Carl Steeg MD

Mel Tomlinson was a soloist at NYCB.

Yes, and Mel A. Tomlinson should have been a principal - he was truly unique!! Presently, NYCB's Craig Hall is a soloist who should also be promoted. Other recent past black male dancers include Henry Seth, Darius Crenshaw, Sam Greenberg, and James (I think that was his first name) Johnson. There have definitely been more black male than female dancers with NYCB.

Oh, and I omitted the brilliant Silas Farley who is a recent corps member

Mel Tomlinson was a soloist at NYCB.

Yes, and Mel A. Tomlinson should have been a principal - he was truly unique!! Presently, NYCB's Craig Hall is a soloist who should also be promoted. Other recent past black male dancers include Henry Seth, Darius Crenshaw, Sam Greenberg, and James (I think that was his first name) Johnson. There have definitely been more black male than female dancers with NYCB.

NYCB has had a number of black dancers, both male and female, including two principals (both male) - Arthur Mitchell and Andre Evans. Some of the past black female dancers include Debra Austin, as mentioned above, Andrea Long, Aesha Ash, Myrna Kamara, and Cynthia Lochard.

Olivia Boisson is a very talented new corps member who I think may really move up.

Sandik's observations from "the left side of the continent" are incisive. "Accurate" and "authentic" are terms that can only be subjective in nature. Balanchine left no specific instructions as to how his ballets were to be staged or presented nor who is best qualified to represent his work. Who knows the "authentic" Firebird. Is it Tallchief, is it Hayden, is it Verdy? Which of the many principal dancers who have performed Serenade is the "expert?" Who can best instruct the nuances of Apollo - D'Amboise, Villella, Martins? Sandik concludes by describing Martins's main responsibility belonging to the "current moment." Mr. B always disdained the past and the future. What could be more "Balanchine-esque" than the concept of the "current moment."

A recent interview published in the New York Times on April 21 heralds Peter Martins's 30 years as Ballet Mater in Chief of the New York City Ballet. The interview does not begin to give Martins the great credit that is due this rather phenomenal man. His leadership at New York City Ballet has been extraordinary. The interviewer, Roslyn Sulcas, introduces her piece by remarking that "Mr. Martins's tenure has been stormy.......Mr. Martins was - and still is - ruthlessly criticized for failing to maintain Balanchinian style......" "Stormy" is hardly the appropriate description here. Controversial would be more apt, I think. Sulcas does not deign to mention the critical acclaims of Anna Kisselgoff and Clive Barnes. To be controversial, is to be doing the job well.

The mere fact that New York City Ballet exists at all 30 years after Mr. B.'s death is itself a tribute to this man. He has stayed true to its history and its repertory. He has maintained the "House of Balanchine" (and the "House of Robbins," if you will) as the core concept of the company, while advancing the works of new choreographers, new set designers, new costumers and contemporary composers. He is responsible starting and advancing the careers of amazing post-Balanchine dancers. He has been responsible for the company's financial health and its ongoing development.

He has understood modernity - websites, social media, patron connection, fund raising. From a distant stage presence, his dancers have moved into our homes with YouTube and with NYCB videos. He has engaged amazing musical directors who have all garnered critical acclaim and who have made the music - the all-important music - more a part of every performance - even having it highlighted with talks and orchestral demonstrations before some performances.

He leads the School of American Ballet and founded the New York Choreographic Institute which was critical in the developing talents of Wheeldon, Ratmansky, and now Justin Peck. Martins, himself, has choreographed some 80 ballets for the company, including full-length pieces, merging the classical with the contemporary. He instituted the Moves program to promote the art across the country using small "boutique" groups of performers.

Peter Martins is a marvel. When thinking back to all that he has provided for me over the past 30 years, I just want to say "Thank you Peter." "Thank you Peter." Its high time for a Kennedy Award for Peter Martins, and it baffles me that it has yet to occur.

At the Studio Talk with Sean Lavery on Saturday afternoon, an audience member asked the dancers what they see as the difference between Balanchine and Robbins. Jenny Ringer said Balanchine is ethereal and Robbins down to earth. That in Balanchine, the dancers are directed outward, to the audience, and in Robbins the dancers are interacting with each other. I thought about it and had a few ideas.

My first thought was: Balanchine never choreographed to Chopin, and Robbins most definitely did! (Well, Balanchine early in his career had two minor pieces to Chopin according to Choreography by Balanchine.) But Robbins - Dances at a Gathering, The Concert, please add more if you remember.

But most significant, Balanchine was a romantic and Robbins a realist. Despite all the Chopin, Robbins' ballets are about the interactions of people in life. They satirize romanticism (The girl in The Concert), they display fellowship (Dances at a Gathering) and even dancing against the romantic music (one of the episodes of Dances has Sara Mearns dancing slowly to fast Chopin - which piece? Please tell me. I hear it but can't identify.) They deal with grittiness - NY Export: Opus Jazz, West Side Story, the sailors in Fancy Free (a sanitized balletic grittiness).

Balanchine had experienced Russia at its best and worst. As a result of his privations in the revolution, he loved America and he idealized America in his American ballets - Square Dance, Stars & Stripes, Western Symphony. These are stylized, romantic ballets that observe all the courtly choreographic conventions. Robbins was born and raised in New Jersey - he was an American and he did not romanticize America. He had lived it and he depicted it. What is Glass Pieces but New Yorkers walking, walking quickly and intently, together but oblivious of each other, then jumping up, first one then another, to do their own thing. A real New York ballet. (I saw it when it first was created in 1983 and only appreciated it years later.)

Please give me your thoughts.