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Kennedy Center Honors for 2014


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It's unfortunate that Baryshnikov didn't introduce her segment last night, I think it would have helped.

As I remember from assorted "Google Alerts" and Tweets when the show was taped, Baryshnikov was in London for the opening of his photography exhibit. But he is on the selection committee for dance and no doubt was happy to endorse her.

I meant it was unfortunate that he wasn't there to introduce her because of his star power with the general public, which is higher than that of any other living classical dancer. Like AlbanyGirl, I think Christine Baranski was fine, but possibly his presence might have given McBride's segment a little more prominence in the evening.

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Actually I think Baryshnikov's presence at the event would have drawn attention away from McBride. He is so famous that his presence steals the show whether he wants to or not.

I found it particularly ironic that Baranski noted how she used to buy NYCB tickets in the balcony when she was young. Due to the really stupid and greedy poliices at NYCB, the balcony is no longer open for most shows.

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I found it particularly ironic that Baranski noted how she used to buy NYCB tickets in the balcony when she was young. Due to the really stupid and greedy poliices at NYCB, the balcony is no longer open for most shows.

Perhaps someone was listening...

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Actually I think Baryshnikov's presence at the event would have drawn attention away from McBride. He is so famous that his presence steals the show whether he wants to or not.

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Good point. If memory serves, Mischa led the tribute to another dancer with whom that was much less of a problem: Fred Astaire.

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I found it particularly ironic that Baranski noted how she used to buy NYCB tickets in the balcony when she was young. Due to the really stupid and greedy poliices at NYCB, the balcony is no longer open for most shows.

Balcony? (The fourth balcony?) I caught that too.

Back in the day - the day of Balanchine and Kirstein - the top-of-the-house prices were kept low enough that people of modest means could see nearly every show from up there, lots of them young.

There was a theory that some would develop into supporters of some substance eventually, but in the meantime there were those who descended to the Promenade at intermission to help identify the corps girls - sitting downstairs, I had worked it out to an uncertainty of four names, just seeing multiple performances and studying the program, but there were those from up there who knew everybody in the company. And to straighten out which version of Serenade we had just seen - some sequences would be substituted, or a part would be divided up differently among multiple dancers, so that one fan claimed to have added up fourteen permutations or combinations of these adjustments.

That was the Old Audience. That was what Arlene Croce called "our civilization". Nearly everything seems to have changed, not that I'm there much anymore.

Isn't the basic reason that NYCB just doesn't have the drawing power it did? Tickets are expensive too, owing to the lack of the former subsidies. It's not all NYCB's fault. It's everywhere, no?

But in the day, there they were, "Patty" McBride, as we used to call her affectionately, among them. (Her 1978 Coppelia, with Helgi Tomasson and staged by Danilova and Balanchine, was broadcast on Live from Lincoln Center, BTW, so everybody watch for that. Until it turns up, in 1979 she danced the pas de deux from Harlequinade with Baryshnikov and a bunch of kids from SAB at the White House, and it's on You-know-where, with the East Room chandelier overhead!)

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The official story at NYCB is that they closed the 3rd and 4th rings because they wanted to fill up the lower rings of the house. The actual reason is to control the supply of reasonably priced tickets in the hope that once the cheaper tixs sell out (and believe me, there aren't that many cheap seats anymore), those who got shut out will buy tickets in the next higher price category.

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Doesn't that come to the same thing? They want to sell more higher priced tickets. I hate to see the upper rings empty, but I can understand needing to make money. Whether they'll make more in the long run or slow the growth of their audience, attracting fewer people who will eventually buy better seats, is another question.

Thanks for those memories, Jack. I wish I'd been in New York back then. "Civilization" indeed.

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Regarding the broadcast, I agree that Patricia's segment felt 'short' and also hurried. I would have also liked more examples of her extraordinary dancing in the video to celebrate her unique and gorgeous gifts. And it was fun to see Ms McBride enjoy herself so much at the celebration.

Tiler never fails to dazzle and uplift. How lovely she is! Misty's performance was nicely done, even if it didn't quite sparkle. Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux is one of those tour de force ballets that absolutely demands wit, brilliance and effortless speed. YouTube had (probably still does) a clip of several ballerinas dancing it - Bussell, Zhakarova, Somova - outstanding ballerinas all and great artists in their own right - that demonstrates quite clearly how difficult Balanchine choreography can be for dancers not trained in Balanchine technique.

I just watched Somova and Fedeyev dance TchaiPax - it is truly the most egregious bastardization of a ballet that I have ever seen - neither of them have a clue as to the musicality, speed, phrasing, and position shape of this ballet. And Somova's reputation continues to confound me - she is a modern day horror of skeleton physique, splayed hands, open ribs, and complete lack of control in basic positions - her developee alone is a disaster.

She's cringe inducing to watch.

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KFW, on many nights now the center section seats (the most expensive) remain empty or NYCB papers them (by giving them to students), while the cheaper seats on the end of the rings are filled. All they have accomplished, in my opinion, is driving away people who are not willing to pay extremely high prices, but would have paid a reasonable price to sit upstairs in the 4th ring. It's a great benefit for the students, though, who are sitting in seats priced at over $100 for a song.

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I just watched Somova and Fedeyev dance TchaiPax - it is truly the most egregious bastardization of a ballet that I have ever seen - neither of them have a clue as to the musicality, speed, phrasing, and position shape of this ballet. And Somova's reputation continues to confound me - she is a modern day horror of skeleton physique, splayed hands, open ribs, and complete lack of control in basic positions - her developee alone is a disaster.

She's cringe inducing to watch.

She acquitted herself a bit last year during her post-baby return to DC as Odette-Odile but you are correct about Somova ca 2003-2013.

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It's true, that some people will be able to move "up" in price to the next higher category if they don't manage to get the cheaper seats, but there are many people who cannot manage that. Some of them will come to fewer shows, which leads in general to a weaker relationship with the company, the repertory, and the art form -- some of them will fall away altogether.

Ideally, you want people at all levels, from the casual viewer to the devoted fan.

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KFW, on many nights now the center section seats (the most expensive) remain empty or NYCB papers them (by giving them to students), while the cheaper seats on the end of the rings are filled. All they have accomplished, in my opinion, is driving away people who are not willing to pay extremely high prices, but would have paid a reasonable price to sit upstairs in the 4th ring. It's a great benefit for the students, though, who are sitting in seats priced at over $100 for a song.

Hmmm. That's more or less unfortunate. Thanks for the explanation. I also don't understand why the seat just to the right of my decent, left side orchestra seat this March was 70-some dollars more than mine.

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