126 replies to this topic

[Marga]

It was not last fall, but this past spring, in March. The dancers were Katie Williams and Eric Tamm.

[Dale]

Misty Copeland, Craig Salstein and Daniil Simkin were featured in a Fox 5 news segment a few weeks ago. Here it is:

http://www.myfoxny.c...Theatre_Dancers

[bart]

Thanks, Dale.  This is a good piece.  It handles much better than most the message (as expressed by Ms. Copeland), that ballet today is

Quote

opening up a lot of people's eyes to what they haven't normally been exposed to in this culture.

The segment does  "open up."  But -- unlike a lot of tv "reports" -- it doesn't distort or dumb down.   It shows connections between the wrolds of ballet and pop culture without suggesting that ballet should transform itself into just another pop culture format.  

[Dale]

It was really well done, Bart. It treated ballet as something one should want to know better.

[carbro]

Interesting comments by Misty about Prince -- that he'd been "following my career" and recruited her for his Crimson and Clover video.  I like his taste in dancers.    But Prince!  Who knew?  I hope some of his followers' interest in ballet (or at least in Misty for a start) will be piqued by that passing comment.

[abatt]

I read that Prince's latest obsession is with Karen Olivo, who just won a Tony Award for her role as Anita in West Side Story.  He bought a huge block of tickets so  "the little people" would not be sitting in his vicinity on the night he saw the show.

[DeborahB]

Marga, on Jul 8 2009, 10:21 PM, said:

It was not last fall, but this past spring, in March. The dancers were Katie Williams and Eric Tamm.

Oops... I'm at The Today Show so often (including twice this week) that time frames sometimes blend together.  But the important things is really that The Today Show had dancers on, n'est-ce pas? It's great for ballet (and dance in general).

[sealings]

Paloma was on the Today show this summer. I think it was just a web feature though, she was talking about her career.

[sealings]

http://i31.tinypic.com/29vcxhf.jpg

Here's a pic of VP arriving at Letterman today.  

[Dale]

Thanks for the photo, sealings. Here's the rest of the gallery:

http://www.wireimage...p...ld=C&vwmd=e

I was hoping Part would just floor Letterman into submission. I've seen him with non-American guests. He usually spends most of the interview talking about their accent. But considering Part learned English from watching Seinfeld reruns, I'm thinking she was able to toss some zingers back at Dave.

[sealings]

http://i29.tinypic.com/ir03mh.jpg

[toeprints]

Nureyev was a guest on Letterman in 1989 - he was promoting "The King and I," and Letterman asked his usual silly questions about ballet.  Also, Letterman appeared to be in shock that Rudi was to be a guest.  Rudi also appeared on Merv Griffin's afternoon talk show in the 70's, as well as Cavett's show.  None of the hosts seemed to know anything about ballet, though.

[Marga]

So, Veronika's segment is over. I had been so excited to see it! When I spoke to her years ago, her English was almost non-existent. I was hoping for a great improvement so that she could do her (wonderful) self justice.

David Letterman did most of the talking, feeding her questions (indeed, almost answering them for her, sensing her difficulty) that should have elicited interesting responses, but Veronika was not up to the challenge, her verbal skills in English still being so poor. She spent most of her time in the guest's seat laughing, albeit beautifully, at Letterman's jokes and leaving us hoping to hear fuller answers to the questions. Russia came off in a very bad light, and she never mentioned that she was actually a soloist at the Maryinsky before coming to the States.

The best part of the interview? Watching her put on her pointe shoes!

I'm afraid that to the general public it helped confirm the notion that ballerinas are airheads. I hate being so negative about it but I adore Veronika beyond all understanding, so it's as if one of my own daughters had been there, I so felt for her. She was quite nervous in the beginning.

She looked absolutely divine in a full-skirted dress with a beautifully cut and decorated neckline, and at least 4" heels, with her long hair draped over one shoulder. (I seem to always be calling her the Divine Veronika!)

Letterman didn't remember that Nureyev had once been a guest, because he said that Veronika was the first ballet dancer he'd ever had on the show.

[Farrell Fan]

She looked lovely, giggled sweetly, put on her toe shoes and tied the ribbons. She stood on pointe and let Letterman hold her hand. In response to his questions, she said she was not in pain. Neither was I. It was over in approximately six minutes.

[Drew]

Marga, on Jul 10 2009, 05:38 AM, said:

It seems as if Letterman didn't remember that Nureyev had once been a guest, because he said that Veronika was the first ballet dancer he'd ever had on the show.

He also interviewed Makarova--but both interviews took place when he was still on NBC and so on a different show. At least I assume that's the reason for saying "first ballet dancer...we have had..."

[Edited because I had earlier written CBS when I meant NBC)