Alexandra

Ari posted this on Links. Break out the champagne? The board of the Saratoga Performing Arts Center met Monday to begin a search for a successor to Herb Chesbrough, who has said he will step down as president in 2006.

Ari posted this on Links, copied here for discussion. I found this review quite worth reading. It's nice to read a fresh (to me, at least) voice on Balanchine: The two Dance in America DVDs of Balanchine ballets videotaped in the late 1970s are reviewed in the Louisville Courier-Journal.

That sounds like the man who wanted to rename "La Fille Mal Gardee" "The Farmer's Daughter." Thanks to both Ari and NYSusan for writing in such detail!

I would imagine that the New Yorker readers care more about the finer points of dance than today's Dance Magazine audience, as that publication has been aimed at young dancers and dance students for some time. Tobias writes for a specialized web site. But to the broader point, yes, I think critics (and any writer worth his/her salt) writes for his/her audience. When you're writing for a big circulation paper, the reviews are more general, although it's certainly not out of bounds to compare, either vertically (a company against its past) or horizontally (setting the performance in the context of the time, as justafan suggests above). I think that one of the problems of the net -- and we hit it over and over and over and over here -- is that we can move among reviews from the New York Times, the New Jersey Star-Ledger, the New Yorker, the New York Observer, and the Hoochie Goochie News and they all look as though they carry the same weight and are aimed at the same readership. But the web readership itself is very small compared to out there in the real world, and all of these print publications have very specific audiences -- broad in the case of the Times, small and targeted in the case of the magazines. Readers of some of these publications don't want to be talked down to and told everything is beautiful at the ballet. (I write that last sentence as the editor and publisher of a small dance "specialist" publication. We get far more letters saying "how refreshing" or "I thought I was the only one who felt this way," etc. after running a review that points out the minuses as well as the pluses, than we get saying, "How can you do this! You're destroying dance! You must be positive!" We have actually gotten a few of those -- three that I can remember. And I always write to them, tell them the circulation, and say, really, don't worry

I'd be happy with either of them and I wish I could be there. If this helps: The Awakening is a lyrical pas de deux from music usually cut from Sleeping Beauty (it's very beautiful, long violin solo, the entra'cte music) Birthday Offering is a classical party piece done for the Royal Ballet's 25th birthday. The full ballet was for 7 couples, with 7 variations, one each for each ballerina. I think I'd rather see Bussell in Birthday Offering, so that's what I"d pick. If you want more information about the ballets, we have a special section on the Celebration on our sister site, danceviewtimes, here: http://www.danceviewtimes.com/2004/summer/Ashton/ballets.htm

Rita Felciano reviews the Royal Ballet's "Cinderella" and "Giselle" for DanceView Times: The Royal Ballet in Orange County

Nancy Dalva reviews "Enigma Variations" and "The Two Pigeons" for DanceView Times: My Friends Pictured Within

George Jackson reviews Program III (Joffrey Ballet program) of the Ashton Celebration for the DanceView Times: Another Chair

The Birmingham Post pays a visit to the Birmingham Royal Ballet in New York.

The Chicago Sun-Times covers its own local troupe, the Joffrey Ballet.

Two more reviews of the Ashton Festival: Anna Kisselgoff in the Times Robert Johnson in the Star Ledger

ASHTON CELEBRATION #3

John Kriza, who was "Mr. Ballet Theatre" for years had a repertory that was very All American Boy from that period (1940s to 1950s). There was a problem filling his roles in Billy the Kid, Fancy Free and the like -- lots of interesting performances, but none that were quite in the same key, I'm told. (Kriza was before my time.) Then Robert LaFosse started doing these roles, and although he wasn't a copy of Kriza by any means, I remember several of my older friends saying, "YES!!!!!! He's got something like the same "All American" quality."

That's interesting -- Denby wrote about the directness as part of the style. It's the kind of thing that drove (drives?) a certain segment of the audience crazy, because it's direct, yes, but often doesn't reach across to the audience (causing the complaint that Balanchine's ballets are cold and unemotional). That's an American trait too, though -- coexisting happily side by side with our tendency to spill our guts -- whoops. Reveal intimate personal details -- on first acquaintance, or a TV talk show, impulsive generosity, and idealism. When we're not being money-grubbing and crassly commercial, of course. There must be a ballerina that can be said to embody all of those qualities.......

Understood and forgiven When one's world implodes on them, it's very difficult to remain objective!!! I hope the discussion will continue.

The smiling face that goes on a Wheaties box!!! To me, "all-American" connotes the 1950s image of an American teen: wholesome, happy, straight Bs, good at three sports, minimum, prom queen/football team captain. The kind of girl/boy you want to bring home to Mom. The kind that will grow up to be either a good provider, or the mother of your children. I guess now it means the 2004 version of the above qualities. Whatever they are!! But still the face on the Wheaties box. I don't see these qualities, generally, as being ideal for classical ballet.....

Housekeeping note: This thread had gotten a bit contentious and I closed it about an hour ago. Since then, we think that problem has been resolved, so I deleted three problem posts and reopened the thread. If you didn't read them, you didn't miss anything exciting If you had, and wondered what happened, now you know! Back to SPAC politics.

nysusan, it's three acts, although the third one is short, and, as people have noted, the intermissions have been long, so I'd take a late train! If you call the box office, they may be able to give you the stop time.

I've just posted a few interviews from the newsletter on the main site. For interviews with these dancers: Marcelo Gomes (ABT) Guillaume Graffin (ABT) Rosalie O'Connor (ABT) Maria Kowroski (NYCB) in St. Petersburg Vanessa Zakhorian (San Francisco Ballet) Katita Waldo (San Francisco Ballet) Tricia Sundbeck (Cincinatti Ballet) click here for an index page

Ballet.co's July magazine has a big Special Bolshoi (in London) section: interviews with Alexei Ratmansky, casting information, reviews of the London season. London season: Bolshoi Ballet

We've just opened a new site: The Ballets of Frederick Ashton: A Chronology This is the back matter from Vaughan's book, "Frederick Ashton and his Ballets," which he updates every time there is a new production of an Ashton work, or a ballet is taken into repertory in another company. Vaughan lists whole works, predominanetly ballets, of course, but also operas and plays which Ashton directed or -- there are 164 of them, at quick count. He doesn't list every dance in a revue or full-length ballet as a separate item, but as part of the work. We'll be adding other Ashton material here eventually. The Chronology still needs some work, but I wanted to open it if people needed to look up a ballet during the Ashton Festival.

Your last paragraph is so beautiful -- for me, it's true, too. And the problem is that the arts have ALWAYS only been enjoyed, or appreciated, by a very small percentage, supported by those with money, but open to anyone who's interested, and most of the great artists have come from what used to be called "humble backgrounds." Many of the spectators were from "humble backgrounds," too, and we'd sit in the gallery (or, those with fear of heights, stand in the back or sit on the lawn!) The real crisis in the arts now, aside from merely staying alive, is to figure out HOW to remain open to everyone without getting desperate and putting on a three-hour Reality Ballet Show, or whatever the fad is this year.

Ari, you can't go unless you pass the baton -- these have been such a pleasure to read. Others who've been going, please chime in, or I'll begin to believe Chesbrough that no one goes to SPAC!

Thanks! I had this image of Acocella sneaking in the back door to give her pal whathisname a fresh batch of ammo If this is the only article that Chesbrough is circulating, I'd agree: it's not fair. (And I'd say that if the article were mine ) When you're lobbying, though, you don't present a folder with every article on the season to be fair. You give them what will serve your purpose. If someone were lobbying to get rid of Chesbrough, s/he'd only pass out editorials and articles that were against his policies. Not that I would ever DREAM of hinting at such a thing

I wanted to add something -- of course ticket sales are important, but cultural centers once considered their mandate to provide a range of events, knowing full well that not all of them would sell out. There were commercial houses down the road that had other mandates and other policies. So if only a mere 2000 people, say, were interested in something that the presenters considered important, and that meant 1000 empty seats, well, that wasn't the point.