NYU Center for Ballet and the Arts

[California]

The Mellon Foundation has provided $2 million to establish a new Center for Ballet and the Arts at NYU, to be directed by dance historian and critic Jennifer Homans:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/03/arts/dance/new-center-at-nyu-focuses-on-dance-and-the-arts.html?_r=0

The first fellows will be Frederick Wiseman and Heather Watts.

The center will grant a few fellowships each semester to people from the worlds of dance, academia and beyond and allow them to pursue a broad range of projects. One of the main points of the center is to bring minds from other disciplines and art forms to focus, and to bear, on ballet, Ms. Homans said.

[sandik]

I'm curious to see how this develops -- I think Homans has a sincere interest in the subject, but I find comments like this one

"“You take Music 101, you take Art 101 — where is the dance?” she asked. “And where is ballet in particular? Here is an art form that has a history, a 400-year history, it is part of our civilization, and yet it doesn’t have a presence.”"

disconcerting at best. I've taught some of those classes -- they exist all over American academia. I don't like to think that she's dismissing the work that's been done before her, but it's either that, or she hasn't managed to do the basic homework.

[Drew]

I'm curious to see how this develops -- I think Homans has a sincere interest in the subject, but I find comments like this one

"“You take Music 101, you take Art 101 — where is the dance?” she asked. “And where is ballet in particular? Here is an art form that has a history, a 400-year history, it is part of our civilization, and yet it doesn’t have a presence.”"

disconcerting at best. I've taught some of those classes -- they exist all over American academia. I don't like to think that she's dismissing the work that's been done before her, but it's either that, or she hasn't managed to do the basic homework.

I had a similar reaction, but then I thought perhaps she meant only that it doesn't have a presence commensurate with other great art forms and that I can more or less accept...

[vipa]

I'm curious to see how this develops -- I think Homans has a sincere interest in the subject, but I find comments like this one

"“You take Music 101, you take Art 101 — where is the dance?” she asked. “And where is ballet in particular? Here is an art form that has a history, a 400-year history, it is part of our civilization, and yet it doesn’t have a presence.”"

disconcerting at best. I've taught some of those classes -- they exist all over American academia. I don't like to think that she's dismissing the work that's been done before her, but it's either that, or she hasn't managed to do the basic homework.

True Sandik. I taught ballet in a college for a while, both beginners and advanced. There were many courses on ballet history, works of major choreographers, dance criticism etc. I'll be interested to see what comes if this endeavor. I don't think art forms evolve because of think tanks. They evolve through the experimentation of practitioners.

[Kathleen O'Connell]

I'm curious to see how this develops -- I think Homans has a sincere interest in the subject, but I find comments like this one

"“You take Music 101, you take Art 101 — where is the dance?” she asked. “And where is ballet in particular? Here is an art form that has a history, a 400-year history, it is part of our civilization, and yet it doesn’t have a presence.”"

disconcerting at best. I've taught some of those classes -- they exist all over American academia. I don't like to think that she's dismissing the work that's been done before her, but it's either that, or she hasn't managed to do the basic homework.

Not to mention Homans' own NYU colleague, Deborah Jowitt. I don't know if Jowitt still teaches dance history at NYU, but her "Time and the Dancing Image" was hands down one of the best dance books I ever read.

[Drew]

I think the issue may be less do such courses exist--which of course they do and perhaps Homans could have acknowledged that (and she may have said things the article didn't include)--than,when they don't, does anyone other than those looking to study dance criticism/history, feel their absence? Are these topics considered a key part of a liberal arts education or Humanities research etc. -- or are they just a luxury that's fine for the few schools with specialists or others with dedicated dance programs, conservatories and the like, but hardly anything that a serious college/university needs to worry about otherwise.

(I would also agree with Vipa that the future of ballet as an art form is unlikely to depend on its becoming more embedded in universities/think tanks etc. But actually the first fellowships awarded make it clear that the center is not just looking to support "purely" academic research. Anyway, it's an initiative that takes ballet/dance seriously, and throws some money at it--that could be a very good thing.)

[California]

Her remarks are very puzzling. It's hard to find a college/university dance department that does NOT offer some kind of dance appreciation course ("Dance 101").

Others in the field have been very critical of her for ignoring the extensive work in recent decades on dance studies/theory/philosophy. Here are a couple of harsh reviews of Apollo's Angels which make that point. (Those of you with access to a university library database should be able to find them. Both journals are in Project Muse/Johns Hopkins Press.)

Franko, Mark. "Apollo's Angels: A History of Ballet. By Jennifer Homans. New York: Random House, 2010; 672 pp.; illustrations. $20.00 paper." TDR/The Drama Review 56.2 (2012): 198-203.

DRJ: Nicifero, Alessandra. "Apollo's Angels: A History of Ballet by Jennifer Homans. 2010. New York: Random House. 643 pp., illustrations, index. $35.00 hard cover. Mirrors & Scrims: The Life and Afterlife of Ballet by Marcia B. Siegel. 2010. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press. 398 pp., illustrations, index. $27.95 paper." Dance Research Journal 44.01 (2012): 104-109.

It's worth spending a few minutes with the web site: https://balletcenter.nyu.edu/

There are seven fellows this first year (including a philosopher from NYU, although he has not previously indicated an interest in dance or aesthetics in his professional work). They plan some lectures and seminars - with all that Mellon money, I hope they will live-stream them.

Deborah Jowitt is adjunct faculty at NYU: http://dance.tisch.nyu.edu/object/featured_dance_faculty.html

Marcia B. Siegel taught dance criticism at NYU for many years, although she is now retired.