grace

thanks farrell fan. it's good to BE back, too.

like you, i hadn't realised this was an old thread.

i had never thought about the topic raised just above - about balanchine's wives and/or muses getting along with each other - so that is yet another interesting matter to have been raised in this thread.

i was worried that i had killed off this topic, by focusing on just one aspect of it. it seems to me that we have skirted around:

- the jacobs book, en passant

- the bentley bookS plural

- bentley: an ex-dancer who is now a writer

- balanchine's attitude to women

- performance as empowerment

- sexual psychology

- exhibitionism, for want of a better word...

- and probably a few other things.

frankly i am just glad that i am not alexandra, having to worry what someone might write in this thread NEXT!

thank you so much, carbro and dirac, for the welcomes. i missed you, too! it's lovely, after being away for so long - a year - to find that the community i have always appreciated is still here.

thank you so much for the welcome, alexandra. i just love this site.

this topic is what a friend of mine would refer to as "a gnarly one".

i posted (above) before i went to bed last night, and have just got up, with a few more personal thoughts. this is a hard post to make in a rush, but i can't spare the time to be too careful about how i phrase it, so i will just leap in and hope for the best (as bentley has done!) i will TRY to keep it brief.

when i was young, i needed to become a ballerina.

i have often thought about the psychological underpinnings of that need.

bentley refers to the psychology of her childhood, as partial explanation for her fascination with her new sexual choice.

almost a year ago, i discovered nightclubs. when i was young, i was a bunhead, and too serious, and also too frightened, to be interested in such venues.

my new life has been immensely liberating and pleasurable - and is a large part of the reason that i have not been here, at this website.

i 'discovered' that, for me, much of the desire and buzz that i associated with dance and with stage performance, can still be had, in a 'safer' way, via the nightclub dance floor. this was an unexpected, welcome and exciting revelation for me.

i felt: it's the SAME thing - the involvement in music, the love of movement, the permission to dress up and adorn myself with lace and colour and fanciful/exposing clothing, and jewellery. and the opportunity to be admired. i LOVE it.

there is more to say on this, but frankly it is quite a strain writing it - and i am pressed for time today, so i will leave my OWN self-disclosure at this point, and maybe say more later.

hope this concept - of the parallels between nightclub theatricality and that of the stage - is of interest...

related item: i once heard christopher gable, teaching class, ask for "the house pirouette". i found his reference amusing ...

but, before anyone asks: no, i can't remember the exercise.

just read one of the reviews, and came across this, which i hope you will appreciate being shared:

And what would Mr. B. make of her new work?

"Ah ha ha ha," Ms. Bentley said. "Gosh—that’s a tough one. I think he would be amused. I think he would be amused, and perhaps happy that he’s dead."

i find it impossible to know what on earth it might be OK to say about all this. so i will restrict myself to expressing admiration for those of you (above) who have managed to make some appropriately witty remarks and give us a laugh.

out of curiosity about the 'subgenre' referred to in this thread, i did buy and read 'the memoirs of catherine m' (or similar title) and didn't find it erotic at all. i guess 'eroticism' is...maybe...highly personal? i really don't know...

i DO know that i have a young (23 yr old) friend who worked as a 'skimpy' barmaid, and i've also met two women who worked as strippers, all of whom DID find their work empowering.

that USED to be the only way - maybe it still is.

the only other possibility that i know of, is the university of waterloo in canada - rhonda ryman is there, and she MAY have a course - although possibly not to the same company-professional level as the benesh institute's course.

i should say that the benesh institute has moved - physically - several times, since i was there. also, some (but not all) of the people have changed. so the atmosphere of the whole course MAY have changed (for the better - or worse ?!?). who knows? however, english institutions have a real stuck-in-the-mud 'quality' that resists change...

about work as a notator: my experience (and i am not talking about looking for notation work for myself - because i didn't do that - but about what i have seen in the field) is that there is extremely LITTLE such work. the economic crisis in the arts has meant that actual paying JOBS for notators have ALMOST disappeared. it is a truly elite pursuit, with only a handful of people working in it, worldwide.

the people who DO work in it, in my experience, are people who would have got those jobs anyway - they are the ex-dancers who have a photographic memory, who would always have become employed as a ballet-master or repetiteur when they transitioned from performing (often with the same company).

however, there are other uses for notation than becoming employed as a notator for a company.

tell me a little more about yourself and what you want to do, and i may be able to help a bit more... (if you like).

an extraordinary level of detail in the answers, here! congratulations to you two, for knowing so much!!!

being so far away, i haven't got a clue how the company or the choreographer is usually perceived in NY. i read the beginning of the review (what's on the first page at the website) and immediately took THAT much to actually be complimentary or flattering to the group/the choreographer - for daring to do what is beautiful or classic or respectful of balletic heritage, rather than just 'black' or fashionable or shocking.

oh MY, caro...are you in london and actually there, at present?

MY time there was sheer unadulterated hell.

i pity you.

don't jump off a bridge!

i will try to look in here tomorrow, in case you have responded and provided a bit more info ... in the meantime, please know that it *IS* survivable... my thoughts are with you.

:green:

:cool2:

Popular rumor has it that the politician who can make the shortest speech will be a shoo-in at the next General Election.

thanks for the support, carbro: much appreciated.

please keep me posted on daryl brandwood (fantastic dancer from australia). thanks!

hi katharyn,

"not that you're state-patriotic or anything eh? *grin*"

- no, indeed.

i take this rare opportunity to actually point out HOW good they are, because i am constantly being upbraided for NOT being positive enough about them, in my home state (as i am their regular reviewer, for the only national dance publication).

by applying top international standards, my commentary is exacting - thus: NOT all undiluted praise! unfortunately, since not all australian reviewers ARE as exacting as i am, my criticism apparently risks skewing the national picture against the WAB, ... so i am told...

glad to see that, in your final comments, you acknowledge their worth.

at present, WAB have a top team of dancers - even better than when you saw them last.

sorry rob - i don't know what "dog and pony" means.

but they are complaining about my mentioning the speeches, and about the damage THEY see that doing, to their relatiobnship with both the government and the sponsors.

in particular, they feel that i have embarrassed the govt. by suggesting that they aren't supporting the company ENOUGH, and that i have embarrassed the sponsor by mentioning the CEO payout, and by (relatively-speaking) belittling the amount they are giving to the ballet company.

neither of these was my intent - this is like deliberately seing the cup half-empty, IMO.

"An evening like any other at the Bolshoi"

temple_dancer,

i am australian, but don't live where i get to see SDC very often at all. in general, i would say that graeme murphy's choregraphies are highly individual - each can be very different to others. that's about all i can offer, at the moment!

i'm looking forward to seeing this one, as i haven't seen the joffrey company since the early 1970's in california!!!

ozzie, i don't think it's a reasonable comparison to make. it's like saying: which do you think is 'better': the Royal Ballet or the Scottish Ballet - except that the difference is even MORE marked.

one is a major, government funded, huge, national classical institution, while the other is a TINY, endlessly-struggling group, of highly individual and multi-skilled dancers constantly presenting cutting-edge ballet choreography.

IMO, the WAB dancers are often BETTER THAN the AB dancers - with a few exceptions. but they HAVE to be, to handle the variety of rep they deal with, and the pressures of having no-one to replace them. that's MY opinion! B)

excellent, Mme. Hermine!

oh kfw, that's so funny!

i suppose i should be embarrassed to admit that i don't understand any of the story references, above.

how about Sue de Nim ?

a pseudonym? oh heavens yes! i asked if that was possible before i EVER started writing reviews. but: apparently not these days, as you would of course know. i can see good reasons, though, to go back to that system - especially in small towns!

as much as i love ballet, i have to confess that sitting through 'swan lake' (and all full length ballets, apart from giselle) really taxes MY patience! :shhh:

SORRY.

picking up my thread with zero replies, eight months later:

still no takers? :shrug:

i just accidentally stumbled across this thread, from an australian poster (i think), who i haven't noticed before. are you still around, photoguy? i had no idea that the AB had more ale principals than female...i wonder why. i think i'll pass this query on to a friend of mine, who might know more - although it is now a year ago, so the situation may not be the same, any more.