Helene

oberon has a blog, called oberon's grove, which contains not only ballet and dance reviews, but opera reviews as well, including a recent review of Klaus Florian Vogt's performance as Lohengrin at the Met.

I think the point of Rockwell's article was that the two issues are intertwined: as long as Martins gets along well with the board of directors, and the board supports him, you will see performances that Martins has produced.

For AOL users who log in and out of Ballet Talk, are you having any problems logging out? Ballet Talk for Dancers users are seeing this issue, and I was wondering if it was limited to BT4D. If you are having this issue, I'd appreciate it if you'd reply to this thread.

It's a really good thing that there isn't an animated weeping icon, because I'd use up all of the board's bandwidth to respond to your description of Low's farewell performance. Morris must have flown in this morning from Seattle, because he took his bows with MMDG last night at about 10pm. I'm glad he was there to pay tribute to a dancer who did his Sylvia and Sylvia proud.

He got a wonderful reception when he returned to Arizona two Junes ago to partner Yen-Li Chen-Zhang at her farewell performance. (I think it was in Theme and Variations.) Having trained in Phoenix, I suspect there are a lot of people from the area who are thrilled for him at his promotion.

That would be appropriate for the beginning of the role. Perhaps he'd make a surprising transition to romantic lead. Very often, the leading man types are not very convincing in the opening scenes.

PMs are enabled once the person has attained full member status and the group changes from "New Member" to "Member." A person's group can be found under his/her board name to the left of the post, following "Group:"

Are there customs for giving flowers to performers from Russia and Europe? I've read that an odd number of stems is appropriate in Russia, except for funerals, but are there numbers to avoid (like 13), and type of flowers (no roses unless engaged, no lilies, etc.) that are more appropriate than others? Is there a difference by gender (Single stem vs. bouquet for men?) Can I assume that these can be delivered to the stage door by the florist the day of the performance?

If you are having trouble accessing the amazon.com link in the toolbar -- or if it disappears -- please click one of the following green links. It will open whichever icon you choose in a browser window. You can then enter your information in the search box (example 2) and click on "amazon.com" link (example 1) or "go" button (example 2) from that browser window, and you will navigate to the amazon.com site. (The pictures are screenshots, for illustration only.) Basic Link Search Box

What version of IE? I wonder if they've removed support by version.

Rest in Peace, Thomas Armour. My condolences to you and his students and his family.

I see the box to the right of the logo. I'm using Firefox. What browser are you using?

Mark Morris Dance Group just appeared in Seattle for it's 15th consecutive year as part of the University of Washington World Dance Series. Sadly, because of costs, MMDG will not be appearing next year, and they're not on the Seattle Theatre Group dance series either. (We don't have a weeping smilie, or it would go here.) The program opened with Somebody's Coming to See Me Tonight, a gentle and touching work from 1995, set to songs by Stephen Foster. The music was as fine as the dancing, with particularly idiomatic singing by baritone Jesse Blumberg in "Beautiful Dreamer" and "Gentle Annie," and a lovely rendition of "Linger in Blissful Repose," (if I counted correctly) by, I believe, Eileen Clark. (According to the program notes, Blumberg will give recitals in NYC and Washington, DC, and if these pieces were any indication of the overall quality of his singing and interpretation, they should be well worth seeing.) Last year's Cargo complete the first half of the program. Set to Darius Milhaud's La Creation du monde, the program note explains, "Cargo Cults of the South Pacific believed that manufactured western goods ('cargo') were created for them by ancestral spirits." In some ways, this might be Morris' "Rite of Spring," meets "Prodigal Son," and it made uncanny use of props: first a single long pole, and then two other matching ones. Lauren Grant was lifted on the pole by two other dancers, first as if she was a human sacrifice, and then as if she was an animal on a spit. Several dancers tossed one slowly to one another, using the ground as a pivot. Seven or eight of the nine dancers performed a lovely long adagio with a single pole, lying on the floor, head to foot, with each set of dancers raising it in a sitting position and then returning to the floor, and finally lifting it from one end, like a mast. It was like woven movement. Work with the poles alternated with propless dancing, some of it rather rambunctious, to the jazz strains of the score. Eventually, the group split into threes, and much of the movement was repeated, although diluted by the break-down of the group. Finally, all three poles are tossed casually on top of one hapless dancer, who is, presumably killed by the onslaught. The second half started with the four-person Rock of Ages, a 2004 work to Schubert's "Adagio" from the Piano Trio in E flat, D897. Four dancers -- either two men and two women, or three men and an woman -- dance as a group and in couples. I particularly liked the slower passages, which featured gestures that highlighted Joe Bowie's supple arms and upper back, in a pas de deux that was repeated. The program ended with Gloria, which was revised in 1984. I have seen this work before, at Jacob's Pillow, but it was nothing at all like what I thought I remembered. It was vintage Morris, with a large ensemble of ten. Lauren Grant: when she was featured or dancing in unison, the other dancers were beautiful counterpoint. When she was in the background, it was time to notice the bass line. There was resonance around her each time she was still. Apart from being distracted by Amber Darragh's abdominal muscles in Cargo ( ) I couldn't keep my eyes off her, and I think that's been true since she first joined the company. Short and muscular, she's nothing like Paul Taylor physically, but I would love to see her in the studio take a crack at the lost Paul Taylor solo in Episodes.

Thank you, art076, chrisk217, and Dale! I usually spread out my DVD purchases so that I can check periodically to be sure we're being credited for sales through our amazon.com link. With this batch, it's going to be hard to resist the temptation to order them all at once and live on bread and water all summer...