sandik

Even in recording you can hear why her voice generated such powerful responses -- it feels like the ultimate example of that kind of singing -- a kind of Platonic example. I'd happened to go to a dress rehearsal of the Seattle Opera the night before the news broke of her death -- Rosenkavalier, with Carol Vaness doing a wonderful job. When I head of Schwarzkopf's death, I was so glad I'd been listeneing to singing the night before.

I think part of the difficulty is in the levels of experience. Most of the men I looked at for this article were hired at the soloist or principal level -- they arrived with a great deal of performance experience already in place (and indeed, in order to get a work visa and/or green card, they usually need to have a substantial bio -- it's more about experience than potential) The schools you mention do graduate some very skilled dancers, but they are at the beginning of their professional life, and are probably not ready to step into principal roles. It's a very interesting situation right now -- many ballet companies hire from outside the country, but the visa process has become much more difficult over the last couple years, which just adds to the challenges of long-term planning for these ensembles. It's hard to plan repertory when you don't know if you'll be able to cast the ballets you want to add.

Thanks so much for the heads-up -- I usually don't read Vanity Fair, but will look for this issue.

And its cousin, "Hum Along Night."

At the risk of opening another can of worms, I'm wondering how much Kylian is being danced in the States now. I know there's actually quite a bit to see on video, with the attendant benefits and deficits of that medium, but I know I hardly ever get to see anything live here (Seattle).

Not overheard, but a story that my parents used to tell on themselves. At a performance of Giselle with another couple, after a long and fairly boozy dinner, the other husband leaned across his wife to ask my mother, in a rather loud stage whisper "What's a willie?" My mother never told me what she answered.

Wow.

I don't really think of that tavern as a "wine bar" per se! There's drinking used as a plot devise in many productions of Swan Lake (2nd act) and Sleeping Beauty (also 2nd act), and in some Romeo and Juliets Lew Christensen's Filling Station has a role for a drunk girl. It's only in the title, but Mark Morris' Drink to Me Only might qualify. And there's drinking in the party scene of his Hard Nut.

Oh, did you see Sar in Midsummer? Kendall Britt danced Oberon in the 3:30 performance. He did a lovely job with the shifting accents -- he made the role very specific, which is a tough job even for an experienced performer. He's going to Ballet Memphis, and I'm sorry not to be able to follow his development here.

Thank you so much for catching my omission -- I'm embarrassed!

I think it's very difficult to speculate about Robbins' development in a non-Balanchine American landscape -- the whole second half of his career would have been so extremely different. As far as Balanchine in Europe is concerned, I agree with Alexandra. WWII would have been even more important in his development than it already was. I thnk it's entirely possible that deValois would have invited him to England -- she was very impressed with him from her time with the Diaghilev company, but how would he have fit in to her determination to create an English ballet?

The only news so far, which was in the program for the school show last month, is that they've hired Sokvannara Sar as an apprentice. He just finished at the PNB school, and danced the role of the ballet master in Konservatoriet.

I have agitated over and over again for better scheduling, both with the large institutions and with smaller groups, but I seem to be talking to myself most of the time. All I can say is that this is not the first time, nor is it the most ridiculous example. a Podles recital in Tacoma Please, don't give them any ideas!

I went over and looked, and it feels like a rather odd juxtaposition -- are there other ensembles that have MySpace pages?

That's not the half of it -- her mother is/was Loyce Holton, founder of MDT. Loyce H taught Graham-based modern as well as ballet, one of the early proponents of that kind of cross-training.

Thank you so much for posting this -- it is quite touching indeed.

ABT did a tape early on, alongside Ashton's Patineurs, with a narration by Paul Newman. Not available commerically, but probably at the Lincoln Center Library. Pacific Northwest Ballet did Billy in the 1990's, and (tangentially) did Fillling Station, quite briefly, in the late 70's.

The Joffrey is reviving this for next year.

I've often thought that one of the reasons that Giselle is such a succesful ballet is the centrality of dance to the characters and the plot.

Dale, Thanks, I CAN wait! I'd like to see this before deciding to buy the DVD. For my own taste I'm thinking that it's too bad the PNB production didn't get taped. Richard In the best of all possible worlds, they would both be available, so we could compare and contrast. signed, a very greedy girl

A friend saved this article out for me, and I recommend looking for it -- it has a great discussion of equity in male/female dancing roles in the romatic repertoire, and a very interesing analysis of dance as a metaphor in Giselle -- Mcaulay is an extremely thoughtful writer.

Several years ago I watched quite a lot of RAD classwork, and came away from it with the image of a nested Chinese ball, where a single piece of ivory is carved into a series of intricately pierced balls, each inside the next. The physical counterplay of epaulment is complex and subtle -- I've always thought it needed to be seen fairly close up to observe all the detail, though an ensemble working in unison can knock you out even from the nosebleed seats. Pacific Northwest Ballet just finished a series of performances of Jewels, and I was very struck by the epaulment in Emeralds, especially in the Verdy role as her arms constantly cross the centerline of her body, which creates incredible torque. Louise Nadeau was very, very effective in that role here.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/external...7C%206302804655 Nijinska choreography for the fairies, and Mickey Rooney as Puck -- quite amazing!

I love the Waterston "Much Ado," and it's available on DVD. (amazon.com has it.) It's available? What great news -- I love that one! Ian McKellan in Richard III -- set in a non-specific Fascist state. Very spooky, very effective. Someone mentioned the durability of Midsummer Night's Dream -- a local theater company here did it as a 1950's sock hop set in a high school gym and it worked like a charm.

Just the title is making me giggle! I know that the subject here is ballets which are intentionally funny, but you might want to consider the Trocks -- even though Go for Barocco is a parody of an existing work rather than cut from whole cloth, it is quite funny.