Farrell Fan

After years of reading nothing but complaints and putdowns about Diamond Project ballets, it's refreshing to know that this year the tide has turned. Thanks to drb for being the first Ballet Talker to point that out.

You mean there are some idiots who don't appreciate La Masina? Sorry, couldn't resist. I've found that people who know only the later Fellini profess disappointment on seeing "La Strada." I've always loved it.

John Rockwell was for many years the rock music critic of the Times, which gave his name appropriate resonance. After a while, he also reviewed classical music, and then he became the guiding force of the Lincoln Center Festival. I was not among those who were bothered by his appointment as chief dance critic. I thought it would bring a fresh viewpoint, that of an intelligent audience member rather than a dance scholar, to the Times, and, equally important, livelier writing . For the most part this has been the case, except of course when he irritates me.

To the best of my recollection, this is the first time in some years that the Workshop has been reviewed by the Times's chief dance critic. So that's good, given the importance of the occasion. Mr. Rockwell was right to say that it's hard "to dole out adjectives and adverbs to young dancers who have worked on their art for years." But that didn't stop him from doing just that: "stiff and deadpan," "pasted-on smiles," "blandly." And you don't have to be a dance critic, chief or otherwise, to notice that "To judge by these dancers, boys in their late teans mature later than the girls." He also says, "Monday night was a gala, and so it was perhaps not surprising that the casting was stronger." I AM surprised at such a statement, and think that in the future, all three workshop performances, not just two, should be reviewed.

On another currently active thread, the one about Ben Huys, Ib Andersen is quoted as calling "Apollo" a perfect ballet. That's my choice too, but it requires an asterisk, since Balanchine apparently regarded it as so imperfect that he truncated it, even losing some Stravinsky music in the process. With profoumd apologies to Mr. B, I prefer the original version, although the shorter one is also perfect.

As someone who loves both baseball and ballet, I very much appreciated your observation, Kanawha. Thanks.

Yes, David Prottas was outstanding in Square Dance tonight. Overall, I thought it was the best performance of that ballet since the year Albert Evans was in it. I enjoyed Bourree Fantasque enormously and wish it would join the NYCB repertory. I loved Sarah Williams and Matt Renko in the first section, although it's unfair to single out anyone. As usual, the SAB kids outdid themselves. I can't decide whether Scenes de Ballet looks better at the New York State Theater or at the Juilliard Theater. Oops, I mean the Peter Jay Sharp Theater, of course.

I asked about "quotidian" because it seemed to me like a definite putdown. Putting her remark into the context of other, nicer things she says about Whelan just confuses me more. Jacobs sounds like a latter-day William F. Buckley, using a ten-dollar word to dazzle the reader and obfuscate the issue, rather than simply writing what she means.

Perhaps the Gran Vestale is a Vestal extra-Virgin. I'm glad to make the belated acquaintance of a fellow Italian-American, Richard.

The best-known of several operas called "La Vestale" is by Spontini (1807). The vestal virgin Giulia is distracted by her love for the general Licinio and allows the sacred flame to go out. She is about to be buried alive for her sacrilege, when the flame is miraculously rekindled.

Quotidian? Is that an insult?

The parade of guest conductors continued apace on Tuesday night with David Briskin and Faycal Karoui. Briskin was a known quantity and did a fine job with Concerto Barocco, Duo Concertant, and Scenes de Ballet. The revelation for me was Mr. Karoui, who led John Adams's highly propulsive score for Fearful Symmetries. I'd seen this Peter Martins ballet perhaps half-a-dozen times, conducted by Andrea Quinn, and had always been swept up in its driving energy and momentum. This time was different. Although by no means slow, the music, heretofore always breathless, seemed to have room to breathe, as that saying goes. As a result, I noticed things in the music and choreography that had swept right by me in the past. For example, I noticed that the odd photo of Abi Stafford that was on the Playbill cover throughout May is a pose from Fearful Symmetries. I was able to appreciate the dancing (by Sofiane Sylve, Jennie Somogyi, Megan Fairchild, Philip Neal, Stephen Hanna, Joaqin de Luz, and the rest) more than ever before. I missed the raw excitement of a Quinn-led Symmetries, but I think I got a lot more out of the ballet.

Today's NY Times has an article about fleet week in New York headlined "Beyond Bars and Strip Clubs, City Beckons Sailors on Shore Leave." It tells about sailors at off-Broadway shows, baseball games, and a museum of cartoon art. It has them apppreciating the architecture and in search of frozen cappuccinos rather than boilermakers. What it doesn't mention is either New York City Ballet or American Ballet Theatre, both of which were in residence at Lincoln Center all weekend. We know tickets are expensive, but the sailors didn't pay for those tickets to Yankee Stadium, they were given them. Back in the presumably less-enlightened old days, I used to see quite a few naval personnel at the ballet when the fleet was in. On Friday night at NYCB and Monday night at ABT, I didn't see one sailor. Did anyone else?

Yvonne Borree looks like Kay Mazzo. The current issue (Spring) of Ballet Review has a cover photo of RDB's Thomas Lund airborne in Napoliin which he looks a little like Peter Boal and a little like every male dancer you've ever liked.

My problem with "N.Y. Export: Opus Jazz" (besides its cluttered title) is that I can't tell who these young people are. They are not the clean-cut romantics of "Interplay," the clever neurotics of "Moves," or the ethnic gang members and lovers of "West Side Story." Despite Michael's valiant attempts at placing them in context, I am unconvinced that they're from Levittown. The thing that bothers me most about the ballet as currently performed (I was there again last night) is the unclear, unserious depiction of the gang rape and subsequent throw from the roof. They barely make a dent in the ballet, but an attentive audience member can't help but go "Huh?"

Farrell's hair color has darkened and lightened at various times over the years. The headline over the review of "Holding on to the Air" in 1990, was "Blond Ambition."

As far as audience alcohol is concerned, Peter Martins proved himself a worthy successor to Mr.B. Little bottles of vodka with accompanying plastic shot glasses,were handed out at the end of the Balanchine Celebration and the Centennial.

I put the TV on in time to see Lincoln and Mr. B cavorting with the vodka bottle, and suddenly that golden time came back. Like drb, I was incredibly fortunate to have been there, and to have accepted Mr. B's invitation of a hooker on the way out. (Funny how the vocabulary has changed irrevocably in so short a time.) What I saw of the broadcast was glorious -- Beverly Sills in her prime, Samuel Ramey easily winning the most-hair baritone sweepstakes over Thomas Hampson, Kathleen Battle restored to the good graces of her colleagues, the great Luciano demonstrating convincingly that his, indeed, was one of the greatest tenor voices of all time. Yes, I think music came off better then dance on the show, but nothing can compare with the Great Performances of my memory.

Ever since I can remember, evening performances of NYCB in Saratoga have begun at 8:15. This year they will begin at 7:30. This is a drastic change, and for what? There are some good restaurants in Saratoga and environs, but this new starting time benefits fast food places only. Ballet Talk used to have some lively posters from Saratoga who were instrumental in the successful struggle to keep NYCB in residence there. If they're still around, I'd like to know what they think of this new starting time.

This question keeps recurring on Ballet Talk, but it had not occurred to me until today to "answer" it with the title of Joseph H. Mazo's book about the NYCB of an earlier time: "Dance is a Contact Sport." I think the title was meant to counteract the fairytale image of ballet, by pointing out the grueling effort involved, the physical pain, psychological stress and constant risk of physical injury. But it is evident that Mazo is a starry-eyed fan, and his book's title is not meant to be taken literally. It is an unforgettable portrait of a group of lovely, inspiring people dedicated to their art. The book has one "flaw." It covers the performance year of 1973, so Suzanne Farrell is not in the group.

Thanks, Helene. I'm glad bobbi liked "The Unanswered Question" as much as I do. I think there's something about a ballet featuring a dancer inside a sousaphone that eliminates any need for program notes.

"The Unanswered Question" is also the name of a visually stunning ballet by Eliot Feld to the same Ives music. It premiered some years ago at NYCB as part of The Diamond Project. I saw it couple of times and loved it. It was scheduled to be revived earlier this month. I don't remember a review of the revival. Anyone see it?

Earle Sieveling is a name I hadn't run across in a long time -- since the 70s, I guess, when he was a dancer with NYCB. I was unaware of his subsequent career as a chef until papeetepatrick's post. Sieveling's New York Cuisine cookbook is available at my favorite source for antiquarian books, abebooks.com. I looked it up and they have several copies at exceedingly low prices.

papeetepatrick: Thanks for giving me another chance to refer to "Holding on to the Air." The Apollo performance with Nureyev was a gala for the Pennsylvania Ballet. Suzanne says that after that she learned the he also wanted to dance "Mozartiana." That didn't happen for various reasons. Then he was interested in dancing with her in Paul Mejia's "Cinderella," but "it became apparent that Nureyev had his own very specific ideas about the role of Prince Charming, and the project was abandoned." Of the "Apollo,"she says "Despite our different ideas about the ballet, our relationship was both cordial and professional."

Funny, but as many times as I've seen "Fearful Symmetries"(close to a dozen) I've never much noticed individual dancers. In fact, to dredge up a mercifully-obsolete word of that era, it's always struck me as pretty much a "unisex" ballet. So Helene's mention of Merrill Ashley, Heather Watts, and Margaret Tracey is almost as surprising to me as her saying that the violence in New York was not random.