cargill

I was just talking about Jeffrey Edwards to someone (in relation to Melancholic, which he still, in my opinion, mainly owns), and they said he was teaching at Brown. He was such a loss to NYCB, an absolutely beautiful dancer. I remember his talking at an NYCB guild event a number of years ago (featuring the then young promising male dancers, like Boal and Woetzel), and him saying that the role he would really like to dance was Albrecht, and the others in the group all made faces (in fun.) He would have been just wonderful with the right Giselle.

I don't know if this qualifies for Manhatnik's original question, but I have always wondered what Moyna and Zulma's stories were, much less Myrtha's. The do have names, and so should have stories. In one of the original versions, weren't they in some sort of a folk costume--oriental? Maybe one escaped from a harem. Lots of ballet potential there. You could have a Pasha, and slave dealers and maybe some pirates--well I guess I still don't have an original idea!

I don't know if this qualifies for Manhatnik's original question, but I have always wondered what Moyna and Zulma's stories were, much less Myrtha's. The do have names, and so should have stories. In one of the original versions, weren't they in some sort of a folk costume--oriental? Maybe one escaped from a harem. Lots of ballet potential there. You could have a Pasha, and slave dealers and maybe some pirates--well I guess I still don't have an original idea!

I'm afraid every idea I can come up with has already been used! Giselle in an insane asylum, Giselle in a concentration camp, Giselle in the 20's. Even a gender switch with male wilis isn't a new idea. I guess like all those opera and theater directors who dress every army as WWII soldiers, I am completely at a loss for new ideas. But what about a lesbian Giselle who runs off with Bathilde?

I'm afraid every idea I can come up with has already been used! Giselle in an insane asylum, Giselle in a concentration camp, Giselle in the 20's. Even a gender switch with male wilis isn't a new idea. I guess like all those opera and theater directors who dress every army as WWII soldiers, I am completely at a loss for new ideas. But what about a lesbian Giselle who runs off with Bathilde?

I really liked the earlier series, with dancers in recognizeable ballet positions, especially the Darci Kistler Swan Lake one, but the recent ones seem just vapid to me, barely related to ballet at all. And certainly not designed to convey to the public what a night at NYCB might be like.

I think add campaigns like that are very damaging, but also very typical. Here in New York, though, the recent add campaign (program covers, bus adds, etc.) have gone a different, almost worse route. The adds are soft focus shots of mainly unrecognizeable dancers doing anything but dancing. Little nymphets leaning passively, yet suggestively against a wall. And as someone pointed out, resolutely multicultural. The few minority dancers must spend all their time in photoshoots! It is hard to imagine anyone really enjoying ballet if they bought a ticket due to those adds. And of course Prodigal Son is so much richer than the add suggests--it is so unfair to the artists.

The dancer that I miss the most of the ones I saw semi-regularly is Dowell. His line was so perfect and he was so elegant. No one (except on a slightly smaller scale Peter Boal) that I have seen had such a perfectly proportioned body, and he had such a beautiful way of moving. He certainly could do lots of jumps, but what I miss most is his gracious manner and purity.

I remember reading once about a French author (I forget which one) who in his old age had a mistress, who was irritated when he continually talked about his first one. Finally she said "I am more beautiful, more intelligent, more witty than she was, don't you agree?" "Yes", he said. "Then what did she have that I don't?" "She had my youth." Dances at a Gathering had my youth, I guess, and even with all the now familiar choreographic tics (cartwheels, girls in chiffon, upside down lifts, general cuteness)that can irritate me about other Robbins pieces, I do love that work. It is the British cast that is imprinted on my brain, and that music inevitably makes me see Nureyev, Sibley, Dowell, Seymour, and the others. But I guess because those pictures are so firmly implanted, I can watch it without feeling like I am missing something--it is almost like watching two performances, the one in my head and the one on stage, and I can enjoy both of them. The cast last night at City Ballet was very good, and Jenifer Ringer is as good an Apricot as there is. The audience loved it too, and even sat still for the final piece--except the moron who let his cell phone ring.

I suppose that ballet Barbie will also be flogged (excuse me, sold) at the concession stand (or rather gift shop). At least it will be some sort of an antidote to dancers as flat chested! I do hope that Mattel sponsors at least one of the galas. I would love to see people come dressed as Barbies, with huge hair and lots of rhinestones. With this and the NYCB exercise video, I suspect that the odds of retaining some artistic integrity are pretty slim.

I saw Lynn Seymour dance Giselle several times, fairly late in her career, during her chunkier days. She was certainly no sylph, but her mad scene was unforgetable. Even all these years later, I can still see her--no histronics as all, just staring straight ahead with her world crumbling. Truly shattering. As for light sylphy Giselles as opposed to heartier peasanty ones, I remember reading that at the time, many critics were more taken with Elssler's Giselle than with Grisi's, because of the strength of Ellsler's mad scene. Elssler, by all accounts, was not an airy sylph. I think the strength of a ballet like Giselle is that it is open to so many interpretations by different types of dancers. (Though I hope Giselle the Village Slut isn't waiting in the wings.)

Leigh, This is just a comment on your great review of last night's performance. I have to say, I agree with whoever said that programming was a problem--two piano, cutsey juvenile ballets in a row made for a very long evening! Leigh said that the change in atmosphere in Scotch Symphony just has to be accepted, that at the end people just dance. Watching it last night, it struck me that there might be a coherent plot. The first movement is the human community symbolized by the little Scotch girl (I usually like Janie Taylor a lot, but she seemed too light in this, kicking as high and wild as she could, and not crisp enough.) The second movement is the magic one, where the James character meets an enchanted creature. I imagined that Nichols was under a spell which "James" could break, which explained the men blocking his way. She kept telling him what to do (all that pointing) and when he finally obeyed her, the spell was broken. There is a myth to that effect, I seem to remember--once the man does what he is told, the creature becomes human. (It is more complicated than that.) And the third movement is back in the human community, celebrating the wedding and then everyone celebrates order and harmony. I have seen it many times, and this was the first time it struck me like that, but it seems to fit.

Swan Lake was based on a fairy tale, which were by no means pretty little chidren's stories. There are so many underlying themes in it--the power of nature, of sacrifice, illusion, seeking for an ideal. The issues are timeless, and it is so limiting to "modernize" a work of art. The music is lush and romantic and a production to be effective, must work with the music. (Don't get me started on Matthew Bourne.) I don't see the need to limit something that is universal by making it trendy.

It would of course have a wonderfully tasteless ending with an on-stage car crash, and an eternal soul of youth emerging from the ruins. Not to mention a perfectly dreadful dance within a dance version of the complete East of Eden.

This is unsuitable because it is extremely politically incorrect, but there is a wonderfully over the top late-Victorian adventure novel called She (which has been made into several movies). It has some set scenes which could make for some wonderfully tasteless dancing. In one our heroes are staying in a cave with some suspiciously friendly natives, who are preparing dinner by heating up pots--no food, just pots. It turns out that dinner is going to be our heroes, cooked by the pots being plopped on their heads. I see a quite frantic dance of the hot pots. And later, our heroes (who escaped the pots) are in a valley entertained by yet another group of natives, who dance illuminated by torches of burning mummies. But I can't really see this being done now.

There is almost nothing of Don Quixote in the ballet. It is a variation on the basic comic plot (see La Fille Mal Gardee) based on two incredibly minor characters. So no, I don't think the novel would work well as a ballet.

I think Andrei, of course, has hit on the real problem. Ballet can convey complex ideas but not complex stories, which is why the idea of even an abridged GWTW as a ballet is so funny. As Leigh said, HELLO. But the essence of love for the land, I think really could work.

Not to mention having to throw up after eating some mouldy vegetable! Maybe she could just become dizzy after too many fouettes.

As to the smaller roles, I think Beriosova would be perfect for Scarlett's mother, in her Lady Elgar mode. No ballet should be without this lovely dancer. And for Scarlett's Pa, I think Alexander Grant would be wonderful. And Merle Park for Sue Ellen. I was trying to cast Belle Watling, and came up with Heather Watts, not quite classical, you know, but very kind-hearted. I see a very moving duet between her and Melanie when Belle gives Julie Kent the money for charity.

I really do have to disagree that Agon is in any way intended to be lewd. It was based on French court dances, after all, and just because it has been hotted up at NYCB recently does not mean that it was meant that way in the 1950's. Ballet is not an opera-house version of Calvin Klein underwear adds, and there is so much more to great ballet than sex--there is beauty and love and ideals and tragedy. As Dr. Johnson might have said "explicit sex is the last refuge of a minimally talented choreographer."

If we are not confined by time, my nomination for Scarlett is Kshinskaya (sp.) She was certainly a survivor, and could get anything she wanted from men, and she wanted a lot! And I definitely see Scarlett doing lots of fouettes. What about Anton Dolin as Rhett? If we are doing cross-dressing and blackface, what about Gen Horiuchi as Prissy?

Based on the critical reaction, it looks like David Bintley marks a new cultural divide! The recent review in one of the Chicago Papers, I forget which one, was definitely tepid about the all Jazz, mostly Bintly evening. I would also add Bejart, who has never been particularly well-received in England or the US. And Neumier, who is generally panned in the US.

A number of years ago, there was a VERY short lived musical based on Gone With the Wind, which I didn't see. I just remember reading a review which said there were real live horses, and during the scene where Scarlett is singing I WILL GO TO TARA, the horse went.

Ann, I was going to answer the Agon question too. I think now it is done pretty much as a hot number, but I think that approach is pretty much Heather Watts and continued. If you ever get a chance to see the tape of Diana Adams I think you will be amazed at how cool and dignified it is. Muriel Maffre at SFB is the most recent dancer I have seen that approached it cooly, and it was staggerinly good. The spread leg moment, which I absolutely hate the way it is currently done at NYCB, was just a part of a constant movement and was not held or emphasized. It was just odd shapes dispassionately danced, but the cumulative effect was oddly beautiful. So don't give up on it yet!

Leigh, in his original post, asked about effective specifically sexual ballets. I myself would eliminate most of Macmillan here, because he is usually so explicit that he doesn't use dance vocabulary--grab and grope is not effective choreographically for me. One of the best examples is Balanchine's Prodigal Son, when the Siren comes on carried by the goons and just snakes her hand behind her head. It is stunningly effective without being in the least vulgar. No matter how many times I have seen it, it still looks bracing. Also Tudor's Echoing of Trumpets, which ABT did a few years ago. There was such a musical imagination there, and the effect was just harrowing, but again, it was all through the choreography--no one was just slung around for effect. I hadn't thought of the gaoler scene in Manon as a moral triumph for her. I can see that interpretation, but to me it looks like Macmillan is just gloating over her humiliation once more, and she just creeps out without any relation to her development, followed by Des Grieux doing a set of steps which say a lot about Dowell's dancing but not much about Des Grieux's character.