sandik

If I'm lucky, I'll be gone before the estate finishes cleaning out the vaults.  Prince!

On 8/24/2019 at 10:27 PM, dirac said:

Adding that if you haven't seen this particular picture in a theater you haven't seen it, no matter how large your TV screen. In fact it actually comes off as slightly less of a movie than it is, because the pacing is off -- Lean gives you several more seconds than you need with a smaller screen to absorb the images, so you're sitting there on the couch wondering why you're still staring at sand dunes.

I've never actually seen the restored version in a theater, so I will catch this if I can. Thanks, pherank.

Oh, you're in for a treat.  It was one of the first films I saw all by myself, in the early 70s, and I was just gobsmacked.  My mother used to talk about seeing it when the film was first released.  It has an intermission, which came after a long series of shots of the desert.  My mother went straight out to the concessions counter, and bought the largest orange soda she could get.  And she really disliked fountain drinks.

On 8/26/2019 at 6:37 AM, Helene said:

Karel Cruz is joining the faculty of the Oklahoma University School of Dance:

http://www.oudaily.com/culture/former-principal-dancer-with-pacific-northwest-ballet-joins-ou-school/article_0d6c3a92-c685-11e9-ae8a-db58c490c8e9.html

So will Lindsi Dec be far behind?

One thing about humor -- if we see something that satirizes a topic, that means it's assumed that we know the topic.  I'm not trying to imply that all crappy "guy in a tutu" sketches are signs of cultural literacy, but if we didn't have a baseline recognition for ballet, comics wouldn't be using it for material.  So our challenge is to change the stereotype.

On 8/25/2019 at 7:12 AM, BalanchineFan said:

If GMA doesn't do a follow up on: 

1. the rigors of ballet,

2. how hard men in ballet work (from childhood to mature artist)

3. the detrimental effects of bullying,

4. the many benefits of ballet and dance in general,

5. the brilliance of leading male ballet dancers today, (and I could go on)

...

What was that woman thinking?

All good points, but I'm especially interested in 3 and 4.  Those of us who are parents (and probably everyone else) are familiar with the term "teachable moment" -- this is one of those.   As a dance writer, I would want to see this show highlight all kinds of dance, and all levels of engagement, from highly skilled professionals in all styles to avocational, once a week participants.  I won't indulge in my full soapbox speech here, but we all know how significant this art form is, and how shallow her comments were.  Alongside my distress as a part of the dance community, I was astonished at her willingness to make such cruel comments in order to curry favor with her viewers.  That sticks in my throat fully as much as her nitwittery about dance.

If this child was excited about a math class, would she have quipped that "we all know how long that will last"?

And as far as your own query -- she wasn't thinking.  That's the problem.

On 8/25/2019 at 12:31 PM, Syzygy said:

I’m paraphrasing his Instagram story for those without accounts: Lara Spencer called him to apologize, many ballet/broadway dancers plan to take class outside of GMA next week, she apparently sounded very sorry. 

Hmmm…

Thanks for the report -- I am insta-free.

Dammit.  She was a wonderful designer, with a great original perspective.

When this surfaced at the beginning of the day I was frustrated and offended, but seeing the upswelling of responses from all corners of the dance community I ended the day very happy to be a part of such a wonderful world of artists and enthusiasts.  I'm hoping that the producers at ABC will take up this challenge to educate themselves and their audience -- we'll see what happens.  But whatever the outcome, I'm really pretty proud of the dance world.

On 8/22/2019 at 1:04 PM, dirac said:

Makes me smile every time.

Me too!

Very interesting options, all of them.  SFB has certainly made a virtue from necessity all these years, but I can't imagine that anyone is really thrilled with their current schedule, which seems incredibly dense to most of us.  Will be very curious to see if they actually shift their calendar around.

thanks for this -- I actually can get access to a number of journals through my college alumni association (Reed College!), but I know many folks cannot, and as subscriptions get more and more expensive, it's becoming very difficult to keep on top of this part of the dance writing world.

Her thoughtless comments were offensive on several levels.  She's mocking a child, she's reinforcing antiquated gender roles, she's denigrating the idea of arts education in the schools.  Her apology is weak at best (I saw an early version where she misspelled "mountain" as "maintain.").  This has indeed been the scandal of the day, and I would hope for a more robust response from GMA.  I don't watch breakfast television, but many people do, and this program has done a miserable job with this.

If you would like to speak up about this, you can look at this online petition, or send a message to ABC.

Ah, I hadn't really considered the competition shows when I thought about this -- you've put your finger on a good point!

Just one, but a great choice -- Shearer was an astonishing and unique dance artist, and I'm thrilled to hear that her archive is being stabilized.

It's really August now!

Damn -- alongside all the misery he's spread throughout his community, he doesn't seem to realize the damage he does to the field.  Crap, crap, crap.

Sad news, has to travel.

On 8/9/2019 at 9:39 PM, pherank said:

Somewhat related:

TCM played Broadway Rhythm the other night and it includes a routine by the Ross Sisters - who sing (a la the Andrew Sisters), do a little dancing, but mainly break into a long contortionist routine (to music) which is a marvel. We're talking MAJOR CORE STRENGTH.
I can honestly say I had never seen anything quite like it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1J3NLNWAPU
[Jump to 1:20 in the timeline]

"What do they do?"  "All sort of comical di-dos."

I've seen this online a few times, but most folks don't get past the "ooh, icky" aspect of the style -- we don't seen contortionist acts in a conventional music context anymore, but this must be what music hall and vaudeville programs were full of.  We look at the programs today -- the wild mixture of elements -- and we just don't have a clue. 

And yes, astonishing core strength. 

57 minutes ago, nysusan said:

I first saw Lamb almost 15 years ago when the Royal brought their Sleeping Beauty to DC. She danced Florine at one performance and Aurora at another. To say that I saw a very different side of her in the Wheeldon and especially McGregor's Qualia pdd would be a huge understatement. She was fierce and thoroughly modern. The best I can describe her is as a combination of Ferri - like physique with Whelan - like sensibility and plastique.

 

The inconsistency was in the choreography. I loved Dance of the Blessed Spirits, Concerto & Within the Golden Hour. I liked Qualia and found Obsidian Tear somewhat interesting. For me Asphodal Meadows was less interesting and I never need to see jojo or Five Brahms Waltzes in the Manor of Isadora again ( If Rojo couldn't make me like it when she did Waltzes her 10 or so years ago I doubt that I will ever like it). 

Did you see Lamb in the cinema broadcast of Age of Anxiety?  She was very affective in an edgy, tension filled part.

I will take all of your Brahms Waltzes and trade you Within the Golden Hour.  I have loved it for years.

15 hours ago, Kathleen O'Connell said:

Also, a PSA for your local library, which may well make digital media available to you if you have a library card. My NYPL library card gives me access to a ton of digital media via both my desktop browser (the very one I'm using right now) and apps on my phone and tablet. The New York Times doesn't make itself as easy to acquire via public resources as say, The Washington Post, the LA Times, USA Today, or any number of magazines and journals (including The New Yorker if you want to see what Jennifer Homans is up to, which isn't much), but NYPL cardholders can access a database of text-only versions of all of the articles the NYT has published since 1980, including the ones it published this morning. It's not the best way to peruse the paper as part of your morning read, but the database's search engine is excellent and it is a dandy tool for research. 

The NYPL is admittedly a powerhouse version of a local library, but one shouldn't assume that one's own hometown library doesn't make these resources available to cardholders - especially if it's plugged into a state-wide or regional library network. Lots of digital educational tools — e.g., Mango Languages, Lynda.com, Naxos Music Library, Oxford Reference Online, etc — have portals designed for public & academic libraries.

Really, take a look at what your local public library has to offer — you might be pleasantly surprised at how much is there.

Interestingly, there are several college alumni organizations that give members all kinds of electronic access to publications.  I was happily surprised to learn that my school (Reed College, in Oregon) offers access to all their JSTOR publications -- this has saved me several trips to my local university.

In general, big love for libraries!

11 hours ago, Ashton Fan said:

If you are interested in reading about Healy's experience of working with Ashton then try to get hold of a book called "Following Sir Fred's Steps" which I think was published by Dance Books. It contains papers given at a conference about the Ashton repertory held at the University of Roehampton during the 1990's including the one she  contributed to it.

I've got it around here -- it is indeed full of good things.

21 hours ago, California said:

It always seemed to me that training at altitude is a legal form of blood-doping for athletes, but it does take some time.  I also noticed an abundance of emergency defibrillators in red boxes in Vail, like you might see fire alarms, but it wouldn't be a bad idea if those were routinely installed everywhere.

I've wondered about the blood doping angle, but I'm not a sports person and so don't know the territory.  And yes, more defibrillators could save lives.

9 hours ago, Buddy said:

In this context, I agree. I would prefer the option of purchasing single articles.

I'd love to see that option for some publications I just don't follow, but I don't know of a newspaper who currently offers this -- do you have any examples?

Lucky you -- I'm glad you got that chance.

That's actually a pretty good spread.