pherank

I don't think it's any different from what has happened in the film world: Cinema attendance in North America was at an all time high in 1939, I believe, but the advent of TV, and these days, all the online options, and cable TV options, continue to keep attendance low. Humans in general defnitely prefer to not move a muscle over actually moving their bodies in space and time to participate in an event. ;)

Excellent idea, Bart, and I wonder if RDL has done any sort of survey similar to what you mention. They do have a message page on which people have left some very nice comments... http://www.royal-de-luxe.com/en/messages-wall/ "I am 8 and I thought it was the most amazing thing ever my mummy cried but she was happy. I go to a rock climbing centre and one day I want to be a Lilliputian too…Can I?" (presumably the Lilliputians are the marionette operators - makes sense) "Dear Mr Courcoult and your amazing team Thank you so much for bringing the most amazing thing I have ever seen in my life to Liverpool. The whole weekend was magical from the moment the Uncle woke up and emerged from the Mersey to Xoxo licking bus stops and finally the beautiful reunion. I can't describe how much excitement and joy you and your company brought to our city and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for choosing to visit us. I love you all" "absolutely brilliant, charming, dangerous and fun - I was a special effects supervisor in the UK for more than 30 years and your work is high class art and engineering combined, just fantastic." "In an age of computers and everything done yesterday you stopped an entire city for 3 majestic days with a giant Punch and Judy. My children still talk about it now and amazement will be with me till the end of days." I guess that means they like it. ;) I suppose that kind of explains why RDL do what they do - How many of us get that kind of reaction from the work that we do? It's fun to be a part of theatre.

I highly recommend the Cousins' 5 part documentary, The Story of Film: An Odyssey which is airing on TCM during September. But it can also be seen online on Amazon and Netfix. The LA Times has an article on it here: http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-et-mn-odyssey-classic-hollywood-20130902,0,1680686.story Amazon video link (watch the preview): http://www.amazon.com/Birth-The-Cinema-Hollywood-Dream/dp/B00AMQ1B1O Cousins, who does the narration as well, is Irish, and it sounds like he is fluent in French too. His taste in films/directors/cinematographers to highlight is quite excellent, imo. And since he's not American, he doesn't feel the need to discuss Hollywood to the exclusion of everyone else's contributions to the art of film. It's a well balanced approach, and there are some wonderful rarities that get mention throughout the 15 hour documentary. Here's one section that is available on YouTube - talking about director Yasujiro Ozu: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yx3HAEq0gJs

My impressions have been very similar to yours, Bart -- I've been trying to figure out how to verbalize precisely what "art" this is. There are elements of performance art, environmental art and stagecraft in the RDL productions, but as you've noticed, there's an unusual quality to these out-of-proportion creations - people react differently to massive marionettes as compared to a typical puppet show. It's telling us something, but I haven't put my finger on just what. ;)

Agreed. It is certainly the fair thing to do. Dance For You is based in Germany, no? So I'm not surprised at the heavy Germanic slant, but they should make it more clear where their sympathies lie by publishing the list of judges/critics too.

I don't actually question Macaulay's capabilities as a dance writer, but I do question his choices, and perhaps his ethics. This just appeared on another thread, but this BEST OF SEASON 2012 - 2013 list pretty much ignores any contribution from the Americas. Apparently Julie Kent was the only exceptional US dancer this past year - and Sonia Rodriguez in Canada. Sonia Rodriguez, National Ballet of Canada

I looked over the list quickly, but only noticed Julie Kent at ABT and Sonia Rodriguez at National Ballet of Canada. It's a pretty offensive list for us North Americans.

JSMU, you are totally entitled to your viewpoint. Ballet dancers are more than athletes, or technicians. They are supposed to be artists, which is a whole different realm, and a very subjective one. The All-American Ballerinas have to be exceptional interpreters of their art form. If you've read through the entire thread(s) on this subject, and been a reader of Macaulay's articles, then you know that one of the main themes of this thread has been Macaulay's need to praise one dancer by putting down others. As Jock Soto put it, "Dear Alastair Macaulay, if you are going to write about great ballerinas, can you do so without insulting them? Also if you knew what these ballerinas do to become themselves then why don't you put on a pair of Pointe shoes for the next twenty years. It's time for the NY Times to fire you. Have a nice day." Please don't do the same thing by putting down one deserving dancer to raise your own champion. [interesting that in this case Macaulay himself would probably disagree with you.] Enjoy the dancing of Frances Chung this upcoming season: it should be a really good season (if they can just get their labor contract signed).

You can cast your vote, Dirac: Just creepy? Or fascinating? The images above kind of skew impressions - Royal de Luxe doesn't just create enormous walking marionettes. To get a better idea of their range, on their website's "Pictures Wall", click on "The True History of France", or "The Mannequin's Revolt", or "Petits Contes Negres, Titre Provisoire" buttons to view various startling images...

I know, I know. ;) But very cool once upon a time.

Sorry, no, I have to disagree with that statement. . There aren't an awful lot of dance writers these days that can be truly inspiring in their words - not like an Edwin Denby.

Something I stumbled upon recently (so I guess I'm way behind the times) - The Giant Marionettes of Royal de Luxe theatre group: http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2012/05/the-giant-marionettes-of-royal-de-luxe/100293/ [You probably need to get past an advertisement first to see the article] The group's website has a "picture wall" that allows you to view stills and videos of various past projects: http://www.royal-de-luxe.com/en/pictures-wall/ When I look through the production photos and videos (which come at the end of the photo slideshows), I am instantly reminded of both filmmaker Terry Gilliam and the somewhat more infamous Mark Pauline of Survival Research Laboratories (based in the San Francisco Bay Area). The love for enormous, ungainly, Rube Goldberg devices, and the machinery of stage productions is self-evident: instead of hiding the ropes and wires that create the magic of the stage, the ropes, wires and contraptions become the aesthetic. The fact that all props and characters are colossal, and cumbersome, and the attending humans are rendered diminutive, seems to be the point here. I'm curious how others react to this approach to art and theatre. Youtube has some live video from a show or two, but the art group's website has additional video...

Sorry, I just couldn't resist - the Mariinsky Ballet (Obraztsova, Tkachenko, Fadeyev) dancing an infrequently performed ballet from beginning to end... http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/NagSCI3Cq-k/ [ And if the direct link doesn't want to play, it can be very slow to initially load, then find the video on this search page: http://www.soku.com/t/nisearch/Balanchine/ ]

And shockingly, the Royal Ballet broadcasts are planned for my area - so far...

I can't say that I'm totally surprised as this last season was not particularly charming, imo. And without charm, there's nothing to draw people in. In the last episode - the 'finale' - we see the BW dancers are invited to perform at a private fund raising gala. They perform and join in the party at a very upscale L.A. home, but it is a small gathering that we see on camera, and somehow it feels rather lackluster, and lot of trouble to go to for a contribution. But I'm sure Adam Sklute also intended it as a fun end-of-season outing for the company. But a few of his dancers are dealing with real troubles in their private lives, especially Bennett and Ruud, who we learn are divorcing. Which just brings everything to a low ebb. At least there was very little of Zach Prentice in the finale (sorry Zach fans!). When I think back over the 2 seasons, the only things I really learned about concerned interviews/contracts and company apprenticeships. Any real information concerning the ballets danced was mostly omitted, or cut into little bits. Not charming, and really not inspiring.

Very fun, Sidwich - thank you. Crazy fast dancing. That bleached blond and her partner were pretty funny too.

It's been fun for all, and I'll just mention that Chrisitan Cudnik has updated the Ballet Initiative website rather dramatically (good job on the much improved interface) and added some new-old interviews. The one with Jacques d'Amboise is recommended by moi. I love how Jacques talks about 'hanging out with the great people' by reading - and takes time to talk about Tanny Le Clercq.

Thank you for sharing, RG. These Jeu de Cartes Knave/Jack costumes are reminiscent of the KKK - I have to wonder if that was intentional.

An interesting Mariinsky Facebook posting:

I personally have lived in a number of the better places around the SF Bay Area, (though when I actually lived in SF proper I was definitely poor and shared housing), so I know what it takes to survive in the area. Just to scrape by, and pay for apartment rent (entirely by yourself), and your own health insurance as well as other insurances, plus food and a little entertainment requires about $4000 a month AFTER taxes. (But you can forget about vacation packages - try driving somewhere and camping out). Obviously, if you can find a "deal" on housing, or you and your partner share rental expenses, and even health insurance expenses, then there's more money for all the personal extras. The 2008-2009 salaries quoted above show me that Corps dancers are barely squeezing by, or not. Principal dancers are obviously the best off, and they have other opportunities for money making that aren't as available to the lower-ranking members of the company.

That would of course involve the musician's union. I've been trying to figure out just how many unions or associations are involved in putting on a ballet performance at the War Memorial Opera house. Presumably the ones I list below - but what others? AGMA Musicians Union Stage Managers' Association International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees Stage Directors and Choreographers Society Teamsters From 2008: The Contract Behind the Curtain: A Glimpse into the San Francisco Ballet Dancer’s Contract http://www.imaginelaw.com/lawyer-attorney-1286974.html

Apparently the article link has changed to: http://www.backstage.com/news/ballet-negotiation-could-be-big-deal-dancers/ Note that the abrasive statements made in the article are coming from Alan Gordon, national executive director of AGMA, not necessarily from the negotiating committee as Dancemaven points out. So far, I've found no additional information on the negotiations. Gordon's statement that “We want some demonstrable evidence that the company is willing to treat the dancers better than everybody else” seems to be the crux of the matter, and that attitude will definitely rub many people the wrong way. What does it really mean? And how does one measure such things? On a side note (and if anyone cares) -- through the wonders of the Internet, the former AGMA agreement with SFB is available online as a PDF.

It's Time to Face the Music Season 2, Ep. 8 Original Air Date: Sep 9, 2013 "With closing night of "Cinderella" just around the corner, the dancers continue to give it all they've got." Most thrilling episode of all? Or anticlimactic letdown? Or still sleep inducing? You make the call!

Hear hear. I'd like to add that union negotiators do not represent artists as such, they represent dues paying union members. Thus the obnoxious, bullying tone developed to deal with presumably obnoxious management. A kind of one-size-fits-all script (because we're all cliches, I guess). Very sad. The artists need to be paid a decent wage, and the company actually needs to survive, or no one gets paid or has a career, and the audiences have no art. I've always supported the IDEA of unions, but this one of a thousand examples of how badly they can function in practice. Note how little the AGMA union reps have in common with their members. Through a strange coincidence, last night I just happened to read Toni Bentley's Winter Season description of labor negotions at NYCB, and how they came close to shutting down the company for good. This same situation comes up in some other books, but Bentley's description is especially personal, and actually rather humorous when she talks about what their union meetings looked like: "Meetings are a curious coming together of two worlds -- young dancers and middle-aged, rotund, complacent union people...We sit on the floor cracking our necks, stretching our toes, braiding our hair, giving massages, chewing gum, drinking soda and smoking...We attempt to explain to these men our perverse and unique situation. We are under the dictatorship of one man, whom we adore and respect, and his every whim is our law, no questions asked." EDIT: And for those who have been wondering about the recent sponsorships of principal dancers (all non-US citizens), this situation may have something to do with that. All the dancers have to be paid for somehow. http://balletalert.invisionzone.com/index.php?/topic/37699-sfb-sponsored-principal-dancers/

Looking lovely at the San Francisco Symphony Opening Night Gala: http://www.sfballetblog.org/2013/09/yuan-yuan-gala/ Rubbing shoulders with the rich and famous patrons at these galas seems to be a necessary part of the life of a principal dancer.