Petra

HILARIOUS!! This thread should be marked 'Not Safe For Work'. I would like to hear from the Giselles.

Or those sugared almonds my grandmothers always had... This is nice. Thanks, Helene.

I'll take whatever colour you give me, Helene, but given that BT4D's median age is probably a whole lot lower than BT, they may be more receptive to change...

Leigh, congrats. I've learned a lot about looking at ballet from your writing, and it's wonderful that a general audience will be exposed to your clear, erudite and generous voice.

I saw it last night (without having read this thread or being spoiled in any other way), and I thought it was too much of a fairy-tale. As a contemporary movie, it couldn't completely ignore reality and refrain from portraying some of the violent realities of life in the slums. (Even romantic comedies these days make nominal attaempts to justify the time and money available to the protaginists) But - and this may say more about me than about 'Slumdog Millionaire' and Danny Boyle - I didn't think the violence was overdone in any way, and in some ways it just wasnt even credible. IMHO, the interrogation scenes were less terrifying than the average 'Homicide - Life on the Steet' episode. There were some scenes that were very intense like the scene where the children find shelter from the rain, but ultimately everything was too by-the-book to really touch me. The happy ending was a given from the beginning, and there was no drama in the middle to make me doubt that. The children were very affecting but I didn't feel that the adult actors were particularly good, especially if you compare them to Ewan McGregor, Robert Carlyle, etc. from 'Trainspotting'. All that said, I agree with sandik that the essence of India - the teeming mass of contradiction - is beautifully achieved. In 2009 India, and Mumbai in particular, is certainly deserving of a love-letter.

Lubovitch's Othello and Ashton's Cinderella are as dissimilar as full length 20th century narrative ballets can get!

I totally disagree with the writer. Actually, I didn't really understand what his article had to do with Obama. As I read it, he is saying 'Let's replace all those old books that the kids these days can't understand or identify with newer, more topical books.' None of the books he cites are less relevant just because a black man is President of the USA. Personally, I would imagine it would be easier to read or teach those books today, because it is so clear now that the world has dramatically changed since the last of the books he mentions was published. I also don't subscribe to the view that readers need to read about themselves. A huge part of the magic of literature is that it can take you anywhere anytime. If teenagers can watch movies and play games about superheroes and detectives and foreign countries, why do they need to read about their own back yard?

bart, Ananiashavili actually is a very good example as she left a world renowned international company in order to direct (and dance for) a much lesser known company in her home country.

On Saturday, December 27, I saw a matinee performance of Berta Yampolsky's Cinderella in Tel Aviv. It was great entertainment for Channuka - and it is probably better than 90% of the commercial musical theatre 'festivals' that most parents feel obliged to take their children to see - but it isn't a production I would really recommend for a sophisticated audience. The ballet stays close to the traditional story of Cinderella and is very easy to follow, as the mime was well directed and very clear. There are some original touches like a beggar woman who comes to Cinderella's house, gets thrown out by the stepmother and stepsisters and Cinderella then comforts her. The beggar woman afterwards turns into the fairy godmother (a vivacious Rieka Suzuki). In terms of production values, the backdrops and especially the costumes, designed by Lydia Pinkus-Gani, are beautiful and ingenious (like the coloured slipover covers for the ugly sisters' pointeshoes which they put on and off). So what was missing? The dancing just wasn't exciting enough. This is partly due to the choreography and partly due to the dancers themselves. The dancers all seemed very capable, and the corps scenes in particular were charming, but the ambience was rather academic and bland. I like more oomph, more speed, more daring (Good lord, I've become Americanised!!!) Where the choreography was really lacking was in dancing for Cinderella. There was no big solo for her in the first act, nor was there a big pas de deux in Act 2. The result was that the role of Cinderella had no real depth. I'll be interested to see how the Israel Ballet will perform on a programme that is less oriented towards a young/holiday audience.

Bolle is featured very prominently in the December US Vogue (with Jennifer Aniston on the cover) in the magazine's annual 'theme' Annie Leibowitz spread. This year's theme is Romeo and Juliet, with Bolle as Romeo. Juliet is one of the models of the moment, Coco Rocha. According to the same edition, Rocha was 'discovered' at an Irish-dancing competition. There is also a full page photo of Bolle in December's UK Vanity Fair (with Kate Winslet undressing for the Oscars on the cover). The photo is by Bruce Weber and Bolle embodies Weber's preferred aesthetic of gay icon-cum-Greek god.

Back to the topic - Balanchine's version of The Nutcracker is the only major version I have seen live, and it is enchanting in every possible sense of the word. Both the Pennsylvania Ballet and NYCB productions are glorious. It wouldn't be overstating it to say that my most cherished memories of a 5 year stay in the US are of Balanchine's The Nutcracker.

That's interesting because I knew nothing about the life of Van Johnson and thought the obit included quite a lot of unpleasant family background.

I recently learned that there are at least two more movies based on Patricia Highsmith's Ripley character: "Ripley's Game" with John Malkovich (!) as a middle aged Ripley and Wim Wender's "The American Friend" with Dennis Hopper (!!!) as Ripley. The Wenders movie sounds fascinating, in light of Wender's long-lasting interest in exploring and comparing European and American culture.

papeetepatrick, Dia Beacon is a great day tri[ from Manhattan. Dia is an easy walk from the Beacon train station and is really worth a visit at any time.

What about Winona Ryder as Allegra Kent? Marion Cotillard perhaps for Verdy.

Quiggin, you've really managed to put your finger on what is wrong with The Talented Mr Ripley. I have always thought it was better than the sum of its parts because some of those parts were just too much for the movie. That said, Cate Blanchett and Jack Davenport in bit parts are worth any price of admission.

Last week I saw 'The Class' (the original title is 'Entre les murs'), winner of this year's Palme d'Or. It is an adaptation of a non-fiction book written by and about a white middle class teacher (Francois Begaudeau) teaching a mutiracial and multicultural 9th grade class in the Parisian 'inner city'. The twist is that the author of the book plays himself as the teacher in the film. It is to his - and the director's - credit that if I hadn't known that fact in advance, I would have had no idea that it wasn't a professional actor. I do wonder however whether Mr. Begaudeau would have kept his part if he wasn't a pretty good looking man. I have no idea what other films were nominated for the Palme d'Or this year, but this seemed like quite a minor film for a winner. Once one is past the initial shock of seeing a French classroom that looks like an American one - black, white, oriental and anything in between - there isn't that much that we haven't seen before. Yup, it's tough being an immigrant and it's tough to be part of the society that the immigrants are joining, especially in the 21st century when the immigrants want to retain their own cultural, national and religious identity. Since the pupils are typical self-involved teenagers, I didn't feel that the classroom interaction really gave me much insight into the issues. It could have been any really 'bad' neighbourhood. The staffroom scenes and the few scenes with parents were the most interesting and illuminating. That said, I am sure there is an entire layer that I missed as I don't speak French and the classroom scenes are almost all French (grammar) lessons. Interestingly, the set book that the class is reading is 'The Diary of Anne Frank', a translated book.

miliosr, you made me laugh. The cult of Baal may be lost for ever, but I'm pretty sure the Ancient Egyptians left enough written material to be able to revive the cult of Isis (and thanks to the Rosetta Stone, we can even read it).

I've seen a few "foreign films" recently. By far the best - and most effective - is "Waltz with Bashir". It is defined as an 'animated documentary' of the Israel-Lebanon War in 1982 and the events surrounding the Sabra and Shatila massacres in August of that year, however I would've called it an auto-biographical film, rather than a documentary. The framework is set in the present day, with an Israeli veteran (Ari Folman, the writer-director) who has no recollection of the massacres trying to fill in the gaps in his memory. He goes to talk to his old army buddies, and along the way there are flashbacks, some straightforward and some more fantastical, to the war. The film is very engaging, partly because of the technical dexterity and partly because despite the subject matter, there are lots of funny bits. For instance, comparing the skinny and spotty (and horny) teenagers with the middle-aged men they became. Also, some of the film could have been taken from an episode of M.A.S.H. On the other hand, war is, as the last minutes of the film show so devastatingly, deadly serious and very, very real. Highly recommended.

The title says it all. Does Barack Obama have an arts and culture policy, and if so, what is it? Do we know anything about his cultural preferences? There was an article in the NY Times a couple of days ago discussing the then candidates' reading preferences, and Obama's choices were rather bland and non-commital, I thought. The fashion magazines are all calling Michelle Obama a second Jackie Kennedy, but is that substantive or just a comment on how good she looks and dresses? If this isn't the right forum, mods, please move.

Noooooooooooooooo. Is absolutely nothing sacred anymore?

Leigh, thanks but no thanks for reminding me that I saw Kudelka's Firebird. It's like 4th of July fireworks superimposed on a trainwreck.

Amy and cubanmiamiboy, I hope I'm not beating a dead horse here, but I do think you are stereotyping dancers by implying that their physical prowess is achieved at the expense of their verbal and oral skills. Obviously most dancers, especially the ones of the caliber we're discussing, are better at dancing than talking. Otherwise, Barbara Walters would be out of a job. On the other hand, there are many dancers who do speak well: Peter Martins, Darcey Bussell (on youtube) and Alexandra Ansanelli (there is a long NPR interview with her from a year or two ago) to name a few who immediately jump to mind. Ray, the current celebrity 'culture' has oddly enough pushed me to try and ignore an artist's private life in appreciating their artistic endeavours. There is such an overload of information - true, false and anything in between - that I began to find it difficult to watch movies and television without having a nagging voice telling me who the actors were dating, what they were rehabbing from, etc.

People, I think you are being very harsh in these comments. I, and most of the posters on this board, are highly intelligent and verbally articulate with multiple degrees and qualifications. What does that make me? It makes me an average person. Kent, Kirkland and Farrell, on the other hand, are artists of the highest degree who bring beauty and truth into this world. So what if they march to a different drummer? We are the ones who are rewarded.

What an interesting fellowship! Speaking with my feminist hat on, I'm glad to see that two young ladies are receiving this fellowship. All too often, it seems that it is the men who are encouraged in 'extra-curricular' activities.