Ray

Yes, as in music.

Thanks for posting this, Lucy (although I think the title is ridiculous--but that's not your fault, of course.) I wonder what BTers think of the following quotation from the interview: "Ideas about what is 'the classical' change, so I think if you accept the idea that terms are mobile in these kinds of relationships, then you begin to understand that in certain cases you understand things in one way, and in other cases, in other ways." I think many BTers might disagree with Forsythe here, and think that ideas of "the classical" are immutable; that, in fact, immutability constitutes an essential quality of "classical." I don't think this and, in fact, think that dance more than any other art form shows Forsythe to be right. Other thoughts?

Amazing . You can also read a Guardian (UK) story about it here. Extraordinary.The Anne Frank House in Amsterdam has set up an "Anne Frank Channel," which sounds a tad disturbing.

I'm with you, Bart. It seems a policy borne of paranoia and possessiveness, not any actual research or reasoning (i.e., a cost-benefit analysis).

Di Wu just played in a recital here, and got a rave review for her rendition of Schumann's Davidsbundlertanze, as well as for her pairing the more well-known work with wife Clara Schumann's Mazurka, which riffs on the opening theme of Davidsbundlertanze. From the review: "her performance of Schumann's Davidbundlertanze most clearly suggests she has an interesting future, not simply a bright one." You can hear samples here.

Finally getting a toehold into this book and the focus does seem to be focused on the public effects of never-deleted information, as papeetepatrick implies--so it's interested in the benefits of forgetting as they accrue in the civic/social sense rather than intellectually or epistemologically. Not surprising, considering the author's disciplinary affiliations (public policy and government). A tad disappointing for me in this regard, but a good read. I've also started James Buchan's Frozen Desire: Meaning of Money. Utterly captivating introduction; more later.

As a CURRENT member of an English faculty, I will affirm that Chace does indeed have it wrong, insofar as constructing a generalization about the whole field (which, despite his first-personal accounts, is what he's aiming to do). It's amusing to see this kind of argument for policing the gates come up since, as my student writers would put it, "the dawn of time." If we had fixed the curriculum at, say, 1700 (or even 1800), we would read no texts in English in any course that purported to be about "great literature." If we had fixed the curriculum in the early 20th century, we might not read any books by American or other non-British Anglophone writers. The "great literature" criteria he mentions is highly focused on the 19th century and excludes much of the 18th century (Chace's criteria for literature would exclude entire fields of inquiry and discovery). And PS we still love our books, but sometimes feel that there are others we have to teach. I don't see a problem with that. And people practice a diversity of approaches out there, from high theory to trudging in the archives, a diversity which Chace clearly feels is a bad thing (and indeed in terms of building clout, it may be). But that to me is what makes it interesting. Just my two cents.

Can someone tell us what the pieces are? I recognize the Stravinsky and the Mozart (and can thus locate them on the Farrell Ballet repertoire list), but can't figure out what the Shostakovitch-y music is (reconstructed on synthesizer, it sounds like).

I just ordered this title--has anyone else read it? Delete: The Virtue of Forgetting in the Digital Age Viktor Mayer-Schönberger Here's a link to the publisher's page for the book (which includes a trailer and a PDF of the first chapter); some quips from the publisher: "Delete looks at the surprising phenomenon of perfect remembering in the digital age, and reveals why we must reintroduce our capacity to forget. Digital technology empowers us as never before, yet it has unforeseen consequences as well. [...] In Delete, Viktor Mayer-Schönberger traces the important role that forgetting has played throughout human history, from the ability to make sound decisions unencumbered by the past to the possibility of second chances." Interesting, though, to think of dance as immediately qualifying his thesis!

May I make a suggestion? Why not begin by doing some research on the meaning of dance-step names--some of which are very suggestive in terms of the movement they describe--and try to develop your own sense of what the movements in the video suggest to you? I can't imagine that you're going to recite a chain of steps; I think if you're not fluent in the language of ballet, it's better to evoke than aim for an accuracy that's outside of your orbit. (Of course, you may just be looking for dialogue for dancer characters; if so, never mind!) Just my two cents.

Have we ever discussed Nijinska's contribution to the 1935 film version of Midsummer Night's Dream? It's quite amazing.

Alas, the talks are last week's news. Now just waiting for the check

OK folks, any Jane Campion fans/experts out there? I've been wrangled into speaking at a showing of Bright Star, her new biopic about Keats and Fanny Brawne. I'm afraid I haven't seen anything since The Piano. Cool website here.

Because I will take an ounce of free time and fill it with a gallon of trivial pursuits, I want to revive part of this thread, notably by trying to elicit responses to this heading: Music surprisingly neglected by choreographers (or, "_________ wrote more than 600 pieces and they keep choreographing to _________"). Thought of this while listening to Beethoven's under-appreciated , which I've always found quite dancey.Edited to add: Well, of course we've done this dance before in a "music you'd like to see choreographed" thread. My bad.

"Legs" doesn't have legs, huh? Ammended to add: and if we created a post called "Dick Beard's Legs," it might be the first in which each word refers to a body part...

Yes, let's get back to Beard's legs, shall we?

As a former dancer who was lucky enough to be part of Larry Long's orbit for a short time, I got to thinking about how many professional dancers he's trained over the decades: Here's an off-the-top-of-my-head list; others chime in: Tom Gold (NYCB) Kip Sturm (DTH) Amy Rose (ABT) David Krensig (PAB) Ron De Jesus (Hubbard St.)

No one has yet mentioned the extended appearance of Ruth St. Denis in the three-part documentary Free to Dance. In that wonderful film, we hear the correspondence between RSD and Edna Guy, a young African American admirer who was eager to dance with RSD's company. It's on the one hand a tale of overt racism (St. Denis continually refers to Guy as "girlie" and strings her along) but also a complex portrayal of the role of race in early American modern dance (which I consider RSD firmly part of whether she'd like it or not!). I recommend the entire series if you haven't seen it ready.

I in no way think this is a good development: people are losing their livelihoods. I do think, however, that it these financial realities may force some companies to rethink how they work, and to examine their reasons for being. Perhaps there will be some consideration to consolidating efforts with other companies or arts organizations. I mean, how many separate ballet companies, each with their own boards, administrators, support staff, equipment, etc., does every town need? And maybe some companies just need to pack it up and call it a day; if there's something worth keeping, it will appear in another form. Let's hope a sense of shared struggle replaces petty territoriality as organizations grapple with unfolding events. Again, I don't in any way mean to be flip about calling this a kind of cultural Darwinism: this is catastrophic for the artists involved, and of course our government needs to get in on the act.

Ahem. Skipping to a particularly mean-spirited passage from the blog Haglund's Heel that Wolcott refers to, I fail to see the critical analysis practiced by Kourlas and Witchel in their respective publications as equivalent to "a lack of hospitality displayed when visitors from Less-than-liberal-land come to our city to present the art form that we love." The passages Haglund quotes are not at all vituperous! It's criticism, and a lot of it was actually very positive. As Haglund himself goes on to say (attacking Witchel's interrogating of some very questionable-sounding stereotypes)--virtually contradicting the tone of anti-elitism that that blog post strove to establish, btw--"Get over it. This is New York."

"My tiny hand is frozen from so much tweeting" (or maybe just "Your tweeting hand is frozen") Gianni Squeaky (that's really bad, sorry) And, over at NYCB, "Libestweeter"

Lucinda Childs, too--though the proscenium opening size of the Joyce may diminish the experience (I saw it at Bard--amazing).

And also see Leigh Witchel in the NY Post. A good quote from Leigh in re Young Soon Hue's This Is Your Life: "...[Hue's] mincing hairdressers [characters in the dance], even if ironic, were as welcome as jokes about hicks and Bible-thumpers would be in Tulsa. Someone should have thought twice about bringing it to New York."

We always envied the audiences and their picnics, though. Especially those big glasses of wine.

As a former PBT dancer, I can say that Hartwood was a difficult venue, mostly b/c the stage faced into the setting sun. (We rehearsed and warmed up with sunglasses on!) Is that still the case? And it was a very large stage--kind of shapeless--with no wings. Theme will be difficult to perform there.