sandik

<{POST_SNAPBACK}> Ouch! Copeland worked on this book for many years, and I was so glad to see it finally come out. He's very knowledgeable about C'ham, certainly worth reading.

http://www.dancing-times.co.uk/html.pages/...d_frameset.html Doesn't have the article on the site, but you can contact them from this site and enquire about back issues.

I don't know with certainty in the case, but this could be the decision of the publication, not the author. Some publications have a standard policy of running work anonymously.

I cannot find it on AddALL, which is an excellent used book site. http://www.addall.com My best suggestion right now is to write to SDHS and ask them to forward a request to their members -- perhaps someone has a copy they no longer need. sdhs@primemanagement.net Members get a copy of the "book of the year" as part of their member benefits. The Society does sell books (or the publisher they collaborate with does), but it's not a big press run.

I recommend this film highly -- it is indeed a cobbled together version, with cast members changing (in mid-phrase, sometimes!) and the sound is not dead-on, but it is a fascinating picture of what the ballet looked like on stage at that time. Gaite was an incredibly influential ballet, it was the image of "what ballet is" for thousands of people, and seeing it helps put that mid-20th century period in context.

So what is actually going on here? It sounds like, for the most part, Fredmann has done a good job with the company -- is the board unhappy with his work, do they have another choice in the wings, are they uncomfortable about money, are they clueless?

I'm sorry to hear it -- she's done excellent work with the collection.

Thanks so much for the clarification -- I've never had the chance to see Forsythe's work on it's home company, and I understand there's a great deal of difference between that and the "works for export." I wish my budget stretched to a trip to San Francisco!

I'm not clear -- what is the difference between Artifact II (which Pacific Northwest Ballet just danced) and Artifact Suite?

This is part of the dilemma, I think. Petipa made 70+ ballets and today we have fewer than 10. Part of that attrition comes from the difficulties of maintaining a living repertory, but part is just Darwinian winnowing -- stronger works lasting longer. As much as I love the Balanchine rep, NYCB needs to find or create new works as well as restage old ones. Even if every choreographer they work with is the equivalent of Balanchine or Petipa, there will be a significant percentage of duds among those new works. And yet, to get the good ones, we have to see the rest as well. It frustrates all of us to come to the theater and watch ballets that, no matter the good intentions of all the participants, just aren't going to make it, but without that process, nothing happens. Programming for a major ballet company has to take this into account, though it is only part of the dynamic. I find it very curious that opening night for the company doesn't include a Balanchine, I agree that it sends the wrong signal about the organization, but I can sympathise with the people who are trying to look ahead -- in a funny way, it's alot like farming. You need to think about the next season while you're in the middle of this one.

Think of all the backissues of National Geographic that could be recycled!

Sitting here at the end of September it feels like March is a long time from now, but I'm sure the choreographers don't share that opinion! Thanks for the heads-up on the program -- it looks packed.

"Was Barker cast in Brahms/Schoenberg when Russell first staged it for the Company?" I don't know -- that was in 85, and I didn't see that staging.

I've been thinking about her work last year with Milov, who did such an exuberant Apollo to her patrician Terpsichore, and wondering about the transition to this ballet. They did excellent work in that last year, but Diamonds did seem a bit forced here.

Oh dear -- I didn't mean for you to do my homework for me!

Like Helene, I was struck by the differences between Barker's performance of Diamonds and others I've seen, and it made me wonder how much of Barker's Balanchine repertory was originally choreographed for Farrell. Off the top of my head, there's Chaconne -- for the rest, I will have to do a little reading...

"using classical music as ballet music" As did Isadora Duncan for modern dancers. (like the "built-in sneer!")

I like "Other Dances," and think it's a beautiful glossary of Baryshnikov and Makarova's Russian-ness, but I have much the same response to it that I read once about "Once Again, Frank" (the duet that Twyla tharp made for herself and Baryshnikov) -- that it's performed very close in, more for the dancers than the audience.

http://www.pnb.org/season/dc-casting.html Mostly A and B casts, with some tinkering.

Or Buster Keaton. A local theater has been screening a Keaton series, and I saw a couple -- an amazing physical actor!

I'm fine with nudity depending on the context -- if it's presented in a cohesive way I don't have any objection. Though I'm reminded of a comment by (I think it was) Deborah Jowitt, in a review of Nederlands Dance Theater several years ago, that you really cannot choreograph for a penis.

"Long, leisurely search" That's an understatement! Now if the San Francisco paper would hire a regular dance critic...

NYPL at Lincoln Center has two different areas with dance media. There is a section with tapes and DVDs that circulate with a regular library card, they are the kind of thing that you could purchase yourself from various distributors. Upstairs in the research section is the meat of the libraries archival collection -- these are for the most part work that is not commerically available, and is most often used by dancers, choreographers, scholars and journalists. These do not circulate -- you hand a slip to the librarian, and are assigned a viewing carrel. Since their grand remodeling several years ago the actual tape/disc/whatever is handled behind the scenes, it used to be that you sat there in a booth while a library page cued up your tape for you. (it also used to be that you had to make an appointment in advance since they only had a handful of monitors -- it is so much better now). Some of this material is available to whomever would like to watch it, but some is indeed "closed" or on limited access. Part of that has to do with copyright and fair use, but part is about the artist controlling their materials. Most "house tapes" (ongoing tapes of performances) require permission -- different companies have different policies about that, but there is a wealth of material that is available freely, especially old kinescopes of educational television programming. I always try to spend a couple of days there whenever I'm in New York, filling in whatever gaps make me the most cranky in my dance education, but it's never often enough.

I'm curious about the event -- it's not listed on the theater's website. Do you know what they're doing, and how long they'll be in the area?

It pains me to disagree, Leigh, but Sara Lee hasn't been the same since they stopped making those brownies that could knock you right out. And you know I'm one of those people who loves Morris' work, but there it is.