06 novembre 2017
02 novembre 2017
Bulletin mensuel novembre 2017
Chers Amis,
The next meeting of the Cercle Français de Belfast will be …
on Mercredi (Wednesday) 8 novembre 2017 à 19h.30
in Dark Horse Coffee House,
Topic: The French Foreign Legion
Speaker: Ray LARGAN
Ray reflects on the origin, key events, both real and imagined, and the ongoing contribution of the Legion and its international recruits.
Quiz Night … and there's more!
Thanks to all those who came to our table quiz on 25 October. For the picture that seemed to stump everyone, on Louis XV's "petite maîtresse", you may be interested in this article on Marie-Louise O'Murphy: http://www.leparisien.fr/informations/le-tableau-qui-a-enflamme-le-roi-03-01-2015-4415259.php
If you enjoy quizzes, please do support our friends at the Belfast Frenchie Club who are also hosting a quiz on Wednesday 15 November, at 19.30 in the Dark Horse Café. See their Facebook group for more details.
Bal Feirste: Ball
Annette from Bal Feirste has been in touch to remind us that their next Workshop/Bal is on ...
Date: Sunday, 12 November
Venue: Sunflower Club, Union St, Belfast (upstairs)
Dance workshop: 17.00-17.30
Bal: 17.30-19.00
(this is a free event, donations welcome - live music throughout)
Dance workshop - no experience or partner needed. This month the workshop will focus on the Mazurka.
Bal - a time to practise your moves, not just the dances of this month, but others covered to date, guidance will be given where necessary.
Staying on a musical note …
The William Kennedy Piping Festival (16th - 19th Nov.) in Armagh has an evening devoted to the ..
Sounds and Tastes of France
A musical and gastronomic tour through the French regions
For more information and to book tickets see:
31 octobre 2017
Le plus grand quiz français de Belfast
CfB Présidente, Allison awards trophies after the quiz. Also pictured is Jim Holland of les perdus |
The café-causerie event this month took the form of a quiz
night billed as le plus grand quiz
français de Belfast. It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening which made for
plenty of social interaction.
Our présidente Allison Neill-Rabaux was in charge of
proceedings and was ably supported by her husband, Sylvain, and by colleague
committee member, Drew Miller who managed the scoring process and kept tally on
the various team positions.
Language
If anyone had been concerned that their level of French
might have been insufficient for the rounds of questions then such doubts were
quickly dispelled by the engaging format of the quiz.
Allison and Drew arranged for attendees to form themselves
into teams and to give themselves a group name.
We ended up with half a dozen teams and a pad of response sheets was
allocated to each. One of the rounds was picture-based and before the quiz got
underway discussions about who was in the pictures got team members talking
among themselves.
Rounds
Bringing us to attention, Allison quickly explained the
quizzing process. There would be several
rounds of six questions in each. The questions would be announced by Sylvain
and be simultaneously displayed on screen. Plenty of time was given for teams
to reach agreement on their group response and once recorded the response
sheets were passed from one team to the other for checking. Allison returned to
each question providing the correct answer on screen. For a few of these she took the opportunity
to explain the response so the quiz was also an opportunity to learn something
new. Drew then collected all the scores and compiled
them onto a tally sheet. We had rounds among others on Culture, Cuisine, History,
Sport and as previously mentioned a picture round with items of Franco-Irish
connections.
Stumped
It was this last round that
threw up an item that stumped the whole room. The picture was that of la petite maîtresse de Louis XV and Allison
later was kind enough to share a biography of the woman in question to the
Cercle’s Facebook group. If you haven’t yet subscribed connect here.
As the evening progressed it was obvious just how much those
present had relaxed into the quiz. There
was a little tension as teams vied with each other for the top places but
eventually Drew had calculated the winners, confusingly self-labelled as les perdus.
Allison had thoughtfully provided little trophies to mark
the successful outcome. It was a pity that trophies weren’t provided for
Allison, Sylvain and Drew for their running if the quiz which was great, good
fun and not in the least intimidating. Readers might like to remember that when
it next comes round as we’re sure it will.
When exactly? Now there’s a question.
18 octobre 2017
Les Ballets russes
George Balanchine, whose name was later synonymous with the New York
City Ballet, began his career with Les Ballets Russes. There were
several pictures as illustrations, and we were referred to a unique, and only
recently discovered, film of Les Ballets Russes in rehearsal.
The financial perils of running a
ballet company were not ignored. Diaghilev had been able to call on
friends and family connections for patronage; however that source was
not inexhaustible, and financial ruin was never far away. Diaghilev
himself lived sparingly in a hotel room; even so, when he died, his
friends had to club together to pay his bill.
After Diaghilev's death, Les Ballets
Russes had several subsequent incarnations, even at one time as two
different companies, run as rivals by Colonel de Basil (The Original
Ballets Russes) and René Blum (Les Ballets Russes de Montecarlo).
There were, of course, financial constraints, as well as the immense
problems of the Second World War. Colonel de Basil's company folded
in 1952, and Les Ballets Russes de Montecarlo went bankrupt in 1968.
Although Les Ballets Russes no longer
exist, their legacy lives on. Their influence on design,
choreography and style was immense, and has had lasting effects on
ballet today.
After a short demonstration of barre
exercise, Rachel answered questions, and there were many of those,
indicating just how much interest there had been in the subject.
There were many favourable comments as members left, the best one
being “Another triumph!”
Reviewer: Hilary HEADLEY
02 octobre 2017
Bulletin mensuel, octobre 2017
Chers Amis,
The next meeting of the Cercle Français de Belfast will be …
on Mardi (Tuesday) 10 octobre 2017 à 19h.30
in Dark Horse Coffee House,
Topic: Les Ballets Russes
Speaker: Rachel Tracey
Rachel Tracey returns to share the story of Les Ballets Russes, the company originally formed by Diaghilev, and its several incarnations following his death.
She will discuss how the company revolutionised both dance and art, and how its influence continues to this day. Rachel's talk will include a short ballet exercise.
PLEASE NOTE:
FOR THIS MONTH ONLY OUR MEETING MOVES FROM WEDNESDAY TO TUESDAY.
Bal Feirste: Bal
Bal Feirste, the music group featuring both French and local musicians, invite you to their monthly session. As you probably know Bal Feirste have been promoting French music and dance for a number of years.
Date: Sunday, 08 October 2017
Venue: Sunflower Club, Union St, Belfast (upstairs)
Dance workshop: 17.00-17.30
Bal: 17.30 - 19.00
Bal: 17.30 - 19.00
(this is a free event, donations welcome)
Remember no experience or partner needed. The Bal is a time to practise your moves and guidance will be given at the start of each dance.
À bientôt, Philip
18 septembre 2017
Culture Night Belfast 2017
Chers Amis,
Culture Night is Belfast's largest, most exciting and inclusive cultural celebration. Now in its ninth year, Culture Night brings together over 300 free events across 150 locations in Belfast City Centre in a single day. The event attracts over 85,000 visitors from Belfast, Northern Ireland and beyond.
Our friends in Bal Feirste will bring a note of French culture to Belfast's Culture Night with a session in Writer's Square from 9-10pm. Why not come along and join in the fun?
À bientõt, Philip
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