ltraiger

And if you're interested in viewing a hand-painted film and hand-retouched lithos of Fuller, there is a room devoted to Fuller in the National Gallery of Art's Toulouse Lautrec exhibit in Washington, DC.

Thalictum may have a point.  With all due respect to Rockwell’s background, which is admirable, it may not be a mark of respect for dance to reassign him in this way.  (I am trying to phrase this carefully, because I don’t want to imply that he’s underqualified.)

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Thank you, Dirac, you've expressed my concern most completely. Would the Times or any other paper of record chose to assign a non-subject-area expert to cover a field? Can you imagine if, say, the classical music beat was reassigned and a movie critic was the top choice, for example? This is my greatest concern for the ramifications of placing Rockwell in the 'top spot' covering dance at the Times. It seems that the Times suggests that anyone can pick up the relatively 'short history' of the form without a long-term commitment to studying, learning and experiencing dance over a career.

Then there's Kol Demama Dance Company, founded in Israel in 1978, I believe, by Moshe Efrati, a former Batsheva dancer who also trained with Martha Graham.

The company's Hebrew name has biblical connotations, 'kol demama daka' -- the still small voice -- and also translates to 'sound and silence.' Efrati devised methods that integrated deaf and hearing dancers and used percussion and a lot (a whole lot) of bass in his scound scores so dancers would cue off each other and feel the beat. The company is modern, though, not classically oriented.

I'm not sure if it still exists, but I know one former dancer teaches high school students at Gallaudet's Model Secondary School for the Deaf in Washington, D.C. When I used to take class with her from a hearing teacher, I would visually cue her on the timing/rhythm and she was fine.

I've found the front orchestra -- in front of the new aisle -- to be far too low and visibility difficult, to say the least, if one is shorter than the average 5'8". In fact, I would swear that the front orchestra dips down before it rises up on a slight rake after the aisle and railing. Sometimes I've felt as if I were sitting in a hole, able to only see the knees and up.

Has anybody else had this problem? I'll have to resort to a pillow or booster.

Also, speaking of booster seats, in many New York theaters, especially on Broadway, they supply boosters for children, which is wonderful for both the kids and parents. If I'm paying upward to $100 per ticket, I'm really not keen on having an eight-year-old sitting in my lap. Why doesn't the Ken Cen invest in boosters for the little ones? They're typically paying full price for tickets.

I found the program oddly conceived, as mentioned, with the Taylor sandwiched between two Tchaikovskys -- Balanchine and "Sleeping Beauty."

I, too, long for the depth and resonance of Taylor's "Sunset" or "Company B." That's what I expected and, I admit, what I wanted. Instead, in his Americana mode, Taylor's "Black Tuesday" feels disjointed and the performances appeared mechanical in some places rather than deeply felt and expressive. With time, experience, perhaps, "Black Tuesday" will develop into a more meaningful and dramatic work that it was Tuesday night. Individual performances were lovely but as a company the group didn't jell together.

I would like t comment more, but must fly out the door for now. Agree on the shagginess of the corps and those pasted-on smiles. Kent was lovely, as was Corella. Herrara and Gomes looked a bit like they were still warming up and forget that the audience was in the house.

I heard what Mahattnik described. Deborah spoke this past summer at the D.C. dance conference about her work. She has authorized permission and access to all his papers (detailed as boxes and boxes of letters, notes, journals, etc.) and, I recall, she is still in the interviewing stage, I believe. I, too, would be surprised that more than one biographer was authorized by the Robbins estate.

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