Alexandra

Maybe DaVinci Code could be our first book club book??

None! That was a joke -- read Mel's post about the real wives of Jean de Brienne

Thanks for posting this, Ed (I moved it into Recent Performances from the San Francisco Ballet forum). I must say I didn't like the production -- all the Petipa has been vacuumed out and I don't think what replaces it is as good -- but I did admire the company. I thought it was one of the most well-coached and directed (I'd like to say "well-balletmastered") company I've seen in ages, in the sense that the ballet was very well cast (the prince was a prince and the jester a jester) and well-rehearsed. They didn't do tricks; they danced. They did a contemporary program here -- contemporary classical program -- that was interesting as well.

Thahk you! You're right -- Robbins isn't often referred to as "neoclassical." He's ..... hmmm. "Ballet and Broadway choreographer" (and he knew which was which) I read an interview with Robbins a few months ago, when San Francisco Ballet brought "Dances at a Gathering" here (one of my favorites), and he called that ballet "nearly completely classical" and said it was a conscious reaction against the anti-dance movement then prevalent in modern dance (the Judson Church movement, which was all about everyday movement, nondancers dancing, not dancing, that kind of experimentation). So in the context of its time, and considering who Robbins was (a hit Broadway choreographer) it was almost a classical manifesto. I liked "Other Dances" too. I saw its first few years, when there was a continual excitement over who would next dance it. It was first done for Makarova and Baryshnikov, in blue. I can't remember the lineage now, but Kirkland and Dowell did it at ABT, and I remember...McBride at City Ballet, and Farrell and Martins. (I'm not positive about Farrell, but I remember Martins.) In some ways, though, I think "Fancy Free" is the best of them. It's a perfectly constructed demicaractere ballet.

I'm very open to having a book discussion -- how we will all pick a book is beyond me, but there is the ever-popular poll. I'm getting out the next Ballet Alert! right now so won't have much time for the next week, but then I'll open a thread for nominations, and we can vote. Participation voluntary, of course. Perhaps some of the choreographers who read these boards will get some good ideas for ballets from these discussions

Jack Reed -- hi, Jack! -- made some interesting comments on Bejart (on the Gottlieb on the French thread, on Books Magazines, and Critics; forgive the repetitive "ons"!) and I thought perhaps M. Bejart should have his own thread. There was a film about Bejart here a few weeks ago at the Swiss Embassy -- I couldn't go, but a friend of mine who loves Bejart (as well as Ashton and Balanchine ) said, with a sigh, "I miss Bejart. There's no one as sensuous as he is these days." Comments? What do people think about Bejart -- what have you seen?

Thanks, Mel! I wonder what ever happened to that glorious ballet, "Berengaria de Castille"?

A companion to the reading threads. I wondered what was taught in schools -- and is being taught now? Aside from finger painting, I had no art education. We had something called "poem and picture study" beginning in third grade. No music education at all in the classroom (I took piano lessons from 1st through 11th grade). Dance? We did one or two folk dance days in gym. Anybody have better luck?

I've thoroughly enjoyed reading the children's books thread -- wish there were time to read some of those books again! -- and I'd be very interested in learning how reading/books/literature was taught in your school days, and how much school had to do with your love of reading. There are obviously a LOT of constant readers here! We have so many different ages and sections of the U.S., and different countries. (I think the home influence is at least as important, if not more, but I'm curious about school.) From 1st to 4th grade I went to a private school that I loved. By first grade, thanks to my family, I read well above grade level (as I'm sure most of us did) and there was another child in the same situation, a little boy whose mother was a teacher, and the teacher sent us to the school library during the reading lesson, with instructions to read anything we wanted, and write book reports on what we read. I've never felt so grown up, before or since! In the horrible parochial school (5th through 8th grades) reading was taught as it probably was in the 1850s -- child by child had to stand up and read one sentence. We had to read ONE book a year and do a book report. No guidance was given, but religoius works were preferred. In high school (a very good public high school) we had to do about 15 book reports a year, I think, and from 10th grade on we could not include the plot in the reports. We couldn't just summarize the story; we had to analyze -- theme, or character, plot or setting. We weren't given any guidance in what to read. Half of the reading had to be "classics" the definition of which was completely up to the teacher, but other than that -- unless we picked something that was a really trash novel, we could do what we wanted. My high school didn't have Advanced Placement classes for literature; they were just becoming popular. And senor year we spent most of the time in SAT preparation. But we also had to do what they called an "investigative theme," which meant to choose an author, read everything s/he wrote, and do a long paper on it. When I taught at a local university in the late 1980s, I was, er, surprised to find that their literature requirement was fulfiled by a choice among: sports fiction, science fiction, African-American fiction, or -- I forget the phrase, but whatever fancy language there was for contemporary best sellers. That was it. (In college, we had to chose two from among fiction, nonfiction, poetry, short story and novel) I'd really love to know what's going on in schools today, so if any of our Young Dancers sees this, do chime in!

It is of interest, thank you, su-lian. I think that the POB has the largest Robbins repertory of any company besides NYCB. What do you think of Robbins' ballets? I'd be curious to know how they are regarded by Parisians, especially the younger generation, if you could give us some sense of that.

Marc, I think in the world of the ballet, he was a "hero" -- getting beaten didn't seem to matter much. If we're going to get politically revisionist Raymondas (King Andrew, imperialist butcher of the saracens) it might open more doors and windows than the ballet can sustain. I think Mel wrote something about King Andrew the last time his name came up-- I hope he'll see this thread. I'm sure he'll know the military history

Yes! Exactly! And then there was one where one of the political parties began to collect data on its delegates and knew the biography, financial situation, and pressure points of each individual, and squeezed/pushed every one of them. And that, I thought, might possibly happen. There was also a companion to "The Mouse that Roared" in which the Vice President (obviously modeled after Lyndon Johnson, who was Vice President at the time) was sent to a small emerging nation in Africa and did everything wrong, including patting the chief on the head, which violated an unforgivable tribal taboo. The entourage had the terrible duty of cabling back: "The Vice President has been eaten. What should we do?" Now, one does hope that that will never happen! But it was a funny book -- don't remember the title. I think it was "The Vice President Has Been Eaten," actually

Glebb, I would bet you could pursue that through BBC. That credit exists somewhere, and they'd be the ones who know. There might be information on that series on their site, but if not, why not email them and ask for a list of the music used?

For Johnny Tremain fans, there's a grown-up version called "Paul Revere and the World He Lived In." It was an assigned book in a Colonial American History course I took in college, and I vividly remember that all of us put off reading it until the night before we had to discuss it, thinking it would be dumb and boring And then had to stay up all night finishing it, it was so good. It's a social and cultural history. (Esther Forbes?) I read all the Black Stallion books -- I liked books about real animals, but didn't care for anthropomorphic animals, although Pooh was an exception. I remembe a New Yorker cartoon once where a little boy, looking very worried, is asking his father, "Daddy, why do all the animals in my books talk?" and that expressed my sentiments exactly! I also read a lot of mysteries as an early teen (during my censored reading days) -- all of Nero Wolfe and Hercule Poirot, and some Josephine Tey ("Brat Farrar" was a favorite). And then political science fiction-- the Fletcher Knoebel (?sp?), amost of which have come true, and "The Mouse That Roared." (I had to be told to stop reading. Flashlight under teh covers, paperback in the hymnal, the whole works. When I was 7 I announced that I intended to read every book in the world. I thought the world was the Enoch Pratt Free Library and I'd counted the shelves and multiplied them by the number of books on one shelf, and figured that if I read 10 books a week I might just manage it. Then they told me that the Enoch Pratt Free Library was not the world. My first crushing blow.)

Thanks for posting that, Dancing Ostrich. I'm disappointed that there haven't been any reviews from Ballet West as well. Sometimes we've found that someone will come on and check a forum and if there are no posts, well, they think there's no interest. BUT if people begin posting, then others will join in, so I hope you've started something! You may have to post about a few programs before coaxing others to join you, but please don't give up! What did you think of the season overall?

What were the highlights of the season? The not so high lights? What will you remember about the 2002-2003 season?

Hey! PNB watchers! Are you going to Sleeping Beauty?

Now that the season is over, what will you remember about it? What were the high points, the low points -- how do you feel about the season overall? (One happy, happy news note: The company has done very well financially. Last season, we all worried about MCB's future. This season, it looks as though good management has given the company new life.)

So, how was it? High points, low points -- what will you remember about this season?

Now that the season is over, what are your thoughts? What were your favorite performances, dancers? Who are you going to miss most (a lot of dancers are leaving, as I'm sure everyone knows by now)? This was a transition year for the company -- how did it seem to you? High points, low points -- what will you remember from this season?

Pied Piper -- I'd forgotten that one. Thank you, Dale. When did Robbins begin filming his ballets? I never give up on a ballet until every person who danced in it has died I hope there are still some Anxious Guests around who could work with someone to stage there. But you'd need a real Robbins advocate -- there's lots of Tudor that could be gotten back, too, but.....

Yes, and thanks for the reminder, Ari. That's why I thought there might be some hopeful news for arts coverage -- at least, with any change of personnel, there's the possibility of change of policy. It would be nice if media outlets, as they like to be called, realized that it's their constant glorification of money and fame that fills the imaginations of young Jayson Blairs.

Terriergirl, Greskovic's "Ballet 101" has (among other things) an excellent videography. Even though the book is a few years old now, there haven't been that many new releases since the book's publication (and many of these videos are now on DVD) so that would be a good place to start. It is daunting to choose -- more difficult than picking which version of "Beethoven's 5th" -- there's less variation in music. You'll find that productions of "Swan Lake" vary so much that the only thing that's constant is the music! Sometimes, too, it's not whether the performance is "the best" but whether you like it! Some of the videos are of very great dancers a bit past their prime, and while there are some who love the chance to see dancers of the past, others want to see more contemporary performances. Mark D, I did exactly what it seems you're doing when I first became interested in ballet -- read several dance history books. Much better than reading the same one several times -- each one has something a bit different, and by the time you've finished the third, you'll have a pretty good idea of the timeline and the major figures. I think then often people start to read about particular periods that interest them -- for me, I had a Ballet Russe phase, and then a Royal Ballet phase, and then a Balanchine one, a Russian Ballet phase, and a Danish one. Others will be interested in particular choreographers or dancers. I recommend any of Ivor Guest's books. I think they read like novels, and his "Romantic Ballet in Paris" and "Romantic Ballet in London" were very important in my understanding of ballet history. You'll only be able to find it on alibris or, by chance, in a used book store, and it's gotten expensive, but my perennial recommendation for THE BEST BOOK is Nancy Reynolds' "Repertory in Review," which covers every ballet in the New York City Ballet's repertory through 1976, with Reynolds' analysis, quotes from dancers, quotes from newspapers -- it was my tutor for understanding Balanchine and I still turn to it to prepare for a Balanchine season. As for magazines -- there's a subtle hint in my signature line But I also recommend the British magazine Dance Now and the American Ballet Review.

Yes, we've moved the Raymonda forum to the Archives, but it's fine to have more discussion! The Hungarian dancers are in honor of Prince Andrew of Hungary (I believe a real person). I think Raymonda is Hungarian and has traveled to France, to the court of her cousin, for the wedding. Prince Andrew was one of the heroes of the Crusades -- I forget whether he was related to Raymonda or not. Someone must know! Regarding the choreography, "Raymonda" is the one (some would say perfect) example we have of Petipa's way of providing variety in dance. The first act is classical, the second character, and the third combines character arms with classical technique, producing semi-character classical dancing.

I think he's the Executive Editor. But when there's a shake up at the top, especially since this one is aimed at the ethos of the paper generally, it may well affect arts coverage. Here's a link to the story on CNN: Top New York Times editors quit [Just a note -- I edited the title of the thread to remove "arts"]