DanielBenton

"...training has shifted away from...musicality - "????????????????? Isn't this reversing the natural evolution of the art?

I received Vol.4 today. The video quality for the Nov.1, 1964 performances (The Four Temperaments and Ivesiana) is very good, including some nifty camera-work. The video quality for the 1955 Afternoon of a Faun is not so good. In addition to getting to see some great dancers there is a 3 minute introduction to the 1964 performance in which Mr. B. introduces his dancers and does a little moving himself. Seeing Ivesiana makes me wonder if there is a video out there of the Schoenberg Op.34, also choreographed in 1954?

Received! today Sept.12. Takes a few extra days for the mail to get to Iowa City.

What is the deal with not selling 3rd and 4th ring now? Last year, I got a letter listing my seat assignments and a ticket order number in June. This year, nothing.

NYCB tells me there have been delays in ticket printing. If they don't come soon they will reprint them and hold them for me at the theatre.

Has anyone received their subscription tickets yet?

Jack, can you elaborate somewhat on what those authentic qualities are that I might be able to distinguish from other companies' performances? Thanks in advance!

Episodes Movement 3 and Movement 4 (Bach Ricercata) are on YouTube. In spite of the poor video quality, Kent and Cook in Movement 3 are astonishing to watch. Here are the links: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNv7d3fBj70

rg, thanks for the correction on Faun. I too would relish a Liebeslieder.

Wow this is great news! I finally get to see Ivesiana, and Afternoon of a Faun with original dancers

Many thanks for introducing me to the phrase "charismatic megafauna" . And, who knew that it is subject to taxonomic inflation, speaking pejoratively?

Martin Duberman's biography: The Worlds of Lincoln Kirstein. Massive detail; a comprehensive look at Kirstein and the incredible spheres he inhabited. Also, Varley O'Connor's The Master's Muse. I was highly skeptical about this novelization of Tanaquil Leclerc's life from shortly before her life-changing illness until after Balanchine's passing. But it was really good! I don't know if the events in it are true or not, but the writing is good and the story has an air of believability.

Alexandra, thank you for the article. Not happy but not surprised at the 85% who think ballet is a sport. I subscribe to Stravinsky's statement that ballet is the highest form of theatrical art, because its sole purpose is to show beauty. (Anyone who has both listened to and watched The Sleeping Beauty knows that). I think we (who love the art form) have a lot of work to do to get the message out.

Thanks for the info. I did see the publicity for the big show last May but was at the NYCB at the time.

Jack Reed, thanks for the heads-up. This company doesn't seem to advertise their programs very much, which I would likely attend because we live about 3 hours away. I have put myself on their mail list.

kfw, the third piece that Saturday afternoon must have been Apollo, and though I have seen it many times since, I cannot remember that performance. Ms. Milberg told me about her book which I subsequently read. I know in the evening we saw Concerto Barocco, Four Temperaments, and Episodes. I went back the next day and saw a bunch of Stravinsky - Movements, Monumentum, Duo Concertante, and I cannot remember what else. I would love to see The Green Table.

May 2011 first live performance at NYCB - Agon and Square Dance. I sat next to a lady named Barbara Milberg Fisher. She told me she was in the first performance of Agon and she critiqued the program for me. She said they did a good job with Agon; and they left out the hard steps in Square Dance. I knew I was where I was supposed to be.

Abatt, many thanks for this article. Not only was Balanchine historically placed to work with Stravinsky, Stravinsky was unbelievably fortunate to have his music set by Balanchine. (As an aside, last spring while teaching an adult ed class about Balanchine's ballets and the music he used, after watching Serenade one of the participants said "I had no idea Tchaikovsky's music was so beautiful!). For an upcoming video series on Balanchine's ballets when people who are new to ballet ask about it I tell them, if they like "classical" music, they'll like the class.

What would fashionistas pay attention to when watching Balanchine's Black and White ballets? I think symphony audiences might be a rich pool. They like music and a lot of ballet since 1890 uses really good music and often makes it (the music) more interesting.

Instead of going after fashionistas and athletic-event lovers who will most likely never take to ballet as a serious art form, why don't they go after the thousands of symphony-goers who like good music?

This is not a good road for NYCB to go down - the road of high fashion with incidental music and choreography. Sad

Thanks; this is a very interesting interview

Abatt, I'd be curious to know which Stravinsky scores you would find unbearable if forced to listen to them without benefit of dancing. I do think Balanchine did Stravinsky (and 20th century "serious" music) a great service by adding dancing to his scores.

Thanks for your researches! Does anyone know what is to be released on Vol.4?

Maps, thanks for the link to the in[depth and far-ranging Macaulay interview