Farrell Fan

Friday, April 29 In Chichester Psalms. the boy soprano's voice seemed on the verge of changing right before our ears. Fortunately he got through it. I like this piece very much, not only because of the music, but for the array of singers and dancers on risers. Karla Korbes and Amar Ramasar were wonderful The men's costumes had the effect of making one of them look like Judith Jamison to my less-than-perfect eyesight. Fairchild and de Luz have become quite a team in "Tarantella" Bravi! The Robbins premiere was a great success, I thought. I loved that music -- it had the last-gasp big band sound of the era when big bands were about to become extinct. The young dancers seemed more surly than those in "Interplay," although being NYCB dancers, they didn't seem all that threatening -- not even in the gang rape scene. I'd been looking forward to the Rachel Rutherford - Craig Hall pas de deux, and it was lovely. But the shock and titillation that supposedly characterized the casting of an interracial couple in 1958 was entirely missing. For one thing, NYCB audiences, from "Agon" on, are blessedly used to such casting. For another, the lighting was not exactly bright.

I agree with most of oberon's remarks. But I don't always have the feeling of continuity.Not backstage, anyway. Perhaps in some of the other ghosts hovering around the place. I keep going to NYCB out of loyalty and the habit of forty years.

Interesting article, dirac, thanks. Am I correct in my impression that the author, glorying in the Penguin past, is not optimistic about the future of Penguins?

The NY Times dance writing is full of surprises these days. Reviewing Peter Martins's "Chichester Psalms" Jennifer Dunning says, "beware female dancers with unbound hair." Since Balanchine frequently used female unbound hair for dramatic effect, starting with "Serenade," I wonder if anyone agrees with this dictum.

Jack, I if you don't mind, I'd like to be Don Q to Suzanne's Dulcinea.

From the article: "'Passage for Two,' originally and memorably danced by Wilma Curley and John Jones, was a duet of exploration. Mr. Verso agreed that Robbins was 'making a statement' by casting an interracial couple. He noted that the duet has also been danced by white couples." One might expect that the next sentence would be about who's dancing it in the NYCB revival. No such thing. In fact, Kisselgoff mentions not a single cast member, although Seth Orza and Sean Suozzi are identified in photograph captions.

I think Farrell's career can be divided into the BB and AB eras -- Before and After Bejart. After all, she was with his Ballet of the 20th Century for four years, 1970-74 and during that time she danced in some twenty ballets, creating roles in: The Triumph of Petrarch; Nijinsky: Clown of God; Erotica; Ah, Vous Dirai-Je, Maman; Bach Sonata; Le Marteau sans Maitre; Golestan; and Le Fleurs du Mal -- a far cry from the NYCB repertory. Whatever one may think of Bejart, Farrell's sojourn with him had the effect of greatly deepening her art. No less an authority than Jacques d'Amboise said in "Elusive Muse." "When she came back she was better!" I agree.

Thanks, rg and nycdog. NYC dog, you're correct that the "Diamonds" excerpt is from 1977. It was recorded at Opryland Productions in Nashville and "reconceived" for television (Dance in America, on PBS) by George Balanchine. I think it's quite good, although it loses a lot by not being seen in context, and I don't like the "set." I think its impossible to understand Suzanne Farrell's dancing from tapes or films. Her performances were always spontaneous, with no two ever completely alike. I find it inconclusive to compare dancers on the basis of tapes or films. In the case of Farrell, it is impossible. That said, certain of her recorded performances are more appealing than others. The best is the snippet from Balanchine's Don Q in the "Elusive Muse" film. Other good ones are in "Davidsbundlertanze," "Chaconne," and "Tzigane." and the film of "Midsummer Night's Dream."

One dancer who did not look out of place at that gala was the great Darcey Bussell. Her Agon pas de deux lingers in my memory. Unfortunately I've forgoten who her partner was. Anybody remember?

As of last Fall's City Center season, Irina Kolpakova was indeed listed among the "Ballet Masters" at ABT (along with Guillame Graffin, Susan Jones, Georgina Parkinson, and Kirk Peterson).

That WAS fun. I was sure I'd turn out to be melancholic -- instead I was exposed as shallow, superficial, and sanguine, which apparently is male for sanguinic.

Both NYCB and ABT sell signed shoes at their gift counters. Perhaps because they were worn by what their marketing department calls "the world's greatest dancers," the ABT shoes are way more expensive than those at NYCB. I don't have any of those, but at NYCB decades ago I bought a pair of Suzanne Farrell's pointe shoes which I've worshipped ever since. They're on a little wall-shelf under a plastic dome, a miniature altar. In more recent years, I bought Rachel Rutherford's and Ashley Bouder's. I keep both on a bookshelf in front of books. Does anyone else have signed shoes? How did you acquire them and how do you take care of them?

I hope you have the paperback of "Holding on to the Air," published by University Press of Florida, because that has a new preface written in 2002 in which she says how devastated she was at being fired from NYCB by Peter Martins, who did it through the company manager. You are right that she is demanding, nycdog, but she is primarily demanding of herself. As for not being nice, all I can tell you is she's always been nice to me.

The last day of the Balanchine Celebration in 1993 was a unique occasion. It was an all-day affair interrupted by a dinner break. There were also breaks for hors d'oeuvres and dessert, and everybody got a little bottle of vodka at the end. The audience was exhilarated. What most of the audience didn't know, however, was that former NYCB dancers with close connections to Balanchine had played a very limited role in the Celebration. Peter Martins seemed to use the event to solidify his one-man rule. The crowning blow came a little later, with his firing of Suzanne Farrell. James Byars played the oboe and English horn with the orchestra. Michael earned a degree in labor law from Fordham and left NYCB.

Brahms, Bach, and Balanchine!

Helene, you've conflated the names of the Alsops, father and daughter, in an interesting way. The violinist who made you cringe was Lamar Alsop; his daughter the conductor is Marin Alsop.

GeorgeB Fan -- Mel Johnson remembers, as I do, when Balanchine's Don Q meant a half-empty New York State Theater. Subscribers stayed away in droves. Nevertheless, I agree with you that this ballet would have been the highlight of the NYCB Balanchine Centennial. In fairness to Mr. Martins, I believe he tried to get it and Ms. Farrell (who owns the ballet) turned him down.

I'm shocked that you booed Danilova, Oberon. Have you also booed Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy? I hope you have a new group of friends.

I started going to NYCB in the mid-sixties and my experience was similar to ari's. I felt "How long has this been going on? This is great." And it was. To some extent, Oberon is correct that there have always been good nights and bad nights. What's troublesome about today's NYCB is how many sleepy nights there are. The early seventies was a tumultuous time at NYCB. Balanchine fell into a deep depression when Suzanne Farrell left. Nevertheless, he had one of his greatest creative periods during the Stravinsky Festival in June of 1972, while Suzanne was toiling for Maurice Bejart. There's never been anything else like it in NYCB history. After that, things just went along for a couple of years, until Mr. B took Suzanne back into NYCB, and celebrated with another burst of creativity. Peter Martins did a good job keeping the company on an even keel after Balanchine's death. But he seemed distrustful of anyone else, especially Suzanne, who'd been close to Mr. B. Sure, there are fine individual performances nowadays but the old excitement just isn't there anymore. There's no point in rehashing all this, except to echo ari's point. Be kind to us old-timers. We've seen great things.

It might interest you to know, nycdog, that when Verdi's "Un Ballo in Maschera," under the name "Un Bal Masque," was put on by the Monte Carlo Opera in 1928, Diaghilev's Ballet Russe danced the Act III divertissement. Geoge Balanchine was the choreographer. But it is incredibly difficult for anyone under ninety to write about it.

To echo Mel's point, the choreography performed by opera company ballet troupes is usually mediocre. (No reflection on the dancers.) Opera audiences and managements seem resistant to good choreography. Balanchine's experience at the Metropolitan Opera was an unhappy one. Which is not to say opera composers did not write good ballet music. Verdi in particular, though he was forced to do so by the Paris Opera formula, wrote some marvelous stuff for them. But the ballet music from his "Macbeth," and "Otello," for instance, is almost always cut completely. Fortunately, Balanchine and Robbins provided a life outside opera for some of Verdi's ballet music, in "Ballo della Regina" ("Don Carlo") and "The Four Seasons," ("I Vespri Siciliani") respectively.

When I heard from her late last year, the masterly/masterful Suzanne called the new sets and costumes "beautiful." Of course I'm not a disinterested or uninterested observer.

Nice article, but I wish the Times had told us how to pronounce "Millepied." When there's doubt they often do that. In the case of Italian names, I sometimes disagree with how the Times says they're pronounced, but I guess the ultimate authority is the bearer of the name, even when s/he's wrong. Does anyone know how Benjamin pronounces his name?

Something close to this took place in September of 2000 at the Kennedy Center. It was only a matter of two weeks, not months, not all the companies derived from Balanchine, and NYCB did not participate. Nevertheless, it was a worthy Balanchine Celebration. The participants were Suzanne Farrell Ballet, Miami City Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, and members of the Bolshoi Ballet. Tobi Tobias was still reviewing dance for New York Magazine at the time, and I googled up her review today. Some excerpts: "The NYCB's interpretations, while obviously closest to the choreographer's unique style, have come increasingly to lack precision, energy, commitment, vision. This being so, the crucial question became, can Balanchine's ballets have a viable life elsewhere? The recent Balanchine Celebration at the Kennedy Center answered the question with a yes of Joycean force." "The most memorable performance was Nina Ananiashvili's in Mozartiana, staged by Farrell on dancers from the Bolshoi...Farrell has proved that she can work her wonders with dancers of more modest gifts than Ananiashvili. Her own small troupe can't hold a candle to the numbers and depth of talent commanded by, say, the San Francisco and Miami groups, let alone her alma mater, the NYCB. Yet it offered the most ravishing production in the Celebration. Its rendition of Divertimento No. 15 was rapt, lyric, gloriously unified in tone and filled with moments in which dancers were at thrilling risk, reaching beyond the capabilities they're certain of to become more than they or we dreamed they might be...Farrell has the uncanny ability to transmit her virtues as a performing artist to multiple proteges. What an odd and marvelous thing to realize about one of the twentieth century's greatest ballerinas -- that the most important part of her career may still be ahead of her."

No good coach would want to reproduce a clone of herself. I have never seen a dancer with the Suzanne Farrell Ballet who reminds me of Farrell. Yet they bring a dimension to the Balanchine choreography that is missing at NYCB. Even as superlative a performer as Peter Boal brought something extra to his performances with the Farrell company.