pherank

Another engrossing interview - thanks to Christian Cudnik. Keep up the good work.

I'm wondering about a couple of things.

First of all, the ideas summarized in your two quoted paragraphs are clearly oversimplifications. In fact,

they seem to confirm some rather old stereotypes about the radical difference between Northern versus Southern European cultures, along with assertions of the superiority of the former over the latter..

Also, as ballet lovers, shouldn't we be a bit on the side of the "liturgists"?. Reading can't tell us everything we need to know, Nor can intellectual analysis. Sometimes "doing" something in a serious, committed, even sacred manner (either as ritual, or dance, or other performance art) is an equally profound way of accessing knowledge.

Which suggests that an active education in the arts is something that ideally should go hand in hand with the kind of intellectual training that the writers of the article above are advocating. Thinking in terms of the paragraphs quoted above, we might think of this as a union of "Northern" and "Southern" European types, both of which are of great value to us as individuals and as culture.

The Solman quote acts as the lead in the to the article, so I think it purposefully presents the reader with the popular sterotypes before presenting a new theory about Jews and economics.

"Shouldn't we be a bit on the side of the 'liturgists'?" Or as Balanchine once said, "Byzantine icons, dear."

That certainly makes some sense, though I personally try not to take 'sides' as that generally translates to being on a particular 'team' and wearing their uniform, talking the right talk. That's where all the problems start for me. Dancing as a non-book form of knowledge makes perfect sense: there's lots of stored information/memory involved, but it is not a worship of "the word" (which may be why religious sects often want to ban such activities). Dance does seem to be about activites of the body and mind that are beyond language, but I don't happen to see that as a danger to alphabetic language, jsut an expression of other aspects of the mind/body.

I find it a refreshing idea: to use a dancer as model. I do tire of all the reed thin models in the same standard poses.

Yeah, they should start using ballerinas. Because THEY're not reed thin....

They have lots of muscle tone. And it depends on the body type: a Sara Mearns or Carrie Imler does not look like a stick. Neither for that matter do Aurélie Dupont, Marie-Agnès Gillot or Agnes Letestu.

I'm guessing you're thinking of the Russian predilection for super-thin body types (Zakharova, Lopatkina, perhaps), but they do have muscle, and apparently, stamina. Still, I prefer more meat on the bones.

I find it a refreshing idea: to use a dancer as model. I do tire of all the reed thin models in the same standard poses.

Masha just traveled to NYC for a shoot with Gene Schiavone:

At the time, I was told that a benefit of a humanities-based education included such abilities as -- comprehending and using language/ analyzing and comparing texts/ asking questions and knowing how to research them/ learning new material efficiently/ and the ability to place texts of all sorts into a larger social and political contexts. Pretty much everything I have done in life since those days has required and rewarded those abilities. I'm, grateful to my high school and college teachers and curriculum-writers for having taken such things seriously.

Amen to that, Bart. Something that I hear quite a lot these days with regard to training or education, is, "it was just a waste of my time/or money". Because it didn't lead to an obvious job or career path. I can't recall learning about ANYTHING that hasn't proven to be useful knowledge in some manner. There's obviously been a radical shift over the course of my (and our) lifetime regarding the role of education in society, and its value to the citizenry.

There was an excellent article relating to education and its effect on a society in the PBS program, The Chosen Few: A New Explanation of Jewish Success (Study by Maristella Botticini and Zvi Eckstein). The long and short of it: education good, no curiosity and illiteracy, bad. ;)

A note from Paul Solman: Nine years ago, someone sent me an academic paper that put forward a radically new explanation of why Jews have been so successful economically. Written by economists Maristella Botticini and Zvi Eckstein, the paper explained Jewish success in terms of early literacy in the wake of Rome's destruction of the Temple in 70 C.E. and the subsequent dispersion of Jews throughout the Roman empire - Jews who had to rely on their own rabbis and synagogues to sustain their religion instead of the high priests in Jerusalem.

You may know a similar story about the Protestant Reformation: the bypassing of the Catholic clergy and their Latin liturgy for actual reading of Scripture in native languages and the eventual material benefits of doing so. Why is Northern Europe -- Germany, Holland, England, Sweden -- so much more prosperous than Southern Europe: Portugal, Italy, Greece, Spain? Why do the latter owe the former instead of the other way around? Might it have something to do with the Protestant legacy of the North, the Catholic legacy of the South?

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/businessdesk/2013/04/the-chosen-few-a-new-explanati.html

The schedule is now updated with the Tanaquil film (2 dates - September 30 and October 11):

http://www.filmlinc.com/nyff2013/pages/nyff51-schedule

How fun is that?!!! I envy anyone able to go. Perhaps this should be announced in the Heads Up board as well.

It's timely that this appears now, at the start of school; I have to spend a good deal of time introducing students to the idea that we're going to think about literature and analyze texts--even, gasp, make arguments about them, not just rhapsodize about how much we love them.

The subject is also timely because many graduates of the English/Humanities disciplines are currently in the news (we just don't know their names). That is because one of the larger employers of humanities graduates (especially post-graduate) is the Intelligence Community, and beyond that, the Foreign Diplomatic Corps. Of course it helps to know another language as well. But these ‘lucky’ employees are not being hired simply for their language skills, but also for their analytical abilities.

A good essay topic might involve the ethics of hiring students of the humanities into the intelligence community. And is it all bad? Well not when they avert some catastrophe on behalf of their nation - then the citizens tolerate them, but when the Intelligence community just looks to be part of the problem, then the citizenry get very angry. It's really hard to tell if the present day Intelligence Community, and Diplomatic Corps, are any more or less effective than their predecessors going back 3000 years.

My own mother (an Honors English major) and her good friend (an Honors Sociology major) were both approached by the NSA upon graduation. Her friend accepted.

So if English majors are wondering where they can find jobs – it helps to know what firms are involved in research, analysis and writing....

I do see your point, bart, but I take issue with your particular example. The Leopard is an adaptation of a great novel. By definition it's likely to be inferior, because the better the work the more closely content and form are bound together. Any adaptation to a different medium will be lacking in something. (For me the film version of The Leopard is particularly lacking, although it looks gorgeous.)

Hmmmm - I think you're going out on a limb here, Dirac. Film makers would definitely disagree that "any adaptation to a different medium will be lacking in something", since they often use Literature as a jumping-off point, or borrow from previously existing sources. Of course there's lots of trash cinema, but I'm not sure it holds up to say, conversely, that the only significant movies, as art, are the films that are entirely original projects. From the The Wizard of Oz to Wuthering Heights to The Graduate there are many instances of great films (of varying genres) that are largely based on books. And there's definitely an argument to be made for certain film adaptions being as significant as works of art as the original books. A number of Kubrick's best films (e.g.: 2001: A Space Odyssey, Dr. Strangelove, A Clockwork Orange, The Shining) were all 'based' on pre-existing fiction, but are beloved by fans of "art-house" cinema, and are very influential within the art form. It really does come down to the people involved, whether industry hacks, or actual "artists".

The two art forms are tremendously different to produce - a novel can be slowly pieced together by a single person (or quickly if you are Jack Kerouac on amphetamines), but films, especially the Hollywood variety, almost always require a large crew of people that somehow must work together successfuly. Film making takes as much luck as chemistry and money to get a project to come off half decently. There is an element of serendipity that plays into successful film projects - fortunately that isn't as necessary for lliterature.

And now back to English...

But what books have over movies is that you can proceed through them -- into them -- at your own pace. You can pause, close your eyes, think, imagine alternative words or actions. You can get up from the chair and go the book shelf to pick up another book that you were reminded of.

Film is inescapably bound to time, and we are the beneficiaries, and the victims, of film shooting (which proceeds linearly) and editing, which manipulates time by rearranging the individual 'frames'. Literature doesn't have that same constraint, as you mention, and the reader may end up doing as much editing (with the mind) as the writer did to create the work. I find there is much more of a conversation going on in the act of reading, than we ever experience while watching a film, especially in a theatre, where presumably we are trapped for the duration. The act of reading isn't passive. Many films, imo, can be felt to "happen to us", like watching two cars suddenly collide on the street, but I can't recall reading a book and having the same feeling.

I can't imagine wanting to be any number of the fictional characters I read about. I take Gopnik's point that reading can be a lot of fun, but I certainly don't want to be a used-car salesman, Holden Caulfield, Humbert Humbert, or even a charmer who gets a happy ending like Elizabeth Bennet. And for the vicarious pleasures of time travel, movies can provide them just as well and sometimes better. I don't read about Humbert because I want to be him; I read for the pleasures provided by his creator's prose (among other things).

The essay necessarily simplifies things, and I agree with you that our reasons for reading a piece of fiction can be varied - it's not just about inhabiting a particular character for a short while. In fact, part of the pleasure lies in having so many options/approaches to use in examining and living with a work of literature. But in order to learn of and develop all these options, one has to start down the long path of criticial thinking...and that folks, is what the humanities are all about.

Has anyone EVER made a wish to become a used-car salesman in Pennsylvania?

It depends entirely on the actual life and adventures of said used-car salesman. Or repo-man. ;)

Does anyone start out wanting to be Holden Caulfield?

A fine essay in the New Yorker - 08/27/13:

The study of English, to be sure, suffers from its own discontents: it isn’t a science, and so the “research” you do is, as my colleague Louis Menand has pointed out, archival futzing aside, not really research. But the best answer I have ever heard from a literature professor for studying literature came from a wise post-structuralist critic. Why was he a professor of literature? “Because I have an obsessive relationship with texts.” You choose a major, or a life, not because you see its purpose, which tends to shimmer out of sight like an oasis, but because you like its objects.

The reward is that it remains the one kind of time travel that works, where you make a wish and actually become a musketeer in Paris or a used-car salesman in Pennsylvania. That one knows, of course, that the actuality is “fictional” or artificial doesn’t change its reality. The vicarious pleasure of reading is, by the perverse principle of professions, one that is often banished from official discussion, but it remains the core activity.

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2013/08/why-teach-english.html

"The San Francisco Dance Film Festival will partner with the IMZ—International Music and Media Centre, hosting the 2013 dance screen competition and conference. San Francisco Ballet and the San Francisco Film Society will join as co-presenters of the S.F. Dance Film Festival...

...Screenings will be held in the Roxie Theater and the Delancey Screening Room because the originally announced venue for the event, Landmark's Embarcadero Cinemas, canceled all bookings due to a delays in renovations. The festival will show some 50 films, including Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake, with 21 additional films on viewing stations at the Museum of Performance+Design."

-- Janos Gereben

https://www.sfcv.org/article/2013-dance-film-festival-expands-collaborates

Yes, it's a great image and well worth having. When I open it in Photoshop it displays vertically/portrait style, so I really don't know why some apps see it as a horizontal photo.

Below is a test to see if displays any better for some people, but it requires resaving the JPEG file and that always loses some data in the process...

Nowhere Near Ready
(Ep.205)
Original Air Date: 8.26.13

High/Interesting Points:
Adam Sklute's expression on watching his dancers rehearse Cinderella (and we hear the word "Terrible!" in the audio). We also get treated to Sklute's less-than-thrilled expression after a sequence of Allison DeBona and Rex Tilson playing flirty friends - it isn't actually in response to DeBona/Tilson, but the editor does a quick cut to the next scene with Sklute and Somes watching the rehearsal, and I just thought Sklute's expression mirrored my own feelings so perfectly.

Beckanne Sisk and Katie Martin go on a visit to the Rock School, Philadelphia. A gushy segment, but still of interest.

Less Zach about Zach (but don't worry, he still manages to slip plenty of self-references in).

Low Points:
Christiana Bennett seemingly on the point of a nervous breakdown, and related to that, Chris Ruud plainly overwhelmed by the amount of work it takes to run BW 2, and be a principal dancer.

Dancers plainly losing focus, and rehearsals looking ragged.

sigh. how do I post a photo?

I'm not sure you can attach an image - we are only able to point to a URL. I believe your message box is full - I just tried to PM you.

Finances are difficult for many U.S. dancers, not just those who are foreign-born, especially corps members. We had a link a few weeks ago, as I remember, to stories about how young dancers survive -- waiting on table, sharing apartments with several other dancers, teaching, etc., etc.

Absolutely - only principal dancers with major companies receive a 'decent' living (but then if it was really so good I bet they wouldn't feel the need to participate in galas at any opportunity). It can be really hard for Corps dancers at regional companies.

Someone should actually create a restaurant that is staffed solely by professional dancers (each working only a few hours a week at the restaurant). It would be the place to go for the arts community, haute-couture set and the demimonde! Just a thought. ;)

The walls could be decorated with ballet photos and autographs...

Noted in Sheri Leblanc's "Musings" blog:

"Tanny and Robbins’ friendship continued right up until their deaths – Robbins in 1998, Tanny on what would have been her forty-eighth wedding anniversary to Balanchine in 2000. When Robbins died, the only photograph found in his bedroom was a simple, framed snap of Tanny taken at some point in the seventies – not one of her glamorous, Cecil Beaton-taken shots, but one of Tanny simply smiling at the photographer, likely Robbins, from her wheelchair – a memory more than a picture."

http://sheris-musings.tumblr.com/post/25001658950/tanni

the New York Film Festival has sent out a release with the following information:

<<

Motion Portraits

AFTERNOON OF A FAUN: TANAQUIL LE CLERCQ (2013) 93 min

Director: Nancy Buirski

Country: USA

A radiant film about Tanaquil Le Clercq - wife of and muse to George Balanchine - who was struck down by polio at the peak of her career, and a vivid portrayal of a world and a time gone by.

>>

learning of specific screening dates isn't clear from the festival's site:

http://www.filmlinc.com/nyff2013/pages/nyff51-schedule

Good job, RG - I know many people are waiting to actually see this documentary.

I'm a little confused by this. My former employer hired some foreign citizens periodically and it's true that getting the right kind of visa is treacherous and time-consuming (especially after 9/11), but the employer as an institution was the sponsor. Wouldn't SFB be the sponsor for the right kind of visa to work in the U.S.? Is there a new requirement that they also now find an individual to "sponsor" them for visa purposes?

I can't imagine that this type of 'sponsoring' is actually related to visa sponsoring, which is a complicated process that involves the employer. Actually, are we sure that all three dancers are non-US citizens?

In any case, since so many dancers in the US are from other countries, I would imagine that it's just chance that the three dancers in this case happen to be.

Of course I was referring to financial 'sponsorship' in this case. Tan now lives with her parents in the Bay Area, and I don't know if her father was able to get work in this country, so it has to be expensive for the Tan family to remain here each year.

I can't see it being coincidental that Kochetkova, Tan and Karapetyan are being helped in this manner - they are arguably the biggest draws for the company. Whether Karapetyan has gotten dual citizenship is a question (now that he is married to Zahorian). I would expect Tiit Helimets to get a sponsor as well, but I'm not sure of his citizenship standing (assuming that has anything to do with it).

I really just think that the SF patrons are trying to help make SFB a rewarding place to be for these dancers, so they are less likely to leave the nest.

Something that appears to be new to SF Ballet: sponsored principal dancers. Davit Karapetyan, Maria Kochetkova and Yuan Yuan Tan all are listed as such.

I assume it has to do with money. How does this usually work? Does the sponsor pay the dancer's salary, or contribute to it, or what?

Funny that you would mention this PeggyR - I just noticed these designations myself last week on the SFB website. Note that these dancers also happen to be non-US citizens, so understandably may require sponsorship.

Interesting. They have this at ABT, but at ABT every principal dancer has a sponsor, even if it's a corporation rather than an individual. I think it's much worse for morale if only a few dancers are listed as "sponsored" because it leaves the impression that those who do not have sponsors are somehow not as good.

Or their position is financially more precarious? But I do think this sponsorship may be necessary to help out the foreign national dancers. I would imagine that if Froustey stays with SFB past the 1 year trial period, she will become 'sponsored' as well.

the Cosmo article covers pp. 46 - 53 (four pp. include text, the others, photos). i got a copy a while ago. the spine is unfortunately tight and fitting it into my scanner would likely damage the binding.

Not worth the risk then. I've had the same problem trying to scan old publications - often the binding can't take the abuse.

If the article has worthwhile text, I suppose it could be photographed with a camera rather than a scanner.

Nice going, once again, pherank! But if it's not asking too much, is there more, specifically, a following page to go with that first image? It says, "(continued)" in the lower right corner. Or is this an auction for those only interested in images?

I wasn't able to locate the auction itself, but here's a link to one of the image display pages: http://www.biggerbids.com/auction-image-gallery.php?ig=2&auction_id=543580&image_id=3204016

Fantastic find, pherank. Thank you! How interesting to read that Le Clerq could appear both plain and beautiful. She looks as beautiful in that top photo as in any I've seen.

A happy face is always good. My only quibble would be that the hard lighting of Tanny in her Les Illuminations costume 'de-mystifies' the image I had in my mind - inspired by the more famous Illuminations photos by George Platt Lynes.

[EDIT] While I was looking about for any and all auctions mentioning Tanaquil Le Clercq, I found this listing from July, 2013 mentioning:

Collection of (81) black-and-white camera negatives of Tanaquil LeClercq by Milton Greene. Collection of black-and-white 2.25 x 2.25 in. camera negatives (81) on Kodak safety film, with contact sheets (27) and later prints (9), of Tanaquil LeClercq (1929-2000) for Life by Milton Greene, from the Estate of Milton Greene; dated 1-1-51. LeClercq was principal dancer with New York City Ballet and fourth and last wife of George Balanchine who choreographed a ballet for her when she was 15 for polio charity: she contracted polio in 1956 later ending her dancing career paralyzing her from the waist down. Offered with copyrights.

http://www.artfact.com/auction-lot/collection-of-81-black-and-white-camera-negativ-144-c-a67b8e0486

81 images! Holy cow. Take a look at the thumbnail images - really great shots. ;)

These images will probably not be available very long (as they are part of an auction ), but I've not seen them before. In the article, note that the 2nd sentence should read, "too arty" (so grammar/editing issues are not just to be found on present day blogs). Also they choose to spell her last name as "LeClercq" rather than "Le Clercq" as her family did.

Note to Mr. McHugh: