Calliope

With the potential, although now looking to be on hold, renovation of Lincoln Center there seems to be a potential that NYCB may end up with the State Theater all to themselves, if City Opera leaves. Instead of having only 23 weeeks to fill NYCB might potentially have to figure out what to do with the half of the year? If you were in charge What would like to see happen What do you think will happen I'd see any ballet company they could bring in!

I think it's hard to generalize all the dancers into one category for injury. Obviously each case will be individual. But I'm not sure as an audience member don't find myself deriving pleasure from someone else's pain. Wendy Whelan at New York City Ballet can turn herself into a human rubberband at times, but I would hope for her sake, that she's not getting injected with drugs just so she can do that. At that point, somebody needs to bring in a psychologist. I think, as the article says, we need to marry the medical and the teaching. And I don't think any dancer becomes anorexic because they want slender legs. Male or female.

But isn't all of this "known" by a dancer going into a field? Their bodies are their instruments, surely they don't expect not to get injured? They are in this way no different than athletes. The men seem to have far fewer injuries than the women. Especially notable is in the stress fracture area. Females are slightly more susceptible especially when factoring in diet. Seeing as anorexia is more prevalent in female dancers, this only complicates the matter (I'm not saying every dancer who has a stress fracture is anorexic or bulimic) but the bone mass decrease associated with it as well as amenorrhea only complicates the problem. Plus the associated rest that needs to go with the healing of a stress fracture. The competitiveness for the limited roles is very intense. New studies have been published linking ligament tears in the knees to female hormones, which is why even in non-athletes, doctors are seeing major increases in the amount of surgeries being needed. But I think something Victoria alluded to is important and that's for teachers to recognize that certain positions should not and cannot be done by students until a strength is developed.

"In part, this may be owing to the dancer's own willingness in recent years to be candid about the subject" I think that is a key statement. Many dancers still don't discuss injuries and dance with the "minor" aches and pains. Nutrition must play a key factor in the injury report as well, yet it wasn't mentioned.

I think they also used it as the AIDS angle, which is unfortunate.

The last page has a photo and story marking the 8th anniversary of his death. I was a little surprised (and delighted) to see such a mainstream magazine with the story.

When and where did ballet competitions start?

When and where did ballet competitions start?

I just saw a tape of her dancing. Can anyone tell me if she's still alive?

Well said Drew! Could the lack of attention ballet has gotten/gets be a result of the geography of the country? It seems that the cities with the larger populations have companies (and that's relatively new compared to the history of Europe's) but also, they rarely tour.

Telemann Overture Suite in E Minor by Melissa Barak. I look forward to seeing how it transcends on to dancers it wasn't made on.

Taking full advantage of not being "right or wrong" I always thought contemporary was leotard ballets (Agon, 4 T's, Hermann Schermann) dance that used the ballet vocabularly, but didn't have a tutu. Then I heard neo-classical and got really confused. I guess all the definitions depend on where you stand in the dance pool. If you're someone who only goes to see The Nutcracker, anything not storybook is contemporary. And without pointe shoes, modern. That was how I got my start. It wasn't until I started going often and to different companies that I understood. I think there are meaningful differences between the terms, I'm just not all that sure what they are or how to articulate it properly.

Taking full advantage of not being "right or wrong" I always thought contemporary was leotard ballets (Agon, 4 T's, Hermann Schermann) dance that used the ballet vocabularly, but didn't have a tutu. Then I heard neo-classical and got really confused. I guess all the definitions depend on where you stand in the dance pool. If you're someone who only goes to see The Nutcracker, anything not storybook is contemporary. And without pointe shoes, modern. That was how I got my start. It wasn't until I started going often and to different companies that I understood. I think there are meaningful differences between the terms, I'm just not all that sure what they are or how to articulate it properly.

After the reading the article, I couldn't help but go back to the Crisp interview where he says we stopped going to the ballet to just enjoy it. I thought Tobias was quite on with many of her remarks. I especially agreed with her comments on likening ballet to the Olympics. Before ever seeing Gillian Murphy I remember hearing about her turns. A lot of the dancers are categorized as "turners". They're often the "exciting ones" to watch. After the SAB workshops every year, whoever gets the most press (and a contract) is generally the dancer to watch. And then they fall by the wayside the following year, or become injured. The amount of time that dancers are given to learn roles is astounding. We've talked about it here, how sometimes 17 year olds are given "ballerina" roles way before they're ready. And having that 17 year old "thrown" on stage as a debut the night of the performance. How can they learn the significance of roles that way? The lack of "great" choreographers right now, must surely also contribute. We also don't have any Nureyev's or Barishnikov's either. Given that the POB, Bolshoi and Kirov come for such few performances and the way companies showcase dancers on tours, I think it would be hard for Tobias to garner an opinion from overseas. The press coverage today is certainly different than it was during Fonteyn's time. I think that also added to her onstage persona. How she conducted herself offstage was almost as beautiful as how she danced onstage. IMO Jenifer Ringer and Kyra Nichols are NYCB's two Ballerinas. Ringer especially. Like Fonteyn, not technically perfect, but she knows the difference between her roles. Her leaving the company and coming back on her terms (and having a fan in Robbins) I'm sure helped. The young audience nowadays doesn't know Fonteyn, LeClercq, Farrell and the others. Yet there are endless comparisons in the press ( i.e. Kowroski compared to Farrell) and maybe that's not fair either. On the movie front. What separates the actresses, much like the dancers today, was they had brilliant directors to work with and mold them into studio names. If you look at the works of Audrey Hepburn, Garbo, Grace Kelly and Dietrich, they were far from great actresses (technically that goes to Katharine Hepburn) but they had a "look" and personality the audience loved. Nowadays you can take Streep and Roberts, one is the brilliant technician and the other the public sweetheart. Maybe we don't "need" ballerinas?

What I meant is that the author lament the fact that there will be no more storybook ballets and that the "ballet" company will turn to "modern classical" scrapping the visions of what most of the general public thinks of ballet. I guess my point was, I remember seeing New York City Ballet and thinking they were "modern" and then realizing that while there weren't big sets, there didn't have to be a storyline for ballet to tell a story. And then I saw the full lengths that New York City Ballet did and realized you could do both, successfully. I don't know what if Scottish Ballet ever intends to do a storybook again, but the word "ballet" doesn't necessarily mean Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty. The comment about a Shakespeare company made me think along these lines.

I wonder how the author would feel knowing that New York City Ballet does do "classical" ballet as well?!

I always thought New York City Ballet was considered "contemporary"?

My post office has everything. Kwanza, Hanukkah and Christmas all represented. Yet I have a co-worker who as a Jehovah's Witness won't even step forth into a post office because they have an American flag hanging, which is against her religion. We certainly do live in strange times. Government funding. You'll have to excuse my ignorance on the subject of the NEA, but what exactly or how do they fund? Is a check written for an organization/individual and then left up to that party to see fit how those funds are used? Maybe they should just have a box on the bottom of our tax returns to check if we want to contribute to the NEA like we do for presidential elections. As individuals can you support one art form, but not another?

I always thought aside from being a religious experience to watch "Serenade" had religious undertones. I saw a piece by Angelin Preljocaj "Ascension" which I liked but I found at odds with the actual story of the Ascension. I haven't had any objections to seeing anything based on my faith. Considering many of the storybooks deal with fairies and monsters! Most often I'm struck when the music is what I like to call "church music", the dance only enhances it for me. (on a side note, NYCB's website has music samples for some of the ballets listed). I don't know if I've answered the question...

Somogyi seems to be having an off-Nutcracker. I'm glad to see Angle developing the way he is. I always thought the Princess Grace award went to the SAB kids, I believe Somogyi got that grant award as well.

A Merry Christmas to all. yes 100,000 is pre-tax. The contractor for real estate is rent-stabilized. When you make a base of 57 K and you have on average 15 hours a week of hourtime (more during Nutcracker) it's quite easy to clear 75 K on that alone. You can collect unemployment even if you're doing a gig in say Italy. They don't stay in 4 Star Hotels often, but that depends on who is doing the tour. For example, Scotland it's dorms, Australia it was the Sheraton, it really depends on who's bringing you there. Taxes. You can write off all of your "work" related necessities, such as clothes, shoes, the cost of laundering those clothes, pilates classes and outside dance classes. You do have to pay AGMA dues, but that also includes your healthcare, of which they have doctor's on staff and massage therapists, so in some instances you'd never have to leave the building! So, you may not have 100 K floating around in your apartment, but it does add up by year's end. And if you own your apartment, you get the interest write offs. My sister danced for 8 years with the Company. She cleared the $100 K mark 5 of those 8 years and then was stunned when she found out I graduated college and was making 30 K. I've sinced moved up but in the beginning I didn't have an apartment she had, or even half the size, or half the price. But NYCB is a huge corporation and one of the pressures of getting in and out is the financial security. Like with any job though, in the beginning you don't make the "good money" you need to work your way up to a manager and then director. Ballet just changes the titles.

I need to clarify. The salary is typical of senior corps (5 years in) Housing. Most of the dancers have apartments that are relatively cheap for NYC. NYCB has a few real estate contractors they work with. Most have apartments either under 1000 or a little more than. Hotels on tour are paid by the Company. If your per diem is $400 a week, that's just to pay for food and whatever else you decide to do. All the time you're on tour, there's company dinners and parties, so you could not ever have to pay for a meal. Also, overseas, there are no U.S. taxes, depending on who sponsors the tours since the money is made outside of the U.S. Saratoga, since they split houses is pretty cheap as well, with a per diem there. The time off from the summer you can collect unemployment and most rent out their apartments and either work at summer workshops or enjoy much needed time off. While MOST dancers don't make this much, in NY they are compensated. And not all of the dancers do guest tours or teach, but those that do can make 100,000. One of the biggest shocks most of the dancers has is that once they stop dancing, they don't make as much and that's why various programs have been set up to help with that transition. As for young kids, no they shouldn't expect to make millions while dancing, but I think it's the parents who are mostly worried about the cost and SAB they have programs to help the parents figure out that as well. Hope that helps. Again, this isn't what everyone does.

I'm not sure what defines "rich" but on a typical 1 year for a senior corps member in NYCB with a tour. They make upwards of 100,000. They get overtime, out of the country per diem and salary. That's not including if they do guest appearances, which nicely cushions a soloist or principal (who don't get paid overtime). So while they're not "rich" they are far from starving artists. Then again, this is just NYCB, I'm not sure about other companies.

I can tell off the bat this will be long winded, so please bear with me while I try to get to my point. I was wondering last night about this. I remember seeing in the threads in the past the "is ballet elitist" subjects and since we've been discussing finances lately. In the States it seems that a large portion of the companies rely on the Gala fundraisers for the bulk of funds and many of the companies state that performance cover barely a small percentage of the overhead for the operations. Which basically means that people that can afford to go to $1,000 a plate dinners are the primary donors (not that the rest of us that contribute don't make a difference, but...) Does the financial backing of the upper tier contribute to this ballet is for the elite notion and is it the same in other countries (both the funding and elitist attitude)? [ December 21, 2001: Message edited by: Calliope ]

No article, just a photo of a dancer in one of their fashion spreads. They don't even name her, but it's Jamie Wolf. It's the latest issue with Julianne Moore on the cover. [ December 21, 2001: Message edited by: Calliope ]