Kegger in Georgi Balanchivadze’s Backyard

[kfw]

I’m curious as to what people think of this poem by Kathleen Heil in the latest New Yorker. Here is just the first stanza.

Black bile, yellow bile, blood, phlegm:

we pledged—to divide ourselves up

and played flip cup to determine

who’d bust a move to begin.

To my mind, while it’s not without some basis in fact, it’s also pretty unpleasant in its cynicism and lack of sympathy for Balanchine, who for all his failings in regard to women, was apparently well loved even by most of his ex’s. So am I missing something? What’s the poem’s view of the women here? I can’t decide about the last three lines. Is she mocking them or empathizing with them?

The coke reference would seem to place the time at which the kegger takes place as the late 70s or early 80s, but that’s perhaps too literal a translation. What the poet seems to be concerned with is an attitude, not a specific time, and the place and scenario are obviously imaginary.

Does anyone know this poet's work? To be fair, she’s a former dancer.

[dirac]

Thank you for the link. I hadn't seen this, and don't know her other work. I would note at random that dancers often have irregular periods, but so do female athletes. And it's not as if "the Russian" invented the "unnatural demands."

I don't think the last three lines are intended as mockery (well, not entirely). I took the eucharistic reference to mean that the women and girls put up with the physical difficulties and challenges because through the dance body and spirit become one. Makarova once compared a developpe in "Swan Lake," I think it was, to the "opening of a missal." The last line seems a little fudged -- "our regular transubstantiation of Hoc est corpus." - or maybe she just wants the rhyme there.

Also - I think of dancers not so much as "giving in" to the demands of their art so much as meeting the demands of their art. Different kind of "demand." You give in to sexual demands, for example. Is that what she's getting at? (But then there is the pairing of "giving in"/"gives us.")

[DanielBenton]

Can anyone explain "dissemination of sorostitutes"?

[Mme. Hermine]

"Sorostitute" is evidently a label that, in at least one usage, offers comment on the morals of certain women who are members of college sororities. (And I did look it up).

[kfw]

Thanks, dirac. I love the Makarova line, and I hadn’t heard it. You make a great point about giving in to vs. meeting demands. As I read it, she is referring to sex not just with “giving in” but also with “sorostitutes” (what a slur, here or anywhere!) and “quick on our backs” and “muscle memory.” That’s why I’m not sure if the Eucharist reference is sarcastic or empathetic – a bit of both, I’m guessing. These dancers seem to put up with both ballet’s “unnatural” demands and the balletmaker’s as well. I know Balanchine enjoyed being adored, and more, but I’ve never heard anyone who was around him describe him as manipulating women that way, or cite any instance of a dancer sleeping with him for parts.