sandik

While Taylor was a member of Martha Graham's company he performed in the joint Graham/Balanchine production of Episodes. Balanchine made a solo for him, descibed initially as "insect-like" -- it was dropped for a time after the Balanchine half of the work entered the regular NYCB repertory, but was rechoreographed/revived in the 1990's (can't remember the exact year and can't reach the right book at the moment)

From the press release PACIFIC NORTHWEST BALLET's 2005-2006 SEASON REP I: Director's Choice - September 22 - 24, 29 - 30 & October 1 - 2, 2005 3 PNB Premieres! Peter Boal's selection of works from three of the most important choreographers of the last 100 years. An introductory gift from PNB's new Artistic Director, Boal says "I want to give you a program to remember." A new addition to PNB's repertory, Symphony in Three Movements' jazz-flavored score by Igor Stravinsky is propelled by the driving energy of a large ensemble cast in a George Balanchine work described as raw, unleashed and dangerous. Another splendid addition from the famous collaborators, Duo Concertante features two dancers reflecting and responding to each other and to the solo violinist and pianist who join them onstage. The third PNB premiere in this mixed repertory performance features one of Jerome Robbins most celebrated works, In the Night - a series of intimate pas de deux set to three Frederic Chopin nocturnes for solo piano. Plus, a stunning William Forsythe masterpiece, Artifact II, returns to PNB with its powerful configurations that redefine ballet for the modern age. Pacific Northwest Ballet Opening Gala - Saturday, September 17, 2005 Sponsored by Citigroup Private Bank Join the PNB family for this unforgettable evening as we proudly introduce new Artistic Director Peter Boal and offer our audience a preview of the 2005-2006 Season with excerpts from several PNB premieres including Diamonds pas de deux (Tchaikovsky/Balanchine), Red Angels (Einhorn/Dove), Duo Concertante (Stravinsky/Balanchine) and Symphony in Three Movements (Stravinsky/Balanchine). Tickets for PNB's Gala preview performance are $60 per guest and include a champagne reception at intermission. Performance tickets paired with a post-performance party are $120 per guest. Details on additional Gala opportunities, including the post-performance dinner and party, will be offered this spring. Tickets go on sale March 28 and are available through the PNB Box Office at (206) 441-2424 or online at www.pnb.org. REP II: PNB Past, Present & Future - November 3 - 5 and 10 - 13, 2005 World Premiere! Four treasures of music and dance reveal the remarkable diversity of PNB and present a sweeping view of our past, present and future. Concerto Barocco, Balanchine's consummate visualization of Johann Sebastian Bach's "Double Violin Concerto" is impeccably staged by Francia Russell for the November repertory performance. Always a favorite, Jardi Tancat is Nacho Duato's signature work danced to haunting traditional Catalonian songs by Maria del Mar Bonet. Marco Goecke, one of today's most rapidly-rising young European choreographers, offers a thrilling glimpse of the future with a World Premiere, his first work for PNB. Kent Stowell's Hail to the Conquering Hero is a magisterial tribute to the baroque splendor of George Frideric Handel, featuring the Seattle Choral Company. NUTCRACKER - November 25 - December 28, 2005 PNB's Nutcracker has been bringing friends and family together for 22 years. The brilliant original collaboration between Kent Stowell and world-famous children's author-illustrator, Maurice Sendak - Nutcracker's magical storybook world becomes more cherished with each visit. Season subscribers receive priority seating. Single tickets for Nutcracker go on sale to subscribers on March 28, 2005 and to the general public on July 25, 2005. REP III: Valentine - February 2 - 4 and 9 - 12, 2006 All PNB Premieres! Fall in love with PNB all over again with our red-hot Valentine of new works. February's Valentine program is truly red-hot with four exciting PNB premieres. Ancient Airs and Dances, set to music by Ottorino Respighi, is choreographer Richard Tanner's great work that has been admired around the world. In it, Tanner's playful ensemble movements mirror the drama and joy of the familiar Respighi score with three powerful pas de deux. Richard Tanner was a member of New York City Ballet in the 1970s, began his career as a choreographer with two works for the Company in 1971 and premiered Ancient Airs and Dances in the Diamond Project series in 1992. Susan Marshall, praised by The New York Times as "one of the most significant choreographers working today," offers her riveting aerial duet, Kiss, set to music by Arvo P…rt. "The miracle of the piece is that it captures in concrete dance terms the almost palpable feeling of swimming in love, of being suspended in eternity..." (Oakland Tribune) Red Angels, Ulysses Dove's athletic work for four dancers is animated by an electric violin composition by Richard Einhorn. Nine Sinatra Songs, Tony-Award winning choreographer Twyla Tharp's wildly popular tribute to Frank Sinatra, features such recorded Sinatra favorites as "Strangers in the Night," "All the Way," "That's Life," "My Way" and "One for my Baby" with costuming by Oscar de la Renta and scenic design by Santo Loquasto. REP IV: Points of View - March 16 - 18 & 22 - 26, 2006 World Premiere! The artist's task is to reveal life as it has never before been seen. Two deeply thoughtful works from PNB's repertory and a world premiere offer unique points of view and lasting food for thought. In this poignant evening of dance PNB presents the return of Val Caniparoli's The Bridge, a moving portrayal of the tragic Bosnian War lovers known as the 'Romeo and Juliet of Sarajevo.' La Valse, George Balanchine's achingly beautiful portrait of societal decadence, staged for PNB by Francia Russell, unveils a ballroom gone mad where a white-gowned heroine is irresistibly drawn to the uninvited figure of Death. The always-provocative French-Canadian choreographer Dominique Dumais (Scripted in the Body, 2000) returns with a World Premiere created especially for PNB's brilliant and versatile dancers. REP V: The Sleeping Beauty - April 13 - 15 & 20 - 23, 2006 See PNB's next generation of stars take on milestone roles in this beloved full-length story ballet choreographed by the internationally admired Ronald Hynd. Set to a ravishingly beautiful score by Tchaikovsky, with lavish costumes and sumptuous sets by Peter Docherty, The Sleeping Beauty reflects the grand traditions of the Royal Ballet and pays homage to the genius of Petipa and Tchaikovsky. Good vs. evil, fairies that really fly and an array of superb classical roles promise performances to be remembered happily-ever-after. REP VI: Jewels - June 1 - 3 & 8 - 11, 2006 PNB Premiere! Diamonds aren't always forever ~ there are only 8 performances of Balanchine's intricately musical, technically formidable and stylistically stunning triptych during PNB's 2-week presentation of George Balanchine's Jewels. Never before performed by PNB, the great choreographer animates the characters of three precious gems for a full-length celebration of ballet's multi-faceted traditions featuring "Emeralds" set to music by Gabriel Faur/, "Rubies" with a score by Igor Stravinsky and "Diamonds" set to Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 3.

PNB recently announced two promotions for the 2005-06 season. Maria Chapman has been named a soloist and Jonathan Porretta will be a principal. They've both been having excellent seasons so far, and this must be very gratifying, especially since they are probably the last promotions under Francia Russell and Kent Stowell.

I know the moment you refer to -- I don't really think of it as grotesque, but it's very disctintive, in part because Ashton's physicality is usually less manipulative. I think the the Monotones are his most Nikolais-like works -- exploring the body almost without reference to ballet, and yet finding moments of pure classical technique

The Berkeley website has a webcast of this talk, which Rachel Howard mentions in her blog. http://webcast.berke...ml?event_id=180

I love all of David Macaulay's work, but this one is special -- I particularly love the gradual change in the archaeologists, so that when one of them decides to actually use the relics from the motel in a ritual, there's real tenderness in it.

You are not the only one who is nostalgic for the glory days of Dance in America, or before that, mixed bill shows like Bell Telephone Hour or Ed Sullivan, that included concert dance in the mix.

In the spirit of "once you see a typo, you're looking for them everywhere" Balanchine's name was misspelled in one of the news items on today's links page http://www.soundgenerator.com/news/index.cfm?articleid=5064 Towards the end -- "Balanhine"

An editor at a Seattle paper edited his San Francisco Examiner columns in the 1980's and talks about the relationship here http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/212...=1&searchdiff=1 My favorite part -- Thompson's comment on sitting down to battle with his editor "We are, after all, professionals."

Sandik, I think part of my problem with Markova's Giselle is that I was also seeing Alonso's at the time. I think your comment that Markova's feats didn't seem virtuosic so much as unearthly applies more to Alonso's performance. Markova's technique could be quite blurry. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Since I only know Markova's work from film, I'm more that willing to believe that in real life it was different. But in my limited viewing, her approach to the second act seems to be to sublimate the technical demands to an overarching characterization.

Or in the civilian world, accidentally adding the incorrect spelling into the spell check dictionary when prompted. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> In both of these cases (winch and wench, circumnavigating and circumventing) it's not a case of misspelling -- they are all real words, and so if you are depending on the spell check function to flag difficulties, you could miss these mistakes.

I've also only seen her on film, but have seen excerpts from her Giselle many times. For me, she has a great sense of self-possession in that role -- she seems set apart from the beginning, so that by the time we get to the second act with its great technical demands, they didn't seem virtuosic so much as unearthly.

Proofreading is a dicey proposition everywhere. I worked on a project in Seattle a few years ago to create a tourism brochure that promoted local arts organizations. The final copy was looked over by several people, none of whom noticed that Balanchine was spelled with two "l"s. But today's paper (Seattle Times) gave me the giggles. In a section called "Rant and Rave" (readers write and phone in their complaints and compliments) someone was lauding the two men who "used their wench" to pull her car out of a ditch. To make it even more perfect, it was on the same page as James Kilpatrick's syndicated column on language and usage. The subject today was poor proofreading, and the example he used was a description of Donald Rumsfeld "circumventing the globe." There are days when everything conspires to make you laugh.

from the Washington Blade interview (in the newslinks section on 2/18) "The story involves a central woman who has been forced by her domineering mother into accepting an engagement to a man she doesn’t love. The ballet is set at her engagement party (hence the gowns on the dancers) where the woman’s true love, a member of her staff, is working. " So it sounds like he's transposing "Lilac Garden" into "Rite of Spring?"

... As far as Segei Vikharev's "ballet archaeology" goes, I always interpreted his efforts as an exercise in going back to the source in order to show the choreographer's original intentions, how could it be called a return to imperial style with dancers throwing their legs to the ceiling? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I'd like to speak up for these kinds of reconstructions. I can't say anything first-hand about the Kirov's revivals -- I haven't seen them in performance yet, but I did see (and review) a reconstruction of Petipa's Jardin Anime last year for Pacific Northwest Ballet's school performance. It was on many levels a thrilling experience -- although none of us can say with total conviction that this is how it looked at the time of its premiere, there were so many indicators that we were seeing an earlier version of "classicism" -- an example of the style from a time closer to its creation. This is, perhaps, akin to the "original instruments" discussion in the early music world. Bach played on a contemporary piano or organ is not the same as Bach played on an instrument that replicates the sound (volume, dynamics, reponse, etc) of the composer's instrument, but can still be a fascinating and thrilling experience. I'm a greedy girl -- I want them all. The version on the pianoforte and the version on the Steinway -- the Sleeping Beauty from the 1890's, the one from the 1990's, and all the ones in between!

Or else you see the game as I do, the few times I've gone, as a huge piece of performance art, rather like what I think the Roman Circuses must have been like!

Thanks so much for the heads-up on this -- it is indeed a lovely performance of that variation. And I really liked the "woo-hoo" response at the end of the clip!

So, did they keep their overalls on when they started dancing again? I've had all kinds of odd dancing dreams -- for me they're usually stress-related, but I wouldn't want to speculate for you.

This is a good point about the balance of the fight -- it's often compounded by the scenic and costume elements in the ballet, so it's an extra battle for our attention. It would be interesting to see a Firebird set in a real forest, rather like the recent film of Midsummer Night's Dream with the fairies actually in the woods, but I'm afraid it would undercut the power of the bird herself, at least as a dancer on pointe.

Some miscellaneous thoughts (since Hockeyfan has done all the hard work!) I've seen the Stowell Firebird several times now, and although he's created a dynamic opening solo and pas de deux I think the changes he's made in the dramatic structure of the ballet don't really hold up. He's said that he wants to focus more attention on the relationship between the prince and princess, and his choreography for them is very sweet, but their desire for each other doesn't read dynamically enough to vanquish Kastchei -- that is still a job for the Firebird, but in this version she dispatches with him much earlier, leaving great swathes of the music without the dramatic action they were designed to support. The lullaby that sends the monsters all to sleep is superfluous here -- they’ve already been swept offstage with the sorcerer. The Firebird dances around contemplatively for awhile, the prince and princess go away and then return without any real motivation, and then finally the egg is flown in, rather like a pinata. The Firebird gives Ivan a sword (which she holds by the sharp side of the blade) and he strikes it, opening it up to resemble a 1960’s chandelier, and we’re back to the traditional structure as the wedding sequence starts. This is where Stowell runs up against the same trouble that every choreographer since Fokine has battled with. I know that acres of Petipa works finish with a “happy ending” act, but in the context of a program-length ballet, those acts become small works in themselves (just look at how excerptable something like Aurora’s Wedding is). In Firebird, the wedding tableau takes maybe 4-5 minutes, but they are extremely long minutes. There is nothing happening dramatically, there isn’t anything much happening choreographically, and so the only solution is scenic -- bring on the set changes and the costume parade. Geoffrey Holder’s version for Dance Theater of Harlem even brings back the Firebird, literally flying above the wedding party. But no matter how lavish (PNB’s production is quite stunning), it can’t really cover for the fact that nothing is happening, and it’s not happening for a long time. The music is too beautiful (and too integral to the score) to cut -- like the ascending trill at the finish of Sacre, Stravinsky has created a weak ending to a dynamic score. Nakamura does do a good job with this role -- she’s very skilled at modulating her energy, but I was impressed with Carrie Imler’s performance. She seemed very freshly coached -- all the details were polished up. She was especially good with the eccentric rhythms of the opening solo and the sharpness of some of the changes in direction. I felt she made the different stages of the pas de deux (awareness of the prince, capture, struggle and the resolution of struggle...) very clear -- in some of the twistier sections of the partnering she reminded me of pictures of Karsavina. I agree with Hockeyfan -- it’s great to see an Apollo with a birth at the beginning and an ascention at the end. I love the finish on the stairs and I’m grateful to Francia Russell for holding on to it. I wound up comparing Stanko Milov’s performance to Elvis in a review. When he was doing the wind-up strumming of his lute towards the beginning of his first big solo it reminded me of films of Presley playing “Houndog,” and from there the images just kept piling up -- all those twisting hips just kept reinforcing the idea. Patricia Barker was a serene queen as Terpsichore, so the Milov seemed more impulsive even towards the end of the ballet, but by the final walk-around, after the sunburst, he was certainly godlike enough. Tetley’s Rite of Spring is a grueling ballet -- I’ve seen other works that are equally punishing for their casts, but usually in companies that train for that kind of painful endurance -- this seemed extreme for PNB. I saw Jonathan Porretta twice in the sacrificial role and he seems to have turned a corner with this ballet. Although he is an ingratiating performer with great reserves of energy, he sometimes pitches his interpretation too high -- a bit of the kinetic equivalent of scenery chewing. But here he really has put himself in service to the work, which is to say that he dances himself to death, and is then resurrected. The audience around me was gasping in sympathy.

I cannot remember where I heard this, but I've been told that Tudor saw the Jooss company before he left England, and that the work made a strong impression on him, which might account for your seeing that influence here.

I love this ballet -- I think it is such a wonderful example of the way that ballet technique can illuminated character and convey emotion. The sequence in the fourth song where the soloist releves in second position and then torques to fourth makes me choke up every time. Pacific Northwest Ballet has this in its repertory, but hasn't performed it (or Lilac Garden for that matter) for several years.

Well, full casting for this week has been posted, and Casey Herd is out of Apollo, I imagine in part because he's doing almost every performance of Rite of Spring, which is exhausting. Apollo is alternating between Stanton and Milov, just like the first week.

Cunningham was an excellent jumper, especially from standing. He originated the roles of the Preacher in Graham's "Appalachian Spring" and March in "A Letter to the World" -- they both require a strong jumper.

Estelle, many thanks for the clarification -- I'm embarrased by my poor language skills. Back to the question at hand... Cohen's "Next Week Swan Lake" would indeed be a good addition to your collection. You might also look for Marcia Siegel's "The Shapes of Change," which has some very interesting analysis of Balanchine's work, and Deborah Jowitt's "Time and the Dancing Image," which takes a more historical perspective. And tangentially, I sometimes mail books to myself when I'm travel -- it gets them home and you don't have to haul another heavy suitcase.