Mark D

I would be interested in what people think of the company as well. We are debating getting tickets to Program B.

Just got an announcement in the mail that Ballet Nacional de Cuba is coming to City Center Oct 15-19. Two programs:

Program A:

Don Quixote, Choreography by Alicia Alonso, Marta Garcia and Maria Elena Llorente after Petipa and Gorsky, Music by Minkus

Program B:

Les Sylphides, Choreography by Alicia Alonso after Fokine, Music by Chopin;

Canto Vital, Choreography by Azari Plisetski, Music by Mahler;

Blood Wedding, Choreography by Antonio Gades, Music by Emilio de Diego, Libretto Alfredo Manas after Federico Garcia Lorca;

A Classic pas de deux to be announced.

I wonder whether there is not another dichotomy than the story vs. the non-story ballet. There was a time for me (back in the 70s) when ballet began and ended with Swan Lake (and La Bayadere, Sleeping Beauty). But let's face it some of the plots in classical ballets are pretty basic. I suspect most can be summarized in 25 words or less. I realize it was not only the story and the spectacle that attracted me but what I felt was the beautiful music. Music, for whatever reason, I could relate to emotionally. I think Balanchine understood this. He made Stars and Stripes and Union Jack knowing they were crowd pleasures. No real story there. I suspect that most people enjoy something like the Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux because of the exciting dancing and the accessible music. At the other end of an admittedly rather simple continuum is something like Agon with its serial and atonal music. I think many people find both the music and the dancing difficult to access. Now that I know intellectually what Stravinsky and Balanchine were doing I enjoy that ballet much more now and understand the creative genius in it. However, I had to do a lot of reading and take a few courses to get to this point.

My wife and I have a season subscription to New York City Ballet so that is where our committment is. I think it is the variety and the number of different ballets that attract us. However, on a selective basis we make forays over the ABT and have enjoyed it immensely. One of the most execiting evenings of dancing I have ever seen was provided by the Kirov's La Bayadere last summer.

This Spring I took a course on Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes followed by listening to a Teaching Company course on Stravinsky. My God, it had a greater impact than I thought. I've become Stravinsky.

I need to correct myself. It is the median age of those attending the ballet that has gone from 40 to 44 not the average age. That means half of the people who attended the ballet were above and below that number.

I work in the polling and research business so I thought I would add my two cents. While I agree that survey statistics get abused in the media, I think we can assume that this data is accurate from a sampling perspective. It was done by the Bureau of the Census as a supplement to their Current Population Survey. Among other things, they develop statistics for the government for policy making purposes. However, The National Endowment of the Arts, who published this document, do not report the sampling error which they should do. I thought I saw the sample size, but as I write this I cannot find it. However, given The bureau of the Census did this survey I am assuming the sample is large.

Without looking at the questionnaire I cannot tell if there is room for ambiguity in terms like "classical" music.

I think the most alarming figures for this group is how the average age of those attending the ballet is moving up (as it is for most other arts) from 40-44. They note that in 1992 14.8% of those attending the ballet were 18-24, but in 2002 this share dropped to 8.8%. This represents a 40% decline. That is not a good trend.

Money may be a problem, but I think it goes beyond that. Last year if you were a member of the 4th Ring Society at NYCB the tickets were $12. This is not much more than a movie. I think of my own daughter who is 25. For years we faithfully took her to The Nutcracker. It was part of our Christmas tradition. Quite a few years ago I talked her in to going to a Saturday matinee performance of NYCB with me. She has no interest in the ballet today. A couple of years ago her mother invited her to go to The Nutcracker with us (we still go and love it). She made it clear she was not interested.

I'm not sure what is going on, but the trend for all of the performing arts is not good.

I happened to be flipping through Buckle's biography of Balanchine tonight. He quotes a letter that Balanchine wrote to President Eisenhower in 1952 expressing his dislike of communism. I quote: "I have been a citizen for fourteen years now and I am convinced that you are the man to lead this country in its fight against communism." (p. 196)

I'm in general agreement with ballerina 1023.

1) The corp seems generally improved. I keep notes on all the ballets we see and two years ago I had constant critical comments about the corps. This year those remarks disappeared.

2) Best and worst ballet. I'm not sure.

3) Favorite dancer. Kowroski is old reliable. However, I would give first place to Jenifer Ringer. I've really enjoyed her this year. Among the men I would have a hrad time choosing between Soto, Boal and Woetzel. On second thought add Chuck Askegard to that list.

4) Most improved dancer: Not sure

5) Season MVP. Definitely Alexandra Ansanelli. We saw her quite a bit this year and she always gave her performanc her all. I'm not sure among the men, but would not disagree the Ben Millipied is a good candidate.

6) Missed the most. Nick Hubbe. Did he dance at all in the Spring? We awere all over the map in terms of performances we went to but we did not see him after the night he injured himself.

Finally a comment on Vespro. I've seen it twice and still do not know what to do with this ballet. I find it difficult to take in. I don't get it. For example, I see references to classical dance and it all looks contrived. Just sort of thrown in in some chaotic way. But hey, what I know I'm the village idiot. I've never seen one ballet that evoked such intense negative emotion. Not only here on the board. I attended a 4th Ring lecture the second time I saw it and some people seemed actually angry. I volunteered that I thought I liked it more the second time. I'm not sure why I said that. Someone replied "Oh your poor man."

At the New York State Theater it might help if the ushers would enforce what I used to understand as the policy-- No one is seated after the ballet has started. This past season the ushers seated a couple at least 4-5 minutes after the ballet had started.

I also think that most people do no understand that when you lean forward in your seat your are blocking the view of the person behind you. This should be part of the announcement before the performance that mentions no photographs and turning off cell phones. That being said I attended a performance when someone politely asked the person in front of her to sit back in her seat and she refused pleading a bad back.

Earlier this year Kyra Nichols gave a talk in New York State Theater. At one point she said she was out with her son at the local McDonalds when she heard a woman seated next to them address her own daughter as "Kyra." She asked the woman where she got the name. The woman told her that she named her daughter after Kyra Nichols the dancer and Kyra Sedgwick the actress. Kyra Nichols then introduced herself. The woman must have been absolutely stunned.

I don't think this article in the New Yorker has been noticed on the board. She gives her views on the state of dancing at both ABT and New York City Ballet. The connections takes you to the main page. Scroll down and you will see the link to the article. I have a feeling this subject has been exhausted on the board. Any reactions?

Go to: www.newyorker.com

I am about to be a horrible name dropper. Oh, what the Hell.

During the mid 90s I worked with someone who was well connected to New York City Ballet. One night my wife and I got an invitation to sit in Balanchine's old seats. We were then invited back stage during intermission where we met Sean Lavery, Nick Hubbe and Judy Fugate. For someone not connected to the dance world it was quite an experience.

My big moment was meeting Merrill Ashley in the Green Room a few years later. She is as wonderful in person as she appeared on the stage. Very unassuming and nice to talk to. We chatted for several minutes. She has always been one of my favorite dancers and I regret not having seen her dance until late in her career.

Nick Hubbe is very charming. I understand he is fun to be around even when he is being serious.

Sean Lavery is one of the most decent people I have ever met. My understanding is that he has never complained about his career being cut short. Anyone who has attended any of the talks dancers periodically give knows that they all speak highly of him as someone who has helped them in their careers. I regret that I have seen him dance only on video tape.

We also met Alessandra Ferri through a friend, but it was a quick how do you do and that's about it.

For what its worth, I understand that Balanchine sat in the front row of the first ring. At least as of a few years ago, I've seen Sean Lavery sitting there observing ballets he was responsible for as the balletmaster, if that is the proper term.

I can tell you one place not to sit in the Metropolitan Opera House. The first 10-15 rows or so of the orchestra. We recently saw La Bayadare there and my view was obstructed by someone's head. Not his fault. He was tall. But the floor actually appears to slope upward to the stage. I'd have been better off in the balcony. However, we had TDF tickets and they did not cost much so I guess I should not complain.

I am a relatively new member as well, but have been reading a lot of ballet history. One book I can recommend without reservation is Lynn Garafalo's "Diaghilev's Ballets Russes." It really made me understand how ballet got where it is today. If you are particularly interested in Balanchine the new book by Charles Joseph "Stravinsky and Balanchine" is fascinating reading. However, I'm not sure he is as good on the ballet portion of that collaboration as he is on the music.

There are several survey books available. However, I would defer to the gathered wisdom on this board to tell you how good they are. They include:

Jack Anderson -- Ballet and Modern Dance

Carol Lee - Ballet in Western Culture (very new)

Mary Clarke and Clement Crisp -- Ballet and Illustrated History

If you are interested in Balanchine there is Bernard Taper's book on Balanchine.

I would be curious about what members of the board think of these books. There are other more specific books as well, but this is a start.

For those who are interested, I've just noticed that the Fighting Over Fokine film is on Ovation tomorrow night at 9 p.m. and 1 a.m. EST (Tuesday May 27th).

Thanks Leigh. After passively watching and enjoying NYCB for ten years I've decided to have a much better understanding of what I have been seeing. Your whole discussion has gven me a lot to think about as well. What great insight. Thank you.

A footnote to "copyrights" and ballets. Earlier this year The Ovation Network ran a film on Isabelle's Fokine's efforts to have Mikhail Fokine's ballets performed in the way she feels he wanted them done. She is his grandaughter and controls the Fokine Trust. It addressed the issue of how ballets are passed on and the extent to which the original choreographer changed a ballet along the way. Fokine apparently used some type of notation system to record some of his choreography. Isabelle feels the impact of some of his ballets have been diluted over the years because of slowly evolving changes in the choreography which are in contradiction to what she feel her grandfather intended. The film focused on three ballets-- The Dying Swan, Le Spectre de la Rose and Polovtsian Dances. The debate really focuses on Polovtsian Dances. She has some supporters. On the other side of the arugment are critics (e.g. Clement Crisp) and dancers (e.g Irina Baranova, Alicia Markova). Crisp simply feels that Fokine changed ballets over the years and that there may not be a definitive version of, for example, The Dying Swan. Needless to say, as dancers, Baronova and Markova feel that ballets are properly passed on through the dancers who have performed them and that any notation system misses a great deal in interpretation, etc.. It is quite a heated debate. The film ends with her efforts to have the Kirov, making a London appearance, perform Polovtsian Dances the way she thinks it should be done. It ends up with people yelling at one another. At one point the company jeers her. In the end the dancers got their way and peformed the ballet the way they had been doing for it years.

Earlier this year my wife and I attended a class at SAB taught by Suki Schorer. It was Advanced Toe (Pointe?). We enjoyed it immensely. She is a superb teacher. One thing we liked about her was that she corrected them in a way that was not demeaning or too critical. All the visitors were absolutely quiet during the whole class. There was little interaction with Suki and none with the students.

I told my wife that the students probably didn't like visitors. I said "How would you like to be fifteen having adults staring at you while you were working at the most important thing in your life?" Not a problem. I was struck by how focused those kids were in what they were doing. They basically ignored the visitors and concentrated on what they needed to do. All around it was one of the most enjoyable experiences I've had and look forward to doing it again.

I hope I am not stirring up a hornet's nest by drawing attention to every mother's favorite dance critic, but he is at it again. I showed this to a colleague at work who was a child dancer and she had a good laugh. So, armed with that endorsement I report that on Wednesday Mr. Crisp re-reviewed Makrarova's "The Sleeping Beauty" in "The Financial Times" and, grudgingly, acknowledges some improvement in lighting and stage craft. He even praised some of the dancing. He then concluded:

"As a bonus, Edward Watson made Carabosse a figure to frighten the tots: here was evil - everyone's thumbs should be pricking - and a splendidly vicious line in malice. Spiffing. Maybe he could even scare the Ballet School munchkins into dancing. For the rest, the Cupid is still there (another titbit for Carabosse), but I record that Balanchine made his first stage appearance in Beauty as a child Cupid at the Mariinsky - though the sensible management kept him in a cage."

It is clear to me that he does this to get a rise out of people. As much as I love to see children dancing-- Its one of the reasons I prefer Balanchine's Nutcracker to any of the others-- I have to admit I find his curmudgeonly humor funny.

Farrell Fan,

Thank you for posting the notice about this film. I recently finished Joseph's book on Stravinsky and Balanchine and enjoyed it immensely. I order tickets immediately.

Mark