Ballet, Fashion & Art

Dear David,
Have you found that your ballet background has helped you with your health and your gait?
~Interested

Dear Interested,
Yes, in fact I think it has been crucial. I have gone to ballet class almost all of my adult life and still do. I look in the mirror at the Miami City Ballet school and ask myself if there is anyone else on the planet still going to class as their 82nd birthday approaches. Certainly not with my legs.

I think your muscles stay in shape if you don't let them get out of shape. I think technically I dance as well as I ever did but probably don't have the stamina. I love moving to music and it's much easier doing an hour and a half in class than the gym. I go to the gym twice a week with a trainer and try to go to ballet class twice a week, too. A good part of it is posture also. As a dancer you have to stand up. I see older people slumping and I want to slap them on the back and say "Stand the f-k up!" I don't think they are aware that they are sinking. Yes, ballet makes you stand up and step out. Dancers usually love to ripe old ages.

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Our fashion hit of the week is Walter van Berendonck, the Belgian designer. Here are two spreads of his clothes. I think he is the only designer for men who is actually doing anything different and new. This may be where men's fashion is going. It's bright and different and it surely doesn't look girly.
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(Peter Hammar | Looking Thru My Kaleidoscope Studio wall installation, 2011 | 20' x 9')

It's almost the holidays and I have some gift ideas! You should go see the Swedish artist Peter Hammar's work at the ArtCenter South Florida at 800 Lincoln Road if you live on the beach. Great gifts if you want to spend a little money or a lot. His work is really new and interesting. Very handsome, too.

For more information please visit: www.peterhammar.com

Also, don't you kids think it would be a swell idea to buy one of of my books or more for holiday gifts? There's How to be Gay in the 21st Century, Escort, and my two new novels Love in the Loire and I Don't Kiss. Please Click here for more information!