BryMar1995

Just wanted to add that some of the stories contain adult content. Rick

I have been enjoying so much the series of interelated short stories "White Swan, Black Swan" by Adrienne Sharp (Random House). Set firmly in the world of American ballet, musical theater and modern dance, Ms. Sharp weaves connecting threads throughout the stories. She touches several different issues dancers face and tells stories that bring to life familiar figures and personalities known and loved by all of us who love dance. Fact, fiction, and speculation are combined to tell stories that those of us who dance find all too real. Stories and films about dance all too often strike me as superficial and trite, but "White Swan, Balck Swan" is a read I found to be honest, mature, and compelling. Has anyone else read this yet? Rick McCullough

Just over a week ago I was visiting NYC and while channel surfing in my hotel room tuned to the BRAVO network. It was my good fortune to come in on a ballet broadcast that was already in progress to Vivaldi's 4 Seasons. It was a very interesting ballet that was excellently produced and wonderfully danced. I was particulary impressed with the concept of the work, the imaginative but unobtrusive video effects, and the first successful use of "over 40" dancers integrated into the overall choreography. I had to wait until the end of the work to view the credits. I found out it was National Ballet of Canada and the director/choreographer was James Kuldelka. It was the first work I've seen by the celebrated Canadian choreographer and I was impressed in many ways. Did anyone else see this performance and enjoy it as much as I did? Rick McCullough

I've admired the work of Lisa de Ribere. I have wondered why we haven't seen more of her work around the country. I know of a young talent whom I believe came out of Julliard - Jessica Lange I think. She did some work for ABT II. Anyone else hear about her? Also, Miriam Madhvadiani from NYCB (forgive me for not spelling her name correctly). Are there any local female choreographers people are proud of? I've met a few on RDA adjudication tours. Rick

Anyway, to answer rtny's question, the first time I saw a work to Arvo Part was in 1986 at Pittsburgh Ballet Theater. The choreographer was Ohad Naharin and he used "Tabula Rasa." It was a very strong work. The audience responded very well, and the dancers loved dancing it. Ohad is in great demand as a choreograher and I believe he directs one of the established modern dance companies in Isreal, I don't remember if it's Batsheva or Bat-Dor. I've used "fratres" for a work I did for Ballet Pacifica. The work was a success, but I was not satisfied. I didn't feel like I had fulfilled the emothional content of the music adequately. I've used Gorecki, too. That work, on the other hand, satisfied me, and I have a hard time looking at other works to the same music since then. Rick McCullough

Great music, or music that speaks to you, is hard to come by. So, to respectfully offer an opinion that differs from Leigh, I say use music that compels you, even if it has been used before, or if it appears that it might not be "serious." Part, Gorecki, Adams, Glass are overused, but no more than Tchaikovsky, Bach, Chopin, or Rachmaninoff. They're used a lot because they are good. I don't think that popular composers lend themselves to easy choreography, but quite the opposite. One's work should have enough substance to complement strong scores. There would have been no "Deuce Coupe" for Joffrey ballet if Twyla Tharp had used only music that one might ordinarily associate with ballet. Or "Stars and Stripes" for NYCB without Sousa's ever so accesible and popular band music. No "Esplanade" for Paul Taylor if he thought he couldn't violate Balanchine's first dibs on Bach's Double Violin Concerto. Perhaps music choices depend on how accomplished or skilled the artist using it is. Rick McCullough

Probably going out on a limb here.. In my opinion, Maria Talchief probably inspired the largest portion of Balanchine's finest and most enduring work. Rick

I forgot about Anne-Marie Holmes and Maina Giulgud who both were directors in Boston and other places. Violet Verdy directed there as well and is a very outstanding influence in my dance career. Can anybody name some current or up and coming female ballet choreographers? Rick

Vicky Simons has set the Balanchine Rep everywhere. Learned a lot from that lady. Rick

It seems that the arts as a political tool had a positive outcome for both cold war adversaries. As a dance lover in the 1960' I was thrilled by the Red Army Dancers on Ed Sullivan, the Moiseyev, and that old Bolshoi '67 film. Admiring those dancers made it much more difficult to dislike the Soviet People. The US's efforts to demonstrate our own artistic excellence may have been motivated by those cultural exchanges. It's true that Jackie helped make the nation aware that we even possessed high culture at all, and that it was indeed world class. She made us proud of and excited about our poets and artists. Whether JFK himself actually appreciated the arts is less relevant than the fact that his administration hightened our awareness of the arts because of Jackie. Do you think there would be a stage for dance performances (small as it is) in the White House if Richard Nixon had won the election in 1960? I shudder to think about it. I often think of the Kennedy Era as a sort of Work of Art in itself - part illusion, part politics, and certainly more than the sum of its parts. We all felt that we were part of something fine and beautiful A sense of confidence and well being was created, along with the awareness that our lives were enhanced when we included art as a neccessary component of our everyday lives. Jackie and JFK were responsible for helping to generate that sensibility. I can't imagine what the arts in America would be like now if it hadn't been for Camelot. Rick McCullough

I remember Danilova, Doubrovska, and Toumkovski as being inspirational coaches and teachers, not to mention Diana Adams when she headed SAB. Rick

I don't know if this has been done on this board before, but I thought it might be interesting to list as many influential women we could think of who have had a profound impact on ballet in the 20th century. It might be fun to start with Artistic Directors, then move on to mentors, teachers, choreographers, department chairs, dancers, ballet masters, organizers, writers, critics, etc.. Starting with directors, my contributions are Dame Ninette De Valois of the Royal Ballet, Lucia Chase of American Ballet Theater, Barbara Weisberger of Pennsylvania Ballet, Katherine Littlefield of Littlefield Ballet, Patricia Wilde of Pittsburgh Ballet Theater, Mary Day of Washington Ballet, Francia Russel (who co-directs with her husband Kent Stowell ) of Pacific Northwest, Anna Pavlova, who toured the US and Europe extensively after the Ballets Russes, Marie Rambert, there must be more. Some choreographers that come to mind are Bronislava Nijinska, Agnes De Mille, and Twyla Tharp. Barbara Crocket and Lila Zali and the others who founded the RDA movement come to mind as well. Please offer your contributions and let's see how many women are impacting our art form today.

Hello everyone. I always had the feeling that physical proportions in regard to legibility and clarity of line were determining factors in aesthetic for the ballet performer. There is also the fact that the daily training dancers do keeps them toned to a state of high muscular definition in order to accomplish the athletic and expressive demands of their craft. Ballet dancers are often criticized for being too lean when they are in fact finely tuned athletes with specific physical proportions that indicate length and give exquisite physical control. The function of their craft determines the form of their tool, that is, their body. How people turned this into a need to stay thin rather than a need to stay physically peaked is perhaps something to talk about in another discussion. When I attended Graduate School in a modern dance department I immediately got the notion that there was an anti-ballet bias that was cultivated and taught to not only the dance students, but also to any university student taking Intro to Dance or Dance Appreciation as a Fine Arts requirement. It was so confounding to hear about tolerance and diversity on the one hand, and then hear cultural vitriol linking ballet to subjugation of women on the other hand. My notion is that the advocates for modern dance were still, after decades of artistic accomplishment, looking for artistic justification and acceptance by cultivating a moral ascendancy over ballet. This concept found convenient support in some feminist theory. The unhappy trend is that higher education is often teaching our best and brightest that ballet is guilty of a broad spectrum of politically incorrect acts that are especially harmful to young women. Whenever I questioned this or pointed out what I found to be factually incorrect in my experience, or if I noted inconsistent or sloppy logic in the arguments concerning ballet, I would be met with resistance, dismissal, and pointed hostility. Questioning the political line was not tolerated. So much for freedom of thought! Despite what ballet seems to require in physical proportion and expressive athleticism, I agree with Samba that the art, while seated in the body, ultimately transcends the body. I think this is true in modern dance as well. Otherwise our art is merely surface, what we see on the outside, rather a means to reveal the innermost condition of the human spirit. Rick McCullough