Kathleen O'Connell

It seems to me that dance in gymnastics has become just what they call it in that sport, an "element," one component of many that a performer will be judged on. It also feels much more like a separate item, a section of a routine rather than something that binds all the gymnastic feats together. I think that it would be much more exciting if coaches and gymnasts would lose the little shimmies and photo-shoot poses and work within the actual gymnastic material to find connecting phrases and more sustained movements that complimented the majority of the action. Men have a repertoire of "power moves" that give a great contrast to their explosive tumbling runs. I know that the differences in women's anatomy make some of those activities unrealistic, but I'm sure that they could develop some analogous movement that didn't make their athletes look schizophrenic. I'm behind on my Olympics history -- when did rhythmic gymnastics reappear in the summer games?

Exactly! Sandik, I think you just said what I was trying to say, but couldn't seem to articulate! If I'd seen your post first, I would have just stopped typing ...

Was that Caslavska's hair? Damn, she deserved to medal just for that -- although I do love those little Eastern-bloc pigtails.

Better ... but I remain unconvinced. The 60's-90's dancing looks like Dolly Dinkle and the current dancing looks like the half-time show on the Tinytown High basketball court. I think the "dancing" demeans these superb athletes. Don't get me wrong -- I'm not trying to ridicule these obviously accomplished women -- but the lowliest member of the corps of just about any regional ballet company does the dance moves better. What distinguishes top gymnasts like these from everyone else, including dancers, is the power and fearless aplomb with which they dispatch--and recover from--their gravity defying gymnastics maneuvers. It annoys me no end that they have been expected to incorporate into their routines material in which they'll likely never look better than second rate (through no fault of their own, I hasten to add) -- especially because I can't get over the suspicion that the music and the dancey bits were imposed to make the sport seem more "ladylike."

Watching Caslavaska with the music turned off brought home to me the fact that eliminating the music and dance elements from floor routines needn't make them artless. So much could be done with the internal rhythms of each pass and its attendant preparation and recovery, and I'm sure there are ways to score that. Caslavaska especially was as thrilling hitting the mat as she was in the air -- no dance required.

OK, rant over.

Understood. I think they should change the scoring criteria. Call me old-fashioned, but I think those criteria are sexist. I can see why women's gymnastic events are different from men's -- that's driven by the real differences between the genders in matters like upper body strength, flexibility and the like -- but I can't see why women gymnasts have to be performers in addition to being athletes, especially if male gymnasts aren't expected to do the same thing. It's as if the sport's early organizers were afraid to let women just glory in their physical prowess.

I agree. One of the biggest differences in physical ability, though is that women are pretty much limited to tumbling, turns, and leaps, and probably a few presses, while men have the upper body strength to do planges and whatever they call it when they swing their legs around as if on the dungeon torture device pommel horse, although the total amount of time the men do these moves probably equals the amount of embarrassing "dance" movement the women do.

I'd be OK with them (men and women) just standing there for a couple of seconds looking serene and composed while getting focussed for the next pass. Stillness can be a good thing to see too. I LOVE that stuff on the pommel horse, btw, but I think it looks oddly attenuated on the mat.

The gender-based requirement -- among other gender-based restrictions, like the number of tumbling passes they can do -- is imposed in the scoring criteria, which require interpretation, and the basic fact that Women's floor exercise is defined as movement to music, where Men's floor exercise has no music nor requires interpretation.

Understood. I think they should change the scoring criteria. Call me old-fashioned, but I think those criteria are sexist. I can see why women's gymnastic events are different from men's -- that's driven by the real differences between the genders in matters like upper body strength, flexibility and the like -- but I can't see why women gymnasts have to be performers in addition to being athletes, especially if male gymnasts aren't expected to do the same thing. It's as if the sport's early organizers were afraid to let women just glory in their physical prowess.

And frankly, even the dancing in the 80's routines Dvora Meyers is so nostalgic for looks pretty lame. But the tumbling runs never do.

Interesting article complaining that gymnastics is not enough like dance! "gymnastics adherents yearn for more classically trained, balletic athletes who could dance and express as well as they could tumble."

//www.slate.com/articles/sports/fivering_circus/2012/07/_2012_olympics_gymnastics_female_gymnasts_used_to_be_fantastic_dancers_how_did_the_floor_exercise_get_so_graceless_.html

I just don't get the author's nostalgia for "dance" (I use the term advisedly) in women's gymnastic floor routines. These women look absolutely beautiful just doing what they do -- why impose some sort of gender-based requirement that they be graceful to music. Can the music, can the "choreography," can the shiny togs, and let them tumble full stop, just like the men.

Audiobooks via my iPod classic, the one electronic device I absolutely could not live without:

• Paul Murray's Skippy Dies. It was fantastic -- one of those books that really is both hilarious and heartbreaking. I highly recommend the audiobook, which is beautifully narrated by a full Irish cast (the action centers around a Dublin boarding school for boys).
  
• Hilary Mantel's Bring up the Bodies. Every bit as good as Wolf Hall, the first book in her trilogy of historical novels about Thomas Cromwell. Even James Wood, who normally has no time for historical fiction (or genre fiction of any kind for that matter) approves.
  
• Stanislaw Lem's Solaris, in a new translation. Also fantastic. (The first translation directly from the original Polish into English, apparently; the one that's been available to date is an English translation of the first French translation. Because of rights issues, the new translation is only available in ebook and audiobook form.) I first read Solaris a bazillion years ago in college, and I can't believe how much I missed the first time around. One really interesting thing: Lem was able to project (presumably) plausible future technologies that enable travel at or near the speed of light, anti-gravity drives, computer-controlled environments, etc., but completely missed digitization! The future world of Solaris is charmingly analogue: the space station where the action takes place is crammed full of paper books, magnetic tape, and complex calculations done by hand on pads of paper. (With a slide rule, maybe? I think mine is still lurking in a box in the back of a closet somewhere.) I've started re-watching Andrei Tarkovsky's great film adaptation on Mosfilm's YouTube channel. (All the films are subtitled. Click on the little red "cc" box in the lower right hand corner of the viewing box.)
  
• Alistair Reynolds' The Prefect. Fun space-opera-cum-police-procedural, but it ain't no Solaris.
  
• Wilkie Collins' The Moonstone, credited with being the first detective novel in English. I'm pleased to report that little of real consequence has changed in the genre since 1868.
  

Ebooks:

• How to Think Like a Neanderthal. No, not a self-help book. It's a reconstruction of what Neanderthal life -- and Neanderthal psychology -- might have been like based on the archeological record. I think the authors, two professors of psychology and anthropology at the University of Colorado, are on thin ice in a couple of places, but it was mostly very informative and thought-provoking.
  
• Picking my way through the two volumes of Susan Sontag's journals that have been issued to date, Reborn and As Consciousness is Harnessed to Flesh. I'm finding that the private Sontag that emerges from the journals is rather different from the oracular public persona. I used to see her in the audience at concerts and dance performances, and she always looked so forbidding -- and never like she was actually enjoying herself, though going out to see a performance or a film was apparently one of the great joys of her life. For some strange reason I was absolutely crushed to learn that the famous white streak in her hair was fake.
  
• In honor of Gore Vidal, who died just yesterday, I think I'll re-read Burr, Lincoln, or maybe Creation or Julian. Burr was the best time I've ever had with a book, hands down.
  

It does look great! Other missing names are ...

Hmmm ... it looks as if some of the repertory is missing as well. Um, where have "Dances at a Gathering," "In the Night," "Divertimento No. 15," and "Scotch Symphony" gone?

Thanks for the heads up, susanger! It looks like a real improvement in terms of both navigation and content. I like the fact that the repertory listing is accompanied by video clips, too, as well as a list of upcoming performance dates where relevant.

My only beef: why oh why must these sites insist on bombarding our browsers with all that annoying java scriptage ... ugh. Something like 32 scripts tried to load when I first clicked on the site. For those of us who either must or choose to routinely block scripts for security reasons, it's a real pain.

And I'm always sad to see names missing from the roster, even though after 30+ years of following the company you'd think I'd have grown used to it by now. It always feels like a friend -- or at least a friendly face -- has suddenly moved someplace far away before I could say goodbye.

Kathleen, I mis-read your post and thought at first that this WAS his ABT audition video. (I'm on my phone and don't seem to be able to locate the appropriate smilies -- shock !! mon Dieu! !!! and the like.)

Love the video. (Thumbs up !! Applause ).

I thought "August" might be clue enough ... but I've added a wink, just in case.

James Whiteside's

Depending on your office environment, maybe not quite safe for work ... Eat your heart out, Beyoncé.

And Please tell me I'm not the last person on the planet to have seen this. My husband alerted me to it after he came across it on MetaFilter. Sadly, it never occurred to me to google "JdDubs" after I watched Boston Ballet's Whiteside promo video in the "ABT's Male Principal Problem" thread. That'll teach me.

And speaking of Beyoncé, and also via MetaFilter, here's "Single Ladies" dubbed over the Bob Fosse / Gwen Verdon video that appears to have given her some inspiration.

Edited to add a just in case ...

Anything so long as they don't have to wear those gawd-awful feather earmuffs.

But really, I prefer above-the-knee.

So soon?! I have nothing but good memories of Hendrickson's dancing -- I'll miss him! I saw what must have been one of his last performances of Puck in "Midsummer" and he certainly didn't look like someone who ought to be thinking about retirement. He was one of my favorite Pucks -- mischievous, but also sweetly merry. I was always hoping he might turn up in "Rubies" someday ...

All the best!

Interesting about the new works outside ballet companies. Do you have a short list of lo-fi works that we, and MCB, should keep an eye on?

OT OT OT!

Just to be clear, by "lo-fi" I mean work that doesn't trade on extreme virtuosity, magnificently honed physiques, or mood lighting. That doesn't mean that the dancing isn't really hard to do or that no thought at all has been given to sets and costumes.

In no particular order, choreographers whose work I've seen in the past couple of years that I will make every effort to see again (none of whom -- with maybe one exception -- would likely be appropriate for MCB because it's a ballet company and they are not ballet choreographers):

Lo-fi: Wally Cardona, Keely Garfield, David Parker, Pam Tanowitz, Ivy Baldwin, Deganit Shemy, Tere O'Connor, Andrea Mitchell, Kate Weare, Monica Bill Barnes, John Jasperse. Tanowitz is the ballet "maybe." Bless her, she stood up at a pre-performance talk and openly declared her love for petit allegro -- the love that dare not speak its name as far as most contemporary ballet choreographers are concerned, it seems.

Slightly less lo-fi: Doug Elkins, Larry Keigwin, Stephen Petronio, Camille Brown, Pierre Rigal

Ringing changes on traditional forms: Rocio Molina, Pichet Klunchun, Nora Chipmaure, Akram Khan, Shantala Shivalingappa

And Trisha Brown still does it for me. I saw the revival of "Astral Converted" at the Armory last week and loved every minute of it. (Unlike some reviewers I thought it was over too soon.)

I'm sure there are worthy people I'm leaving off the list ... And I'm still coming to grips with the flavor of dance championed in this country most prominently by Cedar Lake Ballet. Usually labelled "European, it's definitely not lo-fi, but it's starting to grow on me.

There should be videos of all this stuff on line somewhere. If I get a chance later today I'll throw up some links in a new thread.

I didn't mean to suggest that NO new operas were composed or staged, only that few opera companies, if any, view it as their mission to commission and present new operas as a matter of course and, more important to me, as a means of exploring its possibilities as an art form. (I realize most of them have as their mission just trying to stay alive, so kudos to the regional companies for getting at least some new work in front of us. The Met sure isn't interested. NYCO was, which is why its sad decline is so troubling.) You'd think opera's potential as a vehicle for multimedia spectacle (and I mean that as a good thing) in conjunction with advances in technology would have prompted something more interesting than the Met's new clunker of a Ring cycle. Or, since it's amenable to more intimate productions as well, that there might be a flourishing scene of chamber-scaled operas for club-style venues. I've long thought that there is a connection between an art form's vitality and the amount of disposable work it generates and then cheerfully trashes. I'm concerned that we've reached a point where it's a dispiriting tragedy when a new opera flops.

And of course I'm not suggesting that ballet companies can let their heritage works fall in to disrepair or that they shouldn't work diligently to preserve their special stylistic sauce. But neither of those goals are incompatible with being more than a permanent collection.

I too was surprised by the use of the word museum, the implication being that the vibrant repertoire of MCB had become just that.

Could one say of the Museum of Modern Art or the Tate - that they have become irrelevant?

Well, in the case of MoMA at least, it’s become something different than it was when it first began. It’s now an institution more treasured for its permanent collection—i.e., for a half century of art (give or take a few decades) now trapped in amber—than for its feints at championing the new. It’s relevant, but not in the way that it was.

And while an art museum might be be able to thrive on its permanent collection, how many dance companies really could—or should? As much as I kvetch about the quality of most new ballets, I’d rather have them in all their mediocrity than see happen to ballet what happened to opera. Talk about a museum! It’s like a whole art form just ground to a halt. Putatively avant-garde restagings of centuries-old works do not a vibrant genre make, and the few genuinely new compositions that make it to the stage (much less survive in the rep) are only the exceptions that prove the rule.

So, I for one am inclined to look favorably on ADs who don't want their companies to turn into permanent collections—which is how I interpret "museum"—even as I wince at some of the results.

As far as dance, many 1920’s era avant garde works are probably as interesting as those of the present after-modernism period - which under the flash and all the negative-space off balances seem oddly conservative and even reactionary.

In ballet maybe. There’s some good, non-reactionary stuff happening in other precincts of the dance world, though -- and in terms of "flash," much of it is determinedly lo-fi.

For a little color commentary, here's a link to a 2006 New York Times article about the NYCB apprentice experience, spotlighting then-apprentices Kathryn Morgan and David Prottas.

Helene: NYCB doesn't list apprentices on the company roster printed in the program, either. Apprentices are only shown in the cast list for the ballet they're dancing in, with a little "+" next to their names. Maybe it's a union thing.

Just a quick note about my compare and contrast exercise above: it wasn't intended as a value judgement, and I hope it didn't come across that way. "Theme and Variations" and "Arden Court" do happen to be more impressive works than either "Vespertine" and "Bacchae," but they're also more impressive works than the vast universe of lesser "House of Balanchine" and "House of Taylor" efforts. In other words, I'm not categorically dismissing Lidberg, Veggetti, or the other choreographers who work in that style -- I just wanted to show what I meant by "a different idiom."

Quiggin: I thought "Bacchae" was most definitely a riff on the Euripides drama -- an exploration of some of its themes, let's say, rather than a retelling of the story. Some of it was exciting to watch -- for instance, a long solo for Frances Chiaverini (the Dionysus figure) that was itself a kind of riff on the movement style of a wooden puppet that appeared earlier in the work. I found it very moving, too, not just a physical tour de force. Unfortunately the dramatic connection between Chiaverini's solo and the puppet's wasn't as clear as the movement connection, and it was on that level that the work didn't hold together for me.

Re the music: a clutch of younger choreographers seem to have turned their attention to postminimalism, broadly defined. In lesser hands, both the music and the choreography tends to a kind of anodyne, melancholy prettiness that I find inoffensive but uninteresting after the first few minutes -- but then I think that about mid-list Baroque, too.

ETA: OK! I found

Enough on "Bacchae" in an MCB thread, I think ...

I'm not clear on the "idiom" concept - can you elaborate a little? Contrasting with the range of choreographers they've presented in recent years, say?

Basically, yes. I did a quick tabulation of MCB's active repertory, and here's what I found: 46 ballets by Balanchine; 8 by or "after" Petipa (including an "after" by Balanchine); 8 by Paul Taylor; 6 by Tharp; 5 by Robbins; 5 or 9 by Villella (depending on how one counts all the "Neighborhood Ballroom" items); three traditional "afters" ("Coppélia," "Giselle," and "Grand Pas Classique"); 2 by Bournonville; 2 by Liam Scarlett; and one each by Ashton, Cranko, Limon, Trey McIntyre, Ratmanksy, Tudor, and Wheeldon.

So, MCB's rep tilts heavily classical and neo-classical -- and I'd argue that in terms of presentational style and strategies for moving the body through space, the Taylor and Tharp works Villella has selected are less alien to that tilt than post-Wheeldon Morphoses.

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, let's go to the tape.

Compare this:

With this: Arden Court

With this: Vespertine |

And this:

ETA: Here's a

ETA 2: I can't seem to leave this post alone. Here's another

To me, the fact that Lidberg uses pointe shoes matters less than his manner of continually spinning the body down into itself, which is pretty much the opposite of what classical and neo-classical ballet does -- or Taylor, for that matter, despite the "weight" in his style. The effect created by massed bodies in the Lidberg and Veggetti works is different, too. (Wheeldon appropriates some of these tactics in his own choreography, of course.) Works in the "Vespertine" and "Bacchae" idiom also rely on arresting stage pictures to a greater degree than most of MCB's classical / neo-classical rep does. Not that costumes, sets, and lighting don't matter, but, as the clips show, "Bacchae" is somehow less without its dramatic lighting and set, whereas "Allegro Brillante," say, would probably work in practice clothes. it's just a different kind of theatricality.

Does that clarify what I meant a bit?

I thought the 2012-13 season might be a good time for an on-going thread for news and discussion of developments as Lourdes Lopez prepares to take over the directorship of MCB in 2013-14.

First of all, from Claudia La Rocco, in the NY Times today:

"Morphoses will move to Miami," Ms. Lopez said in a written statement, adding that it was one of her conditions for accepting the artistic directorship of the ballet. "It will be up to both boards to consider what form the integration will take."

This condition may seem like a conceit on Ms. Lopez's part. But Wednesday night at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, Morphoses presented an intriguing diptych suggesting otherwise; if Ms. Lopez can pull it off, Miami will be lucky to have this evolving in-house experiment.

It seems to me that MCB has already tried an experimental connection with a modern dance company, Maximum Dance, several years ago. Nothing came of it. It will be interesting to see if Lopez can pull this off. Will MCB dancers be involved? (Morphoses is a pick-up company, so anyone can dance in any program I suppose.) Is there an audience for this kind of dance in Miami, where MCB itself has not always fit in well with the expectations of the Cuban classical ballet audience?

Does anyone have thoughts about this? Or is it too early in the game?

http://www.nytimes.c...?_r=1&ref=dance

I think I'm Ballet Alert's official Morphoses cheerleader, so I'm hoping that the move to Miami will benefit both companies. Here are some potential positives:

• A Morphoses gig might give some MCB dancers, staffers, and technical personnel additional weeks of employment.
  
• A Morphoses gig might give some MCB dancers experience in a different "idiom," with the opportunity to participate in a more collaborative process than might be the MCB norm.
  
• Morphoses can likely tour more often than MCB can, and will likely be attractive to a different universe of presenters.
  
• Morphoses may attract funding from sources outside of Florida.
  
• Morphoses may bring some royalty-free repertory with it. (I don't know what the arrangements were with Wheeldon and the other choreographers who created works for the company.)
  
• Morphoses knows how to do a live stream of a performance and may have already negotiated for the relevant rights during the commissioning process. (I honestly don't know if MCB has tried live streams or not.)
  
• MCB won't have to be all things to all people, and can concentrate on the repertory at which it excels (and which its audience and board may prefer to support).
  

What is seating like?

From my one visit to the renovated City Center, I'd say avoid the front of the orchestra (particularly rows AA-CC). You'll be very close and looking up at the stage -- it was fine for Encores! but probably not ideal for ballet. There appeared to be a decent-ish rake farther back in the orchestra, but I don't remember for sure. My impression was that the best views were in the grand tier (front of the second section). I also hear that the balcony sightlines have improved -- at least, in the front balcony -- but didn't investigate myself.

City Center seating is better post-renovation than it was before, but still less than ideal. The house is relatively shallow, which means that although you'll be closer to the stage in the grand tier, mezzanine, and balcony than you will be in equivalent seating at the Met, you'll be looking down on the dancing at a steeper angle. It drives me bonkers, but your mileage may vary. I found that I actually prefer the front mezzanine to the grand tier and the back of the orchestra to the front, but I generally like sitting further back in any house, so again, your personal preferences may make a difference. My view wasn't blocked by any heads the last time I was there -- and pre-renovation I never saw anything at City Center that didn't feature the back of someone's head -- but that may have been a function of my sitting on the aisle.

Note: in the past, there was always a rush from the mezzanine to the empty seats in the grand tier when the house lights went down. That's now impossible because of the way the big cross-house aisle between the mezzanine and the grand tier and section barriers have been re-arranged.

I am not arguing that established ballet companies should be done away with, far from it, but I do think that if the ballet world could develop more of an “indie” scene, it would be greatly beneficial for performers at any stage of life and help the progression of the art in general. And I do think that an “indie” element in ballet could greatly complement the already established company model, not be an adversarial “subculture” . On the contrary, it can just be another “voice” in the beautiful and diverse world of dance, no more of a “threat” to the traditional ballet company than F. Scott Fitzgerald’s writing style is a threat to Jane Austen’s literary voice.

I think there is an "indie scene" in ballet -- i.e., companies that operate outside of the established ballet company model in terms of mission, scale, artistic vision, what have you. I'm thinking of groups as diverse as The Columbia Ballet Collaborative, Miro Malgloire's New Chamber Ballet, balletnext, Morphoses, New York Theater Ballet, Cedar Lake, etc etc etc and that's just in New York.

One might argue that the whole downtown dance scene is "indie" -- and it's packed with arresting dancers (of every size, shape, and color) and engaging choreography done on a shoestring (and astonishingly cheap to see). Let me hasten to add, however, that just because it's not "ballet" doesn't mean it's necessarily easy or any more accommodating of an aging body than ballet. (They can't all be Robert Swinston. )

NDT 3 was a great concept! I am sorry that it only lasted 15 years, but it is a step in the right direction. Financial issues and funding is unfortunately a persistent problem in the arts world. I think it would be amazing if NDT3 or a similar company could be revived/created and perhaps give performances at university theatres, dance festivals, or some other venues that would be less costly and perhaps hire up-and-coming or relatively unknown choreographers who would be willing to work pro bono or for reduced wages in order to promote their work, or perhaps even the dancers of such a company could also contribute their own choreography. If live performances would somehow not be feasible, they could perhaps set up a website where they could post and promote videos of their performances, or even live streams of studio performances! Nothing beats the joy and exhilaration performing in front of a live audience, nonetheless, the internet is the farthest reaching international stage yet contrived and it a great blessing for dancers to take advantage of.

I wholeheartedly agree that there can and should be life after departure from one of the established ballet companies. But given the realities of making dance happen, I'm not surprised that projects like NDT 3 are rare. First of all, it costs a surprising amount of money to put on a show, even at a "cheap" venue, and even if a lot of the people involved work for free. (And in some cases they simply may not be able to for union reasons.) Live musicians cost money, but securing the rights for recorded music costs money too. Insurance costs money, and any venue worth using will demand that you have it. Just moving a piano into a hall that doesn't have one costs a small fortune. Lighting, wardrobe, sound systems all cost money. (Take a look at the nine-page technical rider for Morphoses' Bacchae to get a sense of what the checks get written for. Keep in mind that Morphoses is likely targeting university theaters, dance festivals, and small venues like the Joyce.)

And the operative word in "freelance" can't be "free." If I were an up-and-coming choreographer trying to figure out how best to allocate my time, energy, and creativity and get the rent paid, I might opt to go shake the grant tree for myself. After all, if I'd been deemed good enough to make a work for retired ballerina X, I ought to be deemed good enough to get paid for the effort, too. Then there's the sheer hustle, grit, and administrative skill it takes to find the money, put everything together and get the show on a stage somewhere -- those retirees are going to have to have the kind of commitment it takes to make things happen. Art is hard.

Did Kathryn Morgan and Chase Finlay dance on Fri and Sat evenings? How were they?

Abi Stafford replaced Kathryn Morgan. (This change had been posted in the lobby earlier in the run.)

Just saw Tiler Peck's debut in the Act II Divertissement of Misdsummer Night's Dream. Stop whatever you are doing and buy a ticket RIGHT NOW for the Sunday matinee, when she's scheduled to dance it again. She was glorious.

Still writing at 91! I think Fahrenheit 451 was the first work of dystopian sci-fi I ever read, or rather, devoured.

Rest in peace.

I admit it: my eyes rolled when I read that Jennifer Egan, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning A Visit from the Goon Squad, was serializing a short story on Twitter. Surprise! "The Black Box" turned out to be a really good read.

I read it in tablet edition of The New Yorker's Science Fiction issue (June 4 & 11, 2012), and in restrospect, I wish I'd read it while Egan was tweeting it out via @NYerFiction.

The story is told via a series of brief, real-time dispatches-cum-field-instructions stored in a chip implanted in the citizen-spy heroine's hairline. (It's the Science Fiction issue, remember.) It was a completely engrossing read on my tablet, and reads pretty well online, too, but seems dead dead dead on the printed page. (It looks like something from the side of a cereal box.) It's still available on @NYerFiction, but the tweets are of course captured in reverse chronological order, so it's an awkward read there now.

So yes, it was a stunt, but a good one. In terms of form, Egan exploited the particular characteristics of her chosen medium to perfection, but she also worked the tropes of both science fiction and espionage thrillers for everthing they're worth. (Your brain makes the movie for you unprompted.) The story is more moving than it has any right to be, and made me realize just how good a writer Egan really is.

If anyone else has read it, I'd love to know what you thought.

You can read "The Black Box" on line here.

Egan briefly discusses the story's origins here. You can see two pages from the original manuscript; Egan wrote it in longhand in Japanese notebook containing eight rectangular blocks on each page (for making manga comic books, maybe?).