Farrell Fan

I think it is one of Martins's best ballets. The music is propulsive and the motion is constant until just a little before the end. It is one of two Martins ballets ("Barber Violin Concerto" is the other) that I always look forward to seeing and thoroughly enjoy.

I can't answer the music question, but in her autobiography, "Holding on to the Air," Suzanne mentions dancing with Joe Duell in "Slaughter" three weeks before his death. "Joe had become one of the company's much-needed moral forces since Balanchine's death, and his own death, at the age of twenty-nine was a devastating shock to the company -- only three weeks earlier I had danced with him in a very successful revival of Slaughter on Tenth Avenue....One week later, for the final night of the season in a performance for the Dancers' Emergency Fund, I danced, against all physical probability, Mozartiana, for Joe. I felt none of my own pain, and the performance somehow reached far beyond my capabilities. it was not only my last public prayer for Joe. It was also the last time I would dance Mozartiana.

Thanks for the link, Helene. I don't know if this comment of Mr. Johnson's calls for a guffaw or a discreet Balanchinian sniff: "Because he trained and danced in England before coming here, Wheeldon has a broader frame of reference than most City Ballet alums."

Where is the link to the Robert Johnson article? With all due respect, the little I've read of his criticism did not strike me as "thoughtful." Rather, he seemed someone who shoots from the lip.

Excellent, Ballet Master Mel! You have written the very model of a post-modern paragraph.

ViolinConcerto wondered where the new NYCB reviews are, and I just want to say that though I've never met Oberon and don't know what happened to him, I miss his reviews. I didn't share his "all's right with the world" atttude by any means, but his enthusiasm for NYCB was like mine forty years ago. His constant attendance and faithful reports were always interesting and fun to read.

When she did, some of the audience responded with startling, mood-killing applause.

Paul Mejia once choreographed a "Romeo and Juliet" to Tschaikovsky's fantasy overture for Suzanne Farrell. As I remember, there were eight Romeos. Onstage, that is.

Thanks for posting this, Dale. I had missed it.

David Blaine, the performer of televised stunts, is currently encased in a water-fillled sphere on the plaza at Lincoln Center. The plan is for him to emerge tomorrow night, then be locked up in chains, be resubmerged, and try to set a new record for holding one's breath (old record 8 minites. 58 seconds) while attempting to unchain himself. The stunt seems to me too complicated by at least half, but people have been gazing at him all this week, and a two-hour TV program will be seen live. All of which caused the New York Times, in an article by Edward Wyatt today, to wonder if the performance was "a bit out of character for the environs of Placido Domingo, Yo-Yo Ma and Suzanne Farrell." Suzanne, of course, used to be seen in those environs holding on to the air, but most sightings of her in recent years have been in Foggy Bottom in Washington. Of course I'd be thrilled to see her again in her former environs some day, but I'm not holding my breath.

Makes a lot of sense to me.

You're not breaking any news to me, canbelto. Of course it's not in the same category as MCB, PNB, SFB, and Boston. It's in a category all it's own. As kfw recently wrote on another thread, it's more than a pickup company, it's a treasure.

Interesting how barely two weeks after Rockwell's endorsement of the "Martins era," Ms. Kourlas points out all the things wrong with it. I'm a little disappointed, though, that she made no mention of the Suzanne Farrell Ballet.

Michael Kaiser provided a venue for Suzanne Farrell to exercise her extraordinary teaching and coaching gifts. Time after time, her "pick-up company" has provided stunning confirmation of those gifts, which Peter Martins denied she had. Even such great dancers as Peter Boal have danced better for her company. If Kaiser had done nothing else during his Kennedy Center tenure, he should be honored for that, but in fact he has done much more. He has brought NYCB back to Washington, an accomplishment that seemed impossible a few years ago. Imagine that -- Farrell and Martins both at the Kennedy Center!

The ballet that some regard as Balanchine's farewell to the stage was titled by him "Robert Schumann's 'Davidsbundlertanze'".

The piece seems fair and balanced (and I don't mean in the Fox News sense), but ultimately it is an endorsement of the Martins regime, if not exactly a ringing one. I've respected Rockwell's opinions from the beginning of his tenure as Times dance critic. Can you imagine what Anna Kisselgoff would have made of a piece like this? I was intrigued by Rockwell's suggestion of Michael Kaiser as a possible successor to Martins. Mr. Kaiser sponsors the Suzanne Farrell Ballet at the Kennedy Center, and I wondered about the ramifications. But alas, I think Rockwell is correct that a re-emergence of the Farrell-Villella era at NYCB is no longer possible. They are both doing very well in their current positions, thank you.

Does the exhibition consist only of photographs, or will actual costumes be on view?

I like your thinking, Anthony.

It would be fitting to have Langella as Balanchine, since he is the narrator of the Balanchine documentary that inspired Anthony NYC to raise this topic.

I completely forgot about this event, which was scheduled for last night, April 10, at the NY State Theater. Did anyone go?

drb. you're a genius! I'm ready to see the movie. Okay, who's Suzanne?

Before Dulcinea buries her face in her hands, she places two sticks in the form of a cross on the Don's chest. (I'm not sure why there wasn't a proper crucifix in the house.) The most memorable part of the last scene is the procession Mel alludes to, wherein many famous knights march slowly by and kneel in homage before the dying Knight of La Mancha.

I think the pas de deux in the middle of Glass Pieces is its highlight, but I agree with your other choices of closing images, BalletNut. I like both endings of Apollo -- the trek upstairs to Olympus and the muses in arabesque in the "sunburst " behind Apollo. The endings of The Four Temperaments and Serenade are among my favorites. Both are mysterious and moving. I think I like best of all the ending of Symphony in Three Movements. Funny how the ballets with my favorite opening images conclude with my favorite closing ones.

Sometimes it's more surprising than others -- the men turning to face us and the start of the music aren't always in sync.

Almost as thrilling as the opening of Serenade for me is that of Symphony in Three Movements. And although I prefer Apollo with the birth scene, I find the version which opens with the fully-formed god and his lute more immediately exciting.