sandik

I haven't seen the Stevenson Dracula, but I did see James Canfield's version of the story (Lady Lucille and the Count), which I didn't think was particularly successful, but I will say that I can imagine a version that would work. Although the novel would, I think, have to be edited in some significant ways, the characters are distinct enough and the main story is broad enough (with enough believeable movement metaphors) to give a choreographer a good framework. The story does have a certain camp value right now that it didn't carry earlier in the 20th c when most of the good film adaptations were made, but as recently as Klaus Kinski in Nosferatu I was thoroughly spooked, so I think the idea still has genuine power.

Thanks Doug -- I couldn't remember the family history of these productions and was too lazy to look it up at the moment! And excellent point about owning versus renting -- I guess in this way ballet is like home ownership...

Will the presenter try and find another dance offering for that time (I seem to remember Pacific Northwest Ballet filled in for SFB at Stern Grove one year) -- although it's too bad you won't see 'your' company, it would be a bigger shame to lose that opportunity for dance altogether.

I wanted to add my thanks to Alexandra's for all the descriptions here -- Beriosova is someone I've always been curious about, but have never seen, and I'm grateful for the chance to hear more about her.

I'll add a 'yes' to all the thoughtful discussions of why and how companies decide what to program -- it is indeed a complex issue, and as much driven by the dynamics of a particular audience as it is by aesthetic or financial considerations. As a critic, I frequently get a chance to see multiple casts during a single run, but like everyone, I love to see how artists develop in a role over time, which usually means longer than the couple of weekends my local company has any one program up. And like everyone, if it's a ballet I like, I'm thrilled to see it return quickly, while if it's something I'm not so fond of I spend a chunk of time thinking "but they could be doing 'fill in the blank'." In dance we have such a tradition of new work that it's harder to find chances to see older productions -- many times it just seems easier to make something fresh rather than gather together all the elements to bring something else back. I'm always heartened to see revivals and restagings of older work, as well as to see something that I consider a "signature" of a certain company (I used to feel this way about Serenade at NYCB, some of the earlier Arpino's and Green Table for Joffrey, Sylphides for ABT, though I haven't seen them in it for quite some time.) [As far as sharing productions is concerned, I know that one of the reasons the ballet was glad to see the local opera house remodeled was that the size and proportion of the proscenium arch would be changed to conform with more standard theaters, which would mean they could buy and borrow other productions more easily. I think there's a bit more buying than borrowing in general (perhaps having to do with costume fitting) -- PNB's production of Merry Widow came from somewhere else, as did their Sleeping Beauty. And their old version of Swan Lake is going to Oregon Ballet Theater now that they have a new production designed by Ming Cho Lee.]

Casting is up for the first week of the American Choreographers program http://www.pnb.org/season/american-casting.html Jeffrey Stanton is getting a turn as the Othello charater in Moor's Pavan, but in general there's not as much alternation between roles as the company has had in the past.

I'm afraid so -- in some cases because of union regulations, and in other cases because of the individual agreements between the library and the artist or the artist's estate. It's certainly a frustration for those of us working far from NYC, but the commonly accepted justification is that the collection would be significantly smaller if it only held works that it could circulate.

The clips are fascinating, in part because they take two different movement phrases (one from ballet and one from capoeira) that have very similar biomechanics, but one is initiated primarily from the upper body and one from the lower body, and the results are quite different. Thanks so much for posting this link!

Until the middle of the 20th century, most government support for the performing arts came through capital improvements -- building theaters and concert halls, rather than supporting the creation of the art performed in them. Starting with some of the international tours in the 50's, sponsored by the USAID, very tentative steps were taken to support dance (and other performing arts), but the real momentum came with the establishing of the NEA, along with state, regional and municipal agencies that funnelled public money directly to performing artists and their companies. It's been a rocky process (especially after the content controversies in the 1980's), but there's really only been 50 years of history so far -- perhaps we will get better at this with time. (that's me, the optimistic one.)

Oh dear. As a critic, I would like to speak up for my colleagues. While I know that some people are disappointed in the current state of ballet, and express that opinion often, I don't really think of them as engaged in a search for the obsolete. They may wish that certain works were still in active repertories, or that certain performance styles were still prevalent, but these desires come mostly from the knowledge that works not performed are lost -- that stylistic practices influence the guts of the performance. Critics are not all conservative by nature, but most are sympathetic to conservators -- those who work to retain the art already made. We've all heard myriad variations on the "dance is an ephemeral art form" theme (I confess I have committed some of them myself), but it's no less true for being hackneyed. I know I'm always interested in seeing something done new, but I'm less excited about it if it supplants or replaces older work. I'm a greedy girl -- I want all of it, and many of my colleagues feel the same way.

He hadn't crossed my mind, but I agree -- he would be quite something.

One way of looking at this might perhaps be in a longer term. In the same way that a director might program a program-length classic like Sleeping Beauty or Swan Lake, realizing that the first set of performances might fall short of their ultimate desires, but that with time and repetition the quality will rise. I didn't see the performances that distressed you, and can't say how far short of the mark they fell, but here in Seattle where we've had the good luck to see quite alot of Balanchine, well staged, there is still a learning curve. Lik everywhere, performers are better with repetition, and grow in the role. Perhaps I'm being unrealistic, but I'd rather see a flawed production of Ballo than none at all.

You've got almost all of them. Here they are, clockwise: Tanaquil LeClercq George Balanchine Maria Tallchief Melissa Hayden Frederick Ashton Diana Adams Janet Reed Jerome Robbins Antony Tudor Nora Kaye It's a fascinating photo -- they're all around the piano, but LeClercq, Balanchine and Tallchief are sitting on the bench. Balanchine is looking at LeClercq, Tallchief is looking at Balanchine, and eveyone else is looking at the three of them. Yikes.

Oh, thank you for making that link to the Marks interview -- it's a fascinating read and full of material for this topic. I've talked about this in other contexts before, since it's a favorite topic of mine, but I think part of the difficulty that some people perceive in fusion works is that they are frequently scheduled to satisfy the dance audience's ongoing desire for "new work". Theater, classical music, and opera all seem far less dependent on the creation of multiple premieres, but dance is joined at the hip to the idea of new. I know that many people have mixed feelings about John Rockwell's work at the NYT, but I did appreciate his comments about revivals, in a recent essay after watching the Boston, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Joffrey companies. He holds up the idea of looking to the past, looking to older repertory, as an integral part of dance programming. I am not saying that I dislike fusion work -- as with most categories in dance, I've liked some of what I've seen and disliked other things. I just worry that, if this becomes the default style for all new work, that the balance of the repertory (as in Alexandra's comment about a tipping point) will be too skewed.

I usually will give the benefit of the doubt to someone who cringes convincingly when their phone goes off, but only if they turn it off without answering it first. And yes, the instant messaging during the performance is pretty distracting -- like ship to ship semaphore. In Seattle, most theaters remind people to turn off their phones, pagers, alarm watches etc before the show -- either someone live comes out to speak, or it's the disembodied voice over the PA system.

I cruised around the site a bit and to my surprise, found a chunk of The Cage in a video clip for Nathalie Caris.

I was wondering if it was Forsythe -- many thanks!

This is my sense as well, and it extends to some of his artistic descendents, like Nacho Duato. To my eye, they're reminiscent of choreographers like Glen Tetley.

The second week is up as well, and not only is Paul Gibson returning, but so is Timothy Lynch, in the same role.

It is indeed quite something -- do you happen to know the work that she's dancing in the first half of the tape (in the chartreuse tutu)?

Damn you all -- I remember all these songs, and they are now playing simultaneously in my head! I'm going to have to apply my last-ditch remedy for such earworms: "Flintstones, meet the Flintstones. They're a modern stone-age family..."

Stairway. Absolutely the stairway.

When members of the Martha Graham company recreated her Steps in the Street, they used the same Wallingford Rieger score from Doris Humphrey's Variations and Conclusions to New Dance.

I'm conflicted. Monotones (one and two!), Scenes de Ballet, or Symphonic Variations. I can't decide... Looking at this, I realize that none of these are narrative. Hmmm.

The list for the first week is up at http://www.pnb.org/season/merrywidow-casting.html It looks like Paul Gibson is returning for at least a couple of performances to reprise his performance of Njegus.