August 7, 2014

Party Time for Balanchine's Cat

Turning once again to the work of my Book of Marvelous Cats, I have just finished the remake of the Party Cat. Party Cat rather irreverently wears an American Flag as underwear - or perhaps it is a bathing trunk. This feature, along with the swirling background, the drum and the balloons, were all part of the original drawing. But in the original drawing, the cornet was floating freely in space. This time a large black cat is connected to it, blowing the cornet held in one paw and holding the instrument with his tail. The drum has been redeveloped as well. Instead of a drum from my imagination, I penciled in my Djembe drum with the cloth from Ghana.


The position of the cat was taken from a photograph of George Balanchine throwing his cat into the air to discover interesting positions it might take. The airborne cat apparently inspired some of Balanchine’s choreography.

The Book of Marvelous Cats is slowly drawing to a close with my final revisions. Just about five more to go.

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