perky

"Can high art survive by aiming low?"

That question of Strini's has been addressed here on this board before. It's something I've experienced firsthand with my local ballet company. And I have an bad feeling it's something that will continue to dominate ballet lovers conversations in the future.

Actually I'm encouraged that a local critic has voiced his opinion in this manner and on this subject. It seems that with small to mid-size companies the local print media only published puff pieces. There is always a fluffy piece on The Nutcracker around Christmas time. Other productions even if they are dubious are given complimentary short blurbs, maybe a few pictures. That's how it is with the ballet company where I live. I think if a writer here had actually panned a recent production of Frankenstein that our ballet company had put on a few years ago, the public would have reacted in much the same way some of the citizens of Milwaukee did to Strini's piece. So I say "right on" to him and hope he gets to express his viewpoints in the future without having to worry about censorship.

As an aside, what are these choreographers thinking of when they make a ballet about such figures as Frankenstein and Quasimodo?

How on earth can you think of them as a dance figure in the classical sense? Yes, Giselle is a dancing corpse. But that is her fate, a dancing flying airy spirit who fights to overcomes bitterness and hate with forgiveness and eternal love. That is something that can be told in classical ballet terms. How on earth do you make a dead guy sewed together with different body parts, bolts in his neck and who only communicates by going "uuhhnnn!" into a dance figure?

I'd like to add my voice to the chorus recommending the Vanity Fair article. Roma if you need a copy I can send it to you.

I'm halfway through the Gottlieb book. I think it's spendid for what it is. It doesn't pretend to be the definitive Balanchine book, of which I have high hopes for Ms. Croce's book.

Sylve debuts in Tschaikovsky Pas!

I'm green, green, green with envy.

After reading The Surrender two things come to mind. First, it should have been a long essay in a magazine rather than a book. As Farrell Fan mentioned it just goes on and on, encounter after encounter melding into a mind numbing blur. Second, and this relates to the first, apparently whoever edited this book was on a mental vacation at the time. The subject matter is obviously very personal, intense and passionate for Toni Bentley to write about. I think what happened was her emotions were so intensely engaged by this subject , that she tends to overdo it, her internal filter was turned off so carried along on a tidal wave she tends to write about things that perhaps were better left unsaid. Things that make you put the book down and shake your head in disbelief. This book needed a strong dispassionate editor to cut out that stuff. It not only doesn't add anything to the story it actually stops it dead with all the momentum of a train wreck.

I didn't completely dislike the book, there were a few one liners that had me laughing out loud and the passage where she describes the obsessive love she felt for her pointe shoes had a stark beauty. But I consider The Surrender a tiny blip on the radar screen of a talented author.

Something I wonder about , how will I feel when reading Ms. Bentley's next book, a bio. of Lincoln Kirstein? Instead of getting caught up in the story will I keep picturing in my mind "Toni Bentley=Sodomy?" She had to have known on the verge of publishing The Surrender that she might turn off some longtime admirerers and readers of hers. Yet she published it anyway. I tend to think she is saying that the ballet is a big part of me, but this is a part of me too. And she is betting that her audience is smart and tolerant enough to accept it. That's either a little nuts or hugely couragous. Or maybe a little of both. Although I didn't like the book the REBEL in me applauds the fact that such an established author took the chance to publish it in such a politically correct time. I'll keep the faith and eagerly await her next book.

If this is an adult only party I'll go as Zobeida from Scheherazade, with my husband as the Golden Slave

If children attend the party and they need a good Halloween fright, I'll come as one of the corp girls from the first act of Peter Martin's Swan Lake. Those hideously ugly orange and green costumes are enough to send anyone into a fit of shrieking terror.

And Alexandra, might I suggest you come as The High Priestess of Ballet Alert? All of us Ballet Talkers would take turns being a part of your worshipful cortege. You deserve it

I was mildly suprised to find The Surrender reviewed in Entertainment Weekly.

The reviewer refers to Toni Bentley as "pretentious former ballerina Toni Bentley" and "a little nuts, too" but goes on to call the book "comparatively stylish and amusing."

And then lo and behold EW reviews George Balanchine: The Ballet Maker by

Robert Gottlieb and All In The Dances by Terry Teachout. It ranks the former the "more satifying of the two" and gives it an A. Of Teachout's book it "ardently examines his ballets as modern art, persuasively ranking Balanchine alongside Henri Matisse and Igor Stravinsky in innovation and achievement."

I see Ms. Nichols joined the company in 1974. Dancing thirty years with the same company is an awe inspiring achievement. Did NYCB mention anything about it this year? An announcement, a program insert, anything?

I realize NYCB is not a star dancer driven company but it seems something is called for in this situation.

Many non-ballet kids think that ballerinas go up on their own toes with no support from a shoe, so that would be one thing I would want. Let the kids handle, touch and explore a new pointe show then give them a used, ready to be tossed shoe to see the difference.

And if the floor permits have the men dancers do lots of leaping, jumping and lifting so the young boys in attendence see that ballet ain't no "sissy" sport.

BalletIsLife, thanks for your reply. I saw "Peter and the Wolf" a few years ago and it's a charming production.

What I've decided to do is see Fort Wayne Ballet's spring production only. It's usually a full length classical. In March 2005 they're doing "A Midsummer Night's Dream". I'm going to avoid the Fall series entirely. And I will write a letter to them explaining my reasons. Will they care? Who knows.

To make up for the live ballet performance drought in my life, I'll have to go out of town. Miami City Ballet is coming to Kalamazoo MI in April 2005 with a bill that includes "Stavinsky Violin Concerto" and "Nine Sinatra Songs". American Ballet Theatre will be in Columbus OH in March 2005 (although the tickets seem very expensive!). It's a fact of life for a ballet fan living in the "ballet boonies" that in order to see quality ballet performances we sometimes have to travel a bit. It also cuts down on the number of performances you see.

"Lincoln & George, excerpts from my memoirs"

Does this mean Mr. d'Amboise has a book coming out soon?

Oh Please!!

As hard as it is for us, the audience to watch a beloved dancer dance what could be their final performances on stage, I can't even begin to imagine what it must feel like for the dancer themselves. I always think of a something Arlene Croce wrote about Kyra Nichols in the twilight of her career, "Nichols has now reached the privileged moment in a dancer's career when she is doing less and giving more. I remember that moment in Fonteyn, in Tallchief, in Kolpakova, in Farrell."

When a dancers technique starts to fail them many times their artistry compensates. But at what point does that become not enough? Only the dancer themselves know just exactly what their body is capable of doing. And I imagine even that changes from day to day. If they have a custom built repertory that allows them to prolong their careers while hiding their fraying technique that would be ideal. But unfortunately how many dancers have this gift bestowed upon them?

I think Alessandra Ferri is going about this the right way. She dances only what she is capable of (R&J, The Dream) and she enhances these ballet's with her experience and mature artistry. Who else either currently dancing or retired handled the end of their career with grace and dignity?

On the flip side, which dancer stayed too long?

Who retired too soon?

After re-visiting their book "Our Meals, Making a Home for Family and Friends", I'd say The Food Network should give Jock and Heather Watts their own cooking/entertaining show.

Chauffeur you wrote about the boards apparent lack of interest in education themselves. I agree but I also worry about the dancers education.

"Dracula" and "Frankenstein" are to classical and neo-classical ballet what Fritos, Big-Macs and Coke are to home cooked gourmet food using fresh ingredients. One is popular, fills you up fast, and is easy to access, the other requires more time, thought and devotion. But we all know which one is better for you in the long run.

I realize that not every company can afford to aquire or has the talent level needed to put on a Balanchine, Robbins, Ashton, or even a little Bourbonville but wouldn't it be better to feed your dancers bodies and minds with this than junk ballet? Wouldn't the money spent on a yuck production of "Dracula" be better spent on bringing in some quest artists to dance say Balanchine's Tschaikovsky Pas De Deux?

I remember sitting in the audience last year waiting for the curtain to rise on BalletMet's premiere of Balanchine's Jewels. I was excited not only for me getting to see it again after a long while but I was thrilled that BalletMet's dancers were getting a chance to dance this ballet. What a treat for them! Even if they didn't dance it perfectly their creative minds were being engaged in something worthwhile.

And by the way I read in that article on the Fort Wayne Ballet, that next year they are going to do a "Bad Girl's at the Ballet" night. Imagine this conversation around this time next year:

Young Dance Student: "Mom, I got a part in the new ballet!"

Mom: "That's wonderful dear, what part is it?"

Young Dance Student: "The second hoochie-mama on the right!"

It already sounds like a done deal. Why don't they just say so?

Ari posted a link today about The Fort Wayne Ballet's new program "Murder at the Ballet". This is the ballet company closest to me, and my husband and I generally go to the performances. They're a pretty decent small ballet company as far as a regional company goes, however in the last few years thier programming has left much to be desired. I know that we've had some discussions on this board about the direction some regional ballet companies have been taking toward more "populist" ballets. Last year they did a dreadful production of "Frankenstien" that was so awful I don't want to talk about it. Ever. And now this year we have a themed night with productions like "Combat" and "Showdown at the Hoedown."

I don't want to go but yet I feel an obligation to support my local ballet company at a time when many are barely hanging on by a thread. What should I do? What's really funny is that when the company sticks to a classical piece they really shine.

Their Coppelia is bright and entertaining and a few season ago they did a Les Sylphides that was really quite lovely. The crowds for a classical ballet are just as full as for "Blue Jean Nite at the Ballet". What to do? :shrug:

The Surrender is certainly not a book for everyone. I haven't read it yet so I can't pass judgement on it one way or another. My reasons for wanting to read it are due entirely to the fact that it is written by Toni Bentley, an author whose books I have enjoyed and admired in the past.

That interview in the NY Observer had me choking on my tea this morning due to laughter. Thanks to Ari for the link!

I have the book on order. I can't imagine reading it anywhere but at home. I could just picture reading it at a coffee shop and having someone ask me "What are you reading? What is it about?"

Stammers I, "well..............uh.......... : "

BalletMet Columbus will premiere thier Carmina Burana on October 28, with choreography by Dwight Rhoden.

They have two (well three) actors being honored this year. I think one would have been enough, with the other slot going to someone from the dance world.

Sir Elton's a cool choice though, not only for his talent but his AIDS activisim, although I know they don't judge on that.

A tape of Sofiane as Aurora! Somebody pick me up off the floor!

From Lord Byron's poem, "The Curse of Minerva"

"Frown not on England; England owns him not:/ Athena, no! thy plunderer was a Scot."

The Fates did not look too kindly upon Lord Elgin either.The controversy over the Stones themselves, a reversal of fortune, the embarrassment of having his wife fall in love with another man, a scandalous divorce, and finally having a doctor advise him to drink mercury!! to cure his sinus and sore throat infections which caused(among other things) Elgin's nose to severly blister leading another quack doctor to cut off the tip of it, disfiguring him.

On a positive note Mary did indeed find lasting happiness with Robert Ferguson.

I know there are several lovers of the Regency period on this forum so I though this book might be of interest. The book, a biography of Mary Nisbet, Countess of Elgin is a facinating read.

Born in 1778 as the richest heiress in Scotland, Mary went on to marry Thomas Bruce, the 7th Earl of Elgin. Her money helped to finance the Earl's plan to bring back antiquities from the Parthenon in Greece. These sculptures which became known as The Elgin Marbles both facinated and divided English Society. Many felt they should never have been ripped from thier homeland, other's believe Lord Elgin was rescuing the stones from ruin.

Mary's help in not only financing the excavation but also getting the stones sent to England is due to her facinating personality. She captivated not only English society but Sultan Selim III, who fancied her. Her beauty, intelligence, and humor shine through the pages of the book. A really wonderful and informative read.

Okay Obe-Wan, for Tchaikovsky pdd how about:

Sofiane Sylve and Albert Evans

or from the corps,

Teresa Reichlen and Henry Seth?

I happen to be an admirer of Michail Glinka's music and have always wondered about this ballet.

I know Valse Fantaisie remains in the repetory. Did Balanchine use the same choreography or did he change it? It seems like Glinkiana would be ripe for the Balanchine Foundation to do a "lost reconstruction" on, as so many of the principals are still alive, Melissa Hayden, Violette Verdy,etc. Has this been done?

Also if anyone remembers seeing the ballet before it disappeared, can you tell me what you thought? Much Thanks!

The release date for Toni Bentley's The Surrender is October 1,2004. Amazon is taking pre-orders.