Alexandra

I'm pulling this comment by GWTW from another thread (on Nora Kaye, on the Dancers Forum) because I think GWTW has hit on one of the Central Questions of Our Time: Comments?

Love someone posting that Kylian is a modern dance choreographer (I agree ) I think his influence has waned, as Tetley's did before him. Very influential in a generation, though. But Bausch -- now, that will be a legacy. I thought of putting her up, but some would argue that she's not modern dance but tanzteater, a new genre. I think it's hard for Americans to evaluate Wigman. She didn't influence US, ergo she doesn't count. But she influenced a lot of people (including Balanchine).

Oh, Mel, your doubts are right on I think, as with every other system, it's not the system, but the teachers. The Danish school had great dancers because it had great teachers -- Harald Lander, Vera Volkova, Stanley Williams. I found a copy of Volkova's schedule of teachers during the 1960s, and there were only four: Volkova, Willilams, Erik Bruhn and Henning Kronstam. Hans Brenaa was also a fine teacher. The difference between the women and the men has as much to do with repertory -- it's not a ballerina repertory. There weren't ballets in the rep that developed pointe technique and the aesthetic is more of an ensemble aesthetic. The men of the Danish school stood out because they were never pushed to the side and had lots to dance, and so compared to much of the rest of the world, they seemed more developed. To show you how "through the looking-glass" their system was, I offer you this. "Boys have to start at 8 or 9, because their bodies aren't as flexible as girls. Girls can start as late as 18." That's the exact opposite of how we look at it. As for Danish ballerinas, some say they haven't had one since Lucille Grahn - -not a really truly international ballerina. Or, if you look at it through Danish eyes, they have about a dozen a generation -- star performers, fine actresses, women who catch your eye in a role like the Countess in Sleeping Beauty -- a role you might not notice in a production by another company.

Thanks very much for posting this, Jaana -- I've moved this over to Recent Performances. I hope others who attended -- this, or other summer festivals -- will post about them.

He studied and danced with Graham, as I'm sure you know But one might say it was a negative influence -- he's certainly not a follower. I think he was very influenced by Cage, of course, and other musicians and painters of his time. I hope Nanatchka sees this. I'd like her take on it.

I voted for Graham, too, as Prima, but I could defend a Cunningham vote. Nearly everything you see in modern dance today has its roots in Cunningham; he won. There's nothing that Graham and the other early moderns stood for. The expressionism of the early 20th century has been replaced by the "dance is itself only" aesthetic of the later, Cunningham years. Also, nearly everyone working in modern dance today either studied with Cunningham, or studied with someone who studied with Cunningham.

Thank you, Kurvenal -- there are a lot of people here interested in dance history. The next time you have some time, you might want to look at some of the other threads on this forum -- you'll find some old friends. (You can select View All Posts from the pull-down menu at the top right of the board.)

Welcome, Malcolm! Walter Sorrell and Walter Terry were writing at the same time. (I believe Sorrell just died a few years ago. He was a good friend of a close colleague of mine.) Sorrell did more scholarly writing, essays and books more than criticism, although I believe he covered European dance for a now-defunct American publication called "Dance News." I think his book "Dance in Its Time" is excellent -- odd to read a book where individual dancers are never mentioned!

bump Terry was one of America's most important critics -- widely read, respected by many and controversial to others. Surely others have opinions about him? It would be nice to have a range of views.

Did anyone go? If so, please report!

Ah, Ambrose Bierce -- now THERE'S some good summer reading

My mother is equally difficult, but dissimilarly so. Pretty much all she can tolerate are mysteries. Clean ones. I have learned through trial and error that my definition of "clean" is far, far more lenient than hers. She grew up in a time where the word "bloody" (as an exclamation) was written "b-------y" and likes it that way. Some people find mysteries uplifting, and, if so, there's Nero Wolfe by Rex Stout and the Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot series by Agatha Christie.

We LOVE Methusalehs, atm! I wish we had an army of Methusalehs I'm always very happy to read about dancers and performances of the '40s and '50s -- I think it helps us understand the present more clearly and adds context to our discussions, so please, please, please, both of you, commit all of your memories to cybertalk! Is there anyone you've seen since Kaye who is like her? She's one of the dancers that I can't imagine. I've seen bits of her on film, but not enough to get an idea of how she MOVED, and since there haven't been very many strong dramatic ballerinas -- who are also strong technicians -- I always think of her as occupying an isolated island in American ballet history. I've asked this question of others and one, who was no fan of hers, said, "Oh, there are plenty of bad dancers today" -- referring, I'm sure, to the fact that she she wasn't a classical dancer. The same thing was said about Von Aroldingen, and I think it's a problem of not understanding emploi, actually -- there's an honorable category of, in English, Character Ballerina. Lots of them in Russian ballet history, not so many acknowledged as such in the West where everybody has to be "classical." I'd also like to hear more about Tudor's "Romeo and Juliet." I've seen only moments of Tudor ballets that worked for me -- he's a choreographer I have to take on faith. I saw the Romeo in 1976 with a cast of dancers whose performances I disliked intensely, and got no sense of what the ballet must have looked like when it was fresh and new.

More Lincoln Center woes, from the NYTimes: Lincoln Center Redevelopment Chairman Has Resigned

Dale, he was my mother's second favorite actor (after William Holden). And I liked him in all the same roles you mentioned. (I missed Hornblower and Duel in the Sun.)

I'm here, and I'll get even wetter if I make a run for the car? mbjerk, I've been at Wolf Trap on its hot nights, too (never forgetting the humidity). I remember the Paris Opera Ballet dancing "Swan Lake" when it was in the high 90s. I was sitting far front, and the dancers costumes had obviously not dried out from the night before -- they were soaked when the curtain went up. The colors from the decoration on the men's white blouses had run. It was hideously oppressive -- and, of course, we weren't under lights. I kept thinking that if it was bad for people who lived in DC and were used to these sumemrs, how hellish it would be for someone used to Paris, yet the dancers didn't show any sign of fatigue or annoyance, and they danced absolutely full out. And it was a summer park audience. Most of the people around me had never seen Swan Lake -- I admired the company tremendously for, in effect, dancing better than they had to. (Sometimes, living here in the provinces, we do get the "what do they know? we can let up" performance.)

Kate, there are some people who've been watching MacMillan for 30 years and love his ballets (and others who don't) so experience isn't necessarily a factor. I'm not a fan of his story ballets, but I've seen performances of the pas de deux that were extraordinary; same with "Manon."

For Malakhov fans, he's doing a book signing today. Details here http://www.balletalert.com/forum/showthrea...94002#post94002

More summer fun. Treefrog's very funny post about the weather at a Joffrey performance in Ravinia suggested this one. Have you ever been at an outdoor performance where the weather took center stage? Tell us about it -- dancers as well as audience members! I can remember one ghastly "Swan Lake" with the Royal at Wolf Trap. One of the worst thunder storms I've ever seen. Couldn't wait for the fourth act, no, no. Had to come in the third. Just as Marguerite Porter was about to lurch into her fouettes, the lights went out and a quick thinking stage hand, meaning to be helpful, instantly turned a light on (think all those World War II movies when the Nazis first figure out that the prisoners have escaped, that kind of light), smack in her face, so she was undersandably disoriented. More thunder. BOOM BOOM BOOM. More lightning. Perhaps Odette's mother was trying to help out. The performance stopped. Then the orchestra started again. Derek Deane, the evening's Prince, walked out of the wings, completely out of character, and mimed, "So, lilke, what the hell am I supposed to do?" People on the lawn, understandably concerned, crowded into the main theater. Even in the main theater, under cover, the lightning was scary. The performance was halted for a time, and I honestly can't remember what happened -- did they pick it up mid-act, or just pretend it was danced and go on to Act 4? ?? Treefrog, I've been at Wolf Trap in 50 degree weather, too. It's not pleasant. The summer parks are often 10, 20 degrees cooler than the city, and if there's the slightest chance of a temperature dip, I make sure there are blankets in the car.

This is suggested, vaguely, by something sandik wrote on another thread. Looking back over the 20th century, who do you think is THE most influential modern dance choreographer? Define that any way you will, and discourse below.

I'm still humming Excelsior. I don't know how much influence that ballet had on the society (it was a very popular production and had a lot of influence on ballet of its time) but it's one of the very few classical ballets I've seen that dealt with history, from the end of the Inquisition (and the beginning of modern history, as they saw it) through the building of the Suez Canal. It had an extraordinarily clear point of view -- Progress is Good. Those who halt Progress are as ignorant and harmful to society as the Inquisitors; they want to bring us back to the dark ages. Probably most people would agree with that (including me) -- although the environmentalist in me had a sneaking sympathy for the Spirit of Darkness (that halter of Progress). BUT it dealt with contemporary life directly (mountains were blown up) and metaphorically. Characters based on real people wore contemporary dress, those representing Thoughts or Concepts were in tights. This doesn't go to Leigh's larger question, but it's one example of how dance -- big, popular, mainstream dance -- can use material of interest to the larger society. Sandi, I wish you'd start a topic about the good contemporary work you're seeing -- I think the point that we don't need to have masterpieces every day, and we shouldn't waste Today waiting for the masterpieces of Tomorrow, but I can't think of much BALLET I've seen in the past decade that I'd want to see again, if I didn't have to. Although I don't think the modern dance scene is much brighter in the masterpiece department, I've seen dozens of smaller works during that same time period that I enjoyed, but in ballet..... I'm also curious -- how do you think Cunningham influenced society generally? I think his influence on modern dance is huge, but I'm not sure about the larger influence.

Jane's article on MacMillan was for Danceview, and it's on line, Kenneth MacMillan, For Better or Worse?

Thanks, Sonora -- good to see you. I hope others who saw this will chime in. (Franklin did Friar Lawrence when the company was here this spring and he gets my vote for performance of the year. I hope some of the dancers were watching him; they could have learned something. Lots of things, actually.)

I don't believe the schedule is out yet. I'm going to close this thread so we don't have two threads on the same topic. There's a thread directly below this one on the list where people have been asking questions and there are some answers. http://www.balletalert.com/forum/showthrea...&threadid=10101

We had assemblies in high school -- my grade schools didn't have auditoriums. (We had May Processions, an honorable medieval pageant tradition.) I wrote and directed a few plays for mine, and was campaign manager for several candidates and did their skits. We had an odd graduation tradition, too. The evening began with a play, which the students wrote and directed, and then we put on the cap and gowns. I can't remember much about the assemblies, but the ones I do were about current events or politics rather than the arts -- but that might be because that was what I was interested in then rathre than reflecting what they did. Wonder if they still do assemblies?