Kathleen O'Connell

I tried that thought experiment myself. Then I went and watched some videos. I think there may be just too much recognizable Japonaiserie in the movement vocabulary to keep it from seeming like "a work that comments on a culture by someone who isn't a part of that culture," as On Pointe so aptly put it, even reduced to leotards without the wigs, costumes, and sets. (And the more I look at it, the cheesier it seems.) Anyway, here are two clips to compare / contrast. The first is of Miami City Ballet with costumes and sets. The second is a clip from a Sarasota Ballet rehearsal in practice clothes with no sets. The clips are from different sections of the ballet, but some of the motifs from the first are repeated in the second. Note that the ballerina in the Sarasota clip is Asian. (I don't know the Sarasota dancers well enough to know for sure who she is - perhaps Ryoko Sadoshima, who was born in Japan.)

Honestly, I think Bugaku is a ballet we can do without. Simply presenting it with an Asian cast won't address all of its flash points: Asians aren't interchangeable, just as, in some contexts—whether benign or charged—Western Europeans of different ethnic or national origins aren't interchangeable. Furthermore, Bugaku does more than riff on the style of another culture's dance traditions: it appears to be saying something about the way that culture structures the intersection of hierarchy, gender, and lust. Stripping off the wigs and the kimonos might not be enough to take away the taint of, for lack of a better term, the Western gaze. Not every work by a genius is a work of genius. I think we have enough Balanchine to let Bugaku go. ETA: Just to be clear, I'm not criticizing anyone's interest in seeing Bugaku: ballet devotees are rightly curious to see and evaluate as many works by a creator of Balanchine's stature as they can. In this instance I think there are other matters that need to be taken into consideration. For the record, I've both lived in Japan and, as an employee of a large multi-national company, done business in a number of Asian countries. That's the filter through which I see Bugaku.

I wouldn't mind if they danced in all their balding glory, frankly, but it should be their choice. If they're more comfortable dancing with toupees, they should by all means do so. I just hope they don't feel pressure from the company, or their peers, or the world at large to wear them. They may view their toupees much as some ballerinas (or opera singers) view pinned on hairpieces or wigs: part of the costume—and that's fine too. Personally, I'd like to see a more relaxed approach to on-stage hairstyles in general, and wouldn't mind a few beards in the bargain.

No one is saying that.

As far as I'm concerned, Lauren King's dancing was absolutely the highlight of Saturday evening's performance of Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2. She was delightful six different ways. I mostly went to see Summerspace, but I'm really glad I got to see King's TP2 performance, too.

I think both Abraham's The Runaway and Peck's Pulchinella Variations with their attendant designer togs delivered big time, and I will die on that hill. 😉

Well, in the best of all possible worlds one might hope that the company could contrive to both rake in the bucks and get a few keepers, too however gimmicky the angle. I've got no real objection to the basic concept, although I wonder from time to time if the designers might benefit from a bit more (ahem, a lot more) guidance from Marc Happel.

I agree that the Fashion Gala model hasn't delivered a ton brilliant costuming, although, to be fair, it hasn't delivered a ton of brilliant choreography either. That being said, a few collaborations worked out pretty well. In addition to The Runaway (Kyle Abraham / Giles Deacon): Spectral Evidence - Angelin Preljocaj / Olivier Theyskens (2013) Neverwhere - Benjamin Millepied / Iris Van Herpen (2013) Funérailles - Liam Scarlett / Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen (2014) New Blood - Justin Peck / Humberto Leon (2015) [Not a Fashion Gala ballet, but Peck's The Times are Racing also had costumes by Humberto Leon.] ten in seven - Peter Walker / Jason Wu (2016) Pulcinella Variations - Justin Peck / Tsumori Chisato (2017) Not Our Fate - Lauren Lovette / Fernando Garcia and Laura Kim of MONSE and Oscar de la Renta (2017) Not all of these are top-drawer ballets, but I'd argue that the costumes added something to the whole. I suspect I could find a few more to add to the list, and there have been a couple of near-misses, too. ETA: I saw Neverwhere a couple of seasons ago when it was revived without Van Herpen's brilliant costumes and while I wouldn't go so far as to say it was nothing without them, they definitely added an element of theater that it just doesn't have as a leotard ballet. Kind of the reverse of Balanchine's Four Temperaments.

Well that's some welcome news indeed! And yes, she'd be a lovely, sunny WREN.

Honestly, given the current state of Domingo's voice, I think I might have preferred to hear Željko Lučić in the role anyway. (Lučić, a Serbian baritone who sings a lot of Verdi, will replace Domingo. I wouldn't rush to the theater just to hear him, but if I had signed on hear Netrebko's Lady Macbeth, I wouldn't tear my tickets up in disgust just because he'd been cast, either.) It's a shame Domingo couldn't manage a more graceful exit for the sake of his fans if nothing else.

Somehow that is just perfect. 😁

Some more Frank tibutes How Robert Frank’s Photographs Helped Define America by Jelani Cobb in The New Yorker Wanting to See Like Robert Frank by Amanda Petrusich in The New Yorker The Shock of Robert Frank’s “The Americans” by Peter Schjeldahl in The New Yorker Robert Frank Revealed the Truth of Postwar America by Arthur Lubow in The New York Times How Robert Frank's Vision Influenced and Inspired Generations of Photographers by Keith Jenkins, NPR Jim Casper's 2008 review for Lens Culture of the 50th anniversary re-issue of The Americans, which was supervised by Frank himself. (Note: Tod Papageorge groused about the way Frank re-cropped the images in The Americans when the book was re-issued in the 80s.)

City Ballet the Podcast has finally made it into Apple's podcast directory, which means it should be available in just about every podcast app out there. I have no idea why it took so long, but it's there now.

RIP, Robert Frank. "In Frank’s transforming vision of America, a car is a casket, a trolley a prison, a flag a shroud." Tod Papageorge, "Walker Evans and Robert Frank – An Essay on Influence" Also from Papgeorge's essay: "The few critics who bothered to write about Frank’s book [The Americans] when it was first published [1959] detested it; words like “warped,” “sick,” “neurotic,” and “joyless” were used to characterize the work. Although, in retrospect, this response appears hysterical, it should be remembered that these critics – for the most part, writers in the photographic press – were reacting to a style of picture-making as much as they were condemning what they regarded as a captious attack on America. At a time when the dominant public sense of photography’s possibilities was identified with photojournalism and with the cherubic buoyancy of Steichen’s “Family of Man” exhibition, The Americans presented harsh, difficult reading." I suspect that Frank was one of those artists who may have influenced his detractors as much as his admirers. Not a bad legacy, when all is said and done. I took a few moments to read through some of the comments on the Times' obituary (I know, I know, never read the comments) and it was interesting to note that there were harshly critical takes among them, some of Frank's style, some of what they view as an immigrant's temerity to depict America in a less-than-flattering light.

Adding to the list of Kowroski performances not to be missed: the ballerina in Balanchine's Variations Pour une Porte et un Soupir. As far as I'm concerned, Kowroski is to that role much as Teresa Reichlen is to the Rubies Tall Girl: she spoils you for anyone else. I think I've seen just about every ballerina who's been cast in the role perform it, and none of them have been as deliciously witty and movie star glamorous in it as she is. (The ballet is one of my Balanchine guilty pleasures. If I were programming an NYCB Guilty Pleasures Spectacular, it would be on the program along with Preljocaj's Spectral Evidence and, I don't know, maybe Dove's Red Angels or Feld's The Unanswered Question. Or even Forsythe's Behind the China Dogs if the company ever decides to revive it while someone still remembers it.)

Well, this is an interesting foray into new media: LAUNCHING SEPTEMBER 8, 2019 Welcome to City Ballet The Podcast, an exploration of New York City Ballet where we'll journey through our history, delve into our new and existing repertory, and reveal insider tidbits. Introduced by Artistic Director Jonathan Stafford, the six episodes in Season One of City Ballet The Podcast span three topics: New Combinations hosted by Associate Artistic Director Wendy Whelan, Hear the Dance hosted by Corps de Ballet Member Silas Farley, and See the Music hosted by Music Director Andrew Litton. “There are no new steps, only new combinations” – George Balanchine New Combinations with Wendy Whelan During our performance season, New York City Ballet showcases recent works from some of the most influential choreographers working today. Associate Artistic Director Wendy Whelan hosts the New Combinations episodes, where she talks to the choreographers and other artists behind the unique new works premiering this season at New York City Ballet. “Hear the dance, see the music …” – George Balanchine Hear the Dance with Silas Farley Corps de Ballet Member Silas Farley explores our expansive repertory, from the earliest Balanchine works to more recent classics, giving listeners an insider’s take on the Company’s rich history with Hear the Dance. Taking on a new ballet each episode, Farley is joined by many key players, from original cast members to ballet masters to current NYCB dancers, who share their personal experiences performing and coaching works from our illustrious repertory. See the Music with Andrew Litton In Hear the Music, New York City Ballet’s Music Director Andrew Litton takes us off the stage and into the orchestra pit, giving listeners an in-depth look at the scores from some of our most notable ballets, featuring discussions with both orchestra members and commissioned composers. Here's the link to the podcast's web page: http://podcast.nycballet.com The first three episodes have been posted there, and should be available in your podcast app of choice once it gets listed in the relevant directories and databases.

Gerrity has been pretty impressive in roles danced by Sara Mearns, whether choreographed by Balanchine (e.g., Sanguinic in 4Ts) or others (e.g., the role Mearns originated in Ratmansky's Namouna). Let me hasten to add, however, that she's very much her own dancer, and not just Mearns Lite. Frankly, I prefer her to Mearns in 4Ts. She was a knockout in (I think) Heather Watts' role in Martins' Fearful Symmetries. She made it look like a whole different ballet, and brava to that. So, yes, let's see her in MacDonald of Sleat.

In addition to being a huge Joni Mitchell fan, Prince was also a huge Mavis Staples fan. Prince and Staples (who was a generation older) were close personally and he wrote quite a few songs for her. From the Guardian: If All I Was Was Black – Mavis Staples, 2017 Then there was Prince. He signed Staples to his Paisley Park label after falling in love with her backing vocals on Nona Hendryx’s 1987 single, Baby Go-Go, then watched the Staple Singers’ 1971 Soul to Soul movie about a concert they had played in Ghana. “I’ve been in love with Mavis since I saw that movie,” he told Staples’ biographer Greg Kot in 2014. “I would watch her [singing] … it’s like when you see someone possessed.” “He was so shy when we met; too timid to say a word,” Staples recalls. She started writing to him instead and he put her words into songs. One of those lines (“We went to church on Sunday mornin’ / All dressed up looking fine”) begins a verse of Blood Is Thicker Than Time, which is her favourite song that he wrote for her. They spoke and wrote to each other right up until Prince’s death last year. Staples struggles to talk about him today. He called her Mama, which had a deeper impact, as she didn’t have any children of her own; her unhappy eight-year marriage to Chicago funeral director Arthur Leak ended in 1972 when he asked her to stop singing – she would never stop singing. “I still can’t listen to an entire Prince song without breaking down. I was in Saint Paul, Minnesota, just last month [on the Dylan tour] and planned to go to his museum. But, on the day, I realised I wasn’t ready yet. I’d have needed someone to hold me up.” Fun Mavis Staples fact: Bob Dylan proposed to her, but she turned him down.

Prince was apparently very taken with Mitchell's The Hissing of Summer Lawns, which, upon reflection, makes absolute sense. If ever there were a Mitchell album that was going to tickle all the right Purple brain cells, The Hissing of Summer Lawns is surely the one.

While I'm not sure I'd claim that Mitchell was a huge influence on his music, Prince was most definitely a fan.

I'm not a parent, but I have to admit that I'm fretting about all these lovely young people leaping about on a hard, paved surface in the functional equivalent of bare feet. I think I got shin splints just looking at this post.

By chance I ended up sitting next to David Koch at an NYCB performance a few years back. He seemed very engaged by the performance, for what it's worth. PS: Let me hasten to add that no amount of philanthropy makes up for the vast sums the Kochs poured into climate change denial. I'd exchange Ratmansky's entire oeuvre for even a handful of the senators the Kochs bought.

Randy Rainbow noticed too. GMA better hope that Lara Spencer isn't his next target.

Many public libraries offer free access to JSTOR. You can search for your library on JSTOR's "Log in via an institution" page. Jake Orlowitz, "Internet Citizen" and Head of The Wikipedia Library, has put together a handy little post entitled "You’re a Researcher Without a Library: What Do You Do?" that's worth checking out. As Orlowitz points out, "local" doesn't necessarily mean the town you live in: some institutions will grant you access to their collection if you live in the same county, state, or region.

I have neither daughters nor sons. It doesn't matter: no one should have to endure unwanted sexual attention from anyone at anytime anywhere for any reason. No one should be put in the position of believing that they have to have sex with someone to get a job, or keep a job, or be considered for a job. No one should have to submit to workplace harassment of any kind—and that includes garden-variety bullying as well as slurs grounded in prejudice—just to keep a job. Consent is freely given, not coerced. And yes, people with power shouldn't abuse it and should be sanctioned when they do.