sandik

I'm 52, so my memories of the HUAC hearings and their context are second-hand, but I've always felt that the people called in front of that committee were hung in the middle -- damned if they named people who weren't already "out" and damned if they didn't. While it's true that Robbins' immediate colleagues in the theater wouldn't really care if he were gay, straight, bi or otherwise, the next layer out in the community, which would include funders, might care, or care if the general population thought less of them for being associated with someone who wasn't "normal." Remember, it wasn't until 1973 that the American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from their list of "mental disorders." If I'm seeing the color-coding on the map correctly on the Wikipedia page on sodomy laws, the only state that had repealed them before 1970 was Illinois. Sadly, Robbins lived with a real threat at that time. There's all kinds of speculation about what might have happened if someone who was truly popular, as Robbins was, stood up against the committee, and I'm sad that it will only ever be speculation, but I do feel truly sorry for him, and so very grateful that I've not been in a situation that dire.

I think part of that comes from the standard biography/life span structure the producers chose to use. I heard someone talking about writing biography a few years ago, and she observed that many of the subjects of biographies were at their most interesting toward the middle of their lives -- their youth might be formative, but not always, and the nature of human beings is that they often lost some of their potency toward the end of their lives, unless they're cut artificially short. If a biographer follows the birth-life-death arc in their own work, the opening and closing are in danger of being less powerful than the middle. And since quite a bit of the footage Kinberg had to work with came from earlier Dance in America programs, she was quite fortunate. Tangentially, who was it dancing the extended duet from The Cage? Either I missed the attribution, or they didn't include one.

This is a good analogy. I've watched lots of ballet dancers attempt the standard modern dance repertory -- some are able to make that shift and others are not. The same goes for other crosses (into jazz, or tap, or social dance, or the myriad kinds of world/ethnic dance styles).

I heard about the zombie book recently now with ultraviolence and am very curious.

I'm of multiple minds about this. A couple years ago Pacific Northwest Ballet gave a series of festival performances honoring local artists, and as you walked in the theater they had a 'slide show' of images from recent history on a screen in front of the main curtain. It included some text about the individuals shown, some self-promotion (list of dates of festival performances) and a list of festival sponsors. I can't say that I love advertisements in this context, but I do know that there would be no context without them. I think the tougher question is, do you want a visual ad, or do you want the artistic director to come out in front of the curtain with each show to read through a list of donors (a practice that is very common in modern dance events in my part of the world)

Or those sugared almonds my grandmothers always had... This is nice. Thanks, Helene. Or those butter mints you used to get at wedding receptions A thought -- at some point, if you're looking to retool the site, you might consider putting a set of the nested buttons that show your location and let you click back through the list ( Ballet Talk > Members Area > About This Site > Board Appearance Is Changing) at the bottom of the page as well as at the top. Whenever I've finished reading through a thread, and want to click and return to the main page, I have to scroll back up the page to get to those buttons -- it would be nice to have them at the bottom, where I am, as well.

Good for you! And good for the rest of us too.

Tangentially, I noticed that Obama's address has been printed in a nice little blue hardbound book. But the twistiest part for me is that I saw it Wednesday, in a vending machine at the Seattle Center. ('culture campus' in Seattle -- site of 62 World's Fair, now home of several theaters and other venues) There were a couple other books in the machine, including a Seattle guide book, as well as the usual vendables. Forgot to look for the price...

I remember first reading this in high school in the early 70s -- it seemed part of the environment in what we still called "women's liberation" circles. And, several years later, I performed a modern dance solo based on the character made by a colleague. It was some of the fastest dancing I ever had to do (I am, temperamentally, more sustained than quick) and it knocked me out, every show.

And the HD watchers get this and Wheeldon's take on Carmen -- good news!

I think Karen Kain did some broadcast journalism with the CBC when she first retired.

I've seen this piece of information several places, but no one has said anything about his training -- where was he studying?

I don't know about the starving part, but I know lots of dancers who are very thoughtful cooks. Kari Brunson, from the Pacific Northwest Ballet, blogs for a local paper on food and cooking. anticiplate

Any news about which productions will be part of the HD program (the only way I can "get to" the Met!)

Thanks everyone for such vivid reviews of the second weekend -- I don't regret the stuff I saw instead of being at PNB, but it does make me wish for cloning... Tangentially, I saw Jonathan Porretta and Lucien Postlewaite in a new duet by Olivier Wevers on a modern dance showcase over in Bellevue, and it was excellent, both choreography and performance. Don't know if it will show up on any other programs, but it's worth keeping an eye open for it -- "Ultimatum."

Wasn't that Erin Joseph?

I had hoped to get to a performance in the second weekend, but that's looking less likely now -- anyone who sees any of the other casts please report back! A bunch of thoughts, not in very clear order: I was reading through my notes from the first two nights, and was struck by how many times the work reminds me of other ballets. Not just the Petipa quotes, but references to other Balanchine works as well. I thought Carla K was channeling her Lilac Fairy in Emeralds with the 'summoning' port de bras. I know that she does a lovely job with Diamonds, but I was just blown over by her performance in Emeralds. It was a treat to see/hear the feedback that everyone got during the coaching session with Violette Verdy and Mimi Paul, stopping and starting and re-running things, but when it was Korbes turn, they just let her dance -- I got the feeling that Verdy and Paul were just as enchanted as the rest of us. In that coaching session, Paul explained that there were two different versions of her role -- the original, and a later revision. If I understood her correctly, she crafted a combination of those two for PNBs production, and so the moment in the second solo where the woman seems to hide her face in her hands and then move those hands behind her is gone. Which is too bad, in part because it was a nice reference to other moments throughout the work where the women have their hands behind their back (sometimes in a partnering moment), and in part because I liked it very much, and remember Noelani Pantastico making a really good job of it. But Maria Chapman looks great in this changed version, very floaty with some nice crispy contrasts, so I shouldn't whimper. Ariana Lallone makes a very different impression here -- much more regal. She's in a part of her dancing life where she seems to embody everything she's done before. Just standing there she knocks me off my seat, and once she starts to move everything just seems very important. I think this makes it hard to see her in an equal partnership -- Karel Cruz has really started to come into his own, but he just doesn't have the same gravitas here that Lallone does. I'm looking forward to seeing what he does next. In the meantime, I really wish that Lallone could find a production of Giselle somewhere -- she would be a spectacular Myrtha. (I often think the same thing about Carrie Imler) Or failing that -- Carabosse, the next time the company does Beauty (there's no rule that says it has to be a guy). She's a stunning Lilac Fairy herself -- I would love to see her do both of those fairies! I'm sad that Louise N is retiring, but I'm also sad to know it right now, since it changes the way I look at her. But knowledge can't be un-known, so there it is. I've always really liked her arms, especially in the more eccentric moments, but there was one place in the opening of Emeralds that was particularly nice where she seemed to stroke her cheek with the back of her hand -- very tactile and shivery. For all that the ballet is romantic in style, it's not all wafty, and Nadeau is very good at those sharp and firm moments, just like good punctuation. As you would expect, she makes the connections to La Valse very clear, but there were also some Sonambula moments in there as well (the spooky ones)! [On opening night Peter Boal announced that there would be a special performance to honor Nadeau on June 7, and that it would include excerpts from La Valse and Swan Lake, which made me wonder if she would be doing O/O in the upcoming performances] Olivier Wevers seemed like a very tall partner for her, and I've been trying to remember other times I've seen them together, but need to look through notes. In any case, he didn't hover over her, which sometimes happens with the big height differences. In the trio, Benjamin Griffiths was thrilling -- fleet and modest and a really great set of multiple turns. They just whizzed! Chalnessa Eames did a lovely job here, but the special surprise was Rachel Foster, I know she can rock in the more contemporary stuff, but she was just lovely here. Jeffrey Stanton is such a solid dancer and partner that I think sometimes I take him for granted -- I assume that all will be well. Once in a while he looks worried (or at least that's how it seems to me) but here he was an attentive partner to Maria Chapman and an exemplar of the style in general. At the end, when the three men kneel as the women leave, he seems to mourn the loss while he savors the memory. [And whoever it was whose Blackberry rang during the last notes of the score for Emeralds Friday night, it wasn't really in the same key as the orchestra.] There's a spot upstage center in the light design for Rubies that makes whoever standing there look like they've spent too much time at the tanning salon -- both Ariana Lallone and Lindsi Dec looked very toasty in the opening tableau, but then reverted to their usual skin tone when they boureed forward. When the company did Jewels the first time, Jodie Foster did a nice clean job with the duet, but seemed to still be learning the ropes -- this time out she was much more confident and really played with the timing of the steps. She's been coming into her own over the last few years, especially in comedic roles, and her sense of timing just gets better and better (I still like to think about her Nurse in Romeo and Juliet last year). Here she matches Jonathan Porretta's pugnacious attitude with a real sassy quality -- it's great fun to watch them in the back and forth. Benjamin Griffiths is less actorly here, he seems more focused on the steps themselves, and Rachel Foster likewise. But they really dig into the asymmetrical stretches and off-center balancing, which is at the heart of these roles. Because I kept seeing the Siren from Prodigal Son in Lallone's tall girl here, the four guys that 'partner' her looked a bit like cleaned-up versions of the goons from the same source, as if they were translated from thugs to chorus boys. I particularly relished Barry Kerollis as the last one to snap to attention -- his timing is dead-on as he gets to his assigned limb at the last possible moment. And as they all tramp out upstage left while the tall girl makes her way out on the opposite side they look like a dapper chain gang. There's mild applause for the setting when the curtain opens for Diamonds, but I confess that my first thought is that I wish the chandelier was wider -- it seems too small for the breadth of the space. Carla Korbes and Carrie Imler were both regal beings in the central role, but they weren't identical. I know I keep saying that Imler is a very self-reliant dancer, and that influences how I see her in a partnership. In this context, she does seem like she confers power on her partner (Batkhurel Bold) -- they approach each other in a symmetrical pattern at the beginning of their main duet, but in many key places he makes himself a kind of servant to her -- he bows his head like he acknowledges her precedence. I know that in general, the man 'serves' the woman in classical ballet, but that relationship feels a bit more pointed here. When Imler tilts her head back (a repeating bit in this role) it doesn't feel like a wild or off-centered moment (Patirica Barker seemed to give it that interpretation) but more an assertion of her power -- she's in such control that she doesn't even need to look where she's going [yes, I know I'm really reading in here]. The whole thing feels very classical, while Carla Korbes and Stanko Milov have a more romantic (in the balletic sense) vibe -- the deliberation that I saw in the first approach for Imler and Bold seems more like conversation here. This reads more like courtship than statesmanship. It's not flirty -- this is more like an arranged marriage -- but there are many personal, tender moments between the two of them.

I assume as Guy Masterson? Please report back when you get a chance to see it!

That is a generous description!

She mentioned this when she was in Seattle coaching Pacific Northwest Ballet in Emeralds -- she was captivating (as you would imagine) and very, very thrilled with the recognition.

"When asked what the departure of the last Balanchine dancer from New York City Ballet meant, Mr. Martins noted wryly that in Ms. Kistler’s absence, every dancer at the company will have been hired by him. “That is a milestone for me,” he said." I hadn't thought of it in that way, but those kinds of transitions are indeed very important.

Report back if you get the chance -- we'd love to hear what you think.

Though you seem to think it 'plays well with others' (sorry -- I just couldn't resist)

Saw Glover in his Bare Soundz show this evening and was absolutely gobsmacked -- if it comes to your part of the world, go see it. Just go.

Thanks for clarifying this -- the credits zoomed by too fast for me in the theater and I couldn't find a complete cast list online. I didn't think they looked familiar, but I don't know the current company roster very well.