Hans

I wouldn't say radical art has become the establishment, but some of it does seem to have become part of the establishment. For example, Picasso and Monet enjoy as hallowed places as Titian and Vermeer, just as Balanchine is revered just as much as Petipa and Bournonville.

I can't believe it took them that long to figure it out.

Was there a dead choreographer that didn't apply to? ~ Amy [MacMillan] From our point of view, no. But the choreographers might have had varying opinions--some opimistic, some pessimistic. And the damage does seem to be worse at some companies than others.

Thank you for the plug, Old Fashioned! May I see your web site? I had no idea this would be so popular, but I'm glad everyone's having fun with it .

Oh, come on--answer honestly! And about that centennial...you don't want to know

You can go to http://www.quizilla.com --that's the main site. Thank you, Alexandra!

I don't know why that happened. But thank you for intending to rate it well .

Hm...it seems that Quizilla refuses to put up the revised version, so the one above will have to do for now. So, which dead ballet choreographer are you, Alexandra? (As if I need ask ;) ) Editing to say Never mind! I just clicked on the above link and it worked.

Which Dead Ballet Choreographer Are You? Find out by clicking here: http://quizilla.com/users/bquiz/quizzes/Wh...%20Are%20You%3F I am able to edit the quiz, so criticisms are welcome .

I googled it and found: http://www.angelfire.com/va/randomlyweird/...d/russcomp.html

I also took the "Which dead Russian composer are you?" test--I'm Rimsky-Korsakov. It gave me several great ideas for ballet quizzes, like "which dead ballet choreographer are you?" and "which 19th-century ballet character are you?"

Alexandra, I could play with that all day! So far, I have three letters matching the first part of King Henry the Fourth and three from Hamlet

That is some very interesting information. But...11.6% is a "robust figure?" And considering the number of ballet companies around the country there are with theaters to fill, 8 million people sounds like a rather paltry sum, especially when spread across an entire year. However, there is something to the ticket price issue. As much as I love ballet (not to mention opera and theatre), I can rarely afford to attend it; it's currently about a once-a-year thing with me: the Maryinsky comes to town, I see it once. Then I have to wait until next year, as tempting as the brochures for Washington Ballet, Washington Opera, NSO, and BSO are. It's a catch-22 of course--companies that are struggling financially can't exactly be expected to lower their ticket prices, not to mention that those "free" events are only free for the audience--the dancers &c still have to be paid. Maybe companies could consider, instead of free events, say, $5-10 ticket night once/month featuring excerpts from the repertoire, no scenery, and simple lighting? Or reduced-price subscriptions for those with less than a certain amount of income (sort of the way need-based scholarships are calculated)...not sure the public would go for that. My point is that sometimes people want to see the ballet, they just can't. As a (somewhat) unrelated question, has anyone figured out if those Calvin Klein-like ads and melodramatically worded brochures actually increase ticket sales?

On my tape, she does something like an echappé to 4th position, then a grand changement & repeat on the other side during the introductory bars. If the Vision Scene variation by Ashton is the one that starts with enveloppés and some very strange port de bras, I definitely prefer the Sergeyev. It is more beautiful and more musical IMO. However, I do agree that the Ashton is better than the Petipa in the sense of using the music that was meant for that variation instead of the totally inappropriate "gold" music...but I maintain that Petipa did a good job of choreographing to the gold music , and who knows--we've never seen Brianza, so it might really have looked better with the gold music.

but didn't Petipa choreograph to different music? The only sapphire variation I can find is on the tape of Vivana Durante in SB, and it doesn't include a pas de ciseaux, but maybe that's for the macmillanized version?

That's it, Mel! Pokémon Ballet!

Or worse--a scene from a Peter Martins ballet :green:

Her music seems to be, at any rate, between "I got you" on the Oldies radio stations and "Do you belLEEVE in life after love?" on the Top 40 stations! Yet the eternal question remains: with a voice like that, how did she get on the radio in the first place? Silvy, I think Glenn Close could play Rothbart as a woman--genders get changed around rather a great deal these days, and besides, if she was made out to be a lesbian, people would flock to see the movie.

It seems to me that saying Petipa was the creator of Swan Lake is just as accurate as saying he was the creator of the Nutcracker. Ivanov helped in both, but Petipa devised the orginal concepts, didn't he?

I have a question as to what is performed today at the Maryinsky--the original LF variation or the updated Lopukhov one? If what we see today is supposed to be more advanced...well, to put it politely, the original must have been very simple indeed as the current LF variation at the Maryinsky is not exactly difficult.

Pankova is good, but IMO, Sizova is better . Port de bras does not get any better than that...not to mention her jump!

I remember meeting Tanaquil LeClerq at the New York State Theater several years ago. Extremely polite and gracious, and still very beautiful. She died quite soon after that. I also remember being in class with Baryshnikov at SAB, the time Rasta Thomas complimented my dancing (I was shocked, as I had just been out for over a month with a back injury, and then Christmas break on top of that!), and shaking Edward Villella's hand after he signed my program. Then there was the time I went to see the Kirov at the Kennedy Center and Daria Pavlenko & several friends sat at the next table. And on the way out, I got Danila Korsuntsev's autograph But what was really fun was having people (mostly small children, but not always) recognize me as the Nutcracker-Prince at the Starbucks across the street from the Warner Theatre in DC the years I was in Washington Ballet's Nutcracker . I got to be "famous" for a few minutes whenever I went out to get peppermint hot chocolate between shows

Are you quite sure about that, citibob? My French-speaking friends from both Canada and France have told me otherwise, though perhaps I am misunderstanding. Perhaps Estelle could clarify...?

I have this awful feeling that if I go to hell, there will only be two "ballet" videos that I can choose from: Barbie Swan Lake or Van Damme Swan Lake. :mondieu:

I thought of that one as well, Mel. While we're on the subject, does anyone know where Ashton (or whoever) got the idea that Aurora had siblings? This must not square too well with NYCB's version in which Aurora seems to be an only child and she and Désiré take over the kingdom the moment they're married!