Helene

I think that many great oral histories are those that are done and published in other mediums: Foremost is Barbara Newman's "Striking a Balance: Dancers Talking about Dancing", in which Ms. Newman's extensive interview materials are edited and fused into a streamless narrative format. She also captures "voices" although it is a printed work. This is one of my all-time favorite books of any kind. All of the Balanchine Foundation tapes of coaching sessions are oral histories "Ballets Russes"

I just came across a prime example in a photo capture on the International Figure Skating website. In the gala after Skate Canada, the Men's and Ladies' gold medallists, Patrick Chan and Joannie Rochette, both from Canada, were brought on the ice before they skated to subject themselves and the audience to silly banter. Rochette most certainly was not bemused by Chan's comment, and this is obvious from the photo (bottom left). http://www.ifsmagazine.com/forum/index.php...ost&id=1950

No, he was clothed most of the time, but it's Craig's face that the camera loves.

I saw "Quantum of Solace" this afternoon, and I was disappointed that none of the promise of "Casino Royale" was realized. The chase scenes and havoc became sillier and sillier, with a plane chase almost as absurd as the one in the Rambo movie that took place in Afganistan. At least in the Bruce Willis movie from several decades ago, when the glass shatters, he cuts his feet, minces in pain, and is immobilized. There was more broken glass in this than in just about any movie I've ever seen, and no one gets the equivalent of a paper cut. "Casino Royale" showed the crucible that made the man, or at least transformed him, and there was a sense of personal danger to him, not only to the people to whom he was personally and professionally attached. Not for a second in "Quantum of Solace" was it believable that Bond was in danger, or that anything that he had suffered along the way impeded him. Daniel Craig looks quite fine with his shirt off, but they cast a builky body builder as the guy from whom Bond steals a tux that fits perfectly. (About as believable as Melanie Griffith borrowing Sigourney Weaver's clothes in "Working Girl". ) Doesn't anyone edit these things for some semblance of continuity? Why do I think that is a rhetorical question? PLOT SPOILER ALERT: The ingredients for more than a special effects movie were there; why they even bothered with them instead of just blowing things up was the most frustrating thing about the movie because the director just left them lying in little piles: The former colleague whom through Bond's actions was imprisoned and tortured, the physical danger in which M was placed -- if it could happen to her, it could happen to anyone -- the organization that transcended nations but was completely under the radar of British Intelligence, Bond on his own after having been set up by the Bogota police, the state of mistrust, the fragile state of worldwide resources, etc. The movie could have been a nail-biter from beginning to end, but instead, it became a Hollywood blockbuster crossed with a (bad) TV movie: Giancarlo Giannini plays the former colleague who agrees to help Bond after a few minutes of less-than-profound dialogue, and is, as expected, killed in the attempt and speaks a bunch of platitudes about forgiveness before dying in Bond's arms; the scene invokes zero emotion. The assassination attempt on M was brushed under the rug after a minor crisis of confidence. (Ugh, and they make Judi Dench speak the most obvious comments.) Bond puts back six martinis and pays lip service to Vesper, but he could have been drinking because his car was scratched or because he occasionally became morose and got wasted. More and more platitudes about vengeance, and to complete the picture, a buffoon CIA character. The gorgeous Olga Korylenko has the only emotionally satisfying scene in the movie, where she is in incredible danger and with a great, prolonged effort kicks the butt of a murderous former dictator/general. Bond has a flicker of emotion at the very end: although she isn't his love interest in this movie, before she leaves, he kisses her, and it isn't sexual, but a short and swift cry for an emotional connection. This movie could have been as tense and as gut-wrenching as "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" with a few doses of cars and car chases and things blowing up as a bow to the franchise. Instead, it was a crucible of for turning an interesting character into a cartoon. It had no place to breathe, and was as relentless as a Jorma Elo ballet. That said, it has Daniel Craig in it, and I'd pay to see him in a lot worse. I really loved the "Tosca" scenes, even if there were a bit of a rip-off of "The Godfather". And the main villain, Dominick Greene, was played by Mathieu Amalric, who resembled a shorter version of former PNB dancer Christophe Maraval.

I haven't seen a lot of Soviet dance films, but my favorite slo-mo takes (and repeats) are Vassiliev's leaps as Spartacus. From what I've seen, there were some thoughtful attempts to make ballet movies during Soviet times, not just taping of performances, but trying to use the medium to clarify the action in story ballets, particularly politically based ones, and tighten it for a TV audience. Similar things happened with some British ballet films.

If the flames had been interesting, and not like the Channel 11 Yule Log multiplied several dozen times, I wouldn't have found it so heavy handed. Oh yes, and I loved how they opened up across the stage!!!Many thanks for the ID on James Levine.

There was dancing in it, and it actually was ballet. The women used the balcony railings like a barre at times, and I thought the movement suited their roles and the music. My favorite physical gesture wasn't on stage: it was the tiniest pause Levine made during his walk through the entrance hall to orchestra pit after he confirmed verbally that everyone was ready for him; he then made his commitment to go forward. that they cut this into a DVD! Edited to Add: If one shuts one's eyes, there's nothing to interfere with the singing

Any chance to see LeBlanc in anything is worth it, and she's partnered with my favorite male dancer in the company, Gennadi Nedvigin. (I've got incense burning in the hope that she'll dance Odette/Odile and he'll partner her in one of the two "Swan Lakes" I'll see in February.) If there's absolutely no way to make that performance, Maria Kochetkova is a beautiful dancer, but I don't have enough of a sense about her to guess what her Giselle would be like.

I loved this production, with two exceptions: I thought the video of flames during Marguerite's great final aria was heavy-handed, and the other was a minor quirk, probably specific to the movie: as Marguerite ascended to heaven, there was some small white thing happening in video behind her, and I couldn't make it out. I loved the water scenes so much more than Bill Viola's in his "Tristan und Isolde" -- they had much more flow and complemented the music perfectly. Despite the title, the two main characters are the orchestra and choruses, and both were superb. I like Giordani in this music; there haven't been heroic French tenors like Georges Thill for decades, although Jonas Kaufmann gave it a go in his latest CD, but I liked the more subtle approach he took to the role, actually vocalizing an older man in his opening aria, with a hint of the virility Faust had as a younger man. (In this age, he'd just order Viagra over the Internet and pretend he was 25 again.) I love how dramatically in this "Faust", Faust doesn't sell his soul to the devil to get Marguerite: with the help of Mephistopheles, he gets her, uses her up, and dumps her. It is only to save her that he sells his soul. John Relyea: Mephistopheles is the best role I've ever seen him in, dramatically and vocally. Where do I sign?

Yes!!!! Perfect for Mortensen as Martins.

Apollinaire Scherr wrote a brief tribute to Barnes in her blog "foot in mouth": http://www.artsjournal.com/foot/2008/11/cl...7-2008_rip.html

Not a contemporary actress, but maybe Agnes Moorehead in her Bewitched days. Meryl Streep can be ascerbic enough, but she doesn't look tough in the same way. Maybe Juliet Stephenson could play Karin von Aroldingen, who, at least when interviewed on film, has a combination of warmth and wryness. A young Helen Mirren could have played Tanaquil Leclerq, at least the sensual Leclerq from the "Afternoon of a Faun" film with d'Amboise.

I don't think there's an actress in her teens, 20's, or 30's that could compete with the young Maria Tallchief's beauty (ETA), but Faye Dunaway is a stroke of genius. My cast, ignoring that they'd never all be the right age (or alive) at the right time, and the accents would be all over the place: Allegra Kent: Ludivine Sagnier, the young actress from "Swimming Pool" Conrad Ludlow: Leslie Howard Vera Zorina: Lena Olin Suzanne Farrell: Juliette Binoche Edward Villella: Al Pacino Jacques d'Amboise: Bill Nye (The Science Guy) Lincoln Kirstein: Orson Welles For Balanchine, maybe Charlie Chaplin.

In his statement, I thought that the underlying question was what made Shakespear turn into the "great" one, as opposed to his contemporaries, with analogy of what made Balanchine become the "great" one compared to his great contemporaries, like Ashton and Tudor. While he then goes on for several pages to explain this in artistic terms, towards the end, he writes: Part of the answer to the underlying question is institutional and luck-based. We've discussed on Ballet Talk, and it was a major theme of Martin Duberman's "The Worlds of Lincoln Kirstein" that what we consider a given, the success of Balanchine and New York City Ballet, was so tentative for so long. But then we consider the irony of the man who always said it would fall apart after his death, and "who cares?", to have had an institution that ensures that what happened to Ashton and Tudor does not happen to his works, at least in the near term, and a "family" that has extended his work across the US and the world.

"Feh" is dismissive, with a mixture of non-vague contempt and disapproval. "Meh" is something you can't even get worked up about.

I don't know of any other playwright who has been translated into as many languages and is part of standard curriculum, advanced scholarship, and performance as Shakespeare, nor has been adopted informally as a national playwright by other countries, such as Russia and Germany. If not the world's greatest playwright, Shakespeare has proven to be the most important playwright of the last half millenium by those standards. Love of Shakespeare is not universal. Once of my favorite fictional responses was by Gunilla Dahl-Soot in Robertson Davies' "The Lyre of Orpheus", who called him a "grocer".

After watching the reconstruction of parts of "La Bayadere" in Doug Fullington's "Balanchine's Petipa" (Part II) presentation, I am guardedly hopeful that, someday, we might see this, or at least the Shades act. It would be such an opportunity for the Company and Seattle to host a symposium on the work or on reconstruction in general, culminating in a performance that PNB had more than a few days to prepare.

I thought she did some lovely adagio work in "Ballet Imperial" last April at City Center. I hope her new coach can work with that and get rid of the extensions. I think the biggest challenge is the blank look she seemed to have midway through everything I saw her in last spring. I know that ballerinas don't have to be PhD's, but generally they have a clue, or are receptive enough to be given one by the best.

I always thought "meh" meant "It isn't worth having an opinion about."

Hmmm, it's been called "Fourbucks" here for years.

For me it's "waiting on" instead of "waiting for". I know this is regional, but it makes me crazy! If "It is what it is" was banned, the software industry would come to a halt

Per an article in Broadcasting and Cable

I just received an email notification for the release of a new Prokofiev biography published by the Oxford University Press called, The People’s Artist: Prokofiev’s Soviet Years written by Simon Morrison. Per the email, Here's a link to a short bio of the author from the Mark Morris Dance Group site: http://lovelives.net/discovery/morrison/

I think it's a shame that NYCO is that close to demise. With the advent and acceptance of American-trained singers and the growth of non-star-oriented regional opera, the company is in a tricky position, and I don't know if there's the will of money to support a company dedicated to lesser-known works with a solid ensemble of local singers. The balance between the ballet and opera in the acoustical wars in the theater has never favored the opera. I believe you are right, abatt, that this could free up much-needed space for visiting ballet companies. Not great news for City Center, but NYST's stage is so much better for larger companies. The Mariinsky would have looked much better in that venue, in my opinion.

Just to go back to the detour about the name for a second, I just looked up "Swan Lake" on the online Balanchine Catalog (based on "Choreography by Balanchine") on the Balanchine Foundation site. Catalogue search results Found 6 Results 75. SWAN LAKE Choreography: By George Balanchine. Note: At some time in the mid-1920s (1927?), Balanchine made minor alterations in Diaghilev's one-act Swan Lake (Tchaikovsky, choreographed by Ivanov and Petipa), deleting part of the Swan Queen's mime and rearranging ensemble movements for a decreased corps de ballet. Olga Spessivtseva was probably the first ballerina to dance the Swan Queen in this revised version http://balanchine.org/balanchine/display_r...rchMethod=exact There was precedence for a one act version, produced by Diaghilev. 191. I WAS AN ADVENTURESS Film Note: An extremely abbreviated, rechoreographed version of Swan Lake, Act II... http://balanchine.org/balanchine/display_r...rchMethod=exact 262. DON QUIXOTE and SWAN LAKE (BLACK SWAN) PAS DE DEUX Balanchine "staged and to some degree altered" these two excerpts http://balanchine.org/balanchine/display_r...rchMethod=exact 285. SWAN LAKE This is the first version (produced for Tallchief) of Act II for New York City Ballet. There are extensive notes on the site referencing the original pieces in it -- ex: it included the dance for the four little swans -- and some of the changes made over the years. http://balanchine.org/balanchine/display_r...rchMethod=exact 331. PAS DE DEUX (also called TSCHAIKOVSKY PAS DE DEUX) http://balanchine.org/balanchine/display_r...rchMethod=exact 367. LE LAC DES CYGNES Ballet in Four Acts Choreography: Staged by George Balanchine after Lev Ivanov, Marius Petipa, and Nicholas Beriozoff. Choreography for the WALTZ (Act I) and for the MAZURKA, CZARDAS, and DANCE OF THE PRINCESSES (Act III) by George Balanchine. Premiere: September 11, 1969, Ballet du Grand Théâtre, Geneva. http://balanchine.org/balanchine/display_r...rchMethod=exact