Alexandra

Thanks, Kevin!

Thanks, Kevin. I can't decode "The Sounds of Empty Pages." (i.e., I can't imagine what kind of a dance that would be.)

Ari posted this on Links, but I thought it deserved a thread of its own. What do you think? http://www.newyorker.com/critics/televisio...crte_television

This isn't a comparative review, but Tobi Tobias's comments on "The Dream" (as well as Fille, and Ashton generally.) http://www.nymag.com/page.cfm?page_id=6142 (First posted by Ari on Links today.)

This isn't a comparative review, but Tobi Tobias's comments on "The Dream" (as well as Fille, and Ashton generally.) http://www.nymag.com/page.cfm?page_id=6142 (First posted by Ari on Links today.)

Looking ahead, should we have ten more years of the Diamond Project? Would you repeat what's been done, or would you make changes? Or scrap the whole idea and look for new ballets in a different way? What would you like to see in the next decade of the Diamond Project?

Now that we're nearly finished with the 10th anniversary and have had a chance to look back on the ballets produced by the Diamond Project, I thought it would be interesting to take an overview. Individual ballets are often pummeled here (and in the press). But some people have liked some of the ballets. Could we reserve this thread for positive comments only? What is good about the Diamond Project? You can take this question as philosophy or more specifically (i.e., I liked this, this and this ballet, or this dancer came to the fore in this ballet, etc.)

Okay, this is one of those awful you love it/you hate it, there are no alternatives polls. We're all in the Coliseum. The lion has the Diamond Project in its mouth and looks hungry. Nero looks around and, not wanting to make the decision himself, asks the crowd, "Thumbs down (he dies), thumbs up (he lives)." We are the Crowd. How would you vote?

Or just keep checking this page daily for updates in the Clarion: http://www.clarionledger.com/news/health/i.../ibc/index.html

Interview with Ashley Canterna: http://www.clarionledger.com/news/0206/18/osherry.html

Skip the part about the birds, go to the second question -- they're talking about ballet in the aisles in Jackson. http://www.clarionledger.com/news/0206/24/...4/jacksunn.html

Perhaps there could be different tipples on different nights, to accommodate all tastes I forgot that I'd give a beer -- not a Bud lite, something dark and imported -- to the von Aroldingen role.

Somebody has to drink Manhattans! I'll give it to the guy.

Who's today's leading architect? From today's NY Times. A Visionary Has Become a Builder

American Opera is enjoying a boom -- full houses, new operagoers. But there are still repertory problems. ANTHONY TOMMASINI's article in today's NY Times raises some of the questions and addresses issues that will not be unfamiliar to balletgoers, and readers of this site. New Operas Are Booming, but the Bold Aren't Heard

And another -- headlined "Dancing, religion, come to a pointe". http://cityguide.clarionledger.com/fe/Wors...tories/xreg.asp

A feature about the competition from the local press: http://www.clarionledger.com/news/0206/23/o01.html

Thanks for this, Doris. Unfortunately, although we have at least a dozen people in Philadelphia, they don't post about what they've seen! (I hope they GO to the ballet ) I missed "Rodin Mis En Vie" the first time around and I'm not sure I'd like it, but it's nice to read about. I would be very glad to read about what's happening with Pennsylvania Ballet. They used to be a very good Balanchine company. So I hope you'll report through the season -- and maybe that will spur others to join in and we can have a special forum for Pennsylvania Ballet too!

I've done the same thing -- misguessed repertory or casting. I guess casting roulette -- and repertory roulette -- aren't the sole province of the Kirov (see the thread about casting roulette elsewhere). Maybe next year..... But I'm very much looking forward to your Reports from Saratoga!

Doris, there was an LA Ballet directed by Clifford in the early 1990s -- I don't remember how long it lasted, but it wasn't long. Good question about why L.A. can't support a company. Is the city too hip, pop and movie/rock oriented for ballet? Or would there have to be a BIG, all-star company to make it there? (I'm just guessing.)

Thank you for that, Paul. I've never seen the Midsummer film with Farrell -- just snippets -- and have always wanted to. I think your point about strangeness is very apt. At the DCA conference last month, David Vaughan showed the pas de deux from Dream in a very early film -- probably from its first season -- and, as Vaughan put it, Ashton had caught the menace in him that ran beneath the surface. So all of that stalking and lurking -- and that's what it looks like now, even in ABT's very good performances -- was much more with Dowell, and the scherzo all the more surprising (because authoritative menacing lurkers usually don't have speed) That contrast of Dowell's qualities is a metaphor for the strangeness, the other worldliness. I've never seen a great Scherzo in the Balanchine. I believe in its existence, but I've never seen it. I've also seen very, very fine, but not transcendental, Act II pas de deux. Even in great ballets, performance can be key.

Thank you for that, Paul. I've never seen the Midsummer film with Farrell -- just snippets -- and have always wanted to. I think your point about strangeness is very apt. At the DCA conference last month, David Vaughan showed the pas de deux from Dream in a very early film -- probably from its first season -- and, as Vaughan put it, Ashton had caught the menace in him that ran beneath the surface. So all of that stalking and lurking -- and that's what it looks like now, even in ABT's very good performances -- was much more with Dowell, and the scherzo all the more surprising (because authoritative menacing lurkers usually don't have speed) That contrast of Dowell's qualities is a metaphor for the strangeness, the other worldliness. I've never seen a great Scherzo in the Balanchine. I believe in its existence, but I've never seen it. I've also seen very, very fine, but not transcendental, Act II pas de deux. Even in great ballets, performance can be key.

I think of Titania and Oberon in the Balanchine as consorts as well, Leigh -- that's why there's the cavalier and Balanchine makes the point that they don't dance together. Ashton's, on the other hand, is a fairy world with its own rules. We can't really understand their relationship -- it's the same, only different. But I'd argue that the final pas de deux is NOT about Romantic love, but about restoration of balance of power. (I once was watching a video of Martha Graham's "Night Journey" at the same time I was seeing "Dream" and the pas de deux in both works share a similar interest in sexual power struggle.) The point is that if Titania and Oberon are quarreling, life is rough for mortals. They're the personification of those unseen forces in nature that we can't control, but whose actions -- and, in fantasy, loves and squabbles -- mean we may marry the wrong person. What I really liked about Gottlieb's piece (in addition to many of his comments and, I think, astute observations) was the way he treated Dream/Midsummer, recognizing the distinctive elements, as well as worth, of both. Were this poll phrased differently, I'd vote "both, why choose?" I like the poetry and the theatricality of the Ashton and think it's an excellent ballet, but I'd be perfectly happy seeing good performances of the Balanchine. I think the Ashton and the Balanchine reflect their different approaches right down to the title -- Ashton's is a distillation and isn't attempting -- or advertising -- that it's telling the whole story. It also comes from the British theatrical tradition -- which is why the score doesn't bother me. It fits with the period, it's what they did with plays in the 19th century. To Ashton, the music was 19th century, oh, what fun. Let's make a 19th century Romantic ballet. And he used characters as well as steps, gesture and mime from that world. To Balanchine, the music -- as in the structure of the score -- was more important. Both approaches work, to me. "The Dream" was a piece d'occasion, intended for a gala to celebrate Shakespeare's 400th birthday. According to David Vaughan, the Big News at the time were the two other ballets -- a revival of Helpmann's mimidramballet "Hamlet" and a new work by MacMillan based on the sonnets -- I forget the title. "Dream" was panned in England (too old fashioned, not enough sex, too fussy) and praised as a masterpiece in New York (choregraphy!! my god, choreography!!!) What's been interesting to me in reading this thread -- and in conversations I've had with friends over the years about this issue -- is that those who saw "The Dream" in the 1960s and '70s, when the Royal made frequent visits to New York and Ashton's vision of ballet was accepted as viable, like both ballets. People who haven't grown up watching Ashton don't. (I'm sure there are exceptions to this, as there are to anything...) Ashton and Balanchine heard music differently and used it differently. As a ballet pluralist, one of the reasons I'm glad that ABT is acquiring Ashton is that I think it's good to have more than one model around, for dancers, audiences and potential choreographers. I hope the company sees the commercial potential of Ashton's 100th birthday coming up in 2004 and wants to do a Festival! (Tudor's musicality is similar to Ashton's as well, I think, which may be why ABT can make a good stab at dancing Dream and Fille.)

I think of Titania and Oberon in the Balanchine as consorts as well, Leigh -- that's why there's the cavalier and Balanchine makes the point that they don't dance together. Ashton's, on the other hand, is a fairy world with its own rules. We can't really understand their relationship -- it's the same, only different. But I'd argue that the final pas de deux is NOT about Romantic love, but about restoration of balance of power. (I once was watching a video of Martha Graham's "Night Journey" at the same time I was seeing "Dream" and the pas de deux in both works share a similar interest in sexual power struggle.) The point is that if Titania and Oberon are quarreling, life is rough for mortals. They're the personification of those unseen forces in nature that we can't control, but whose actions -- and, in fantasy, loves and squabbles -- mean we may marry the wrong person. What I really liked about Gottlieb's piece (in addition to many of his comments and, I think, astute observations) was the way he treated Dream/Midsummer, recognizing the distinctive elements, as well as worth, of both. Were this poll phrased differently, I'd vote "both, why choose?" I like the poetry and the theatricality of the Ashton and think it's an excellent ballet, but I'd be perfectly happy seeing good performances of the Balanchine. I think the Ashton and the Balanchine reflect their different approaches right down to the title -- Ashton's is a distillation and isn't attempting -- or advertising -- that it's telling the whole story. It also comes from the British theatrical tradition -- which is why the score doesn't bother me. It fits with the period, it's what they did with plays in the 19th century. To Ashton, the music was 19th century, oh, what fun. Let's make a 19th century Romantic ballet. And he used characters as well as steps, gesture and mime from that world. To Balanchine, the music -- as in the structure of the score -- was more important. Both approaches work, to me. "The Dream" was a piece d'occasion, intended for a gala to celebrate Shakespeare's 400th birthday. According to David Vaughan, the Big News at the time were the two other ballets -- a revival of Helpmann's mimidramballet "Hamlet" and a new work by MacMillan based on the sonnets -- I forget the title. "Dream" was panned in England (too old fashioned, not enough sex, too fussy) and praised as a masterpiece in New York (choregraphy!! my god, choreography!!!) What's been interesting to me in reading this thread -- and in conversations I've had with friends over the years about this issue -- is that those who saw "The Dream" in the 1960s and '70s, when the Royal made frequent visits to New York and Ashton's vision of ballet was accepted as viable, like both ballets. People who haven't grown up watching Ashton don't. (I'm sure there are exceptions to this, as there are to anything...) Ashton and Balanchine heard music differently and used it differently. As a ballet pluralist, one of the reasons I'm glad that ABT is acquiring Ashton is that I think it's good to have more than one model around, for dancers, audiences and potential choreographers. I hope the company sees the commercial potential of Ashton's 100th birthday coming up in 2004 and wants to do a Festival! (Tudor's musicality is similar to Ashton's as well, I think, which may be why ABT can make a good stab at dancing Dream and Fille.)

This was on cnn news last night. Circuit City will still stock VCRs and blank tapes, but will stop stocking movies in VHS format. bye-bye!!! This will affect dance video afficionados eventually, and probably rather quickly, I'd guess. I remember when I was told that CDs wouldn't affect one's record collection. True, until you need a new needle.