Alexandra

Thanks, Helena. I guessed Park, but she's chubbier than she was by the time I saw her in the late '70s. I also remember her as very musical. I never saw Page, so thank you for the identifications.

Although a choreographer (usually) serves as his own director, he's also the playwright -- the writer of the ballet, the maker of steps. The steps are passed down from generation to generation of dancers -- often from dancer to dancer, sometimes from notation. Eventually new "choreographers" stepped in and fiddled with the ballet -- tossed out this section, put in a new variation, cut the mime, etc. So what you see today will not be what Petipa set. In recent years, there have been a lot of stagings of Petipa ballets that have little or nothing to do with the original. They take the music and use the title. The topic of how much change is permissible/desirable has come up here from time to time. Here are a few links to past threads: http://www.balletalert.com/forum/showthrea...=&threadid=2791 http://www.balletalert.com/forum/showthrea...=&threadid=2836 Should 19th century ballets be updated? Thanks, ronny. This is another good, basic question that most occur to a lot of people when they look in their program and see they're seeing a ballet that was originally done in 1890. Another one for our growing Discovering Ballet archive

I must confess I, too, miss the "All of the above button"

Thanks for posting that, pumukau. I think we had a link when the story first broke, ,but I'm glad to have this analysis, too. As I'm sure you know, Simon Dow was a dancer with the Washington Ballet in the late 1970s, early '80s. He was an excellent dancer--he created several roles in Choo-San Goh ballets--and, as the article said, a very decent person. He also had the reputation for being a healer-teacher, the kind dancers went to for help getting over an injury. There are a lot of companies needing directors, suddenly: Houston, Oregon, Fort Worth-Dallas, and now Milwaukee.

LMCTech, I think your distinctions make a great deal of sense. The hard time for a company is when it's in the transition between being a Mom and Pop and a company with, shall we say, a more dispassionate board. That's also when Mom and Pop lose control over the company they nursed into life and love dearly.

I always thought ABT's was too slow. I wanted to bribe the conductor to pep up the tempo! But I did like Baryshnikov a lot in that. The soaring, of course, but also the softness of the landings. The richness of his body suited that sole. (I also liked Tcherkassky on stage. She probably doesn't videotape as well as the other two, but she could be lovely in the right role.) Glebb, I think I remember reading that Baryshnikov brought with him the sllo he'd learned in Russia. There are, I believe, as many different versions of Les Sylphides as there are companies Fokine visited. There are also quite a few on video. I like the Royal's mid-60s version with Fonteyn and Nureyev -- and I never could figure out who the other ballerinas were. It's interesting because it's more classical trhan romantic, yet still very soft and musical. There's also a Bolshoi one. I THINK I saw this long ago, as a film, with Ulanova and N. Fadeyechev. There must be a Kirov version on video -- you can have a Les Sylphides festival, Glebb

I'm just happy they're doing it. That's an Ashton ballet I've never seen. Scottish Ballet has been a lot in the news this year, with their direction and directorial troubles. I kept posting the links, but it didn't draw any comment here.

What about 'Pas de Quatre" and Petipa's "The Seasons"? And Bournonville did several divertissements that were intended as curtain raisers to plays. One is "The Mandarin's Daughters" and was a Chinese chess game!

Thanks for writing that, Paul. I must confess that Berman is not a dancer who ever moved me -- I've seen her only, perhaps, a dozen times over the past 15 years, and that's not much to go on. But I do enjoy reading the way you describe her I hope others did see this and post about it.

Calliope, I think you're on to something there. I have no problem at all with coverage of pop culture as long as they leave the rest of culture alone

Calliope, I think you're on to something there. I have no problem at all with coverage of pop culture as long as they leave the rest of culture alone

Her uncle posts here from time to time, so perhaps he'll read this and tell us (Or one of our Royal Ballet followers may know.)

Helena, I'd agree with you. I think of musicals as entertainment. "Oklahoma" is of interest to ballet people because of DeMille.

He did create a Requiem for Stuttgart, but the one for ABT was completely different -- different music, different choreography and theme.

Hmmm. Define "recently." I can't remember one in the past 20 years. Is there anything later than Tudor's "Tiller in the Fields?" (was that the name?) which isn't really a commission, since he was on staff. Wait -- there's more. MacMillan's "Requiem" and "Wild Boy."

Andrei, could you tell us a bit more about the "speculation" of Eifman's plans for a ballet about Balanchine?

Andrei, could you tell us a bit more about the "speculation" of Eifman's plans for a ballet about Balanchine?

Farrell Fan, the comments on Dowd and Rich might make more sense if one sees them from a journalist's perspective. There's a line between serious news and pop culture that has been crossed, and once it is crossed, it becomes easier and easier to cross it. Newscasts also report on serious news, but devote hours to The Missing Intern, or other "people features" instead of reporting on what the **** is going on in the Middle East. I think one of the roles of critics (in any field) is to see these warning signs and sound an alert. Because they have a broad overview of the field, they often see them before the rest of us. The problem with writing one pop piece is that, in today's era of The Marketeer, they'll do the numbers very rapidly. Putting Madonna on the cover of Time sells more copies than putting Arafat or Sharon on the cover. Writing a commentary for fun on a pop culture subject and soon you'll be directed to write more of them. And so it goes. When Entertainment Tonight first went on the air, I read many editorials about what this would mean to television news. I thought they had overreacted. I was wrong

Farrell Fan, the comments on Dowd and Rich might make more sense if one sees them from a journalist's perspective. There's a line between serious news and pop culture that has been crossed, and once it is crossed, it becomes easier and easier to cross it. Newscasts also report on serious news, but devote hours to The Missing Intern, or other "people features" instead of reporting on what the **** is going on in the Middle East. I think one of the roles of critics (in any field) is to see these warning signs and sound an alert. Because they have a broad overview of the field, they often see them before the rest of us. The problem with writing one pop piece is that, in today's era of The Marketeer, they'll do the numbers very rapidly. Putting Madonna on the cover of Time sells more copies than putting Arafat or Sharon on the cover. Writing a commentary for fun on a pop culture subject and soon you'll be directed to write more of them. And so it goes. When Entertainment Tonight first went on the air, I read many editorials about what this would mean to television news. I thought they had overreacted. I was wrong

Thanks for posting that, Lolly. Odd that pointe shoes are becoming a fashion statement. Having a nice new pair on hanging on the wall might make some "feel good" but I wonder if the writer ever tried dancing in them!

Allan Ulrich, longtime dance critic for the San Francisco Examiner, now has an section on Voice of Dance containing several essays and reviews that may be of interest to people here: http://www.voiceofdance.org/Insights/insig...500000000000068

This is a press release from ABT I got a few days ago and hadn't had the time to put up. It's often easier to get a grant for a new studio than a new ballet, so kudos to ABT for landing this one: AMERICAN BALLET THEATRE ANNOUNCES MAJOR GRANT FROM THE ANDREW W. MELLON FOUNDATION THREE-YEAR GRANT TO FUND THE CREATION OF NEW WORKS The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has appropriated $1.2 million to American Ballet Theatre to support the creation and presentation of new work, it was announced today by ABT Executive Director Wallace Chappell. The Mellon Foundation award, intended for use over three years, will aid in the commissioning of new works and provide support and exposure for both prominent and emerging choreographers. Earlier this year, ABT also received one of 46 grants given by The Foundation as part of a $50 million initiative to assist New York arts and cultural organizations in the aftermath of the events of September 11. Of the award, Wallace Chappell said, "The support of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has been invaluable to ABT's efforts to exand its repertory. The Foundation's past commissioning grants have provided valuable exposure for new choreography and we look forward to building on this tremendous success. This generous grant will also facilitate the planned expansion of our annual fall season at City Center from two to four weeks in 2003." The Mellon Foundation's previous grant to American Ballet Theatre was awarded in 1998. Funding from that award enabled the Company to commission new works by choreographers Nacho Duato, Lar Lubovitch and Christian Holder during the 1998, 1999 and 2000 City Center seasons.

Jeannie, thank you for that nice, long summary. I also missed Worlds (as I missed most of the Olympics) but it was good to be able to read about it

PLEASE if this change in attitude upsets you write in. Get your families to write in, and the neighbors across the hall. You can do it by email on the NYTimes site -- no need to hunt for a stamp. This change in direction is also troubling because, as the article points out, the Times does set a standard. There are other papers who have been edging in this direction for years but haven't dared dump the high arts because they don't want to look like yahoos. If the Times goes Britney, it's giving the rest of the industry permission to be yahoos.

PLEASE if this change in attitude upsets you write in. Get your families to write in, and the neighbors across the hall. You can do it by email on the NYTimes site -- no need to hunt for a stamp. This change in direction is also troubling because, as the article points out, the Times does set a standard. There are other papers who have been edging in this direction for years but haven't dared dump the high arts because they don't want to look like yahoos. If the Times goes Britney, it's giving the rest of the industry permission to be yahoos.