sandik

Me too. I imagine the dancers appreciate getting the chance to perform the role, and I know I like to watch the different interpretations, but it does mean that you wind up camping at the theater. Remember the five Odette/Odiles the last time they did Swan Lake (not to mention the Aurora-thon last spring)

Thinking about the initial question (what explains a long career), there are all kinds of elements that go into longevity in ballet. Body type, training, environment, performance style, professional experience, etc, etc, etc. Some of those elements the dancer can control, some they can work to improve, some they just have to depend on the caprice of the gods. In no particular order: A hyper-mobile body, while it may yield impressive results in training early on, is also more prone to injury unless the dancer works from the beginning to maintain their strength Consistent, thoughtful training will help invest a dancer with skills to maintain their own technique even at times that they aren't rehearsing/performing. A reasonable environment for rehearsal and performance (especially the floor) can extend someone's career by at least a couple of years Working in a style that is 'natural' to your own body will reinforce what you already do well, and not require you to move in a fashion that puts great strain on your instrument. There are always exceptions to these ideas -- dancers who have persevered despite injury, environment, style, etc and still have had long and satisfying careers, but in general, these are good indicators. Look at someone with an extended career, and they will have either found a place for themselves that includes most of these elements, or found a way to live without them.

Isn't that a shampoo?

For the first week of the run http://www.pnb.org/season/dc-casting.html And yes, Rasta Thomas is performing in Fancy Free.

Has anyone here been attending the OBT outdoor rehearsals?

They certainly seem to be making a great deal out of these announcements -- it's been in a lot of their press. No, I imagine not, though I'm sure we all have opinions!

My understanding is that there will be two promotions to principal, and that is all. And if they both come from the soloist rank, that will leave the category pretty attenuated.

Well, this is an interesting development. Any thoughts about who might be in line to step into those postions?

That's what I've been told -- so who wants to speculate on the promotions?

Did she really? Congratulations to her!

I haven't really been following this, but on the ABC news show Nightline last night (Friday) they mentioned that politician Tom deLay was soliciting votes for Sara Evans, since she has been a supporter of the Republican party?

They should rock in that one!

I know that as the season gets underway, we will all be commenting on performances under the specific company headings, but I was wondering right now, what people are really looking forward to seeing. If I were suddenly endowed with lots of cash, where should I want to be going? In Seattle, next weekend is going to be tight, with the ballet's season opening gala and Savion Glover doing his classical program on Saturday night, but glover has a Sunday matinee too, so all's well. The following weekend PNB opens a mixed rep show, with a new production of Fancy Free. It's been several years since I've seen this live, so I'm wondering what I'll find in it this time out. The rest of the program is revivals (Forsythe's in the middle, and Balanchine's Theme and Variations) I admit the last time they did T and V I was distracted by the costumes -- they had those dinner plate tutus, which really quiver every time someone bourees. But I love the ballet, so it should be a blast. So what about where you all are?

The program has always had a sort of upscale 'This Is Your Life' ambiance -- it's part of the entertainment to have the honoree sitting in the balcony beaming while everyone on stage remembers him when. Rather like Queen for a Day.

You've got my vote for Samuel Ramey! I don't know that the honorees have to be living, but it certainly seems that's the case. Which would explain why no Bill Robinson or Hermes Pan or Busby Berkeley. To add to the list of missed opportunities there's Jose Limon and Gregory Hines. I noticed, though, as I scrolled through the list of past honorees, that one of the lovely things about alphabetical order is the interesting connections it makes -- Mikhail Baryshnikov right next to Chuck Berry. Which, when I think about it, makes absolute sense.

It's disheartening that there are no dancers or choreographers in the list, but I do think that all of them (well, possibly not Andrew L-W) have made significant contributions to American culture in their own fields.

I don't mean to sound like a curmudgeon (well, maybe I do) but several times over the last couple of years I've sat behind people who were using the text message function on their cell phone or other PDA during the performance. Granted it doesn't make any sound, but the backlit screen is actually quite powerful in a darkened room, and as they move it about while they type and read it's like a tiny flashlight bouncing all over the place. It's incredibly distracting, but I haven't yet been able to thwap anyone on the side of the head about it.

More change in the dance writing world -- the recently combined Village Voice Media/New Times administration has made several changes in the editorial staff at their flagship paper. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/01/business...t5KE8D3615QD3bA As well as dance editor Elizabeth Zimmer, their long-time music critic, Robert Christgau, is also gone.

This notice came in the mail this week. Available in October from Amadeus Press/Limelight Editions Outsider John Rockwell on the Arts, 1967-2006 By John Rockwell 568pp., hardcover, 6‰x 9‰ ©2006, ISBN # 0-87910-333-7, $34.95 "The excitement of arts journalism comes in voicing my own opinion, trying to shape the aesthetic experience into something communicable to others," declares world-renowned New York Times arts critic John Rockwell in the introduction to his new book Outsider: John Rockwell on the Arts, 1967-2006. From his earliest pieces writing program notes for the San Francisco Opera and as the San Francisco correspondent for the Opera News, to becoming classical music and dance critic for the Oakland Tribune in the late 60s and later at the LA Times, to the East Coast where he was a classical music and rock critic for the New York Times, to his present-day position as chief dance critic for the New York Times, Outsider presents his unique, thought-provoking vision of the arts scene throughout the past four decades. It includes his often humorous and frank criticism and commentary on classical music (including the full scope of contemporary composition), rock, dance, art, theater, books, general arts topics, and reports from abroad. The reviews and essays, taken mostly from the Times, also include pieces from seventeen other sources, such as the Los Angeles Times, The New Republic, the San Francisco Examiner, High Fidelity, Opera, and the Village Voice. John Rockwell is currently the chief dance critic of the New York Times. Before joining the Times in 1972, he was a critic for the Oakland Tribune and the Los Angeles Times. From 1972 to 1991 he was a classical music critic for the New York Times, and from 1974 to 1980 he was also the paper‚s chief rock critic. Between 1992 and 1994 he was based in Paris as European cultural correspondent. >From 1994-1998 he directed the Lincoln Center Festival, rejoining the Times in 1998 and serving until 2002 as editor of the Sunday Arts and Leisure section. He returned to writing in March 2002 as senior cultural correspondent and arts columnist, and became chief dance critic in January 2005. His three books are All American Music: Composition in the Late Twentieth Century, Sinatra: An American Classic, and The Idiots, a monograph on Lars von Trier's film for the British Film Institute. Caroline Howell Publicity and Marketing Manager Amadeus Press LLC/Limelight Editions

I don't have the expertise or the information to say if this is a cycle or a new trend, but I do think that there is a strong economic component in this. In the US, as the social service support infrastructure continues to wither away, more and more emphasis is placed on young people being able to earn a substantial income early in their working lives. People are moving away from what we used to call 'the helping professions' (teaching, nursing) since they're perceived as having a low earning potential. If you combine that with the usual difficulties in recruiting male dancers (social stigma, cost of training) it just makes it that much harder to attract and keep a large enough pool of students to produce a large group of good male dancers. It might be worth remembering that when the NEA's Dance Touring Program came along in the 1970's, it was considered a thrill that the number of bookings a company could get through the project would often make their dancers eligible for unemployment during the off-season -- one of the first times that people could actual count on year-round pay.

An acronym with a military origin, much like snafu. F*cked Up Beyond All Recognition.

I think this is an interesting observation since Jewels seems to be in the process of becoming a milestone ballet -- the kind of work that companies use to measure their own capabilities and that they produce, in part, to announce their status to the community. I've heard several comments over the last couple of years to that affect -- Jewels is, in some ways, a 21st century version of Swan Lake or Sleeping Beauty.

I hadn't really made a connection between Sondheim and G&S, but I think you make a valuable point (having just seen a nice local production of Pirates I've been thinking about articulation lately) Tangentially, does anyone here know off the top of their head if the singing parts in Mike Leigh's G&S film Topsy Turvey were dubbed, or did they cast actual singers?

I keep thinking that they will increase the number of soloists, but it's held steady for the last couple of years. I know that, pragmatically, there are several corps members who are soloists in all but name, but I would imagine that they might like the name as well as the roles!

"Dancers" plural? Very interesting.