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Ashley Bouder Makes The Front Page of the NY Times


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I'm quite familiar with Plisetskaya's ordeal-(widely discussed in this board). I just wanted to know if your comment was aimed to the the issue of a dancer's right to tweet.

Well it's more like ... in the many ways ballerinas have "gotten ahead" or built a fanbase, or made some publicity, I find tweeting to be one of the most innocuous. And I do actually find it refreshing that many ballerinas are more open with their fans. I do think in many totalitarian regimes tweeting or blogging wouldn't be tolerated. Witness the recent very ugly fight between google and China.

I'll give you an experience that took away "mystique": after the Bolshoi run of Corsaire in Washington DC, while I waited for a cab, I saw many of the Bolshoi dancers leave the theater. No one was there to even wave to them or give them flowers -- they were just carrying their duffle bags, and many of them looked exhausted and sad. I was surprised at how haggard and plain they looked offstage, but it's understandable, given they had finished a long national tour. But it didn't make me admire them any less -- in fact, I admired them more.

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kfw--frankly, I think that little 'tweet' is perfectly okay, and has no effect on how I'd see any young person.

Yeah, I don't object to it in any way, I just don't find it interesting. Perhaps if I was in my 20's, I would. I had hoped for a bit of a view into the dancing and rehearsing side of a dancer's life, but the 140 character limit would make that tough anyhow.

Ashley Bouder is being a young woman in her mid-20's (I'm almost 53 so we're not in the same generation). Some people relate to the idea that a dancer of prominence does every day things. They might find this tweet charming.

Bouder does sound like a charming young woman.

As for tweeting between acts – I don’t see why this necessarily constitutes some sort of major distraction for the dancer. From what I read about Bouder it doesn’t seem to affect her focus at all. :dry: I don't see anything to get excited about, really.

Perhaps I romanticize too much because ballet is not my daily work, but I feel the same way about it as I did when, during the Met Opera HD broadcast of Der Rosenkavalier, Susan Graham joked about Renee Fleming spending her long break after Act 1 emailing. I hope that was only a joke. When the activity is an art and not just an athletic activity, I'd like to think that the artist is doing the Baba Ram Dass thing and "be(ing) here now.'

By contrast, when young I rarely thought there was any shock hazard to be feared from opening any book, tuning in any station, playing any record, seeing any film (except for those with violence) or trying any theatrical experience. I didn't live in New York, but I was curious about whatever there was within reach.

I was the same way in my twenties, running around Chicago. :)

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I'm quite familiar with Plisetskaya's ordeal-(widely discussed in this board). I just wanted to know if your comment was aimed to the the issue of a dancer's right to tweet.

Well it's more like ... in the many ways ballerinas have "gotten ahead" or built a fanbase, or made some publicity, I find tweeting to be one of the most innocuous. And I do actually find it refreshing that many ballerinas are more open with their fans. I do think in many totalitarian regimes tweeting or blogging wouldn't be tolerated. Witness the recent very ugly fight between google and China.

I'll give you an experience that took away "mystique": after the Bolshoi run of Corsaire in Washington DC, while I waited for a cab, I saw many of the Bolshoi dancers leave the theater. No one was there to even wave to them or give them flowers -- they were just carrying their duffle bags, and many of them looked exhausted and sad. I was surprised at how haggard and plain they looked offstage, but it's understandable, given they had finished a long national tour. But it didn't make me admire them any less -- in fact, I admired them more.

Oh, but that I've seen many times here after a MCB's performance. Right after the final curtain call, I've driven pass the stage door-(which is on my way home)-and I've had the same experience. Tired dancers walking toward the parking garage, with no public there to greet them. But...the "mystique" is absent anyway...these are the same kids I usually see later on at my local Starbucks on South Beach, so I'm not really looking for anything beyond the theater experience.

On the other hand, it is wonderful that ballerinas interact with their fans and keep them informed on ballet-related issues-(Vishneva's website is a great example).

Now...what does announcing a new TV delivery will do...? Are we in the verge of degrading-(using Patrick's term)-the dancer/fan approach...? Would then be also "cute" to get a tweet letting fans know what so and so got at the last Victoria Secret's annual Sale...?

:dry:

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Are we in the verge of degrading-(using Patrick's term)-the dancer/fan approach...? Would then be also "cute" to get a tweet letting fans know what so and so got at the last Victoria Secret's annual Sale...?

:dry:

But you could always do that anyway with or without twitter via message boards.

(BTW if anyone's interested I'm creating a special access by pin number only 18+ board called Ballet Babes. Cristian if you'd like to edit and moderate the ballerinas in Victoria's Secret board you're more than welcome.).

(And ballerinas reading any contributions gratefully received, we pay!!)

The thing about twitter is a tweet is ephemeral and soon disappears amidst a flurry of other tweets. It's nothing but a stream of consciousness (or drivel, depending on your point of view.)

I think this is getting a bit silly, Ashley Bouder twitters, we got to know that she was going to do an extra class at Steps, but didn't as she felt tired, that Daniil Simkin did a great performance, that she had a deep tissue massage for aches - I fail to see the problem?

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I think this is getting a bit silly..

You just hit the spot, Simon. I believe in, love, WORSHIP the grandeur and seriousness of ballet-(and visual arts, and literature and so on...). Because of that, I've came to "feel" for the likes of Nureyev, Kirkland or Alonso, and their surreal approach, willing to go beyond and above the good and the bad in their unconditional devotion to the art-(kind of Faust's children in their own different, distinctive way, aren't they?). Silliness is not welcome in this circle.

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I think this is getting a bit silly..

You just hit the spot, Simon. I believe in, love, WORSHIP the grandeur and seriousness of ballet-(and visual arts, and literature and so on...). Because of that, I've came to "feel" for the likes of Nureyev, Kirkland or Alonso, and their surreal approach, willing to go beyond and above the good and the bad in their unconditional devotion to the art-(kind of Faust's children in their own different, distinctive way, aren't they?). Silliness is not welcome in this circle.

And Cristian, my faithful Indian companion, that's the tragedy of modern life, you can't go back, you can only go forward. The whole landscape of entertainment has changed precisely because of the internet, and if ballet can't or won't reflect that and try and engage with the world as it is, it's going to be left even further behind than ever.

Ballet is expensive, cinema has hardly increased its prices in line with inflation for decades. A mid scale price range ticket to a ballet performance costs more than two tickets to the cinema, something to eat and bus/train fare home. New audiences for ballet just aren't coming and ballet as opposed to cinema just keeps getting more and more expensive to stage and produce.

You mention Nureyev, Kirkland, Alonso, well all three were politcally relevant, whether they wanted to be or not, besides artistry they held a social relevance and importance through who they danced with and their lives and once again ballet was cheaper when they danced, and of course the internet didn't exist, multiplexes didn't exist, computer games didn't exist. And sadly ballet is no longer socially relevant or impactful on a grander scheme or level and probably never will be again.

You mentioned Plisetskaya, well one of her bestest ever quotes which I saw her say on a Bolshoi documentary from the late 80s when she was discussing how even then she felt the Bolshoi was trading on an illustrious but bygone past was "that which stays the same goes backwards". Ballet can't afford to stay the same, it can only hope to go forward by reflecting and interacting with the world in which it exists and creates for - and that includes twitter.

Also all companies seem to have Twitter, Facebook, Bebo, Myspace accounts and sites, so Bouder is hardly alone or unique.

And look at it this way, thanks to Myspace and Twitter it's so much easier to stalk one's idols than ever before. (I'm joking). (Or am I?????)

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Because of that, I've came to "feel" for the likes of Nureyev, Kirkland or Alonso, and their surreal approach, willing to go beyond and above the good and the bad in their unconditional devotion to the art-(kind of Faust's children in their own different, distinctive way, aren't they?). Silliness is not welcome in this circle.

Because Kirkland with her drug addictions and various personal problems was so much preferable to a nice young lady who gets excited about seeing Come Fly With Me and loves her dog. :dry:

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I think this is getting a bit silly..

You just hit the spot, Simon. I believe in, love, WORSHIP the grandeur and seriousness of ballet-(and visual arts, and literature and so on...). Because of that, I've came to "feel" for the likes of Nureyev, Kirkland or Alonso, and their surreal approach, willing to go beyond and above the good and the bad in their unconditional devotion to the art-(kind of Faust's children in their own different, distinctive way, aren't they?). Silliness is not welcome in this circle.

Yes, they've all 'gone beyond and above the good and the bad in their unconditional devotion to the art', but they've all three got their silly sides. There are some u could have chosen who didn't. u don't really think Nureyev wouldn't have Facebooked and MySpaced and Twittered all over the place, do u?

Simon, that's hilarious about Perez Hilton. But...even though he is very technologically advanced, I am sticking with Mark of Avon after 35 years even though he doesn't have a Twitter Feed. In that way, I can keep my illusions protected while embracing modern technology.

Dancers, especially ballet dancers, have always been a part of cultural elites, even if in Russis (I've heard from dancers who toured there anyway) it's become more democratized, including even in the Soviet period, with all classes going to the ballet the way Americans did to the movies in the 30s-50s. I can see that in a totalitarian regime, those particular circumstances would sometimes be advantageous for creating mystique, because so seeming rare in paranoid conditions of too much government surveillance, but let's face it: Sometimes adverse conditions do bring out the best in some kinds of artists. It's just like the way the Hollywood films of the Depression have a special quality, they were made in the Depression, but also for the Depression, to alleviate the pain of it, if only temporarily. Of course, that's no substitute for financial solvency, but difficult milieux do bring about great art, even though you can certainly have it in times of peace and abundance as well.

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And Cristian, my faithful Indian companion, that's the tragedy of modern life, you can't go back, you can only go forward. The whole landscape of entertainment has changed precisely because of the internet, and if ballet can't or won't reflect that and try and engage with the world as it is, it's going to be left even further behind than ever.

No question the internet has changed the whole landscape of entertainment, and what has recently interested me is that it's not, however, just a forward thrust. Some relaxation back into old modes still does occur. I'm still happy enough with Ashley Bouder's Aurora, and if I thought the company itself had mystique as it once did (and I still think POB proves you can still have mystique), I'd probably think of her as more than just a thrilling performer.

Ballet is expensive, cinema has hardly increased its prices in line with inflation for decades.

It hasn't? My impression is that cinema has gone up and up and up. The XXX theaters through the 70s charge the 'outrageous $5' that no mainstream film ever did. Mainstream films are at least triple what they were in the 70s, but maybe you mean something else.

And look at it this way, thanks to Myspace and Twitter it's so much easier to stalk one's idols than ever before. (I'm joking). (Or am I?????

Well, that's certainly the only thing I use it for.

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Ballet is expensive, cinema has hardly increased its prices in line with inflation for decades.

It hasn't? My impression is that cinema has gone up and up and up. The XXX theaters through the 70s charge the 'outrageous $5' that no mainstream film ever did. Mainstream films are at least triple what they were in the 70s, but maybe you mean something else.And look at it this way,

Ahhh, the 70s, the golden age of porn, somewhat before my time, but I've heard stories from those who fought it out in the trenches. When men were men and women didn't need silicone to make it big.

But seriously folks, yes, triple the price in three decades is well below the rate of inflation, ballet on the other hand has gone ballistic. And I'm not knocking ballet you know I love it, I'm ballet's biggest fan - but sadly the prices for even a moderately good ticket have increased by a factor of ten. Especially here in the UK, where a top price ticket for a three acter will set you back around an eye-watering $180.

thanks to Myspace and Twitter it's so much easier to stalk one's idols than ever before. (I'm joking). (Or am I?????)

Well, that's certainly the only thing I use it for.

And why does this not surprise me?

Patrick re: Jedward here's something interesting for your delectation:

http://www.forbes.com/2010/02/02/siblings-...t-siblings.html

US Forbes did a major feature on them, yes that Forbes, business/money/industry Forbes, in February. Like I said to our US chums batten down your hatches Jedward are coming Stateside. Tickets for their concert tour are already being promoted on Barry's Tickets.

http://www.barrystickets.com/concert-tickets/jedward/

Interestingly they're doing a UK/Ireland tour in April, they sold over £1m worth of tickets in the space of weeks. Actually that's not that interesting but I thought I'd add it for flava.

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When the activity is an art and not just an athletic activity, I'd like to think that the artist is doing the Baba Ram Dass thing and "be(ing) here now.'

Possibly a little unrealistic, especially in the theater. Performers do all kinds of things backstage on their breaks and the occasional tweet or e-mail are among the more harmless, I expect. :dry:

u don't really think Nureyev wouldn't have Facebooked and MySpaced and Twittered all over the place, do u?

Nureyev was a venturesome fellow and I think he would have checked out the new stuff. I can imagine Nureyev trying to get up the nose of management with a few undiplomatic tweets, complaining about his awful wig for Laurencia, for example. :)

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I can imagine Nureyev trying to get up the nose of management with a few undiplomatic tweets, complaining about his awful wig for Laurencia, for example.[/size][/font] :dry:[/size][/font]

Oh I can imagine Nureyev posting something a little more XXX than just bitching about a wig. In fact were twitter/myspace/ and the internet around in the sixties or were Nureyev around today I can see our friend Papeetpatrick amusing us constantly with selective Nureyev smut and links he'd discovered on his aesthetic surfings.

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Ahhh, the 70s, the golden age of porn, somewhat before my time, but I've heard stories from those who fought it out in the trenches. When men were men and women didn't need silicone to make it big.

But seriously folks, yes, triple the price in three decades is well below the rate of inflation, ballet on the other hand has gone ballistic. And I'm not knocking ballet you know I love it, I'm ballet's biggest fan - but sadly the prices for even a moderately good ticket have increased by a factor of ten. Especially here in the UK, where a top price ticket for a three acter will set you back around an eye-watering $180.

Yes, I think I can follow some of that. But 4th ring and even family circle Met seats are at least not what you pay for Les Miserables (even without the 'new media' versions miked in for improvement--not that I don't think Broadway mogul-types haven't thought of video projections of SuBo for Broadway....) There really IS no such thing as a reasonable ticket price for a B'way show--yes, no matter how dreadful; I don't know about those things--I think it was some new mutation of what sounded like a 'new provincial London musical genre' in the West End you were once talking about that are made just for London. I hadn't heard about those before. Your bigger exports by knighted one are bad enough (I think he was knighted, wasn't he?)

When the activity is an art and not just an athletic activity, I'd like to think that the artist is doing the Baba Ram Dass thing and "be(ing) here now.'

Possibly a little unrealistic, especially in the theater. Performers do all kinds of things backstage on their breaks and the occasional tweet or e-mail are among the more harmless, I expect. :dry:

Yes, and usually they are just ready to go back to a more informal 'real-person' version of themselves. Extreme cases are like Edward Villella in great pain in his film, immediately upon getting offstage, is that 'Man Who Dances', yes, that one I liked a great deal. Usually, there needs to be some sense of not being so charged, so if you're backstage and watching, there's always this immediate 'realistic' return to the reality as a human being. And dirac is right about much more vicious things occurring, and those always have. Maybe Twitter has rooted out some of these evils!

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When the activity is an art and not just an athletic activity, I'd like to think that the artist is doing the Baba Ram Dass thing and "be(ing) here now.'

Possibly a little unrealistic, especially in the theater. Performers do all kinds of things backstage on their breaks and the occasional tweet or e-mail are among the more harmless, I expect. :dry:

Yes, and usually they are just ready to go back to a more informal 'real-person' version of themselves.

I would think that concentration would only improve a performance. Earlier I drew a distinction between art and athletic activity, but do athletes tweet in the locker room? Do coaches really stand for that? OK, so maybe a performer needs a mental health break between acts. And they hardly need to remain in character during offstage breaks. But they might relax privately, not publicly, and wait till after the performance to break the spell.

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Perhaps I romanticize too much because ballet is not my daily work, but I feel the same way about it as I did when, during the Met Opera HD broadcast of Der Rosenkavalier, Susan Graham joked about Renee Fleming spending her long break after Act 1 emailing. I hope that was only a joke. When the activity is an art and not just an athletic activity, I'd like to think that the artist is doing the Baba Ram Dass thing and "be(ing) here now.'

Your bringing up the Rosenkavalier HD feature brought a couple of examples of other opera singers filling in the time during scenes of their performances.

Beverly Sills spoke in her memoir of addressing Christmas cards between her scenes in the Magic Flute. This isn't the greatest example I guess because Sills came to the conclusion if she could complete over 100 cards in her "spare time" then the Queen of the Night didn't really hold her interest and she dropped the part. Much, much earlier, Kirsten Flagstad either knitted or played solitaire during big gaps in her time off stage.

I think performers are professionals , then as well as now, and they can turn their concentration on and off during performances. Or maybe it might be more accurate to say SOME can. There may be some performers that need to keep things on the flame and others that manage their stamina by putting up their feet and blowing off steam between their onstage periods.

In general I'm with the posters that make the case for "by standing still, you go backwards". And Luddites get left in the dust!

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And sadly ballet is no longer socially relevant or impactful on a grander scheme or level

That's also depending on the "where at" factor. Maybe not where Bouder and her tweets are. But what about where THERE'S NOT TWEETER and still ballet exists in a relevant, impactful, grand level..?

Then we're not talking about a general phenomenom. Majoritary, yes...common to all societies or ballet companies/dancers, definitely no.

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I think this is getting a bit silly..

You just hit the spot, Simon. I believe in, love, WORSHIP the grandeur and seriousness of ballet-(and visual arts, and literature and so on...). Because of that, I've came to "feel" for the likes of Nureyev, Kirkland or Alonso, and their surreal approach, willing to go beyond and above the good and the bad in their unconditional devotion to the art-(kind of Faust's children in their own different, distinctive way, aren't they?). Silliness is not welcome in this circle.

And Cristian, my faithful Indian companion, that's the tragedy of modern life, you can't go back, you can only go forward. The whole landscape of entertainment has changed precisely because of the internet, and if ballet can't or won't reflect that and try and engage with the world as it is, it's going to be left even further behind than ever.

I'm not opposed, like Christian, to dancers tweeting, but I very much appreciate his sensibility here. I wonder if the now-I'm-doing-this,-now-I'm-doing-that info stream, however well-intended, by describing the artist's life as one banal thing after another, doesn't tend to take the art form itself off its pedestal and reduce it to mere entertainment. And the pedestal is there for a reason. There is a realm beyond mere entertainment, and our souls parch without it.

As much as I enjoy all the backstage and behind the scenes videos most companies make available now, I also reject the notion that ballet has to ape other cultural forms and employ every new technology that comes along or lose its audience. Old fashioned mystery and glamour still have their appeal, and they depend of course on the artists withholding something of themselves from the public. The art has a place for girl-next-door personalities, but it needs Farrells and Alonsos as well.

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I'm not opposed, like Christian, to dancers tweeting, but I very much appreciate his sensibility here. I wonder if the now-I'm-doing-this,-now-I'm-doing-that info stream, however well-intended, by describing the artist's life as one banal thing after another, doesn't tend to take the art form itself off its pedestal and reduce it to mere entertainment. And the pedestal is there for a reason. There is a realm beyond mere entertainment, and our souls parch without it.

As much as I enjoy all the backstage and behind the scenes videos most companies make available now, I also reject the notion that ballet has to ape other cultural forms and employ every new technology that comes along or lose its audience. Old fashioned mystery and glamour still have their appeal, and they depend of course on the artists withholding something of themselves from the public. The art has a place for girl-next-door personalities, but it needs Farrells and Alonsos as well.

:dry:

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I'm not opposed, like Christian, to dancers tweeting, but I very much appreciate his sensibility here. I wonder if the now-I'm-doing-this,-now-I'm-doing-that info stream, however well-intended, by describing the artist's life as one banal thing after another, doesn't tend to take the art form itself off its pedestal and reduce it to mere entertainment. And the pedestal is there for a reason. There is a realm beyond mere entertainment, and our souls parch without it.

It's not 'mere entertainment', but it is also a business. Everybody in NYCB and POB know it's a business, and I think the more deeply you get into an art form, or really anything that also has an economy to it (which is all urban endeavour, and most rural), you find that business aspect more and more interesting. It's not the professionals' business to hide that from us, except when it really is confidential. In the POB film, the talk of pension plans conjoined with artistry by Ms. LeFevre was thrilling, as was the dancing itself in my opinion, but when Marie-Agnes was doing the fouettes, I really didn't mind the narrator pointing out that 'elle est incroyable', and it was only in rehearsal. I also didn't mind seeing their cafeteria and trying to assess how good it was, etc. I didn't keep thinking of the cafeteria when Aurelie started dancing.

As much as I enjoy all the backstage and behind the scenes videos most companies make available now, I also reject the notion that ballet has to ape other cultural forms and employ every new technology that comes along or lose its audience.

It's not 'aping other cultural forms', it's just subject to many of the same laws that govern all human endeavour.

Old fashioned mystery and glamour still have their appeal, and they depend of course on the artists withholding something of themselves from the public. The art has a place for girl-next-door personalities, but it needs Farrells and Alonsos as well.

I don't agree with the notion of 'withholding something' from the public in order to have appeal to the public. Already, they can do things the public can't even remotely imagine doing. The whole point of deepening one's knowledge of what seems so desirable yet inaccessible, is to finally gain as much access as possible to it. But if you find it more rewarding to think of it like that, that's the way you enjoy it and appreciate. I like knowing MORE, finding out every single secret and hidden corner I can. I figure, if they've been able to acquire that special artistic knowledge, then I ought to be able to try to get as much of it myself as I can. It's just like trying to understand someone else's piece of music, painting or literature: By the very fact of not having written, you will never know something of what the creator was up to, but s/he wants you to delve as deeply as possible. If s/he thinks you're getting too pushy about it, s/he'll let you know.

Farrell is very 'girl next door' in parts of 'The Elusive Muse', in old home movies, etc., she's not a bigger-than-life personality offstage. Alonso may be more so, a kind of 'full-time performer' more like certain flamboyant movie stars. Already with Balanchine ballerinas you were getting less of this highly individualized persona, and Peter Martins said in 'Far from Denmark' that Farrell was the last of the 'Balanchine ballerina' breed with the emphasis on the mystique. He said, and this was already as far back as the early 80s that dancers now are not cultivating that, and that they are just 'interested in the dancing'. Pretty perspicacious.

While I can see the longing for those old modes, we needed Farrell and Alonse, bot we don't need any more of them, because that's been done. We don't need more Garbos and Dietrichs either, because it's gone. Of course, the confusion comes from the fact that we don't kinow what we do need before we come upon it sometimes--we can't always project it; it reveals itself.

Edited to add: I don't mean we don't need Farrell, Alonse and many others still with us as inspiring leaders, icons, teachers, directors, etc., but just that the old kind of star in any field just can't compete with what comes up with something new (even if the historical evaulation is that these newer ones are often lesser--surely they often are). I've fought with myself about these things, and still am, so I do understand the sense of loss that some of these new things bring with them. They seem tacky at first, then we get used to them.

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I mean...really...? :dry:

http://www.twitlonger.com/show/l6n2h

So classy...

Live in NYC long enough and you'll chuckle at that tweet. I think you're kind of making a mountain out of a molehill. Can you really not watch Clark Gable films if you knew that in real life his leading ladies dreaded kissing him because of his foul-smelling dentures? Are Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers less magical if you knew that offscreen they could barely stand each other? Can you not watch Erik Bruhn and Carla Fracci if you knew that Erik Bruhn was gay?

Are you really not that able to separate what happens onstage with what happens in real life? Ashley Bouder onstage is a dynamo, a force of nature. I don't expect her to be the same intense person offstage. It's enough to know that when she's onstage she's thrilling.

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I mean...really...? :dry:

http://www.twitlonger.com/show/l6n2h

So classy...

Live in NYC long enough and you'll chuckle at that tweet. I think you're kind of making a mountain out of a molehill. Can you really not watch Clark Gable films if you knew that in real life his leading ladies dreaded kissing him because of his foul-smelling dentures? Are Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers less magical if you knew that offscreen they could barely stand each other? Can you not watch Erik Bruhn and Carla Fracci if you knew that Erik Bruhn was gay?

Are you really not that able to separate what happens onstage with what happens in real life? Ashley Bouder onstage is a dynamo, a force of nature. I don't expect her to be the same intense person offstage. It's enough to know that when she's onstage she's thrilling.

It doesn't matter, canbelto, if it is Gable, or Bruhn or Astaire or Bouder or my building's cleaning lady. Thinking that someone is an idiot-(a cab driver, or the nation's President)-is one thing...saying it out loud-(or tweeting it for the world to read it)-to prove how "cool" or "accessible" or "normal" you are is another.

Plus, I would get ANYTIME some diva-like public behavior-(a la Nureyev according to his biographers, or even if in the verge of the erratic, like Vivien Leigh or Liz Taylor). About Bruhn's sexual orientation and the issue of being able to "see" him in character, well...ever since one starts to attend ballet as a kid, the stories on the wide spectrum of its male components sexuality go on and on and on forever, from Nijinsky or Chabukhiani all the way to Gomez, to the point that one gets used to see the two-(ballet-gay)- pretty much hand in hand without being an actual shocker. The issue here is the SILLINESS of the whole thing...starting with the info being passed in many of the tweets to the way their contents are being told. On the other side, it is true that maybe this whole Tweeter thing may appeal to the youngsters, and I don't forget the current tendency to call bailarinas and bailarines "boys" and "girls", as if they never grow. This, coming from someone who spent his whole life watching the very body of his home country ballet company formed by veterans MEN and WOMEN, is still kind of hard to digest. So, let's hope that Miss Bouder doesn't get too carried away with her last trend hence going further and edgier in her wording choice-(freedom of speech and everything included).

Oh, and by the way...I deal in daily basis with the traffic nightmare which is driving in Miami, and I DO get road rage. I just happen to keep it to myself.

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As much as I enjoy all the backstage and behind the scenes videos most companies make available now, I also reject the notion that ballet has to ape other cultural forms and employ every new technology that comes along or lose its audience. Old fashioned mystery and glamour still have their appeal, and they depend of course on the artists withholding something of themselves from the public. The art has a place for girl-next-door personalities, but it needs Farrells and Alonsos as well.

kfw,

I love old-fashioned mystery and glamour, would that it were enough. But this is precisely the problem regardless of whether or not companies enter the cyberrealms ballet is losing its audience. The old guard are either dying out (sorry to be so blunt), not returning due to dislike of modern ballet, or because ballet's prices are now alienating them.

The new young guard just isn't coming: again price of tickets is prohibitve, the art form itself is seen as doing little or nothing to engage younger generations and in this global recession getting bang for you buck isn't just preferable but vital if you're going to have enough left over at the end of the week to pay the rent.

And indeed that old fashioned glamour of sacred monsters is itself incredibly rarified and I'm afraid to say a total turn off for many young people.

You'd be hard pressed to find a single ballet company anywhere in the world operating in the black, closures of companies is at an all time unprecendented high - no one can afford to be glib, precious or a snob about this. Ballet is in crisis, without audiences it ceases to exist.

Ashley Bouder, you get a young, sexy, vibrant, savvy woman about town, getting pissed off with rip-off cab drivers, deciding to take an easy option because she doesn't want to go out in the rain, navigating life in New York. You get someone clued in, human, approachable and someone with whom anyone of the new generations that ballet is hoping to attract can connect with.

You get someone who a young person with an extra $20 in their pocket may consider spending that money on a cheap ticket to see dance, because in her they see something of themselves.

The block booking corporate high price seats aren't going to follow her on twitter; the Parsons/Columbia, grad students, grads in jobs beneath their skill set and qualifications brigades just actually might.

And let's face it, if Nureyev had been in the back of that cab, no way would he have vented his frustrations healthily and demurely via twitter, so as to not cause offence or a scene. He'd have ripped off that cab driver's head, skinned him alive and worn his hide as a pashmina. Which is the saner, healthier response?

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i'm not even arguing that it shouldn't be done by a classical dancer. but i'm holding to my point that during the performance a dancer should concentrate on the performance. i know they do various things like knitting or whatever else to relax themselves if they don't happen to be appearing in an act, but the whole "everything everywhere any time" concept, IMO is invalid to begin with and especially bad in that particular situation. I may not be putting it very well, and if not please forgive me. It's just that to me when the performance starts and until it ends that time is sacred to that time. Now they may go home and tweet about how they didn't feel they were on their balance that day or that the blister on their 3rd toe on their right foot burst or they were really irritated when they ended a variation a count ahead or behind, but that is after. During, to me, well I just don't believe that should be done. It doesn 't add, it takes away.

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