Ray

I've been guiltily pleasured by watching Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares on BBC America, a show in which hot-shot chef Gordon Ramsay visits troubled UK restaurants. Many of the episodes involve him correcting amazing incompetence and entrenched inefficient ways of running things in order to put the restaurants back on track. Hmmmmmmmmm... perhaps there needs to be a ballet Ramsay, going from company to company to expose the shoddy practices of egoistic EDs, ADs, boards, presenters, and choreographers (set designers, costumers, PR people, etc., etc.) in ballet companies!

I'd like to add to the mix Claudia La Rocca's Aug 5 piece in Sunday's NY Times about the dearth of women in leadership positions in ballet and modern dance companies: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/05/arts/dan....html?ref=dance I especially like this passage with words from Emily Coates: "For Emily Coates, artistic director of the World Performance Project at Yale University and a former City Ballet dancer, the real problem is ballet's lack of self-reflection, which means that norms are passed from generation to generation unchallenged. She cited a number of men who have risen to artistic director recently: 'You think: "What is the 20-year-old soloist going to think? What will she be looking at?" She'll be seeing the men advance and the women retire, often into teaching positions. And there's another generation that will not know that it can aspire, even aspire, to rise into that.'" I would say that a lack of self-reflection in re artistic practice is one of ballet's norms that saddens me the most. "Tradition" becomes a lame excuse for a lot of institutional inertia.

Sure, I imagine that this could be true. But I also wonder if any conversations on this have even been broached--conversations that would reveal to all parties involved the mutual benefits of letting more material on the Internet. The musicians union is very strong, and individual star musicians have a lot of control over what recordings get released, yet we can hear many pieces of music on the web. My cynical guess is that no one has even begun to do any proposing, much less negotiating.

I don't mean to seem greedy, but I want and expect more from companies that have such large repertories and deep traditions. I think they've only dipped their toes in.

Smiles of a Summer Night (A Little Night Music was based on it) remains one of my favorites. Not "major" Bergman, but very, very fresh and touching with early performances by Bergman's stock players. Viewers familiar with Fanny and Alexander will recognize a similar scene in Smiles involving memories evoked by old photographs--making each the more poignant. Also, Fanny and Alexander was the first time I ever heard Schumann's Piano Quartet (Op. 44, second movement, the one Mark Morris uses in V).

I went to the Ballet National de Marseille's recent Lincoln Center performance. Unfortunately, the harsh reviews are accurate; nothing more to add on that score (see reviews here) except ALL THAT MONEY! What the critics failed to notice, however--furthering the harshness--is that the projected video images still had their "watermarks," meaning that the Ballet had not received permission to use them! I feel the urge to squeal.....

innopac wrote: "Wouldn't it be wonderful if someone had the time and money to make a legal "YouTube" type database just of short ballet clips. A central place to go for clips of interviews, of discussion about technique, of reviews and criticism, of ballet classes, of the ballet vocabulary of steps, of dress rehearsals of productions, clips from commercial videos/dvds/television programs. Perhaps it could even contain photographs and pdf articles about ballet or descriptions of ballet resources for students, teachers and researchers. Surely there would be enough people that would give copyright permission if they saw the educational and promotional value in such project. Perhaps the video clips could have links to the copyright owners, the publishers, amazon or ballet companies. Some of these clips exist legally on the web but there is no central linking point. .... Does something like this exist already?" Yes, why isn't NYCB in the forefront in doing this? Or NYPL? I think in this day and age it's just self-defeating for a visual art like dance not to engage with new media.

When I saw the subject header for this post--"Free Paul Taylor"--my immediate reaction was, "oh no, was he arrested too"?

What great questions, Phaedra--I'm going to review my tape again. I always had trouble with the opening movement (the Ave Maria) as I find it a bit too sentimental (please don't hit me!)--I mean think of the layers of sentiment here: Mozart filtered through Tchai's Romantic orchestration, rearranged by Balanchine to be danced by his last muse and her little girl doubles (it's practically Victorian, like the costumes). And the praying hands reaching up and opening to cambre back--a bit kitschy, no?

Today I stumbled on a July 1 review of The Angry Island: Hunting the English, A. A. Gill's latest book, in the NY Times , which sheds some light on where he's coming from: http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/07/01/travel/01armchair.html

I love the first sentence of the plot summary: "Meg, a young ballet student, idolizes the school's top ballerina, the shallow Ariane Bouchet."

From imdb.com (which confirms 1947): Margaret O'Brien ... 'Meg' Merlin Cyd Charisse ... Mlle. Ariane Bouchet Karin Booth ... La Darina Danny Thomas ... Mr. Paneros Esther Dale ... Olga Thurston Hall ... Mr. Ronsell Harry Hayden ... Murphy Elinor Donahue ... Josie (as Mary Eleanor Donahue) Connie Cornell ... Phyllis Ruth Brady ... Miss Merlin Charles Bradstreet ... Fred Carleton Ann Codee ... Mme. Borodin Gregory Gaye ... Jacques Lacoste (as Gregory Gay) Sounds fun!

Thanks, Helene--I think your point is well taken about company morale, which so few ADs seem concerned about. Yet I worry that this might speak to a lack of shared standards in the field, especially since NYCB and PNB are so closely related. Would a first chair violinist play second fiddle in a comparable orchestra? I don't think so.

Is that really fair to the dancers who may, at the very moment, be preparing to dance the same works? They don't have the luxury of multiple takes and an expert editor, and we in the audience don't have the luxury of shifting point of view. Just to be clear, my complaint is that the videos they show are too old (as great as they are), not that they should or shouldn't be showing video. I agree that it may be unfair to broadcast the work of some legendary performer as we go in, perhaps, to see the new kid on the block tackle the same role! Again, though, I'm all for showing more rather than less. Those of us who know what we're seeing will compare--perhaps harshly!--even without seeing a video; those who don't may be inspired to buy another ticket. I guess my larger point is that of all the arts, ballet could really get more out of exploiting the latest visual technologies.

NYCB's stinginess with video makes no sense to me--they and the Balanchine Foundation seem geared to making sure as few people as possible actually see any Balanchine. (Even in the State Theater lobby, NYCB plays the 1970s/Dance in America tapes!) Judging by the alarmingly small crowd at the gala evening the other night at Saratoga, their work seems to be paying off...

I can understand them wanting to leave NYCB--I'm sure they'll dance more often in PNB--but what's motivating Boal's decision here, I wonder? It seems a bit odd. Perhaps it was the only way PNB could afford to hire 2 dancers at this time?

I wonder how the dancers will do tonight (Tuesday)--it's supposed to be super hot again. (Not easy for the viewer either!) I'd hate to be the nurse. Anyone who goes, please report.

I'm reminded in this discussion of Deborah Hadley's success with Diamonds with PNB (in the 80s?)--she garnered a great review from Croce who, if I remember correctly, praised her for making the role her own. Others may remember more clearly, but I don't believe she was particularly tall, and had a fairly evenly proprotioned torso-to-legs ratio--in other words, she did not seem on the face of it to be the Diamonds "type." I'll try to dig up that Croce review. GULP Am I mixing this up with her success in Chaconne?

Well, technically speaking, the Willis are dead--and their feet are pointed (or are supposed to be!).

Well it's good to know he has some passion somewhere, as it was shockingly absent from his 2 recent performances of Davidsbundlertanze, which he completely phoned in.

I share that sentiment except that Bloom is from the Bronx (although he does write about British literature). Also want to point out that today's review of Monday's performance is really a double-whammy against Georgina: she performs (badly, according to AM) and also coaches the leads (to bad ends, again according to AM). All of which to say is that I think his criticism of the production in general (and, implicitly, ABT's artistic methods & choices) is well founded, even if the tone in re particular performers is questionable.

There usually is at least a 2-day lag time for reviews--so look for Monday's performance to be reviewed in tomorrow's paper (Wed.). Funny that in our high-tech age reviews never appear the next day. I attended Monday and was impressed by Irina/Max/Hallberg. I never saw the Black Swan female solo variation and fouetees done so fast (no time to fall?)! Act 4 oh-so-funky (when is it not?); Act 1 dances way too fussy, but, again, well executed. A hoot to see Freddie Franklin onstage, moving about very spryly! Some innovative stuff in Act 3 with Neopolitan (2 men) and the waltz; the national dances were completely uninspired, as per convention (too bad--such great music). More later if I get inspired.

Not well. Not at all well. Additional news from NMDC: Nilas is doing new choreography to Stravinsky's "Les Noces" for the Santander (Spain) Festival on August 21, 2007. That's a biggie! What has he choreographed before this? Has he had any sort of "apprenticeship" (such as they are in the ballet world) before tackling this difficult score?

While it's probably true that AM has axes to grind, I simply can't go with this zero-sum logic in re his Nichols tribute, which I found touching. To honor one ballerina does not constitute a "backhanded slap" at all others. His video presentation at nytimes.com makes it very explicit that he does put Nichols in a class by herself. And after 33 years, she's earned the distinction.

Ah, Fairmount Park, Philly's untapped and neglected urban woodland--lots of, ahem, shabby gentility. I don't mean to be too cynical, but just be ready for an adventure: FP is no Central Park or even Prospect Park. (And notice how the hostel is very close to an extremely busy freeway, not to mention railroad tracks.) Actually I'm impressed by the website, and I never knew that Chamounix Mansion was a hostel--the mysteries of Philly! (Though it's annoying that the FP map they link to doesn't show where the Mann Center is.) Those who stay should report back to us!