Alexandra

This is a fascinating thread. Is anyone artistic and ambitious and would like to do a map with these sites noted? If so, I'll put it up on the main site

she's having a good long nap, I think. "La Sylphide" is out of repertory in Copenhagen this season. I think it will be brought back next season -- or perhaps the one after. There has been speculation on who will stage it, and I'll wait to comment until the announcement has been made. I think the company is between Syphs at the moment -- Jeppesen is retired. Schandorff was a magnicient Sylph, but not a traditional one. I didn't see Gad enough to tell if she, as the Danish critics like to write, "grew into the role." She has everything for it, but was doing a bad Makarova imitation when I last saw her, a decade ago. I haven't seen the young Sylph-most-likely (Gudrun Boesen) and the dark horse candidate (Tina Hojlund, the most musical of the current female dancers for many) is unlikely to get the chance. ABT has a very carelessly staged version of the old Harald Lander production that's accurate -- at least much more accurate than Schaufuss's, which pops up here and there occasionally. I haven't seen the production for the National Ballet of China which got enormous publicity (and very engineered publicity) in Copenhagen, but I spoke with many of the Danish dancers who saw it, and although they admired the Chinese dancers -- "It's amazing how much of it they got," as one put it -- they felt the video antecedents, shall we say, of the production were all too visible. Every Sylph I've seen outside of Denmark -- American or Russian (in galas only) has been doing Giselle rather than the Sylph, to me, so I don't give any votes there. We're short on Jameses, too, although one of the greatest Madges of all time (Sorella Englund) is around, should anyone ask her to do the role.

The new issue of DanceView contains: An interview with Brigitte Lefevre (director of dance, Paris Opera) by Marc Haegeman An interview with Bruce Sansom, on his new job at Rambert, his education at San Francisco Ballet and the Vilar Institute, and the future of the Royal Ballet by me A review of the Kirov in New York by Mary Cargill An annotated list of changes and differences in the new Bayaderka by Robert Greskovic A review of ABT's spring season by Mary Cargill Jane Simpson's London Report (the NYCB group, Merce Cunningham, and the situation at the Royal Ballet) Rita Felciano's San Francisco Report (including the Mark Morris season) (Note to subscribers: About a third of the issues have been mailed out. The rest will be out by midweek next week! Thanks for subscribing.)

I have a few London friends who admired Jeffries greatly as a dancer -- considered him to be a sincere, intelligent artist and a thoughtful man. I don't know much about him as a director -- of the Hong Kong Ballet, I think, so Kevin may have an opinion there. Why, Grace? Just curious -- what do you think he'd bring to the job?

I haven't seen much Graeme Murphy -- lots of his pieces for Torvill and Dean, when he was working with them awhile back, some of which I liked, some not. I do remember -- I think; hope I have this right -- a Daphnis and Chloe, though, that I thought was awful. Bikers for pirates. Either fun, or sensationalist, depending on your point of view. Of course, I can't comment on the production since I haven't seen it either. My objection was to the interview, and the assumption that the audience doesn't "relate" to the more traditional productions. (And I think on this issue generally, it's almost as though there are two aesthetic/political parties: keep to the spirit of the original, and the text, as far as is known; or change it as you like and the only thing that matters is whether it works or not.) Several people who have seen this have commented that it was interesting -- and wished that it had been done to different music, and called something else, so that the "is it Swan Lake" issue wouldn't be an issue.

Thanks for the plug, y'all. I think DanceView (a quarterly review of dance, with long reviews, commentary, interviews) and Ballet Alert! (a bimonthly, more or less, newsletter, with news, previews, interviews, Victoria Leigh's column for young dancers) would make terrific Christmas gifts. I don't want to mislead anyone -- these do not look like Pointe or DanceMag. They're black and white -- lots of photos, but black and white -- and no ads. And, you can save a stamp Subscribe on line: http://www.balletalert.com/housekeeping/su...tm#anchor138471 If you want to give this as a gift, drop me an email afterwards telling me who you are and who you'd like the gift to go to. Back to discovery This is fun -- it's nice to know where everyone came from, and why.

Thanks for the plug, y'all. I think DanceView (a quarterly review of dance, with long reviews, commentary, interviews) and Ballet Alert! (a bimonthly, more or less, newsletter, with news, previews, interviews, Victoria Leigh's column for young dancers) would make terrific Christmas gifts. I don't want to mislead anyone -- these do not look like Pointe or DanceMag. They're black and white -- lots of photos, but black and white -- and no ads. And, you can save a stamp Subscribe on line: http://www.balletalert.com/housekeeping/su...tm#anchor138471 If you want to give this as a gift, drop me an email afterwards telling me who you are and who you'd like the gift to go to. Back to discovery This is fun -- it's nice to know where everyone came from, and why.

Well done, Mel! Henrik, in addition to the technique and style, 10 ballets, or substantial fragments of ballets, still survive -- and that's quite rare. Only two choreographers who worked before 1900 -- Bournonville and Petipa -- have a body of work still in repertory. Bournonville was a follower of the 18th century choreographer Noverre and believed that anything that could be painted could be danced. Unlike Noverre, who thought that classical dancing could express only itself and used pantomime to express emotions, Bournonville believed that classical dancing could express one emotion -- joy. His ballets are like moving pictures -- if you read his libretti, they really seem like filmscripts; you can practically see the action. The ballets have lasted because they're very well-choreographed, and by that I mean they're well built, like a good house can be well built. He was also a genius at creating characters and little vignettes -- some of the ballets have lasted because one or two scenes are just too good to lose, or because dancers have wanted to dance the roles, or audiences have wanted to see the stars of their generation dance roles associated with past stars. The ballets that have lasted are mostly comedies. Bournonville also did many historical or mythological ballets, but these were thought too heavy in subject matter at the beginning of this century -- and, I think, the people running the company in the 1930s couldn't stage them. They could only do the light ballets, the comedies. As Juliet said, information on individual ballets, as well as the style, can be found at www.bournonville.com

There's a review of DAE's program by Eve Cusson on alt.arts.ballet (access it through your news server)

To stick in yet another 2 cents, it's not a matter of "either/or." There are several people here who post on more than one newsgroup or discussion board I also just checked our current members' totals and 4078 people have registered here since October 1998!

To stick in yet another 2 cents, it's not a matter of "either/or." There are several people here who post on more than one newsgroup or discussion board I also just checked our current members' totals and 4078 people have registered here since October 1998!

I remember you from the quizzes, atm! -- and several others here. Steve Keeley and Estelle were the Ballet Alert! Quiz Champions! I almost miss doing the quiz, but it took 2 hours every Sunday and I eventually ran out of questions!!!!

I remember you from the quizzes, atm! -- and several others here. Steve Keeley and Estelle were the Ballet Alert! Quiz Champions! I almost miss doing the quiz, but it took 2 hours every Sunday and I eventually ran out of questions!!!!

Gosh, that's a toughie I'd wanted to have a site for my magazines -- though not a message board at first -- but I couldn't get on line as I had an old computer. I finally had enough money to buy a cheap PC in July of 1998, and within a month of getting on line I'd designed this site. The message board came later -- and was inspired by Giannina. She was a DanceView subscriber, and we'd corresponded. She mentioned that there was a dance newsgroup that was so argumentative, and occasionally nasty, that she felt uncomfortable posting there. I posted to the same newsgroup and was bothered by the nastiness too -- not from everybody; there are some terrific people there (many of whom now also post here!). But because newsgroups aren't moderated, some loony can come on and attack people, and some loony generally does. I also grew tired of arguments along the lines of "Boy, are you stupid. Of course Matthew Bourne's "Swan Lake" is a ballet." And the attempted explanations that yes, it's a ballet in the sense of the general use of the term to describe a theatrical piece using dancing, but not ballet in the way Petipa's "Swan Lake" or Balanchine's "Concerto Barocco" or "Agon" is. So I wanted to set up a site for people who wanted to discuss ballet and who knew what it was, or were curious about it. I thought it would be a niche site, very small, a kind of side chamber to the newsgroup, where people could come and discuss ballet in some detail. I put up a little Frontpage message board -- there are only about 10 people still here from that one -- and some of the first posters -- God knows how they found us -- were kids. "Hi! I'm 15. I stopped dancing 3 years ago. Can I still become a ballerina?" I "knew" Victoria from the newsgroup and thought her answers sensible and asked her if she would be willing to answer their questions. She said yes, and I don't know what I'd have done without her! (Ban children, I think. ) I started looking for better message board software, found one in October 1998, and Ballet Talk as we know it dates from then. Slightly bigger than I'd intended, and still occasionally contentious, as people misunderstand the purpose of the site and sometimes thought it was anti-modern dance, or that we were making a silly, arcane artificial distinction by limiting discussions to ballet. But the vast majority of people have gotten it, and I'm very glad to have you all here. Thanks for the kind comments!

Gosh, that's a toughie I'd wanted to have a site for my magazines -- though not a message board at first -- but I couldn't get on line as I had an old computer. I finally had enough money to buy a cheap PC in July of 1998, and within a month of getting on line I'd designed this site. The message board came later -- and was inspired by Giannina. She was a DanceView subscriber, and we'd corresponded. She mentioned that there was a dance newsgroup that was so argumentative, and occasionally nasty, that she felt uncomfortable posting there. I posted to the same newsgroup and was bothered by the nastiness too -- not from everybody; there are some terrific people there (many of whom now also post here!). But because newsgroups aren't moderated, some loony can come on and attack people, and some loony generally does. I also grew tired of arguments along the lines of "Boy, are you stupid. Of course Matthew Bourne's "Swan Lake" is a ballet." And the attempted explanations that yes, it's a ballet in the sense of the general use of the term to describe a theatrical piece using dancing, but not ballet in the way Petipa's "Swan Lake" or Balanchine's "Concerto Barocco" or "Agon" is. So I wanted to set up a site for people who wanted to discuss ballet and who knew who it was, or were curious about it. I thought it would be a niche site, very small, a kind of side chamber to the newsgroup, where people could come and discuss ballet in some detail. I put up a little Frontpage message board -- there are only about 10 people still here from that one -- and some of the first posters -- God knows how they found us -- were kids. "Hi! I'm 15. I stopped dancing 3 years ago. Can I still become a ballerina?" I "knew" Victoria from the newsgroup and thought her answers sensible and asked her if she would be willing to answer their questions. She said yes, and I don't know what I'd have done without her! (Ban children, I think. ) I started looking for better message board software, found one in October 1998, and Ballet Talk as we know it dates from then. Slightly bigger than I'd intended, and still occasionally contentious, as people misunderstand the purpose of the site and sometimes thought it was anti-modern dance, or that we were making a silly, arcane artificial distinction by limiting discussions to ballet. But the vast majority of people have gotten it, and I'm very glad to have you all here. Thanks for the kind comments!

A lot of Soviet videos of this era cut out the dancing -- there's a Swan Lake that cuts the pas de trois, and the Sizova Sleeping Beauty cuts the variations for Bluebird -- and the dancers were Makarova and Panov! I suppose it was thought that classical dancing was of no interest to the proletariat.

That's too good, pleiades. How about Planters sponsors the whole shebang?

That's a good one. And then there are the deodorant companies -- I remember hearing about, though never seeing, a TV commercial in the 1970s with Farrell and Martins (!!!), the latter saying, "In our line of work, we get very sweaty." Secret might make a good sponsor for LaBayadere -- all that skulking about -- and Right Guard might want to take out an option on all those nonstop highenergy "ballets".

Calliope, I did an interview with a dancer -- not an ABT member -- a few years ago who I can best describe as being in the social circle of a major donor (since deceased) who had two or three dancers he particularly admired and paid their salaries. It's certainly a debatable question. One the one hand, if a company wants to get the best stars and can't afford them, is it okay to turn to donors and say, "We need $25,000 to hire Dancer X. Can you come up with it?" There are questions, of course, as to what that does to the home team, but that's another issue. On the other hand, what if I've won the lottery and want to see Dancer X. He or she may be over the hill, or trained in a completely different style -- or, in the opinion of the company director, not good enough. One would hope that, in that case, the director would say, gosh, thanks, but wouldn't you like to donate to a new wing of the studio instead? I think part of it may be that onceuponatime people gave money to the arts because they believed in the arts, and because of noblesse oblige. That's dead too now, mostly. Now people want to see their name on something -- the back of a seat, in some opera houses. Or "This new ballet has been brought to you by"....and so, I suppose, it's easier to get money if you think that your $10,000 (or whatever) is buying a particular performance. I wonder, though, if the marketeers are making assumptions, and trying to sell the performances, where another road would work just as surely, if it were properly explained. I am really afraid we will live to see a ballet where the dancers wear baseball caps with "Pepsi" on them, or Sominex really will present "Sleeping Beauty" -- and Carabosse will give Aurora a spindle in the shape of a Sominex tablet, with the words of the brand writ large upon it.

Thanks, dirac -- I only clicked the last link, and it goes to a November 2000 review, though. I checked for reviews Saturday, Monday and Tuesday and couldn't find any.

I've noticed that in the programs for several seasons now. It's my understanding that this means that donors pay for the dancers' salaries. There are some stars who are paid higher than scale, and this is how that is done.

Thanks for that, Olivier!

[copied over from Links today] Robert Greskovic writes about ABT's City Center season for the Wall Street Journal. It's not available on line, unless you're a paid subscriber, but here are the first two paragraphs: The review discusses the ballet in some depth, as well as the new Kudelka piece and Tudor's "Offenbach in the Underworld."

Hi, Sneds. I know that Michele Jimenez did win a Princess Grace Award -- don't know about any others. (I thought there was only one!) At least two other Washingtonians have won in the past -- Amanda McKerrow, then of the Washington School of Ballet, and Maria Bystrova, then of the Kirov Academy (and presently languishing in the corps of ABT, for reasons that are inscrutable to me). I thought this was a student award, and was surprised when Jimenez won it -- she's way past the student stage. Does anyone know about the background of the award? Has it changed? Or was there always a student award and a professional award?

I have this video also, and would only add to what has already been said, is that this changed my very limited view of Vasiliev -- as Spartacus -- and Plisetskaya -- as Kitri. They are both so humble and sweet in this ballet -- the dancing is glorious, of course, but it's an ensemble piece and everything is in scale.