dirac

Q&A with Lia Cirio.

San Francisco Ballet launches a crowdfunding drive.

Orlando Ballet cancels the rest of its season.

American Ballet Theatre cancels its season at the Met.

American Ballet Theatre signs a deal with Random House for a series of children's books.

A BBC News story on Russian dancers coping with the shutdown. Related.

Boston Ballet cancels the rest of its season.

An interview with Amy Potter of Oklahoma City Ballet.

A review of an online performance of the BalletBoyz by Lynette Halewood for DanceTabs.

A brief note on the death of Sir John Tooley by Norman Lebrecht.

An obituary for Sir John Tooley, who died last month at age 95.

John Tooley has died at age 95.

Miami City Ballet mails its brochures for a season that may not happen.

Wilhelm ("Willy") Burmann has died at age 80.

Houston Ballet cancels the rest of its season.

NYT obit

An obituary for Wilhelm Burmann by Gia Kourlas in The New York Times.

Thanks for that, Quiggin. The Wright influence on the finished house is evident, I think.

RIP to a dedicated patron of the arts. Ms. Bass did as well as a nice Vassar girl of her day could by the social rules then obtaining, marrying into Texas oil money that wisely diversified into the entertainment business, and was later the beneficiary of the fattest divorce settlement Texas had seen to that time. The Dallas Morning News ArtNet Her house and garden: Ups and downs with NYCB:

Hockney shares some new work from lockdown in Normandy.

Writers have to make choices all the time. You want to make the choices that will best communicate your meaning to others. "Reluctant" is, in that context, the superior word choice, the one which is most appropriate to not wanting to watch a TV show. See pot, calling kettle black.......

I'm guessing it's more a matter of overcompensation than anything else. Boys get a lot of grief for choosing a career in dance in our culture, particularly ballet, but once they're in the ballet world they're pampered, relatively speaking. The girls face even greater competition, there are more of them, they have to work harder, don't get the same chances at leadership roles like choreographer, etc. It's easy to see how these circumstances might turn toxic.

Yes - "pass over in silence" - referring to speech. "Reluctant" was the better - really the only - word here. It even sticks out in the context of the original sentence. I don't mean to flog the dead horse, but it is what it is, and none of the second or third definitions out there change that.

The usage is at best suboptimal, as people say. As you concede, it stands out as "not incorrect." And as I said, some copy editor should have helped. Your mileage may vary, etc. However, I do like "usage maven" and welcome the UV aboard as cousin strawman to our old friend the "purist balletomane." (h/t L. Witchel)

"Reluctant" is clearly the better word for the sentence Kourlas wrote. As the definitions you supply indicate, "reticence" applies to speech. I'm guessing Kourlas didn't know/consider the difference and thus used the "wrong" word, and no copy editor came to her aid.