Calliope

I'm indifferent to it. I guess my feeling is it can't hurt to ask and on one occasion I had forgotten to renew a theater subscription, so I was glad they called.

They already have a lock on the funds for Diamond Project They have set up different programs to pay for different things, so they have a variety of sponsors. Both ABT and NYCB do extensive calling. NYCB always has job listings for telemarketers, so I don't think the practice is new.

oops... I read the article on the train this morning, it was a bumpy ride !

I don't think it's fair to compare NYCB's Nutcracker attendance, as that audience consists of a lot of people who only go to see the holiday performance. I don't think many people will notice the change. It was only offered on one subscription and not heavily advertised. ABT tends to rely more on the full lenghts than they do the theme nights, especially when going up against NYCB at that time (which is I believe one of the reasons the City Center season was created ?) NYCB has also been feeling the effects of post Sept. 11th charitable donations. They're Nutcracker Family Matinee performance attendance was off and even Nutcracker sales are slightly down from last year. When I say that, the seats have been filling, but many more of the "discounted specials" have been used this year than in the past (student, Am Ex. etc...) It's almost inevitable. I was surprised at the amount that ABT asked for in relief though, $50 million. ouch.

At City Ballet's opening night, a quote from a poem was read, ballet danced and people sang. We got it all at the ballet! One of the most amazing gifts dancers give is the ability to emote when sometimes words can't describe what we feel.

I completely echo Manhattnik's last paragraph. If there is a Santa Claus maybe he'll bring Rutherford her promotion next year. I forgot to mention Kathleen Tracey. She seemed to have a come back and reclaim her grace and hillarity.

It was a hard year. I was trying to think of highlights. Performance wise. I'm glad Jessy Hendrickson is back and healthy at NYCB. Disappointed in the stall of van Kipnis and Rutherford, especially the latter. ABT getting rid of some management. The promise of ABT bringing La Fille this year coming up. There was no Diamond Project this year but we have one next year. Diana Vishneva (I know I spelled that wrong) I saw her for the first time, stunning. It was a bit of blah kind of a year for me. Again, on a non-performance basis, I liked some of the marketing campaigns of both NYCB and SFB, they joined the 90's at least in the photography. And I have to reiterate finding some redemption in the young corps at NYCB in the Snow scene. For the past few years it's been sloppy and the girls looked bored out of their mind. And one last hurrah. Melissa Barark, a woman choreographer!

Anyone care to kick this off?

I caught the interview this morning, but admit to falling asleep during the Swedish Ballet's Nutcracker. Good thing I have TiVo! Maria talked about being Barbie and they showed some of the footage of her done up in electrode sensors. I haven't seen Barbie in the Nutcracker, but she said she only danced for 5 mintues total. She talked about being promoted and how it occured and reading press articles about her (after the season because she's too busy during) and then her popularity sinking in. Her beginnings at the YMCA and then Grand Rapids Ballet and then she talked about being injured and how every injury is a lesson to learn. I agree sneds, she seemed poised and comfortable in front of a television camera. Some dancers have a hard time speaking in public domains, which is understandable seeing as the emote through their bodies, but Maria seemed quite as ease and poised for someone so young. A true ambassador for the company. She did mention the roles she's be doing in Nutcracker, Sugarplumb, Dewdrop and Arabian and how Mozartiana, she hopes to do that later in the season, that being a dream role and having done it before. Has she done Arabian lately? I don't recall if I've ever seen her do it. It was a good interview though. This upcoming Tuesday Jennie Somogyi is on Good Morning America, I don't think they do an interview, but they may.

I saw the performance last night. As usual, it was thoroughly enjoyable and full of an audience of first time ballet goers, many of the young one screeching at the mice. The opening act. I'm not sure if the little playing Fritz (Ghaleb Kayali) had ever done the role before, but he was off in a big way. But endearing especially when Jason Fowler would pick him up and drag him away. Ojela Burkhard and Ryan Cardea were Marie and the Nephew. Both showed great poise and Cardea's was exceptional in his narrating of his story in the second act. Lindy Mandradjieff and Sarah Ricard were the Harlequin and Columbine. I must admit, I was looking forward to seeing Madradjieff, especially after reading so much of the praise about her. But her Harlequin often had arms barely at angles and didn't seem in sync with Ricard. Antonio Carmena was the Soldier. He had nice beats and the appropriate "stiffness" for the role. Snow was a nice mix of the new corps, I only recognized about 3 names out of all of them! They were exceptional, one of the best snows I've seen in a while. Act II opened with Kowroski and the Sugarplum Variation. Kowroski always dances big and with renewed confidence. Her variation, while technically flawless, didn't have the warmth and lightness the role calls for. Some of the women, lead the Angels behind them, looking back to make sure they're following and give a smile (Tracey, Ringer, Whelan all do) but Kowroski doesn't, and the element of endearment is missed. The heavy hitting of her shoes didn't help. But again, technically perfect and her pas de deux with Askegard makes up for the variation. I've never seen a couple hit the music perfectly as they did last night. In the coda they seemed to be seeing who could dance bigger, both succeeded. The "minor" roles in the ballet last night seemed to shine though. Eva Natanya, Amanda Edge and Jennifer Tinsley as Hot Chocolate, Marzipan and Dewdrop, IMO stole the show. Natanya dances with such joy, she brought an elan to what otherwise could be a walk through it role. Edge brought a lightness to an often thankless role in Marzipan. her hops on pointe got stronger and she nailed all her turns. Backed by Alian Dronova, Mandradjieff, Elena Stein and Jamie Wolf. I couldn't tell if it was Dronova or Mandradjieff, but one of their headpieces was so far off on the side of their head, it was actually distracting. Jennifer Tinsley, ever since coming back to NYCB after a break (it seems to be a habit with Jennifer's in that company!) dances far better than I ever remember her and surprises me every time out. She's not a commanding Dewdrop, but rather a subtle and just oozes the music. And finally a special commendation to the young Polichenelles. They were outstanding! Martins should sign them all now before they get into any bad habits! They made you forget to look at Amar Ramasar (a rather blah Mother Ginger) but their lines were perfect and the smiles were big. Overall, an enjoyable production and I look forward to the hopefully upcoming debuts. Usually towards the end some of the corps are given the plumb roles.

I don't know, is it really a fact that women conformed to men's ideas? Let's take the corset. I believe the ancestory of it dates back to the Greeks and it was used as a support to the weak muscles of women's lower backs when they carried things. It transitioned primarily during Elizabethian times into more of a fashion. With women competing for a more cinched waist than that of her neighbor. Heels, I think most women wear them to appear taller or have the calf look longer. Maybe I missed the point of the posts, but I don't think you can overly blame one sex or another, but we women have certainly pushed for some of the fashion we now have. If we talk about body image. That's a self issue. I know people think that if you look at a model, you want to be that thin, but I don't think that's overwhelmingly the case. That arguement is no different than violence in movies or video games. The views come from something far deeper inside a person's psyche. I'm getting a bit off course...

felursus, I think in many ways it's the women who are more to "blame" than the men are. Most of the great paintings have full figured women, the kind with curves. It's women who have bought the fashions that sometimes the men create and we still do. Some women still wear "corset" types to create the hourglass they want. The high heels, they hurt like heck, but my job doesn't require me to wear them, but sometimes I like to. There will always be "weight" issues, but that all comes down to self acceptance, which is why I think we see this shift towards the yoga movement of finding self, albeit through wearing Christy Turlingtons new fashions! If we look at ballet in this respect, we have a large group of women squeezing themselves into corset like costumes and wearing shoes even worse than heels!

You can email the gift shop on line and they will try to help you with getting a pair. The other course you could take is to write her a letter and ask her for a pair, most of the girls don't mind! good luck

And NYCB did have Macauly Culkin! I'd have to go with Peter Boal. He's got a certain debonair quality to him already! I'd have to cast Rosemary Dunleavy as M Jerry Robbins as Q and make Peter Martins the villain! Sorry, but it just lends itself.

In reading one of the links today, an article quoted Bill T. Jones' comments from a New York Times article. The following passage struck me: And yet Jones conflates AIDS and terror as great misfortunes that can rescue us from the "aloof gestures of modernism" by inspiring a more expressive art in the "service of social change." At the end of his article, his voice rings out in a typical postmodern crescendo: "few other mediums besides dance will offer us such raw, non-commercial opportunity to witness live bodies negotiate the tyranny of the present and its minefield of unforeseen events." I found his comments a bit "strong". The non-commercial opportunity, is that possible, hasn't dance "gone commercial" the past decade?

I don't know how you would do that or if you would want to. Aside from a general Americana theme. Does anyone know anything that was specifically done as a result of a single event (Pearl Harbor, the assasinations in the 60's)? I think the arts have to be very "careful" right now. There's an obvious struggle with funds going on right now that is more drastic than usual as a result of Sept. 11th. There was a bit of backlash recently in NY regarding the updating of Lincoln Center. Less a month after the terrorist attacks, the committee was asking for over 200 million dollars. Granted, it was promised by Mayor Guiliani, but it just seemed the timing of it was off. That was a bit of a tangent, sorry!

At City Ballet, they used to joke that of course certain dancers could hold their balances, they were "dancing on beer cans"!

I echo the sentiment of the other posts. I thought Tracey kicked off her last season with the Company in grand style and despite some of the bobbles, it was nice to see everyone back on stage. I agree with Michael1 though, they've got 5 months to straighten up. The Star Spangled Banner seems to be everywhere. I was at a different performance the evening before at Lincoln Center and the orchestra played the Star Spangled Banner and an entire audience, unprovoked, sang. I think Mr. B would have been proud!

The polka section of Vienna Waltzes. I think it's even been reviewed as "vulgar"

The polka section of Vienna Waltzes. I think it's even been reviewed as "vulgar"

I'd second the Jenifer Ringer nomination and add Tanaquil LeClercq to the list as well. Both have a humorous quality that only adds to their stage personas.

Are there REALLY truly, roles that are typically meant for any race in particular? Since it's coming up, let's look at Nutcracker. We have Russian, Chinese, Spanish... yet I don't think a child in the audience would sit up and say that the dancers don't look any of those ethnicity's. I understand why people feel strongly on this subject, but ballet is in no way uniqueBallet IMO suffers from it's own lack of popularity amongst the "general public". Costs aside to study it. And just because any of us thinks a dancer has the ability or would be great doing a role, doesn't mean the dancers wants to, i.e. Evans.

Considering you have touring groups "Stars of NYCB" et al., Stars present an interesting dichotomy. On one hand, they'll presumably bring in an audience, and hopefully keep an audience. But then they also become the standard to which other dancers are measured. Which is unfortunate and why in reviews, I think most dancers prefer not to be compared to their predecessors. All of this depends on what you consider a "star". Is it the dancer who's got their picture in Vogue and print ads, or is the dancer who is singled out consistently in both audience applause and reviews? A lot of times companies try to plant stars. Meaning no disrespect to her at all, I think she's a great dancer, but Deanna McBrearty of NYCB comes to mind. Here's a woman who has garnered more press (print, video, even greeting cards!) and been photographed more offstage than onstage, yet she's not really a "star" in the company. But to someone not familiar with NYCB dancers, she might be considered one based on the publicity alone. Does anyone agree with this?

Ms. Le Celrcqu passed away yesterday. The NY Times has the obit. On a personal note, I took class with her once and she told the most magnificent stories of Mr. B. and Jerry (Robbins). A beautiful dancer and an amazing woman.

That's for that Alexandra. I never realized critics went through training. Although I think some of them have gone through boot camp!