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DEMCAD

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  • Connection to/interest in ballet** (Please describe. Examples: fan, teacher, dancer, writer, avid balletgoer)
    Fan
  • City**
    Flint
  • State (US only)**, Country (Outside US only)**
    MI
  1. American soccer is dominated by whites and it's not referred to as elitism. So is figure skating, hockey, Irish dance, curling and many other sports dominated by whites. People refer to the culture of ballet as being elitist for a reason. We can't ignore that.
  2. The matter of producing DVDs is still closely tied to the issue of television broadcasts. To date the POB and the RB haven't issued any recent performances that weren't taped for television first. As long as PBS limits itself to a single ballet broadcast per year, which will be the San Francisco Ballet this Christmas, you won't get more than a single DVD out of the bargain. And to further complicate things, PBS often relies on foreign broadcasters to help do its work, hence Jewels from the Paris Opera aired under the "Dance in America" banner. The "Dance in America" series also showcases other forms on dance, leading to a very paltry presence for ballet. DEMCAD may not like my opinion, but relatively speaking I think that ABT is overrepresented on PBS. When was the last time you saw PNB, Miami City Ballet, Houston Ballet or Boston Ballet on "Great Performances"? It's supposed to be "Dance in America," not "Dance in New York." The fact that PBS tapes ABT performances in D.C. or Costa Mesa is a cosmetic fudge. The Metropolitan Opera managed to circumvent the problem of reduced PBS broadcasts by going directly into movie theatres. I don't know who pays the production costs of those simulcasts, but PBS has certainly been happy to air the programs subsequently. Strangely enough, there are now more Met broadcasts on PBS than ever before, and these broadcasts are making their way to DVD. Potentially, ballet companies could do the same. Unfortunately, the Met broadcasts have been so successful, that no one else can elbow their way in. Between the live broadcasts and their repeat showings, most weekends are already booked. Still, the fact that ABT's Met season starts after the opera season's finished creates a window of opportunity, if movie theatres could be convinced that there's an audience for ballet out there, and I'm not sure that's the case. For two seasons now, primarily during the Met's hiatus, one of the movie chains in Canada has been showing opera and ballet performances from the Opus Arte catalogue of (mostly) future releases, predominantly from the Royal Opera in London. What's telling is that while the opera screenings are shown on both Saturdays and Sundays, the ballet screenings show on Saturdays only, suggesting that their audience is smaller. Given that track record, I don't know that movie theatres would be willing to take a chance on live ABT broadcasts from the Met, much less live NYCB broadcasts from the State Theater or any other American ballet company. Hey, I prefer ABT, but I'll take Pacific Northwest, Houston Ballet, Miami Ballet and New York City Ballet, too. I'll take whatever I can get. But give me something. Classical. Modern. Anything.
  3. As a fan of ballet, I'm shocked by how few ballet performances are on DV and Blu-ray. With amazing performances from dancers such as Gillian Murphy, Ethan Steifel, Julie Kent, Marcelo Gomes, and Veronika Part, why can't we have more performances on DVD and Blu-ray. I was born in 1981, but thanks to DVD technology, I am able to enjoy the amazing performances of Vivien Leigh and Audrey Hepburn. So why aren't there more (recent) ballet performances on DVD?
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