Paul Parish

Although of course I agree with Farrell Fan about Gelsey's first book, -- that husband of hers just seems to have gotten off on getting her revved up and self-pitying -- i have to say, she DID go to extraordinary lengths and take extraordinary pains to perfect her art.... Th section where she went to the MAryinskly Theater to watch the Kiorv take class seems like a pretty lucidf interval for her..... and the loneliness she felt, to diascover that she was pretty much the only dancer who wanted to go check out hte fountainhead.... well, I hve a lot of sympathy with her in that...... Yes, I think she projected a great deal onto her teachers and colleagues -- when they asked her to lighten up -- "dance like Fred Astaire" - she didn't believe they could mean that, and if I remember right, implied that they were trying to sabotage her........ I haven't read it for a long time..... wonder how I'd feel now. It certanly has to be taken "with a grain of salt" -- but the clues are all there; child of alcoholics, the perfectionism, the competition with her sister, the acute sense of her physical limitations, her head was too big as a child and he insteps weren't high enough and she didn't grow up to have the proportions she wanted, or rather, the proportions she admired..... but she was a tremendlusly severe critic of HERSELF....... The saddest thing about he book was that it sounded like she never enjoyed dancing until she started doing drugs.... Maybe she needed that release......

I once yelled "demasiado" at a dancer who was battering an (already dead) chicken onstage at tTheater Artaud here... He''s a famous surrealist from mexico, and , I don't know whether he understood me or I understood him, I actually felt like he was ASKING for the audience to tell him to stop, so I did, and he DID stop..... I dont know how I kept myself from booing Preljocaj's ROmeo and Juliet, which was set in a concentration camp and was patrolled by a Doberman Pjinscher (a very beautiful DOberman) on a leash on a guard-tower sort of catwalk; the whole production was dazzling and horrifying and fantastically well danced..... all my female friends thought it was great, and was all about the war in Bosnia, and I felt like I'd been beaten up....... with respect to falling, Elizabeth Loscavio, whom I adored, used to fall all the time, and bounce right back up, and never stop dancing...... she fell once outdoors, in the rain, doing fouettes in BAllo della Reginaand was right back up and turning some more, never lost her phrasing-- I LOVE that kind of dancing...... the thing was, it didn't faze her, she wasn't embarrassed, or shocked, or self-conscious about it; she was aljmost like a cartoon character, you know how tom and jerry pancake against the wall, and are right back at it after a beat passes... it really only bothers ME if it bothers them....

I once yelled "demasiado" at a dancer who was battering an (already dead) chicken onstage at tTheater Artaud here... He''s a famous surrealist from mexico, and , I don't know whether he understood me or I understood him, I actually felt like he was ASKING for the audience to tell him to stop, so I did, and he DID stop..... I dont know how I kept myself from booing Preljocaj's ROmeo and Juliet, which was set in a concentration camp and was patrolled by a Doberman Pjinscher (a very beautiful DOberman) on a leash on a guard-tower sort of catwalk; the whole production was dazzling and horrifying and fantastically well danced..... all my female friends thought it was great, and was all about the war in Bosnia, and I felt like I'd been beaten up....... with respect to falling, Elizabeth Loscavio, whom I adored, used to fall all the time, and bounce right back up, and never stop dancing...... she fell once outdoors, in the rain, doing fouettes in BAllo della Reginaand was right back up and turning some more, never lost her phrasing-- I LOVE that kind of dancing...... the thing was, it didn't faze her, she wasn't embarrassed, or shocked, or self-conscious about it; she was aljmost like a cartoon character, you know how tom and jerry pancake against the wall, and are right back at it after a beat passes... it really only bothers ME if it bothers them....

oops -- sorry, guys, that was pretty stupid of me.... Osato was a beautiful dancer, it's good to think I'll enjoy reading her book..... and it's true, Weslow is by far the most fun, and the ballerinas are as usual sweetly diplomatic and awfully circumspect...though Mary Ellen Moylan, who's very VERY sweet, does say that Balanchine wanted her in developpe to offer the foot as if it were her hand.......

oops -- sorry, guys, that was pretty stupid of me.... Osato was a beautiful dancer, it's good to think I'll enjoy reading her book..... and it's true, Weslow is by far the most fun, and the ballerinas are as usual sweetly diplomatic and awfully circumspect...though Mary Ellen Moylan, who's very VERY sweet, does say that Balanchine wanted her in developpe to offer the foot as if it were her hand.......

"Distant Dances" -- what's that?

"Distant Dances" -- what's that?

Here is the first paragraph of the William Weslow chapter……… “My first real contact with Balanchine was at Ballet Theatre in 1950, in Chicago, where his wife, the great Maria Tallchief, was dancing with the company for a time. I was in the corps de ballet. In the finale of Balanchine’s Theme and Variations, the Polonaise, the boys had to cross the stage in big leaps to the sound of crashing cymbals. We cleared a path for Maria to come down to the footlights, or we were supposed to. Balanchine was watching a rehearsal. I had never danced the ballet before. Balanchine suddenly said, “Stop. Stop. You, boy.” Me, he meant. He was doing his nose mannerisms and he spoke to me, sniffing away. I was quick to pick up any sort of mannerism. “Boy – you. You must go up. And you go tremendously up. I know you have good elevation, but you have to go up and get our of the way fast, you see.” Watching his nose, I began imitating him unconsciously. He said, “And don’t do this nose. I do this nose. You DANCE.” He pushed me about 8 feet, and I did what he wanted. Or so I thought. He said, “Come here. You, I want to tell you. You have to jump in and out and AWAY. You can’t be in the way, principal come in, and you’re IN THE WAY.” There I was, going up in the air. And by the time I came down I was blocking Maria, who was coming down to the front. You don’t block Maria’s way. If you do, you’ve got a tomahawk in the middle of your forehead. I say that with admiration, because Maria was the greatest Balanchine dancer. I adored her. and it just gets better -- don't miss hte sections on Lifar, on Allegra.... or how they used to throw him around the studio because if they threw Allegra and the boys didn't catch her, properly, she could get hurt... (in fact, she was already bruised all over). ...it's' just fabulous......

Here is the first paragraph of the William Weslow chapter……… “My first real contact with Balanchine was at Ballet Theatre in 1950, in Chicago, where his wife, the great Maria Tallchief, was dancing with the company for a time. I was in the corps de ballet. In the finale of Balanchine’s Theme and Variations, the Polonaise, the boys had to cross the stage in big leaps to the sound of crashing cymbals. We cleared a path for Maria to come down to the footlights, or we were supposed to. Balanchine was watching a rehearsal. I had never danced the ballet before. Balanchine suddenly said, “Stop. Stop. You, boy.” Me, he meant. He was doing his nose mannerisms and he spoke to me, sniffing away. I was quick to pick up any sort of mannerism. “Boy – you. You must go up. And you go tremendously up. I know you have good elevation, but you have to go up and get our of the way fast, you see.” Watching his nose, I began imitating him unconsciously. He said, “And don’t do this nose. I do this nose. You DANCE.” He pushed me about 8 feet, and I did what he wanted. Or so I thought. He said, “Come here. You, I want to tell you. You have to jump in and out and AWAY. You can’t be in the way, principal come in, and you’re IN THE WAY.” There I was, going up in the air. And by the time I came down I was blocking Maria, who was coming down to the front. You don’t block Maria’s way. If you do, you’ve got a tomahawk in the middle of your forehead. I say that with admiration, because Maria was the greatest Balanchine dancer. I adored her. and it just gets better -- don't miss hte sections on Lifar, on Allegra.... or how they used to throw him around the studio because if they threw Allegra and the boys didn't catch her, properly, she could get hurt... (in fact, she was already bruised all over). ...it's' just fabulous......

Dear Moonchilde, I am so impressed that you can write in a language that is not your native language..... very few Americans can do that. I can (sort of) read French and German, but if i had to , or wanted to, write out what I think , or how I feel, about a ballet in either of those languages, it would be SUCH a difficult task, I think I would give up and go to bed instead.... Your thoughts about new ballets that are set to familiar music are interesting -- of course, you are RIGHT, of course, people are often attached to the ballets they already know. THe ballerina Alicia Alonzo has written that when she first began to dance GIselle, she danced the role almost exactly as Alicia Markova had done it, so as not to disappoint people who already loved the ballet and knew it through Markova's interpretation.... We have a ballet to Vivaldi's 4 Seasons here at San FRancisco Ballet, by Helgi TOmasson -- it is not one of his better ballets, and one problem with it is that the movement is not as loveable as the music -- MArk Morris was very wise to set the unfamiliar oratorio lAllegro, il Penseroso, ed il MOderato -- his ballet is in fact a VERY great ballet -- I was talking to Bernard Taper about it yesterday -- Taper wrote that excellent biography of BAlanchine -- and he thinks l'Allegro is the best full-length ballet of the 20th century....... and it certainly HELPED Morris that the wonderful music was not well-known already and "needed" dancing to fill it out......

Dear Moonchilde, I am so impressed that you can write in a language that is not your native language..... very few Americans can do that. I can (sort of) read French and German, but if i had to , or wanted to, write out what I think , or how I feel, about a ballet in either of those languages, it would be SUCH a difficult task, I think I would give up and go to bed instead.... Your thoughts about new ballets that are set to familiar music are interesting -- of course, you are RIGHT, of course, people are often attached to the ballets they already know. THe ballerina Alicia Alonzo has written that when she first began to dance GIselle, she danced the role almost exactly as Alicia Markova had done it, so as not to disappoint people who already loved the ballet and knew it through Markova's interpretation.... We have a ballet to Vivaldi's 4 Seasons here at San FRancisco Ballet, by Helgi TOmasson -- it is not one of his better ballets, and one problem with it is that the movement is not as loveable as the music -- MArk Morris was very wise to set the unfamiliar oratorio lAllegro, il Penseroso, ed il MOderato -- his ballet is in fact a VERY great ballet -- I was talking to Bernard Taper about it yesterday -- Taper wrote that excellent biography of BAlanchine -- and he thinks l'Allegro is the best full-length ballet of the 20th century....... and it certainly HELPED Morris that the wonderful music was not well-known already and "needed" dancing to fill it out......

"I would have also added Hansuke Yamamoto, another new corps male this year. " I sure agree with you there, SUsan -- he's a star... as the boy in brick, he was actually BETTER than Gonzalo Garcia -- though GOnzalo was fantastic as the boy in brown , better than hte first cat, in fact, he was so poetic, he was in a class of his own...... And did you see Yamamoto in CHi Lin? IT's not a great ballet, but it does call for heroic dancing, and he was dazzling, fiery, in that role.

What DID Fokine and Massine ballets look like? (Or, since she's the same time frame, Isadora's dances? I've just been reading some firsthand accounts of her early performances where the writer catches the breathlessness of what it must have been like to watch her.) I remember being really struck in reading Kchessinska's autobiography, her response to Isadora DUncan -- Kchessinska's book is most ly about all the applause she got and the dinners she ate and hte wine she drank, BUT she says when she first saw Isadora, she got so excited she jumped up on her chair and cheered...... and that made me really wish I'd seen HER

I love your list -- they'd all be on mine, too; I especially like "Private Domain," it's such a mess, but it is just intoxicating.... I REALLY like "I Remember Balanchine" -- It's not BY a dancer, but by MANY dancers, interviewed by Francis MAson, and it gives a fascinating mosaic of impressions of him in action with them -- nearly 50 of them, from Russian days all the way though to the end -- also a few telling interviews with non-dancers...... (DON'T MISS the little chapter by WIlliam Weslow; my God , that''s lively) Sorry, I jumped RIGHT AWAY off topic..... but it was the first that came to mind..... I really admire Margot Fonteyn's autobiography -- what's it called? "Out in hte limelight, home in hte rain" is the phrase that comes to mind..... like Karsavina, she was a wonderful person...

I love your list -- they'd all be on mine, too; I especially like "Private Domain," it's such a mess, but it is just intoxicating.... I REALLY like "I Remember Balanchine" -- It's not BY a dancer, but by MANY dancers, interviewed by Francis MAson, and it gives a fascinating mosaic of impressions of him in action with them -- nearly 50 of them, from Russian days all the way though to the end -- also a few telling interviews with non-dancers...... (DON'T MISS the little chapter by WIlliam Weslow; my God , that''s lively) Sorry, I jumped RIGHT AWAY off topic..... but it was the first that came to mind..... I really admire Margot Fonteyn's autobiography -- what's it called? "Out in hte limelight, home in hte rain" is the phrase that comes to mind..... like Karsavina, she was a wonderful person...

tangential excursus on "naming opportunities" -- let's pray it's like Cape Kennedy, and the name falls off after 25 years..... "3-COm Stadium; Cadillac WInter Garden", oy weh....... We had a big social revolution in hte 60's and waves upon waves of consequences are following -- I was in favor of it, and agitated for it, and I guess I'm mostly STILL in favor of it, but I don't like it that classical music doesn't have social clout any more, there's not even new Loonie Tunes making FUN of classical music.......

Glebb, I'm really sorry if I implied that you didn't know Giselle; if I had one millionth of hte actual experience of making these great roles come to life that you have.... you're SO right about Gelsey -- in fact, hte way she does those develloppees, supported by the soloists bourreeing around her, is a passage I'd quote to anybody as a great example of poetry in phrasing -- look how she brings the leg DOWN; each devellooppe is a pas de cheval, enlarged to show detail, but with a perfect arc in its phrasing.....

Glebb, I'm really sorry if I implied that you didn't know Giselle; if I had one millionth of the actual experience of making these great roles come to life that you have.... you're SO right about Gelsey -- in fact, the way she does those develloppees, supported by the soloists bourreeing around her, is a passage I'd quote to anybody as a great example of poetry in phrasing -- look how she brings the leg DOWN; each develloppe is a pas de cheval, enlarged to show detail, but with a perfect arc in its phrasing.....

Actually, Myrtha and Giselle have very important penchees -- extremely significant moments in that ballet -- how high is too high on one of those? I don't think I want to see 6 o'clock -- but in any case, hte important thing is not hte height but hte phrasing, the whole hting has got t o be a kind of reverence, a gesture on hte grandest scale, and it's MORE hte movement, than the position that matters..... just last Friday, Muriel Maffre's opening solo at SFB was near perfection -- the action was on hte grandest scale, but she performed it utterly in character -- she stepped into arabesquewith SUCH decision, swept into the promenade with no visible preparation, and descended into magnificent, deep penchees, all with no sense of haste nor second-guessing, and in hte temps lie after each arabesque swept back into breathtaking cambre before starting he other side......

Actually, Myrtha and Giselle have very important penchees -- extremely significant moments in that ballet -- how high is too high on one of those? I don't think I want to see 6 o'clock -- but in any case, hte important thing is not hte height but hte phrasing, the whole hting has got t o be a kind of reverence, a gesture on hte grandest scale, and it's MORE hte movement, than the position that matters..... just last Friday, Muriel Maffre's opening solo at SFB was near perfection -- the action was on hte grandest scale, but she performed it utterly in character -- she stepped into arabesquewith SUCH decision, swept into the promenade with no visible preparation, and descended into magnificent, deep penchees, all with no sense of haste nor second-guessing, and in hte temps lie after each arabesque swept back into breathtaking cambre before starting he other side......

what a great topic!!!!! Glebb, you're in clover... "ya lioubliou vas" -- It's Lensky's aria from Tchaikovsky's opera, Eugene Onegin, really beautiful, you'll be singing it for hte rest of your life after hearing it only once.... check it out Well Balletnut, Ballets Russes dancers live and work among us.... VIlzak and Schollar have only recently passed on, and Sergei Temoff.... you could look up Mark Platt, who lives in Marin somewhere, grew up in Oregon or Seattle or someplace and got taken into the BR by Massine -- you could go rent 7 Brides for 7 Brothers first if you wanted to complement him on his performance.... Or down your way there's Carlos Carvajal, who was in hte Marquis de Cuevas's company and one of hte Ballets Russes-- he's now running Peninsula Ballet in San Mateo....... Lots of dancers at Oakland Ballet can talk about working with Massine -- Michael Lowe is VERY interesting on hte subject..... Julie Lowe is eloquent about what it was like having Freddie Franklin set Giselle on her...... THese dancers were VERY GOoD in those ballets.......... It's hard not to be in love with Karsavina afer reading "THeater Street." I agree, I think I'd like Taglioni... I have met Violette Verdy, who's flat out one of the nicest people I've EVER met -- so interesting, so smart, funny, insightful -- and also, she told me she'd call me later in the week and let me know if Farrell was not going to make the tour, and she didn't forget to call..... I hung out after a "stars of hte Bolshoi" in Berkeley in 1973 waiting for Plisetskaya-- after half an hour I gave up, but I noticed a limousine parked behind some bushes by an obscure side door, and 3 or 4 diehard fans, and hung with them, and sure enough, out she came, about up to my shoulder in a sable coat and high heels -- I gave her a little vial of carroway seeds I'd brought to the show with me (I'm sorry, it's the truth, I'm affected) and she said "I don' speak English" and I said "You broke my heart" and she said "Don't break your heart" and signed her name up the side of her leg in the Carmen center-fold in the program, and I'l never stop thinking she's the coolest thing that ever was......

The 16th Annual Isadora Duncan Dance Awards were presented Tuesday, April 30, 2002, in San Francisco. THe awards are part of the legacy of Richard Le Blond, who came to San Francisco to save the then-foundering SanFrancisco Ballet, which he did by not only putting the ballet on a sound financial footing but also by making common cause with all the dance cultures thriving in the Bay Area. The Izzies were instituted to acknowledge excellence in ANY form of dance originating in the Bay Area, and all performances are judged on that basis. The winners are starred; all finalists are listed. THe jurors will be listed at the end of this article. Visit the web-site at http://www.izzies-sf.org/ CHOREOGRAPHY * VAL CANIPAROLI, Death of a Moth, for San Francisco Ballet . Sonya Delwaide, Suite Sans Suite (Part 2), for Axis Dance Company . Kim Epifano, Deseos Desnudos . Alonzo King, Following the Subtle Current Upstream, for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre . Mark Morris, A Garden, for San Francisco Ballet INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE * JOANNA BERMAN in The Sleeping Beauty (Marius Petipa/Helgi Tomasson), with San Francisco Ballet * CHARYA BURT in Reamker (traditional) with the Charya Burt Classical Cambodian Dance Group in the San Francisco Ethnic Dance FestivaL * LA TANIA in Tientos and Martinete at the Cowell Theater . Joan Boada in The Prodigal Son (George Balanchine), with San Francisco Ballet . Laura Elaine Ellis in When Strength is My Weakness (Laura Elaine Ellis), during Summerfest . Yukie Fujimoto in Apéro (Sonya Delwaide), in “Les Invités” at ODC Theater ENSEMBLE * VIVIEN DAI, AILEEN KIM, and SHARON SATO in “She Knelt and Through Her Tears Crossed the Sticks” from Rice Women (Sue Li Jue), with Facing East Dance and Music * BRIAN FISHER and BRANDON FREEMAN in Trä (Sonya Delwaide), in “Les Invités” * ROMAN RYKINE, GENNADI NEDVIGUINE, KRISTIN LONG, TINA LE BLANC, and KATITA WALDO in The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude (William Forsythe), with San Francisco Ballet . Tina Kay Bohnstedt, Karyn Lee Connell, Erika Johnson and Corinne Jonas in Women’s Stories (Kelly Teo), with Diablo Ballet . Kara Davis and Leanne Ringelstein in Otherwise (Janice Garrett), with Janice Garrett and Dancers . Austin Forbord and Shelley Trott in The Real Thing (RAPT Performance Group), at the BAP Arts Spring Gala . Maggie Moon and Kevin St. Laurent in Lindy Hop (Maggie Moon and Kevin St. Laurent), guest artists with Dance Through Time COMPANY PERFORMANCE * BARBARY COAST CLOGGERS in Appalachian Overdrive at the Palace of Fine Arts Theater * ROBERT MOSES’ KIN for their entire season at the Gershwin and Cowell Theaters . Diamano Coura in Kasonde (Zakarya and Naomi Diouf), at the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival . Joe Goode Performance Group in an outdoor installation preceding What the Body Knows (Joe Goode), at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts . Colhida & Temur Koridze's Children's Dance Company, at the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival REVIVAL/ RESTAGING/ RECONSTRUCTION * BALLET SAN JOSE SILICON VALLEY, for restagings of Rainbow ‘Round My Shoulder (Donald McKayle) and Gaité Parisienne (Leonide Massine) . Sonya Delwaide for the revival of her work Apéro during “Les Invités” . San Francisco Ballet for the revival of Pacific (Mark Morris) SOUND (Music or Text) * JOHN SANTOS for music, Union Fraternal (Robert Moses), for Oakland Ballet . Elaine Buckholtz and Kim Epifano for music composition and vocal sound score, Below Zero (Kim Epifano) . Bruce Ghent for music, Garden of Non-Duality (Krissy Keefer) . Krissy Keefer for text, Cave Women (Krissy Keefer) . David Worm and SoVoSo for music, Resonate! (Amelia Rudolph) for Project Bandaloop COSTUMES * MARIO ALONZO for Axis Dance Company’s entire program at the Cowell Theater . Zak Diouf and Naomi Diouf for Jussat , Diamano Coura . Michael Kruzich for Otherwise (Janice Garrett), Janice Garret and Dancers LIGHTING * ALEXANDER V. NICHOLS for the entire “Les Invités” program (Sonya Delwaide) . Matthew Antaky for Otherwise (Janice Garrett), Janice Garrett and Dancers . Matthew DeGumbia for Monk at the Met/Feast of Souls (Sara Shelton Mann/Contraband), Contraband . Alexander Nichols for Axis Dance Company’s entire program at the Cowell Theater VISUAL DESIGN * LAUREN ELDER for set design, Below Zero (Kim Epifano) . Richard Jue for set and video design, Rice Women (Sue Li Jue), for Facing East Dance and Music . Doug Rosenberg for video design, What the Body Knows (Joe Goode), for Joe Goode Performance Group . Jim Campbell for video design, Spectral Evidence (Brenda Way), for ODC/San Francisco . Joe Williams and Krissy Keefer for visual design, Garden of Non-Duality (Krissy Keefer), for Dance Brigade at the San Francisco Lesbian and Gay Dance Festival SUSTAINED ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS * ANGENE FEVES has been a leading specialist and advocate for the preservation and appreciation of baroque dances for more than three decades. A charter member of the Oakland Ballet in the 1960s, Feves studied early Renaissance dance manuals and early music at San Francisco State University, and has since taught the history and technique of early classical dance at the University of Nevada, the San Francisco Early Music Society, San Rafael’s Dominican College, and the Civic Arts of Walnut Creek (a city-sponsored arts program she founded), as well as at innumerable other institutions and international conferences. She contributed entries on historic dance reconstruction to the International Dance Encyclopedia, and her presentations of reconstructed dances with the Consortium Antiquum’s Court Revels, where she has served as artistic director since 1970, enhance the understanding of dance and its evolution for today’s Bay Area dancers of all forms and styles. * ELVIA MARTA just marked her 20th year teaching dance at the San Francisco School of the Arts, where she is now director of the dance department. Her inspiring modern/jazz/blues classes at the School, and at Rhythm and Motion where she has taught for nearly two decades, have spurred many of her students to become award-winning choreographers and members of such companies as ODC/San Francisco and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Marta is a native of Panama who moved to the Bay Area 30 years ago and received her B.A. in dance from San Francisco State University. She was a member of the San Francisco Opera Ballet for two seasons in 1979-80 and has danced for such companies and choreographers as Roberta Flack Live, Dance Company Impulse, and Enrico Labayen. SPECIAL AWARDS * CITICENTRE has provided a treasury of dance classes, particularly in African Diaspora dance forms, to the Bay Area dance community for 25 years. Located in and sponsored by Oakland’s Alice Arts Center since 1993, CitiCentre offers 57 free and low-cost classes in Congolese, Zimbabwean, Nigerian, Afro-Brazilian, Jazz, Hip-Hop, and Ancient Hula styles of dance, as well as many others. More than 1,000 dancers take class at CitiCentre each week, and the organization is home to 13 resident dance companies, including Savage Jazz Dance, Fua Dia Conga, Diamano Coura, and African Queens, and provides a home for many individual choreographers. * ODC/SAN FRANCISCO, for the DANCE JAM children’s company, and their annual productions of THE VELVETEEN RABBIT, which have paved new inroads for young audiences to learn about and develop an appreciation for modern dance. The Velveteen Rabbit, conceived by choreographer KT Nelson in 1985 and presented in full every holiday season since 1989, has provided an important family-entertainment complement to the annual spate of Nutcracker ballet productions, giving children an entrancing, accessible first brush with modern dance. ODC Dance Jam, which performs alongside the professional company in The Velveteen Rabbit, began in 1995 as a children’s company with 10 original members. The ODC School launched its kids program in 1997 and has since taught modern dance to nearly 600 Bay Area children. The Isadora Duncan Dance Awards Committee is composed of Cal Anderson Sheila Baumgarten Mary Cochran Rachel Howard Angela Johnson Jared Kaplan Crystal Mann Virginia Matthews Nemesio Paredes Paul Parish Anandha Ray Renee Renouf Kathryn Roszak Aimee Ts’ao The Isadora Duncan Dance Awards Committee http://www.izzies-sf.org/ or c/o San Francisco Performing Arts Library and Museum 401 Van Ness Avenue, Fourth Floor San Francisco, CA 94102

Well, Glebb, with respect, both Symphony in C and THeme and Variations require high extensions -- Symphony in C has 6 o'clock penchees -- and the ballerinas are in tutus...... though 180 a la seconde is I guess what you're thinking about...

Well, Glebb, with respect, both Symphony in C and THeme and Variations require high extensions -- Symphony in C has 6 o'clock penchees -- and the ballerinas are in tutus...... though 180 a la seconde is I guess what you're thinking about...

Much to chew on here.. But for hte nonce I'd like to get back to the original question, and ask if there wasn't some falling OFF from the era of Tallchief, Leclerc, and Kent into official big-time era? There's somethng fresh, unbelievable brilliant about the choreography of hte period 4 T's through Bugaku that doesn't seem to have stayed at quite that level afterwards....