Tancos

There is also this: http://users.skynet.be/ballet-lovers/

The IBC site has posted a number of high-resolution pictures suitable for printing: http://usaibc.com/dphotos.html Note that many of these are huge files -- one is a full megabyte -- so if you have a dial-up connection, keep a book at hand to read while downloading. Also, if you have Photoshop or some other image-editing software, you might want to tweak the curves a bit and see if you can bring out more detail in the highlights.

There's also a good "slide show" of the first round on the Jackson paper's site: http://www.clarionledger.com/news/health/i.../ibc/index.html These are very good quality pictures, suitable for desktop wallpaper and screen savers.

I came across the following in an article about Arthur Conan Doyle: "British writer, creator Sherlock Holmes, the best-known detective in literature and the embodiment of sharp reasoning. Doyle himself was not a good example of rational personality: he believed in fairies and was interested in occultism. Sherlock Holmes stories have been translated into more than fifty languages, and made into plays, films, radio and television series, a musical comedy, a ballet, cartoons, comic books, and advertisement. By 1920 Doyle was one of the most highly paid writers in the world." (from < http://www.classicreader.com/author.php/aut.19/ > Is anyone here familiar with this Sherlock Holmes ballet? I find it difficult to imagine.

go to CyberDance < http://www.cyberdance.org/ > and browse through the various ballet company and dancer websites. Many of them have photo galleries.

The 1910's.

The 1910's.

I ended up choosing Paris because of the music, but I would want to visit all the times and places. Second choice would be Moliere's France. (I think that if we can assume time travel, we can also assume Babel fish.) An idea for another poll would be which single historic performance would you attend if you were handed the keys to a time machine but only allowed one trip. (I have a hunch which performance would win; in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if half the audience at the premiere of "Le Sacre du Printemps" *were* time travelers.)

I ended up choosing Paris because of the music, but I would want to visit all the times and places. Second choice would be Moliere's France. (I think that if we can assume time travel, we can also assume Babel fish.) An idea for another poll would be which single historic performance would you attend if you were handed the keys to a time machine but only allowed one trip. (I have a hunch which performance would win; in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if half the audience at the premiere of "Le Sacre du Printemps" *were* time travelers.)

Wichita, amazingly, has not one but two Nutcrackers each December. Two of the universities here have dance departments (one specifically a "ballet" department), and each department usually schedules both a fall and a spring dance concert. In addition, a local company puts on a spring concert every year. This year it's act II of Swan Lake and a trio of shorter pieces, but in years past they've presented Coppelia, La Sylphide and Sleeping Beauty, the last with costumes from the Royal Ballet (I made my stage debut in the first Wichita production of Sleeping Beauty, three months after my first ballet class. It wasn't actually a dancing role -- I ran out on stage, gesticulated frantically for ten seconds, and spent the rest of the prologue staying out of the way -- but it was intoxicating nevertheless). Various dance companies make stops in Wichita, and occasionally one does, or has affinities with, ballet. Over the years I've seen the Elliot Feld, Paul Taylor and Garth Fagan companies, Hubbard Street and the Kirov All-Stars. These are rare, though -- there's one worth seeing maybe every two years -- and to see Major Dance Companies I generally need to travel. Staying connected with ballet: I take class twice a week (I wish I could do more, but time, money and the condition of my legs are all problematic), and I photograph one of the university companies in rehearsal when circumstances permit (some of these pictures can be viewed on my website).

Stravinsky is the easy winner here for me, and he would still be even if Tchaikovsky were included in the poll. Other composers may be more tuneful or easier to get into, but his combination of intellect and power is unrivaled in ballet. If the next poll is "who is the worst composer of a ballet still performed?" I think I know who'd win.

Stravinsky is the easy winner here for me, and he would still be even if Tchaikovsky were included in the poll. Other composers may be more tuneful or easier to get into, but his combination of intellect and power is unrivaled in ballet. If the next poll is "who is the worst composer of a ballet still performed?" I think I know who'd win.

If we're going to flunk BA members for spelling, most will be afraid to post.

If we're going to flunk BA members for spelling, most will be afraid to post.

"Les Sylphides" is easy -- just look for a collection of Chopin favorites. For other ballets, try entering "ballet sheet music" or something like that in a search engine and see what turns up. You may have to do a lot of clicking around, but you should be able to find piano versions of all the major ballets. Viola arrangements, I suspect, are going to be much harder to locate, and it might be easier (and more interesting) to devise your own.

The New Criterion's take on the matter: http://www.newcriterion.com/archive/20/apr...tes.htm#britney

The New Criterion's take on the matter: http://www.newcriterion.com/archive/20/apr...tes.htm#britney

I discovered this morning that the legendary Eleventh Edition is available online , so of course I looked up "Ballet". I was particularly struck by the conclusion of the article: "It seems unlikely that we shall see any revival of the best period and styles of dancing until a higher standard of grace and manners becomes fashionable in society. With the constantly increasing abolition of ceremony, courtliness of manner is bound to diminish; and only in an atmosphere of ceremony, courtesy and chivalry can the dance maintain itself in perfection."

I have yet to hear a 19th-Century ballet score comparable to any of Tchaikovsky's. One of the tragedies of the 19th Century was that no one bothered to commission ballet scores from any of the outstanding composers before Petr T. Instead of Brahms, Berlioz, Liszt or Schumann, there was Minkus or worse, and most 19th-Century ballet music is something you endure, not enjoy. Having said that, I will note that I prefer "Coppelia" to "Swan Lake," but this reflects overexposure to the latter when I was young, not the relative merits of the scores. It's much easier to find superior ballet music in the 20th Century, and I think we can thank Diaghilev for that. Most outstanding composers of the past 100 years have written music for dance, and much of it is good. To the names mentioned above I would add Debussy ("Faune" and maybe "Jeux" -- I haven't heard the latter in a while), Ravel ("Daphnis and Chloe") and Bartok ("The Miraculous Mandarin" -- a *long* way from Tchaikovsky and not for everybody, but spellbinding nevertheless).

It might be a good idea to divide the "0-10 times" option into two or three smaller categories. Out here in the Great Mid-American Nowhere, there aren't 10 ballet productions in a year, let alone 20 or 100. Also, if the software permits, it might be interesting for the voter to indicate where he or she lives.

Stravinsky here. Close enough.

Stravinsky here. Close enough.

Fans of the late Edward Gorey might be interested in one of the coming year's calendars: title: 2002 "Gilded Bat" Engagement Calendar (ballerina) price: $9.00 category: Calendars description: Measures 7" by 8". Sturdy soft-cover, spiral bound, illustrated throughout. This would make a great gift! Retails for $13.95! I spotted this at http://www.goreydetails.net/ .

I am definitely right-handed, though several members of my immediate family are left-handed. (I recall reading several years ago about a study that showed right-handed people from families with left-handers represented exhibited thinking styles more similar to those of left-handed people than to those of right-handers from from consistently right-handed families.) I've noticed that many things in my classes are easier (or not quite as impossible) on one side than the other, but it's not always predictable which side. Soutenu turns, for example, are easier clockwise, but pirouttes are easier counterclockwise (left leg supporting). The latter is particularly curious, because my left foot is much weaker than my right and I can barely balance on it when I'm not turning. What is this scientific investigation for? Will it be published, is it a school project, or what?

My mother taught ballet in our home when I was young, so it was always been part of the background for me. Her classes were strictly girls-only, though, and I wasn't interested then anyway. Realizing that ballet was something worth watching closely and doing was a gradual process, and it's difficult to pick a particular event that triggered my fascination with the art. In my early twenties I saw the Nutcracker and Don Quixote on television, both with Baryshnikov, and realized that here was eloquence in a language I didn't understand. To learn that language, I began going to every ballet performance in Wichita and eventually began taking class.