sandik

The best thing about waiting to write here until after Helene has posted, is that I can just say "what she said" Doug F is really an exceptional dance history scholar -- able to analyze the structures of the work in a deep and thorough fashion, but present them very clearly, so that you see those connections naturally. This was a wonderfully rich evening, the compare/contrast nature of the programming was so smart and so graceful -- he made it very, very easy to be smart.

The company has run both pre and post show sessions for several years, although it was a bit more difficult to do in the theater before the big remodel -- space was often a difficulty. They've been really building on their 'ancillary' events (including previews/lectures/etc) since they moved back into the 'new' McCaw Hall, and the last year of the Stowell/Russell co-directorship they ran several evening Q&A programs as well as the pre and post. Boal has stepped into that aspect of the job very gracefully -- it's a pleasure to watch him work the room. And yes, sometimes you do get advance information on projects, though everyone is becoming much more circumspect with experience...

Re changes on the Food Network channel I'm not positive, but I think that Moulton shows up on a PBS show that's got Christopher Kimball (??), editor of Cook's Illustrated (or, as a friend puts it, "the magazine for anal-retentive cooks")

I'm seeing them tomorrow (Saturday) night -- last night I had to see the Spectrum preview at the Henry Gallery. (and yes, this means I'm missing the Graham company, and feeling very sorry for myself) /whining I'm writing for danceviewtimes, or at least that's the plan.

Thanks for this observation -- we all see so much dance that sometimes it's important to remember that any given performance might be someone else's first time in the theater, and we hope it's a thrilling one for them.

Jane Seymour will be blogging about her experiences on the program. From the press release MEDIA ADVISORY Jane Seymour to Blog Daily about "Dancing With the Stars‰ Experience Emmy-winner and "Dancing With the Stars‰ contestant Jane Seymour will be writing a daily blog on Eons.com, a social networking site for the baby boomer population, about her experiences on the show. The only female contestant over the age of 50 in this year's competition, Seymour's childhood dream was to become a dancer. She was on the path to becoming a professional ballerina until she suffered a knee injury at the age of 16. Jane hopes to revisit her dream on the show this year, and will be sharing her experiences on Eons.com The media is invited to visit the blog for behind the scenes commentary and interesting stories from Jane. Seymour blog

I'm really looking forward to this program. I've seen some of Doug F's reconstructions from Stepanov notation and they are stunning. I imagine that the company will record this, but I doubt that it will be available publicly -- copyright is indeed a twisty issue.

It's one of the perks, actually. I'm currently re-reading/reading aloud to my son D'Aulaire's Book of Greek Myths. Oh, I love that one! There's a companion book on Norse mythology as well, if you're interested. And I totally agree about reading as a perk!

It took me a bit to get to this thread -- I was re-re-reading something... I am a monster re-reader, of significant works and trivial ones. One of the pleasures of being a parent is reading the stuff you loved as a child to your own child. This summer it was Steinbeck's "Travels with Charley," which held up better than I thought it might, and "To Kill a Mockingbird" which was even better than the last couple times I read it. Part of the thrill was reading it aloud -- it sounds dead on.

From the modern dance world rather than ballet... Early modern dancers, in their desire to leave anything balletic behind them, made a big deal out of hands, frequently choreographing very specific shapes and phrases for them. It took some time to find 'default' hands in most modern styles, but by the time we get to Jose Limon there does seem to be a standard, at least for men, with a sense of weight and strength. Taking class with Clay Taliaferro, who was a long-time Limon dancer, he would frequently talk about 'hamburger hands' -- both the tactile sense of kneading ground meat, and the substantial nature of product.

My bad -- thanks so much for the correction!

Just wanted to congratulate you on your success, and recognize your tenaciousness!

A short report: The company has been placing more emphasis on these season opening events with Boal as AD -- more advertising, specific announcements (like promotions), a couple of notches up in swankiness. It's interesting to see how the environment of the company, and their perceived place in the larger cultural community, has shifted in the last couple of years. As a performance, it had the strengths and weaknesses of your usual 'bits and pieces' programming -- the curtain went up and down a lot. Still, we did see a couple of complete works, so it wasn't all Cliff Notes. Ballet Imperial really seems to reflect its time period to me -- the particular style of the virtuoso work and the mass of the corps feels like the 1940s. Mara Vinson looked very comfortable in the solo ballerina role, very sure of herself in the center of the stage. I was glad to see Miranda Weese in the main ballerina role -- between my schedule and her injuries last year I saw almost none of her performances. No surprise for the NYCB audience, but she gave a very sophisticated performance -- she's obviously thought through the role in a deep way, building her interpretation over the whole ballet. She uses stillness very effectively throughout, but particularly in the first extended sequence -- she made it very easy to see the structure of the work through the prism of her dancing. Casey Herd was a very capable partner, but I did wish that Christophe Maraval hadn't retired -- he had a very adult personae on stage that would have meshed well with Weese. We saw all of Edwaard Liang's Fur Alina and David Parsons' Caught. The Liang duet to Arvo Part solo piano is very well balanced with the delicate austerity of the score. It emphasizes the separation between the two dancers -- Korbes and Bold did very well. She's done lovely work in the classical rep, but she's really stretched herself in more contemporary roles, literally and figuratively. She's very specific with her gestures, and that serves well here. The Parsons' is 25 years old, and though it still does what it did when it premiered, it feels a bit dated to me. Audience response now is more amusement than the astonishment I remember from back then, but I suppose that works too. Olivier Wevers does a fine job with it, but he was more interesting in the Robbins later in the program. I'll be very interested in seeing how the PNB audience takes to the Maillot/Prokofiev Romeo later in the season, especially since it's only been a few years since we saw the Stowell/Tchaikovsky. We got the balcony pas de deux, which doesn't seem to have a balcony (even though we heard lots of banging and shoving from behind the curtain just before the duet). Since there's no ur-text for R&J, there isn't the instant 'but that's not how it's supposed to be' response to a new production, but from the snip we saw last night, Maillot has a very specific, almost non-romantic vision of the couple. Lots of gawky moments, without being forced, and passion that's more awkward than melodramatic. One moment that really stuck, though -- he's laying still on the floor and she has to thump on his chest to see if he'll respond -- in the context of the full work that has potential for major angst. Lucien Postlewaite and Noelani Pantastico were right inside the physicality of the characters -- I don't know who else is cast for the full work in February (the ubiquitous Valentine's Day programming) but it will be interesting to see if there are other interpretations that work this well. The show finished up with Robbins' The Concert, which made everyone happy. Louise Nadeau has a wafty streak that serves her really well here, in a big floppy hat, and Carrie Imler was drawing from the same place that she found her Princess Mother last year in Swan Lake -- she's like a variation on an Edith Wharton doyenne. As promised, Boal announced two promotions -- Mara Vinson to principal and Lucien Postlewaite to soloist. His is probably the most overdue -- since he stepped in at the last minute in Prodigal Son in 2004, he's been dancing far above his contract ranking. Vinson's development has been more gradual -- she made the performing transition from corps to soloist, from being part of the group to being in front of the pack, just as she got promoted, and I imagine that process will just keep unfolding now. Her dancing last night was certainly in line with that evolution. The regular season starts in two weeks, with the all-Balanchine program, so there's not a lot of time to speculate between now and then. Last night felt like the flourish at the top of the ski run, before you plunge down the side of the mountain.

The company has announced casting for the first week of the run cast list No big surprises. Lindsi Dec is doing Prodigal with Jonathan Poretta -- he partnered Patricia Barker the last time the company ran the ballet.

Ooh, tacky!

The Seattle Art Museum is showing a new film on Maria Tallchief that focuses on her Native American heritage. The screening is part of the Northwest Indigenous Film festival, but you don't have to subscribe to the fest to attend. October 30, 7 pm, Seattle Art Museum 206-654-3121 www.seatleartmuseum.org

I'm wondering what promotions he'll be making this year. It was a bit more obvious last year -- I'm not so sure this time around.

The cast list is up for the company's season opening gala September 15 casting here It's one of those bits and pieces programs, but at least it means we see a lot of people.

I didn't know it was such a venerable term -- thanks!

The Classic Arts channel (the one that runs the excerpts of commercial videos) seems to have the Dragonfly Ballet from Michael Powell's Tales of Hoffman on their current rotation -- don't know how long this one lasts, but keep your eyes open for it.

2009 Ring -- no Eva Podles? I'm going to cry right here on my keyboard.

Will go and browse -- I'm always so glad to see this site, and the wealth of opinion on it!

I would agree about the two of them, and add that most recent successful ADs have been able to talk with the general public about their field, as well as communicated with artists.

A brief tangent -- "dansicle" is a term that is being used to describe Matthew Bourne's work, the idea being that they strongly resemble musical theater in their structure and purpose, but use dance rather than song to communicate their ideas. I vaguely remember the term used for Susan Stroman's "Contact," but I don't think it was coined for that. Back to your regularly scheduled conversation...

That is an odd image -- I know what the body is doing, and how the ends of the limbs got to be where they are, but the way the image has been manipulated does make it seem quite strange on a first look.