grace

IMO the ARTISTIC director should be wherever the ARTISTIC things are happening, and the business manager or executive officer or whatever they want to call themselves should be dealing with the money side of things. if the AD is the real or sole DIRECTOR of the company, then administrative staff and/or boards should be taking the lead on the money front, so that the AD may remain the artistic leader. there's only so much one person can do!

alexandra - just curious - could you amplify on what you mean when you say this?: thanks!

:eek: scary!

RE leigh's and alexandra's i hope these comments aren't in response to my post, which didn't mean to even slightly suggest this. can my words be read to suggest that, or is it another post you refer to? not meaning to affix 'blame' (!), but just to be sure my post isn't misunderstandable that way. if it is, i'll edit it. i was thinking more along the lines that you both go on to put forward - just that 'something seen' went into the psyche (balanchine's)...and came out in another form.

love the Elna Jorgen-Jensen photo. thanks for sharing these, alexandra.

OK - i managed to get off my chair and go look up a book! (mel - i love that sign of yours - i should do the same.) my source - peter buckman's 'Let's Dance' says about the saraband: - in the 16th century, certainly, the dance and the song that accompanied it were considered by a Jesuit historian to be indecent in its words and disgusting in its movements....(makes you wonder, doesn't it?)... - in 1583 anyone caught reciting its words was to be punished with 200 lashes (!) males were additionally to be sentenced to 6 years in the galleys, while females were to be exiled. - "apparently it was once a sexual pantomime, (...sound familiar?...)for in Barcelona couples twisted their bodies to the rhythm of the castanets" - from being erotic, it became a gliding processional dance...

i can't follow mel's post about 2nd position, but THIS seems most applicable when one thinks of the agon PDD: "she was paralyzed and could not move on her own, but a therapist could move her" (alexandra). what a curious idea, that this could have been the derivation of these balletic movements....i find it very believable - if YOU ("all") say so!

i cannot have an opinion on this one, but i love the options. thanks manhattnik.

GROAN = response to alexandra's topic question. i have deliberately NOT read any of the above posts, because i want to give a focused response to her question (as i read it) before i get sidetracked by all the other intelligent input, which has already taken place. problem #1: these days 'technique' is often an interchangeable word with 'syllabus' or 'method'. let's avoid that trap. my opinion: 'technique' - i'm not going to look up the dictionary but... i favour an interpretation as close as possible to a dictionary one, i.e. the mechanics that makes the stuff (the dancing) happen. style: my personal opinion, without reading what others have said, would be that style is a 'flavour' which emerges or is applied (in individuals or companies or maybe countries) ON TOP OF technique. now, i will venture back to the begining of the thread,... read on, and find out some of the nuances of the question that i have completely overlooked!

oh mel, that's awful.

so, what is the Spanish Panic?

just want to say that my brain really is not up to contributing to this complex debate, inasmuch as i have never thought about this issue - but that i have learned a lot, from what i have read, already - especially from alexandra's first post, so no need to apologise for it! thanks 'guys'.

ah, the four 'sissones'! i should have thought of that, treefrog. batterie = what parents of young children need a good stock of, at christmas thinking of agon, this one's for mel: 'bransle' = what can happen if people drink too much on new year's eve

'changement' = the scene that MUST be appropriately handled in mel's 'nutcracker'... (and i agree with you, mel).

coming from the other side of the globe: 'jota' = what it is in australia at christmas 36+ degrees celsius, day after day - and no cooler than 24º at night... stil, i'd rather this, than what you've got. at least a sea 'brisé' is just picking up...

not to change the topic, but i finally had the opportunity to see a wheeldon work this year, and was 'underwhelmed' (to quote ms. kirkland, who used the term to comment about something else). mel - like alexandra, i was agreeing with you (both). good story, katherine - quite remarkable.

mel wrote yes. of course. this is basic training, all the way through a notation course. one's tests largely consist of the same process - either reading and teaching (to dancers, on the spot) a score you have never seen before, or writing a dance you have never seen before (which is then marked for accuracy by someone who knows the dance). certainly neither of these forms of notation is 'intuitive' - neither claim to be. that's why the training courses are so selective, exacting and intensive. not to nitpick, but the term 'shorthand' is also generally regarded as insulting, by notators - for the very reason abovementioned. 'shorthand' implies a mental trigger, or something incomplete, to summon up the full form - whereas good notation is DESCRIPTIVE, not suggestive.

Mel wrote to which alexandra responded :LOL

viviane - sorry about the email address - i was thinking it was available in one's profile, but it's not. you are right about the website being full of out-of-date info! my fault. you could try private messaging - until i sort out that website! katherine - i find that expression rather lovely: "intime conviction". in a sense, even the judgement one makes on acceptance and analysis of 'evidence' comes down to one's resulting intimate conviction...

oh! here's a better one: entrechats = how i sleep!

well...mine was 'pas de chats' = what usually happens when i have visitors... but i see Mel has done far better than that, already. i think you guys are too clever for me. ;)

:LOL

alexandra - love the note about fonteyn's ages! ;) MJ - in my experience, almost ALL ballets (now) are videotaped by professional companies. at times in the (recent) past if/when they were not, often the reason was cost. (as an insane example, the RB have a magnificent private library of videotapes, without any sound accompaniment. reason: paying the orchestra to be recorded would have cost too much.) mel - IMO, good notation is NOT subjective - except in the sense that everything in the human world may be said to be.

on second thought, viviane, my queries would probably lead this POB school discussion off-topic... however, i would certainly be interested to read your thoughts, perhaps in a new thread, or even in an email?

justafan - that's wonderful! thanks for pointing the way to that one - it's really sweet.