The Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra: Music and Dance
The Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra: Music and Dance
Text 11A
© Cambridge University Press 2013 Cambridge Checkpoint English 8: The Wider World 1
UNIT 11 Music and dance
Text 11B
Four-year-old prodigy
Most four-year-olds are content with banging ‘Her mother sits in on the lessons so she
on a drum and would struggle to get a note out can see what Mimi is doing, and we have a
of a recorder. But child prodigy Mimi Zou has translator. She is not perfect yet and has a long
astounded her piano teacher with her progress way to go, but if she is handled well she has a
and tomorrow night will give her first solo great future.’
performance in London’s Royal Albert Hall. Mimi, who took to playing the piano
Mimi, who has been learning the piano for after watching her 11-year-old brother Andy
only a year, is flying from her home in China practising, said that her favourite composers
to perform. She was discovered by teachers were Mozart and Bach. Andy has since given
of the reception class at an international up the piano, after being so overshadowed by
school in Tianjin. She had been taught by a his little sister.
local Chinese woman, and was already playing A spokesman for the Royal Albert Hall said
grade-five-standard pieces. Mimi was almost certainly the youngest pianist
Steven Griffiths, the musical director of to perform solo there. Tonight, she will take
the school, says, ‘She is not nervous at all. I centre-stage in front of thousands of pupils and
have never seen anything like this before. She past students of the school, and will perform
can read music. She isn’t just copying what she from memory a two-minute solo piece in the
is shown.’ style of a Chinese national dance, by Chinese
Speaking on behalf of Mimi’s family, who composer Lvding He.
do not speak English, Mr Griffiths said: ‘She Mozart is believed to have started playing
practises for three hours a day, and I give her the keyboard at the age of three, and was
a 40-minute lesson once a week. I am feeling composing by five. By the time he was 11,
my way really, because I have never taught a he had composed his first opera.
four-year-old before. www.standard.co.uk
© Cambridge University Press 2013 Cambridge Checkpoint English 8: The Wider World 2
UNIT 11 Music and dance
Text 11C
A day in the life of Carlos Acosta, 36, the Cuban ballet dancer
I eat breakfast at 8.30 – oatmeal, bananas,
mangoes, papayas and tea. And owing to the
need for protein, I often have eggs as well.
I’m pretty laid-back about clothes. Most of the
time I wear T-shirts and casual stuff. I have a
couple of expensive designer suits for black-tie
functions. I don’t like wearing them, but
sometimes you have to dress up.
In Havana, I sit on my terrace while I eat
breakfast, looking out at white sand. The sea
is four blocks away. When I’m away, not being
able to see a blue sky every day makes me
miserable. It’s good to have someone to come
home to. Charlotte is a writer. We lead an
ordinary life – shopping, going to movies,
getting my hair cut! And I love to hang out
with my family.
Ballet is like training for the Olympics eight
hours a day, and when you’re performing you
have to take classes. We break for an hour at
12 for lunch in the canteen. It’s not good to
overeat, because after lunch you work on the
repertoire and you know you’re going to have
to jump. Flying in the air feels amazing. When I was younger and could be up there with nothing
hurting it was like ‘Wow!’ The older you get, the more you need ice packs and massage, which I have
at least twice a week.
Life in Havana is hectic. I’m happy to teach at the National Ballet School when they ask me.
Owing to my experiences travelling and performing, I bring a melting pot of different cultures
and influences to my teaching. I know a lot of people in Cuba, but many from my group have left.
Things change. Everyone wants the opportunity to make a better life and earn money. My security
is due to the property I’ve bought and the sound investments I’ve made.
I always suffer from jetlag. I travel a lot with Charlotte, but not when I’m rehearsing. Then
I have to clear my head to concentrate on learning choreography. Sometimes I need to be alone.
Everybody needs their own space. I work on a laptop in my messy dressing room, where I’m able to
cut myself off from everything. I am writing a novel in Spanish. I have the book inside my head and
I know exactly where I’m going. But in the process of writing, things happen. You discover things
about the characters which set up new possibilities. When the writing goes all right, it’s a very
cool feeling.
We eat a late dinner at home. Charlotte does the cooking. I can only make black beans with
rice, which we eat a lot in Cuba. I throw off my shoes. It’s wonderful to pad about barefoot on the
wooden floor, but dancers have such ugly feet!
Sunday Times Magazine
© Cambridge University Press 2013 Cambridge Checkpoint English 8: The Wider World 3
UNIT 11 Music and dance
Text 11D
© Cambridge University Press 2013 Cambridge Checkpoint English 8: The Wider World 4
UNIT 11 Music and dance
Text 11E
Evita
This musical tells the story of Eva (Evita) Perón (1919–52), a woman whose name
evokes powerful feelings in her native Argentina. It begins with the news of Evita’s
death, and then turns to a much earlier scene at her father’s funeral. Eva was the
child (one of many) of a rural landowner and her seamstress mother. Hers was not
a wealthy childhood by any means, and she was continually discriminated against
because of her lowly birth. She is refused admission to her father’s funeral for this
reason. This scene is contrasted with her own funeral, a spectacular affair not
different from that of a beloved head of state.
Eva leaves her village at the age of 15 to go to Buenos Aires and begin her campaign
to become a performer, actress and public figure. In 1944 she meets Juan Perón, an
ambitious young army officer, who is imprisoned when he falls foul of the government
of the time, which was far from liberal. Eva possesses persuasive skills and she uses
her position as a celebrity to get him released. Following their marriage, she remains a
formidable supporter, her help proving crucial to his later becoming the head of state.
Once Juan Perón becomes the president of Argentina, Eva expects better treatment
from Argentina’s high society, but they snub her without mercy. She, in response,
diverts government money from society-led charities and starts the Eva Perón
Foundation. As its president, she works tirelessly and continuously to better the lot of
Argentina’s poor. For this work, and for having risen from poor origins to glory, she
is beloved by huge masses of her fellow citizens, if not by those of high rank. She also
arranges for women in Argentina to get the vote. Her death from cancer at the age of
33, while at the height of her power and influence, strikes the whole world as tragic.
The most celebrated song from this musical of Evita’s life is ‘Don’t Cry For Me,
Argentina’.
Clarke Fountain, Rovi
© Cambridge University Press 2013 Cambridge Checkpoint English 8: The Wider World 5