Petra

Thanks, kfw.

I agree that it is more difficult to concentrate on a television screen than at a theatre, but I don't like the idea of keeping cuts that are appropriate to the (small) screen for the stage version at all.

Who is Lisa Hess? I have never heard of her and most of the other names in the castlist are familiar or at least, vaguely familiar, to me.

I'm guessing that Alexandre Hammoudi is of North African descent, and that his surname is Arabic. In Hebrew, Hammoudi means "cutie"!! It probably has the same meaning in Arabic.

Some of the editions of 'One Hundred Years of Solitude' come with a list of characters. Have you checked at the back of your book, carbro?

It looks like principals have been cast as Lady Capulet - is it such a major dancing role? (I saw this R&J once, half a lifetime ago - literally).

Thanks, dirac. After reading the exchange of opinions in Slate (it's not really a debate - I expected something more interactive from a e-zine ), I find myself even less persuaded by Johnson's arguments.

Hockeyfan, last night's episode of Gilmore Girls was a new episode. I watched 5 minutes of it, 3/4 of the way in and couldn't understand who that Russian man was. I guessed he must be either a dancer or an ice skater. What else could a stereotypical Russian be?

Sorry if this question is silly, but I'm not American - What made Nelson Rockefeller's involvement suspect? Was he the same Rockefeller that commissioned Rockefeller Center in NYC? Thanks.

This thread is a great answer to the question put forth in another thread about why people 'adore' NYCB. As someone who has never seen NYCB, one of the more illuminating aspects of this article is that both Golbin and Abergel feel very strongly that they are still 'dancing for Mr B'. I agree that the writing is great. "Spring Season", anyone?

I think there may be two separate issues here: one being the high culture/popular culture divide and the other the nature of the 'ideal' individual in society. The high culture / popular culture divide has been discussed at length on this board. My personal opinion is that the medium no longer is the message: some books are drivel and some television is great (again, Survivor and American Idol are not on that list; Buffy the Vampire Slayer is). The second issue hasn't been debated as much, but Helene touches on it. I believe that during the past few decades there has been a change in the 'ideal' individual of Western society. An interesting book my husband read this year (sorry, I haven't) called The Jewish Century describes the typical Jew as being Mercurial (as opposed to Appolonian and Dionysian), by which the author means creative entrepeuneurs who are proficient professionals and can communicate with various cultures. This is almost an archetype of the person most likely to succeed in the 21st century. In an earlier time which valued different qualities and characteristics, this person might have been suspect. The skills taught by videogames are not new ones - many of us were born with the ability to synthesize material quickly and to multi-task. What is new is that these skills are now highly valued.

A few random thoughts: There definitely is television of artistic worth being made today and in the recent past. I actually think that the episodic nature of the medium enables television series to replicate some of the great trimphs of the novels of the 19th century. That said, there really aren't that many shows that have achieved that triumph - and it goes without saying that Survivor isn't one of them, and honestly neither is Seinfeld. The writer/s seems to be confusing an ability to be 'smart' with being 'clever'. It's ridiculous to define reading as an explicit exercise - of course, reading a scientific text which imparts "crystallized knowledge" is explicit, but surely it would be redundant for every middle school chemistry class to rediscover the periodic table. I know that the present educational 'thing' is for hands-on, experiential education, but IMO that's just a whole waste of time. In any event, I don't see how reading a literary text can ever be regarded as imparting crystallized knowledge - oh, well, maybe if the student is reading the Cliff Notes while downloading some really cool ringtones onto his cell phone. Regarding videogames as logic-solving puzzles. Sure they are, but so are Risk or Clue. Those board games which require as much problem solving skills as any video game, but you do need to concentrate for slightly longer and you have to interact with other people and not give up when it looks like you're losing!

Richard, "eating out of a cello bag" ?? Do you mean they had put food inside the musical instrument's case?? The mind boggles...

I think that not only did Sleeping Beauty signal an end to wartime privation, it was also exceptionally appropriate - and therefore captured the zeitgeist - as it deals with the restoration of order and the triumph of good over evil.

I have just had a wonderful time reading Leigh Witchel's blog about his trip to Argentina and urge everyone to do so too: My Webpage I am dying to go on a 'real' vacation next year (i.e. not just going home to visit family and friends) and although I have thought of Costa Rica, I am much more of an urban person. A cross between NYC and Paris sounds like just what I need! Does anyone know if there are less humid seasons in BA? Come to think of it, are there seasons there at all?

What a load of rubbish - and personally, if I were a Catholic I'd be really annoyed by this book. The Catholic Church is hardly the first or the last religion to co-opt and transform pagan practices in order to draw in converts. As Pagan religions have their spring festivals, Christians have Easter and Jews have Passover - these festivals share many practices, just think about egg hunts at Easter and eating hard-boiled eggs at the Passover Seder and as eggs represent the renewal of life, I'm pretty sure that any pagan spring festival will incorporate them (together with a ritual sex act!). Regarding the ritual sex act, as a 21st century feminist, I was annoyed that Dan Brown seems to think that a religion that respects women is one in which Woman enables Man to reach God by way of Sex. That's not my definition of equality or feminism. Maybe it's my ignorance of the New Testament and Christianity but I really didn't understand what the issue was surrounding Mary Magdalene. Is she really still reviled by the Church? Isn't it a matter of interpretation whether she actually was a prostitute or not? I don't know how Jewish law was applied in Jesus' time but one reason observant Jews forbid premarital sex is because under Jewish law a man and a woman are married when they 'know' each other (and therfore premarital sex causes huge problems of divorce, adultery, bastard children, etc) - so perhaps Jesus and Mary Magdalene, who were both Jewish, were actually married... Sorry for this rant - but you did ask. P.S. As far as I'm concerned the canonical version of the legend of the Holy Grail was told in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, so TDVC is really heresy.

Thanks for all the info. I am promising myself that it will be of use to me one day. What is the difference in programming and in 'feel' between the Maryinski Festival and the White Nights Festival? (I have a hard time with the Mid-Atlantic winters and shudder at the thought of St. Petersburg in the snow or the slush.)

Off topic, but - I would just like to see some visiting companies. I live halfway between NY and DC and no visiting ballet company has come here in the 18 months I've been here. Surely there must be enough people in the greater Philadelphia area to support a visit from a ballet company. Of course, it doesn't help that the very new Kimmel Center doesn't work as a ballet theatre.

socalgal, I entirely agree about the esprit de corps of PA Ballet. My choices really should be qualified by my oft-repeated complaint that I don't get to see the company as often as I would like...

I would guess that Heidi Cruz is high up on the list - she is featured prominently and the audience loves her - she's not always my favourite but she has great stage presence. In the most recent program, I was especially impressed with Laura Bowman. Regarding Matt Neenan - I don't know that he 'needs' the promotion as he is getting a lot of attention (and presumably extra money) for his choreography. Thomas Baltrushanas (sp?), perhaps?

I second Leigh - as long as the ballets or the productions are good, of course. I was really disappointed that the PA Ballet "rested" its new Swan Lake this season as I was out of town for the premiere last season. As I usually go to only one performance of a program, my only chance of catching multiple casts is if a ballet is scheduled season after season.

Thank you - Natalia and others - for your reports. Living vicariously is better than nothing...

This is a very interesting thread. We have a million different explanations of why men don't attend the ballet, yet for women, including myself, it seems like there are two simple (intertwined) reasons - money and motherhood!! However, I'm sure things are more complex than that. I think that many of the girls who danced with me throughout my childhood and adolescence do not attend ballet performances today because they aren't interested. I honestly don't recall that we were particularly encouraged or educated to be members of the audience - in my case, that came from home. I also know that much of my knowledge (such as it is) of ballet history is self taught.

A group of friends of mine in Israel, mainly junior lecturers in Middle Eastern history and political science, just read this book for their book-club and they were really impressed. (I'm a couple of years behind the times - I'm only now 'reading' The Da Vinci Code - so I'll let you know what I think in 2007).

Ari, I entirely agree with you, however I'm not sure this the most efficient way to fund the arts, especially as the importance of the arts in society is not sufficiently recognised. Speaking for myself, as I'm not wealthy enough to sponsor Ethan Stiefel's performances with ABT and have to carefully allocate the money I donate, this year a sizaeable proportion of the money I donated went to the genocide in Darfur and to tsunami aid. So if that's what I did, I can only imagine that other people who aren't 'arts lovers' gave an even smaller proportion of their money to arts and culture. I will qualify this by saying that perhaps Americans who are used to this system from childhood are better at managing their donations than I am and probably also do it much more automatically than I did. It took me a year to understand that the NPR stations really do rely on my money in order to continue broadcasting!