Setpoint99

Good idea, Amy. As to whether that could happen, I agree that we don't know offhand whether ". . . kickstart is . . . the sort of tool open to an organization like the Trust or the producers of the video." Secondly, as you know, startup proposals on these websites ask for a specific, minimum amount of financing. It may not be possible to accurately estimate the total cost required for the complicated and uncertain effort to renew creative rights for a Balanchine video. But maybe I'm wrong--I would like to be wrong on this. I would like to see it all happen, somehow.

For starters, I would like to get the "Balanchine Celebration" performances from VHS tapes onto DVD. I wasn't aware that they are from the post-Balanchine era. Yes--even better, as you point out, Jack--would be videos of ballets performed under Balanchine's supervision. They are, after all, the "gold standard" versions of his work. I, too, have been concerned about the loss of fidelity to the original Balanchine dances through successive generations of dancers at NYC Ballet. (Incidentally, the Trust does make a good faith effort. For example, for performances of Balanchine dances by other ballet companies--which are not the subject of discussion here--the Balanchine Trust requires use of its preceptors to try to maintain quality control, but nothing is as good as what I would call the "first-generation" performances by the NYC Ballet itself.) Further on this subject, Jennifer Homans, author of Apollo's Angels: A History of Ballet, laments the decline in performance quality of ballet dancers in general: "Committed and well-trained dancers are still in good supply, but very few are exciting or interesting enough to draw or hold an audience. Technically conservative, their dancing is opaque and flat, emotionally dimmed. And although many can perform astonishing stunts, the overall level of technique has fallen. Today’s dancers are more brittle and unsubtle, with fewer half-tones than their predecessors." Do they need someone to personally inspire and energize them . . . someone like a Balanchine? See <http://www.tnr.com/print/article/books-and-arts/78263/ballet-over> for an excerpt of her book. As you note, Jack, "some of the obstacles may be insuperable." Yes, it may be harder to find every party involved than to merely get their actual signoffs. California raises an excellent point. The Balanchine Trust also could get revenue from making the videos available for download on iTunes. And they could be streamed by services such as Netflix. On a slightly different subject, the Balanchine Foundation has other video material not available for purchase by the masses. It sells a video (in VHS or DVD format--see <http://balanchine.org/balanchine/03/musicdances.html>) to "educational institutions": "Music Dances: Balanchine Choreographs Stravinsky." The Balanchine Foundation says, "The video aims to reach a wide audience, non-specialists in dance or music, students as well as scholars." Also, the Foundation's website says, "The George Balanchine Foundation Video Archives consists of two collections: the Archive of Lost Choreography and the Interpreters Archive. With the video archive program, the Foundation offers an invaluable reference tool that preserves forever Balanchine's views about his own choreography. The Archive of Lost Choreography is dedicated to the retrieval of Balanchine choreography no longer performed and in danger of permanently disappearing. The Interpreters Archive features the creators of important Balanchine roles as they teach and coach the roles with dancers of today. This provides a unique record of the choreography as it first took shape." Master tapes of the above archives are at the NYC Library for the Performing Arts, with copies available at what the Foundation describes as "non-circulating research repositories around the world." (See <http://balanchine.org/balanchine/03/gbfvideoarchives.html>.) Why not allow such videos to be sold or streamed to a wider audience? I'm sure that many balletomanes would be interested in viewing them. The videos may be specialized, technical, not of mass appeal, and not performances per se, but those who would be interested are a self-selected group certainly be willing to pay to see them. At any rate, I've just ordered the book, Stravinsky and Balanchine: A Journey of Invention, by Charles M. Joseph, a fine tale of that wondrous, sublime, and creative partnership. One can at least dream about the past.

Yes, carbro and bart, I think it essential that Balanchine's legacy not diminish in the public eye. Otherwise, the memory of his incandescent dances, despite best efforts by The Balanchine Trust, Balanchine Foundation, and the NYC Ballet, will have flared brilliantly but briefly, before fading to the background noise of mere dance history--rather like the brief moment of a supernova against the infinite dark firmament. You have an excellent idea, bart: Let's make a clarion call on this forum and elsewhere for Balanchine lovers to urge that the effort be made to get rights re-approved so a DVD can be produced. If a flood of such requests hits like a tidal wave, the Balanchine Trust would have to pay attention to such widespread sentiment, and maybe rethink its position that the potential market for a DVD is not great enough to merit the effort. According to the website of The Balanchine Trust: "Along with Founding Trustees Karin von Aroldingen and Barbara Horgan, three additional Trustees, Paul H. Epstein, Susan Hendl, and Kay Mazzo Bellas were appointed to serve in shaping policy and practice with regard to the licenses, copyrights, and trademarks of George Balanchine’s works." (Incidentally, my original post had a minor error: Karin von Aroldingen is [also] Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of The Balanchine FOUNDATION, not the Trust.) So, I'll assume that Karin von Aroldingen is the relevant point of contact for those who wish the Trust to pursue "re-upping" the rights to enable production of a DVD. Here is her contact information at the Balanchine Foundation: Karin von Aroldingen Vice Chairman Board of Directors The George Balanchine Foundation David H. Koch Theater 20 Lincoln Center New York, NY 10023 Tel: 212.799.3196 And here, for the record, is contact info for the Balanchine Trust: The George Balanchine Trust 20 Lincoln Center New York, NY 10023 Tel: 212.870.5646 I think letters would have more impact. We could maximize this effort by posting announcements at other dance and arts forums. Also, could someone start an online petition to urge the Trust to make the effort? In a perfect world, some person or organization would provide an grant to The Balanchine Trust to pay a creative rights attorney (under the Trust's supervision) to take the labyrinthine journey to get re-permissions for the various rights. Or, perhaps some high-profile, prestigious law firm would do the work pro bono. Perhaps we all can work together to make something happen. Any further ideas or suggestions?

As a lover of Balanchine's ballets, I have long been disappointed that videos of some of the best of Mr. B's dances are not easily available in video. Specifically, the two VHS-tape series "Balanchine Celebration," Parts 1 and 2, are no longer in production, and their current prices on Amazon.com are very high (Part 1 currently priced at $250 new or $179-and-upward used, and Part 2 at $345 new). Those tapes contain seminal performances of, for example, "Apollo" and "Agon," among my personal favorites. (It is true that another performance of Apollo is available on the DVD, "Jacques D' Amboise: Portrait of an American Dancer," but the version on the VHS series is also wonderful and should still be available.) So, I wrote a letter to Karin von Aroldingen, Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of The Balanchine Trust (and a former principal dancer with NYC Ballet during Mr. B's time there), urging them to reissue that VHS tape series as a DVD. I received an e-mail reply from Ellen Sorrin, Director of the Trust. Here is an excerpt: "The Balanchine Trust does not have the means to re-release those television programs you mention, as we do not own the rights to the entire program, only to the choreographic rights. The producers of the programs would have to re-up the rights from all rights holders, including the Balanchine Trust, in order to release the material again. "We agree that the material that was filmed when Mr. Balanchine was alive and supervising their recording should be available for all to see. But it is more complicated than that, and while we would support producers who wanted to do that with our rights, it is a huge undertaking that not many producers can do in this economic climate. ". . . Hopefully, one day technology will allow their being accessible to those who honor them, as you do." Alas, no joy.