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Carley Broder, our own carbro, has died


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I met Carley through this site, we became such friends. As with so many others she met through here, she suggested to me that we get together when we were in the same town as an outgrowth of the friendship made through here-- since her posts were so smart, reasonable, learned, kind, generous to the dancers, so full of wit and information and knowledge --she'd seen a lot of shows I never saw, come to love dancers i'd only heard of -- Rene Estopinal! the dancers she loved, and hte things she loved about them, are really a touchstone for me in extending and confirming my own taste. She had insight. It's WONDERFUL to have someone you feel loves the art as much as you do and can understand the intensity of the excitement you feel when something really beautiful has happened --

I was missing her already as her posts dwindled down to a precious few. Like QUiggin, I was always on the lookout for her posts; I always wanted to know what she thought, about nearly anything.

She set a standard for how to be a balletomane. her generosity to everyone on this site was wonderful to see. ALexandra must know best -- but even from my perspective, it was clear how much WORK she did to keep this site companionable. What a wonderful person. What a Mensch!

I wish I could go to New York for the memorial. I'll dedicate my class to her on Sunday.

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My deepest sympathy to Carley's family and to her friends, at BA and elsewhere. I really enjoyed her posts and it was evident she was a committed contributor and a devoted balletomane. I will read some of her posts tonight in her honor. I will also think of her Saturday at the NYCB. Rest In Peace, Carley.

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It's WONDERFUL to have someone you feel loves the art as much as you do and can understand the intensity of the excitement you feel when something really beautiful has happened --

That was a key thing about Carley - she would go all quiet when she loved something, there would be a moment of silence when the curtain dropped - and then a solemn appreciation. Temperamentally she was not about criticizing things or dancers; when she didn't like something, she'd articlate, sure, but I never felt she liked to, she'd rather forget it, that wasn't what interested her. It was the opposite - she was truly happy, deeply happy when a show was great. La Danse. It's a very rare quality, to have a heart like a tuning fork that resonates truly at the highest pitch when something truly fabulous evokes it. That resonance is a kind of note from a Vedic hymn. In NY she split her time between ABT and NYCB, no partisan. And as Paul says it felt like she'd seen everything.

Recently, one memory (I particularly remember - we talked about it last year) - a single performance about 2009 of "Scotch Symphony" at NYCB in the spring with Robby Fairchild and Katie Morgan, kind of an odd interpretation, they made the ballet a little story, much more than usual - but we just sat there stunned when it was over it was that good. And then Morgan got sick and I think that was about the end of her brief career here. Anyway, I just think of that show and of Carley's reaction as part of this. That's the specific moment I was thinking of when I wrote the above. And of course this is just my memory of what she was like, everyone will have experienced her in their own way.

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I am very saddened to read of Carbro's death--I say Carbro I guess because I never met her but only knew her from her warm and intelligent presence on this forum. She once sent me a lovely message about a discussion we had been having publically on the perennial topic of ABT versus NYCB -- it was thoughtful and generous. (I still have it saved with my response.) I always vaguely hoped to meet her one day in New York, and regret that I never did so.

My best thoughts to her family and friends.

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Out of many, this was one of my favorite posts of Carbro's, on the thread "Corps dancers we love" (from some 10 years ago):


"For me," she wrote, "the huge gaping hole remains in every role danced by Renee Estopinal. Tall, dark and pretty, she exuded sophistication, elegance and glamur and a certain girl-next-door accessibility and warmth. She was also modest, discussed as an indispensable characteristic on another thread. She never fussed over anything at a time when City's dancers tended to be very mannered.

"Among her most notable roles were the Agon first pas de trois, demi in Third Movement Bizet (stage left), the Theme in Goldberg, and -- here's the vacuum -- Who Cares?, the Somebody Loves Me Section (the female quintet), where her status as a first among equals (the lady in the middle) really has not been matched by any of her successors. I know I am asking for a lot, but hey . . . can't help it.


"As friends have heard me whine many a time, I miss Renee!!! sad.gif "
I miss Carbro! I propose that anybody who wants to find a post of hers you particularly liked or thought characteristic, and post it here. We'll have a little memorial service of our own, for those who can't come to New York next week.
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My apologies for coming to this thread so late. Reading the earlier posts, I've been remembering how kind, patient and supportive Carley was when I first joined this Board. How succinct her writing style was ... how subtle her criticism and warm her praise. I'm not surprised to learn from her obituary that she was also devoted to social justice causes. As someone said earlier, she was a mensch ... a mensch who loved and supported the art of ballet and was able to share this so generously with many friends.

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I went to her memorial yesterday. Fellow ballet lovers should know that one of the speakers encapsulated so many of the above comments about Carley's love of ballet and how wonderful she was to talk about the art we all love. I for one will miss her very much. Intermissions will not be same now, knowing there really will be no Carley to share a performance with. Then again, I am grateful for all the time she was in my life: she was a very special person.

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I went to her memorial yesterday. Fellow ballet lovers should know that one of the speakers encapsulated so many of the above comments about Carley's love of ballet and how wonderful she was to talk about the art we all love. I for one will miss her very much. Intermissions will not be same now, knowing there really will be no Carley to share a performance with. Then again, I am grateful for all the time she was in my life: she was a very special person.

I am so glad you were able to go, for yourself and for all of us.

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I was on the East Coast for a bar mitzvah and to see my cousins in DC last week, and it made me smile to remember how Carley would email me whenever she went to DC to see her own family there for a holiday or bar/bat mitvah and ask me to watch registrations while she was gone. Even though email, I could hear the "kvell" in her voice.

I had to fly west on Saturday night, and, after some last minute switches, came back to the city Friday night and realized that I could see part of the NYCB matinee. Before the performance, I went to the cafe where the Lincoln Center Chamber Society performs and where we'd had a meal or two, and while I was ordering, I willed two couch seats by the windows we had shared to remain open. After, I sat on the wedge of concrete seats outside the cafe, where we would meet and chat until I followed Carley blindly to her favorite diner.

Alas, Bouder wasn't cast for Saturday afternoon. Carley loved Bouder like I love Imler; we had both seen a glimpse of each other's great ballet love and realized that while each was unique, like Patty and Cathy, they both shared the Carlisle DNA through Marcia Dale Weary, and both of us wished the other lived and danced close by. The dancer I was trying to watch through her eyes was Mearns, here in "Acheron," and Mearns was everything Carley had described so well. Kowrowski danced the second variation of "Walpurgisnacht" with the kind of wit and esprit that only a senior dancer with deep roots can, the type of performance that would have a place in Carley's long reference. Most touching was Reichlen Hyltin* in "Afternoon of a Faun." After the kiss, she appeared transformed as a person, the first time I'd seen it interpreted that way. I don't know what Carley would have thought of it, but I miss the conversation we would have had.

I've long had a ritual where at each performance at a theater I grew up in, I walk around the Fourth Tier balcony twice, tweaking the beads each time with a remembrance. On Saturday, I added a third circuit and tweaked the beads in memory of Carley. This one stays.

*A friend just reminded me it was, indeed, Hyltin in "Faun." I had Reichlen on my mind after reading Marina Harss' review of the Sunday closer.

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