cargill

The Kofe Annan comment, as I remember, was along the lines that Tuneisa, or Morocco, or wherever Le Corsaire is set, is opposed to slavery, and to protest the "fact" that Le Corsaire wasn't an abolitionist ballet. Since there are male and female slaves in Corsaire, I didn't take it as one of the male/female complaints, but still got a good laugh out of it. It doesn't bother me that there are so few female classical choreographers, it bothers me that there are so few good ones in general! Certainly traditional ballet has glorified female dancing at the expense of male dancing (look at Paris in the late 19th century), so if anything, it's the men that should be complaining. And even in the 19th century, talented women could choreograph--look at Katti Lanner. Though of course there were far fewer of them, for the educational, sociological, cultural reasons that Alexandra gives.

Basically, of course I agree with Alexandra, and would like to second a recent review by Clement Crisp talking about some modern ballet--I say it's spinach and I say the hell with it. But of course you should have reasons, or you just become reactionary and destructive. The lack of vocabulary is one reason I don't like some modern ballets, and the apparent anti-historicism of some of the attitudes. Since some people (it seems mainly marketing types) split the ballet audience into two types--little old ladies and young trendies--we either get dumbed down, tarted-up versions of full-length ballets (Swan Lake will sell so why bother with the details, or pale pastisches like The Snow Maiden), or sexy black on black numbers. It's like only being given a choice between Walt Disney and MTV, when ballet is so much richer and more profound and imaginative.

Basically, of course, there are two kinds of ballet--good and bad. And I hope I have the taste and experience to like the good--though as one who came very late to Balanchine, after several years of really trying, I know my judgement isn't infallible. In a sense, the fact that "ballet moderne" brings up a fairly specific image--unitards, extensions, blank or sullen expressions, dark surroundings, and usually Mahleresque or minimalistic music, means to my mind that not much new is really happening. The thing that mostly bothers me about those types of ballets is the limited technique--no upper body, no petit allegro, no characterization. All that movement means dancers don't have to learn to hold the audience's attention just by standing on the stage. But of course, tutus and stories aren't automatically the answer--one of the worst ballets of all time is The Snow Maiden.

Yes, I was thinking about Alexander Grant as Bottom. He was so funny and so touching. I have no idea how he managed to look deadpan in a mask, but I haven't enjoyed anyone nearly as much. And his miming of his "dream", when he is vaguely remembering this lovely creature who was in love with him was so wonderful. He had such an expressive, interesting face. You didn't mean to suggest that he was a disaster in Cinderella, did you! I never saw him in that, unfortunately.

One of the ballets that I would love to see with the cast I first saw is Dances at a Gathering. I saw it first in London, with the Royal Ballet version, which arranged the dancers slightly differently than NYCB. But basically Nureyev was brown, Lynn Seymour was green, Sibley was pink and Dowell was mauve (though their colors were different.) It was a much more extroverted and sensuous, as well as funnier performance than I see now, and is one of my all-time favorite memories. And of course, Sibley and Dowell and Alexander Grant in The Dream.

I would just like to second what Leigh said about Jeffrey Edwards. I still run my mental tape of him doing Melancholic whenever I hear that music. And his third movement of Brahms-Schoenberg was so haunting--like a soldier going off to war, knowing he wasn't going to come back. He was a real loss to the company

I know one of the enjoyable aspects of seeing lots of ballet is watching the corps for interesting dancers. City Ballet has just cast two of my favorite corps dancers (Rachel Rutherford and Janie Taylor) as the leads in La Valse, and I was wondering about other people's stories of dancers they noticed as unknowns who developed into well-known dancers. The two I can remember are Alessandra Ferri, who I saw do a stunning Little Red Riding Hood years ago with the Royal Ballet in The Sleeping Beauty. I remember being really struck the way she made that tiny little part come alive. And years ago in Robbins tedious (to my mind) In Memory of..., I noticed Damian Woetzel in the corps doing the most beautiful plie in second position I have ever seen as part of a small dance for three boys. So what other memories do people have?

For my piece of perfection, I would have to vote for Ethan Steifel's Blue Bird. He was magic, way beyond technique, truly inhuman. And I was bowled over by Ashley Tuttle's Prayer in Coppelia. It is so rare that a piece like that is danced by a principal, and the quiteness and purity of the role suits her perfectly.

I was hit by the red and gold disease (as one writer has called it) very early, at about 6. I was taking the traditional children's ballet class, and during one recital, I saw from the wings the instructor's daughter (she may have been about 14) dancing in what I now know was a La Sylphide costume. It was like abolt of lightening hit me, I have never seen anything so beautiful. Oddly enough, it didn't make me want to be a dancer, it made me want to watch. My father worked for an oil company, so we moved frequently, and so I didn't see any, but read whatever I could. I found a wonderful children's book in Port of Spain edited by Mary Clarke, with very serious, intelligent articles, and loads of pictures, especially of Fonteyn. I was absulutely determined to see her, so when I finished college, I went to London on a resident domestic visa, and from 1971-1973 spent my time at Covent Garden. Eventually I decided that I couldn't spend my wh ole like like that and came back to the U.S., and ended up in New York with a much better and more sensible job! But I will always be grateful I had those two years when watching ballet completely ruled my life and Covent Garden was the world.

Speaking of the horrendous Peter Farmer/Macmillan Sleeping Beauty, I was there on the opening night. It was a gala, but not terribly expensive, so there was a real ballet audience there (along with the Queen), and they just refused to applaud. The curtain calls were painful--just scattered claps for Farmer and Macmillan, and rapturous cheers for the dancers. There was a group call at the end, to almost dead silence, and the usher brought a huge bouquet to Deanne Bergsma (the most perfect Lilac Fairy I ever saw), she stepped forward, and the audience cheered their heads off. She stepped back, and everybody stopped applauding. The expression on her face was unforgettable! It was a truly vulgar production, and desered to be hooted off the stage--which in effect it was.

Ashton did a pas de quatre for Swan Lake, which is one of the most elegant pieces he did. I remember reading that he based the women's variations on the twist and the cha cha, because Sibley and Park were so good at those dances (I think Park got the twist and Sibley the cha cha.) One of the most facinating demonstrations I have ever seen of how a great choreographer can develope classical steps was Park demonstrating the twist and then almost imperceptively turning it into a classical variation. On the other topic, I think maybe one of the reasons some people find the 3rd act of Sleeping Beauty difficult (I myself love it) is that dancers now don't really know character dancing, and there isn't enough contrast between those dances and the purely classical variations of the Prince and Aurura. I do tend to have a snooze during the cats, but remember when I first saw them on TV when I was young, was enchanted. Most people haven't seen dozens of performances, and the ballet is really made for them.

In response to the question of which Giselle to see, I wouldn't worry too much about the NY Times comment--it is not skating, where we have to check off the required elements. The hopping on point only works if it is part of the character anyway, and I would rather see a young happy Giselle come off point than a mechanical dancer banging away. If McKerrow is dancing with Malakhov, that would be my recommendation, based on what I saw last summer. She was absolutely frech and spontaneous--it was almost as if I remember what they were saying, not what they were dancing. I couldn't see the whole stage, but in the first act, I could tell just by watching her face when Albrecht reappeared. No other couple was so in synch. And the 2nd act--she was so intent on saving him, and avoided so many of the prenning, self-satisfied romantic little curlyques. Malakhov was amazing too-the 2nd act was almost unbearably sad, watchin a man who had lost someone unexpectedly and was in almost physical pain trying to reach that person one last time. It may have been the mood I wa sin, but it was one of the most vivid and tragic Giselles--as a partnership--that I have ever seen.

Jane, Yes, I remember the Raymonda. The people waiting at the stage door started to applaud, and she sort of skipped into the waiting car. And of course, those thousands of daffodils when she did those Cinderellas in 1972. Mary

I just heard that the former Royal Ballet dancer Svetlana Beriosova has died. I saw her towards the end of her career, one of the great joys of my ballet life. so many people have said to me, in almost the same words, "Oh, Fonteyn was wonderful, of course, but you know the one I really loved was Beriosova". One of the reasons, I think, people feel so attached to her was that she came without any great fanfare or publicity, and people felt like she was their own private discovery. I had heard of her, but when she walked on as th eEmpress in Anastasia with those dark, luminous, soulful eyes, I felt such a personal connection. I did get to see her as Lady elgar, a similar but much richer role, and unforgetably as the Bride in Nijinska's Les Noces, wher she seemd to sum up hundreds of years of peasant endurance just by walking across the stage. And of course as the beautiful, magical Princess in Fokine's The Firebird. The closest I can come to describing her is to say she was like watching a cello come to life.

I would say Kyra Nichols. Without ever having a ballet remotely worth her talents created for her, she has taken Balanchine roles made for dancers completely different from her, and illuminated them with her own musicality and what seems to be intelligence, though it may be instinct. A 24-carat ballerina. Mary Cargill

One ballet that I have always been curious about is Fokine's Pavilion d'Armide. The libretto sounds so mysterious, and the pictures show such lovely costumes. And of couse, on really bad nights, I sometimes hope Petipa can be revived. Mary [This message has been edited by cargill (edited 11-06-98).]