grace

yes, alexandra. thanks for the PM.

the story continues to unfold, with the company's next performance in 2 weeks: another opening night, another invitation...another review!

good for you, citrus - what a good idea!

ah! i see. thank you.

In the 17th century, there are engravings of dancers doing a "Danse Chinois" with highly stylized makeup and index fingers pointed upward.

:offtopic:

just want to ask, re:

two hours on a Sunday afternoon in Elmira, New York

is this good or bad? :shrug:

the latest news, courtesy of Ari:

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/09/04/...2548961011.html

just a note to say that i have been too busy to allow myself online, this past week, so the previous thread was filled up, culled out, and closed, before i saw all the offerings there. nevertheless, i VERY much appreciated ALL of the posts there, that i DID manage to see - especially the funny ones.

for the record: no, it was NOT simon dow who rang me. and i am quite happy to be directly contacted like this, because i am a "big girl" (at 5'3") and happy to state, clarify and debate my own point of view, with anyone who remains civil. i know however, that my editor was NOT happy that the matter was dealt with this way, and has informed the company that such matters should be directly discussed with HER first, next time...("will there be a 'next' time?" ~ BOUND to be...! :angelnot: )

i found it interesting that creative juice wrote:

"ballet, of all the arts, receives the kindest of reviews by critics. I’ve read reviews of plays, movies, concerts, and sporting events in which the reviewer, while being absolutely honest, was also absolutely ruthless.

now, back to the topic - that is, the related topic/s which alexandra has posed as questions HERE.

thanks for that info, alexandra - i never knew that. i, too, appreciated paul parish's carefully chosen words.

thanks to shannynrose, and to mel, for insightful and witty posts. i am involved in a situation at present, where these principles and anecdotes are valuable for me to read. thanks!

only seen monotones II (in the mid 80's) - LOVE it, like giannina.

...the ballets are, after all, called monotones.

wonderful, mary j!

oh, manhattnik! :rolleyes:

Just as Drigo turned the concertante polka of the Act I pas de deux of Lac into a blaring marche for the male dancer in the so-called Black Swan, so Lanchbery did the same for Colas.

thanks for this interesting info, rodney.

Didn't he say that Fokine took a wrong turn after Les Sylphides or words to that effect? Well, I couldn't agree more.

wonderful!

i LOVE it.

i'm wearing a big grin.

you're such a perceptive lot!

thank you so much.

It's clear that Grace admires the company's dancers and is chagrined at what they have to put up with.

since the review is rather a long one to ask people to read, here, i doubt that many more comments will be forthcoming.

so i will tell you why i asked for your feedback.

i am very happy with this review. i wrote it with care, and i feel strongly that these things need to be said. i THOUGHT i was backing up the company. i THOUGHT i was saying that this is (generally) a great product, which is being demeaned by their 'trying too hard' to BE SEEN as a good product. quality speaks for itself. in this sense, i thought my review was SUPPORTIVE. (alexandra - let's not get into whether or not i SHOULD be "supportive', here!!! )

so: imagine how surprised i was, when they rang me up to say how angry they are, at how my review undermines their standing, and will do them irreparable harm, in their current position of negotiating with the government and business for survival funding.

they seem to take the view that - because, as part of the arts industry, the magazine is intended to "support" the arts in australia, and therefore support the company - therefore, in print, i should, support their SPONSORS.

now, it seems to me that they do a deal with their sponsors - something in return for something else. and that's as far as it goes. what THEY provide to their sponsors should be good publicity, via presenting the best possible product, and giving the sponsors credit. they DID this. so, their end of the bargain is fulfilled.

they do NOT buy MY support of their sponsor, not flattery from me, for their sponsor. what *I* think of their sponsor, is totally outside the deal.

i'm sure you will all agree, and therefore perhaps wonder why i am bothering to go through all this...

i guess i am amazed that they think that stating the truth (i.e. the bare facts, as i saw them unfold, of what happened at the beginning of the evening) damages them, and their sponsors... and that my comments about the COMPANY - i.e. the dancers and the works and the standards upheld onstage - are clearly of almost negligible importance and value, because they were accompanied by what the company management perceive to be criticism of their fundraising practices.

they will say that they really ARE fighting to survive. and i'm sure this is true.

so i feel sorry for them, that they are under so much pressure. and that they have to TRY so hard. and that this seems to have shifted their attention from the product, to simple existence. (but it's still a great product.) ...and i thought i was SAYING how sad this is....for them. not "criticising" them - or their sponsors.

but that's how they are reading it.

so, that's why i wanted to see how others read it.

thanks guys. you're intelligent articulate perceptive people - and good friends.

alexandra:

"She was bending over backwards to be positive since they have a new artistic director, but was really teed off at all the claptrap and wants to be sure that it Never Happens Again."

VERY funny! :shhh:

more opinions now needed from others, please...

ari - re your problem #2: might it be caused by the need to click 'Refresh', on one or other of those computers? is it only happening on one of them?

of course, i imagine that you have thought of these things. but i find myself, that, sometimes, when i get annoyed by a software problem, i have neglected the obvious...especially if i haven't had the problem for a long time.

A long time ago I made a joke that there was originally ONE ballet, in Italy, in 1465. And everything we've seen since then is a little part of that one, big, exorbitantly fantastic 12-hour-long classical extravaganza.

thanks ari for privately helping me out with this article. and thanks to treefrog for explaining. BW - i wouldn't try too hard. the article is not at all specific, as treefrog says.

here is a recent review of mine, from dance australia magazine, just published last week (the august/september issue).

i am putting it up here, so as to ask you - anyone - for feedback, as to WHAT IT SAYS to you - in very simple, general terms, please? i.e. if you had to sum up it's meaning, how would you describe its mesage or its content, to someone who hadn't read it?

as in: SHE said "........

i have a reason for doing this - obviously - but i don't want to influence your comments, by telling you what it is, before you respond.

so: here is my review. please respond!

Then & Now

West Australian Ballet

His Majesty’s Theatre, Perth

May 2003

More than the usual amount of anticipation flowed through the opening night foyer. The regular first night flock of sponsors and businessmen was there, but also, an unusual number of politicians. The Governor of Western Australia and his wife were greeted by the vice-regal salute, and Gough and Margaret Whitlam were formally welcomed from the stage.

The curtain went up on fifteen minutes of speechifying, in which, between effusive thank you’s, the name of BHPbilliton was repeated as many times as possible. WAB CEO Louise Howden-Smith spoke, followed by Artistic Director Simon Dow, then Culture & Arts Minister Sheila McHale (representing the Premier Geoff Gallop), followed by BHPbilliton Iron Ore’s President, Graham Hunt, who was there to announce his company’s gift to WAB: $300,000, over three years.

The gift has enabled the purchase of a new French Salto dance floor, to be used for touring – a floor which is reputed to have cut by half, the injury rate at Paris Opera Ballet. More extensive country touring will also be facilitated by this partnership.

It did not go unremarked during interval, albeit quietly, that this is the same company publicly criticized by Prime Minister Howard, this very day, for its payout to its sacked CEO : $12.5 million, plus an annual $1.5 million pension for life. Against that, $300,000 seems almost trivial, but in the ballet context, it’s a lot of money.

I believe it was McHale who congratulated WAB “on its track record of bringing business and the arts together over the years”. Since Howden-Smith’s elevation to CEO, sponsorship has clearly acquired increased importance, along with an almost painfully dutiful recognition.

One is torn between admiration for her efforts which pay off, and dismay at the visibility of this commercialization. There seems to be an increasingly desperate sense of exhilaration presented by the company, at just simply surviving.

The whole evening seemed to have a forced party atmosphere, with multiple bouquets at every curtain call, streamers and long-stem red roses hurled from the balcony, as if company supporters are trying hard to show the politicians that this West Australian product really IS a success. For those of us who hold the company in genuine and lasting high regard, this manufactured buzz is artificial, dismaying, and distracting.

Then & Now  gives us one traditional tutu ballet, one darkly intense Weir work (commissioned and premiered by WAB several years ago), and two new works by Dow. All are entertaining, and immaculately presented in every way.

Dow’s "Ludwig’s Games" is a comic ballet, making a play of time-worn cliches about aging.  Dow’s children are fractious, throw balls and fall down; his adolescent females primp in front of mirrors while males do pushups and display their biceps; his adults fall into nagging marriages, while the aged wear glasses and cardigans, hunched over walking sticks. Oddly, the men’s plaid trousers mark it as a piece of Americana, belying the theme’s universality. The old men's plaid trousers shout 'Americana' - a little at odds with the theme's universality. It drew more than a few laughs, but the work would sit better on students.

"Fall From Grace" is Dow’s strong response to a commissioned score by James Ledger. This darkly dramatic pas de deux depicts the climactic moment of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth. Orpheus enters at the top of a center-stage black flight of stairs, making his descent into Hades (the stage floor) to rescue his lover, who appears Giselle-like, veiled as a moving spirit. A contemporary balletic pas de deux, en pointe, follows. Upon reaching the top of the stairs, when she tempts him to look back at her face, a slightly clumsy partnered move transfers her to a slide which runs parallel to the stairs. Thus she descends again to the underworld. Callum Hastie and Jacinta Ross-Ehlers gave truly outstanding performances.

Weir’s "The Collector" makes visual impact from the outset, with a massive rope grid marking the back of the stage area. Male and female bodies hang enmeshed, like prey in a cobweb, as high as the eye can see. David Mack gave a powerful performance as the title figure, backed up by a small able cast. Melissa Aurisch drew well-deserved cheers for her intensely dynamic portrayal of Miranda, the object of his obsession.

As I have reported on a similar previous occasion, the audience  spontaneously gasped and applauded when the curtain rose for "Le Corsaire Variations". A sumptuous mosaic –style backcloth designed by Kenneth Rayner perfectly complemented Anna French’s breathtakingly beautiful costumes. Rayner’s design was completely hand-painted by Leigh Hewson-Bower, from a colour computer printout. After researching the background of the traditional ballet, French wanted this set of variations to appear onstage like a Persian miniature. Her visualization of the music, in terms of its intensity, suggested rich jewel colours such as ruby, turquoise, claret and jade, highlighted with gold. These were used for the lively brocaded tutus.

Ballet Master Askhat Galiamov staged this version as a showcase. It would have better achieved its aim of a “glittering traditional classical performance of technical virtuosity” (programme notes) without his interpolated moments of blokey humour.

A lovely performance came from Natalie Clarke in her solo, but the evening belongs to Jacinta Ross-Ehlers and particularly her partner, West Australian Milos Mutavdzic, who provided the excitingly athletic macho high points.

i have to review a new CD tomorrow, pianist nigel gaynor's

CLASSICAL PAS DE DEUX Volume 1.

so am just claiming some space, to put some info up here, about it, when i do my review. because i think it would be of particular interest to teachers. i intend, in my magazine review, to compare it with another CD, which i don't yet have, which was released by a ballet competition in sydney. it consists of lots of variations, played at different speeds, for the competition students. one of my students showed it to me, and will bring it back for me to get more detailed descriptive info from - hopefully tomorrow.

so: watch this space for info about these two recordings which would be very helpful in the studio, for pre-professional students repertoire classes.

alexandra: if you think this thread should go in TEACHERS, please move it. B)

thanks for the links, alexandra.

a quick skim of the ashton article, by barnes, suggests that it may be of real interest to some people. the photos are lovely.

the aloff article about dance injuries is sort of 'all over the place' - lots of questionable statements, i think... some interesting quotes from marian horosko (and an elegant photo of her). interestingly, she speaks, towards the end of the piece, about the need in the USA for accreditation for dance teachers.

i meant to read the tobia pieces, but haven't got there yet...

quote, from a letter received by terry teachout, in response to his blog:

I invite your suggestions for a prettier neologism with which to replace "blog." I suggest "ediary" (from, obviously, e for electronic and diary for, um, diary), but—and here's what makes it elegant—pronounced with the stress on the first syllable, as in apiary or breviary. I also thought of "idiary" (for Internet diary) but it somehow seems to imply low intelligence on the part of the blogger. Another suggestion is "enchaineton"—an online version of feuilleton (since feuilleton is "little leaf" for the French, and enchainement is what they call a web).

so, we could call OURS "enchainements"... ?

ray - just wondering if you are someone who i met, last year in australia? any chance you could PM me, with your real name and location, if it suits you to do that? if you are who i think you are, you were at WAAPA to stage a work for dance students, last year: is that right?

i can't get this article at chicago tribune. i'm not registered there, and i don't really want to be, since its unlikley that i'll ever want to read anything there again.

can anyone else, who CAN read the article, give me the gist of it? is it done IN a swimming pool? if so, is it ballet? or dance-like movements, like dance exercises in the water? - or is it real synchronised swimming (you know, ethel whats-er-name stuff)?

thanks for any help... i am having visions of trying out an idea like this, with students in the water here, this summer!!! :shhh:

veronica, i just came across this post of yours. i can answer some of these Qs - but after doing a search to see if you are still active at the board (because this post was made a year ago), i notice that you were planning to attend a special event in the northern summer, in china. have you been yet? or are you about to go? if you have already been, and you went to hong kong, you can probably answer your own questions by now. if not, please let me know here, and i'll try to help.

p.s. congratulations on your fantastic RAD intermediate result! good job!

ah well - i guess they'll be put to more actual practical use, where they are...

how kind of you.

i saw a set of these, years ago, in dancebooks in london. they weren't expensive, but i couldn't afford them at the time ...