Hans

Class on Wednesday was a little less successful as far as applying corrections went--the students were in a giggly mood. I can't blame them, as they've been dancing quite a bit for the past few weeks, so I didn't make things too difficult and just let them dance. Not sure when I'll be teaching them again (hopefully soon). I gave the following pirouette and grand allegro combinations: Pirouettes. 16 measures 3/4 time. Begin at pt. 6, R leg pointe tendue devant croisé. Measure 1: Piqué soutenu (turning to the right) finishing with a demi-plié in 5th position effacé with the R leg front. Measure 2: Relevé, developpé the R leg to effacé devant. Measures 3-4: Tombé, pas de bourrée dessous finishing with a demi-plié in 5th position croisé, L leg front. Measure 5: Chassé forward through 4th position and relevé on the L leg in 4th arabesque. Measures 6-8: From 4th arabesque, temps lié en arrière so the L leg is pointe tendue devant croisé, circular port de bras (bend right, back, left, recover) and plié in 4th position in preparation for a pirouette en dehors. Measures 9-10: Double pirouette en dehors to the right terminé sur le cou de pied derrière, pas de bourrée dessous en tournant. Measures 10-11: Piqué en avant onto the R leg croisé with the L leg retiré derrière, plié 5th position, sous-su. Measures 12-16: Tour degagé en dehors (piqué turn en dehors) to the right twice. Finish with a double tour degagé or chainés. Grand Allegro. 16 measures 3/4 time. Begin at pt. 6, L leg pointe tendue devant croisé. Introduction, 2 measures: On the last two beats of the introduction, glissade through 4th. Measures 1-3: 3 grands jetés en avant (effacé) toward pt. 2. Measure 4: Finish the last grand jeté in arabesque, temps levé in arabesque, chassé backward. Measures 5-8: Pas jeté entrelacé, chassé, and entrelacé again, finishing in arabesque, traveling toward pt. 8. Measures 9-10: Coupé, tombé, pas de bourrée dessous to 4th position en face. Measures 11-16: Double pirouette en dehors and rond de jambe fouetté en tournant four times, finishing with the working leg effacé devant, the supporting leg in plié, and immediately run to pt. 2. (Alternate version: Grand fouetté twice, after the second grand fouetté, relevé on the supporting leg and bring the working leg from attitude derrière croisé through retiré to effacé devant and run to pt. 2.) The next group starts on the left from pt. 4. Continue until all groups have done both sides.

No hard feelings I make my share of mistakes, too!

Just a few things: First, I never said anything about "people of color." In a thread such as this where we are treading on eggshells, it is important to read posts carefully, especially when quoting. Also, I don't think the example of a soul food restaurant being required to serve Thai cuisine is valid, as that would be more like asking whether a ballet company should be required to perform tap. A more valid comparison would be to ask whether a specialty restaurant should be required to hire chefs of various heritages/lineages/&c, to which I would answer that it depends on how good the chef is. Same with dance (I'm sure we all agree on that!)

I read DanceView.

The short answer is "no." In a corps of blond and brunette swan-maidens, a red-haired dancer might stand out, but it would be ludicrous to remove her from the ballet because "swan-maidens don't have red hair." A glance at just about any ballet company will demonstrate that there's at least one dancer who appears to be Asian, and nothing has stopped dancers of Asian lineage from performing Aurora, Odette, and Giselle. Why should it stop anyone else? No logical reason I can think of. Nobody cried "artistic blasphemy" when Danny Tidwell performed the Neapolitan Dance in Swan Lake, nor when Aesha Ash was a snowflake in the Nutcracker. There have been mixed-race "families" in Washington Ballet's Nutcracker party scene. Just because we participate in a 19th century art form doesn't mean we must preserve 19th century prejudice.

Re: Swan Lake with NBoC, I found the quote in Farrell's autobiography:

I think perhaps I have misunderstood you...not every Japanese person moves in a sharp, angular way, and surely not every French person is slow and curvilinear. Please help me understand better what you mean. As for a Japanese person being in the midwest, well, I know several Asian-looking people who are from Ohio (they were born there and so were their parents). You might be surprised at the reactions they get from people who ask, "Where are you from?" (I sympathize with them, actually. Upon finding out my name, people are usually not impressed when told I am from Maryland. )

Paul, can you clarify a bit on this?

Just to be picky, ballet's roots can actually be traced to the 15th century.

Ekaterina Osmolkina: Cherry-vanilla with brandy. Smooth and sweet, with a (180º) kick! Larissa Lezhnina: peach sorbet with a mint leaf. Gillian Murphy: Rhubarb.

Actually, I think Vishneva herself is a better example of this than Fonteyn, whose feet and turnout were not exceptionally good but certainly not bad. Vishneva has, through her superior training and hard work, been able to shape her less than ideal feet pretty well, using them to elongate the line of her legs rather than calling direct attention to them, and this serves her well, making her appear taller and longer than she really is. Vishneva is thus yet another example of a dancer turning the tables on what could be considered a shortcoming and instead using it as an advantage.

It doesn't have to be. Choreographers, take note! (Actually, Adrienne Dellas-Thornton already has created a ballet for Universal Ballet based on a Korean folk tale.) I actually predict that things are going to start looking up for multiculturalism in ballet. For better and worse, ballet is very slow to change, but it is changing.

Jenifer Ringer (is she named for Jenifer Street in DC?) is indeed very lovely--one of my favorites at NYCB.

I was under the impression that Leigh was referring to the choreography...? I've found the Prokofiev music to be pretty readily available.

That's surprising and unfortunate.

Yes atm711, but those dancers wouldn't have been trained in his style. I'll bet he could actually do something quite effective as far as just staging goes.

Fendrock, thank you for the information and link--I'm glad to see this type of setup can be successful. It's great to look at the pictures (what a fantastic waiting room!) to see how such a school might be arranged.

DefJef wrote a comment in my blog (scroll to the bottom of the entry to read it and my response) that brought up the issue of men's port de bras in ballet. To paraphrase, he wrote that to him men's port de bras is less "visible" than women's. I agree with this; men's arms are definitely not emphasized as much as women's. So, a few questions for our members: Why do you think this is? What male ballet dancers have you noticed who have exemplary port de bras and why?

No, I don't think you're wrong at all. Of course, men should have port de bras that is just as refined as women's, but there are a few factors that I think make it less noticeable. For one thing, women tend to wear costumes that reveal their arms, whereas men tend to get long sleeves, puffy "poet shirts," &c. Also, women are encouraged to have a more "feminine" (I almost want to say "flamboyant") port de bras than men--they use their wrists more and more their arms in a more delicate manner than men. Men's arms should be no less graceful, but there is usually a weightier quality as well as a sort of noble reserve. It can be more difficult to tell the difference between "masculine" port de bras and just not using one's arms very much. One often sees very nice port de bras from the men of the Kirov, Royal Danish Ballet, and Paris Opera Ballet, and if you are able to see any of these companies live or watch DVD's of them, it may give you a sense of what I mean. EDIT: I started this thread in Aesthetic Issues to discuss this issue, as I think it's a very interesting one--thank you for bringing it up!

Thank you very much! This latest series of posts will have more to do with classroom technique as I have recently started teaching again, but I hope to intersperse the technical writing with more thoughts on performing/watching ballet.

Sorry it's taken me so long to reply, Scoop! I only just now figured out how to approve comments. I agree with you that the lack of ballet in Baltimore is frustrating, especially given that other arts flourish there. I think your idea of a short workshop is excellent, and I would love to try it. It could be helpful for you and others trying to find good training in Baltimore, and it could also give me some name recognition in the area. I will talk to some people I know in Baltimore and try to work something out--and if it does happen, I'll post about it here!

Maybe Joffrey could revive it. Glebb, are you reading this thread?

I haven't seen this particular DVD, but I have seen a few POB performances, and I know I'm not alone in thinking that the Paris Opéra dancers (and presumably their coaches) tend to heavily over-think their roles. Maybe I missed this earlier in the thread, but does anyone know who staged "Jewels" for them? I'm really interested to see the Kirov dance it; they're probably excellent at Diamonds.

The local Nutcracker used to have (perhaps still does) a bit in Act I where one of the maids, who has been sneaking wine from an extra glass throughout the party scene, interrupts the Grossvater dance with a drunken jig. It ends with her running offstage with her hand over her mouth.

Hm, I'm not sure I'd title anything starting with "The Tragedy of...." That's just asking for snide comments from critics.