Alexandra

That's a good question -- and a hard one, since today's companies seem to do everything they can to keep dancrs from dancing together mor ethan once a season! I don't think there is a Fonteyn-Nureyev, or Fracci-Bruhn partnership around.

Luxie, I believe they start back August 1. If anyone knows anything more, please post!

It is interesting that the "annointing question" seems perennial. I think Herman has a point: 25 years is a long time to ask the question. As for the succession, there are always rumors, but I don't think the question has been raised seriously. Martins is about 60, and unless there's an obvious successor to challenge him, or the board loses confidence in him, I think he'll be there for awhile.

Martins told a shorter version of this in the interview on "Dinner with Balanchine" (the 10th anniversary of Balanchine's death). I don't remember ever hearing it before. Robbins and Martins were appointed co-ballet-masters-in-chief, and both were "in charge" until Robbins resigned in the early 1990s.

FRIDAY, JULY 30, 2004 at 8:00 pm – Opening Juliet: Hye-Min Hwang; Romeo: Jae-Yong Ohm; Tybalt: Jae-Won Hwang; Mercutio: Chang-Ki Kim; Paris: Andriy Gura SATURDAY, JULY 31, 2004 at 2:00 pm MAT” Juliet: YeNa Kang; Romeo: Jae-Won Hang; Tybalt: Rabul Seo; Mercutio: Semyon Chudin; Paris: Jae-Yong Ohm SATURDAY, JULY 31, 2004 at 8:00 pm Juliet: Seh-Yun Kim; Romeo: Andrei Gura; Tybalt: Rabul Seo; Mercutio: Chang-Gi Kim; Paris: Jae-Yong Ohm

Yes, Munksdorft danced Gurn, but that doesn't say what he's doing now.

Leigh, I can't give a cite, but I think Acocella may be referring to statements in Kavanaugh's book as well as several late-in-life interviews Ashton gave. (I have a vague memory of a long conversation with Alastair Macauley published just a year or two before his death where he was setting the record straight about things -- for instance, yes, he did use quotes from Pavlova's ballets in several of his, but it wasn't out of a near-religious, unshaken reverence for Pavlova, etc.)

I thought he'd still have a year or two left (the RDB dancers have to retire at 40 now) but he's not listed on the roster, even as a character principal. Pity. He was a good mime. Effy or Jorgen will know, I"m sure.

I remember it that he once said "I'll retire at 65" and that was seized upon by those who wanted him replaced.

Tudor is the most illusive for me. "Pillar of Fire" I've seen performances that others considered fine, but I don't see what I read about the original performances. "Lilac Garden" -- I've put it together from bits of this performance and bits of that.

I hope anyone interested in, or curious about, Ashton will read this piece: Life Steps I found a lot of food for thought here, and much that could be discussed.

Joan Acocella writes about Ashton in the New Yorker: Life Steps

Tobi Tobias reviews of Ashton's "Cinderella" for her ArtsJournal blog: Cinderella

I like inflexible ballerinas

That's all I can remember, too! It's funny, because the year that Washington Ballet revived it, it suddenly appeared in other companies as well, and I had a picture of some giant, underground bazaar where people went to find ballets, and they were having a special on "Le Combat."

In Flemming Flindt's "The Triumph of Death," choreographed for the Royal Danish Ballet in the early 1970s, he was nude (and sprayed wit red paint), his wife was nude (and shook it, shook it....) and most of the female corps de ballet was nude. I've been told that no one protested at the time; they thought it was liberating. When they revived the ballet in the mid-1990s, it was a different story. No problem getting the leads to be nude -- and photographs of them in costume, as it were, appeared in the local press -- but many of the women protested that it was degrading and they would not dance nude. (I don't remember the resolution of this, whether those women didn't need to participate in the ballet, or they wore some scant hints of clothing.)

A chunk of Act II, with Fracci and Nureyev, is on Nureyev's "I am a Dancer" video which, at least at one time, was commercially available (I haven't checked recently).

To add to the list, Alla Sizova has a son.

Perhaps Angelina and Barbie could meet, a la Martha Graham's tennis match for Mary and Liz in "Episodes".......

Now I don't have to see the movie -- great to read you again, dirac

As often happens with long threads, this one has gone way off-topic. The original post was to ask who would be named priima ballerina assoluta -- a specific ranking in ballet historically awarded to very few ballerinas at the peak of a long career -- but it's turned into a "who is your favorite dancer" thread. It's time to close it; perhaps the topic can be reopened again later.

Washington Ballet revived this about 15 years ago. It seemed very dated to me, one of those dramatic ballets that needs Huge Personalities to carry off.

atm's comment above speaks to one of the Great Divides in watching dance -- and one that would have been a very active issue, I think, in 1948: do you want it tight, like the Fokine and Massine (and, for Americans, Tudor) dramatic ballets? One act, tighten the action, all of the dancing existing to further the point or the story, use the dance for expressive purposes? Or do you want to take a simple story and spin it out wiith dances, going back to Petipa? There are a lot of people who are bored to tears by Sleeping Beauty, too -- all those processions! Get it over with! (Some of my Danish friends will point to "Far From Denmark," where the entrance of the guests takes about 36 seconds, and say, "See! If it were Petipa that would take an hour!!!" To me, both Bournonville and Petipa are "right"; what each does suits the pace of his ballets.) I see Ashton's "Cinderella" as a revolutionary work, revolutionary in its retrograde-ness. Using pointe in the way he does is a statement, too. Under Fokine Rules the costume must suit the character, the time period, the action. Putting Cinderella on pointe was really rather heroic in those days. This is the time of "Adam Zero" and "Miracle in the Gorbals." How do you create art out of the ashes of Europe post-World War II? Do you show what is, or do you show what could be? Two different approaches, each requiring a different kind of ballet, I think. As I wrote on another post, I think Ashton also used material and ideas from older sources -- the same sources Petipa used for Beauty -- the ballet d'entree of the old court ballets (divertissements one after the other, each a sub-theme of the theme of the whole piece).

The McKerrow interview is wonderful -- and I swear I would say that even if it weren't by Mary Cargill ! It's long, and lots of fascinating insights into what goes into making a dancer -- PARENTS, READ THIS ARTICLE!!!!!! -- she talks about her training in detail, and the choices she had to make at various points in her early career, always crediting her parents with asking the right questions at the right time and giving her full support. Lots of interesting stuff about her win in the Moscow competition, and then what the company was like under Baryshnikov. Anyone who is interested in what goes into making a dancer will find this interesting. Even though the von Aroldingen recipes this time were fish (I share her dislike!) it's still a lovely reminiscence!!!!

I agree with Giannina that in a fairy story logic is not required -- there has to be an internal logic (we have to believe that serving three oranges of different sizes to guests as the ONLY refreshment (and only to three guests!) is de rigeur in this kingdom!) But I think sometimes people expect the Rules of Realism to apply -- that the shoe that Cinderella drops must be REAL, and the same shoe that she has been dancing in -- and I think that would be as out of place here as fairies would be in "Fancy Free." They're different worlds. I think it's narratively coherent and not deficient. Mashinka, Vaughan writes that Ashton didn't use the Prince's Journey music because, I'm paraphrasing, "I didn't like the music and didn't much care for the places the Prince went" -- so your hunch was a good one. I think, too, that although it would have provided a good opportunity for a suite of character dances, there was was enough caractere work with the Stepsisters; dramatically, you really don't need it. We know the Prince has been looking for a long time.