cargill

The whole thing seems odd to me. There were lots of reasons to criticise Homan's article, but the fact that she did not parrot Kisselgoff on the state of NYCB isn't one of them. Barnes is the one that brought up Kisselgoff and now the whole things seems to be turning into a pro and anti Kisselgoff argument, not pro and anti Homans. Good for Dance Magazine, though, to have published the letter.

Well, it was a piece of fluff, but at least it didn't try to be anything else, and the 4 dancers came across as ones people would like to see, I expect, if I hadn't seen any dance before. It sure beat the intermission features of Corsaire, going on and on and on and on about how stupid the story is. I loved the films of the dancers as children, but of course I would have loved much more on their training. I thought the shots of the kids at Stiefel's old studio looking at him with such unaffected awe were very moving. And I thought McKenzie's throw away comment on Baryshnikov being a great dancer because you watched him when he stood still, not only when he did his tricks, was encouraging. But of course McKenzie doesn't let Conrad or Siegfried stand still!

I was struck by Kaufmann's comment, too, but I think it is more a measure of which Macmillan is done here rather than a comment by someone who knows ballet history. As for his full-lengths, well, they all seem to me to be overstuffed, overpadded works with a one-act struggling to get out. (Which is the actual case with Anastasia.) I think of sex, certainly, but he also seems to be quite taken with beds and dead women--there are beds in Manon, R & J, Anastasia, Mayerling that I can think off off the top of my head, and certainly he has lots of dead women. I would not be surprized if Hamlet strangles Ophelia somewhere in the Sea of Troubles. And to think Washington could have seen Monotones!

On the subject of artistic directors who were not dancers, I think throughout the 19th century that was usually the practice. Petipa was not an artistic director as we understand it, more of a resident choreographer. Vzelokovksy (I am sure that is spelled incorrectly) was not a dancer, but he made a wonderful director.

Gomes is also dancing Oberon with Julie Kent, and that is my absolute must see. But if I could only go to one evening, I would pick Fille. It is a perfect ballet, and who knows how long it will be around.

ABT' Ashton performances has to be at the top of my list. The miming of the Bottoms was so good--it was wonderful to see young corps boys take over a stage just by standing there. And the Fille of Reyes and Corella, if I have to choose a cast. And at ABT, Gomes in anything. He is such a complete dancer, he has everything. Stage presence, looks, technique, and generosity. I can't wait for his Oberon next year. The Kirov corps in Diamonds. An absolute revelation of what that choreography could be. Somogyi in anything, but especially in Midsummer. The Diamond Project, because it means that there won't be one in 2003.

I have heard some people say that Ashton's Sylvia could be revived, which would certainly be wonderful. Alexander Grant is still around, and he would hav seen a lot of it! (He was the statue of Eros and had to stand still through one of the acts.) I have seen a very bad tape of the Ashton farewell gala which had the nymph's dance on it, and it was wonderful. The Dance Critics conference had a showing of a tape of the Paris Sylvia supposedly Aveline's, and there is certainly some controversy as to how much was original. The heavy didn't do any mime, just jumped around the way men in black do nowadays (like the Soviet Rothbarts)but the music seemed to call for mimed characterization. But the sets and costumes were beautiful, and of course the music is wonderful. I think Mark Morris is scheduled to do a Sylvia for San Francisco--he was at the showing.

You can't deny that Croce had seen what she was writing about (when she was writing about NYCB, that is--she isn't sound on Bournonville, I don't think.) And again, she was writing reviews that were clearly her opinion. Homans is often pontificating on history to a lay audience that probably doesn't know a lot of the details. The ballet audience is talking about her, yes, but I don't think the general reader is. And it seems to me that anyone reading her isn't about to rush down and buy a ticket--I don't see any passion for the art there, just a vaguely snide attempt to come off as knowing. In fact, if that were the only thing I had read about ballet, I would be quite put off, I think, since it seems so arcane--what if I didn't see any horizontal and vertical divisions (not that I do anyway). I expect I would come away feeling like I just didn't get it.

This may not be an important point, but when Homans first appeared someone said she had a Ph.D. from NYU, and I was curious to see what it was on. As a librarian, I can easily check, and I didn't find her dissertation listed. It may be a married name/single name issue, but as far as I can tell, she does not have one, which means she doesn't have a Ph.D. I must say I am among those who finds her writing irritating. She seems to come up with half-baked ideas, propound at length and not back them up. Just a small instance, but what on earth does she mean by Petipa's cut and slice legs? It sounds fancy, but how can she justify it. Certainly, we do know that devlopes never went above the waist, which doesn't sound very slicing.

La Fille, of course, in all its manifestations, though I have only seen the Ashton. Don Quixote, lots of early Ashton like Facade and Wedding Bouquet. Fancy Free, I suppose would be considered a comedy--I laugh anyway! 3 virgins and a devil by de Mille. Devil's Holiday (though it has been lost.) Certainly there are ballets with comedy in them, like the versions of Midsummer. Parts of Napoli are certainly funny, and it has a happy ending so I think it would be considered a comedy. Petipa's one-act Halte de Cavalrie is a comedy I think, and it was revived by the Maly within living memory. And of course Eifman, which makes me laugh myself silly.

There are so many favorite moments, of course, but one of my very favorite is in the prologue to The Sleeping Beauty (or can the entire SB count as a favortie moment? In a really good production it seems to last only a moment.) when the Lilac Fairy sanding in second position gives Carabosse an ironic little bow. It looks so elegant--one of the things I didn't like about Peter Martin's version is that at that momement he had the Lilac Fairy standing with a bent knee, like a show girl. I think my other favorite moment is the mime scene in Swan Lake, when Odette says if she can find someone to love her she won't have to be a swan. It is just so moving. As for dancing moments, the descent of the bayaderes is unbeatable. And the frieze in Lilac Garden, where Caroline's soul seems to come to life.

Loscavio danced Ballo once here in NY a number of years ago, and people are still talking about it! It was so joyful and carefree and fresh. She was softer than Ashley, though technically assured (even though she took a spill), and see seemed like one of those dancers who have an audience eating out of her hand just by stepping out on the stage. I didn't see her very much, but I can believe San Francisco misses her. As for Dances at a Gathering in Edinborough, I understand that people who had seen the Royal Ballet dance it in the 1970s were particularly disappointed. I think the current cast, with some exceptions, just doesn't jell the way it used to, and it does seem a bit long--and it was a ballet I absolutely loved and saw over and over again. I am glad to hear that San Francisco did a good job, and I think Maffre would be wonderful in green! My first girl in green, though, was Lynn Seymour, and she is impossible to forget, good as some others have been.

I just saw a thread on Ballet.co saying that someone had heard that Robert Tewsley was possibly joining NYCB. I just wondered if anyone had any news--could we be so lucky!

I was one of the few people who liked the La Fosse, I think. It was a 1950's dream movie ballet, where life in a circus is more real than life--the kind of role Leslie Caron did so many times. La Fosse was the clown/vaguely menacing ring master, who starts out by trying to capture a star, and he brings his dream girl (Megan Fairchild) to life as a pink tutued trapese artist. (That was the best costume of the whole evening, I think.) She in turn leaves him for a stage hand turned circus performer. There are lots of circus folks, dancing very much like they would in a dream musical, but it suited the music very well. I though Fairchild was wonderful, very young and sweet, but very much a character and reacting to the story, not just dancing steps. The ending was a bit weak, I thought, but for me La Fosse had an idea that fit the fairly obvious and not profound music, and he can choreograph for individual talents. I liked the Wheeldon, too, he got some of the dark, bittersweet tone of the Carosel waltz. As for the Martins, I have never seen such unflattering costumes in my life. The opening (with the famous shoes) isn't too bad, the four women come in wearing black and white coats looking vaguely Erte, if he was crosseyed with a bad hangover. Then they put on point shoes and take the coats off and swoon endlessly to Rodgers. The men, with the exception of Askegard, who was lucky enough to draw the white vest, wear high black cummerbunds, and all looked like they had a few tires to spare. And the women's dresses! Truly the most unflattering cuts of anything I have seen. Kistler wore a white mummy's outfit with a black blob (it looked like a trantula) stuck to her side, which turned into a very full and unflattering skirt, slit up to her crotch. Ringer was supposed to be the vamp, I guess, which doesn't fit her lyrical style AT ALL, and she was stuck with a black slinky dress with cut outs at the side, unflatteringly tight over the hips, slit up to her crotch and lined in the most vulgar red I have seen. She also had to wear black tights and black point shoes and shimmy occassionally. Kowroski had a cream dress on that looked like cheap polyester, badly fitted, with some bright red accents, and slit up to her crotch. The skirt looked very uncomfortable to dance in, and kept getting in her way. Boree had a red and white number, which looked like something Carmen Miranda's cat threw up on. As for the choreography, the best was for the four perky waitresses, because they were doing Who Cares.

Does Fifi say if she enjoyed it?

I think that is a shame. I really liked him the one time I saw him with NYCB, he seemed like a strong and grownup presence. Maybe he got a load of those awful lifts in Mayerling, and decided his back was more important!

Last week the Cincinnati celebrated its 40th anniversary and its connection with Frederic Franklin with a program, mostly, of works which had been performed by the Ballet Russe. In addition, there was an exhibit of costume sketches at the Art Museum. (Owned originally by Julius Fleischman, of yeast fame, who was based in Cincinnati, and who supported the Ballet Russe for years.) The two novelties, and the reason why there were so many critics and former dancers there, were reconstructions of a pas de deux and the male solo from Ashton's Devil's Holiday, which has not been danced since about 1940, and the third movement of Massine's 7th Symphony, which has also vanished. The Ashton was stunning. Having read that it was a comedy, I was expecting a jaunty solo, but it turns out that it was one of the most lyrical (and extremely difficult) pieces for a man I have ever seen. The boy, a beggar who has been tricked by the Devil, is thinking about the girl, and it is so expressive, lots of knee bends and gestures upward, to beautiful music. Mr. Franklin said that the Royal Ballet has been in touch with him about recreating it for them, which is wonderful news. The pas de deux is equally lovely, wiht lots of unusual gestures (palm to palm movements) and some inventive lifts, raising and lowering the girl. The Massine too, was very impressive on a whole other level. Their ballet mistress had taken the whole thing off a tape (Massine recorded lots of his ballets), and the hours of work did pay off. Once the surprize of seeing dancing to that music (Beethoven) wore off, it was a stunning piece. It was basically the gods dancing on Mount Olympus, and boy did they dance, since the original leads were Markova and Youskevitch. I don't know whether there are any plans to keep it in repertory anywhere, or to recreate the other movements, but if so, it would be well worth seeing.

About Nureyev's Apollo, I remember John Taras saying at a conference once that he thought it was one of the best he had seen, that Nureyev gave it a demi-charactere approach that Taras thought appropriate. (I also remember Peter Martins saying that Balanchine said Apollo was demi-character.) I think it is wonderful that the Royal Ballet is doing Raymonda, too. All those solos should be good practice for the Sleeping Beauty, and the music is so wonderful.

I guess you could say that Swan Lake doesn't have a wedding, though certainly marriage is important to the story! I think a lot of ballets end in weddings for the same reason that novels do--the ultimate cap to the story. Fairytales tend to end that way too. Funny, I don't think operas often end in weddings. Marriage of Figaro is the only one I can think of. And Lucia has a wedding of course, but it certainly doesn't end happily.

I think timeless is a better description, really, than contemporary, since what is contemporary will date so quickly. What is classic does speak to us, but also spoke to the past, and, with luck and care, will speak to the future. The accent may change a bit, but I think the words stay the same.

But there are mother-in-law in ballet, which can be understood if the story is clear. Nobody has a problem with Sleeping Beauty, which has a MIL and Fille where Simone will clearly be Colas' mother in law, and, in ballet heaven, when Albrecht marries Giselle, we know who his MIL will be! As for good stories, I think it helps if there is a logical pretext for dancing, a festival or a wedding. So many of the good ones have that and it makes the story flow, not like so many of the Macmillan pieces, where things just stop so the corps can prance around. A nice exotic setting helps, so there can be real character dancing.

I think there definitely is a different approach, partly based on space and time. Newspaper critics have to sum up things quickly, for a very general audience, which probably doesn't know technical terms or historical details. When writers have more time and space (not that Tobi had much space!) they can go into more detail and explain their thinking a bit more. Magazines usually have more niche audiences that newspapers, so when people like Mindy Aloff wrote for the New Republic (sigh!), even though she wasn't writing for a dance audience, she was generally writing for a well-read one. I think there is a need for both types of writing, the more the better!

I am sure I was like so many other people, looking through the dictionary for synonyms to shocking, and polite ways of saying ignorant decision! I expect ad revenues are down, but it is very depressing. Wonderful though specialized magazines are, it is so important for general interest magazines to have a broad coverage.

I am sure I was like so many other people, looking through the dictionary for synonyms to shocking, and polite ways of saying ignorant decision! I expect ad revenues are down, but it is very depressing. Wonderful though specialized magazines are, it is so important for general interest magazines to have a broad coverage.

I will have to check my program, but I am sure I saw her as Titania in Washington, and I was there in 1977. Mary