84 replies to this topic

[Ray]

Definitely Jerome Bel's "Véronique Doisneau" sould be left into oblivion...(saw some of ir recently...Oh, God.. )

Sorry, but I am going to disagree strongly here with what seems a universal opinion on BT. I like this piece on so many levels: formal, because it makes us pay attention to parts of the structure of a dance that occur while Le Grand Star is performing (this kind of taking apart is something music has done for years, btw); emotional, b/c it makes us consider the life of a corps dancer--who in the French system is fixed in status. I think we have more than enough opportunities to watch soloists do their thing in ways that raise our pulse; it's poignant and revealing to have a corps dancer's role--and life--explicated in a way that makes us think.

[dirac]

No need to apologize, Ray. Without disagreement -- of the courteous kind -- we wouldn't have much discussion.

[bart]

Ray, I've also liked what I have read about this idea. of course, it is possible that it's an idea that comes across better on paper than in reality, like so many concept pieaces. One reviewer felt that it was worth doing, but possibly not on a big opera house stage.

Has anyone else seen it? Has it travelled? Does the title change depending on who is doing the dancing?

[carbro]

well my vote for the Balanchine That Should Go Away is Persephone. Shudder.
. . .
I feel compelled, however, to mention that even the Best Of Them can produce clunkers, and that mentioning someone's name in connection with a Bad Ballet does not mean that this person cannot produce a Good Ballet more often than not.

I agree on both counts, pmeja. In fact, I tend to believe that it is the most successfully creative artists who, when they fail, leave the most resounding clunkers. Part of it may be due to our elevated expectations ("Can this mess be from the same man who gave us Concerto Barocco ???"), but also because these artists go further out on a limb.

I wonder whether the BTers of a hundred years hence will dig up this thread in bewilderment, recalling the ecstasy that surrounded the mounting of Balanchine's "lost" Persephone.

[papeetepatrick]

I think 'Fountain of Bakshisarai' could be 'gently laid by', as some of the New Age things say. If the mere presence of Sizova in something won't transform it, it probably is hopeless, isn't it? Oh well, some people may like that androgynous character that I haven't had the patience to figure out yet (and won't, but somebody can tell me.)

I wonder if maybe it never is done anyway.

[Mme. Hermine]

sigh; i was *so* hoping for a revival of PAMTGG...

[stinger784]

How about any ballets with any 80s rock music? Why do we continue to perform them in the 21st century?

[cubanmiamiboy]

How about any ballets with any 80s rock music? Why do we continue to perform them in the 21st century?

Because the 80's are vintage now!! (and hence chic, isn't...?)

[Helene]

sigh; i was *so* hoping for a revival of PAMTGG...

(But would they have to change the name to include Met Life?)

[papeetepatrick]

(But would they have to change the name to include Met Life?)

You have convinced me that they need to revive this. I used to work occasionally for United Media (Peanuts/Schultz, etc.) in the period when the PanAm Building was turning into MetLife. I so loved the logo at the top of the building, and even the building itself (which everybody else hated), that I suffered Proustian pain when they changed the PanAm sign--and for several years I would always get upset when I'd see all that early 60s-style zingy jet-set stuff having been changed into a deathful horror. I even had an argument with my boss that it was STILL the PanAm Building! I later found they'd shipped the sign to Florida, where I think it is in some sort of weirdish little museum.

But I now am the only person who wants to see PAMTGG revived, because I never saw it, and it would make the city a better place to live in again...

[carbro]

sigh; i was *so* hoping for a revival of PAMTGG...

Me too.

(But would they have to change the name to include Met Life?)

You have convinced me that they need to revive this.

I smell a big sponsorship opportunity here.

[Mme. Hermine]

sounds like we're building a great list of repertory for the Bad Ballet Company..

[bart]

sounds like we're building a great list of repertory for the Bad Ballet Company..

Add Dracula and you have a season! I'm surprised that no company has contacted us yet to plan next season's programs for them. Umbrella title: "Lost Masterpieces".

[Mme. Hermine]

sigh; i was *so* hoping for a revival of PAMTGG...

Me too.

(But would they have to change the name to include Met Life?)

You have convinced me that they need to revive this.

I smell a big sponsorship opportunity here.

There's an operative word contained in the sentence immediately preceding this one.

One of the dancers in the cast of PAMTGG told me that at the last performance Mr. Balanchine told the cast to wear whatever they wanted to wear.

[Ray]

sounds like we're building a great list of repertory for the Bad Ballet Company..

Add Dracula and you have a season! I'm surprised that no company has contacted us yet to plan next season's programs for them. Umbrella title: "Lost Masterpieces".

Sadly, I think many ballet companies are already compiling and implementing their own bad rep lists, w/o any help from us. The pdd of Ignorance + Arrogance is a popular first choice among ballet company ADs, EDs, boards, and a few stars.

And BTW the eponymous Veronique Doisneau does change name to match its performer.