sandik

I've done this accidentally -- it's very embarrassing.

Another nice obit, this one by Deborah Jowitt in the Village Voice Bolender obit There is a memorial gala with Kansas City Ballet scheduled for December 7.

Oh dear, it's not fair to make me laugh that loud!

The video seemed a bit stilted to me, a bit like a re-enactment of an episode of Sex and the City, though perhaps if I wasn't familiar with the plot of Giselle and so didn't know where it was going it wouldn't feel quite so odd. I liked the podcast very much, especially the variety of points of view and the inclusion of the actual score. And I must say that they both ran quickly and well -- not always the case with web-based video/audio materials!

And Arianna Lallone too -- she was pretty stunning in Red Angels.

I was sitting behind a fairly large party of 20-somethings at a performance of the Bolshoi here a couple years ago, who were all text messaging during the performance. They'd silenced their various phones and PDAs, but as they typed and read their messages, they kept flashing their screens around, and the backlighting was just like a flashlight as it glared in my eyes.

I think probably my favorite crowd scene is one I never actually saw -- the opening sequences of Fokine's Petrushka in the original production. There has been so much written about the ebullient chaos of the Shrovetide Fair scenes I feel as if I almost can see it, but I know I look at each production with those comments in the back of my head.

http://www.pnb.org/season/ap-casting.html Basically two casts of the Dove (with Rasta Thomas back again), the Martins, and the Tharp (three different principal men, but the rest of the cast is just doubled), and one cast of the new Quijada piece. This is just the first week, so who knows what's next...

Sorry for the error -- I thought I'd just copied and pasted, but there much have been a glitch. I'm looking forward to seeing how this facet of their marketing will work -- On the Boards' post-performance blogs have a certain amount of traffic, but they invite local artists to write something, which often seems to jump-start general discussion.

Mousing around on their website I noticed they've added a section for a blog -- it appears to be organized by program, and is set up for the entire season, though it doesn't look like anyone has bitten yet. Here's the link pnb blog

Many thanks for the report -- the company performed here in Seattle soon after their legal battles were settled, and my biggest response was relief that they were still alive, and gratitude that the works were still being performed. Graham herself, after she came out of her post-performing funk, would introduce her works from the stage, and comment on various aspect of her career and interests. I remember that she was always much funnier than we thought she would be -- she had the timing of a good stand-up comic. I'm not sure why I would be surprised -- you could see it in her choreography. Graham worshipped St Denis, and was very attached to that part of her heritage. I know she was happy to perform the Denishawn repertory at various times in her career, and you can see some of those influences in her later choreography. And, yes, she certainly could 'work her skirt' -- something that she got from Miss Ruth. But very few people had the same skill with a piece of fabric that Graham had.

There are many conventions attached to bowing, some of them historical and some specific to certain companies or audiences. In the early romantic and classical era works, performances were often in an opera environment, and some of the theatrical traditions that attach to opera carried over to dance. In those cases, the aria as a stand-alone kind of work, with acknowlegement at the end, became the bow at the end of an extended solo or duet. Petipa's works are often constructed in this 'modular' fashion, with natural pauses at the end of most variations. This is reinforced in many of the classical works by their actual scenarios, placing dancing in a performance situation -- the dancers 'bow' to the observers on stage, and therefore to us in the audience. (think fairy variations and wedding performers in Sleeping Beauty). This convention starts to come apart toward the end of the classical period (contrast the Petipa and Ivanov acts in Swan Lake), but still crops up as a theatrical tradition, even when it is not supported by the structure of the choreography. I've been fascinated for years in seeing how a dance 'tells' the audience that it is over, especially if the work is not well known to the viewers. There seem to be myriad clues involved, but even then, there can be a fraught moment before understanding takes place and the response kicks in. Here in Seattle, Pacific Northwest Ballet has been doing front-of-the-curtain bows (sometimes called tab bows) after the full stage bows for around 3 years, and it's only been recently that audiences seems to anticipate them. For an uncomfortable number of performances the applause would die off quite quickly after the main curtain came down (even though the spotlights came up on the curtain and you could see it being pulled back for the dancers to pass by) and things needed to get started up again when the first performers stepped out in front. I like these bows very much -- the dancers are just that much closer to the audience, and it feels very immediate, but I have great respect for those people who had to step out in front of an audience who had started looking for their bags on the floor and standing up to head out to the lobby for a break.

I don't know about her singing voice, but she did an excellent job at Mrs Bucket in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which had an odd kind of eccentric poverty which might jive with Mrs Lovett. And she's Bellatrix Lestrange in the next Harry Potter film. I cannot remember if she sang in Corpse Bride.

She had phenomenal timing. And a great, great voice, not just the singing, though that was remarkable lovely, but her personification of the society/club woman was so wonderful.

I am so glad that Doug is getting some attention -- he's all that the article says, as well as an extremely nice person.

You can't really browse the collection, though there have been discussions about digitizing some of their full access materials as the Library of Congress has done, but there's lots you can learn from the catalog. I frequently get my questions answered there.

Carmina seems to be one of those scores that attracts choreographers and company directors -- there are twelve productions listed in the files at the Dance Collection, including two that would be likely be considered as satires. What is it about this work that makes it so appealing to choreographers and audiences?

Thanks so much for posting this notice. If you go, I hope you let us know about your impressions.

Stowell's father made several ballets in this mode, while he was co-director of Pacific Northwest Ballet -- it's a real skill. They may not all be classics, but they are certainly a necessary component of a growing repertory.

It does indeed seem that Jewels is becoming a real milestone ballet for 21st century companies -- you do it, in part, to prove that you can. Peter Boal made a comment in a post-show Q&A session last season to that effect.

I've seen part of a film they made outdoors in Holland -- very beautiful and a bit odd NYPL listing

John Cage would be so proud. Really.

It's not on any commerically available tape from here, but PNB has the work in their rep -- it's quite charming. Amy, thank you for posting the link to the Kansas City obit. There are several heartfelt comments in the guestbook section from former dancers and students.

I was heartened to see the mention of Sarah Vowell -- I just finished reading Partly Cloudy Patriot to my 12 year old for bedtime reading (that is actually where I do most of my non-dance reading). I liked her Assasination Vacation very much. I read On Photography while I was a grad student and was swept away Sontag's respect for the act of looking, which stays with me today as I watch dance. I don't know that I would feel the same way if I were to re-read it, though it stays in a very prominent place on my shelves.

My family went to Tower last night, after we'd seen the "going out of business" signs. I'm very sad about this -- the comments in the linked story mentioned the serendipity of browsing through a store that is absent from online shopping, and I absolutely agree. I will miss the expertise of the classical staff at the Mercer Street store in Seattle, but mostly I will miss the feeling of walking into a place where everyone is interested in the same thing I am. Bought the Steve Reich box set, in honor of his 70th birthday, and in honor of what we will soon be missing.