sandik

"Herd -- another tall Apollo!" Maybe they only have the costume in the "tall" size...

Part of the second week has been posted as well http://www.pnb.org/season/stravinsky-casting.html with Casey Herd dancing both performances of Apollo.

Without knowing exactly what you mean by "reflections" on ballet, I'm not sure what to recommend, but since you ask about the Cohen... Selma Jeanne Cohen is an excellent writer, able to make specific philosophical questions understandable to a general audience without either speaking down to the reader or trivializing the ideas. This particular anthology brings us some of the classic dance aesthetic questions (how does dance communicate? what makes a dance specific? how do we recognize a dance) discusses them very thoughtfully. I highly recommend it!

I saw a chunk of an interview he did with Charlie Rose (rebroadcast after his death) where they discuss this pretty thoroughly, and Johnson seemed very chagrined about his past infatuation with fascism.

Back when I was teaching I choreographed most of a ballet to Mozart (Eine Kleine) while riding the Greyhound bus from San Francisco to Seattle. Amazingly enough, when I went to rehearsal to set it later in the week, almost all of it worked out without needing adjustment, which hadn't happened to me before or since. I've always thought it was the score -- it's so very danceable.

I reviewed it some weeks ago for Danceview Times, Sandik: A tribute to Diaghilev... <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I missed this one (scampers off to read)

thanks so much for the web link, though I must admit it still stuns me that I can listen to the radio on my computer...

There have been several productions (Dance Theater of Harlem off the top of my head) where the Firebird reappears (and in the DTH version she's hoisted up above the crowds, so there's even a special effect!), but it still seems so anti-climactic, especially after all that's gone before. I don't know much about the Dutch NB production -- someone please do describe, or point us in the direction of some information!

Do you know if this is simulcast on a website, for those of us not in New York?

This (and the fact that Pacific Northwest Ballet is doing Kent Stowell's version of the ballet next week) reminded me of something I'd love to see people discuss. I've always felt that Firebird, in whatever manifestation, had a fundamental problem at the end of the ballet, finishing as it does with a fairly sedate processional and often a lenthy pose (like a photo opportunity). I love that part of the score, and I suppose I could just listen with my eyes shut (or think of it as a costume parade), but it's so non-kinetic, after such varied activity, that it just seems to wither away. I know that on one level it's the score that dictates this ending, but it just doesn't seem successful. Am I hallucinating, or does anyone else have the same feeling?

I imagine that Dance/USA might have some statistics like these, but I cn offer a quick and dirty look at Pacific Northwest Ballet's commissioning during Kent Stowell and Francia Russell's directorship. Altogether they've commissioned around 46 new ballets from 33 choreographers. (this does not count the works that Stowell has made for the company, and the pre-existing works they've had staged). Of those, a fast breakdown: 18 choreographers who would easily be identified as "ballet" -- 23 ballets 7 choreographers who would easily be identified as "modern" -- 12 ballets 8 choreographers who work in a variety of setting (you could id them as "crossover" artists") -- 11 ballets And, for those who like details, 10 of those artists were asked back to make another work (doesn't count choreographers who might have staged and existing work and made a new one) There are two choreographers who have made three works each, one "ballet" (Val Caniparoli) and one "modern (Mark Dendy) You can twist numbers in many directions, but just in terms of bulk, the majority of new works at PNB have been by people whose artistic heritage is in the ballet world.

I most certainly do know Maurice Seymour, or at least know his work. Although there are excellent photographers working today, who are able to take performance images that capture the dynamics of the moment without becoming too high-contrast or blurry to reproduce well on newsprint, it seems that fewer artists have the money or the time to invest in good studio photos. When people ask me what I'm talking about, I often show them work by Seymour, with his beautiful palette of gray tones.

Especially since he's doing three performances of the Tetley "Rite of Spring."

is up on the PNB website, at least for the first week. http://www.pnb.org/season/stravinsky-casting.html Only two Apollos/Terpsichores, alternating performances, which seems unusual for this company -- they often field much larger casts, with more time between shows. It's a difficult balancing act -- you want to give the dancers the chance to dig into the part, which means repetition, but you've also got to bring along as many people as you can, which often means trading multiple performances for more variety.

Art direction -- Lemony Snicket. They made a believable, and yet totally wonky world.

This is from Marcia Siegel's review of Tharp's Deuce Coupe, which Goodman was in the first cast of... "To establish her dance idea, Tharp puts a serene Erika Goodman among the swirls of the other dancers, methodically performing the steps in the ballet dictionary, in alphabetical order. Every once in a while you notice her get caught up in the gushing energy of the mobs. She wavers, hops inelegantly and rhythmically on pointe, or her shoulders start to wiggle. But she sticks to her principals, and you don't resent her for it." She looked to me like the center of a storm, or a true believer following her faith.

Graham herself referred to her works as ballets, later in her career. I think this was in part to emphasize the extensive training of the dancers, and the integrity of the works.

I would have quoted Amy's entire post, except that takes up too much space, but I think she poses several very interesting questions, most of which are central to any discussion of theatrical dance in the 20th, now 21st century. I don't really want to discuss John Rockwell's pov here, but rather this issue of categories, and what they do and don't capture about dancing. Several years ago I wound up writing an entry for the International Dictionary of Modern Dance about the influence of MD on ballet -- no big revelations, but just the observation that people had been quietly working back and forth for many years before the big surge in "crossover" work, that the policies of arts funding agencies in the 80's-onward tended to encourage ballet directors to look beyond the "usual" sources for new choreography, that choreographer development programs like Carlisle and Pacific Northwest Ballet's Off-Stage were trying on one level to emulate the emphasis on dance making that exists in most modern dance curricula, and that these things were happening at the same time that the ballet world lost most of its long-term classically influenced choreographers. I think we should move this discussion out of this thread on J Rockwell's initial work as the Time's chief dance critic, but I'd love to pursue it further. Could I prevail on one of the board moderators to do the linking -- I don't know how and don't have the time to experiment right now.

I looked it up after I posted (yes I know I could have done that first) and it is indeed performed by two dancers in harnesses -- the Lilac Fairy in PNB's production of Sleeping Beauty flys as well, so perhaps they will get a volume discount from Flying by Foy for the season... Tangentially, Seattle has had several aerial choreographers, including Robert Davidson's Airborne Meister Eckart, a stunningly beautiful work about the German mystic from the 1980's.

*PNB Premiere **Full 2005-06 Season TBA February 2005 I agree -- Jewels will make many, many people very. very happy. Some other interesting choices -- I'm even more curious to see the whole line-up. And, maybe I'm hallucinating, but isn't Kiss the aerial dance?

(In the interests of full disclosure -- I've served on the board of the Dance Critics Association, and am still on the scholarship committee) Deadline for Gary Parks Scholarship is Feb. 1 New award for experienced writers added The Dance Critics Association scholarship committee is now accepting applications for the Gary Parks Scholarship. Applications must be postmarked by February 1, 2005. The Gary Parks Scholarship, founded in 2000 to honor the memory of Gary Parks, a longtime DCA member, dancer, critic and editor, was established to help writers pay for travel and lodging at the annual DCA conference. Scholarship recipients receive $500, free registration to the conference, and a year’s membership to DCA. This year’s DCA conference will be held May 25-28 in Los Angeles, California as part of the National Critics Conference. Two emerging writers will be chosen for the Gary Parks scholarship based on the quality of their writing and their interest in the field. An additional scholarship will be awarded this year to one experienced writer. Emerging writers are defined as those who have three years or less of experience as a published dance critic. All applicants must submit a letter of application and at least three clips of reviews they have written. The two recipients of the emerging writers award will be selected based on the quality of their work and their apparent potential. The recipient of the experienced writer award will be selected at random from a qualified pool of applicants in a blind drawing. All three scholarship recipients will be asked to write about the conference for the DCA newsletter and Web site. The two emerging writers will be required to participate in Elizabeth Zimmer’s Kamikaze writing workshop at the conference as well as attend DCA conference sessions. The winner of the award for experienced writers will be required to help cover the conference for the DCA newsletter, but participation in the Kamikaze writing workshop is optional. Interested applicants should submit three reviews (published or unpublished) and a letter explaining which scholarship they are applying for – emerging or experienced – and why, to: Ms. Rita Felciano Gary Parks Scholarship Committee 1326 Masonic Avenue San Francisco, CA 94117 All applications must be postmarked by February 1, 2005. Recipients will be notified by March 15, 2005 following a selection process by the committee (Clare Croft, Rita Felciano, George Jackson, Sandi Kurtz, K.C. Patrick, Christie Taylor). If you have friends or colleagues who you think would be interested in this program, please pass this information along to them.

I thought it was because they were given limes as a way to ward off scurvy.

I want to add my voice to the chorus here -- this board has evolved into a lively and provocative place to discuss ballet, and I'm grateful to her and her colleagues for fostering that process. I noticed that Alexandra's message announcing this transition was her 10,236th posting. Although she often has many interesting and enlightening things to contribute to these conversations, I know that many of those postings were about "how to use this board," "welcome to the community," "I've moved your post to a more appropriate section of the website," and on and on -- the bottom line housekeeping of webmistressing. So, although I appreciate her intelligence and style, I want to thank her for her willingness to do miles and miles of grunt work -- without it, we would not be here. I appreciate your decision to step lightly for a while, but don't go too far!

ABT has, like other companies, toured under the auspices of the USAID, as a representative of the US (Agnes deMille accompanied them to Russia in (I think it was) the 60's -- there is an interesting issue of Dance Perspectives that included excerpts from her diaries during the trip) -- I don't think this is what made them add "American" to their name (as Ballet Society became New York City Ballet with their tenure at City Center), but it's a part of their history. Naima Prevots' "Dance for Export" is a very readable history of the governemnt support of touring dance companies as cultural representatives in the 1950's.

Those are stunning photographs -- your comment that he's a candidate for the "swagger" portrait is right on target. Thinking about the current aesthetic in dance photography for the unposed shot and how different it is from these composed pictures. Yikes.