Bonnette

Foster's book will be a must-have for me, as well. Amazon US has a notification signup for it, and on Amazon UK they're taking preorders. Very exciting!

I just received a copy of Theatre Street from Amazon Marketplace and am already riveted by it.

Oh, thank you, that is just wonderful. I have even more respect for him, having read this interview, than before. Macaulay's visceral excitement and aliveness to dance and theater inform almost every statement he makes. So much of this quality of being present to each performance has to do with bodily response, and I was struck by his lengthy discourse about that: his first epiphany about his own body in relation to the expansiveness of ballet has continued to unfold throughout his long career, in such a way that ballet literally lives and expresses itself in his bones.

There is an older thread on this forum in which the relationship between understanding through performance, v. understanding through witness, is discussed - and that theme is very poignantly explored in this Macaulay interview. He feels the dance in his body - it moves him - he remembers steps and sequences and dances them alone in his room after a performance (though he is not a trained dancer); he demonstrates steps to his friends, in his classes and lectures; he is physically alive to the performance and understands what drives it.

I have bookmarked this interview to read again and again, as it is so fresh and invigorating and reminds one of what it feels like to dance internally, even when the body is still. Thank you again for posting this link.

They credit Diaghilev as being the author. What????

That is bizarre! I've known Amazon to attribute authorship to editors, but here they've exceeded themselves!

Looks like an interesting book - probably one to add to the wishlist.

Andrew Foster's Tamara Karsavina: Diaghilev's Ballerina is also in the pipeline, with a projected September release date. The US Amazon site doesn't provide much information, but the UK description includes the following information:

Featuring over 200 stunning photographs from museums and private collections around the world, Tamara Karsavina: Diaghilev's Ballerina traces the life and career of one of the 20th century's greatest dance artists. This deeply-researched book details her rise through the ranks of St Petersburg's legendary Imperial Ballet where, alongside Pavlova and Nijinsky, she excelled in the classics and emerged as the supreme interpreter of Fokine's new choreography. Her spectacular debut in the West, as a star of Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, put her at the forefront of all his historic seasons and confirmed her place among the greatest dancers in ballet history...Andrew Foster has been researching Tamara Karsavina's life and career for over 30 years and owns the world's largest private collection of Karsavina's photographs and images. He is a respected dance historian and is acknowledged by theatre museums worldwide as the leading expert regarding the life and career of Tamara Karsavina.

Looks like we're in for a real Diaghilevian feast!

I began reading it yesterday and am almost finished today, that is how engagingly written it is. I agree with the reviewer you quote, dirac - this book is neither as erudite nor as detailed as Ms. Garafola's history of the Ballets Russes, yet it serves as a fine introduction to Diaghilev and his many cultural contributions, not only in the field of ballet. I would have preferred a more probing two-volume set, but as an overview this single volume might reach a wider audience. Mr. Scheijen writes well, the book is beautifully paced, and the translation seems to be very fluid and confident. I recommend it overall, with the caveat that it will probably disappoint those looking for a critical analysis of Diaghilev's lifework.

Hello, Bradan, isn't this a lovely forum? As a newcomer myself, please allow me to extend a warm welcome to you!

I'm just starting Sjeng Scheijen's biography of Diaghilev - have only read a couple of chapters, but the translation so far seems fluid and I like the writing style.

For those who are interested, I came across a link to Alastair Macaulay's New York Times review of the book - here it is.

Hi dirac, and thank you for your welcome. I found that seeing the movie first actually enhanced my reading of the book, and reading the book helped me to understand some of the intricacies of the movie's sequencing. The movie has been on cable a lot recently - I've watched it several times, and with each viewing my appreciation has grown for both the movie and the book.

I'm just finishing a beautiful novel set in World War I France called A Very Long Engagement by Sebastien Japrisot (translated by Linda Coverdale) - it was made into a movie of the same name in 2004. The movie led me to the book, and though the two are in many ways quite different, both are wonderful.

Indeed, this is wonderful news. I'm hoping that the powers-that-be in Washington will loosen up in their approach to cultural exchanges with Cuba, and in the meantime it's marvelous that the Cuban government has made the ABT's appearance possible. Octavio Roca's new book, Cuban Ballet has been published at a very fortuitous moment.

Hi Cygnet, thank you! I'm enjoying Ballet Talk very much - seems like I spend half the day here, it's wonderful!

Thank you for explaining, Helene. That is a good way to keep the crisp, clean look of the forum. Since I saw the photo option on my settings page, I figured there must be something I wasn't understanding - glad to know what's what. Thanks again.

Please forgive me if my eyes have skipped right past this issue on my search of the site - I did try to find the answer on my own, but sometimes my opacity is astonishing!

I am just wondering why I cannot see members' avatars - I'm thinking that this might be due to my being such a new member, with very few posts, but thought I'd check to be sure. I tried to upload a photo to my profile, but it didn't "stick." Thank you!

My thanks to you both, GianninaM and cubanmiamiboy, for your warm welcome! I spent half the night reading threads and posts and feel nourished by them.

I, too, am a former student of John Neff and have wanted to thank him many times for his excellent instruction. Hopefully the Pacific University lead will prove fruitful, Kathy; I e-mailed them a couple of weeks ago, but thus far have not received a reply. A current faculty member of the Academy of Fort Wayne Ballet responded to my e-mail, saying that though the Academy is, indeed, the school John Neff was associated with in the '50s and '60s, no one there now has either contact information for him or knowledge of where he went after leaving Fort Wayne. I sent an e-mail to the Joffrey Ballet, but have not yet heard back from them. It would really be lovely to be able to contact John Neff.

This forum is a delight to visit and I look forward to participating as a member. I am a former dancer (it has been many years since I danced, but one never loses one's love of the art) and follow ballet history and developments with great interest. I am very pleased to be here.