Alexandra

Re MacMillan's "Agon," this is from Alexander Bland's "The Royal Ballet, The First 50 Years." MacMillan's ballet premiered 7 months after Ballanchine's. "With remarkable alacrity MacMillan...studied the score and digested it sufficiently well to consider composing his own choreography. It was presented at Covent Garden in August 1958. The music, with its sharp short rhythms and epigrammatic structure carried much further the idiom with which Covent Garden audiences had only slowly come to terms in Ashton's Scenes de ballet. The wry, enigmatic mood suggested by MacMillan and his designer Georgiadis introduced a new and very personal note...." grace, I don't think Leigh's Agon piece is on line; Ballet Review articles are not, to my knowledge.

Thanks for the question, sneds, and the clarification, Juliet and Manhattnik -- there were a lot of people waiting for Korbes's return, so this isn't good news.

True, but I don't think the goosestepping Germans were a coincidence, given the date and THAT particular history!

I think it would be worth reprinting, but then, I think a lot of things are worth reprinting! There might be a problem with "permissions" though -- since (sadly) most of these people are now dead and their works, including recipes, are in the hands of heirs. It would be a lot of work to track them down, and there may be fees involved. Of course, anyone who's involved in publishing and sees this, please do look into it!

LMCTech, I agree -- one hopes that there are enough successful experiments that the audience won't get testy, but dancers do need new work, and need work made on their bodies. And, if they're intelligent, which I think most dancers are, they will get something from every experience, even the wretched ones!

Oh, I do remember the goosesteppers in La Bayadere well! (And Spartacus too -- where, as I remember it, it has a dramatic point.) But this one -- well, I hope they don't take it to any EU festivities The women in the party scene aren't too bad -- just stupid and greedy and stuck up. But the men are truly horrid. I liked Goriacheva-- I had not seen her before. Do you know how old she is, Jeannie? The choreography doesn't give her much to do except jump and turn, but since she has a lovely, light, fast, HIGH jump and beautifully centered turns, one could say the choreography suited her

Yes, please! I think all of us would like to read about that Bayadere. Ina, if you could, would you post a new thread on Recent Performances and tell us about it?

I was hoping someone else would start this -- I certainly hope somebody here went! I'll say this for him. When Yuri Grigorovich reworks a 19th century ballet, you don't think of the model -- he really reworks it. He creates a world. That said, this particular world was drab, depressing, and dull. A real museum piece -- Soviet Era Exhibit A, from the goose-stepping, tankard-weilding, potbellied, fatuous Germans in the "party" scene (well, you have to call it something) to the rubber wigs worn by the men (armed with candlelabras) in the last act. This "Nutcracker" is very inconsistent -- bits of 19th century charm (the cotton balls on wands for the snowflakes, the pretty, curvey girls-dressed-as-boys in the party scene) plunked down, stripped of charm, into a cinderblock mid-century world; a party scene that teeters on the brink of depravity but stays disappointingly bourgeois; hints of darkness -- who is the Rat King and why does Drosselmeyer drag him along into the -- well, whatever the second act is? -- that never amount to anything. There's a big tree, but it doesn't really grow, it creeps, like a vertical oil slick. (The white tree in the snow scene is gorgeous, but underlit, like the whole production, so you have to look hard to see it's gorgeous.) Friday night the dancing was as dull as the production -- not bad, just not exciting. The character dances were delivered without an ounce of brilliance. The leads were....well, maybe a matinee cast the third week into the run, but far from etoiles. The audience (from the orchestra front perspective) did not seem to be enjoying it. Saturday afternoon, with Goriacheva (I don't have my program so may be mangling that) and Filin was much better danced, and the pair pulled the ballet together by sheer stage presence. The audience was more into it, too (although one little girl, as we were leaving, glared at her mother and said, "They changed the plot!"). There was a standing ovation at the end, and hearty clapping throughout, and the dancers responded to this -- the character dances were much brighter, but there's only so much dancers can do with that choreography. The choreography itself was depressing. Both "snow" and "flowers" was choreography by the yard -- not a single interesting combination, nothing sophisticated or complex, and I'd say the same for the character dances. As for the pas de deux, who but Grigorovich would make a ballerina do pirouettes in arabesque and have her partner grab her extended leg and hoist her onto his shoulder? The Drosselmeyer was quite good, I thought, very elegant, very precise. I didn't know whether he was supposed to be a demon or a magician, but I don't think that was his fault.

Wow! Thank you!!! If they all cooked as well as they danced, this is quite a cookbook! Why doesn't some enterprising board use this for a super fundraising dinner party? (And what a tribute to LeClercq, that all these dancers honored her and contributed to her book!)

I interviewed Ann Barzel (a Chicago dance critic) about Kronstam, and she asked me "Did he ever open a restaurant in Majorca?" Apparently that was his plan for retirement back in 1960 (at the age of 25). What other dancers have recipes in that cookbook, Mme. Hermine?

Marc Haegeman took some photos of these performances which are now up on his site: http://users.skynet.be/ballet-lovers/DC.html (And did a very interesting interview of Wendy Whelan which will be in the next DanceView, out in early January.)

It's a shame this idea didn't interest Ashton, because his male-male danced conversations were so direct and so natural -- but father/son, friend/friend. But the convention he used in "Enigma Variations" might work here. Each character begins his/her dancing with a walk, and the walk defines the character. The walk very quickly leads into dancing, (walk walk walk dance) and the dancing grows out of the walk. I thought it an ingenious way to denote character -- and it goes along wiith what Leigh was saying above.

BW, no need to apologize. We're all provincial -- we can only write about where we've been and what we see! When Washington Ballet danced at Lisner Auditorium -- about a 1500 seat house -- they had a $1 student rush that was very popular. That meant that there was general admission -- no reserved seats. Harder to do in a place like the State Theatre or an Opera House. But another reason to play unfamiliar houses -- and have a more informal repertory for those houses. Another Washington example -- we used to have something called City Dance (back when Washington had 75 modern dance and ballet companies) and about 12 companies were chosen to do a weekend of performances -- 3 on each of four nights, say -- with a modern dance, ballet, and ethnic company sharing a program. It was very popular, brought in the most diverse audience you could ever hope to imagine, and the audience was generally supportive -- not a lot of "Oh, do I have to sit through THAT," but a real curiosity. Very expensive to do, and very time-consuming and difficult to coordinate, and I'm not sure that very many people crossed over after the event, but it was sure fun while it lasted!

ABT's "Pied Piper?" I think much of the pop stuff being commissioned today is aimed at a younger audience, and one of the most chilling things I've ever (over)heard was at a cocktail party for board members and company supporters of an Unnamed Troupe Gentleman in Gray: Why are they doing that stuff? I hate that stuff. Gentleman in Blue: Yes, but they had to do it for the young, and besides, they really can't do the classical things. Check out the repertories -- for those who subscribe to Ballet Alert!, read the descriptions in the fall preview issue. There's a list of repertories in the Other American Companies forum if you want to take a look at what is being done this season.

I'd never heard that about "Watermill," Manhattnik -- interesting. Thanks! I've never seen it (sniff) and only heard the "watching paint dry is more interesting" comments, so it's nice to know that the young were once intrigued by stillness. There's always Billboards (the not-so-classic Joffrey), a ballet that was calculated to bring in the young, and did -- for awhile. In "The Red Shoes," the gallery is full of young people (the rich and old sat downstairs). I don't know if any of the Ballets Russes (pre or post War) repertory was programmed to the young, but it attracted them.

I almost mentioned McKenzie's "Swan Lake" and Baryshnikov's "Don Q" (and "Nutcracker") -- but that's a matter of perception and geography. The Kennedy Center billed them as world premieres and they go in the books that way (unlike the Broadway practice, where it's stated policy as well as general agreement/perception that New Haven is the out of town tryout spot). Did the company view them as out of town tryouts? I'll bet they did -- but the Kennedy Center would have a different take on it. (And good to see you again, Drew. If you see a Nutcracker, I hope you'll post about it!)

mbjerk raises another interesting aspect of this: how to program experimental work. Ballet hasn't generally used the "out of town tryout" model. The larger companies (and once, not too long ago, there were only the larger companies, the big institutions) scheduled new works and, if they weren't immediately successful, would program them the next season -- if the directors thought they were good works and needed a second showing. Obvious flops were put to sleep quickly. Sometimes an audience needs a few viewings to "get" a new ballet. One reads over and over that Balanchine ballets were often not quite ready by opening night -- or, more accurately, the ballets were ready, structurally sound, but the dancers needed more rehearsal to get the steps in their bones. Next season, after 5 or 6 performances, this would happen.

This just in from one of our Secret Agents ABT is scheduled to appear on the Wayne Brady Show, Tuesday morning, Dec. 17. Julie Kent and Angel Corella are scheduled to dance a (taped ) Nutcracker pas de deux. Check your local listings for the time in your area.

Juliet, you were born to design this. Did anyone watch the trailer? The snowball tutus weren't as interesting as I thought. More like heavy tires around the waists of the dancers than something fluffy, like snow.

No, no, don't shut up! I think the Fast Food Nutcracker is just the thing for the new Millennium. Clara and the Little Prince sled through the Golden Arches, and every audience member gets a Happy Meal. Ballet Nut -- of course, you're right about the designer -- Melbye did do "Giselle" not "Swan Lake." That was a thinko

Does the principle that a great choreographer makes the choreography look inevitable apply here?

Yes, Alymer, Ratmansky did do the choreography. He was brought in at the last minute, after former Artistic Director of the RDB, Aage Thordal Christensen, pulled out. This means he did the dances. The CONCEPT (and design) was Mickael Melbye's A very polite interview in the program book gave hints of perhaps a clash of visions Here's a link to a page on the RDB web site with two tiny trailers of dancing from the production: http://www.kgl-teater.dk/dkt2002/ballet/frame.htm

I think there are pop stars who make less than The Top Ones -- yet a great deal more than $90K -- whose lives are not ripped apart. But I agree that there's a difference in that they go on promotional tours, and that much of their money is from endorsements, and all that is market driven. Sports stars -- nonstar professional athletes -- have less invasive coverage, yet make huge salaries compared to artists' salaries. All a reflection of the society, yes, but from the dancer's point of view, you'll just hear "they make so much more." It is expensive, and there are times when it's less expensive to put on the longest-running of all theatrical shows, "Dark," [meaning the house is dark, there's nothing going on] than to put on a play, opera or ballet. There are times when you wonder why people are willing to go through what they have to go through to get something onto the stage.

All very good questions, Calliope. Thank you for raising them. If you look at the llist of administrative staff in any ballet company, you might be surprised how large it is. Part of this is grants-driven. You can get grants for education projects; and then you have to have people administer those projejcts. So it adds to the revenue of the company, but it's arguable whether it adds to it artistically. Salaries are an issue, as you wrote, not only for dancers (who are still woefully underpaid in comparison to pop art stars, even at $90,000 a year), and there are administrators -- and company directors -- who are highly paid, in comparison to all of our naive ideas of artists working for no money but for the sake of art. (Writers, maybe, but not performing artists ) In an interview with Bruce Marks that I did a few years ago, he said something to the effect that We're all bureaucracies, now, and the bureaucracy must be fed. It's hard to break that cycle when you're in it -- but the money being raised is going to those dresses of which you are so fond, or funding big budget flops, and 3 more directors of human resources, development, and educational outreach. It's not Diaghilev going around to the art studios and plucking out the next genius. When there are no Diaghilevs, there are bureaucracies? Apres moi, le board? Any way out of the Dollar Swamp? I think Calliope has raised some good questions, and I look forward to reading lots of good answers

Did anyone go? Opening night was last night. They're dancing Nutcracker all week, with three different casts. I had to miss the opening (a combination of a bad cold and an ice storm) so I'm hoping others went and will report.