cargill

For me, the issue isn't the topic so much, it is the way it was treated. Ballets like Echoing of Trumpets and Les Noces (Nijinska's version, please!) are certainly bleak and uncompromising, but the subjects weren't used gratuitously, and the choreography used form and shapes expressively. AfterRite and certainly some of MacMillan use violence as a decoration, and seem to revel in it.

Sorry if I wasn't clear--I didn't see the performance and wasn't talking about it specifically. I just meant that I thought the word stingy to descripe a less than perfect arabesque was a wonderful description. Mary

I agree. Stingy is a perfect word and I wish I had thought of it! Mary

I actually really enjoyed The Unanswered Question. Loved the music, and the odd sets and costumes (I remember an old fashioned bicycle) seemed to fit the quirkiness. It was done orignally for the American Music Festival with some dancers from Feld's company (Buffy Miller rode the bicycle) and as I remember, it was one of Damian Woetzel's first major roles. It did come back a few years later and I saw it as often as I could, but I was certainly in the minority!

Mashinka, I was at the Collier and Eagling R&J too. It was just stunning. I remember a picture of a curtain call in Dancing Times, and they were both had tears in their eyes.

It's from Peter Martins' "Barber Violin Concerto"--Mearns was part of the classical duo and Jared Angle was the modern male dancer.

For New Yorkers, the Film Forum is showing the Anna Pavlova film Dumb Girl of Portici on September 16th. http://filmforum.org/film/the-dumb-girl-of-portico-lois-weber-film

The blog is called Prospero "An enchanting mix of literary insight and cultural commentary, in the spirit of the hero of “The Tempest”, which seems just a bit of a stretch!

I can't remember all the details, but there was a story of a mistress talking to an older man about a younger mistress, saying I am better looking, etc., etc., than she was, yet you can't forget her. What did she have that I don't? And he said "She had my youth". That's what I feel when I think of the dancers I saw in my 20's (Sibley, Dowell, Beriosova, etc.)

I didn't see the Pacific Northwest Ballet version that tried to go back to the original French sources, unfortunately, but Doug Fullington has said that the original first act Giselle was quite spunky, not the one-foot-in-the-grave Gorey cartoon we sometimes see. (My words, not his!)

When Robbins revived it in 1998 they used a recording, so maybe they will go back to that--not that I think they should, but it would be cheaper. Mary

I agree that Prodigal Son, Sonambula, etc. are good stories, but Balanchine didn't come up with them--he was given the libretti, and for Prodigal Son and Sonambula, also given the designs. I think he was much better at suggesting stories (or emotions), like the Rosenkavalier section or Liebeslieder than an actual story. Scotch Symphony, lovely though it is, really only makes poetic sense--who is the Scotch girl and why does she disappear, why do the male corps separate the sylph and the man who isn't called James at one moment and dance around with them another?

For me there are wonderful things in Balanchine's Midsummer, but as a cohesive work of art, I think Ashton's is better. It is certainly tighter, with the drama seamlessly taking place in one location, as the characters come and go. (For me, Balanchine's story can be summarized as "meanwhile, in another part of the forest, Oberon too was dancing.") There are so many little things that frustrate me about Balanchine's telling the story--for a start, why does Oberon have to mime the same words twice, with no variation? Who is the male dancer Titania does that wonderful dance with, and why is he there? Balanchine has Oberon dance a phenomenal scherzo, but it really has no relation to the plot, while Ashton's scherzo for Oberon is propels the story. Ashton's Bottom is so much richer than Balanchine's comic one, with that amazing scene when he remembers what happened--Grant used to make me cry. I think Ashton's dance for Bottom and Titania is more magical too. Balanchine goes for the comedy, with Titania and Bottom staring deadpan at the audience, very funny, yes, but Ashton has us see Bottom through Titania's eyes, and it's such a rueful, bittersweet moment--as I wrote about it once, who of us hasn't looked at a donkey and seen a prince. And wonderful though Balanchine's second act is, it really has no relation with the first one. It could be danced on its own and would make perfect sense. And I am probably a party of one, but I find that the little bugs rapidly exceed my cute quota. '

Sarasota Ballet just sent out a press release saying that Gomes will be dancing the young man in Ashton's "Two Pigeons" Friday March 10 and Saturday night, March 11.

I remember a friend, a real Balanchine uber alles type, being very upset when NYCB first did Sleeping Beauty, since she loathed story ballets. I wasn't that excited either, since I didn't think they would be able to dance it. We went to the first night, and loved every minute of it, especially the three Aurora solos, which looked very similar to the Royal Ballet ones I remembered. My friend was amazed--"They look just like Balanchine" she kept saying.

I saw it back in the day, too, and the only dancer I remember was Mukmedhov and the Bolshoi male corps, who were spectacular. I am so glad I got to see the Bolshoi when men were men, and I never forgot the male corps dancing with brooms, using them like acrobats. I do have this vision of all the corps swinging on their brooms, legs extended, but my memory may have embellished that over the years! Mukmedhov was not elegant (very stiff upper body) but my gosh did he throw himself into the role, with such a pure heart. It's hard to imaging anyone else making what is really a cartoon so heroic. Mary

It tuns out that Symphony Space won't be showing the Royal Opera House broadcasts next season, so I don't think they will be available anywhere in New York.

The Maryinsky (I think it was still the Kirov then) did bring Fountain to New York a number of years ago. I saw Zakarova and Part as the heroine (forget her name) and Lopatkina and Assylmerotova as the heavy, and just loved it. It is one ballet I can't see anyone but Russians doing, though.

I think the Balanchine Trust is so leary of youtube videos because they don't want anyone or any compmay to copy the choreography and perform it without permission (or coaching from someone in the Trust). Since youtube is international, it wouldn't be at all easy to monitor every little company all over the world, so though I regret not being able to see things, I think they are right.

I first noticed Aaron Sanz and the goofy suitor (I've forgotten his name) in Harlequinade. He was a characature but had an odd sort of elegance and delicacy. I was so impressed that a young dancer make a silly role like that interesting and touching, and have been watching him ever since.

I remember reading that Balanchine had wanted Paul Taylor do dance Apollo, so the idea isn't farfetched at all!. I think Trusnovec could dance anything and make it look profound, but talk about being born to live in Parnassus!

Jane, thanks for the link to the pictures. I am so glad the black swans are back in the final scene. I just love the contrast. And I must say the Prince looks wonderful! Mary

Gorgeous. But I do like it when the claps are audible, it gives a more distinctive feeling for me. I remember an interview with Freddie Franklin saying that Danilova (who would have remembered the old Mariinsky version) said they should be real claps, and the Balanchine version uses them too. The Nureyev 1-act version that he set for the Royal Ballet had loud claps, so presumably the more stylized ones are comparatively recent. Mary

People in New York might be interested in this program at Barnard. It's free. http://barnard.edu/events/arthur-mitchell-and-friends-0 Mary

I remember from Homans' book that she basically loathed Italy and Italian dancing (not of course that she could ever have seen any) and is convinced that the only style worth watching is the French court dancing, so that I suspect is why she ignores the Italian origins of ballet in her comments. I wonder what those little ballet girls and the men in the Foyer of the Paris Opera Ballet would think of her insistence that ballet is all about uplifting morals and pure living. And oh my gosh that twaddle about Romantic point work, as if all those folk dances never existed. And that idea that ABT was the only company bringing ballet to the hinterlands. What a disappointment this whole thing was. Mary