which everything you have yet to see will be based. The barre for me is technique united with catharsis; sometimes the simplest things are the most lovely and most expressive.

Are you ready for the next video?

In preparation for filming me at the barre this weekend, I am working up a sweat.

The upside to cross-training like mad for my next Patreon ballet video via online yoga classes in my living room is that one can hurl profanity at the teacher with impunity...

...e.g...

“You crazy c$#t, are you trying to kill me? Aren’t there yoga police for this s#@t?”

Although, if there were yoga police, they’d probably be a bunch of pacifist Buddhist monks, so that would be of ...

Behind the Mysteries of Pointe Shoes

So very excited to be posting my first video! It is a sneak peek into the little-known world of the ballet dancer--all that goes into preparing a pair of pointe shoes to be worn, warming up the feet, donning one's stockings and toepads, and that first relevé. See all the idiosyncrasies of my own method, and what a dancer's feet really look like. While you're watching, listen to me talk about how I fell in love with ballet.