sandik

On 6/25/2021 at 2:19 PM, pherank said:

File this under Dance Writing, and Cartoons, in the Age of Instagram.

Alastair Macaulay often posts well-composed statements on his Instagram page. But I do wonder and worry that this is a terrible way of recording one's thoughts for posterity. People such as Maria Kochetkova have referred to their Instagram pages as a kind of public, digital diary. Is this an effective way to convey and retain information? Or is it all as confused and tenuous as it often seems?

https://www.instagram.com/p/CQIyFw5gFwt/

There are days I think that Alastair Macaulay doesn't sleep at all, since he regularly turns out hundreds of words a day on various subjects.  Since he's not writing for the NYT, he's increased his output everywhere else.  Much of this does end up on his website, though, so it's not quite as ephemeral as you might think, Instagram being what it is.

On 6/25/2021 at 11:08 AM, canbelto said:

I kind of think it's Corella rebranding the company. I could be wrong.

That was my first thought as well -- in general, people don't mess with names unless they have to, or think that it will really get them some new buy-in.  It could be that they felt they needed some kind of affirmation of the local connection as they emerge from pandemical restrictions, but I'm still kind of baffled by the change.

The company has announced that Irving is leaving the director position, and that former company member Peter Franc will be serving as an interim.   The press release doesn't say too much about the reasons for the change, but Irving said in an email to press and patrons that he was told to resign.  The company has managed to keep its head above water this last year, which is an accomplishment not everyone can claim, but I don't know what the financial costs have been.  This messy transition reminds me of the last time they changed directorship, putting former director Christopher Stowell in an untenable position until he resigned -- this kind of tension doesn't help anything.  Adding to the complications -- next season includes three works by Irving's partner Nicolo Fonte  (one of which is the program-length "Beautiful Decay").  Fonte has said that he remains in his resident choreographer position.

For those of us on the west coast, this just underlines the more methodical nature of the search for a new AD at San Francisco Ballet.

Wow -- this is really bad and sad.

Those of you who have been here on Ballet Alert since the very early days likely remember Jeff Salzberg -- like many of us who first met on rec.arts.dance and alt.arts.ballet, he migrated here after the web took some of the wind out of the sails of Usenet.  He kept migrating, and served for quite awhile as a mod at Critical Dance, but his funny and pointy commentary was part of the community here at the beginning. 

He was one of a crazy group of enthusiasts from all kinds of places, with expertise and opinions that were shared with enthusiasm and a little hubris sometimes.  As a lighting designer for dance and theater he certainly had the expertise, and his opinions were as firmly held as his aesthetics.  Back in the Usenet days, a commenter who felt under-appreciated complained that a group of us seemed to offer our opinions as facts, under the guise of truth.  Only his spelling was awry, and so we became the Guys of Truth.  We came from all kinds of places, geographically and intellectually, but we were happy to find our tribe online -- the Guys of Truth is still a subdirectory in my address book, but more importantly, it was a major part of my dance life for several years.

Most of us here now don't know each other in the "real" world, but this community is a kind of home where we share our excitement about dance.  Individuals will come and go, some to other enthusiasms, and some to the end of their lives -- I just wanted to mark the exit of one of my earliest virtual friends.  Sending love from me to everyone who loved him, and thanks to the dance world that introduced us all.

On 4/29/2021 at 5:02 PM, Helene said:

Those are wonderful photos!

Aren't they, though!  I've seen multiple images of Kain over her career, but less of Nault -- what a fantastic image!

Oh no -- this is awful news.  Like many of the people that we meet online, I never got to see her in person, but I was so impressed with her work in dance.  We exchanged emails every so often -- nothing earth-shaking, but just waving from one place to another "I see what you're doing and am so glad you're there."  Sorting through my inbox last week, I saw a couple things from her and realized we hadn't chatted in awhile.  And now we won't.

Sending love to all who knew her, in the here and now and in the virtual world.

Agree wholeheartedly -- this pandemical time has taken so many opportunities away from performers and audience alike, but archival screenings like this are a chance to see folks who have left the company one last time.

Ross moved into a new position with the company this year, as Director of Company Operations, and they've posted a tribute to his career online

Ironically, the latest issue of Dance Index is all about Soul Train, and includes several photos of the Lockers.

A local television station ran an interview with Ashton Edwards, who is in his first year as a PD student at PNB -- he expressed an interest in training on pointe, and has added that to his curriculum in the school.

2 hours ago, Helene said:

Couples aren't always compatible partners onstage, but Lindsi Dec and Karel Cruz were one of the best on-stage partnerships I've ever seen.

I agree -- she really helped to bring out his performance qualities, and he had the height to really support her, so she could dance freely.  It was a pleasure to see that develop.

On a cheerful note -- you can watch the company in excerpts from the 2018 Pillow performance as part of the  Pillow's virtual festival for free.

I just heard this morning -- I am so sorry.  The magazine is in the process of publishing its last issue, and he did not live to see it come out.  Sometimes the universe is pretty mean.

Like many of us here, I've been a subscriber for as long as I knew it existed.  Way back before the internet made it easy to talk with people who were elsewhere about dance, I would read something in BR and nod my head vigorously (or scratch it as I tried to understand something a bit beyond my experience) -- it was an intellectual companion on many trips to the theater.  Many thanks to Marvin H, and to the whole crew, for their unconscious contribution to my dance education.

Pacific Northwest Ballet has embarked on a series of discussions focusing on Black, Brown and LGBTQ members of the dance community -- here's their opening session.

On 6/14/2020 at 9:40 AM, Buddy said:

“Explanation: What are these humans doing? Dancing. Many humans on Earth exhibit periods of happiness, and one method of displaying happiness is dancing. Happiness and dancing transcend national boundaries and occur in practically every human society. Above, Matt Harding traveled through many nations on Earth, planned on dancing, and filmed the result. The featured video, one in a series of similar videos, is perhaps a dramatic example that humans from all over planet Earth feel a common bond as part of a single species. Happiness is frequently contagious -- few people are able to watch the featured video without smiling.”

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200614.html

 

 

 

Matt has made several of these videos, and they are all quite charming.

I hope you are still celebrating -- have a wonderful day, and then just keep having them!

On 6/17/2020 at 8:31 AM, California said:

City and state governments in the US are in desperate straits financially. Expect many more cuts in programs considered "expendable." The NEA/NEH funding is so miniscule, we hope they survive but they don't have the resources to bail out arts and higher education. 

We are going to see significant cuts all over the country, and likely the world.  Between the continuing ambiguity about what is "safe" and the miserable state of the economy, we are looking at austerity in all aspects of public life.

Welcome to the neighborhood -- I remember your mother as well, and I imagine she'd be tickled that you're here.

I used to teach dance history, and so if you've got questions about where to find information, this community will be happy to help.  But for right now, starting with Fonteyn will introduce you to all kinds of works and all sorts of artists.  She had a long career, knew so many people, and was "there" for an amazing amount of 20th c ballet.  Follow whatever strikes your fancy right now.

On 6/18/2020 at 5:11 PM, vipa said:

O

I'm sad, but not surprised that Nutcracker was cancelled. For one thing SAB has to be up and running in order to provide approximately 100 children, who probably start rehearsing in October. Just one of many, many unsolvable issues with a big production like that. So sad.

You've put your finger on a major element -- for NYCB, and honestly, for most productions in the US, a functional school is a requirement for Nutcracker.

This is making me so sad -- I have loved watching her develop during her time here.  She's shown me different aspects of roles I thought I knew pretty well, and inhabited so many parts with aplomb.  I'm grateful for the whole package, but if I had to pick something, it would be her appearance as Amour in Ratmansky's Don Quixote.  She was gracious in the way that we see in photographs from the late 19th century -- it was like she opened a little door to the originators of that ballet.

Honestly, with the exception of the original Spanish dance, don't you think all Boleros should be credited to Bejart?

When you have a moment, read Deborah Jowitt's tribute to Sally, and then read through the comments -- it's a litany of gratitude and glee.  We were lucky to have someone that made work so much fun, took the work seriously, and brought all the world to bear on her observations of such a slippery topic as dance.

All the writing is worth reading, but I'd like to give a little extra nudge for her contributions to Nelson George's "Fresh: Hip Hop Don't Stop" -- she was one of the first dance critics to seek out breakdancers and write about them as the phenomenal artists that they were and are. 

1 hour ago, bluejean said:

You're right: it's not surprising, but what heartbreak for the dancers and audiences alike.  I worry about layoffs in the company without that ticket revenue.

I think we're all worried -- I have a feeling that we'll see many organizations cancelling their Nut run, which will have all kinds of repercussions throughout the community.

3 hours ago, pherank said:

The later expansion and simplification of the stage area, and the addition of the danseur's solo in the middle of the ballet really changed the feel of the piece.

I think when the work was first made, the caller and the designs were a help for audience members who didn't feel really confident about ballet by itself.  A colleague of mine here in Seattle made a similar observation about a local choreographer who was working at a nightclub -- the audience thought they were there for the naughty bits, but they wound up seeing really significant choreography as well.

And I do love this male solo -- if I have to trade out all the hay bales for that solo, I'll take the deal.