“Mother is the name for God in the lips and hearts of little children.” William Makepeace Thackeray This Sunday is Mother’s Day in the United States. I am a mother but am also a daughter, missing her mother this year. I think back eleven years ago, Mom’s last Mother’s Day, and wish I had known […]
A Family of Artists
Choral Ethics: Ruminations of an Old Ballerina
“This is the strange thing: Dancers don’t age.” Twyla Tharp I am a dancer. Descended from Chicago Dance Royalty my father, Charles Grass, was Bob Fosse’s vaudeville partner and Ruth Page’s assistant. My parents met during an Opera Theater of Chicago production of “The Bohemian Girl,” when Dad served as stage director/choreographer and Mom was […]
Choral Ethics: Be Yourself, No Regrets
“My work today is perceived as being classic, but when I first started out, it was a break from the norm. Since then, I have continued to reinvent myself. I don’t change my style, but I allow it to evolve.” Giorgio Armani The courage to be yourself, looking at things from your own perspective, takes […]
Choral Ethics: Our Ninth Anniversary
“In doing what we ought we deserve no praise, because it is our duty.” Saint Augustine Happy anniversary to US! It’s hard to believe it has been nine years since Scott Dorsey asked me to become a regular ChoralNet Blogger. At first, I worried about having enough material to write a regular blog on something […]
Choral Ethics: Cicadas, Brahms and the Approah of Summer
Dad, Peter Genaro and me at a dance workshop in the 1970s “The truth is, I’ve been lucky. But just like the waltz, life has its own rhythm of rise and fall.” Len Goodman Here in Chicago, the cicadas are out in force. In my area, I awaken to hear a low hum in the […]
Choral Ethics: Mother’s Day–Songs My Mother Taught Me
My Mother, Rose Marie (Ditto) Grass, in a 1956 production of “Martha.” “Mother is the name for God in the lips and hearts of little children.” William Makepeace Thackeray This Sunday is Mother’s Day in the United States. I am a mother but am also a daughter, missing her mother especially this year. I think […]